Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Last Blog in Thailand
Well March was a pretty bad month for blogs, but with a serious lack of internet, it wasn't really my fault. Anyways, as you can read from the title, this is my last blog in Thailand because I am at the airport right in a VIP lounge for China Airlines. The reason I got into the lounge was becase they changed my flight from 5:00pm to 8:25am, without giving me enough notification, so I went to one of the counters and complained a bit and had to wait for about an hour, and the guy finally got clearance to let me into the lounge. It has all sorts of stuff in here, like a free massage chair, free food/beverages, and of course free internet access. It is pretty sweet. So since the last blog, I went back to Mae La because I was going to be going to visit other camps with Pastor Robert (the man in who sent me out to the refugee camp). That never happened because his truck was broken down, so I ended up staying a little longer at the camp. At the time I was disappointed that I wasn't able to visit anyother camp, but in hindsight I am actually glad I never went. It is not that I didn't want to go, but if I had gone then I would have never been able to work with the other missionaries that came to visit/work in the camp. It was very fun hanging out with these missionaries for the few days that I got to know them. They had all gone to a missionary/theological school together in the Philipines, and had been sent out by their school to the camp, and they were going to visit other countries as well. The group was made up of 5 Chinese (from China, 2 guys, 3 women), 1 Philipino (woman), 1 Naga (from Nagaland, India; woman), and one American (man). It was so sweet when we were eating a meal together because on top of the team that was from the Philipines, there was other missionaries as well. So we had Karen, Chinese, Korean, Canadian, American, Philipino, Naga, Scotish, English, Australian, New Zealander, and at one point Irish, all sitting down at one table in a refugee camp in Thailand. That's 12 different nationalities who are all family, brought together by the Lord our God, our Daddy to sup (KJV) with each other. Man our God is so cool! So I left the camp on Monday morning, but on Saturday night, they had a huge going away party, with around 150 Karen and all the other missionaries attending, for me, which was kind of a surprise party, because I didn't know that it was for me until like half way through it. It was also simultaneously a welcoming party for a Korean woman who will be staying in camp for 10-11 months. Anyways it was pretty cool. Then on Monday, the morning that I left the camp, Dr. Simon's wife had arranged a special breakfast for me. So we went to a pastors house in the market district with the team from the Philipines, and several Karen where they had prepared our breakfast. It was a very big meal and they even had lots of grapes, which wouldn't normally be a big deal, except for the fact the grapes are very expensive in the camp. Most things in the camp are cheaper than somewhere else in Thailand, but grapes are ridiculously expensive, so to see so many grapes, was impressive, at least to me. There was also alot of meat, and good meat too, which is quite hard to come by in the camp. Well needless to say I was quite blessed by just how far the pastor went out of his way to bless a foreigner he never met before. So it was a fantastic meal, one of the best that I have had in the camp. Then the team from the Philipines, started to give me all of these gifts. Things that they had made or bought in another country because it meant something important to them. Things that they had been hualing around in their bags for who know how long, simply to give them to some one they only knew for a week. One of the Chinese women had bought a Christmas card in the Philipines, not because she was saving it for next Christmas, but because it looks like a Chinese traditional card, so the whole team signed it and wrote an encouraging not in it too. Then the same woman also put a rabbit thing in with the card that she had made out a fabric in China. Another one of the Chinese gave me a heart shaped thing to put on my cell phone. It heart was made in China, says Korea on it, was bought by a Chinese woman in the Philipines, and given to me, a Canadian in a Karen refugee camp in Thailand to take back to Canada. The Naga woman gave me a braclet of hers (made from wood), and the Philipino gave me an extra braclet that she had made, and happened to be carrying around. One of the Chinses men gave me a necklace that he bought in the Philipines, that says "brotherly love" on it in Mandarin (Chinese). The Karen gave me some of their traditional clothing, and they also prayed for me, and prayed a blessing on me, and then sang me a Chinese blessing song in Mandarin (even the Naga, Philipino, and the American sang it). Needless to say, I was well bless when I left the camp. "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way" (Psalm 37:22). So I went from the camp, up to Chiang Mai to visit Craig (a friend of the family), and also because China Airlines had cancelled my ticket and I was advised by people from home to go and stay with Craig because he would take care of it, which he did. So praise the Lord that everything worked out! Just before I came on my flight to Bangkok from Chiang Mai, Craig and I were invited to go and visit the Morse's (the family with all of the kids) one last time before I left Thailand for a while, which was an awesome time of fellowship yet again. I am so glad and blessed that God keeps putting such awesome people like the Morse's in my path. I am never disappointed to spend my time so well, as in the company of such awesome people of God. Our God is so FAANN-tastic! I guess He knows what He is doing, eh? Anyways, I am really starting to ramble on now, considering that it is 2:20am right now and I didn't sleep much last night. Well may the Lord our mighty and awesome God, bless you all, and thank-you for reading my blog (and for leaving a comment, hint-hint).
