A couple months ago (was it that long ago already?) the men on the squad were able to spent a month of ministry along the Thai - Burmese border in the refugee camps and children's homes. At the time, I really felt the Lord working in me and completely breaking me for these people. I wanted to hear their stories, to see their struggle, to let others back home hear their story. I was so fired up for these people - I had an excitement that I had not experienced yet on the race. I wrote more blogs than I had yet on the race, I made videos, I emailed people back home - I just wanted people to KNOW what was going on in Burma and for others to feel what I felt. God changed me that month and placed a passion in me for these people. This was the first time on the race where I knew that I could come back and do this for a long period of time. I didn't get a confirmation about anything, but the seeds were definitely planted. In an effort to give 100% of my focus and energy in every country we go to, I have not thought too much about Burma, Thailand, or what the future may hold for me there.
This month in Malaysia we have done lots of door to door ministry during the day and house visits at night. The evenings in the homes have been my favorite times - again, I love just sitting and talking to people and hearing about their lives. The other night our team met with a Sri Lankan family. Our pastor contact that takes us to the homes has a pretty formalized routine - prayer, songs, testimony, songs, prayer - and then we eat and go home. Usually we don't even get a chance to talk to the family too much or hear their stories. For some reason the Lord immediately placed a huge burden for this family on my heart as soon as we walked into the room. I needed to ask questions, to find out more about them, even if the pastor didn't offer the opportunity. Towards the end I spoke up and just went with my gut. I asked the father of the household, "Why did you decide to follow the Lord?" This simple question opened the door to him sharing about his experience surviving a bomb blast in Sri Lanka during a civil war, an situation that forced him to uproot his family and move to Malaysia, and ultimately lead him to Christ. The man had tears in his eyes as he shared his story. I was incredibly moved by this man, and I couldn't help but thinking, "Has anyone ever asked him before to share about himself? - when was the last time he was able to make his story heard?" I spent a long time sharing my heart with this man and his family and just encouraging them and sharing whatever God continued to place on my heart.
Later that evening, my teammates spoke to me at teammtime and said, "Steven, you get so fired up when you are talking to refugees. A whole new excitement comes over you and you can really see it is something you are passionate about!" Refugees. The displaced. People without a voice. I realized in that moment that when God spoke to me when I was with that family, and when my teammates spoke to me that night, that the Lord has placed this passion in me for a reason. I've been thinking about it a lot lately, what it means, how God is going to use this in the future. I don't have any answers right now, but when I get home it is something I am going to pursue. Maybe it means I go back to Burma; maybe I go help refugees in other parts of the world; maybe I help people who help refugees; maybe I find a job with an NGO that helps refugees; maybe I am just a prayer warrior for those who are serving. I don't know the answer. But I know I can't do nothing.
Our team, minus Nick, with the family from Sri Lanka.
Continue to pray for me during this time of transition back home. In less than a month I will arrive back in Los Angeles and from there head back to Atlanta. I have nothing planned, no agenda, no solid direction. And I am completely content with that. Pray for the Lord to give me direction, in His timing, about my future. And pray that these last three weeks are the most meaningful yet for me on the race. See ya'll soon!
Cheers,
Steven
...And in case you were wondering, yes, I am still having fun here in Month 11. Nothing quite like theme parks in Malaysia for our free day!
Oh, hi there. It's me. Yeah, it's been awhile. Not much internet out here in the Cambodian... jungle? I'm not exactly sure what you would call this, but where we are has a very rustic, rural, rice paddy, palm tree, straw hut, humid, and naked kids running around all tribal kinda feel. It feels like we are in the middle of nowhere, but realistically we are only 45 minutes outside Phnom Penh. The middle of nowhere starts about 20 minutes outside the city when the big city turns almost instantly into a potholed dirt road and multiple storied buildings merge into small clay huts. Cambodia is a nation of contrasts - in Siem Reap we saw the rich, western, tourist part of the country which surrounds Angkor Wat. In Phnom Penh literally blocks apart from each other there are high rises and slums, nice hotels and shacks. And then there is us - we are... I'm not really sure, actually. The name of the village is long and hard to understand or prononce, but I know we are in the Takeo (Tuhcow) Province south of Phnom Penh.
All that to say, we clearly don't have interent this month unless we drive to the city and go mooch off the wifi at KFC. And honestly, I love not having internet. It gives us a feeling of isolation and it is a great chance for us to focus on ministry and each other rather than the distractions Facebook offers. It's month 10, it would be very easy to check out and just focus on going home, but that is not what I want. Not having internet or any real contact with the "outside world" has been great. However, our squad leaders came to visit us this week and brought their internet stick with them. Not having written or thought about any blogs to write thinking I wouldn't be able to post them for awhile, I have been keeping a typed journal of our month. I havne't done this yet for any month, but I have plenty of down time and thought I would really appreciate having it to read later and reflect back on. So anyways, this blog is basically some experpts from this journal detailing some of the happenings from this month, how they affected me, things I'm learning, etc. I'm just picking a few and sharing them in chronological order - enjoy! I suppose I'll call this blog "A Cambodian Journal" or something original like that.
