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Southeast Asia – July 28, 2023
Southeast Asia – July 28, 2023
Up until now, we’ve had three very full days of ministry through home visits and Compassion Kit parties. Waking up tired was no surprise. We were encouraged with today being the last day, where temptation exists to slow down and start to “check out”, to instead pour more into this last day! And so we went!!
We went into the area our translator lived, and into an area of people who lived in mud-walled and thatch-roofed homes. We went into a home that was adjacent to the settlement while we waited for the people in the settlement to gather together for the Compassion Kit party. This home visit was just a little different. There was more discussion between our translator and one of the family members, an older man, as they spoke in their native tongue. One of the younger men simply got up and left. By the time we got to the settlement, the people had gathered and we presented our compassion kit party program. Not long afterwards resistance came. It was the first time we had been so openly challenged. We realized that the younger man who had left at the home visit went to report us to the tribal leaders. We were able to finish what we came to do, and then left. It was a reminder that this is what Christians who live in a country that may have laws providing for Christians to exist, but political or societal oppression can still occur.
We next went to the home of a local missionary who had moved into the area to start a church plant. He told us that he was so grateful that we were willing to come all the way from America to visit them because they provided the Christians here much comfort as well as encouragement. They were able to see that the same God at work in them was at work in us also, and there were true familial relationships between the two cultures in Christ. Even the men who did not know very much English would refer to us as “sister” to get our attention. The second thing he shared with us about his gladness of our coming was that as foreigners to the people they would most likely listen better to us than they would the local Christians, who had shared the same gospel message with them already. He has seen when the foreigners share the gospel, the people consider it more thoughtfully. Yet another reminder as to why we have STM trips.
We had our next Compassion Kit party in this church plant building. And this is where the team put more into this last of Compassion Kit parties than any others that were done this week! A clear gospel message was presented with the declaration that God is not one in a line of gods, but the one true God! What a note to end on!
We begin to travel back tomorrow, utilizing three flights and 22 hours to get back home! We are all encouraged by the Christians here who are bold in their faith, motivated by their love of the Lord and love of their fellow countrymen!
Southeast Asia – July 27, 2023
Southeast Asia – July 27, 2023
Today’s theme seemed to be to expect the unexpected! We headed out to go to, not one, but two compassion kit parties in the morning. However, we ended up waiting and waiting in the car on the side of the road in a town, and later realized we were waiting for a person, a local connection, to actually take us to the compassion kit party at his church. It was not anything a GPS could find! However, he was a good bit late, and by the time we got to the church, they had dismissed the people and asked them to come back later. So, we improvise and go on home visits!
Even the home visits were a little different than we had been doing. We incorporated some of our presentations. We prayed for a number of people, including a young 20-year-old girl who did not have an education beyond the eighth grade, no husband, and no prospects or employment for the future. We later learned that this type of person, of which there are many, are the prime candidates for human trafficking. A grim reminder of how easy it would be for someone like this young lady to slip through the cracks into an evil system that exploits her vulnerabilities.
We went to the second scheduled compassion kit party, our first to be held outside! We were finding out anyway that as hot as it is here, it was hotter inside one of those block buildings, especially if it had a tin roof! Often times, instead of a refuge, these buildings felt more like an oven.
We had lunch at the local church, provided by a number of women who were very hospitable. The people who were invited earlier for the compassion kit party, and had to be dismissed, came back and were waiting for the compassion kit party by watching the Jesus film in their very own native language! That was certainly an unexpected thing to see! However, we found out we were not doing this particular party as another one of the teams was instead, so we went on more home visits. Honestly, we simply followed our translator wherever he told us to go! We really did not have much of a clue as to what was going on since as plans changed it was being talked about in their native language.
We ended our day at a compassion kit party, also held outside, at someone’s home. This is where we saw more of the unexpected! A lively senior woman approached us with much joy! She told us she had known the Lord for 25 years and was dancing in the Lord, and showing us what that dance looked like! Her daughter had been abandoned by her husband, lost her adult son, and was raising her about-10-year-old son, developed neurological issues it appears, and her biggest concern was the impediment this could be to serving in her church! When we began to pray for this one precious woman, such grief came out! And many of the local church leaders, who were familiar with the situation surrounded us, and we all joined together in prayer vocally and loudly to the Lord! Her grief seems to reach the same level of our passion to beseech the Lord on her behalf!
Once we got back to the hotel we heard that a team that had a few other of it PBC attendees were confronted with at least two cases of demon possession. Another person on their team from another church was the daughter of missionaries in Guatemala was very familiar with what this looked like and every time she commanded the demons to stop in Jesus’ name there was a physical manifestation of the behaviors stopping!
