Please be praying for our team as we are
traveling to Kolkata, and also safety and health while we are there!
 |
| (Left) Manit, Karleen, Meyho, Me, PJ, Dillon and Joy enjoying dessert at Cookies Crust after evangelism! |
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
This is it!
Today is the day!! We are India bound! I am so excited for the next leg of my journey that lies ahead. We will be staying at a missions house in Kolkata, India for one month, and working with the Mother Teresa house and other other ministries with kids and on the streets. I know God has amazing plans for this DTS team and I am so excited to see them unfold! We split into smaller teams to work with during the day, and I love mine! Dillon (USA) is the staff leader, Meyho (USA) is the student leader, then Me, PJ (New Zealand), Manit (Thailand), Karleen (Canada), and Joy (Malaysia). It is quite a team, but we have had a lot of bonding time were we have been able to laugh, talk, pray, and just get to know each other. I cannot wait to grow in relationship with them over the next two months!
Please be praying for our team as we are
traveling to Kolkata, and also safety and health while we are there!
Please be praying for our team as we are
traveling to Kolkata, and also safety and health while we are there!
Great Is Thy Faithfulness
Faithfulness. It seems like such a common characteristic of God, and it is, because He has so much of it that He is so willing to give to us, time and time again. CARM DTS has been abounding in God's faithfulness for us. In Jeremiah 29:13-14 (The Message) it says “When you come looking for me, you’ll find me.“Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” This verse rings so true, I finally understand the meaning God intended to me.
Hearing God's voice has always been something that I never thought was attainable for me. I thought only pastors and leaders heard the voice of God and that just the way it works. Throughout this entire DTS, that has been a huge thing that I have been learning, that God is speaking to me all day everyday through verses, lessons, other people, nature, quotes, and even my own mind. I have finally made it to a place that I trust myself and I trust God enough that I can hear His voice. Yesterday as I sat under the community room table in prayer with my outreach team, I was hearing God's voice as if He was sitting right next to me. Receiving verse after verse that connected so well, getting pictures, discovering things. I had a huge grin on my face, utterly in awe of how well I was hearing His voice. I doubted it at first, thinking "Oh this is just a verse I know it doesn't mean anything." And then another verse popped into my head that related the the first. God was chuckling at me saying "Yes Bekah, I'm talking to you, take this wisdom I am giving to you and share it!" So I shared with my group Jeremiah 29:13 and many other verses about the miracles that Jesus did while His time on earth. The connection I drew from these verses and God's words to me was this... God is faithful. If you wake up everyday eager to do what God has plan for your life then He will bless you. That is exactly where God wants you to be, in a position of complete and utter surrender and willingness. If everyday you die to yourself and give God your fear, and worry, and pride, you will see miracles unfold right in front of your eyes. Each time we give something over to God, we are walking in truth and obedience. Each time, God will send little blessing to say "I'm so proud of you, keep going, I have so much more for you!" If your and your entire self is devoted to what God has for your life and if you die to yourself everyday to walk in that truth, then you have the power of the Almighty at your fingertips. You will do great things in Jesus' name. But its hard and its a process. It is something that has to be done every single day, but it is worth it. It is so worth it. The joy, peace, and security you feel when you are walking in truth with Jesus is unmeasured. He is faithful. He does not disappoint. He will not let you down.
"My feet may fail and fear surrounds me. But you've mever failed and you wont start now." - Hillsong United "Oceans"
Because of God's faithfulness we:
1. Were able to minister to non-Christian kids at a youth camp, Camp Zoe, on our first week of outreach
2. Were able to raise over 2,000,000 baht (around 70,00 USD) in about four weeks
3. Received over 30 visas for our outreach to India
And multiple other things! God has been so good to CARM DTS 2013!
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Pattaya
Last week, CARM DTS loaded up the vans and trucks and headed to Pattaya for a week. Pattaya is a beach about an hour and half away from Bangkok where human trafficking is huge. We went here for a week of lectures and also mini outreach. After an insane bus ride with pouring rain and hundred mile an hour driver, we thanfully made it safely. We stayed in the middle of a concrete building, imagine a parking deck but all the levels above ground are mostly building. It was a strange set up. I was in a room with Kayla and the two Thai girls, Pim and Wongduen, they were awesome roommates for the week because they are very chill and neat. We stayed on the fourth floor which was a hike up the steep stairs so that was what my exercise of the week was. It was so fun being at the beach for the week. Compared to the beaches in the states, it was very dirty, just trash everywhere, and weird rocky sand, but the sunsets over the water and being there with amazing people was perfect.