Saturday, March 3, 2007
An Overdue Blog
Ok so it has been like 3 weeks since I have made a blog, so I guess that I should put something together to keep my loyal audience reading. Well I had my final exam and everyone in the class passed the test, so that's always good. In fact, everyone passed my class with lowest mark at about 70%. Yeah, I kind of made it easy to pass my class but my class isn't the only class for the program so some students did fail overall, but whatever. After the exam I went to Bangkok for the Ethnos Asia conference, just like I said I was going to in the last e-mail. The conference was very good, and I enjoyed my time with all of the other people. The worship was fun because they let you dance, which is something that I haven't really been able to do since I have been in the camp. Oh and when I was at the conference, God gave me this word to share so I went over to the people that you are suppose to tell that kind of stuff to and told them it. They thought that I should share it, but when the song was finished the worship team just kept playing right into the next song, so they didn't really give a chance for anyone to say anything. It wasn't like they did it on purpose, but it seemed like the opportunity to share the word or whatever you want to call it had passed so I just went and sat down. Anyways, after the worship service the people that I told the word to called me up to share it, even though it seemed like the time to share had passed, so I went up to the front and said it. The word was related to a song that the team had sung, which was "Blessed be the Name of the Lord", by Matt Redman. It was about the last part of the song, I guess you could call it the bridge. Anyways, the part goes,
'You give and take away, You give and take away
My heart will choose to say, "Lord, Blessed be Your Name."'
So what God said about the song, is that He doesn't give goodness and then take it back, and then give some more, so that He could take it back. No He doesn't do that, but He does give and take away though, so the song is still true. He gives life, and takes death. Jesus said that He had come to give life and life more abundantly, and God takes our sins (the wages of which is death) away from us as far as the east is from the west, and places them in His Sea of forgetfulness. He gives goodness and He takes the badness. He gives freedom and takes away bondage. He gives peace and takes anxiety. He gives destiny and takes away hopelessness. He gives love in place of hate. He gives us crowns in place of our shame. He gives the oil of joy for mourning, faith for destitution, a home for the displaced, a family for the orphaned, and He give light in our darkness. He gives Truth for all the lies, and the Himself on the cross for all our sins. He gives and He takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. Even when He takes something from us in the physical, He trades it in for something in Heaven, so then you store your treasures up in Heaven where nothing can happen to it, instead of on earth where it can be destroyed. So yeah that was the word that God gave me to share (well something along those lines). After this was coffee break, and people were coming up to me and saying that it was a good word, and that they had liked the song except for the one part at the end, until after I shared the word, and I told them to thank God for the word and not me. Well every good and perfect gift comes from God, so everything good and everything perfect is a gift, and they are from God, so don't thank the messengers, thank the one who sent the message (well I didn't say exactly that but anyways). This was all fine and good, but it wasn't the reason that God got me to share the word even after I went and sat down or why I am putting this story in my blog. So during the coffee break, I was talking with one of the other teachers from the refugee camp and this Irish man taps me on the shoulder and started to say thanks for sharing the word like everyone else. Then he starts saying, "this wee little girl in my church...", and then has to turn around as his eyes start to well up with tears. So I put my coffee down on some table where they were selling stuff, and went over to the man who was now fighting back tears like I am as I write this. Then he begins to tell about this 12 yr old girl from his church that had passed away from cancer that she had in the top of her spine and the bottom of her brain, if I remember correctly. The girl wasn't his daughter, but he is from a pretty small church so yeah. For three years she fought with cancer, since it was in the top of her spine, she ended up being paralyzed from the neck down, and as you can imagine since it was cancer, she was in a lot of pain all the time. On top of all that, where the usual things that comes with cancer and the cancer medication, but despite the immense amount of pain, the cancer wasn't her main concern. He told me that all that the girl really wanted to do and what she was most concerned with was not herself in her painful state, but all of her classmates at school. Despite the cancer and all its symptoms, she wanted and did go to school to tell her classmates that Jesus loved them. All the time that is what she was most worried about. I mean this was a little girl, aged 9-12 when this was happening, having her whole life slowly taken from her and all she wanted to do was go to school to tell her classmates that Jesus loved them. So as often as she could, and whenever she could muster the strength, she would go to school to tell the other students that Jesus loved them, up until the very end of her too-short life. The girl had died only 3 weeks before this man was telling me this. Anyways, the song, "Blessed be the Name of the Lord" was the funeral song for this precious, little girl, and I think the word that I gave meant a little more to this man and his wife than it did to me and everybody else at the conference, and it certainly meant a lot more to me after that. It is not that everybody else shouldn't receive something good out of it, but the word was most definitely for that one Irish couple. So the next time that God tells you to do something and it doesn't seem to fit right or doesn't really look as pretty as you want it to, just do it anyways, because He knows what He's doing, and that should be good enough for us.
