From Buddhist to Baptized!

Many of you reading this blog prayed for, and financially supported, me while I was in Thailand. In those ways, you became an active part of the work the Lord did through me while I was there.

Jum is one of the Thai women God gave me the opportunity to build a friendship with while in Bangkok. Even though I'm back in the States now, we're still able to keep in touch. (3 cheers for the internet!) She accepted Christ my last week in Thailand and, on March 30th, I was blessed to be able to skype into her baptism!

[I'm on one of the phones in the crowd!]

Jum has been working on writing out her testimony, and I wanted to share some of it here with you (with her permission, of course). Your faithfulness to give to missions and pray for missionaries and for Thailand has been fruitful! Even though I am state-side, please don't stop investing in the international Great Commission. (If you don't know who to support, you can join me by investing financially in the ministry of The Rossies or Ruth!)

But, back to Jum's testimony, in her words... Be blessed.

It is difficult to start my testimony because it is a long story.  My interest in religion began when I studied in international classes. My friends came from different countries. They were different religions so sometimes we couldn't understand each other well. I believed that the problem came from their culture and their religion. Once I observed my friends from different religions pray I asked why they said the same word "Amen" at the end. They shared about what they believed. 

Then I started to learn English at the BSC. I had chance to meet missionaries and we talked about the history of Christianity, I tried to search the internet about the history and doctrine of this religion. I found a different between Buddhism and Christianity in how they view "Love."  One believes that love makes suffering and the other one believes that love makes peace. Then I want to know more. "How does love make peace?" I started to attend one of their small groups. I learned more about the Bible with the missionaries. 

One of them, Liz, talked about the Holy Spirit is work in the story of Jonah, Jonah went to Nineveh and the people of Nineveh believed God. She said that 'The Bible also it can work by itself when you read it, because of the Holy Spirit." When I started to read,  I didn't want to stop. I almost finished the New Testament in 3 weeks. I still wanted to know more about God. I started to understand and compare the doctrine of Buddha  and Christ. I could see  the different attitudes of Christians (from USA) and Buddhists (from Thailand). For a while, I thought both religion were good, but I must to choose and follow only one of them. It was a difficult time to make a decision....

I accepted Jesus. About 3 weeks later, I began to understand it that God wanted to teach me about the love of God and His grace give the eternal life for us. I couldn’t understand well but I still search the answer by learning from missionaries, reading the Bible and praying... I haven’t done it well now, but I feel happy more than in the past... Thank you my parent and my sister for accept my decision. Thank you Khun Tim, Khun Jill, Ann, Meleah, P’Pom, Jai, Liz, Luke, Dylan, Alli and Matt for telling the Gospel to me. Thank you brothers and sisters at church for helping me didn’t feel lonely when I choose to follow Christ and I think this is important for new believers for continuing on and growing to the next step of Christianity. 

[Matt and Jum]

cambodia.

Cambodia. A region once covered by guerrilla warfare and landmines. A country still scarred from communism, corruption and mass genocide.

Poipet. The “armpit” of Southeast Asia. Poverty. Street dogs. Trash. One paved road down the whole town. Villages isolated by the perpetual flooding of their dirt roads. Children hocking postcards and talismans in wicker baskets. Men and women pulling carts piled with produce. Red mud spattering on the backs of calves and backpacks, cars, and bikes.

Here, in this town of faded clothes, floppy hats and second-hand wares, there resides a boulevard of casinos. Not casinos like in the movies, with plastered smiles and daring betters and women in stilettos sipping martinis. These are drab places, filled with room upon room of slot machines and tables occupied by empty-eyed people, glazed and numbed. Sitting, staring, heartlessly pushing chips back and forth. The house always wins. There are no sofas for lounging. No comfort, no place to sit but in front of the screens, the tables, the dealers. Piles of chips collect at tables. Each chip a token gambling away

    broken relationships, fights, feelings of inadequacy,
insecurity, fear, unmet expectations,
    pain, past wrongs, bitterness, unforgiveness, conflict,
poverty, suffering, abuse,
    lost jobs and lost investments, lost and broken people. 