We were being lectured on evangelism during the days preparing for our street evangelism on Thursday night. We also had a workshop on Monday learning about how to evangelize specifically to children and what that looks like. That was very interesting and a definitely a good topic for us to be learning about. On Tuesday was my ministry day. We went to a Pattaya slum and taught about 15 kids about God's love for them. We sang a song, made a craft and gave them food after. It was so fun, and those kids were amazing. They were so excited to learn and meet us and just to be with us. I really hope that God plants a seed in those children and that it will continue to be watered and that one day they will truly understand and what to follow God!
On Wednesday night, we had small group. My small leaders are Jing (China), Dillon (Missouri), and Bec (Australia) and in my group is PJ (Perth), Grace (Brazil), Paula (Finland), Brandi (Nashville), Hannah (Arkansas), and Manit (Thailand). And I adore my small group, we are only supposed to have it for an hour each week, but we find ourselves staying together for like 3 or 4 hours just talking, laughing and having a great time. This week, we decided to take advantage of being a Pattaya and go have small group on the beach. We sat on the sand, Manit played worship music on the guitar as a few of us sang, some threw the frisbee around and walked around in the water. Then we came together and talked about the task ahead of us for the next night - street evangelism. We talked about how some of us had been hurt by evangelism in the past, or our fears, or our disagreements with us, and then we prayed them out. Just asking God for the words, and the ears to hear what He is telling us, and who is He telling us to speak to, we ask for boldness and just to take away any fear. I felt so much better after our time in prayer, I has been feeling nervous and just being too scared to approach complete strangers in fear of rejection or judgment. After prayer, Bec pulled me aside with a word from God she had received for me. She said to me "You have value, you have worth, you have wisdom. You think you don't because of your age or your past or something, but you do have wisdom, you just need to believe that God is speaking to you and He is using you already." That was awesome, struck a nerve and served as a great reminder as I went into the next day.
Around 5 o'clock in the evening we loaded up the sung tao to head off the the red light district of Pattaya. We got subway for dinner which was a nice surprise. Then we walked down a back alley behind the main road of the red light district to go to a communal worship time.It turned out to be only our team and two other ladies, but it was awesome. We sang out "Be bold, be strong" as we all split into our groups and headed out into the crowded streets of Pattaya. In my group was me, Meyho (Northern California) and Joy (Malaysia) \, all three of us were pretty nervous but out we went. The song God of this City (which was written in and about Pattaya) rang in my head. I kept singing it over and over, praying for a picture of someone or a sense of who to talk to. Nothing. We spoke to one lady who moved to Thailand from Russia with her boyfriend, but now she just works all the time as a travel agent and has terrible hours. We spoke to her about God and His love for her, she seemed interested but it was hard for her because was in the middle of working. So we gave her Joy's number in case she ever needed to call with questions or just someone to talk to and walked away. We continued to pray and we just walked to the mall a few blocks away from the beach. We walked through and saw two eastern men, and both Meyho and Joy felt like we should talk to them. We smiled and follow them outside the mall, where two other men joined them. Turns out they are from Pakistan and Iran and just visiting Pattaya for a vacation. We told them where we were from and when I told them I was from the States, the man standing next to me gave me a very excited, creepy look. I immediately backed up, but another guy was standing there. Meyho and Joy continued to talk to the other men, while this man pulled out his camera and insisted I take a picture with him. I refused many times but he touched my arm and my back trying to get me to come over to him. I backed up and walked over to Meyho, telling her I was very uncomfortable and wanted to leave. We ended the conversation and walked away. I didn't like that at all, I was pushed way out of my comfort zone, in a bad way, and I just wanted to go back and sleep. I was done. I felt self-protective and just violated. We were walking down by the beach again and we stepped aside and prayed for renewal of the night, just for it to be restored and for God to give us one more person, so thise night wouldn't be left on this awful note.