4/17/12
After a week in Siem Reap resting and visiting Angkor Wat, Family Force 6 traveled to Phnom Penh, spent one night there and then headed out the next afternoon (today) to our minstry site in Takeo Province, South of PP. We were met by Seth, the Cambodian we will be living and working alongside at the Takeo Children's Center. There are no kids living at the home aside from Seth and his wife Samole's three kids, but it is a center for kids in the community to come and learn English and have as a safe haven from other negative influences around them. We also met Ted, an American missionary who is working down here with Seth until Seth is able to handle the ministry on his own. Some first impressions from Day one at our ministry site:
- The children's home is simple but offers some amenities that I definitely thought we wouldn't have, such as AC in the guys room. We are sleeping on our air mattresses on the floor, but we have running water, showers, fans, and a pretty comfortable little setup here.
- Samole is cooking all of our meals for us and WOW, she can cook! We had fish and beef dishes tonight, along with vegetables, rice, and mango fruit. It was one of the best dishes I have had yet on the race from a ministry contact.
- Honestly, the whole setup so far reminds me of Ecuador. We drove through the jungle into the middle of nowhere, met our contact (who luckily speaks English as opposed to Ecuador), our ministry is basically doing evangelism and children's ministry in jungle villages and huts, its hot, and it has the same rural feel as Ecuador. I feel like I am in a much better place to thrive in this sort of setup now as opposed to in month one of the race
- The Cambodian sunset tonight was outstanding, definitely one of the most beautiful I have seen on the race
We only have until the 5th here, so I am excited to give it everything we've got. We start ministry tomorrow with a bible study at a home in a village near here. Let's bring it!
4/18/12
...I started out introducing our team and telling the women a little bit about ourselves. One thing that really bothers me is when someone introduces us by saying "here we are, we are a part of the group called the World Race, here are the countries we've been to, here are some things we've done, we have one more month left, etc, etc". To me, that makes the focus all about us and why we are there and why they should care. Realistically, their whole world is the little stretch of dirt road they live on and the surrounding rice paddies. We don't need to emphasize all the technicalities about why we are there or what organization we are from. For them, in that moment, we came across the world for only one reason: to see them. And that is what I like to emphasize - that we are brothers and sisters in Christ and both can offer each other something, whether it be encouragement, prayer, testimonies, or even just a smile. It doesn't matter who knows more or who is more qualified or understands more about Christianity. We are all on the same page and all serve the same Lord.
4/19/12
This morning we headed to another village to take part in "children's club". Once again, this was pretty much just us showing up and playing games with kids, singing a few songs and doing a quick David and Goliath skit. There was nothing too significant ministry wise, but there were a few cool moments for me. First, I woke up this morning not feeling too well, sore throat and just tired overall from a restless night, and I was definitely fighting against it on my own telling myself to push and not let it slow me down. Finally I was just like, why am I trying to do this on my own? I was standing near Nicole so I just went up to her and told her how I was feeling and asked her to pray for me. She gladly did, and honestly I felt so much better from that point on. It was also just a big step for me to let someone else in where I would normally just try and do it on my own. Later she even thanked me for doing that and let me know how much meant to her, seeing me just be open and vulnerable and let someone else in like that. The Lord has been nudging me to do little things, and being obedient has really helped my team see a side of me and gain confidence that I am not the same person I was in Swaziland. The affirmation that I have been given has also really helped to boost my confidence as well.
4/21/12
Today was our off day and Seth took us in the Tuk Tuk to the Khmer Rouge killing field. I'm not going to go into a ton of the details of the Pol Pot regime and the Khmer Rouge, but this was a time from 1975-1979 that left a dark stain on Cambodia's history. During this time the regime killed an estimated 2 plus million Cambodians out of the 7 million people in the country at the time, or almost a third of the country. Pol Pot's radical communist regime killed ruthlessly, forced the people from the cities to the farms to work impossible hours in rice fields with little to no rations, and completely took away any freedoms from the people. There is so much hurt from this time period, and almost an entire generation of Cambodians does not exist due to the genocide.
The killing fields are located outside Phnom Penh and serve as an on location monument to the victims killed. These fields have bones and teeth fragments, tattered remains of clothes, mass graves, and other remnants of a time when the place was used as a death camp for the Khmer Rouge. We were given a headset to listen to an audio tour of the grounds. The tour gave a history, testimonies of survivors, and stories of deaths and atrocities committed there. It was a sobering experience, and the fact that it was almost completely silent with everyone listening to their headphones gave it an even more eerie feel. It is often hard to be in a place like this and really try to think about what actually happened and fight against being desensitized to it all. I left feeling very pensive and just taking it all in. I love history, but sometimes history can feel a little too real when you are seeing it up close and personal.
