One Month... Culture Shock

Its been one month since we have arrived in Thailand. I would love to express a romantic picture of the first month and everything being incredible and perfect. I mean how could it be that bad right? Living in Ao Nang South Thailand, arguably one of the most picturesque paradises in the world. Enjoying the wonderful Thai people with my family. How could it get any better?


Maybe that is part of the hard part. I don't understand my feelings. I have felt extreme highs and lows since being here; Frustration, Anger, Depression, Doubt, Isolation, Abandonment, Lack of Control... These are just a few of the things that I have experienced over the past few weeks. More than anything else my mind and heart have felt like a battle field. Reading about the symptoms of culture shock and language shock have helped me at least to recognize that it isn't just me. Praying and trying to hold on to the strength of the Lord.

Coming to understand that I am not strong enough and I am still in need of a Savior.

Lyon Village Overnight Outreach

Lyon Village -

Pretty incredible how God can work in such a short amount of time. When we came to Lyon Village, we were not sure how we would be received. Coming into an 80% Muslim and 20% Buddist Village we were not sure how the spiritual forces would react to 4 Christian missionaries walking into town...

We were so pleasantly surprised to be immediately greeted so warmly. The leader of the village basically gave us free reign to minister. We reconnected to one of the ladies who is also one of the leaders and she immediately took to Zina calling her family. We did not have a translator so I had been praying that God would work miraculously so that we would be able to communicate. Zina speaks some Thai, but the South dialect is very different than the North. God miraculously intervened as Zina called us aside freaking out because she could understand and communicate well above her natural abilities. This woman that we spoke with invited us into her home and said that I was now her son. Something that you must understand about Thai culture is that everything they speak (this is part of there language and culture) comes from the heart. So when she says that she really genuinely means it!

We came in not having a lot of set plans other than to pray, get a bearing on the needs of the community and test the spiritual waters of the area. We were blessed to make a friend named "Dee" who spoke decent English and gave us some great information on the people and there needs. The general consensus that we heard from many people is that they want to learn English. This is an incredible opportunity for the right person to minister here as they have a house, a community center and the people who need the love of Christ, they just need someone to minister here. Dee's son likes Muay Thai and noticed Docs shirt was from a Muay Thai camp and so we asked if he wanted to train a bit, (his son was 5). We began training/playing around with him and kids just started pouring in! Within 10 minutes we had probably 15 kids that we were teaching Muay Thai too.

After we got done teaching Muay Thai we spent some more time in conversation and meeting the people. I saw my friend from my profile picture, Khun Chow and he immediately recognized me. He brought me into his home and introduced me to his wife. He speaks no english and his wife speaks very little, but through the grace of God we were able to have a conversation! Its kind of a long story, but praise God that by myself and my 20 phrase Thai vocabulary and there broken English we were able to connect.

One of the people we met last time and reconnected with this time, Khun King Kong (yes thats his name :)) we spent some time with as well. This its an interesting character that Zina described as kind of snake like. He has a tattoo of a Tiger on his forehead and we asked him about it and he told us he had received that spirit. Zina explained that some of the Buddhists will go through a ceremony to receive these demonic spirits into there bodies so that they gain the power of that demon. You could see that as we spoke of love and expressed those sorts of things he went into a coma type of state where he was just completely out of it. Clearly you can see some spiritual principalities at work in this individual. Glad we were able to see him again, I could see a lot of ministry potential in him.

After finishing with Khun Chow I returned to our house only to find Zina teaching some of the kids dance lessons. I started assisting in teaching a little Cha-Cha and the kids came flooding back. We got to begin developing relationships and truly expressing love in Christs name to these children and some of the adults. I feel that the day was very successful for not knowing at all what we were walking into. The Harvest is RIPE here in this village for the person that God places here to reach.

Thailand Mission Day 1!

It is hard to describe the great desire and yearning for more of Gods manifest presence. I long to enter the Holy of Holy's and at the same time I know it is Gods will that I would enter in. So the only realistic explanation is there is something in myself that is not yet given up to Christ. That there is some part of my self that must be given up so that I may gain everything. I long for this and know that at the same time that I must be aware of what it is that I need to enter that place, I know that on my own strength there is no way to enter that place. I must go through the pains of wrestling with God for His grace to remove this part of me that is keeping me from seeing His face. Pray that God would revive His work in my heart so that I may have a greater longing, desire and courage to submit my ALL to Him!

Please pray for Alena and Lynn who I met on the plane rides and was able to minister too.

Reflections on "Revolution in World Missions" by K.P. Yohannan

Wow what an incredible book! Its on the must read list for me. One that is so good you don't want to put it down, but at the same time very challenging of the things we have accepted as the norm in the American Church.

The mission that Gospel For Asia is doing is absolutely life changing for hundreds of thousands of people around the world. They are the publisher of this book and are so missionally minded that they give this book away completely FREE! You can get a copy here. If you request it, please read it, because although it is free to you, it does cost them money to produce and ship it.

I am going to put some of what I felt the most impactful statements of the book are below.

Once again, I highly encourage you to read it.

"If all your[a believers] concern is about your own life, your job, your clothes, your children's good clothes, healthy bodies, a good education, a good job and marriage, then your concerns are NO DIFFERENT from someone who is lost in Bhutan, Myanmar or India."

"For some reason, Americans seemed to have a need to surround themselves with noise all the time... Why do they always have to be either entertained or entertaining? It was as if they were trying to escape from a guilt they had not yet defined or even identified."

"God did not shower such great blessing on this nation for the Christians to live in extravagance, self-indulgance and spiritual weakness."

"Unless there is repentanc among Christians--Individually and in concert as a community of believers--an awesome judgement will fall on America."

"...Every Christian needs to ask himself:

Why do you think God has allowed you to be born in North America or Europe rather than among the poor of Africa or Asia and to be blessed with such material and spiritual abundance?

In light of the superabundance you enjoy here, what do you think is your minimal responsibility to the untold millions of lost and suffering in the Two-Thirds World?"

"Why did Eve fall into sin? Because she did not truly believe in the judgment--that death would come if she ate...This is the same reason many continue in lives of sin and disobedience."

"Our priority must again be placed on calling men to repentance and snatching them from hell-fire...If we are not willing to plead in prayer for a mission revolution--and let it start in our own personal lives, homes and churches--we will lose this generation to Satan."

"...we must keep supreme the priority of sharing the message of salvation with them--and we must never minister to the physical needs at the expenseof preaching Christ."

"You have to evaluate how you spend every dollar and everything else you do in the light of eternity."