DAY 1
It's been another great mission trip, despite only being 6 days long and the jet lag. We departed from Singapore at about 9 plus and reached Bangkok around midnight.
We then took a bum-aching 6-hour coach ride to Khon Khaen. In the morning, we went to the Khon Khaen church for service and had breakfast prepared by our brothers and sisters at local church.
Don't be deceived by its looks; it's actually an evil sandwitch.
This is the pastor of the Khon Khaen Assembly of God church.
The church's worship team.
Team Silvestre performing the Church Skit.
We spent the rest of the day resting and practising our Thai songs and skits. My team is called Team Kenni, led by the Kenni. It comprised of Brendan, Boon Ping, Jason, Daryl, Gui Zhen, Pin Fen, Wei Wei and Xuan Wen.
DAY 2
Early in the morning, we packed our bags and headed off to our new motel that was nearer to the Hmong village.
We then drove to the village square and tried to get permission to enter into the Hmong village. We were shocked to hear that a new legislation had been in place that prohibits people from going into the Hmong village or giving material support to them. We were astonished because a team had been sent to the same area less than a year ago without objections.
Many of us became discouraged and the leaders brought us to the local church to intercede for the Lao Hmong people.
I was not really discouraged as I knew if we could not enter, we could always minister to the Thais instead. But God spoke and corrected me saying, "It won't matter to you where you serve, but it matters to the Lao Hmongs."
The Lao Hmongs are illegal immigrants from Laos, who came and dwelt in the Hmong village, which is at the border of Thailand, near Laos. However, the Lao Hmongs began to increase in number, more than the Thai Hmongs, and the headman of the village did not like it.
He set up the legislation and there are army officials in the Hmong village to check that no material support is given to Lao Hmongs. We can't even take photographs of their plight. He wants to drive them back to Laos with this method. The Lao Hmongs are really pitiful as they are living in Hong Kong-style blue-and-white striped plastic sheet huts.
Their children have no clothes as no one would employ them. They get all their sustenance and needs from the mountains and woods. I actually saw a Lao Hmong boy storing water in a plastic bag from a drain. Their children are not allowed to attend the local Thai school so they can be easily distinguished as Lao Hmongs, because they can't speak Thai. No one wants them, not even their own government.
I repented from ever having this thought of ministering to other villages and prayed to God saying, "Answer while You are being doubted that we may be ashamed when You are glorified." God will definitely open a way for us.
Team Kenni ministered to the local village for the time being. We went to the village square and performed songs and skits, shared our testimonies and preached. There was no altar call, we just handed out sweets and invited them in Thai to the night rally.
The night rally was great. Initially, the place we were holding the rally at looked really dark as it had no lighting. And it was only as big as 3 badminton courts side by side. But they managed to get lights hooked up and many adults and children came.
After all the games, songs, skits, testimonies and preaching, many people received Jesus. We invited those who needed prayer for healing illnesses to come forward. I personally witnessed the healing of a deaf man. He initially communicated to us he was mute so we prayed for his muteness.
After praying like 6 times, we asked him to repeat what a translator said. But he could not. He could not even seem to hear us. But we persisted in prayer and after about 2-3 times, he could repeat the basic tonation of what the translator was saying. Hallelujah!
DAY 3
The next morning, we went to a Thai school. Team Kenni ministered to 1000 Primary School students.
We taught them songs...
We performed skits...
We prayed...
The Poo Chais(boys) prayed...
The Poo Yings(girls) prayed...
and at least 75% of them received Jesus. Hallelujah!
We were so happy!
And another thing brought us joy. We had been given permission to enter the Hmong village. On the condition of not bringing clothes, sweets, cameras or toys. We entered in and started inviting the Thai Mongs to the night rally. I realised the fact that we don't have Laotian translators and were losing the chance to minister to the Lao Hmongs, the people we are really wanting and trying to serve.
I asked my Thai translator to ask around to see if there's anyone who knows both the Thai language and Laos language. We found a shopkeeper, a male teenager and a Laos woman who knew and I tried to scribble correctly the pronounciation of the words. If it was hard learning Thai, it was harder learning the langauge of the Laos. But I managed to get a rough pronounciation(2 out of 5 Laotians understood me) and invited about 15 people. However, I realised again that even if they went to the rally, they would not understand much of what was spoken there.