4/22/12
We had a pretty busy day today on our first Sunday. The center holds a church service for the youth at 8am, which we didn't have a huge role in other than introducing ourselves. Midway through the service we split up the older and younger kids and had our team share testimonies and heard some of the kids stories. Sharing testimonies is becoming almost routine, so I make it a personal challenge to try and indiviualize mine to meet whoever is listening where they are at. If I only have a few minutes, Ill hit the highlights and tell them about how awesome a personal relationship with God is. If I have a longer time, I ll talk about how I came back to Christ and talk about His forgiveness and grace. The story doesn't need to be the same everytime, and honestly it shouldn't be. This is a tool that I am learning to use more effectively this month to reach people.
4/23/12
The last thing scheduled for the day was a youth group meeting with the kids at 4pm at the center. Ted had asked me last minute to share a quick Bible passage with the kids, and I ended up sharing from 1 Corinthians 12:14-20 which talks about in the body there are many parts, etc. I tried to make it humorous, because if you think about it there is a lot of humor in the passage. A hand talking to a foot and saying, why am I not a foot? I talked about how different parts of the physical body have different parts and so does the church. I actually got down on my hands and knees and tried to walk on my hands, failing in the attempt and emphasizing that it is no good for a hand to try and be a foot. The kids responded to this with laughs, and through the translator they were able to understand the Biblical truth as well. This whole ordeal was really out of character for me. Normally I would need lots of time to prepare any sort of lesson for the kids and would be really nervous and uncertain about sharing on the spot like that. The Lord has really been teaching me to just walk by the Spirit and just have confidence in knowing that He speaks to me in the moment and gives me guidance. This was one of those times where just approaching the situation with calm confidence and relying on the Lord to speak through me really worked well.
4/25/12
Today is Nick's birthday! The girls woke us up this morning at our door singing Nick happy birthday and bringing us both breakfast and coffee in bed (well, our sleeping pads). Nick appreciated it and I certainly didn't mind getting special treatment on his behalf either! This also meant that I didn't have to get up and dressed as early, so I just laid in bed until we got up to go to the Seth's daughter Hanna's daycare center.
We were told beforehand that we could come and play games and such with the kids, but they didn't want us talking about God or telling them that we were Christians because the majority of the kids and teachers are Buddhist. We changed around some of our songs and just sang some fun ones that weren't Christian and then just played games with the kids. We split the kids up and I ended up going outside and playing parachute with the kids. We were all soaked in sweat by the end, but the kids were loving it and they were all so sweet. Towards the end snacktime, Seth came up to me and said, "ok, we will help them shower and then we will leave." I was like, "oh so you mean we will help them wash their hands after eating?" And he was like, "no, they are actually going to shower." And right on cue there were 50 naked kids running around and heading outside to bathe. Ok, so they are literally showering. Wow. It was pretty funny and very chaotic. Our girls went outside and helped them bathe and rinse themselves. A bath in the middle of the day at preschool - no big deal, right? As we left there were still naked kids who hadn't quite located their clothes hanging onto the fence and waving goodbye to us, leaving a lasting, hilarious, impression.
Sunrise at Angkor Wat.
...And us goofing off in front of Angkor Wat after a sunset bike ride to the temples on the Cambodian New Year - the equivalent of being in Times Square on NYE in the states. Epic.
Lots of naked babies. Nick and I have decided to go tribal as well. When in Rome...
Basic hygiene lessons for the kids. For me, this involved washing about 100 kids hair with lice shampoo!
All the men that come to the Bible study at the center.
Nothing quite like getting to ride on the back of a moto to ministry! Yes Mom, I wore a helmet. Here's proof.
Anyways, those is just a few recollections from this month, and hopefully they were encouraging and shed some light on what this month has been so far for me. We are here until Saturday then heading down to the beach in Sihanoukville to go snorkeling in the coral reefs, and then we head to Malaysia on Tuesday morning. I am looking forward to a weekend to just relax before we go full throttle into month 11. Keep myself and my team in your prayers, and stay in touch!
Well, we've pretty
much wrapped up our time in Thailand. We leave tomorrow night for Bangkok, and
head to Cambodia on Wednesday. I am not ready to leave. This has been such an
incredible month, not only one of the best on the race, but one of the best
months in my life. So much has happened, so much experienced and learned about
myself and about others. Here's a few things I'm taking away from this month:
I
have learned that I am passionate about the Karen people and desire to seem
them free from bondage in Burma and Thailand. What is happening in Burma is an
atrocity, but God is still working. These people still have hope. The elections
went well and the country is taking small steps toward a free democratic
government and eventually will be a place that the displaced Karen in Thailand
and all over the world can return to. It was an honor to spend time at a Karen
refugee camp, a children's home, and in villages filled with Karen. Your joy
speaks volumes about your character and determination even in the midst of
awful circumstances. Your people have inspired me more than I can put into
words.