Out of a darkness, we saw a lady sitting on the curb by herself. We all felt like we should go speak to her. Turns out she was a prostitute, in a broken marriage and her children living away from her. You could see the sadness and destruction in her eyes, and my heart began to break. She didn't know how to get out of her current situation even though she wanted to so bad. We told her how much God loved her and she said she knew that all but she can't do any good works for Him to accept her but Buddha asks all these things but she can't measure up. But I told her, I have done a lot of dumb things in my past, and God still stood there with His arms wide open ready to catch me when I came running to Him. We told her He accepts you for everything, you've done and He loves you more than you could ever know. And God, He does what, to us, seems impossible, He can fix your family, He can reunite you with your children, He can get you out of this job. She thanked us, and we gave her the card of a lady who works in Pattaya and would be able to get her help if she ever needed it. As were were leaving she began to cry. We prayed over her that the Lord would just flood her with His love. It was so incredible. Needless to say, the night was restored.
We were being lectured on evangelism during the days preparing for our street evangelism on Thursday night. We also had a workshop on Monday learning about how to evangelize specifically to children and what that looks like. That was very interesting and a definitely a good topic for us to be learning about. On Tuesday was my ministry day. We went to a Pattaya slum and taught about 15 kids about God's love for them. We sang a song, made a craft and gave them food after. It was so fun, and those kids were amazing. They were so excited to learn and meet us and just to be with us. I really hope that God plants a seed in those children and that it will continue to be watered and that one day they will truly understand and what to follow God!
On Wednesday night, we had small group. My small leaders are Jing (China), Dillon (Missouri), and Bec (Australia) and in my group is PJ (Perth), Grace (Brazil), Paula (Finland), Brandi (Nashville), Hannah (Arkansas), and Manit (Thailand). And I adore my small group, we are only supposed to have it for an hour each week, but we find ourselves staying together for like 3 or 4 hours just talking, laughing and having a great time. This week, we decided to take advantage of being a Pattaya and go have small group on the beach. We sat on the sand, Manit played worship music on the guitar as a few of us sang, some threw the frisbee around and walked around in the water. Then we came together and talked about the task ahead of us for the next night - street evangelism. We talked about how some of us had been hurt by evangelism in the past, or our fears, or our disagreements with us, and then we prayed them out. Just asking God for the words, and the ears to hear what He is telling us, and who is He telling us to speak to, we ask for boldness and just to take away any fear. I felt so much better after our time in prayer, I has been feeling nervous and just being too scared to approach complete strangers in fear of rejection or judgment. After prayer, Bec pulled me aside with a word from God she had received for me. She said to me "You have value, you have worth, you have wisdom. You think you don't because of your age or your past or something, but you do have wisdom, you just need to believe that God is speaking to you and He is using you already." That was awesome, struck a nerve and served as a great reminder as I went into the next day.
Around 5 o'clock in the evening we loaded up the sung tao to head off the the red light district of Pattaya. We got subway for dinner which was a nice surprise. Then we walked down a back alley behind the main road of the red light district to go to a communal worship time.It turned out to be only our team and two other ladies, but it was awesome. We sang out "Be bold, be strong" as we all split into our groups and headed out into the crowded streets of Pattaya. In my group was me, Meyho (Northern California) and Joy (Malaysia) \, all three of us were pretty nervous but out we went. The song God of this City (which was written in and about Pattaya) rang in my head. I kept singing it over and over, praying for a picture of someone or a sense of who to talk to. Nothing. We spoke to one lady who moved to Thailand from Russia with her boyfriend, but now she just works all the time as a travel agent and has terrible hours. We spoke to her about God and His love for her, she seemed interested but it was hard for her because was in the middle of working. So we gave her Joy's number in case she ever needed to call with questions or just someone to talk to and walked away. We continued to pray and we just walked to the mall a few blocks away from the beach. We walked through and saw two eastern men, and both Meyho and Joy felt like we should talk to them. We smiled and follow them outside the mall, where two other men joined them. Turns out they are from Pakistan and Iran and just visiting Pattaya for a vacation. We told them where we were from and when I told them I was from the States, the man standing next to me gave me a very excited, creepy look. I immediately backed up, but another guy was standing there. Meyho and Joy continued to talk to the other men, while this man pulled out his camera and insisted I take a picture with him. I refused many times but he touched my arm and my back trying to get me to come over to him. I backed up and walked over to Meyho, telling her I was very uncomfortable and wanted to leave. We ended the conversation and walked away. I didn't like that at all, I was pushed way out of my comfort zone, in a bad way, and I just wanted to go back and sleep. I was done. I felt self-protective and just violated. We were walking down by the beach again and we stepped aside and prayed for renewal of the night, just for it to be restored and for God to give us one more person, so thise night wouldn't be left on this awful note.
