Welcome to Siam

It has been five days since I arrived in Bangkok, but as some of you know very well, it often takes a person's heart and mind much longer than their bodies to arrive in a new place. Fortunately, the Lord is being good to me, allowing me to feel comfortable with my new surroundings very quickly. Of course my thoughts linger at home and sometimes the reality of my distance creeps up on me and surprises me, jerking me awake from a dream of being in Oregon with all those I love so dearly.

Although I love my home, it is easy to see why so many people speak fondly of this country. The people are kind and inviting, the food is delicious, and the sights, sounds and smells are strange, but good. Each day has had its own challenges, but chief among them has been trusting God to provide connections and relationships. I am a foreigner in a strange city where I do not speak the language and I have no prior acquaintances. I live in an apartment by myself where it is easy to lock myself away and hide from the strange world outside my door. I am gaining a new appreciation for God's command to the Israelites to treat foreigners well, reminding them that they too were once foreigners in Egypt. It's hard to be the odd man out, but God has been so faithful – as He always is. I usually pray for God to bring people along my path before I leave my apartment and venture into the streets surrounding my home, and so far I have met someone on the street everyday.

As some of you may know I don't usually take it slow when it comes to getting to know people. I value transparency and depth in relationships and I don't like beating around the bush when it comes to getting to a point of trust and honesty with people, but I know that kind of trust has to be earned. When I have left the country before, I always joined a group of people where everyone was new together, it was mutually beneficial for all parties to be willing and proactive in diving into open relationship. But now I am entering into a community that is already established, and I know that because of this I need to be patient as I wait for these fragile new relationships to take root and blossom.

But there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I have met many wonderful people and been able to have some establishing conversations. I have spent the last week listening to people's stories – which is one of my favorite things to do, please be praying that God will use me to be a blessing to all of the people that I meet.

Yesterday, Tuesday the 10^th, was a particularly good day. I was able to join a DTS outreach team that arrived a few days ago from Norway on a “temple tour.” YWAM takes most outreach teams on a temple tour near the beginning of their trip to give teams a better understanding of Buddhism in Thailand and how to pray for the Thai people. Twelve people in all, ten tall, blue eyed Scandinavians, me, and our guide, Tahn, piled onto a bus yesterday morning headed for downtown Bangkok. We stood out to say the very least. Once we arrived, we walked through huge, ornate temples plated in gold, and adorned with colorful tiles and orange cloth. The scent of incense and the sound of gongs, monks teaching, people quietly praying, and bells ringing surrounded us. The temples were beautiful and awe inspiring, but the atmosphere was heavy. It was not overwhelmingly oppressive like some situations I have been in in Africa, but my heart was sounding the spiritual alarm telling me there was something dark there, and that I was not welcome in that place.

Later that night there was community worship at one of the ministries YWAM runs here in Bangkok called, Baan Jai Diaow (House of the Open Heart), or BJD. BJD is a campus ministry that functions like a college dorm. There is a public university directly across the street from the YWAM base and from my apartment. The BJD provides student housing for Christians and non-Christians alike. They also teach english classes, run discipleship programs (i.e. Bible studies, small groups, etc...) and take students on outreaches to other areas in Thailand. Many of the Thai staff here at YWAM Bangkok became Christians through the BJD, it is a vibrant and beautiful ministry that is changing lives. One of the students living in the house became a Christian yesterday, and we spent time celebrating her adoption into our family last night as a community. It was a striking difference to visit temples earlier that day and see Thais stuck in bondage to religious practice, striving to earn there way to nirvana and appease the spirits they live in fear of, and then to join in dynamic, loud, and celebratory worship with Thais who have been set free from those very same chains by Jesus.

I am very excited to be involved in such a thriving ministry that is making a huge difference in many people's lives. Although I will most likely not step into an official roll at the BJD, I live very close by and hope to be able to get to know the students who live there. I will include a link to the BJD website if you want to see more about what this ministry is doing.

http://www.ywamthai.org/bjd/

I start my first official Thai Language class today, please pray for my ability to learn the language very quickly. I am desperate to be able to communicate. I would love to take language classes everyday, but it is too expensive at this point, so I will take classes twice a week.

Thank you all so much for your prayers, I can feel them lifting me up and giving me joy and strength as I adjust to my new life. Please continue to pray for relationships and connections, for an understanding of Buddhism, and for my ability to learn the language. I love you all!