"Now go, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves" - Luke 10:3
They say it's easier said than done. And sometimes they may even say it's crazy. And who could blame them? If I was still on the outside looking in, I might have said the same. Yet now I am on the inside looking out. And I am not alone. I am with my shepherd. He is sending us, His sheep, out among the wolves once more.
Never in my life would I have ever thought I'd be the one to say that in the past week I've been walking around in the streets of Bankok with 4 other people I only met at the beginning of the year. Not knowing where we are going, when we will eat again or where we will sleep. Yet we kept moving forward with faith in our hearts and bibles in our hands. Sounds a bit like a mental scenario don't you think? Yet here I am today, a week later. And now I'm telling a story that I never thought would be possible (I'm still trying to make sense of it all to be honest). But here we go.
The day we started with our Luke 10 we felt we should head into the direction of Bankoks infamous Bang Kwang prison, where apparently it is known for its horrible ways of execution in the past. So we were off, to a prison, by choice.. On our way there we were picked up by a fish truck who took us to the high way. There our luck seemed to have run out at first. Mostly we only received very strange looks from the locals whom we asked for directions to the prison. But finally a guy in a white pick up truck stopped and payed for a taxi to take us to the prison. And off we went. When we arrived there we realised that on Saturdays and Sundays everything is closed. And that day was a Saturday. Yet we were able to talk to one of the inmates, Tom, and we were able to share the Gospel with him. Through out the week Willem and Johnstone visited him again and he decided to accept Jesus into his life and become a Christian! That was amazing.
As we left the prison we headed down a little side road where we met an American man, John, who moved to Thailand a few years ago. We also spent a bit of time at his place during the week.(He was the person who blessed us with our first meal that Saturday night). We were able to pray with him and also just let him talk about himself. He is a amazing person, who had a rough past. It really broke my heart to listen to him sometimes, because he really lost his love for life. But we keep him in our hearts and prayers every day. And we know that God is looking after him and that he will be oky, he just needs to believe that. In my heart in pray that his future will be as bright as the sun itself. Even if it's just because he regained his love for life.
That night we thought we would sleep on the streets, but a very nice car guard and his friends decided to bless us by booking us into a hotel! (Honestly at that stage I was jumping and screaming on the inside yelling JESUS!!)
On Sunday we walked around for a while. But it was fun because the five of us Geneke, Michelle, Johnstone, Willem and I had amazing conversations and we met a lot of people! Finally we came to a little coffee shop where we asked if they maybe know if there is a church nearby. While we were trying to find directions to the nearest church we also found two pamphlets of two organisations, Santisuk foundation and Baan Nokkamin foundation (witch I will come back to a bit later). The guy behind the counter who tried to explain to us where to go suddenly decided to call a taxi, pay for it, and sent us off to the church. At that point the five of us just sat there in total astonishment by the fact that we've been riding in two different taxi's in two days where people payed them for us.
As we arrived at the church we were welcomed with a lot of curious faces. But all of them had beautiful hearts. The people listened to our explanations about our Luke 10 with disbelief clearly on their faces. There they blessed us with coffee, biscuits and 1500 Baht! That's the equivalent of R555! We couldn't believe it. Before we left there we prayed with the people and decided we will go to one of the foundations, Santisuk. We used some of the money the church gave us to pay for a taxi to take us to the foundation. And to our surprise we found out that the street the foundation is in, is the street right next to the slums. Winning!
But because it was Sunday, it was closed. So as dedicated as we are we decided that as it's already getting dark, and it looks like it's going to rain again. That we will sleep infront of the gate of the foundation tonight. Because there was no other place to go. We used a bit of the money again to buy dinner. Now we already used 400 Baht of the 1500 we received. But not long after that we found another church in the same street and the people there were so captivated by our story that they decided not only to house us and feed us for that night alone. But also for the rest of our Luke 10! And so we met our people of peace. And it was not long before we started to love them like family. Actually, they became our family during our stay there. We had Bible study with them in the morning. And the first morning they actually gave us 400 Baht. Without knowing that we already have money. So the previous 400 Baht we already used, was replaced.
During the week we used all that money to go from foundation to foundation where we played with children and helped with recycling at Baan Nokkamin foundation. We also prayed for children and people with Santisuk Foundation and also visited uncle John and Mr. Tom again. One of the foundations also blessed us with a bag of extra clothes and face wash! (did I mention that we had a shower every night as well?)
On our last night with our people of peace we decided to wash their feet. To bless them for all that they have done for us. And it turned into an amazing worship session. The next morning, just before we left, we had Bible study with them one last time. And after that they gave us 5000 Baht! We were shocked. What will we do with all of this money?! It's about R1851!! And we still have some of the previous money left..
But as we headed back we used some of it to pay for a taxi. And as we prayed about what we will do with the rest of the money, we decided that we will take all of it a pay it back into our people of peace's foundation, Baan Chivitmai Jaisamarn foundations bank account.
In total during this week we received 7000 Baht, that is about R2592! Not only that but the fact that we never slept on the streets or went hungry was only by the work of Jesus.
This week was not only an eye opener to show me how privileged I actually am with all the things I have. But that God is there every step if the way. And that I can trust Him with anything. Because everything is a lot safer in His hands than it will ever be in my own. I not only experienced the love Jesus has for all his people. But also a slight grain of how his heart breaks for us when we are hurting. This week was a week that gave me a new definition of life, love and unity. I am proud to say that today I am no longer in doubt about the glory of God. But that I can embrace it and run with it.