Monday, March 02, 2009
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Friday, May 05, 2006
One of my best memories in the camp was the Songkran festival mid-April 2005. It's a 3 day water festival marking the start of the rainy season. There are huge waterfights. On this occasion in the camp they lasted for the full 3 days. People covered each other in water and talc and red dye. We went out in pick ups with huge tubs of ice-cold water chucking it over people. Others would line the streets and stop every bike or pick up that went past - soaking all the drivers and pasengers. It's supposed to be a blessing to be soaked. But the water is often ice cold !
The army were doing a lot of construction work in the area at that time so they were also out on their huge trucks with great big hose pipes dreanching everything in sight. It was such a laugh and it was the first time there seemed to be a real lift in people's mood. In some ways it seems like a healthy thing to be playing with water. It seemed like somehow it was healing a lot of people from the fear of water they had since the Tsunami. The community really bonded in the camp at this time.
On the last day we had a sports day and I ended up on the Morgan women's football team... and scored a goal that Michael Owen himself would have been envious of ! Though besides that our opponents were good and we lost! We had proper football shirts though and I had a pair of rather baggy football shorts to wear cos my little running shorts really weren't suitable for the occasion.
The other events were the tug of war and the sack race. I definitely felt it the next day.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Anyway... my visits at that time were brief. I was tired, bitten badly and grubby a lot of the time but I like being at the camp. Often I would be prayer walking knowing that we were totally out of babycare stuff and slowly tourists were becoming fewer. But every time things got desperate I would be praying and I'd get an urgent feeling I needed to return to the tent, or I'd just go back for a drink or a rest just in time for someone to turn up with a great big donation of baby care goods or someone looking to give money to help babies. It was always just the right time to explain the work and ministry of Phantasanja to the people. God always provided.
Another time I remember getting a bit fed up walking on my own and I prayed one day for some walking companions. On the day I prayed I remember a stray dog with no fur walking 5 laps of the camp with me. No matter where I went he followed me... it wasn't quite what I had in mind. The next day huge trenches were being dug to catch the rain because huge puddles in the camp were getting bigger. The rainy season was well underway and showers were turning to downpours for longer and heavier intervals. One one particular day I couldn't get round the back of the camp because a huge trench had been built and there was no way to get across. So I took a detour. There was another smaller camp area across the road so I decided to walk and pray round there for a day. I bumped into some of the mothers from the centre. Then suddenly I saw a man I knew - Missionary from Ban Nam Khem village called David. He had just been talking about me to a team of volunteers. He had heard from someone else that I had been praying. I had met him and his family just once but he had been so touched by it that he had told others. That da it was a total God send. I had been praying for people to walk with. He had been talking to the team, and they wanted to join me. So I met the team, talked to them and took them with me to spend a day visiting homes, praying for the sick and prayer walking the camp.
Everyday when I walked I felt really self-conscious each time I walked past the tent where the Buddhist monks lived. They had set up a bit of a temporary Wat there. I really didn't want them to think I was arrogantly parading my religion past their patch everyday in order to try to insult pass any form or judgment on them. I just prayed that I would somehow have an opportunity to share my faith with them and that they would see the heart of God and Christ's humility in my heart. On one day it was particularly on my mind. That morning as I was walking I saw a friend and stopped to talk to him just near to the monks tent. It was about 11:30. As I was talking to my friend the head monk called over and invited us in to eat lunch with them. They eat twice a day in the morning and 11:30. After 12 mid-day they fast until the following morning. My friend declined the offer as he was busy, so I just began to shuffle on the spot and prepare to carry on walking. But as I went to go he called me over and asked me to join them anyway. He invited me to sit with some of the ladies and to eat with them.
Most of the loal people give their best food to the monks each day to earn a blessing or credit so it was a tasty lunch. As I sat I listened to the monk talking and politely answered his questions. After we ate he told me he thinks I must have been a Thai in my last life because I was so polite. And then he went on to say that he thought I had a good and gentle heart and asked me why I was here. I felt so astonished. I was walking past them everyday reading my bible yet he had perceived me to be polite when I was so concerned that I was being rude.
I listened to him talk a bit about his beliefs and he asked me if I believed the same. I replied that I was a Christian and that my beliefs were different from his. So he asked me to return the next day. As I had listened to Him, he wanted to listen to what I believed. It was amazing how the opportunity arised and that I was able to share with them. I ended up giving him a bible and I'd copied out a lot of verses into Thai which I felt backed up the explanation of my faith that I had given him. I even heard that they had a DVD of the Passion of the Christ!
Anyway - those were some interesting times. God was amazing me everyday.
Invitation to the Thirsty
Why spend money on what is not bread,
Give ear and come to me;
See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
Surely you will summon nations you know not,
Seek the LORD while he may be found;
Let the wicked forsake his way
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
"As the heavens are higher than the earth,
As the rain and the snow
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
You will go out in joy
Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree,
As well as the challenging moments in the camp there were also times that really really opened my eyes to God's power and faithfulness. I wasn't really aiming to find God when I came here because as far as I was aware - I already had received Jesus into my life. But my prayer was that God would work in my heart and change me so that there was less of ME in me and more of Jesus. but since I've been in Thailand I've experienced and learnt things about God on a much deeper, more intimate, honest and much more REAL level. And learning these things have also lead to to learning so much about myself and the kind of person I've chosen to be. This hasn't been as romantic as it sounds. It's been a year of facing some harsh realities, humbling situations and huge battles. It's been a time of refinement and looking at the state of my heart, which has been a bit of a mess. Other times have just been times of revelation and bowing in worship to a sovereign and faithful Father God.