I have learned that
there is nothing quite like hanging with the dudes. We were able to be
ourselves and really get to the core of who we are and what makes us men. It's
not about our manly beards (although we certainly have those), how much
construction we can do, how many waterfalls we can climb, how high the rocks
are that we jump off of. It's not about who can get the girl. It's not about
what we can do. It is about being gentle and speaking boldly at the same time.
It's about feeling free in God's beautiful creation and learning to walk in
that freedom with each other instead of getting stuck in religion. It's about
letting down the guards society tells men to have and talking about what's
real, without fronts, and cutting the crap to get to the source. It's about
serving another man or letting yourself be served even if you could do it on
your own. It's about the unity that comes when 12 men let go of our entitlements
and prefer another more than ourselves. Even going at the 100 mph pace that we
were on all month I still just felt so relaxed and at ease - like I could
finally be myself.
I really learned the
power of prayer and of interceding on behalf of others. Our girls have been
working in the bars right in the middle of the sex tourism industry and have
seen some tough things. We spent an evening doing a prayer walk down the bar
street where they are serving and just lifting them up. I firmly believe it
made a difference. We have interacted with Karen refugees and heard stories of
children whose stories are unspeakably bad and you leave with the feeling that
you really can't do anything right now but pray. And pray we have. In every
situation I have learned to ask for wisdom in how to act and speak and God has
shown up for me. Pray without ceasing is the commandment we are given, and this
has really hit home this month.
I am so pumped about
getting back with my team and riding the momentum from this month into the last
two months of the race in Cambodia and Malaysia. Good things have been happing,
and great things will continue to happen. Keep us in your prayers as we travel
and spend a few days at Angor Wat before heading to our ministries. And enjoy
this video that Jeff made recapping our month of Manistry. I know it's long,
but it does a great job capturing almost every aspect of the month. Stick with
it and you may get a little bamboo rafting dance action from myself and Nick
Rice. Don't miss it.
Cheers,
Steven
...And if you didn't already like bamboo rafting, you do now.
On Friday we finally got the chance to cross over the border from Thailand and into Burma. We went with little expectations and with a hope that God would open our eyes to see Burma the way He sees it - not as a country of people plagued by political turmoil and ethnic violence, but as a nation in need of HIs love. We have spent the past week in Mae Sot and have been learning all about the conflict in Burma first hand at the Burmese freedom fighter's cafe and getting to meet and love on Karen refugee children at the children's home we have been doing construction at. As I write this blog now, the Burmese elections are finishing up for the day. These were the first democratic elections in over 50 years. It has been incredible to be here and to be a part of this change over the past two weeks. Please check out my previous two blogs - All Hope Is Not Lost, and Have You Heard of Burma? for more stories and information about what has been going on here and what my team has been up to!
Enjoy the following video recap from my perspective of our day in Burma. And please keep praying for God to show Himself here in a huge way. His work is not done yet!
In my previous blog I shared a bit about our ministry this month in Thailand along the Burmese border and I shared a little bit of my heart and first impressions of Burma. The guys have now been in Mae Sot for a week and we continue to learn more about the situation in Burma. The more I learn, the more my heart breaks. My heart breaks and is moved in a way that cannot be experienced just by going on CNN and reading about the latest mass killings or rebellion uprising (not that CNN pays any attention to Burma anyway). There is something unique about walking amongst Karen refugees and hearing their stories or hugging a little Burmese child. This should be obvious - that the story becomes more real when you are living in the middle of it - but today this truly became a reality for me as we visited the largest Karen refugee camp in Thailand.
A view of the refugee camp from the road.
A little history before I dive into our adventure from today. First, why are there so many Burmese refugees in Thailand. This ongoing civil war is not just a political stuggle, its roots are much deeper. The Burmese government has made its primary agenda to eliminate all tribal groups in Burma, in particular the largest and most influential, the Karen. The Karen live in the mountainous regions of eastern Burma. Burma has an abundance of natural resources - underground oil reserves, minerals and gemstones including rubies, diamonds, and other valuable commities. The problem for the Burmese government is that most of these resources are found on Karen land. The solution - kill them all. And not just kill them all, but wipe them out and destroy their villages. The ones who escape have no where to return to or to go - the only direction to go to escape the army is west towards the Thai border. For sixty years this has gone on and the Burmese continue to pour into Thailand at an alarming and uncontrollable pace. One solution that has been offered is to form refugee camps. These camps are located right on the border with only a small mountain range and river as a barrier between the two countries. Conditions are less than ideal in these camps. Crime, disease, poverty, and gangs are all rampant. Bamboo hunts with thatched leaf roofs are clustered close together, offering very little personal space, certainly much less than on the farms they were likely to have lived on in Burma. These refugee camps are funded by the United Nations and governance is given to the Karen rebels. It's a solution that seemed temporary when implemented in the 1970's, but that today the camps are continuing to expand and showing kno signs of slowing down. The best they can hope for is to be relocated through a sort of "draft" that will send them to either Europe, Canada, or the United States in designated communities. This might seem like a good escape, but in reality these people just want to be back in Burma working in the land they know and love. As Ray put it when summing up the situation, there is a general feeling in these camps resignating little to no hope for a future.
