When we entered Thailand, we found ourselves without accommodations. I received a message that night from one of my friends saying, “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, oh Lord, will keep me safe.” – Psalm 4:8. By the Lord’s provision and answered prayers, we found accommodations and were able to lay our heads on a bed in a room with air-con. During our stay there, Uné felt on her heart to have a personal check-up with each individual on the team. We felt here that the ministry was ourselves – to reflect, acknowledge growth, and pinpoint where growth was needed. This took about 3 days and ended in a lovely worship night. We were then told that we would be doing a “side quest” where we made our way South of Bangkok and would end in Phuket. This was an amazing time to see the country and meet people along the way. Myself (Madison), Finn and Nikah met a man in a hostel who made us a sign during the night to help us when hitchhiking to Phuket. We then all arrived at a nature reserve and debriefed our side quest and listened to everyone’s exciting stories.
The team then embarked on our Luke 10 journeys, where we had to be the most dependent on the Lord. This is based on the Luke 10 passage in the Bible, where Jesus sends out his disciples two by two with no extra bags, clothes, money, or schedule. We take it literally, not to test God, but to stretch our faith in Him, and go out in smaller groups for a period of time, to experience the joy of following and relying on Him.
This was also a time of growth for the team, to really step out in faith and go where the Spirit leads. If that’s to take a turn in the street or speak to a one person, it all leads up to His master plan for us. Nothing in life is just going to fall into out laps, some effort and obedience is required. Some of us found a person of peace on the first night while others only a night or two into the journey. This, however, taught us resilience and created the space for us to grow in our faith. Again we all had such amazing stories to share, and multiple times thanked the Lord for his provision and divine appointments.
And then we had a big highlight of the year: parents visit!10 beautiful days where our team had a change from ‘normal’ Global life and many of us had the privilege of having a taste of home again and reconnecting with our families. We were all excited to be able to share what we have learnt with our parents, and in return, have them affirm the growth that has taken place this year. It was a time of fun, fellowship and gratitude. We snorkelled at Hong islands, shared dinners, and the parents enjoyed a little performance by us of a recap of this year so far.
During this time we were also reminded of the God-fearing community are backing us in prayer throughout this adventure, and we experienced the incredible blessing of having our parents send us forward in our journey in prayer, while also receiving words of encouragement from the Global community at Jefferys Bay.
We enjoyed a mid-year debrief with a couple from Global Challenge, Oom Paul and Tannie Engela, which was a restful and refreshing time. They encouraged us and gave us new fuel for the last push of the year. Those days really felt like a little holiday get-away!
We then made our way to our next ministry point. This was a 4 hour bus ride and 14 hour train ride away. This ministry point held a lovely hello and a difficult goodbye. Our host and the people there were amazing. They blessed us beyond words, with their joyful attitude, love for us, with food, accommodation, and random spoils of ice cream during the week. We had two days where we had an English camp for the learners in the area, and there we danced, played games, had a skit, learned new English words and memorized scripture. After some time of not having kids ministry, engaging with the young ones again was such an enjoyable time.
We had the opportunity to go to about 11 schools in the two weeks that we were there, so we had a tight schedule, but it was fun to drive from school to school and share the Lord’s love He has for them. Seeing their joy and interacting with them is definitely a core memory for us all. From high-fives to hand shakes to dance moves to hugs, the joy of the Lord was visible. A short story that would stick with me is when I jokingly asked the camera man of our host to join in on the musical chairs that we were playing with the kids. When he agreed, nodding and smiling back at me, I was filled with so much joy! Seeing him dance with the kids, make jokes with them and display his inner child made me realize that it’s not only the kids we influence during a kids ministry game. We can also influence anyone the Lord leads us to or anyone in the vicinity. So let this encourage you to be open to hear and listen to what the Lord is wanting to tell you, even if you are playing musical chairs! I don’t know if he went back home that day and smiled when he thought back to that moment, but I definitely did.
We also had the opportunity to go on house-visits, give word at church, and share testimonies. André, Joshua, Miné and myself (Madison), went on a house visit to connect with the daughter of the head of the village. We soon realized that she is very eager and curious about the Lord. With the help of our pastor who translated for us, all four of us shared our testimonies with her. I could see that she was soaking up the words that pastor spoke; she wasn’t just hearing, she was listening. She had been wanting to go to church for a while but she was scared that her gods may hurt her, so she never went. But even so, the hunger was there.
After some more talking and sharing, she said that she wants to give her life to Jesus! So André was given the honor of sharing the gospel with her and leading her in the Sinner’s prayer. What an absolute pleasure it was to witness this! I was sitting there with such joy and gratitude that the Lord used us to reveal the truth to her. It felt like my insides where glowing while spinning and turning and jumping for joy! She joined us for church that Sunday where I gave a sermon on “The grace of God through the blood and the cross of Jesus Christ”. Andre and Ben also shared word. Myself, Mia and Hannah shared testimonies.
It was an amazing time to again reflect on how far the Lord has brought us, healed us, and saved us!
Then the 19 of us split us into two groups, one going to Loas, and one going to Cambodia. We will see the other members again in Vietnam. Thank you to all those who are praying and encouraging us from back home. We appreciate it so much.
Sending much love and blessing, Eastbound.