They come to escape. For relief. For hope that maybe, just maybe, if they can attain enough money, they can finally gain peace. It is all empty; it is all meaningless.

And yet.

In the midst of the poverty, corruption, dust and destruction of this town, there is hope. There is light. 11 churches planted in 10 years. 700 children who attended an annual Christian camp. Sports ministries cropping up to help bring options and opportunities to those trapped in the cycle. Free clinics started up by the church. Training. Discipleship. Couples who love the Lord and are committed to meeting physical needs as well as spiritual needs. There is work being done. And the Lord has blessed that work with fruit. There is darkness, but there is also hope.

While we were in Cambodia we were singularly blessed to be able to meet some of these families. Families who have set aside comfort, safety and fear of rodents to engage the lost in this region. Some of them survived the killing fields only to meet the Lord and return to the place where over 30 members of their family were slaughtered. That is the power of the Gospel. [click here to read one of these men's, Soeuth’s, testimony]

I wish that I had a camera running during my stay with them, because I know you all would be blown away by the story God has woven through their lives and experiences. While I can't share everything, I do want to share one of the things Syna, Soeuth’s wife, said.

[Paraphrased from Syna:] The corruption you see here is from the top down. Almost every night you can see police in their 60’s showing up at karaoke bars, in uniform, with young girls of 14 on their arms. There is no shame. No conscience. You cannot fix the system. The people are corrupt and the system is broken. But, that isn’t an excuse to ignore the one person you can help. You can still invest and love one person. And that person can invest and love someone else. And it can’t be fixed from the top down, so we start from the bottom and are faithful. 

Praise God for people who are willing to serve both at the top, when it is possible, but also at the bottom, when it’s not. Wherever you are, whatever influence you have or don’t have… start serving there.

[For more details on the specific things we did during our day with these missionaries, see Steph's blog. She did a great job summarizing and photo-documenting our day and some of the ministries we were able to see!]

guest post!

While I (Liz) process and compile all my thoughts and experiences from our recent visa run to Cambodia, I’d like to share with you a beautiful guest post from my dear friends, Alli & Sandy! If you have been following my blog, you know that they came three weeks ago to spend 9 days with me in Thailand. Instead of me reporting everything we did, I thought it’d be neat for you all to hear about their time here through their eyes. So, without further ado, here you go:

There are so many troubles and trials that come in the mission field, however, none may be quite as challenging as temporarily relinquishing control of one’s blog.  This is precisely what our friend Liz has done.  For nine days we were not only given an adventurous vacation in Thailand, but we also received a short glimpse into the life of a missionary serving in the heart of Asia.

We, Sandy and Allison, have been long time high school friends of Liz, so when she invited us for a visit, we jumped at the chance.  Our adventure began in Bangkok, where we were introduced to Liz’s apartment, unloaded bags of goodies sent over with us, donned our tourist attire and set out to the famous Wat Arun (an elaborate temple)  and Baiyoke Tower (the tallest building in Thailand).  We were fascinated with how foreign and exotic everything seemed.

[Wat Arun]

[Baiyoke Tower]

The excitement of a culture so different than our own was overwhelming and exciting; however, the newness of it all started to turn into familiarity as Liz introduced us to each ministry she and other members of her church were involved in.  A visit to her church, LifePoint, and time with her fellow servant Stephanie at the BSC allowed us to not only see these missionaries at work, but also allowed us to meet the people that God put in this specific mission field.

[Zaida, a wonderful woman who works with the Karen refugees in Mae Sot, Thailand]

[Liz's small group and friends on our trip to Asiatique]

A midweek three day jaunt to Chang Mai in the North of Thailand put us back in tourist mode, but also allowed for some much needed relaxing and quality time with our friend.  Catching up and refreshing our friendships seemed to be just the encouragement we all needed.  However, playing with elephants, zip lining, seeing a waterfall, and shopping didn’t hurt either.

[At the Elephant Nature Park]

[Flight of the Gibbon: Ziplining!]

