Decisions

I am very excited to finally be able to write this post... if you have talked to me since August, what is coming will come as no surprise to you, it involves Thailand. While our team was in Bangkok, John Lapos (IMB missionary) and Pastor Thongchai (Protestant Rep to the King) both mentioned that fact that Thailand needs single missionaries to come to Thailand. Why? Because ministry there is uniquely suited for single people. It's relationally based, and they need people who can be flexible, and who have time to spend with the Thai people.

So, providing that God makes a way, I will be going back to Thailand for a year.

I would leave in June with Claire (who is also planning to go for a year and teach), and then return with the Spotswood team in the Summer of 2013. We would be interns for John Lapos, and also teach at the BSC (Baptist Student Center). There is so much that I am excited about and looking forward to... It is hard to encapsulate in one post at 10:30 at night... which is pretty late for me these days!

It is a chance for me to really trust God-- outside of the safety and comfort of the all-too-familiar America. It is a chance for me to fail. And it is a chance for me to grow. I can't be scared of that-- of failing. But I can (and should) be scared of living in such a safe way, that I never do anything of value for the Kingdom. So, this is my next step.

I have had such unique opportunities to share about what God has been doing in my life since I got back from Thailand. Our team was able to share on Wednesday night with our whole church body about our missions trip to Bangkok. We gave out over a hundred cards with pictures of people we met, part of their story, and ways to be praying for them. Then, I was able to share at a staff meeting (and show pictures, of course) with my co-workers at FCS about Thailand. After sharing with the staff, the Kindergarten teacher asked me to talk to her class about it. After that, I figured I'd pretty much tapped out my formal "audiences"-- but then I got a call, asking me to share with the Awana TNT group on their Missions Night.

So. Cool. It was crazy, because, only a few years ago I was leading a 3rd-4th grade group of TNT girls, and sitting in that same room for Missions Night. I went through Sparks, and led Sparks for many years, and always loved hearing the missionaries share about these awesome things God was doing all over the world. Who knew that someday I'd be speaking on the other side? Haha, only God. And what felt so strange was that... I am normal. There is nothing special about me; I have no exciting talents. I can't juggle, I have no musical bone in my body, and I don't pick up new languages quickly. And yet, despite being so average, God has chosen to use me. In my journal last night I wrote,

What an upside-down God we serve-- who uses broken things to carry His light to the nations. Wow.

Platt had this quote in Radical about how we are all given the Commission to be missionaries, and some of us are cross-cultural, and some of us are inter-cultural. I am excited about the opportunity to be a cross-cultural missionary for a year. I am hoping it will help give me some perspective and also some direction for what God wants me to pursue when I go to seminary upon my return.