We had the opportunity to visit one of these camps today. We weren't actually allowed inside the premises due to lots red tape we would have to get around, but Ray runs a children's home inside the camp and he brought the kids over to hang out with us at a restaurant accross the street. We were able to see the camp from the street, and when the kids came over we were able to hang out with them. These kids were filled with so much joy and were so respectful, and they showed nothing but smiles. I asked Ray about some of their stories, specifically asking about one of the older kids who had really stuck out to me. Ray's response:
"He was a child soldier. He has killed people. His dad was killed by the Burmese army when he was 10 years old and he was forced to defend his village from then on."
Woah. This kid was 17 years old and had lived a lifetime that I couldn't even begin to comprehend. The stories were all similar, there were other child soldiers, stories of parents ruthlessly murdered, stories of abuse and torture and unthinkable atrocities. And all of this had happend to these sweet kids. They had been rescued out of these terrible situations, often at the end of the road as homeless refugees and taken to this childrens home. You can't comprehend what this is like reading about it in a magazine or on a news website, and to be honest, you still can't fully comprehed it even staring into the kids eyes as you can't do anything plead with God to release this boy from the pain of his past. No words can comfort him or tell him its going to be ok. It's real in this moment as we can feel and see firsthand this camp and these children, but it will never be as real for us at it was for them.
At the end of our time time today we circled the kids and lifted them up in prayer. I didn't even know what to pray that seemed like it would make a difference. I had no words. All I could walk in and hope in for these kids was the confidence I have knowing that God has walked before us in every situation and covered us in his protection. We find hope in this. All hope is not lost because regardless of how bad the situation looks, our hope is in the promises that we have in Christ. And His promises are just as valid for these kids as they are for me.
Playing games with the kids after lunch.
Sending the kids off with prayer - these kids need your continued prayers!
You rarely hear about Burma in the news. The big reason for this? - politics. The real reason for this - China. China backs Burma, North Korea trains its military, India is also on board with them. If the US were to in any way try and support the Karen the backlash from these Asian powers would be tremendous. To sum it up, we don't hear about it in the news because we don't want to stir the pot, and as a result, the murder of millions and stories like these Karen orphans never get told.
Good things are happening in Burma. The country is in the middle of a 30 day cease-fire. On April 1st (Saturday), the country has its first democratic elections ever. There are people like Ray that are coming in and offering hope through establishing childrens homes. NGO's and other aid organizations, mostly European, are flocking to this area of the world in attempt to help make a difference. There is a reason I am here, in Thailand and Burma, right now, at this time in history. Please be our prayer warriors, lift up my team and I and be our support back home as we press into our purpose here. Pray for safety and wisdom and energy. God has so much to do in the next two weeks and in the hearts of the people in this part of the world. All hope is definitely not lost, in fact, it is only now beginning to reveal itself!
Do you see former child soldiers or do you see some kids who just want to be loved and appreciated?
We took a four hour drive yesterday from Chiang Mai, Thailand west to a small town called Mae Sot. Mae Sot is unique because it serves host to Thailands largest legal border crossing with Burma, also known as Myanmar. We will be here for about five days working construction at a children's home here in Mae Sot. Here's why this is significant:
A few quick facts about Burma (who?)... first, it is a nation of around 60 million people, 7 million of which are an indigenous group known as the Karen. The Karen are why Burma is relevant to Thailand right now - Burma is home to the longest currently occuring civil war at over 60 years, dating back to its start in 1948. Currently, the Burmese government spends 70% of the revenue it gets from taxation on military expenditures... with no external enemies! Cutting to the chase, this civil war is largely centered around the attempted genocide of the Karen people by the military regime ruling Burma. Karen regugess have fled to Thailand by the masses - currently there are over 450, 000 living in Thailand. The military pilages Karen villages, rapes their women and children, tortures them, and ultimately destroys their way of life. Border crossings into Thailand are major trafficking points for human slavery, especially for young Burmese children. This persecution has been endured and resisted by the Karen for decades with little to no concern from the outside world. The United Nations and the United States government have levied sanctions, but have done little else to put an end to this atrocity .
This is not ok. I'm going to say it again. This. Is. Not. Ok.
