Thailand Mission Trip Day 5

As our reporter is busy prepping for the English camp (exciting!) tomorrow, I (Louisa) shall come and help to write this entry.

This day was centered on the youth discipleship camp at Tachang Church. The intent was to challenge the youths to bear the servitude of Jesus, to simply live out the ‘new commandment’, that is to love one another. The focus would be an episode from the gospel of Luke when Jesus washed his disciples’ feet.

Uncle Henry wrapped up this morning’s devotion with a challenge posed to us, whether we are able to love another first before even preaching this message. Can we walk the talk and not just talk the talk? Surprisingly and ironically without much surprise, church members criticize each other the most. It is impossible to preach the message of loving one another if members of the same body are warring against each other.

We started off the day with a few setbacks, considering that Joanne and a few others were under the weather and they had to stay behind and recuperate. In addition, the sink in the girls’ toilet almost dropped on Jasmine, but thank God that there were no serious injury other than a few scratches. Honestly, we seemed a little discouraged in the beginning as we seemed a little short on manpower and we also woke up a little late and hence our engines are not warmed up just as yet. However, once we started setting up the stations, we fell into a familiar pattern and it really started taking the team’s mind off all these setbacks.

Uncle Cheng Kie started off the camp with a game where the youths (and surprinsingly quite a number of children) fire catapults to knock over bottles with their fears written on them. This was based on the story of Goliath. They really seemed to have fun with it. Hopefully they have learned something from this game. Then, we challenged them to take on the same love that Jesus actively demonstrated his disciples when washed their feet, after which we prayed for them. However, we realized that there were too many children to continue with our original lesson plan, so we decided to throw everything (well, not everything, but most) out of the window and adopt a new schedule.

Then, we decided to get them to build a pyramids that symbolized the tower of Babel that man trying to reach God through various mean (religions and good works) but God has destroy all work of man. Instead of reaching to God, God reached down to man through Jesus. We thought them how to reach to God and established a relationship with him through prayer (holding of breath under water) and the word (seeing your reflection in the mirror).

Then, we did an impromptu act of the resurrection of Lazarus to demonstrate the power of Jesus (hahahahaha, it was funny because Justin and I are not you know, what we call great actors) and asked them to act it out. This probably helped them to internalize the story better and they had loads of fun wrapping their chosen “Lazarus” up in toilet paper. After which, we acted our skit (which of course, had loads of us in makeshift roles) and ended with praying for any problems for them. After the skit, a few youths responded positively and indicated that they would be coming for the English camp the next day.

I’m really proud of everyone today. We had lots of changes in schedule as we had lots of “holes” in our manpower allocation. It’s really cool considering lots of people really worked outside of their comfort zone, and they stepped up and took initiative in the absence of “seasoned” people.

We ended the day with lots of games with each other (it was really fun!) and of course, the usual packing and debrief and discussion of the next day’s schedule and jamming session of worship.

Prayer requests

1. Pray for good health for everyone and God’s protection and peace to be upon every single one of us
2. Good turnout of English camp this morning and God to prepare the way and hearts of the participants.

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Thailand Mission Trip Day 4

We had an eventful day, starting off with a devotation by our handsome En Yong and handsomer Darius.

We shared about being in unity in Christ from Philippians 2:1-5 and spoke words of encouragement and prayers to each other. It was a pity that we couldn’t complete the encouragement session due to time constraint but armed with the few sincere comments we received, we were on our way.

Our first stop was Inburi Church. It was really a sight to see a two storey church in its final phase of completion. Those on the last TMT would know this church only had its concrete foundation but now it is almost complete. We met the caretaker of the church, aka Coffee Lady, well known for making a good cuppa coffee :) Pastor Eng Kiat showed us around the church and we prayed for the church workers.  Once again, we were encouraged how God is raising up people from within to serve the locals. Darius saw a vision of Gair, the elder of the Inburi church, dressed in white and that he will stand in on the pulpit and preach to the church. Gair was formerly a drug pusher and his life evidently changed dramatically upon receiving Christ. 

We proceeded to Daw Rung’s house. She’s a full-time church worker. We prayed for her aunt, Ang Porn, to receive Christ. Although she didn't after spending an hour there, we know that at least the seed has been sown and that in God's timing she will receive Christ eventually. It all started with a weakness in her legs and she wanted healing. We were glad that after a few rounds of prayer, she felt better but we know that the greater prize would be her salvation.

