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Not pictured: Darlene Hanson, Eric Hanson, Lauren Lara, Thomas Patty, Katelyn Richardson, Shane Wake and Eryn Worthing
Imagine getting blindly placed in a room with people you don’t know and only knowing we are all here for one purpose… to go to Thailand. The obvious work of building relationships and scheduling meeting times are easy. But preparing to go overseas into the unknown posses a whole new set of challenges – How will we get there? What will we do? How will we do what we do?
Our preparation continues.
In just two short months, our 14-member team will be “prepared” and heading to the northern hills of Thailand. We can’t wait to see what God is doing in Thailand and through His ministry, Integrated Tribal Development Program (ITDP). We’re excited to learn more about His heart for all nations and with hopes of being used however God sees fit.
Our team has been meeting regularly and prepping for the past two months, and we are incredibly thankful to experience God’s knitting together of this group from the get-go. We are a team made up of international exposure trip newbies, seasoned veterans, with a mix of all ages and backgrounds.
We are learning to be stretched and challenged to step outside the comfortable, digging into God’s heart for the nations, delving into discipleship, and much more. One of the compelling themes we’ve camped on is that we’re not bringing Jesus to Thailand. He’s already there and doing amazing things! Whether we’re helping dig ditches or installing water filtration systems, mixing cement or laying bricks, our efforts are only coming alongside what the staff and villagers are already doing. In fact, we’ll probably be more of a hindrance than a help to the villagers! But we have the privilege to learn about and value what God has long been doing through ITDP and the people of Thailand. We’re called to love like Jesus loved (John 13:34-35) – “by this all people will know that you are my disciples,” Jesus says. We have the tremendous opportunity to do life, learn from and build relationships with the people we’ll cross paths with and see how God advances His mission in and through us – both in our 14-member team and in the unknown number of people we will get to know.
Thank you so much for your prayers!