MUCH JOY

Thanks so much for praying for our trip to Nuuy’s family and the visit to her village. It was such a unique experience – very hard to put into words. Nuuy’s family was so happy to see her and by the end Nuuy’s Mother kept asking us to come back.

It was kind-of like a vacation Bible school time. Mon, Tues and Wed afternoon Marleen and I taught some basic English lessons and a game with the kids for an hour and then the Outreach Team broke the kids into groups by age and taught each group a story from the Bible, like David and Goliath, and some songs. Parents got attracted to what we were doing because of their kids’ interest. Parents and kids were especially invited for the last evening - the Outreach team prepared and served a meal, did a puppet show, shared their testimonies and performed a skit about Jesus. After dinner, two from the Team played games with the children while the rest of the Outreach Team was able to speak to the parents in smaller groups about Jesus. By the end of the last night, six people, including Nuuy’s Mother and Father, prayed for Jesus to come into their hearts. There were big smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes. It’s amazing how Nuuy’s choices (stepping out to leave the bars) back in Pattaya has created ripples of blessing to so many others :)

Many of the neighbors had heard what we were doing because we walked around the village before and after lunchtime each day visiting people. At each home, we’d sit and talk for a while and then pray for the person or family. I think the neighbors could see the sincerity on the faces of the Outreach Team as they took the time to listen, to care and to pray for each person. Among those we visited were the village store owner, a family where the grandmother could no longer walk and an older woman who’s begun really seeking spiritually (she’s concerned what will happen after she dies so she’s been giving a lot of money to the local temple in hopes of earning enough merit for a good afterlife).














PLANTING SEEDS (*name changed)

The original plan had been for Nuuy, Marleen and I to come back to Pattaya on Thursday while the Outreach Team would continue on to *Om’s village for another 2 days. I was really disappointed not to go to Om’s village – Om regularly goes on the bar outreach time in Pattaya, and we’ve gone together as a pair a few times to talk to the women. Though she doesn’t speak much English (aka, its been hard for me to learn much of her story), I really wanted to go in order to pray for Om, her family and the visit. We knew that her family wasn’t so supportive of her leaving the Bars and working at the Tamar Center (it means less money to send home to the family) and that they were potentially less open to the Gospel and the Team coming to do an outreach. I asked and was able to continue on with the Team.

The experience at Om’s village was largely different than at Nuuy’s. Her family didn’t really greet us right away and the Team was more sensitive in how they related, especially to Om’s Father. The village was also much, much larger. We did similiar walks around the village to visit people. Within the first afternoon, we met a little girl, maybe 8 years old, who was abandoned by her parents and whose grandfather is now taking care of her. Next was a 2 month old baby boy – grandmother now taking care of him. In Thailand, raising children is culturally different. It is much more common for the entire family, which typically live together or are in neighboring houses, to take roles in the care and the discipline of the child. Most of the women who are at the bars in Pattaya have children who are back home with their parents in their villages so that they can make money for the family.

Praise God for how He is at work…by the second day both of Om’s parents had long conversations with the Outreach Team. Om’s Father, especially, asked a lot of questions. At first he just thought that Christianity is like other beliefs but as the team talked with him and answered his questions, he thought more. He took a Bible – actually Om gave him her Bible – and he said he would read it and keep thinking about it. A visit that started with a grim greeting was a smiling, gracious goodbye by the time we left.

We did the children’s times – English, Bible stories and some songs – but not the Outreach to the adults on this trip. Plans are in the works to return to both Nuuy’s and Om’s villages – to encourage and help the new believers in their faith and to continue building relationships. Follow-up is a big focus of the Outreach Team – them taking turns to go to new villages in the NE area of Thailand (typically from where one of the Tamar women are from) and returning to villages that they’ve previously visited.

The work of the Outreach Team is so vital: to share who Jesus is with a community that's often never heard of Him, to connect with and to teach the families and to influence them, especially the women – all ages – that going to Pattaya or Bangkok to work in a bar isn’t the answer. All of this can hit part of the problem of the sex-for-sale industry that taints Pattaya and hopefully work towards ending the cycle of heartbreak. There are alternatives but so many don’t see it. The bars can seems like the only solution. At the bar I was at on Monday afternoon I talked with a mom and a daughter who were working together – 45 and 19 – so sad! Many of these women struggle for alternative work because they only have a 6th grade education, got married young, have children to support and their husbands have left.
Please pray with me for the work here – it is on the frontlines. There’s days that the staff seem really tired from giving, giving and giving some more. But, the Lord’s using it to make a difference – lives are being radically changed and set free.








FAST FORWARD

As I took the Songthaew (truck taxi) yesterday morning to get to the Tamar Center, a line from the song “Great Is Your Faithfulness” came into my head: “All I have needed Your hand has provided…” While I don’t always feel this way, it is always true – Everything I have needed along the way of life, He has provided. Faith in Jesus gives us promises for the future: “Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.” (Psalm 16: 5-6) He’s been intimately involved in even the harder things of the last few years that I’ve really struggled with. And, in Thailand, I’ve seen Him provide for me what I’ve truly needed (maybe not always what I wanted) and what’s been best for me to learn, to grow, to experience. Sometimes its been more about me changing my perspective on something than my circumstances needing to change. More easily said than done.
So with this written, my time in Pattaya has had a shadow to it – me wondering what will be next as I return to the US. No, I don’t know yet. If you know me well, you know how much my ‘planner’ brain would love to have these answers! I am a bit weary of existing in the holding pattern I’ve felt like I’ve been in for the last 2 years with what direction I should take next. So, as I considered the words of the song this morning, I realized again that God is providing me with everything I need. So for now, I believe that I’m not supposed to know entirely what the future holds. I braced myself for this very spot before I left Colorado in April. I had the expectation of returning without knowing the specifics of my next steps. I was open to Him ‘pleasantly surprising me’ though with a neat little plan, all of the “t’s” crossed and “i’s” dotted. But, that’s not exactly where I’m at. So this last month I’ve been praying a lot that I not grab something just to feel content that I have “some” plan. Faith is believing in and trusting for what we can’t see. I can’t see the future but I know that the God that I trust is infinitely bigger than the unknown details that I can’t see. Just as He died for and unconditionally loves the women that I’ve been helping to reach here in Pattaya, he loves me. So, I will wait and trust Him as I return to the States.

As I return to the US, I am really grateful that I have the flexibility to be available to spend time and help my sister and brother-in-law and nephew Grahm with the arrival of my new nephew Wynn (planned around July 25th!). If I was able to forge ahead in my next steps, this might not be possible. This was part of “my” plan and I’m glad it’s still the course I’m headed towards!

I look forward to seeing you soon! Love, Becky