i leave for korea in less than 7 days. man, still hasn't fully hit me that i'm leaving the home that i know to go to the home that i used to know. there's so many things i will miss, so many people i will miss. but i know i gotta do this, i know i want to do this. it's just hard to let go of things i held on to so tightly.
well, i thought i would post my testimony from my missions trip on here. just in case anyone wants to read it. and as a bonus, i'll post the video too.
Praise God. I cannot find any other way to start my testimony. For the past month, God has truly been working around me and through me. He has given me many new and exciting revelations about my relationship with Him and also about His love for not only myself, but for the whole world. This trip was my first missions trip overseas and in the beginning, I did not know what to expect. However, with each passing day that I spent in Thailand, God changed my perceptions about where His love was directed. For me, I grew up in the walls of the Korean-American church. Occasionally, I would venture out to other churches; but nevertheless, they would be inside my comfort zone. This led to a very one-sided view of God’s love. I failed to believe that God’s love expanded beyond the borders of America or South Korea. But through many events, God changed the image of His love.
In the beginning of the mission trip, I was greatly discouraged at how greatly the Thai culture and customs were influenced by the national religion of Buddhism. During our orientation day, our leader took us to Night Bazaar, one of the big marketplaces of Chiang Mai. I observed that many of the street vendors merchants would bend down and pour a drink around their street vendors and then kneel and pray. When I asked what they were doing, I was told that they were offering the drink as an offering to Buddha in hope that he would bless their night of business. After I heard this, I was greatly saddened by how blind and uninformed they were to the Gospel truth.
Another event that made me question God’s plans for the nation of Thailand came a few days after the visit to Night Bazaar. Chiang Mai University, the place our team focused most of our time on, held an annual festival for the freshmen students. During the festival, each department would walk up to Doi Suthep, a nearby temple on the top of a mountain, in order to pray and have religious ceremonies at the temple for the academic school year. Our team and some of our Thai friends decided to walk up as well. The walk up took close to 3 hours and was around 11 miles long. When we got up, we decided to walk 306 steps to the temple and prayer walk around the temple. When we got to the top, we saw thousands of people burning incense for the statues and offering lily buds to the statues as well. What affected me the most was not the amount of people there, but certain people we saw. We saw some of our friends doing the same acts as those around them. To see my friends, the people that we had been ministering and praying for, not being any different from all those around them broke my heart and discouraged me greatly.
However, as we prepared for an evangelistic camp for our friends, God started to encourage our team with words of encouragements. In particular, God brought to attention Acts 10:34 & 35. It reads, “Then Peter began to speak: ‘I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fears him and do what is right.’” These two verses made it so clear that God loves and blesses the Korean-American church and the American church. But even beyond our church and our nation, God loves each nation and each church equally. This gave me hope, joy, and great expectations for the nation of Thailand and especially for the camp we were to have.
The camp was for 3 days and 2 nights. On the last night, as the native pastor, P’Mee, shared the message, I started praying for the Thai unbelievers at the camp and specifically for one of my closest Thai friends, Kai. However as I prayed, I felt God telling me to be patient, that He would find the perfect time. I thought this meant I would not see Kai receive salvation before I left. But because I found that God was actively working through her life, I was somewhat satisfied. There was an altar call after P’Mee’s message and one of my other Thai friend received Christ. I was slightly disappointed that it wasn’t Kai, but I still had faith that God would save her sooner or later. After the service, we held a candle prayer with all the Thai people. When P’Mee ordered each short-term missionary to partner up with a Thai person, I immediately went to Kai. During the prayer time, I remember praying with tears for Thailand, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai University, and Kai. After the service and candle prayer everyone went to the guys’ room and sat in two circles and went around sharing. During the sharing time, I saw Kai crying and being led outside. I wondered what was wrong, but I kept on sharing. A few minutes after Kai came back, and as I was sharing with Kook, Kai’s older sister, P’Mee came up to us and told the two of us that Kai had finally received Christ. At that moment, I thought my heart was going to explode with joy. It was like nothing I had felt before. I thought it would happen after I left, but to actually be there when Kai received Christ made me extremely thankful. I lost count how many times I prayed a prayer of thanksgiving to God that night. Kai’s conversion truly showed me how much He loves the Thai people and how much He has yet to work in Thailand Although it's been almost a month since I've come back, I have been praying almost daily for Thailand. In addition, I've been able to keep in touch with many Thai friends through Facebook, MSN Messenger, and emails. Through these opportunities, we are able to share prayer requests. For those who are Christian, I encourage them to grow in the faith, and for those who are not, I encourage them to keep on going out to the church. Although I only stayed in Thailand for a month, I was able to forge friendships that i hope will last beyond a lifetime. What made this capable was God revealing to me how wide His love expands.
I truly believe that if not for this mission trip, my perception of God's love would have been very limited. I thank God for this opportunity, and i pray that He will provide me with many more opportunities in the future.
I want to take this time to challenge you to be part of God’s plan. It doesn’t have to be for Thailand; it doesn’t even need to be outside of America, outside the state you live in. Let God use you to touch your campus, your workplace, your friends and family. I surrendered a couple of hours each week for 6 months and then a full month and God blessed me greatly. So I challenge you to take a step of faith and ask God to use you in whatever way He sees most fit and I assure you, He will.
i'm sorry ashley. i've been back but i've neglected to tell you. i'm homesick. my heart's not here. i left it there before i came. they stole my heart...what could i do?
