The last two days here in Chiang Mai have been pretty incredible. Yesterday, Wednesday, morning we went to eat breakfast at a local missionaries house in the area. Here we met the other Chiang Mai missionaries such as David Allen and Shawn. After a wonderful breakfast we had equipping time where both Shawn and David spoke to us. Shawn spoke about evangelism and sharing the word with others. One comment he made that really hit me hard was "if you truly believe that the only way to get to the father is through Jesus then not sharing the good news is like hating them". I'm sure I butchered his words, but the were very powerful. We believe in this amazing God and that his son came to to die so that we might live eternally and we choose not to share this? The thought of just keeping it to ourselves sounds so foolish. Later David talked about the importance of a personal relationship with God. He highlighted the importance of quiet time, time in the word, personal prayer time and journaling. These are all things I really want to focus on this summer and areas of my life that could really use improvement.
After our equipping time we went to this little street restaurant for lunch and then to get coffee for dessert. At the coffee shop we had a question and answer time where we could ask the three missionaries, Robert, Shawn and David any thing we wanted. They told us a lot about how the mission field was started in Chiang Mai, how they joined the Chiang Mai team and just the history of the church there. It was so interesting learning about the roots of the church here and the hearts of these wonderful missionaries. What really floors me the most about the missionaries and this internship is that they are truly concerned and care about OUR spiritual life. They want us to have a closer and more personal relationship with God. They want us to grow in our spiritual gifts and they are putting in a lot of time and effort to help us in all of these areas. Every day we have "equipping time" which is where we study the bible, have group discussion, an hour of personal quiet time and prayer. They are truly training us to be better soldiers for Christ and I am so excited to learn from them. This is truly going to be a life changing summer... it already has been!
From the coffee shop Robert took us five ACU interns as well as the Thai intern Wa, and a few other Thai students (one of the sweet girls Poi I actually got to room with) to a "house boat". If you don't know what that is, no worries I had no clue either. We got on this small ferry type thing and we floated down this river that was tucked in between beautiful Chiang Mai mountains until we reached this floating house. The rest of the evening was spent playing in the lake by jumping off this huge platform thing and eating dinner. The view from the house was indescribable. Beautiful green mountains surrounded this lake we were on. It is impossible to not feel the power and immenseness of God at a place like that. We had a 24hour retreat where we got to know each other, had some devotional time and talked about our summer. It was kinda like a big relaxing/ fun kickoff for all the interns. It was perfect. This morning after eating breakfast, we had an hour of alone time. As I have mentioned, this past year has been very difficult for me. For the past couple months I have just been telling myself and others "I'm fine" or "don't worry about me", kinda like hiding behind this mask of not wanting to be weak or show others my weakness. During my alone time I just stared at this incredible view of the lake and mountains and my heart started to break. There is something about being in His beautiful creation and nature that brings me into Gods presence in a powerful way. What I learned about God during this time is that you can't wear masks when you come into His presence. He strips them away and sees you for everything that you truly are. So I realized that I may not be fine right now and I do have a lot of healing to do but I have a peace from God that He is with me and I will be okay. Its crazy to me God's perfect timing. That He brought me to this place, for this internship, this summer, to be transformed when I needed transforming more than ever. He put me here in Thailand to be healed and to do amazing things through Him. I just have to learn to give everything to Him and know He will be my strength.
This pictures are as follow...me in amazement of God's beauty walking to the ferry, me jumping off into the lake from this large platform in front of our house boat, me with the four other wonderful ACU interns standing on dock of the house boat, a group shot of us eating dinner and the view I had during my quiet time.
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He said to them, "Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don't you put it on its stand? For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear. Consider carefully what you hear," He continued. "With the measure you use, it will be more measured to you--and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him."
Mark 4:21-25
Wow Terri. You really impress me with your writing and with what you share of your experiences.
I want you to know that you are not alone in how you feel at times. God reveals his majesty and glory in nature to me too. He also reveals them through other people which is what you're doing and what I am about to do in Houston, Texas.
I also want to encourage you to be more authentic with your faith. Fearlessly, share what you know about Christ crucified.
You encourage me and I am jealous you're in THAILAND! I'll continue my blog in Houston in a few days..
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