But I have committed the Lao Hmongs to God. I know that His ways are higher. Even as we are not successful in ministering to the Lao Mhongs, the people we badly want to serve, I know that it's by teaching the Thai Hmongs love and compassion that will change the situation there. I must not put God in a box but rather do what He wills. One day, He will bring either us or other messengers of His love to this place and reap a huge harvest. Please keep them in prayer.
At the night rally, Kenneth the Magician performed his magic tricks.
It was really dark in the village at night. The only place that was lighted up was the place where we were holding the rally. And I could see people climbing up the mountain from darkness into the light. It's quite an awesome sight; I was too busy then to take a video though. I thank God that He gathered many adults and children to the rally. All in all, we should have more than 150 people. There were 60 salvations and more than 10 healings.
I prayed for an elderly woman who had little strength, an old woman's half-deafness, a man's neck and lower spine and his son's heart. They were all completely healed. God also gave me more faith to persist in prayer over a young boy with a broken. He had fallen from a tree in the past and his left arm was crooked and had little strength.
We prayed for him a few times and he regained the strength in his arm. However, the arm was still crooked. So I told him to believe and ask God for complete healing. So I prayed with him and a few prayer warriors more than 17 times in total. Even when his arm was still crooked after our persistence, I did not feel discouraged or doubtful. I had persisted and the Lord will answer the way He wants. I will look and learn the way He works and glorifies His own name.
DAY 4
We started ministering in the morning to the local Thai school in the Hmong village. We gave out toys to game participants.
We then split into 5 teams and taught one classroom of school children each. My team had to teach Primary 2 students.
I was supposed to share the Gospel with the students and my leader, Kenni, encouraged me by saying "Do what you can." I was going to do it with the New Life method, the method I'm so familiar and good with. But then, I recalled that Brother Jeff had told me before to share the Gospel at the level of understanding that my audience can grasp.
So God gave me a new Word and a new Way. I told the kids about Heaven; how it is a place with no tears or sadness, with streets made of gold. I asked them if they had done little sins like lying and disobeying their parents. Instead of scaring them with the notion of Hell, I used parents' punishment, police and jail instead to explain the price to pay for sin. I also told them Jesus was beaten and put in jail for us. I asked them if they believe and were willing to accept Jesus.
90%, if not all, put up their hands and prayed the improvised Sinner's Prayer I constructed from my message. Hallelujah!
We went back to the Hmong village in the afternoon, for the last time. We played a little with the kids, offered free haircuts and showed cartoons.
We played soccer with them and had a ball of a time.
Gui Zhen the Mother Hen.
I'm the deranged monkey who's an eagle wannabe looking for a Chicky meal. I'm chasing chicks and chicking them out. I'm pretty chicky eh?
Rebecca has finally overcome her fear of chicks, soaring like an eagle and seeing chicks for who they are-prey to be caught. She's not chicken ok!
We also gave out the toys and clothes we brought to the Thai Mongs, and secretly to some of the Lao Mongs. We went from house to house and shared the Gospel. Team Kenni shared to 2 families, one by me and the other by Jason. However, people in both houses did not believe or accept Jesus, which was unlike their character. Thai people have always had this receptivity and simple faith that pleases God a lot.
But I believe we placed a very big seed in them. Instead of just doing the normal sharing, we gave them more truths about this world as they told us their doubts and stands. I was very impressed by Jason, who shared very well for a first-timer. He had just come to our church for 12 weeks and yet needed no help when he was sharing for the first time. I still needed Silvestre by my side to help when I first started.
DAY 5
In the afternoon, we visited a Thai school in Khon Khaen that taught secondary school students.
I was playing God in the skit and made everyone laugh, including my team-mates, when I let out a mighty roar, Bruce Lee-style, as I kicked Miss Satan. It was an impromptu thing as I felt a roar was needed to display the power of God.
I also thank God for giving me the boldness to share to the school teacher in red. I had always been in need of boldness in evangelism, being a mouse of a man. I can't even make it as Mickey Mouse. This lady is 49 years old this year but I felt so easy and natural walking up to her and starting a conversation with her. Nobody asked me to go and I didn't have to, but I really wanted to share with her.
For the next half an hour, I shared with her my testimony, Jesus and about why religions are futile. I was sincere, honest and not a bit nervous. She was very receptive. It was one of the best sharings I ever did. Though she did not accept Jesus in her life, she believed in the transformation in my life. I was humbled by the fact that someone more than twice my age gave me 30 minutes to speak about the little life experience I have. I had placed another big seed of the Word in her and I pray that God will send someone to reap it.