Back in Bangkok, our trip took a more serious turn as we began our day with a prayer walk through the red light district to the Rahab ministry. This particular ministry reaches out to women involved in Bangkok’s infamously seedy nightlife. Here we got to spend the afternoon helping Liz teach an English class and visit with the women.  We were surprised by the lack of effort exerted to hide or mask the dark sin that lurked there; everything was out in the open.  It was when this blatant defiance against the Lord was put so plainly in our faces that we understood the urgent importance of international missions.

The different missionaries we met, whether at the BSC who teach with Liz or who were all working together at LifePoint church, all represent different church congregations, but are all from Christ’s church and all need our continued support and prayer.  It does not take much to encourage them; even a new pack of properly fitting underwear will make a little boy’s day whose parents are in the mission field.  We’d never seen a kid light up over new underwear before!

As exciting and adventurous as this vacation was for us, we left with not only a renewed insight into the life of missions but also into the importance of blessing our missionaries.

We’d like to extend a big thank you to Rahab Ministries and LifePoint church for their welcoming hospitality.  And a huge thank you goes out to Liz and Stephanie for planning this adventure, hosting us, and giving us one of the best adventures of our lives.

You all are in our prayers and thoughts, and may God continue to bless your daily sacrifices and continued devotion to His calling on your lives.  The church loves you, is supporting you in prayer, and has not forgotten you.

odds and ends.

Aside from my recent exciting weekends that I posted about [here], normal life has been faithfully moving along for the past five weeks. I know that sometimes it is hard to understand updates from people on the other side of the world... because, let's face it, the things I mention seem foreign, most of you don't personally know the people I talk about, and many times, have no framework or context to organize the information dump that, often (but unintentionally), are my posts.

So, to rectify this disconnect, my goal in this post is to include some faces and weekly activities that I'm a part of to help you imagine better "what exactly I'm doing in Thailand."

Who are these interns I keep mentioning? You know, the ones I do "MTS" with? Here they are! Four days a week, four hours a day (at least), I get to see their smiling faces!

[Anderson and Dani (left) are from a church in Brazil that LP partners with]

Classes at the BSC began July 8th. I am teaching 12 classes this term (Term 4). Five classes are level 5 students, two are level 7, one is level 8, three are one-on-one tutoring sessions, and one is a general conversation class. Needless to say, they keep me pretty busy! Here's an inside peek into one of my classes and the woman who makes the BSC run:

[Khun Noo is an all star. She's one of the BSC staff members who helps me manage and juggle my schedule... and every other teacher's schedule!]

At least once a month, we (LifePoint) have a Friday night program in Klong Toey. It is a slum near our church which we fondly call "Community 110." Here are a few shots from my most recent trip there!

My weekly time tutoring these women is such a blessing! The past two weeks we've had so many new girls join in... which is incredible! This past Tuesday, our lesson was on baking... and what better way to learn baking vocabulary than kinesthetically?? So, we made chocolate-peanut butter no-bake cookies :) This may be why there was such a good turn out...

And speaking of baking... Baking on Thursdays for the Cafe ministry has been such a blast! One of the guys who works at Cafe Boly (named Dillon) is Chinese and not a believer. We've been able to have some good conversations (ranging from spiritual, to cultural to culinary) and he's even started some of his own baking endeavors. I know I've said this before, but it bears repeating: I love how God can use something as simple as baking as a bridge to the Gospel!

Thank you so much for taking the time to be invested in the work that the Lord is doing in my life through your prayers, giving and faithfulness. I am so humbled to have this opportunity to share the love of Christ with the people I interact with here... and truly, my ability to serve here is a direct result of God's provision through your support. Thank you.

mae sot.

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to go with the LifePoint interns to Mae Sot, Thailand for a 3 day trip. Because of the continued conflict and minority persecution in Burma (Myanmar), many of the minority groups (including the Karen people: pronounced kuh-WREN) have found safety across the Thai/Burma border in areas like Mae Sot.

The trip there was about 7 hours in the van with a minor delay due to rainy season flooding the Moie River... and road.

[The boat that was being used to shuttle people, motorcycles and food through the waist deep water across the road]

[A truck braving the flooded road]

[An army truck let us jump on back and shuttled us through the water and to our rendezvous point!]

Here's a video of us crossing through the river in the army truck (and the view of the regular truck in front of us)... The water had gone down quite a bit by this point. If you are reading this in an email, you may need to go to the actual post: [click here] in order to view the videos.