At this point of time, Ah Bi had a fever and Uncle Henry and Aunty Carol decided to bring her back to Pastor Eng Kiat's house to let her rest and take her medicine. Thank God that she recovered by the time we arrived home at night!

After lunch we proceed home to get a good afternoon rest. It was much needed for the team as we have been busy with activities for the past three days.

We proceeded to Sawaeng Ha for Children’s Club. The kids had a fun time learning our dance and the Thai Church Youth were encouraged to join us for our dance! The house where it was held was luxurious by local standards. It had solid concrete walls and tiled floors. We were impressed by how one church member, being touched and compiled by the Spirit, decided to use her inherited plot of land to build this house for church activities.

Children’s club saw the second appearance of our children’s game wildcard Uncle Chengkie. IT WAS EPIC. The monkey movement was really good with the kids. Parents you should really ask their children about the woo-woo ah-ah actions! (:

Joyce and Liyang led the session with heartfelt testimonies and a short exhortation on Philippians. It was fantastic. The Thai people who attended the cell group were really ministered to and their emotions regarding the topic could really be felt. It was a time where the Holy Spirit was really moving and ministering to the people present. The key message was that God is always in control and always for us, not against us. We thought it was relevant as the locals often face very real bread and butter issues.

After the cell group, we also went to visit an old lady at her house and prayed for her as she still has some doubts and struggles in her life. Dung our debrief back in Ps Eng Kiat’s, Clarence shared his first experience witnessing angels. He saw one or two angels around each tripper at the old lady’s house that we visited while Darius also saw that there were angels with us when we prayed in a circle.

Prayer Request

Joanne felt sick on the way back to Ps Eng Kiat’s house and vomited. We cover her with prayers and she felt better. Those at home in Singapore, please pray for her!!

Pray for the TMT team to have the strength to carry on for the rest of another long day.

Pray for us that we are able to minister to the people of Thailand

Pray for us that we all well and healthy even though we don't have enough rest.

Sincerely,

Clarence and Darius

Edited by Liyang (not much though)

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Thailand Mission Trip Day 3

Thailand Mission Trip Day 3:

We are still going strong. The day has been tiring and it is evident in how most of us lay slumped on the cool concrete floor when there was a slight break in the afternoon. However, it has been a fruitful day and there were no regrets.

The day started off with a hearty breakfast and morning devotion. Uncle Henry challenged us whether we could sustain this spiritual high even after this trip is over, maintaining that constant burden for the salvation and healing of others and making prayer a close ally.  After that and lots of mosquito repllent application, we were off for the home visitations.

We travelled down to Bangrachan today to visit Thanpraporn church where a hearty lunch awaited us. One thing which the trippers looked forward to is the food. It’s nothing out of the ordinary, like chicken curry and pork trotters but something about the way they were cooked made it extra special. Aunty Carol was joking that she would like to bring the cook (a most hospitable lady) back to Singapore.

Below you’ll find Louisa’s account of the events and the people we prayed for.

Hi friends! I’m making a reappearance today after a long hiatus of six months. Today was an interesting one in that many unexpected events happened. Firstly, Audrey and Cheryl (yay!) started off the day by leading us in devotions. Cheryl prayed for people to flock to our evangelistic concert, and it really happened! But before I begin on that account, we had visitations in the morning. We first visited an old man who had a multitude of problems. What struck us first was that he had no right forearm. He shared with us that he had high blood pressure, dizzy spells and headaches. When we first arrived, we just wanted to share our joy with him through worship, yet he seemed rather unfazed when we started singing. So we tried all ways (including releasing Clarence’s and Darius’s laughter) but it didn’t work. Finally we gave up using human ways and just prayed for him, (which definitely had Jasmine and Evangelle very enthusiastically praying in Thai and everyone just chionged for it) and the headaches left. He seemed very much happier after prayer and with Ah Bi’s sweet smile, he cracked many smiles! Isn’t it great? After all, joy is a right and hallmark of a Christian…

Hmm, after that we visited an auntie’s house. During the June 09 trip, the trippers prayed for her and she was very much better. We prayed for her again and the pain in her hips disappeared. She actually broke out into a dance, which really surprised many of us! Joy again reared its head, especially apt considering Philippians is the book of focus for our trip.

The concert really had many many children who came, to the point where we almost ran out of goodie bags. In fact the goodie bags had a story too, in that we thought we ran out of goodie bags yet there was one without it, but somehow, the logistics team unearthed one more. I guess it didn’t really hit home the significance of the large turnout then for me, but when Uncle Henry raised the point, I realized it was a great way of just broadcasting the word out to the community in this simple manner.