Out of a darkness, we saw a lady sitting on the curb by herself. We all felt like we should go speak to her. Turns out she was a prostitute, in a broken marriage and her children living away from her. You could see the sadness and destruction in her eyes, and my heart began to break. She didn't know how to get out of her current situation even though she wanted to so bad. We told her how much God loved her and she said she knew that all but she can't do any good works for Him to accept her but Buddha asks all these things but she can't measure up. But I told her, I have done a lot of dumb things in my past, and God still stood there with His arms wide open ready to catch me when I came running to Him. We told her He accepts you for everything, you've done and He loves you more than you could ever know. And God, He does what, to us, seems impossible, He can fix your family, He can reunite you with your children, He can get you out of this job. She thanked us, and we gave her the card of a lady who works in Pattaya and would be able to get her help if she ever needed it. As were were leaving she began to cry. We prayed over her that the Lord would just flood her with His love. It was so incredible. Needless to say, the night was restored.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Bangkok International Ten's
This weekend is the Bangkok International Ten's Rugby tournament, where teams from all around Bangkok and the world come to raise money for Nak Suu and other charities. So naturally, since we are apart of Nak Suu, we have to help work the tournament. A sports DTS from Perth flew in to help us as part of their outreach, so that was extremely helpful. Kayla, Michelle, and Tim (a member of the sports DTS), and I were in charge of selling raffle tickets for the 50/50 raffle. Where half the proceeds earned went to the winner and the other half was donated to Nak Suu. We were out in the sun, walking around all day trying to sell these tickets. The only problem is neither Kayla or I like to try and sell stuff to people we don't know, so we recruited a bunch of people to help us and in the end we got 15,000 baht worth. Hopefully tomorrow we can do better, maybe it won't be so hot.
Rugby is a really cool sport, I wish it was more popular in the States. For those of you who don't know, its basically a combination of soccer and football. They can kick the ball, throw it, and completely tackle, but there are no pads and obviously the rules are very different. The first half of today was just a little kids tournament, so some of the younger teams were playing touch but others were playing tackle. It was insane how tough some of the kids are. There were four Nak Suu kid's teams, only one did pretty well and the others struggle. But, just remember,Nak Suu is a organization that teaching kids front he slum how to play rugby, learn b about God and learn some English, because otherwise they cannot afford it. Later in the day, the men's teams played. We got to watch our Nak Suu Warriors climb to the top of the tournament, in a face off for the finals tomorrow! It was so cool watching them slide, jump, tackle,m and protect each other from the crazy huge opposing players. I am excited for tomorrow to see more men's games, especially the Warriors. Go Nak Suu!!!
Rugby is a really cool sport, I wish it was more popular in the States. For those of you who don't know, its basically a combination of soccer and football. They can kick the ball, throw it, and completely tackle, but there are no pads and obviously the rules are very different. The first half of today was just a little kids tournament, so some of the younger teams were playing touch but others were playing tackle. It was insane how tough some of the kids are. There were four Nak Suu kid's teams, only one did pretty well and the others struggle. But, just remember,Nak Suu is a organization that teaching kids front he slum how to play rugby, learn b about God and learn some English, because otherwise they cannot afford it. Later in the day, the men's teams played. We got to watch our Nak Suu Warriors climb to the top of the tournament, in a face off for the finals tomorrow! It was so cool watching them slide, jump, tackle,m and protect each other from the crazy huge opposing players. I am excited for tomorrow to see more men's games, especially the Warriors. Go Nak Suu!!!