And that drew a conclusion to a day full of the unexpected!
Southeast Asia – July 26, 2023
Southeast Asia – July 26, 2023
We rolled out of our hotel room for a 7:00am breakfast, followed by a 7:30 devo, then an 8:15 departure to our assigned area of home visits and Compassion Kit parties in some mountain villages about an hour and a half away. Since PBC is one of three churches participating in this STM trip, we needed to leave in 3 cars, each leaving a few minutes apart. We found out this was to avoid suspicion that surely would have aroused if we had crossed a guarded checkpoint together.
We arrived at a church, a block building perhaps big enough to seat 50 people, where we had a Compassion Kit party. After the presentation, and with only one response to our offer of prayer, our translator turned to us and said that he sensed that instead of coaxing them more for people to come forward for prayer that we should pray for them. Little did we know this meant the three of us praying out loud at the same time! This was the first of such an experience on our trip!
We were introduced to the pastor and his wife, who shared with us that as a senior couple, they left a larger church in the city to come to this remote area to plant a church as they did not have a church at all. It had been a difficult transition, but you could hear a love of Jesus and a love for his people, even through a translator.
We moved on to another area to another Compassion Kit party where the building was larger, perhaps capable of seating 70. We met their pastor, a younger man, who also moved to the area to plant a church. Both congregations were only a few years old.
There were, of course, house visits. This is where we experienced much deeper connections and conversations with the people of the village. We were enthusiastically welcomed into the home of one of the members who lived next door. He was a former witch doctor, and he shared his testimony of how he came to know the Lord. Now he tells his community about the gospel, and invites as many as he can to church.
We even got to know this church’s pastor better, and the struggles he was going through was similar to the person who shared the testimony that day! And talking with the pastor, it was obvious that there was a burden for choosing to pursue treatment for his cerebral palsy daughter, which would require him to move to a city where the hospital was a few hours away or to stay at this church plant because there was no one who was mature enough in the faith to be able to take it over. As is often the case, the answers are not apparent, so we prayed with him to encourage him that the Lord can work in incredible ways and not always in the choices we think we have.
Another home visit included visiting a member of the special police, who has known the Lord for a number of years. He described how although it is legal for him to be a Christian, because of a routine training camp that is devoted to a particular Hindu god, special devotion to this god is expected while in the camp. As a Christian, he refuses that, and as a result, he experiences negative comments and behaviors.
We returned back to the hotel by 8:00 p.m. in the evening. A full day of ministry and culture learning for sure!
While a lot of the ministry here is about evangelism, so much of our ministry here has also been to support members of the local church, including the pastors, as it is not easy to be a Christian in a community that may have less than 1% of believers. As was noted, the Holy Spirit residing in us is the same Holy Spirit residing in them doing the same work that only He can do in unmistakable ways!
Southeast Asia – July 25, 2023
Southeast Asia – July 25, 2023
We started out with some pretty intense training this morning that also included our local translators. These local men have leadership positions with mission organizations and have such a heart for the Lord!!
During this meeting, we were told of things not to do – like don’t ever go off from your team, or post anything on social media that could undo the ministry itself in the country, or talk about our experiences at these home visits and Compassion Kit parties (a presentation of how to wash hands and handing out of boxes with healthcare items and sharing of the gospel) outside of the hotel, reminding us that as 15 Americans staying in one hotel has already drawn attention. We were even told to not accept scooter rides as really, we would not know where anyone would be taking us!
We met with our translators as we broke off into teams, then set out for an afternoon of home visits and a Compassion Party assignment. As our team went into the first home, we were greeted with such kind hospitality! It was a mud house and they brought out their very few chairs for us women to sit on, while the rest of the family sat on a blanket, or just made do finding a seat. Their neighbors were also invited. Our biggest challenge was how to communicate love without knowing the language. For us, as a team of 3 women, it became apparent that just acknowledging these women by looking at them, eyes to eyes, smiling, and giving hugs spoke so much to these women living marginalized existences. We had the chance to share the gospel, also!
Next, we went to our assigned Compassion Kit Party in the home of a local pastor. Homes are not big in a typical neighborhood, so imagine our surprise that 45 people were sitting on the floor, with at least 5-10 spilling onto the porch, and others in an adjoining room…..all totaled perhaps 70 people…..would be hearing what we had to share through our testimonies and Bible stories. One young lady came to know the Lord, and many more heard of the saving power of Jesus!