Hmm, after the concert, we had two people who requested for prayer. And I shall share my part. There was an elderly woman who was not a believer yet requested for prayer for her many illnesses. She had pain in her spine and knee and thyroid problems and diabetes… ok shan’t go on, but basically, we prayed and the pain lifted totally! She was really happy and she bent up and down to test her knees and her back wasn’t in pain anymore which was great! She looked really happy. Really. Don’t know how to describe it but she was really happy. Hopefully this is the stepping stone to something greater.

Back in another room there was a non-believer lady who had problems with her thyroid, being sensitive to dust that was plentiful in her working place. She told us that she had a hectic schedule, going to work in the morning followed by taking care of her children after work. Her problems were made worst by her husband’s addiction to drinking. Thus she requested prayer for her thyroid as well as the strength to be able to work and take care of her family. During the prayer, Justin and Audrey released visions upon the lady. Justin saw a picture of a pillar, and interpret it as the lady being a pillar of strength for the people around her, that God will provide for her and she need not stand alone. On the other hand, Audrey’s vision was about a sky full of the lady’s needs of which the lady was desperately trying to reach out towards them, not aware that on that very same floor that she stood upon was already filled with all the needs the lady required, provided by God himself.

 After the team prayed for her, she told us that her thyroid felt better ( being able to breathe with more ease as compared to before we rayed for her) and that she felt very encouraged by our prayers. Her experience was more towards the emotional side instead of the physical.

She later on prayed to receive the Lord into her life, being touched by the Lord. This experience marked the beginning of one new member’s journey with the Lord!

The day ended with a message from Uncle Henry that we should not underestimate the work that we are doing here even though it may not seem much or when things do not turn out the way we desired to be. In army speak, when one wants to take control of another territory, engineers have to first build bridges before the infantry can move in. Similarly that is what we are doing, building bridges which others can use to move in. it is very heartening to know that within Thailand itself, local people have responded to the call to become missionaries and are moving from provinces to provinces, out of their comfort zones.

I hope that our work will not just be a temporary thing but have a permanent effect on our lives.

Sincerely,

It dawned upon me that the reporter is probably the last person to hit the sack everyday.

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Thailand Mission Trip Day 2

Visitation at Tachang

There is a blackout now. I’m typing on battery power on the laptop with the room illuminated by the screen’s glare and a flickering candle. Morale still remains high. Conversations are still going on in the background and some folks are still strumming away on the guitars and singing songs off the cuff.

The mosquitoes here are not to be underestimated. This reporter (liyang) here was shocked to find three bad bug bites just this morning. I’m grateful for the team for their prayers of healing for me. If there’s one thing that is characterizing this trip is lots of prayer for each other, for the Thai people and for the people we have visited today. Most of us have fallen prey to the winged terrors. Please continue to pray for our safety and well-being.

One of the highlights of the day was the house visitations. We visited a home where a young girl dropped out of school and we wanted to encourage her and her grandmother who was her primary caregiver. Little did we know that it would be an emotional trip for a few team members. Some of us were familiar with this girl from the mission trip last year. They were disappointed to see how, within the span of one year, she has transformed from an innocent pre-teen full of hope and sincerity for God to an “emo” teen, listless and disappointed with God.  This broke our hearts just as how God’s heart would be broken to see her in this state. Tears were shed for this girl and for these trippers, I think they’re one step closer to emulating and feeling the Father’s heart. After laying hands, praying for her and taking her through a time with God, we could see her countenance change. Praise The Lord !

Clarence was indignant that the family (and many other families here) was in a cycle of debt and that the amount owed is easily surmountable in Singapore standards. To put it bluntly, an entire family can be enslaved by debt. The situation will be further exacerbated if the family borrows from illegal moneylenders.

However, it is not all gloom and doom. Hands were laid upon and there was healing. Aunty Lam Pheng’s knee hurts for a few months – so the team laid hands & prayed for her a few rounds and she said that the pain is gone and she is healed. She even tried bending her knees and squatting! J

After our fruitful first visitation, we made our way to Thachang church where a sumptuous lunch (and a very cute poodle) awaited us. We ate to our hearts’ content, resulting in delicious deep fried fish swimming in the hot tom yam-ish soup in our bellies. House visitation was next on the agenda. Below is one team’s account.

