A Season of Change

Living as a missionary family is both rewarding and stressful at the same time.  We live in an amazing place of beauty and adventure here in Chiang Mai, Thailand.  The sights, sounds and smells of Northern Thailand can be intoxicating.  We love the work we are doing here as well.  We feel very blessed that we have the opportunity to follow God's call in helping those living with HIV and AIDS, disabled children and Human Trafficking.  It is all heart breaking work at times, but also very meaningful when we see what showing a little love can do.  All our work has to do with people out on the margins of society who have no voice to tell their stories and lives.  It is amazing to me when I think of how courageous and vulnerable the people I work with can be and also be willing to let me into their lives.
The "Golden Rule" really applies to the we way think missions should be viewed and carried out. " Do unto other as you would have done unto you". 
It is a very simple rule that is not always the easiest to follow.  How often do we judge people for their appearance, social status, belief systems and race.  Sometimes Christians can be the most judgmental, myself included.  I have to constantly remind myself as I am dealing with someone, is the way I am treating them the way I would like to be treated?  My emotions sometimes gravitate more towards sympathy rather than empathy and I have to catch myself and try to imagine myself in their shoes and not just feel sorry for them.  Feeling sorry for someone is not not going to change the situation for the better, but being able to walk in their shoes will help in gaining a deeper understanding.
Being a missionary can be overwhelmingly sad at times, especially when dealing with children that are abused or selling themselves for sex to just to be able to eat and live.  Sometimes I just break down crying with my head in my hands.  Shelly is currently teaching a group of boys English who are from Burma and have come to Chiang Mai to escape poverty.  Unfortunately, the boys are working in a well known bar that caters to western sex tourists.  The boys wanted to learn English because there are more opportunities for them if they know English.  As Shelly was teaching the boys she was getting to know them a little more each time and it is heart breaking to hear how young some of these boys are.  Almost all of them are teenagers.  Could you imagine your own teenage son or daughter having to perform sex acts for sick perverts.  It makes me literally sick to my stomach.  I often don't want to think about it, but we have to because we are in an opportunity to speak love into their lives and give them hope that someone really does care for them.  It is about applying the "Golden Rule" to every situation.  Love your neighbor as you love yourself.

As I mentioned in the title of this post it is a season of change.  The missionary life is a very transient life.  This is the time of year at the end of school when missionary families are going back home to reconnect with family, friends and churches and  it is also when some families leave the mission field for good.
Several years before coming to the mission field I spent 4 years in the Navy and it reminds me of my time here, especially boot camp.  Being on the mission field feels like boot camp in that we are working together and are all in the same boat.  Working alongside someone in the trenches is a very powerful bonding experience.  Some of the friends we've made here make me feel like we've gone to boot camp together.  We are now faced with saying goodbye to families that are not coming back and it is ripping my heart out.  These are the people who I have shared my hope, fears and dreams with and now I may never see them again.  These are the people that truly know what our life is like and can understand what we are going through.  I love them with all my heart and I am so grateful to get to call them friends.  My kids are another story as they are saying goodbye to friends they've known half of their life.  We talk about it during our bedtime routine and poor Acacia's eyes will start to water and her little lip will start to shake.  She hasn't broken down yet and is trying to keep a brave face, but underneath it all I know her little heart is breaking.  And that in turn is breaking my heart.  Sometimes being a missionary sucks!

Human Trafficking issues in Thailand

Hacking and coughing in Chiang Mai

What a nightmare!

It's all in your perspective

Yesterday I went to visit McKean Hospital with our CAM staff and a volunteer that is here helping us for 2 weeks. McKean Hospital is one of the first hospitals in Thailand that was devoted solely to treating people with Leprosy. McKean Hospital was founded in 1908 by Presbyterian Missionaries Mr and Mrs McKean. McKean is surrounded on one side by a river and a stream that connects the river to create an island of sorts. The hospital grew in stages of being a leprosy colony and hospital to a leprosy rehabilitation center providing physical and occupational therapy. Their goal is to empower these patients to attain their maximum potential physically and to be psychologically healthy with a sense of worth and self acceptance, and to be able to live productive lives with acceptance and dignity in their own community.