There are people that are finally stepping up and helping. Outpour Movement, started by Ray Ward, is the ministry we are working with this month. Their aim is to step in and make a differnce in the lives of the Karen refugees coming accross the border with literally nothing - no money, no food, no family, no options - and giving them hope. Hope comes in the form of a children's home that Ray has partnered with, Life Impact MInistries, which gives the children a place to live and an opportunity to be raised by Thai women in a stable home. The kids here have incredible, and extremely sad, stories. I met a little boy today named Moses who was rescued from his drug addicted mother right as she was about to throw him off a bridge into the river because she couldn't care for him and was so messed up on the drugs (the name Moses is certainly fitting). I saw this boy today and couldn't comprehend the joy I saw on his face in contrast with the horrible story I knew of his past. The guys on my team sanded and stained wood today to help renovate one of the buildings at this incredible orphanage. Our impact pales in comparison to what this home has meant to the Mae Sot community.
On Sunday we have a chance to go into Burma. We are only allowed to go in 5 kilometres and will likely have some sort of military escort watching us. We won't be able to see the truth of what is actually going on but we will get a glimpse. There is something going on in me right now that I can't explain. I'm gonna try though. For some reason I have this crazy excitement in me right now. It is an excitement that I haven't had yet on the race. Maybe part of it is all the adrenaline rushing through me doing tons of manly things as men but I think there is more. I haven't even done any ministry yet but I feel this connection to Thailand and specifically to Burma and the Burmese people. They have endured so much hurt, so much rejection, so many things that are just not ok. And I am here in Thailand, five minutes from Burma, right now, at this time, for a reason. On April 1st Burma has it's first democratic elections in over 60 years. This is a turning point for the Burmese people - the tide is rushing forward in a way that once it spills over cannot be stopped. And I am here to be a part of it.
For now, this means loving every person I come into contact with, it means contributing in a small way with construction, and it means going into this country with an open mind and ears attentive to the Lord's quiet voice. Am I coming back here... Am I supporting someone who is coming back here?... Is my only experience with Burma right now, this month, and do I just need to give it everything I have now and not look back? I don't know, and I likely won't have all the answers anytime soon. But I am going to trust, I am going to respond to this gut feeling I have inside me right now and pay attention to it. The Lord is working here, right now.
Stay tuned for more updates, stories, and pictures from my experiences in Thailand and Burma with the refugees. Keep us in your prayers!
And so the last stretch begins. Asia. Thailand. Bangkok. Now Chiang Mai. We are officially in Thigh Land and the search for a new and gaudier speedo has now begun!
The allure of a new place has not yet worn off, even after a week of cheap, delicious Thai cuisine, of smiling Asian faces, of bright lights, of street protests that look like parades, of Wi-Fi hotspots everywhere, and of endless street markets. It's new, it's exciting, and I love it so far. I have also seen the middle aged western men being escorted along by young Thai girls, I have seen the slums that hide under the freeway overpass in Bangkok, I have breathed the city air that would make SMOG in Atlanta's air seem like an oxygen mask, and I have heard stories about displaced Burmese refugees overflowing the northern provinces. Thailand is a beautiful country with beatiful people, but there is a lot of hurt here.
Hanging out in Bangkok with my Family Force 6 teammates.
Our squad spent five days in Bangkok for debrief before the guys left to head to Chiang Mai in northewestern Thailand for "manistry". We arrived yesterday, met our contact Ray, and learned a good bit more of what we will be doing for the month. Ray has been building relationships with the Burmese refugees in northern Thailand for the last six years and has helped to start multiple children's homes and other safe havens for the Karen people. Burma has been involved in a civil war since 1948, making it currently the world's longest such conflict. The Burmese government has been attempting to exterminate the Karen and as a result there are over 450,000 refugees that have fled into Thailand. We will be learning more about this ministry and the history of the conflict as we spend our time traveling from Chiang Mai into these border towns and even into Burma this month. One huge aspect of our ministry this month will be spreading the word about the conflict in Burma- a conflict that very few Americans know anything about.
Another aspect of this month that will be different is the above mentioned "manistry" aspect. For the first time, all the guys and girls are splitting up from their normal teams and will be doing ministry separately- the guys are altogether and the girls have new teams for the month. Please keep all the girls in your prayers as they work with the prostitutes in the bars in the redlight districts. The guys are all pumped for this month and the chance to just do manly things - hike, climb waterfalls, ride elephants, camp, grow our beards out, and watch Rambo over and over. Even more importantly, this is the chance for the guys to really press into each other and go places that you can't go with the girls. I am going to miss my girls, but I am so pumped to see the things God is going to do this month with all the men!
I know your first thought - Is he seriously standing on another waterfall after tearing his ACL on one in July? The answer is yes, and it's ok because this is a unique sandstone waterfall that we were all able to walk up without slipping. The rock was as rough as walking on the sidewalk even with water rushing down over it!
I will have more stories and blogs to come, this was just a brief intro into what this month is going to look like. Please keep us in your prayers, especially as we head up into sensitive parts of Burma and work with people that might not easily trust westerners. On another note, I am still in need of roughly $300 raised to buy my final plane ticket home to Atlanta from Los Angeles around June 15th. Please let me know if you would be interested in supporting me, or just click on the tab to the left!