The house visitation team was split into three groups, the children club’s team and two others heading to different homes. For Uncle Henry’s team, we went to visit a mushroom farm with three church members. When we reached the farm, there was an old woman lying on a wooden bed, telling one of the church workers that she has been suffering from headache for quite some time, preventing her from going to Sunday service for the past few weeks. We talked to her and got to know her more and prayed for her headache. The prayer was a “heaty” experience as we felt heat coming from our hands. Maybe it was the anointing oil on her forehead but we prayed fervently for her headache to go away. After praying, she felt so much better! They continued to pray for her sister and her nephew who have been suffering from sore throat for quite sometime. We prayed for them but they didn’t get total healing. Then we proceeded to the next house for visitation.

There, we met an old woman who was a regular church member. She told us that the Lord, the “Father of the creation”, was ministering to her just that morning. We prayed for her right ear which was blocked by some unknown reason. We prayed the first time and she explained that some wind came out of her ear but she was still unable to hear anything. We prayed the second time and we felt an intense heat emanating from our hands. She was able hear some sounds but it still wasn’t clear enough! Aunty Carol came and prayed with all of us and we all felt the same intense heat again. This time she said she was able to hear everything now! She was healed!

            The third team visit Aunty Wiang, she was in debt too. She has a mother who has diarrhea for a few days and all along she has weak legs and unable to stand most of the time.  When we were about to pray for them, suddenly two ‘loan shark’ riding motor bike appeared. Aunty Wiang immediately went out to attend to them. On that day she managed to sell some of the ‘Langsak’ and managed to pay off some of her debt, If not she will have to go into hiding. We also pray for her mother for healing of her diarrhea, she felt much better after that. Seeing some children around, Pastor Eng Kiat told us to start an impromptu children club. By His divine appointment, the children team is with us and we managed to run some activities for the 5 children.

I guess you can ask why God doesn’t heal all the time, but rather than asking that, there are things we don’t understand like how God works at his own time. This experience reminded me of the time when Heidi Baker (please do a Google search on her) had her first healing experience only after the 100^th person. The Lord is always good and has His plans, he doesn’t do that to test us but increases our perseverance to wait on the Lord for grace and healing power at his own time.  

Children’s Club & Cell group at Wat Yai Soi

The day’s official program ended with a Children’s Program followed by a cell group. The Children’s Program went smoothly and everyone was charmed by the innocence of the young children. The turnout for the cell group was large and over 40 people were squeezed in an area not bigger than half a typical school classroom. Despite the not so favourable physical conditions, you can surely sense the overall fervour and sincerity of the Thai people as they made prayer a key element of the cell group.

Clarence did a teaching / sharing on receiving a prophetic word or impression from God. I think the local people found the prophetic activity amusing. Try putting yourself in a group of 4 people, cover your eyes and one of your group members raises his / her hands. You’ll have to pray for an impression from God and ask God to reveal to you who was the person who raised his / her hands. It’s definitely not something off the mill. Andrew’s group of 5 did this prophetic exercise and they got the correct answers all the time !!!

The day ended with lots of random singing in the song thaew. I think just like how a pirate crew needs to have a musician on board, music and merry-making go hand in hand and that’s one important factor which has kept the team morale high despite being out of our comfort zones and placed in unfamiliar territory.

Overall, though all this, God is showing us in real tangible ways to have compassion for others. Though we are going through some inconveniences like bumpy roads, a blackout and bug bites, I doubt it can compare to the real, hard and everyday bread-and-butter issues these people face. An oft-quoted question, “What makes us so privileged to be born in Singapore and not elsewhere?” Let us think how good God is to us and how we should return that goodness.

Sincerely,

Liyang (With contributions from Darius)

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Telunas 2010, here we come!

We will be leaving for Telunas on Friday, 17 December 2010. Report at 645AM at Harbourfront Ferry Terminal, 2nd Floor. Do not be late, the ferry will not wait!

Packing List

1.   4 sets of clothes and underwear

2.   Toiletries

3.   Bible

4.   Water Bottle

5.  Pen

6.  1 set of clothes to get wet in

7.   Towel (one is provided per bed, but you may wish to bring your own)

8.   Money (optional)

9.   Personal Medication

10. Slippers

11.  Passport

12. Sun Tan Lotion

As we wish for this retreat to be a time of focus on God and on getting to know each other better, please refrain from bringing personal gaming devices such as iPads, PSPs, DS Lites, etc. If you need to contact people on your handphone, you may bring it along but you will have to be responsible for it.