While we were at the Shekinah Children's Home (or as they sometimes refer to it: KT camp), we led a day long "VBS-style" kid's camp for all the children... complete with games, songs and crafts! However, the sweetest part of the trip for me, was having the opportunity to encourage a wonderful woman named Zaida who has been serving there for over three years. As someone who has been "on the field" for a little over a year, I know the potential that teams have to either energize or drain the long-term folks. A lot of work goes into being able to host a team, especially a team as large as ours was (11 people)! I wanted for our time to not only be a blessing to the children, but also to her-- because she is the one who will keep on working and serving long after we leave. I loved getting to hear her story and have the opportunity to see the children's home through the eyes of a woman who knows it well.

It can be so easy to jump into a short term project and think you see and understand what is going on... and miss it entirely. It's easy to see the smiling children, accept the hugs, and never think past that. Or to see the dirty walls, the lack of a "proper" kitchen and the mattress-less bunks where the children stay and be moved to "fix" things... without actually stopping to learn and ask the right questions.

[The church/ multi-purpose room/ school]

I definitely am no expert on the plight of the Karen, or even every detail of what takes place here at the KT camp. But, through my conversations with Zaida, I left encouraged. The Lord is working and doing an amazing healing in the lives of many of these children. Most of the children are practical orphans, if not actual orphans. (Because of the conflict, not all of the children know whether or not their parents are still alive.) Some of the children were soldiered. All of them have suffered. And yet: there is still hope in their eyes and smiles on their faces.

In many ministries, the primary need is financial. As much as we'd like that it wasn't this way, money is a necessity. I won't say it's impossible to do the Lord's work without any money, but it sure would be hard. Because of that, I try to always ask ministries that I visit what their needs are. Perhaps so that I can meet that need specifically, but also so that I can raise awareness and share that need with the body of Christ. 

So, you can imagine my surprise when Zaida's answer was not money. She said that the ministry's greatest need was long-term people.

[Breakfast time!]

Zaida expressed, with sadness, that she only has two arms for hugging, and it's not enough for the 60+ kids who visit and live at the camp. Here is a woman who is pouring her life into some of the forgotten, and "least of these", and her main desire is not for new buildings or new equipment, but for more people to come to better love the children who are there.

 [Some of the girls singing "Jesus Loves Me" in Karen]

Our time at KT camp also coincided with Zaida's 40th birthday and overlapped with her father's visit. As she is from Mexico, her and her father decided to throw a traditional "birthday fiesta" for the children. It consisted of her father serenading her, a couple of candy-filled pinatas, and plenty of cake to go around!

[Zaida and her father's grand entrance... decked out in their Mexican garb]

[Singing a traditional spanish song to his daughter on her birthday]

[The boy's breaking open their pinata!]

However, despite all the learning, information-gathering, and craft-leading... the part that touched my heart the most was getting to spend time with some of the girls. Whether they were teaching me a new game (these kids were game-gurus!) or a new song, they always had plenty of hugs and smiles to share. On the last day, many of them slipped a note into my hand that they had hand-written... As if goodbye's weren't already difficult enough!

[MoMoA and TeeKayPah]

[AePioh and MoMoA] 

[AePioh gave MoMoA and I matching braids!]

[MaJee]

Sometimes you meet people who, for better or worse, indelibly mark you. Your life will never be the same because of their presence in it. I know that my time with these girls has opened up my eyes once again and given me a glimpse into a world and a problem and a people that I was blind to before Thursday. I would have told you, of course, that helping refugees was important. I would have even told you that I knew their situation was dire. But after having spent 3 days with children who are, really, in the best situation (living in Thailand, fed, clothed, cared for and loved), and then to drive past the sprawling refugee camps where people are trapped with no livelihood and hope... I see more clearly. Not perfectly, but I have faces where before there were only numbers.

[Sunday morning worshipping with our Karen brothers and sisters]

If you are interested in serving long term (over 2 months) at the Shekinah Children's Home, but have questions... feel free to send me an email at lizswauger@gmail.com. I'd love to share more with you about specifics of my experience there!