**Just added... check out this video my teammate Jeff Bray made chronicling our first adventure of the month. There may or may not be footage of me eating a cockroach.
Here I am, lying in my bunk in the children's home in
Swaziland, contemplating the last three months of my life that I've spent here
in Africa. When I signed up for the World Race, Africa was kindof an
afterthought for me - I was super excited for South America and Asia, South
America because of my previous experiences with Latin American culture, and
Asia because it seemed mysterious, exciting, and mysterious. But to me Africa
was just another inevitable stop along the route. I wasn't dreading it,
although I figured it might be some of the toughest months physically, but I
can't say I was looking forward to it - honestly I wasn't thinking much about
it at all. It was just there, month six, seven, and eight. Get past Africa and
I've made it to Asia, the home stretch!
They call Africa the "Dark Continent".Besides the obvious skin color association,
Africa is called this for another reason. It has been widely reached by
missionaries for centuries, yet, it is a place of seemingly inpenetratable
spiritual darkness. Generations of belief tied to witch doctors, worship of
ancestors, voodoo, and other tribal mysticisms have left this continent
confused and in desperate need of the truth of Jesus. Individuals and churches
have been reached by the gospel and turned to Christ, but even churchgoers
attend church on Sunday and go to the witch doctor on Wednesday. Walk down
certain streets or hang out it certain parts of town and you can feel the
emptiness, that unseen darkness, pressing in on you. Africa is in need of hope.
Yet, despite its reputation, Africa has the fastest growing
Christian population in the world, and I have seen firsthand this hope finding
its place in the hearts of people here. My journey started in South Africa as I
spent time with the kids in the townships of Cape Town, teaching them soccer and
taking them to church for the first time.I loved every minute of my experience in South Africa, and was convinced
that nothing would be better than the month I spent there. Flash forward to
Mozambique, where I spent one of the best months of my life living with the
boys at Kadesh.I will never forget all
the fun times I had climbing trees, swimming in the ocean, belly flopping into
mud pits, sleeping in a tent under the mango trees, playing volleyball, or
sitting in the shade in the heat of the day and talking with the boys about
their dreams after they leave Kadesh. These boys changed me. And now, I am here
in Swaziland, with yet another chance to love on some kids. I am surrounded by
breathtaking mountain views all around, yet these sights hardly compare to the
smiles on the kids faces when I come walking up to the baby house to play with
them. These have been the three best
months on the race, hands down.
I am in love with Africa. This place has completely won me
over. I feel like one of those people I always made fun of when they would come
back from mission trips to Africa and claim they could move there, open an
orphanage and live out their lives as missionary hippies. Just a phase, I
figured, it's not realistic. Well strange missionary hippie types - I feel you,
man. This place is where it's at. I could see myself coming back here. I'm not
going to say for certain what my future holds, but Africa will always hold a
special place in my heart.
History may have termed it the Dark Continent, but I have
seen a shimmer of the light here that can overcome any darkness!
We have now been at El Shaddai Children's Home in Swaziland
for two weeks, and we are here for two more starting tomorrow. The three teams
here have fallen into a steady morning ministry routine of playing with kids at
the baby house, helping with the preschool, and doing construction, and in the
afternoons we hang out with the kids and tutor them at math or science, or we
have the option of going back to the baby house or construction. For me, I
spend as much time as possible at the baby house, mostly to hang out with my
favorite kid, Kevin.
Kevin is about three or four years old, but you can't really
ever be sure exactly how old the kids are with birth records not widely
available. He was born with disfigured legs that force him to walk with an
awkward posture, which I can best describe as how you would walk if you were
squatting because of a rash on the inside of your legs. His legs don't fully
extend when he walks, and while this is something that could have been easily
fixed with the proper corrective surgery, Kevin does not have that option here
in Swaziland. I don't know his background or why he is at the children's home,
but all I know is that this kid is one of the most endearing three year olds
I've ever met. He is always smiling, always talking your head off (usually in
Swati, but with some English mixed in as well) and is a nonstop ball of energy,
either dancing, running around, or swinging on the swings - at least until it
comes time to go to church and he immediately passes out in your lap. I
typically hate falling in love with the cutest little kid in the orphanage,
because I feel like everyone always goes for that kid. But Kevin really
suckered me in, and I can't help but eagerly anticipate his high pitched voice
squeaking "Steven!" and his tiny legs sprinting towards me as soon as I walk
into the fenced area around the baby house. I chose Kevin in large part because
he chose me too.I've even heard he asks
for me when I'm not there!(For the
record, Kevin loves everyone, and I 'm sure I'm not the only name he knows, but
this is my blog, right?)
It's crazy how we look forward to coming to a children's
home and have the hope that we will be able to make some kids happy and feel
loved, the love that they might not ever receive, but we fail to neglect the
feeling you get when a kid shows you love. I'll admit, it makes me feel special.
