As far as you can go, I went!

Hey Guys! This blog might be kinda long, but worth the read!

When people say take the gospel to the ends of the earth, well I pretty much got to. Wow! Where to begin? First off… I’m alive with no bruises, as is the rest of the team! Praise Jesus! Let me start from the beginning of the upcountry trip.

So Wednesday morning we woke up about 6:30 A.M and had a American style buffet. It was scrumdiliumumptious (can you say that three times fast??) !!!!! We had four village people come down and pick us up in trucks. Now when I say trucks I do not me a duly truck with a bed the size of Texas, no no no, much smaller. We had four small Toyota trucks that all 21 American students, our translator/pastor, 4 village people, 30 backpacks and a weeks worth of food had to fit in. Needless to say, it was a little cramped. I was in the back of a truck with 6 other students for 6 hours; obviously it’s not illegal here. There was PLENTY of time for bonding. At first we were all in our little spot, but by the end of the 6 hours we were literally laying on top of each other. If you didn’t like the people you were riding with you either dealt with it or you were soon to be in much misery. Luckily I picked a great group to ride with, GO TEXAS! It didn’t take much time to get out of Chang Mai, soon we were on winding, curving, up and down, all around roads. We had paved roads, cement roads, brick roads, dirt roads, rock roads, grass roads, and NO roads. Seriously this place was in the middle of no where! We had to stop for motorcycles, people, dogs, hogs, chickens, goats, cows, and even…. Elephants (well ok the elephants were on the side of the road but still, they were there)! I have been to many many beautiful places, but nothing even comes close to the beauty I saw on the ride. We were driving through the jungle/rainforest. Yes, it rained, a lot! The clouds were seriously floating across the road. I sat in awe of how beautiful the earth is. God did such a great job. Our team felt an urge to worship, so for several hours we sang old hymns. It was the most amazing experience. Everything from the ground to the sky was screaming the name of the Lord. I do not understand how you could miss seeing him. I am still thanking God for this time we were able to have glorifying his name, deeply lost in his creation.

We arrived in the village at about 7:00 P.M that night, soaking wet I might add. Driving into the village was like driving into a movie. Crazy! All the children chased the trucks screaming “ Swatikah”, or hello, as they “Why” us ( a bowing movement). Most precious thing I had ever seen.

The girls stayed at the pastor of the village house. But let me explain what a “house” is. A house is a cement ground (if your lucky) with slates on the walls and a tin roof. No doors, no windows, and very little furniture. BUT, VERY clean! Everyone had to take of their shoes before they were able to enter. The girls stayed upstairs. We slept on the ground, with a thin mat, under mosquito nets. Very adventurous huh? To use the restroom you had to go outside through the mud and into a shack. In that shack there was a little hole in the ground, aka, the toilet. Right next to that hole in the ground was a bucket of water, aka, the shower. Let me just announce that Amy Parker is now the master of not only the squatty potty, but a complete head to toe shower with about 10 scoops of water. Memories made there, ha ha ha! We were awakened at 2:30 A.M every morning by the rooster crows, which meant by 5:00 A.M we all finally gave in and got up. Thus I went bed at 8:00 every night. Big change! Our pastor/leader, P-lek was amazingly generous and cooked every meal for us. He did not want us to take a chance with the food there. I think its funny that some of the best meals I have ever had were in that village. Yum yum! So much for staying fit this summer! On our down time we were able to really bond as a team. We played dozens of rounds of Uno, Thai Uno, and mafia. The Lord really blessed us and grew us as a team.

The first night we were there the village had a welcoming service for us. They actually have village announcements over a loud speaker. Oh sooo funny. They even did announcements every moring at 6:00 A.M. I wish I knew what they were saying. Anyhow…, at the welcoming service different groups stood up and sang. Let me tell you, these people can sing! They had some of the most beautiful music. The neatest part however was that the sang many traditional hymns, but in their language. It was the coolest feeling to be able to sing along, worshiping the same God, in two different languages. Oh I forgot to add that this village is 90 % Christians, because several years ago the same team came up and shared the gospel. So this was a continuing thing.

So the first morning we woke up and made breakfast. They cook in a metal bucket with coals in it. We had toast. God answered a very selfish prayer of mine that morning when they brought out the condensed milk. Thai people love to eat things with condensed milk on it. Perfect. I put it on everything... need I say more? Anyhow, after breakfast we went down to the river to gather rocks rocks rocks and sand sand sand. The project we were working on was building a cement fence around the orphanage. To our surprise the village women were down at the river, ready to help. I had the time of my life with those women. I got in the water and began doing what they were doing, scooping up rocks. These ladies radiated with joy. They were such hard workers. I quickly made several new friends. The first ladies name was kiki… I think. But since I could not hear it right I called her kit-kat. She loved it. Another lady kept showing me she could count to three and that I could call her three. Another lady plain as day said her name was Polly… random… but there you have it. But the last lady was sure that I was not going to give her a nickname and that I would learn her name. Her name was Ellapu, and I still have no idea how to say it or spell it. We played and played, we splashed and splashed, like children. They kept saying “Amy Amy” and splashed me. The only other words they knew was “naughty” and “buffalo”. So they kept saying naughty Amy; it was great stuff! Kit-kat somehow learned how to say sit down and continually would say Amy sit down, and would point to my red hands; so sweet. I thoroughly enjoyed having this time. They are just like us, just… different.