Isn't that sweet? My heart is melting...
Next, we went to a village in Khon Khaen that worshipped the male reproductive organ. In Thailand, every village worships different gods. This one worshipped the god of fertility.
It was very oppressive. We had divided into 5 groups and went around inviting people to the night rally. We must have invited at least 100-150 adults but less than 10 came. Out of the 10, only 2 or 3 received Jesus. One person who was healed rejected Jesus.
CONCLUSION
Before I went on the trip, I had a bad feeling about it. Even though I did not let it affect me, I sometimes wondered if this trip would be my last. I had high fever and a bad sore throat on Day 5 and I had crazy thoughts while I laid down in the air-conditioned van.
I was actually wondering if the bad feeling was about this. I was wondering if I would die of high fever or carbon monoxide poisoning, though the window was rather open. I actually rehearsed my last words, how I wanted a Christian funeral, cremation and my ashes to be thrown into the sea. I don't want my dad to worship me and my last wish for him would be to spend time understanding the Christian faith.
I know it all sounds really stupid. But through this pretty-near-death experience, I have treasured life more. I also really realised how I had taken journey mercy for granted. To get to the Hmong village, we had to travel by van for 3 hours from our hotel. We would pass by mountainous regions which have signs that read "Beware of falling rocks." The road was paved into the mountains and the road was like a valley surrounded by steep hills.
I found it very hilarious that the sign read "Beware of falling rocks." How do you avoid falling rocks? You can't look everywhere while you're driving and you don't exactly have the superhuman reflexes to swerve past a rolling rock. There were mudslides and rockslides along the road as it had been raining. This showed me that no one can guarantee our safety, not even the LTA(Land Transport Authority) of Thailand. The sign might as well have been, "Pray that your God is real."
And my God is real and He has protected us time and again. On Day 4, we travelled by night back to Khon Kaen. And you must understand that there are no streetlights on those roads. It's totally dark for the 90-minute journey and the only safety precaution taken by the authorities is sticking those light reflectors on the road lines and curves.
My greatest breakthrough is having a renewed mindset about the things I should be focused on. Instead of focusing on the mistakes of those I used to look up to, I now look up only to God and fulfilling His purpose for my life. I want to be a humble, holy and glorifying testimony for Him! And He will never let me down; those who trust in Him will never be ashamed.
My Saviour can move mountains!!!
PEOPLE APPRECIATION
Boon Ping: I have been pleasantly surprised to have this brother of mine as room mate, masseur and team mate for the last 6 days. I never knew this side of him when I was in the same cellgroup with him for a few months. I've gotten to know him more and I've been blessed by his teaching of stretching exercises, painful but effective muscle rubs and his warnings about my tight muscles. He has made me a lot more health conscious, even fearful of the consequences of not stretching.
Jason: I have also been encouraged to know this passionate newcomer. He's been in our church for only 12 weeks and I can see God working extra mightily in Him. He's very passionate and eager to learn and change. If you knew his testimony, you would be appalled by his sudden transformation. He's very helpful, sincere, diligent and encouraging.
Brendan: He's a real cute guy. He woke me up during the trip just to tell me the stars look awesome. He pounds my chest with his fist and says "I'm stabbing you" for no apparent reason. He's very quiet but he does weird stuff. I told him a joke once and he said, "Can you see me laughing?". Then he laughed sheepishly. I'm just tickled by observing him.
ALL THINGS FUN & BEAUTIFUL
It's good that the Thailand mall management understands the needs of overgrown kids like me.
Daryl's eyes move back automatically like marbles as soon as the finger is gone. The whole of Team Kenni was laughing at that.
It's a bird. It's a UFO. No, it's a piece of dirt on the window pane. Now I know how they record UFO sightings.
Team Kenni with the Thai pastor, translator Oh, driver Tom and Brother Rixiang's finger.
Tip of the day: Never go shopping in one place; you'll very likely buy and wear the same clothes on the same day.
My driver Tom. He drives me to serve God even more.
May we continue to wipe off the dirt from the window pane separating Christians' lives and the world's ways, that they may see that God is good!
The Not-so-Great White Throne
Don't worry, I'm sure the brown residue in the water is not all dirt. There's probably vegatation, fungus and lots of bacteria.
Doesn't this picture remind you of one of the insect Pokemon, Kakuna, I think?
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