So yeah the rest of the conference was really good, and then I went back to camp, hung around there till graduation (March 11th), participated in graduation and then went to Bangkok with Peter and Aleno (both from Nagaland, India). I stayed with them for two days there, and went back to Mae La (the Karen refugee camp) for only one day and, yesterday (Thursday, March 15) I took the bus up to Chiang Mai to visit Bonnie and Ray Emery before they go back to Canada. So I will be in Chiang Mai until Monday and then I will go back to Mae Sot (the town near Mae La), to meet with Pastor Robert (the man who sent me out to the camp in the first place) so he can take me to visit some of the other refugee camps. So this is my blog that tells the story I wanted to share and has very little for what I am actually doing. Well it kind of seems weird to blab on after sharing the story that I have. So may the Lord our God bless you all mightily in the name of Jesus Christ, and thank-you for reading my long overdue blog.
'You give and take away, You give and take away
My heart will choose to say, "Lord, Blessed be Your Name."'
So what God said about the song, is that He doesn't give goodness and then take it back, and then give some more, so that He could take it back. No He doesn't do that, but He does give and take away though, so the song is still true. He gives life, and takes death. Jesus said that He had come to give life and life more abundantly, and God takes our sins (the wages of which is death) away from us as far as the east is from the west, and places them in His Sea of forgetfulness. He gives goodness and He takes the badness. He gives freedom and takes away bondage. He gives peace and takes anxiety. He gives destiny and takes away hopelessness. He gives love in place of hate. He gives us crowns in place of our shame. He gives the oil of joy for mourning, faith for destitution, a home for the displaced, a family for the orphaned, and He give light in our darkness. He gives Truth for all the lies, and the Himself on the cross for all our sins. He gives and He takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. Even when He takes something from us in the physical, He trades it in for something in Heaven, so then you store your treasures up in Heaven where nothing can happen to it, instead of on earth where it can be destroyed. So yeah that was the word that God gave me to share (well something along those lines). After this was coffee break, and people were coming up to me and saying that it was a good word, and that they had liked the song except for the one part at the end, until after I shared the word, and I told them to thank God for the word and not me. Well every good and perfect gift comes from God, so everything good and everything perfect is a gift, and they are from God, so don't thank the messengers, thank the one who sent the message (well I didn't say exactly that but anyways). This was all fine and good, but it wasn't the reason that God got me to share the word even after I went and sat down or why I am putting this story in my blog. So during the coffee break, I was talking with one of the other teachers from the refugee camp and this Irish man taps me on the shoulder and started to say thanks for sharing the word like everyone else. Then he starts saying, "this wee little girl in my church...", and then has to turn around as his eyes start to well up with tears. So I put my coffee down on some table where they were selling stuff, and went over to the man who was now fighting back tears like I am as I write this. Then he begins to tell about this 12 yr old girl from his church that had passed away from cancer that she had in the top of her spine and the bottom of her brain, if I remember correctly. The girl wasn't his daughter, but he is from a pretty small church so yeah. For three years she fought with cancer, since it was in the top of her spine, she ended up being paralyzed from the neck down, and as you can imagine since it was cancer, she was in a lot of pain all the time. On top of all that, where the usual things that comes with cancer and the cancer medication, but despite the immense amount of pain, the cancer wasn't her main concern. He told me that all that the girl really wanted to do and what she was most concerned with was not herself in her painful state, but all of her classmates at school. Despite the cancer and all its symptoms, she wanted and did go to school to tell her classmates that Jesus loved them. All the time that is what she was most worried about. I mean this was a little girl, aged 9-12 when this was happening, having her whole life slowly taken from her and all she wanted to do was go to school to tell her classmates that Jesus loved them. So as often as she could, and whenever she could muster the strength, she would go to school to tell the other students that Jesus loved them, up until the very end of her too-short life. The girl had died only 3 weeks before this man was telling me this. Anyways, the song, "Blessed be the Name of the Lord" was the funeral song for this precious, little girl, and I think the word that I gave meant a little more to this man and his wife than it did to me and everybody else at the conference, and it certainly meant a lot more to me after that. It is not that everybody else shouldn't receive something good out of it, but the word was most definitely for that one Irish couple. So the next time that God tells you to do something and it doesn't seem to fit right or doesn't really look as pretty as you want it to, just do it anyways, because He knows what He's doing, and that should be good enough for us.
So yeah the rest of the conference was really good, and then I went back to camp, hung around there till graduation (March 11th), participated in graduation and then went to Bangkok with Peter and Aleno (both from Nagaland, India). I stayed with them for two days there, and went back to Mae La (the Karen refugee camp) for only one day and, yesterday (Thursday, March 15) I took the bus up to Chiang Mai to visit Bonnie and Ray Emery before they go back to Canada. So I will be in Chiang Mai until Monday and then I will go back to Mae Sot (the town near Mae La), to meet with Pastor Robert (the man who sent me out to the camp in the first place) so he can take me to visit some of the other refugee camps. So this is my blog that tells the story I wanted to share and has very little for what I am actually doing. Well it kind of seems weird to blab on after sharing the story that I have. So may the Lord our God bless you all mightily in the name of Jesus Christ, and thank-you for reading my long overdue blog.
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