Complete. Our time in Thailand felt complete. I felt such peace when it came time to leave. The peace and assurance I felt was a gentle gift from God, reminding me that he was pleased with the work he did. Here’s the thing: we walked into ministry in October trusting God to use us, but not expecting to see the results of our work. During training in Orlando we heard stories of people who heard the gospel 4-6 times before they accepted Jesus as their savior. We recognized we were entering a Buddhist culture where grace and Jesus may be foreign or difficult for people to believe.
We helped plant a lot of seeds in several different areas. During our last few weeks in Chaing Mai God showed his graciousness by giving us a glimpse into how he was using us. We continue to pray for these people and places as we know God will continue to plant, water, and harvest seeds in our absence.
Here are the signs of God’s faithfulness, graciousness, and sense of completion he’s shown us recently (in other words, how our ministry came to an end in Thailand):
Hosea Center: One of our first few weeks at the center I sent a email out regarding a student who gave his life to Christ. I am thrilled to say that he, along with 2 other students we’ve gotten to know, got baptized our last Sunday in Thailand! Talk about full circle. Chris, the teacher we’ve gotten to know there, shared some beautiful and timely encouragement with us about going home and not letting our time in Thailand just be a “trip we took”- rather to apply what we’ve learned and seen. He reminded us to trust God’s plan for us rather than listening to the ‘normal’ path or advice of man. Chris lives a beautiful life like Jesus. He opens his home to kids, taught us so much about Thai culture, and faithfully walks with Jesus even through trials.
Hang Dong High School: Addison was able to connect Nicholas (who organizes our evangelism outreaches at Tha Phae Gate) with Teacher Yimmy (an English teacher at Hang Dong HS) who studied at a Bible college in America. It has been our prayer and desire to ‘build disciples who build disciples.’ From the beginning of October, we recognized our time serving here is temporary, so we desired to pass along our work and mission to locals. Yummy and Nicholas shared our vision for building dicisples within High Schools and together they created a ‘Christian Club’ for students who know Jesus or want to learn more. This all came together 2 weeks before we left. They originially had 6 students sign up and we’re prayerful they become servant leaders who are eager to share the gospel.
School of Promise: Our final Friday teaching was on the topic of humility and its importance in living a spirit-filled life. With Gary’s help, we led the kids through some hands-on activities to concrete the concept in their minds. In each class we had the kids help feed each other, draw blindfolded, and watch us wash each other’s feet. That was the most meaningful part of the class for me- getting to explain the importance of Jesus’s actions and how mine blowing it is that God would serve us and die for us. What made this class even more special was when we had 2 groups of volunteers from the older kids to wash each other’s feet. We could see how interested and invested the kids were as we washed each other’s feet, and especially as their peers did the same.
Tha Phae Gate: This evangelism outreach quickly became one of our favorite places to do ministry. In our last few weeks at the Gate we saw a woman healed of a hearing impediment, a man named Louis have his life to Christ, I met a girl from my hometown who knew people from my high school, we met a Cru team from Korea and sang with them, we prayed over people, and the streets of Chiang Mai heard a joyful noise into the Lord all night. Yes, God worked in the lives of those who found our table and listened to our worship, but he also changed my heart. As people stopped and listened to me play guitar and sing, sometimes offering compliments or recording, God spoke to me about my voice and how he loves to listen to my worship. I could recount story after story from the 6 weeks we were there- all pointing to a caring God and his love for all people.
North Chiang Mai Univeristy: Apart from the AIA staff we worked with, the students we met from Myanmar were our closest friends. We understood what it was like to be in a foreign country and miss our families. We understood the walks of life they’ve been in or currently struggle in. We got to have incredible honest and vulnerable conversations with each other in which God opened countless doors for us to share the gospel, parts of our testimony, or speak truth into their lives. We invited them to church and they came! I was able to pray with our friend Thor, and here’s what he said to me in a letter about it: “I can’t help thinking about how your prayers touched me… I felt the strong connection even though I’m from another religion.” I really see God moving in his heart and in our other friends. Since leaving Thailand, we heard from the Myanmar AIA family who moved into our neighborhood that our closest 4 friends (including Thor) joined them for church the week after we left! Not only did they attend church, they went to a Myanmar youth group night and expressed a desire to go again. (And even as I was writing this post we got a message from Canoe, the mom of the Myanmar family, saying they keep meeting with our friends!)
I am endlessly full of gratitude for the ways God used us and moved in Thailand. Leaving was bittersweet- we left behind family, places we grew to love, a culture that became second nature, and the place where we each grew so much. However, Croatia is a fresh slate with a new opportunity every day to love God’s people. I’m beyond excited to be working with the local staff team here and the ways we’ll be ministering to university students.
Me and my team (along with our leader Leanne) are settled in our apartment and learning how to approach ministry here! This town is really special and I’m loving so much about the culture.
Thank you all for sticking with me on this journey. God is good :)
Prayer Request:
Grace and healthy processing as we adjust to a new culture and style of ministry
For Canoe and See Yu’s family as they minister to Myanmar kids at NCMU
Nicholas and Yimmy at Hang Dong High School reaching Christians
Fighting against lies of the enemy and strongholds of fear
For the Zagreb Campus Ministry Team who is understaffed and hoping to have more young staff join
Clarity and direction as we make plans for next year (college, majors, other opportunities, etc)
For God to prepare hearts to meet us (through spiritual social media posts, flyers, conversations, or deciding to pick up a Bible one day- we hear a lot of stories of kids who have something like that happen and then the meet the Cru team or go to an event where the gospel is presented)
For God to daily fill our cup
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