Team Details - A Blessing

After my last post, where I expressed how I missing knowing the details, but trusting God to get me through - I was rewarded by an awesome, detail filled email from our leader Connie!

I thought I would share part of the email here as it will interest some of my readers.


Yes, the hotel has beds. You do not need to bring linens or a sleeping bag. And you will have electricity, so you will be able to plug in whatever you need to.

Lodging: We will be staying at a Christian Guesthouse in the central government district of Bangkok. There will be 2-5 people per room, and each room has beds, air conditioning, a small refrigerator, and a complete bathroom. Because this team is made of 3 groups and a bunch of individuals, I’ll be assigning rooms so you get to know one another. There are computers downstairs where you can access the internet for a low cost, and the guesthouse provides pure water for us to drink. From a physical perspective, this trip will probably be one of the comfortable missions trips (as far as lodging is concerned). That is a huge blessing, because the mental, emotional, and spiritual aspect of this trip is can be intense.
 
I will be providing instructions daily and nightly. There will be team meetings, worship, and prayer. There will be tears, frustration, fear, anger, joy, and laughter. This trip will change you more than it will change anyone in Bangkok. AND that’s OK! When we leave, we will NOT have saved anyone or taken them out of their current situation, but instead...done something much greater! Brought the love of Christ, joy, compassion...and peace. We will not judge woman, children, or even the men. He died for us all. Amen!

Ministry: A large portion of our ministry will be in the afternoons and evenings, when the bars open. (Great for us night folks) For this reason, our schedule will be slightly different than on a lot of trips. We’ll start later in the day, because we’ll be out later at night. Our primary ministry will be in two bar districts, Pat Pong and Nana District, working with two different ministries, Rabah Ministries Thailand and Nightlight...and a bunch of ministry one our own.

We will be able to walk through these areas and talk with people we meet—tourists, bar owners, customers, dancers, pimps, vendors...etc. We can go in, purchase Coca-Colas for the girls (ironically, Coke is more expensive than beer there), which will allow us to “buy” time with them, so we can talk with them.

There will also be one day that is a “free day” where you can go to a market or to a tourist attraction in Thailand (floating market, riding elephants, the Tiger Temple, etc).

Clothing: It will be hot in Thailand. It is important that we drink water constantly to replenish what we will be losing. Appropriate clothing to AIM trips are shirts with short sleeves that fully cover the stomach (being able to raise your arms or touch your toes without showing skin), knee-length shorts, knee length skirts, or long pants. You can bring sandals, Chacos, closed toed shoes, etc. MODEST tank tops are allowed on the “free day” and around the floors on which we will be staying.

Communication: As was mentioned above, there are computers where you can get online downstairs for a low fee. Also, please tell your family and friends about this blog: http://thailand.myadventures.org/. They can go to this site and sign up for email alerts when a new post has been made. We will post throughout the trip so that they can see and know how to pray.


Ministry: I will prepare you before each time of ministry, letting you know what to expect and what appropriate reactions/actions are. This is highly important because of the sensitive type of ministry we are doing. Afterwards, we will debrief every time, helping us process what we saw/experienced and what God did, both in us and through us. While we will not have an interpreter, many of the girls speak at least some English. Granted... some of it are words we won’t be saying because they are sexual in nature, but many of them speak broken conversational English. This is always something that we see God really work through... that while there might be a language barrier, HE speaks. And love is a universal language that doesn’t mean the same words. And the cool thing is that when it happens, we know that it had nothing to do with us and everything to do with Him.

Preparation for Ministry: The best way to prepare for ministry is prayer. Our ministry will be highly Spirit led... going where He leads us to go and asking what He wants to say to the women we meet.

Nothing about our ministry will be easy. A lot of time it brings things up in us, memories we’d forgotten or things we thought we’d worked through. We will be transparent with each other in our team time and create a safe environment for us to share our hearts and responses where we know what we say will be confidential and we will be prayed for an encouraged.

Again, I will slowly introduce you to the area...and walk you through how to minister. DO NOT jump ahead. Everything will be based in prayer. Get that prayer support built up!


Thank you once again for your support.  Colin and I appreciate knowing that you are praying for both of us and your words of encouragement help keep me going when things seem difficult.

Love,
Karla