There's been so many moments which to some are either going to sound mushy, weird, nice... Seeing as I'm reflecting at the moment on my time in the camp I'm just going to mention a couple of the things from being in the camp that really opened my eyes to God's presence in my life and his faithfulness. Some of them may be those "you had to be there moments" and I guess only the Holy Spirit can bridge the gap between the things that are lost in translation from my writing, to your reading of my testimony.
I was really blessed by God's provision of friends when I was living in Bang Muang. There was a YWAM team in who I clicked with in particular and I was able to meet with the team in the mornings for prayer and some bible study and worship in the morning which was really refreshing to me - since the Thai ones at the Phantasanja tent in the evening were, well... in Thai for a start. The team were a huge support I prayer, friendship and even guidance with a few cultural differences I was fast becoming aware of.
Other teams came in and out of the camp regularly and it was just amazing how well it was often timed. One team from Calvary chapel in the states were a huge blessing. There was a group of girls who would come to the tent and just give me the boost I needed to get through the day when things were getting hard or tiring. At one point I had been really praying about having a way to get out of the camp when I needed some time out. With the amount of rice I was eating I was quite keen to exercise. I was thinking for a while about getting a bicycle, but not knowing how long I would be in the area. Anyway I wasn't really sure if this was a good think to invest in, or whether it was just a passing fad. So for a while I just prayed about it. I saw the girls from the Calvary chapel team a few times and I can remember them advising me to make sure I took some time out for myself, and they must have picked up on my keenness for exercise as I had started jogging every morning. On their last day their whole team turned up to say goodbye and presented me with a bike. I was totally speechless. I just felt so blessed by God that he knew me so well.
During that time I was so keen to help and give to others but it seemed that God was also teaching me to receive from others.
The teams were often busy with various projects during the day so I did the prayer walking on my own. There were times when I would walk and read my bible (often stubbing my toe for not looking where I was going) and I was just filled with such an overwhelming feeling over love and compassion like I'd never felt before. I can remember one particular time that I was so overwhelmed with this feeling that I just didn't know what to do or where to channel it. I felt like my heart was too small to contain it and I just wanted to be able to communicate God's love to the people I was praying for. But all I could do was pray that God would grow my heart and continue to fill it so that my attitude and actions towards these people would always be an attitude of love from the overflow of the love god had put in me. By myself I was able to do nothing but the compassion that God was putting in me was enabling me to intercede and fall in love with these people. I prayed that God would give me His heart and His eyes to see these people as he sees them. And I believe that's one of the miracles that was beginning to happen in my heart.
Sometimes when I would walk and pray I would pray songs on behalf of the people. Other times I would read scriptures on their behalf. But I really wanted to be able to tell people that I was praying for them and why. One day I was thinking about this and just asking God how I could tell people. One of the leaders of the Thai YWAM office had a slot on the radio station for a few hours each day which actually ran from one of the little wooden shacks in the camp. On this particular day I was walking across the camp and saw one of the team and they just casually dropped into the sentence "oh by the way, you're on the radio tomorrow to talk about your prayer walking." So the next day I spent an hour being interviewed with Ghan who also interpreted for me. I shared a bit about the power of prayer but also from the spiritual perspective that Jesus's disciples went out praying and teaching people from village to village. I believed that even though I couldn't speak their language, that I would still be able to build a relationship with the people and share God's love with them I was also proclaiming God's victory and healing for the land and the people I believe he wanted... and still wants to bless and heal and save.
I shared with them Ephesians 6: 10 -12
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
I just felt that spiritually this was a battle ground and I wanted to pray for God's peace, protection and restoration over these shattered lives. Following that day - my walk around the camp would be broken by invitations in to houses, gifts (mainly vegetables) and people approaching me to ask me to pray for them. I suddenly realised that God had answered another prayer... suddenly I found I was able to communicate with people... with a lot of sign language. But my Thai was improving.
It was a real privilege to live in the Mother and Child centre. I would sleep on the floor under a mosquito net - but I honestly can't remember sleeping so well... that is, until the rainy season started. I felt so blessed to have the opportunity to be so immersed in a Thai community and to be involved in such a special way. A lot of the people who were coming to the tent in the evenings for bible study were people who I'd seen be baptised by Anurak in Pattalung. I just wished I could understand what they were saying. But most nights I would just sit and listen.
I talked on an earlier blog about the old lady I unknowingly agreed to live with. She came to the centre for quite a while. She had such sad eyes. She would just talk and talk. So many times I would try to tell her I didn't understand. But I would just pray for her. The main thing that I prayed for her was that she would know God's joy and that she would feel joy in her heart. One day, soon after that, I had a translator with me and she had a really sad story. I felt even more fuelled to pray for her to have an injection of joy. On a particular night she came and I sat there praying over and over again that she would know the joy of the Lord. Everyone was sitting and chatting. I have no idea what they were talking about. But this lady (her name was Lek) was talking a fair bit and suddenly her face just lit up and she just collapsed into a fit of giggles. Then for the next 2 hours everyone was just in fits of laughter. And Lek more than anyone was laughing so much she gave herself a stomach ache.
She gave me vegetables and sweet potatoes from her little vegetable stall everyday. I loved her so much !