Recap
Wow it has truly been weeks since I have written on here, and I am so sorry. It has been an insane couple of weeks, full of being homesick, frustration and fun times. Lets start off by doing highs and lows:
Highs:
1. Getting two packages in one week from home!!
2. Going to Cookies and Crust for small group
3. South African Community night (such amazing food)
4. Hanging out with my favorite kids from Mahathai
5. Making cupcakes
6. Having a late night jam sesssion with Kayla, Bec, and Oo
7. Being able to talk to my family, and best friends!
8. Valentines Day: made breakfast for the boys, the boys served us dinner, saw Safe Haven
9. Ice skating
Lows:
1. Homesick
2. Life gets hard when you are surrounded by the same people 24/7
3. Miscommunication
4. Boring speakers
5. Heaps of things to get done
6. The fact that I am 3 weeks behind on my journal
7. Being in the blazing sun all day at the BIT (Bangkok International Ten's, rugby tournament)
8. Hurting my shoulder while ice skating (I'm a grandma)
9. Ikea for 2 hours
I love Thailand, but right now and the past few weeks, I have really just wanted to go home, hug my family and friends, curl up on the couch with my doggies and watch movie and be home and be relaxed, and not worry about what I have to do next or whatever. It sounds terrible, I came all the way over here, nearly 10,000 miles and right now I'm miserable. But I think I'm allowed that, to be able to miss home for a bit. But I'm not letting it affect the experience, I'm staying positive that soon this funk will pass and it will all be fine.
Depressing post. sorrrrry xoxo
Highs:
1. Getting two packages in one week from home!!
2. Going to Cookies and Crust for small group
3. South African Community night (such amazing food)
4. Hanging out with my favorite kids from Mahathai
5. Making cupcakes
6. Having a late night jam sesssion with Kayla, Bec, and Oo
7. Being able to talk to my family, and best friends!
8. Valentines Day: made breakfast for the boys, the boys served us dinner, saw Safe Haven
9. Ice skating
Lows:
1. Homesick
2. Life gets hard when you are surrounded by the same people 24/7
3. Miscommunication
4. Boring speakers
5. Heaps of things to get done
6. The fact that I am 3 weeks behind on my journal
7. Being in the blazing sun all day at the BIT (Bangkok International Ten's, rugby tournament)
8. Hurting my shoulder while ice skating (I'm a grandma)
9. Ikea for 2 hours
I love Thailand, but right now and the past few weeks, I have really just wanted to go home, hug my family and friends, curl up on the couch with my doggies and watch movie and be home and be relaxed, and not worry about what I have to do next or whatever. It sounds terrible, I came all the way over here, nearly 10,000 miles and right now I'm miserable. But I think I'm allowed that, to be able to miss home for a bit. But I'm not letting it affect the experience, I'm staying positive that soon this funk will pass and it will all be fine.
Depressing post. sorrrrry xoxo
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Nuk Suu
Being a DTS student you have to be invovlved with one of the minisitries with the different kids in the community. Youth Night is on Friday night where we come together and worship and then those 12 kids spend the night, and then those same kids and bunches more join the other half of the students for Nuk Suu, a day of rugby. Today was our first day of Nuk Suu. We woke up at 7 to be ready to go and load up the trucks at 7:30, finally we got on the road, riding in the bed of the trucks. Meyho and I then traveled to Madhathai, a slum that we go to every week, to go ask more kids to come, sadly we only found one boy, Mai, who wanted to come. AFter a full morning of rugby, English class, and a messge with a craft, we ate lunch with the kids then piled back into the truck and headed home. After all the girls had gotten showers and some snacks, Sopo came over and told us if we wanted to swim in his pool we were more than welcome. At first we didnt want to because we had all just showered, but this is a one time thing so we all ran next door and jumped into the pool and had an awesome time with each other and his two youngest kids. Today has been such an awesome day. Tonight we are going out to eat at Mega Bangna with some of the staff girls and then going to see Les Mis, so everyone is very excited about that. I am loving life in Thailand so much. I am beyond blessed to be here.
Glimpse of Heaven
At a YWAM Bangkok meeting, I truly experienced what I believe Heaven will be like. The entire group; people from different cities, nations, and continents were singing together "Blessed be the name of the Lord." Then again in unison we sang the same words but both English and Thai together. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced and absolutely something I will never forget. No matter our backgrounds, skin color, hardships, or even language, we can all still come together and worship a God who has never left our side through it all.
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