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Thailand Mission Trip Day 1



Morale is high. God is very gracious to grant us a safe journey with little obstacles. We checked in at the airport smoothly, As we are typing, the whole team is busy with their individual programs such as the Children’s Program, the English program, the following day’s devotion for the cell group, the laundry and the expenses. Practically every square feet of the first floor is bustling with activity. It seems like it’s going to be an activity-packed trip. In advance, we would really like to express our deepest appreciation thanks and appreciation to Pastor Eng Kiat and Aunty Anong for their hospitality and for putting us up, all 21 of us, in their home for the next six days.

We were warmly received by Pastor Eng Kiat at the airport. There was definitely no mistaking that warm smile and the moustache. Our journey on the vans was equally smooth and we arrived at our first stop, McDonald’s, Thailand version. Needless to say, we were already famished. I think many of us found it fascinating to discover that pork burgers exist here and plum sauce for the nuggets. We will never have that in Singapore that’s for sure. After finishing off our meal with the can-only-be-found-in-Thailand Oishi green tea to quench our thirst from the extremely hot McSpicy burgers, we were off to Pastor Eng Kiat’s home. If there’s one important thing that we can glean from Pastor Eng Kiat’s first briefing and sharing, that would be the purpose of the whole trip. Our purpose here would be to minister to others and in turn to be ministered ourselves.

We made our way down to Tesco Lotus, squeezed on a mini-truck, locally known as a song thaew, entertaining ourselves by singing songs from our childhood days. The cool breeze in our faces was an exhilarating feeling.  I think we were impressed and delighted to discover that the place was like a Giant hyper-mart and had all our needs under one large roof, bonding through the times spent shopping and browsing through the huge variety of items.

Upon reaching back to headquarters, after a time of worship led by Enyong with his superb guitar skills, Aunty Carol shared with us her vision of a watering can with a spout being poured out upon this land, that we are the water. Though our stay is temporary (since the water is in the can) but nevertheless we will do what we came for. However, in order to do so, we in turn had to be soaked first. It was really meaningful when Aunty Carol shared about her own experience soaking in God’s presence and led us through the process itself followed by a quick sharing.

That about wraps up the day’s experience. Morale is still high though energy may be on the low side, after all, it is 12.30 am Singapore time and many of us have yet to shower. (21 people and 3 shower facilities. Hmm…. how long will it take?) It is my hope that more trippers will come forward and share their personal experiences and encounters with you, the audience. It won’t be fair if the mission trip’s account is narrated from just a few persons’ point of view. So do look forward to more entries on this blog!

Sincerely from your first time reporters,

Liyang and Kelda

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YaYA Thailand Mission Trip (6-13 Dec)

21 youths and young adults had signed up for the Dec TMT 2010. They are :
Koh En Yong, Louisa Neo, Joyce Goh, Kelda Wong, Darius Tay, Elias Goh, Cheryl Chua,
Audrey Wong, Jasmine Tan, Damaris Lim, Keith Fong, Evangelle Tan, Clarence Ng, Sim
LiYang, Joanne Ler, Justin Lee, Andrew Wong WX, Cheng Kie, Henry & Carol & Keryn.

Flight details are as follow:
6 DEC Flight FD3502 Depart Singapore 1055am Arrive Bangkok at 1215pm
13 DEC Flight FD3505 Depart Bangkok at 0445pm Arrive Singapore 0805pm

Pray for Individual Team Members
* Pray that the Thailand Mission Trip will be an extraordinary God-experience for
every team member.
* Pray that everyone in the mission team will be used mightily by God as a channel
to release His love and healing to the people that we meet.
* Protection for the Team - From the Commando Mosquitoes, Injuries, while traveling
on the song-thaew from village to village.
* Good Rest, Good Health & Good Energy to carry out the planned programme,
visitations to churches & ministry time.
* Good bonding time even as we prepare for the trip : dance, skit, learning Thai,
praying and fasting, spending extended time with God.
* those students who are still battling the A levels to have peace and joy in the
midst of stress

Pray for a powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit
* Pray that the Holy Spirit will once again move like a wind across the province,
touching and healing people through the ministry of the mission team members.
* Pray that the team will put their trust and dependence on the Holy Spirit and in
faith release healing for the sick and deliverance for those who are oppressed
* Pray that there will be a powerful Baptism of Love and Baptism of Power by the
Holy Spirit for the Team and the Thai people.
* Pray for God's presence to be so real and tangible to the entire team through the
revelation of the Holy Spirit.
* Pray that the team will be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's prompting

Daily Mission Trip Update
Do look out for daily update from the Mission trippers on this blog.

We thankful to our God and thank you Covenantors for your loving support !!

Clarence Ng (Team Leader) & Henry Wong

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