Itsara

Okay, technically this should not be in the Thailand category, but since I don’t have a larger “Southeast Asia” category, into Thailand it goes! Most of the team from Coast is here (the rest get here in less than an hour) and we just spent the last few days in Laos. Unfortunately, I still don’t have enough Internet to get my pictures up (but rest assured, I have high hopes for our connections in Hawaii in just a few short days!). Let’s see what I can write here before someone tells me I have to leave for somewhere.

Laos (or, technically, the Lao P.D.R. - we’re not sure how the first foreigners added that “s” in there) is a communist country, but unlike China, the regime (or at least the part of it that stands against Christianity) does not seem to have as much of a presence. In fact, it felt to me like what might happen if Thailand tried to do communism (e.g. there would be rules, but most people wouldn’t go out of their way to follow them and the police wouldn’t go out of their way to enforce them). On the other hand, I might have just seriously misjudged two cultures with one swift stroke!

That said, we basically spent our nights worshipping, praying with, and teaching about 20-30 Laotian Christians in the meeting room of a hotel in the middle of the city. The Western missionary who was our contact there said nothing like that had ever been done (that he had heard of), but in getting to know the Loatians, we did see elements here and there of the fear of reprisal they lived under.

On the other hand, the trip was also blessed by a huge amount of grace, and I think we may have taken it for granted (this may have been why we were able to do what we did without seeing much of the government). As one example, we brought some Bibles with us - a lot, actually. We were briefed on all sorts of possibilities and what to do and where to put the Bibles (e.g. underneath our underwear) to help us through, but in the end it was unneeded. When we walked through customs, nobody checked us. We didn’t think much of it until we were told later, by folks on the team who did notice, that everybody before us was checked and everybody after us was checked, but not a single one of us was checked. It’s really hard to pin that on coincidence.

During the days, we played tourist around Lao (which wasn’t hard, because we are tourists). At one point Chris Whyte, Noah, and I started taking pictures of things and it somehow escalated into a “What Would Ray Shoot?” contest. I suppose we should send our entries to Ray himself so he can judge, but he’s enjoying Turkey at the moment. After a while we realized we were taking a lot of pictures of each other. We thought what Ray might ask when he noticed and the inevitable answer was, “We thought and thought about what you would shoot if you were here, and the obvious answer was… us!”

Anyway, thank you for your prayers as the trip went fabulously, and we were blessed by it at least as much as the Laotians (probably more, to be honest). Continue to pray for the team and that God would speak to them - especially to those who are seeking God’s will for their lives.

We’re here for 3 more days with the team then we head off to Hawaii (via Bangkok and Tokyo). The rest of the team will be splitting up and heading to various destinations around southeast Asia. In the next couple of days we’ll be going back to Im Jai (cuz we miss the kids, and we have to somehow explain to them that we’ll be gone for another 2-3 weeks) and spend the rest of our time with our friends who we’ll have to say goodbye to again soon. Praise God for your prayers, for the relationships that have been strengthened (and in some cases formed) here, and for God’s continually revealed will. We’ll write again from the US!