It also makes me excited to be a dad sometime down the road. I know it sounds
cliché, but I can't wait to love a kid that is my own. I want so badly what is
best for Kevin, for him to have a family, for him to continue to make everyone
he meets feel as special as I feel, and how much I wish I could take him to a
doctor in America and have him receive corrective surgery for his legs. And this is how I feel about a kid I just met
two weeks ago.
When I first got here, I definitely had the "Kadesh
Hangover" - referring to how much I missed our last ministry site at the boys
home in Mozambique. I didn't want to open myself up to loving anymore kids, I
just wanted to be back hanging out with Frankie, and Blondie, and Franciso, and
all the other boys at Kadesh. I'm amazed at how quickly God changed my heart
here and opened the door for me to love more kids here at
El Shaddai. God's love is not limited, it is not conditional, and it is not a
commodity that we can only give so much of.Eventhough I know I can't duplicate
my experience from last month, God introduced me to Kevin and showed me that
I've got plenty of love left to share with a few more kids!
**Note: This blog was written about a month ago, before my computer died. I
was recently able to recover it, and felt it was still worth sharing. Enjoy! **
I have now been in Mozambique for almost two weeks. Here's a quick recap at
some of the unique experiences here that have suddenly become normal:
- Surviving a cyclone in an tent. I don't know how you do it REI, but you
have my endorsement. (and not just because I can return anything I've ever
bought at anytime, no questions asked)
- Exercising via a tree climbing obstacle course. It bascially consists of
12 trees in a circle that you have to get all the way around without touching
the ground. Not an easy task, especially when you are 20 feet off the ground
and all your weight is suspended on a branch that looks like it could barely
hold an ant, let alone my weight. But, if the boys can do it, so can I! So far
so good, minus countless scratches and tree burns.
- Showering in the rain, and only when it rains. We started out not
showering at all, but it appears rainy season has officially begun 3 months
late. It rains everyday, and we time our showers around when it pours. Sometimes
the window of opportunity is small; grab your shampoo and get out there before
you are stuck with soap all over you and clear skies.
- Maggots growing between your toes... but not mine yet, thankfully (false,
by the time I left Kadesh I had had 7). We had a team wide worm removing
session yesterday. They bury in and continue to grow until you remove them with
a needle. Not the most pleasant experience, and not much you can do to avoid
them. I go barefoot at all times and haven't gotten any; my teammate who always
wears who shoes had 6. Explain that.
- Beans, rice, or cabbage. Or beans, rice, and cabbage. Not much
surprise heading in to mealtimes. However, Sunday they threw a curve ball at us
and served fish (which I got extra of because some are hesitant to eat anything
that appears to be in a staring contest with you). And we had pancakes for
dinner with an open bar of sauces...peach, honey, maple, strawberry, pineapple.
Bring it on! I had at least 7 cakes and was stuffed.
- Waking up to ducks chewing on your tent; cats meowing or scratching your
tent; the rooster crowing; the boys playing. Did I mention this all happens at
the crack of dawn? Wide awake by 5am? Not back home I don't!
- Cramming 15 people into 8 passenger van in order to go anywhere. Old
news, and the only way to travel around here it seems. Personal space means
nothing, and deodorant is means even less.
This is life here, and it is normal. But then again, what is normal?
I've been on the road now for 6 1/2 months and I'm to the point where not
too much surprises me. It took a 24 hour busride to get here...so what. I've
been living on $4 a day since July... big deal. I have ants all over me when I
wake up and can't really ever escape them... or the heat... or really feel
clean. Been there, done that. Suddenly the uncomfortable has become our normal.
And we are ok with it.
But there is a danger with suddenly being comfortable with being
uncomfortable. We can find our groove and rythm and fail to push ourselves.
When things are asked of us, we brush them off. The novelty of "roughing
it" has worn off. I can take anything thrown at me.
I've been thinking about this a lot lately (for some reason now rather than
at the midpoint of the race). I could easily sit back and let the rest of the
race pass me by, doing things like I've been doing them, smooth sailing. But do
I really want that? Do I want to be the same person I am now when I get home?
No. I don't want to get home and transition back into "normal" life
back home like before just like I adjust to life on the road in each new
country.
I want to go deeper in to God's word and make fresh discoveries and find
new understanding; I want to press my team, push each other, call each other
into greatness, and go home with these 5 people my best friends; I want to be
real with myself, completely honest, about what I want with my life and the
direction God is calling me in; I don't want this to be an 11 month break from
life, but rather just another phase of the bigger picture.
Most importantly, I want relying on God in everything to be normal. I want
waking up everyday and having a fresh excitement to read His word to be normal.
I want living life as one big mission field to be normal. That is one thing I
love about this month here at Kadesh - we don't "go to ministry";
life is ministry. We wake up and hang out with the boys and with John, we have
our alone time, we rest, we play. We live life.
