I'm not gonna lie, it's pretty awesome to be able to be a part of what God is doing in Thailand!
Sure, there are times when it's extremely difficult and the many clashes of culture and distance from things that are familiar weed their pricking thorns into what were my otherwise comfortable feelings of peace with where God has me...and believe me, they are not fun. But that happens to everybody regardless of their physical location, current vocation or heart status. I'm just glad for the incredible opportunities He's deemed me worthy enough to take part in; most recently a trip to Chiang Dao with Kelly Jessen and Pastor Kamsen.
We got a late start heading the 2 hours North from Chiang Mai to the small municipality surrounded by countless smaller villages, each distinguished by the minority people group that inhabits it. We made our way up the curving mountainsides, rain splashing the windshield, whipping around corners that still make me a more than a little carsick thinking about it, and passing police checkpoints intent on discovering smugglers from transporting their loads of opium. Eventually reaching our destination just next door to the Lisu Bible Institute, where Kelly would be teaching the next 3 days.
The mornings and afternoons consisted mostly of Kelly, teaching in English which was then translated into Lisu, with me following along in the Thai copy of the notes. (Got a headache yet?) The students, who are mostly aged 17-20 with a few village pastors mixed in there, sat on hard benches scribbling notes in their all-capital handwriting that when read out loud sounded like trying to talk with a kazoo in their mouth, making buzzing sounds as they formed words.
Kelly was busy teaching them all sorts of tools that most Americans would have understood since they were young growing up in the church; how to pray, how to share the gospel, how to make disciples versus converts, leading small groups and Bible studies, developing leaders and expanding their own personal ministries so not to just become stagnant and filled with the same people.
Because honestly, after the last hundred or so years of Christian influence and ministry in Thailand, the 1% Christ-following population isn't exactly something to brag about. We've gotten so focused on coming in with money and the importance to build a church BUILDING rather than expand the actual church of believers. Fund-raising and filling seats is far less important than really meeting with people and discipling them where they're at. Forget the pews, the stage, the podium and musical equipment; those are nice, and blessings, but they're so WESTERN and ultimately unnecessary. Many pastors and church leaders in Thailand have the mindset that if ONLY they could get those things, then they would have a successful church. (Wonder where they got that mindset from?)
It was awesome to see them break into small groups and tentatively begin reading through a passage of scripture with a set of questions to get them diving into the word of God. At first with many awkward glances and unsure comments to those around them, afraid of getting the answers wrong. Then an hour later seeing them come back into the big group and when asked if they liked the time, responded with a very loud "KAZOO!" ('Yes', for those of you who didn't pick up on the earlier comment).
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During the evenings, after a quick shower and dinner, the three of us headed about 30 minutes into the jungle to a Lahu village, which several of the girls from BHJ are from. Met with the pastor and the congregation there along with swarms of children riding their bicycles barefooted and skidding to a halt and peeking around each other why large, shy eyes. (The second night...not so shy; instead we were tackled.) We had come to lead a shorter version of all that was being taught at the Lisu Bible Institute.
With Kamsen translating this time into Thai, I was able to be a lot more of use and helped teach some parts of it and participated in smaller groups as long as we kept speaking Thai instead of Lahu (another tonal buzzing dialect). We practiced with praying and discipling, and especially with explaining the Gospel, because this village is one of the several we'll be coming back to next month with a short-term team with the intent of creating more house churches and spreading the word to the Hmong, Karen, Yao and Northern Thai peoples - with the current church members as the ones doing most of the evangelism rather than our own translators.
So, now back in Chiang Mai, I'm already looking forward to seeing those at the Lisu Bible Institute and the Lahu village of Godbodbong in a few weeks and seeing what God will have done and what is going to be done in the future!
P.S. I was told that Lisu and Lahu could each be learned proficiently in 6 months...could be useful in Thailand, Laos, Burma, India and China!
