I was trying to make this
short and fit it into one post but there's so many stories that I want to tell.
Short just isn't working for me. (My brain just supplied me with several jokes
based on height and temper.) Doesn't help that I keep getting sidetracked.
(Pretty sure that particular metaphor came up because I'm currently listening
to train whistles and rumblings.) Anyways, back to the task at hand of
informing y'all what happened on my most recent visit to Thailand. I'll begin
with the characters and setting….
Characters
The team: Crystal, Daniela, Elaine,
Ian, Josh/Crumrine/JC, Tyanna/T, Vanessa, Victoria, me (interns); Jacob and
Olivia Dyer, Lisa Wright, Alex Priore, Josh Smith/Master Commissioner
(staff/leaders)
Hosts: Joel and Laci Hill, Anchor
and Everest, Jeremy See, Kate, Olivia
Others: Gabe, Trevor, Bamm, Nak,
Pastor Amnuay, Henrik
Setting
Where: mostly in Phuket (city),
Phuket Island, Phuket, Thailand (In case that isn't clear enough, we spent most
of our time in Phuket)
Another thing to note is
that much of what you'll read below is written based off of how I've been
finding myself telling people in person. Of course, I'm usually only telling
one or two snippets from any given day and not trying to talk about the whole
week all at once. I'll see if I can find a picture or two to include in the
next post (Yes, I'm still not great at remembering to take pictures) but for now.…enjoy
the first bit of the story!
Story
Thursday,
March 7: Travel Day 1
With the exception of Lisa
(who we wouldn't see until Sunday morning since she was taking a different route
due to being on vacation prior to this trip), the team met at the church in the
morning. There we loaded up in two vehicles to drive to Dulles where we would board
for our 14h flight to Beijing. We stopped at a Chick-fil-a along the way. No
problems at check-in or customs and we had plenty of time before boarding.
About halfway through the flight, my teammates started asking me how I could do
something like that on a regular basis.
Friday,
March 8: Travel Day 1.5
We landed in Beijing with a
23h layover ahead of us. Being in the Beijing airport brought back memories of
a 12h layover I had there in 2012. Thankfully this time our tickets had come
with an overnight stay at a transit hotel. Gabe, a former Big House attendee currently
living in Beijing, met us there. After putting our stuff in our rooms, we ate
supper which Gabe helped us order. I wasn't feeling well so Vanessa had me take
some turmeric before going to bed.
Saturday,
March 9: Forbidden City
I slept as long as I could
and woke up feeling much better and had to rush through breakfast to be ready for
the day's activity. Because we had such a long layover, we used part of it to
take a tour of the Forbidden City. Gabe also came on the tour. My favorite part
was the gardens. After a delicious lunch, we went back to the airport for our
5h flight to Phuket, Thailand.
Once in Phuket, we loaded
up in Joel's truck and a taxi and headed to our home for the week which was located
beside a Muay Thai gym and above 5 Loaves burgers. As soon as I began seeing
Thai lettering, it brought back memories from last May when I was in Thailand
while on the World Race. We had another late night supper before turning in for
the night. I don't remember much else other than how smothering the humid 90
degree weather felt after highs in the low 50s in both Norfolk and Beijing.
Sunday,
March 10: Church and Night Market
Sunday morning we went to
Freedom church. One of the first things I noticed was an announcement of a 24h
burn beginning on Thursday. I got really excited because I assumed we'd be able
to participate for at least part of it. Some of the songs reminded
me of my time in Phang Nga. Jacob and Olivia Dyer shared on drawing from spiritual
wells. Then Lisa shared two dreams she had about people needing healing
followed by a ministry time where we prayed with many people and several received
healing. Following the service, everyone shared a meal. When we were done
eating, several of us interns jumped in to help with all the dishes. Once all
the dishes were done, we went back and rested.
In the evening, Joel took
us to a local night market. The Hill's have a booth set up there with signs
saying free prayer, healing, and spiritual readings* in both Thai and English.
Right beside the booth is a seating area and stage. Nobody else was playing
that night so we took turns singing. Most of what was sung was worship songs in
English. Didn't matter though. Despite most of the Thai people there probably
not understanding what was being said, several of them stopped to take pictures
and/or videos. At one point, about half the team went to some nearby bars and strip
clubs to pray for people. There are a lot more stories from that than I know
yet. And the ones I do know I don't know as well as I know my own so I'll tell
you what I did. (Pretty sure that's what most of you would like to know
anyways.)
After wandering around for
a little bit (boy did that bring back memories, especially the smells), I bought
a delicious coconut chia smoothie and some amazing potato balls. Then I helped
out at the booth. For a while, nobody came so I sat there watching and praying.
Eventually a couple looking for a place to sit and eat saw some empty chairs at
the booth. (Can you imagine if this was fake news? COUPLE LOOKING FOR PLACE TO
SIT SEES EMPTY CHAIRS BUT WHAT HAPPENED WHEN THEY SAT DOWN IS NOT WHAT THEY
EXPECTED [Insert unnecessary page breaks and over the top repetition after
every two poorly written, run-on sentences.] Okay. I'm done.)
Back to the couple who sat
down to eat...A lady who translated for us during the week but whose name I
forget, Henrik, and I began talking to them. We said we would like to pray for
them and if they had any pain, Jesus would heal them. The woman said she had
pain on the left side of her body. We prayed and the pain disappeared. She
told us the pain was intermittent so she didn't know if she was really healed.
Sometimes she went to the temple for prayer and the pain stopped for a little while
then came back. She also asked us to pray for her poor blood circulation. I
shared how I used to deal with that as well.
Then we asked the guy if he
had any pain and he mentioned a headache. We prayed and asked him if it was
better. He smiled and wasn't really answering so we said we wanted him to be
honest because we didn't want to stop if he still had pain. He said it was
maybe 20% better. We prayed again and I saw a snake-like creature wrapped
around his chest and squeezing. I didn't say anything because I was afraid and
we were praying for a headache not chest pain. His headache was healed and he
shared that he was having some trouble breathing. Okay, God. I'm starting to
get what you're doing here. Henrik started praying then stopped and asked
what was around the guy's neck. He started to pull out an idol. Henrik
explained that he had felt the power of the idol when he prayed but that was
okay because Jesus was stronger and could overcome the idol's power. Then we
prayed again. Most of the time, the guy had been slightly hunched over but all
of a sudden, he sat up straight and said he could breathe just fine.
Now both of them wanted to
know how we became Christians so Henrik and the translator lady shared their
testimonies. There was a stack of Bibles nearby and the couple asked us if they
could have one before saying goodbye. Later that night, I saw them sitting and
reading the Bible.
Tune in next time to
hear…(erm, I mean read)... ‘bout a rocket ship and flightless birds. (Not sure
why songs from those shows have been stuck in my head all day but I thought I'd
share the experience with others.
*The idea of prophetic
words stated in a way Thai people with no previous exposure to Christianity understand.
