30 days from today...

I am leaving for Thailand in 30 days from today. Wow. There are so many reasons why I am excited to Pattaya. I am SO excited to see some people I met last summer and fell in love with. I am looking forward to reconnecting with them and spending 10 weeks getting to know them more. I am excited to spend time in the slums and help out Pattaya Slum Ministries.


Here are my goals that I have for my time in Thailand. I want to:
1. Know God more - see him work in a different setting where Christianity is not the dominate religion
2. Learn how to engage in a culture different from my own and love people who are different from me - in the way they are brought up, their lifestyle, their economic status, etc.
3. Help some people/kids and show Christ’s love to them
4. Learn more about myself and what God may want me to do in the future involving missions. Learn more about missions and how it works in other countries.
5. Learn more about injustice and ways to fight against it


I know there will be some hard things too about my time in Pattaya. There were things that I saw last time I was there that broke my heart. Seeing street after street after street filled with girls prostituting themselves. Seeing girls who looked younger than 18 with older white men. Seeing girls in the slums who I know were raped and abused. Seeing men, women, and children in a dirty, smelly prison. Last time, I was in Pattaya for about 3 weeks, so I know there will be a lot more things to see and experience, and there will be more time for my heart to be broken. But I know that God will protect my heart.


Here are some things that I need prayer for when I'm gone. I know that prayer is so important, and so I would love it if you could join with me in prayer.
1. Pray for God to prepare me spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically before I go and that God would protect and provide for me while I am there.
2. Pray that I would be open and listening to what God wants to teach me during this time.
3. Pray that I would be able to use the Thai that I have learned to connect with people in Thailand.
4. Pray that I would be able to show Christ's love to the people living in the slums and the women working on the streets.
5. Pray that I would be able to be a blessing and encouragement to the Pattaya Slum Ministries staff


I was reading Proverbs 29 and this verse stuck out to me today in verse 7:
⁷ The righteous care about justice for the poor, 
    but the wicked have no such concern.


I pray that I would learn how I can care more about the justice of the poor and oppressed through my experience in Thailand. I have been given much, and I want to use what I have been given to help them.