We came back to the hotel for dinner, where we had the opportunity to hear how our own translator came to know the Lord! A precious story, indeed! Truly the same Holy Spirit residing in us also is at work residing in people a half a world away, doing what only He can do!!
And, we did see a lizard on the wall in the pastor’s house. Not nearly as big as the one in our room, but a reminder that the Lord truly prepared us well upon our arrival!!
Southeast Asia – July 24, 2023
Southeast Asia – July 24, 2023
We are still arriving, both figuratively and literally! We began the day with breakfast with Becky, who gave us some insight into the country’s culture. One of the biggest takeaways was that this is a very spiritual culture – they welcome prayer! But to them, this is based on the understanding that, it seems, all gods are the same, so to speak. The other takeaway was that the non-conversion law was put into place as there had been a practice of forced conversion, where people would stand on the street corner throwing water on passersby and declaring that they had baptized them and now they were Christian. Understandably, this gross misrepresentation of the gospel message upset people to the extent that a law was made, a law that allows for people to share the gospel in the homes if invited, which seems like a more fitting environment for true gospel sharing, and quite in the style of how Jesus did this Himself!
As part of our education of the country’s culture, we were taken on a tour of the “Monkey Temple”, which is a compound of sorts of several temples, each dedicated to a specific Hindu god. We saw the practice of incineration of the deceased, in fact, we could smell it as well. It struck all of us that this appeared to be a funeral without hope, that this marked an end of the life journey with nothing more to offer in the way of comfort.
We also encountered a number of very persistent purveyors of trinkets and wares! They seemed to only be hitting us up for deals that surely we wouldn’t refuse, that is, if they wore us down enough! In the US, we are used to politely refusing with the understanding that this would end the solicitations, but clearly, that tactic did not work here! Some of us noticed how their understanding of the world was so rooted in the here and now, and that they were not able to see a person beyond the face of a would-be customer. And, it did feel odd to be so persistently targeted because of our American Tourist appearance.
After this excursion, we headed for the airport where we took a twin prop plane for a 40-minute flight to our final destination. As we flew, we saw how we were moving away from the urban areas and into the countryside where there were a number of smaller towns. Rice paddies were also very numerous, a reminder of the hard work it takes to simply survive.
We finally arrived at the hotel, both hungry and tired! But the adventures did not end here, for my roommate and I found a lizard over a foot long in our room up on the wall that quickly scurried into a safe place, probably certain we would never find it! We even called for a “lizard remover”, so they sent up security! Once it was determined that we could not find the lizard, fortunately, we were allowed to switch rooms instead of being asked to adopt a third silent and hidden roomie! Since we understand that this is a warmer climate, and that lizards live here too, we are aware of the fact that we could be seeing more of this even in the homes of the people we will visit this week. We have finally arrived!
On Monday, We Begin our training and will have our first home visit! Pray for us as we carry the Light into the homes of the people who live here, knowing that the perception of Jesus may have already been skewed before we ever got here! Pray for God to make His presence and power known through the gospel message we will be sharing!
Southeast Asia – July 23, 2023
Southeast Asia – July 23, 2023
We have arrived – almost!! Today, Sunday, we take our final flight to reach our destination.
We have been preparing for weeks. Some of us had hoped to get some more preparation in while on the plane. To practice our public speaking parts, on a flight with Qatar Airlines headed for the first stop of Qatar (a country adjacent to the United Arab Emirates) it became obvious that we were already in a different culture from the time we left Dulles. We began to sense just a little of what global workers already know when working in cultures with non-conversion laws – that we needed to be careful so as to not to unintentionally undo the work of many years. So we went through our 12-hour flight, then boarded another flight to Kathmandu, where our hotel has a view of the Himalayas. I’m sure it’s stunning view when not cloudy!
Going through the city of Kathmandu, it was obvious this was not an ordinary city. It has no skyscrapers, has sort of blocky-Asian type homes, and a heavy Hindu culture. We have included a few pics – as just one of those pics…any of those pics…is worth a thousand words. You’ll see what the dessert airfield looked from our point of view, what a developing country’s electrical infrastructure looks like going through town, and a view of the Himalayas from our hotel (look for the snow-capped mountain in the background in the cloudy mist!)
We enjoyed a meal with Becky, another global worker supported by PBC, and was able to hand off a suitcase full of American pre-packaged cuisines and a few other items necessary to the work she does there.
We ask for prayer for God to go before us, preparing the way for all that He will ask, and for protection for things we are aware of, and then those things we are not. Pray, too, for the team to not be overwhelmed in the things they see, but to be strong in the Lord and doing the work He has called us here to do, in His power, and for His glory, because, after all, that’s why we are here!!