Later that day we went to another part of the river to get sand. A wonderful tiring time again hanging with the village people. But the main highlight of this part of the day was one of the worst experiences of my life. We were shoveling sand out from the bottom of the river. One of my teammates shoveled up a load and we heard a Thai yell, “Poli”, I looked over and saw a snake in the sand! All the Americans ran out of the water, we looked back and all of the Thai’s were still in the water laughing at the Americans. It was really funny. But about an hour later I was standing in the river when I heard again “Poli”, but this time ALL the Thais were screaming and running out as well. I turned behind me and saw a 6 or so foot long yellow and black snake about 4 inches from my legs… wow. I didn’t know what to do expect run, and run fast. I don’t know Thia, but when that lady yelled whatever she yelled it was plain as day to me, I knew she meant SNAKE! Everyone was screaming. All I know is if the Thai’s got out its bad. I never got back into that water. Thank you God for your protection. Even the pastor thanked him from the protection of the snake later that night.

We took the evening off and hung out and continued to help build the wall the next morning. That afternoon we hiked up a mountain with some children and played soccer. I took pictures for everyone. Those kids were legit, totally beat our grown guys. It was seriously the best spot for a coca-cola commercial. Picture it will you? A bunch of American students playing soccer, on a dirt field, on top of a mountain, in the middle of the jungle, in the pouring rain, with little foreign boys… during the world cup. I’m just saying, throw in a bottle of coke and you have your perfect commercial for world cup commercial, it was that cool!

Our last full day we had a small VBS like day with the children of the village. We taught them songs, American games, and fed them rice and cookies. It was so much fun to see these children giggle. I adored them. That night we hiked about five miles up a mountain to a village that is almost completely lost and not saved. It was pouring rain so we were unable to take a truck. These villagers mostly worship buddha and ghost as the pastor told us. You could feel the darkness of this village as we walked through it. We went to a small church and began to sing hymns as loud as we could. Just the sound of Americans interested them enough to come check it out. After about an hour or so we had a full church, even in the pouring rain. Our pastor was able to share the gospel with them and we did a silent skit and sang songs. I prayed that God would open the ears of these people so that He could pour himself in. I hope that we impacted them in a way that will make them fear the Lord and seek him. But the most amazing thing was worshiping our God in a place that never worships him. The Lord’s will is perfect, he is sovereign, and He will bring down the barriers in this village when its his time. But what a blessing it was to be the tool to start chipping away at these walls. The people of this village were very appreciative, but you could tell the joy the other village people had was absent in these. Please continue to pray that God sends Christians into these parts so His name will be known in the darkest of areas.

On another note… next scariest thing in my life next to the snake. Trucks were supposed to come pick us up from the lost village to take us back to the other village. But because of all the rain they were unable to. So in the darkest night you could think of, 21 American hiked across the jungle back to our homes. Our leader was the village pastor. He carried a stick with him, but this was not a walking stick, no no no, it was a killing stick. I can still hear the beating of that stick against the ground as the killed snakes, millipedes, scorpions, and other deadly insects and animals. All we knew was when you hear the slam you freeze, stay still, and hold the flashlight straight down. We prayed the entire way home. All I knew was that if I made it home it would be a major accomplishment for us all. Again the Lord had his protection on us all. We all made it safely back after about a two hour hike of fright without once scratch on us. When we got there as loud as we could we said, “God is good all the time, all the time God is good”. And Amen to that again! As scary as it was, I am so happy it happened. How cool that I did that!!!! Yeah, I have hiked though the jungle at night, beating at the things that want to kill me… have you???

This morning we had a church service. I was asked to give my testimony; what an honor. I stood before a congregation that flooded out into the sidewalks. These people yearn for the gospel. Speaking to them about my faith was such an amazing moment for me. Indeed God is using me, my story, my struggles, and my successes, to further His name. Wow! Our group sang songs and worshiped with the people of the village. Then we got on the truck and came home…. And you can guess how that went... a stuck truck is all I will say.

Though we had no electricity, no running water, no showers, no beds, no toilets, and did not know the language, God still shook our World. He opened our eyes to the things we all want and seek to see. This morning while in church once again God revealed to me He is much bigger then I could ever think. Here I was on the other side of the world worshiping the same God that First Baptist Crane and Imperial worship. I thought of Riverstone and the BSM and all my friends worshiping with us as well. Then I thought of all the countries in the world that sing to him too. Our God is not a God of one nation, but he is a God of all nations. He is a God of all things. He is the creator, the father, the maker and the protector. And there I was, listening to a sermon I did not understand at all, but field with the Holy Spirit like never before. Next time you want to put God in a box, go to a village that’s uncharted on a map. And when you hear the cries of the believers and the worshiping of his children, then tell me God is small. But I can tell you now, you won’t be able to.

I have many more stories about this trip, and many picture and video. I would love to share more. But most of all I am thankful for seeing the beauty of God in a new way. If you would like to know about anything else please let me know. Pictures come next week when I get to Bangkok.

Continue to pray for strength, growth, and direction! Thanks for reading!