Thailand Missions (2018) "Walking on a Tightrope"
Sawadee kaa~ (Hello). Sabai dee mai kaa? (How are you?) I cannot believe that our team will be leaving for Thailand in less than two weeks! It feels more real now that the date for our departure is coming soon...I am a bit nervous but excited at the same time! Preparing for this trip has been quite a learning and growing experience for me personally.
Since the day I committed to go on this missions trip, God has been working a lot in my life. Along with going through the missions preparation process, I was also going through baptism. Every step of the process was very encouraging and my faith was strengthened more and more. However, since I was about to make two giant leaps of faith, I was even more vulnerable to Satan’s attacks.
My insecurities made it very difficult for me when it came to raising support for this trip. Satan was whispering lies into my ears and telling me that no one would want to support me, that I would be burdening others, or that I would not be able to raise enough money. This restrained and disheartened me and I was not as intentional in reaching out to people at first. But once I put myself out there, God opened my eyes and showed me His love through those around me. Seeing how much my friends and family have been supporting me and congratulating me on getting baptized, has made me realized how blessed I am.
Through my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, God has been encouraging me both emotionally and spiritually. He’s preparing me to be steadfast before I go on this missions trip. Until now, I wasn’t able to see that God has been with me on the tightrope I’ve been walking on and encouraging me to keep on going with confidence and without looking down.
Here are some other things that occurred that helped prepare for this trip:
- Doing squats: Many places in Thailand have squat toilets and I honestly cannot squat for my life so I’ve been trying to do squats from time to time. Although there might not be too many in Chiang Mai, it’s always good to be prepared!
- Watching Thai 101 Videos: I watched a couple of Thai language videos and am trying to memorize basic phrases.
- College Young Adult Camp: I got to have good fellowship, played games, and had good deep talks with not only my peers but those older than me. As well, a big theme from the camp was to trust in God that He will provide. This was very reassuring for me when I was worrying about raising money for our missions trip.
- Team Fundraiser: I felt more unified with my fellow team members as we worked hard in preparing all the food and drinks for the fundraiser. It was also an amazing experience to be able to help serve our fellow brethren.
- Baptism: Giving my testimony, reciting the Christian pledge, and getting baptized helped solidify my faith. I always held back on not getting baptized because I felt like my testimony was still incomplete and I wanted to grasp my faith and make it my own (instead of my parents’). Through baptism, I realized how much God impacted my life and just how amazing He is. This life on Earth was never meant to be lived without God.
D-8 Prayer Requests~
Just 8 more days till we depart to Thailand! Here are some more ways you could pray for me and our entire team!- Chiang Mai is a city with over 300 temples! We will likely experience spiritual warfare in various forms, so please pray for protection and that we still remember God’s sovereignty/power.
- Pray that the Thai people will have opened minds and hearts so that we can develop deeper relationships with them.
- Pray that we will be able to not only be a witness of God through our actions, but also through our words (e.g. testimonies).
“After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.”
PS: Thank you for taking the time to read all this!
~Whitney Hung
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