I had visited several times before and have always enjoyed the serene atmosphere and the sense of community that this place exudes. Today we were visiting to celebrate many holidays with the patients such as Christmas, New Years, Children's Day and a few other Thai holidays.

We had a worship service to start with and had all the patients in a big circle sitting in wheelchairs or regular chairs. We all sang together and had gifts set aside for each one of the patients living there. While watching this whole thing unfold I kept thinking to myself how lucky I am to be healthy. I was thinking about all the times that I feel sorry for myself or feeling that life has been such a struggle. Then I look around at all the patients and my struggles and challenges seem embarrassingly minuscule. I started to get emotional watching the scene play out with all the joy and love that was surrounding these people. People who were deformed with missing limbs or nubs for hands and feet, but with beautiful redeeming hearts and souls. Sometimes I think it is good to get a sobering dose of reality to gain a better perspective of what real challenges look like. It is reminders like these that put it all in perspective.

How is God challenging your perspective?

Muddy Christmas and Gloppy New Year!

This year we wanted to have a fresh clean start to the new year. Nothing says clean like a good old fashion mud bath. This debauchery actually took place before Christmas and so we decided it would be a good early Christmas present for the girls. They also invited their friend Micaiah who was a major playah in their mud fight video last year. Which has only 50,018 views/hits on youtube thats all.

Remember doing this kind of thing as a kid? Man, it seems so long ago when one could just let loose and start slinging the mud. Then I got to thinkin how playing in the mud is alot like being a missionary. It's a stretch I know, but like a mud fight it can be exhilarating and adventurous and at the same time very messy and uncomfortable. Sometimes I feel like I have mud all over my face when I am out and about trying to speak Thai. Often I feel that Thai people are looking at me as if I actually had mud on my face. "What is he saying" "Is that Thai he is speaking"

Just like the picture here of the kids in the Charlie's Angel pose it just goes to show one needs support. Whether it is during a mud fight or trying to walk alongside people sharing your faith.


Life is messy and chaotic, but it is also can be filled with joy, just like playing in a mud puddle. What is the chaos and joy that God has put in your life?

Daniel and the Lion's den

Here is the next installment of Bible stories told by Anna.

Enjoy!

Savoring the moment

All was quiet in the house as everybody was asleep in bed except for me. I was downstairs in the office working on the last minute details for an upcoming HIV/AIDS workshop. I finally decided I was useless for the rest of the night so I headed upstairs to get ready for bed. My oldest daughter Acacia likes to read in bed by the light of her nightlight until she falls asleep. Tonight was no different. I usually go into her room to give her a kiss on the cheek and pet her cat "Lucky" who often sleeps by her side and then I turn out the night light. Tonight she must of been playing out an imaginary community on her floor. There were all sorts of plastic animals, people and make shift buildings scattered across the floor. I partially stepped on what looked like a plastic bed for a 2 inch person. My normal reaction to situations like this is to get upset at how messy her room is and especially when trying to navigate it in the dark without severely injuring myself.
But, I didn't react that way. I stopped and just looked at her peacefully sleeping and scanned over how cute and precious her pretend village looked. I kept thinking to myself that I've got to remember this moment. Remember the sweet innocence of a 10 year old girl. It was all I could do to keep from crying over the fleeting moments in life. Acacia has grown up so fast and I don't want to trivialize those truly special moments.
Someday soon she won't be so innocent and quite possibly have that cynical and somewhat jaded outlook on life like her Dad. Why can't she just stay this age forever!
I know it is selfish of me to want to keep my daughter innocent forever, but time moves at such a rapid rate and they way we live our lives now of days makes me very sad. I guess that is why tonight seems so poignant. I am stopping and taking the time to look at my daughter, really look at her and I appreciate all that she is. I love that her room is a mess and that the light is still on and that the cat is sleeping by her side. It is what being a kid is all about.

I feel sad sometimes when I think how I so often waste time on the computer or TV when my girls are right there growing up before my very eyes.

You can't go back in time to relive what you've missed. These precious moments are but a fleeting glimpse.

What are the moments in your life that are special?