June 2023 Update
Did you ever read “Heart of Darkness,” Joseph Conrad’s disturbing novella of the Congo? I remember being shaken to the core by Conrad’s depiction of man’s innate propensity for evil. Now that we’re back in MaeSot, close enough to the border to hear the bombs detonating and see firsthand what’s happening to the people at the hands of their own government, we feel like we're staring into the face of that evil.
Imagine this; one day, while we were sitting in a restaurant, a missionary we were with suddenly hopped up, suspecting that a man at the next table…an English-speaking African… may have been trafficked. Sure enough, the man confessed he’d been lured to Thailand by the promise of work, his passport taken, then transported to M____, and forced to work in casinos or internet illegal “finance” systems. Although he’d escaped to Thailand, he had no money... nor means to earn more, was in Thailand illegally, and was terrified of the traffickers looking for him. Without help from his embassy, he was likely to be recaptured, taken back to M____, or much worse. This weeping man wasn’t a statistic, a number, or a story; he was there in flesh and blood, one of thousands of exploited people here besieged on all sides.
Because this time when traveling to MaeSot we needed to bring our luggage (domestic flights charge the earth for suitcases), we took the GreenBus, an 11-hour trip that wasn’t as hard on Peter’s knee as we’d feared. To our great delight, a last-minute cancelation allowed us to stay in the exact apartment as two years ago…even all my towel hooks, door hangers, and key holders are still in place, and the resident cat, Tiger, remembered Peter! The complex is run by a Thai doctor and his wife whose English is wonderful and who over the years have become good friends. I’m back to cooking downstairs in the communal kitchen!
We immediately began discipleship training with some Karen (Burmese tribe) youths from a village across the border, living here in Thailand to go to school as there are none back home. But we hadn’t got more than four days into their training when a group of House leaders from M____ came across the border, in desperate need of encouragement, teaching, and, frankly, a respite from the horror that is their daily life. We asked the interpreter where they’d come from; he just looked at us. “They’re about as deep in the suck as you can get. You don’t even want to know.” Needless to say, we took no photographs.
It was distinctly humbling to be entrusted with their training. They’d walked great distances over days to be a part of this, a trek requiring bribes at many junctures and God’s protection throughout. They’re dealing with a bloody civil war that has destroyed their villages and displaced thousands into the jungle, food and water shortages, steaming heat, disease, closed schools, and Christian persecution. Peter was shaken. “How are we even in the same room as these guys, knowing what they do, and in what conditions?” he asked me. That’s when we trust the Holy Spirit, petitioned by our prayers and the phalanx of prayer warriors behind us, to supply the right words to minister to the hearts of these weary servants. One leader of a large network of house churches needed a motorcycle but there was no way he could take money with him; it would have been removed at any one of a dozen checkpoints. Even the missionary who drove them to the border for their return was fined exorbitantly for having Burmese in his car…despite the fact they were here legally with 6-day passes! Corruption on both sides of the border is rampant and simply a part of life here. However, there is a “system” for sending money into the interior if you know the right people; by that means, the house church network leader now does have a second-hand motorbike, which will increase his already enormous influence on the Kingdom.
Being away from Thailand, you soon forget how shockingly awful the driving is…until that is, you return! Peter wears a Pray First bracelet to remind him to mind his language and curb his heavy hand on the horn, but it doesn’t stop his running commentary on and admonishments to other drivers. Frankly, when so many crowding these narrow roads are very young, unlicensed, carrying passengers, and on motorbikes, it’s not surprising what horrendous drivers they are. Imagine never having ANY driving instructions? You wouldn’t know what a stop sign means, a No U-Turn, or even a traffic robot signal! Nobody seems to know the rules of entering and exiting a round-about (which makes for hair-raising near-misses,) nor who goes first at all the crossroads (none of which have stop signs,) or why it’s probably NOT a good idea to park your car and completely block traffic while you nip into a shop for something! I kid you not! We’ve been loaned a nice little car by friends; it’s automatic, so I can drive it, but I prefer Peter does so that I can cringe, shriek, and mash non-existent brake pedals on my side with impunity.
No Thailand adventure would be complete without a visa complication! Ours emerged this week into a tangle that cost us four days of interrupted work and unanticipated travel. We’d planned to renew our visitors' visas at the Tak Border crossing, but when the bridge was bombed and closed to foreigners with no sign of reopening, we had to hop a bus back to MaeSai (11 hours), drive to the Golden Triangle (the point at which Thailand, M____, and Laos meet), take a small boat across to Laos, climb innumerable steps (Peter’s poor knee!), purchase an expensive Laotian visa, and then reverse the whole process to come back, obtaining a Thai visa on our return. Sadly, this is standard procedure for foreigners here; lucrative for the countries involved, and distressing for those, particularly with families, who are trying to help through mission work, non-profit organizations, or volunteering.
Pastor Jaime, our dynamic church planter and disciple-maker in the Dominican, has just completed yet another discipleship training course, closely followed by two Haitian Pastors’ Conferences, one in a poor area of Santo Domingo (see the picture of the neighborhood they canvassed to invite people to attend), and one near Bani (where we were previously.) The new Haitian pastors, whose churches are growing weekly, were hugely encouraged by the fellowship and instruction received, as this is quite foreign to them. Our dear translator, Emily, and a mission team from Wisconsin that has made several trips in the past are now with Pastor Jaime, helping build a mission house where future mission teams will stay. We’re praying for good weather and God’s blessing on their work.
And in other good news for the Kingdom, we are awed by the industry and energy of the group we trained in MaeSai, who’s immediately gone out to train disciples to multiply disciples. We’ve been sent picture after picture, video after video chronicling the spread of the gospel, the baptism of new believers, the start of new house churches, the testimonies of what God is doing, and how the Lord is moving!
And so, as we hold our breaths waiting for the rainy season to cool the temperature and clean the air, we are thankful for so many, many blessings; the satisfaction of getting up every day knowing our purpose, the excitement of training people to tell the Good News of Christ, and the joy of friends and family who support, love, and pray for us. We appreciate those prayers more than we can say
And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Mark 4:19