A divine friendship

Friends are such a blessing.
This weekend has reminded me of that once again. I am particularly grateful for the friendship I am building with a young family at church. I have gotten to know them over the past few months as we chat away in Creche and I discovered a few weeks ago that they will be in Thailand overlapping the time that I'll be there. Today Joelle (the mum) told me they've changed their schedule to include a few days in Chiang Mai, which wasn't their original intention, but will mean I have friendly faces (who have good knowledge of Thailand and Thai pronunciation) to help me settle in on arrival. God is amazing in the simple ways he provides for my every need. Yet another piece of the puzzle falls into place. All anxiety is gone.

Ask, Seek, Knock.

Ask and it will be given to you...

...seek and you will find...

...knock and the door will be opened to you.

Matthew 7:7

So I've just had a moment of realising that I'm crazy. Maybe not for the first time in my life, or in this journey, for that matter. But I really don't know what's coming as I follow obediently the path that God has laid out for me.

I am quitting a wonderful job, will have no income while I'm away, will come back after school returns and have to find a new job (which is tricky being a teacher), plus I'm still looking at the possibility of attending Theological College next year. You'd probably be right in thinking I sound rather disorganised and uncertain, but that's far from the truth. I'm totally certain that this is the journey I'm supposed to be on, I just don't know what's around the next corner!

A place to call 'home'

I just got emailed info on the 'suggested' accommodation. My housemate reckons I'll think our little unit is a palace after going to Thailand, but this place looks more like a palace than anywhere I've ever stayed....

and only 500 baht/night which is about 15 AUD...

I may never want to come home!

Only a child

I have been reading Jeremiah. I read chapter 1 across 3 days last week as I just couldn't move past it. God clearly wanted to speak to me through that passage. I've been grappling with the realities of what lies ahead of me now that my trip to Thailand has been confirmed. I felt overwhelmed and totally unequipped for the work I will be doing. And honestly, I just felt young and silly for thinking I was going to be of any use. I kept reverting back to verse 6-8 of Jeremiah 1 which reads
"O Sovereign LORD," I said, "I can't speak for you, I'm too young."
The LORD replied, "Don't say, 'I am too young', for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. And don't be afraid of the people for I will be with you and will protect you. I the LORD have spoken!"
His promise is so great and my obedience is what is required. Learning to walk in obedience is the tricky part.....

If nothing else, Pray.

I just realised I haven't specified the fact that my upcoming trip will be based at the Thai/ Burma border on the Thailand side. At bit south of Burma itself, but its working mostly with Burmese refugees and displaced people, so the heart for Burma is still getting its fix. Apparently working from inside Burma is very tricky - I would have to leave the country and re-enter every 21 days and living is VERY expensive (a bomby old car would cost about 10 thousand dollars). That's why most aid and mission organisations work out of the surrounding areas. Also the Burmese government is in a rather messy state at present and there is serious genocide going on, though we don't really hear about it in the Western news. please take time to pray for the people of Burma, particular the karen people who are suffering greatly.

A closed door or the enemy?

As a requirement of working in a voluntary capacity with Partners, I was required to complete a lengthy application form that would then be submitted to the national board of Partners for consideration. I found this such a challenging process as I attempted to explain my journey of faith so far and why on earth I wanted to go to the middle of nowhere in the first place. But the hardest question of all was "what are you future short-term and long-term goals?" The reality is that God has me in a time of transition and my goals are getting a good shake up as I am repositioned for a new work. I found it so scary to write that I see mission as a long-term goal. What on earth was I committing myself to? I know it's a goal and not a fully-blown contract,but I felt that it was a contract with God - accepting the role that he has prepared for me, and accepting the sacrifices that role may require. Would I ever be called to get married? And could I kiss a modest life in Australia goodbye? Give me 20 years and i might know more clearly...

Back to the application, I completed it all quite hurridly as Doug from Partners had emailed me the application, informing me there was a board meeting in a couple of days and he wanted to put it forward at that meeting. So I spent an evening filling it all out, saved the file, then went to upload it as an email attachent only to discover I couldn't find it! I searched everywhere I could imagine but it was nowhere to be found. I tried dowloading the file again to see where it was being stored and it put it in a funnny folder with a name made of jumbled letters and numbers "HJsomething". Problem is, everytime it was downloaded, it saved in a different folder. I prayed and prayed but still no file. The anxiety rose immensely and I wondered if this was a closing door to confirm the feelings I had as I wrote the application - "I'm not what they're looking for. Why on earth would they choose me?" Maybe this was an easier letdown than having my application rejected.

I shared these feelings with my dad over bacon and eggs at Vinnies and he was quick to suggest that maybe it was the work of Satan. That was enough motivation to get myself back on the computer, writing my aplication from scratch. No way was the devil going to steal an opportunity like this away from me.
The application was rushed, my answers way less eloquent, but I submitted it that night and waited....
About a week later I got an email from Doug. It read...
"The National Leadership team met at the end of last week and I am happy to say that they are pleased to accept your application.

Thanks for your last email it’s always great when people come with a servant heart willing to do whatever is needed.

I think at the moment the most likely option is English teaching here in Chiang Mai. At the moment this is run on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday evening from 6-8 pm and covers basic conversational English. The students are all working here in Chiang Mai and are between 19 and 27 years old. However we will see what else comes up a bit closer to the time as there may be other opportunities as well."

My journey has begun.
God is good.

Making connections...

After following up the offer Rob gave me, he put me in contact with a lady named Kathryn who works as a nurse for Partners in northern Thailand. She was an immense help in guiding my thinking at a time when my brain was so full of thoughts and ideas that I didn't know where to start. She answered a lot of questions and got me in contact with a prayer team based at Partners Australian office who are planning a trip to Burma.

I then started researching Partners and the work they do, stumbling across a blog by a volunteer. I've really enjoyed reading this particular volunteer's blog as her journey is similar to what I envisage myself doing.

Where in the world?

So geography isn't my forte by any means. In fact there's a well know story that circulates about the time G asked me to go to Laos with him and I responded with, "Sure, I love South America" (you have to admit it has a rather South American feel to it when pronounced lay-oss). Ok, maybe I'm not the best at knowing where exactly I'm headed in the world (I was sure Bangkok was the capital of China...) but let that not be a limiter in how God can use me. I'll just leave the names to people like the guy in my year 4 class, Craig, who read the atlas during free time.

But I'm proud to say I now know that Laos is in South East Asia and is in fact a neighbour to Thailand and Burma - my future stomping ground.

A heart's desire and a Godly man

I'm on a journey. One which I didn't ever think I would be on, though I always hoped that I might. To give a little bit of background, about 4 years ago, God gave me a real heart for the people of Burma (Myanmar) in South East Asia. I didn't really do anythng with these feelings and just liked talking to people about my passion for 'Myanmar' to which they often responded with intrigued looks as if to say "Where on earth are you talking about?". Over time, busy with study, graduating, starting my teaching career, this heart seemed to get lost somewhere under the piles of uni texts and social commitments. Until...

In February this year Rob Kilpatrick of World Vision spoke at my church and I had a chat with him about someof the similarities and differences between World Vision and Compassion (being a Compassion Sponsor and Advocate myself). We had a good informative chat and that was that. But about an hour later as I sat with my friends in the cafe playing that funny game where you put marbles in holes, Rob called me over to his table, handed me his business card and said, "You need to come to Burma." Sometimes God is so unsubtle. It was such a powerful moment and we both felt it as he realised the message he had delivered and I comprehended the mission I was being called to. I was to go to Burma.