Here is a quick summary of what we did and the amazing things God did!

First after our 12 hour flight we landed in South Korea and had a 12 hour layover there. We had a friend there named Norma who showed us around the city of Seoul. We then got back on a 5 hour plane ride to Bangkok, Thailand!

Bangkok, Thailand

We arrived in Bangkok late at night and were picked up and brought to the YWAM (Youth With A Mission Base) and stayed the night there. The next morning we had orientation with Chris Lenti a missionary in Bangkok who is now doing ministry with male sex tourists (sex trafficking offenders). He was extremely energetic and funny! We then hopped a train to Nong Khai where our first contact was. From there a pastor picked us up and brought us to Udonthani, with Lori and I sitting on the luggage in the back of a truck in the rain haha!

Udonthani, Thailand

When we arrived we had dinner Thai style, sitting on the floor. The food was very hot but very good. Our ministry centered around this church and we led cell groups, prayed over the sick, handed out tracts, did gospel skits and dramas at the local mall, and led their Sunday service. We became very close with the church and they asked us to participate in a traditional Thai dance, which included getting made up and dressed up for the event! It was amazing and the dance was really unique. We also got to go diving for clams, which we never got to eat thankfully haha. We did get to eat scoprion however and believe me you don't want to try it, it tastes like burnt fingernails basically. This church was so amazing to me, the doors were literally always open and the people were all like family. You could not distinguish who was family and who was not. Everytime that had a get together and dinner at someone's house, they alknowledged the Lord by having a time of worship afterwards. When we finally left for our next destination, it was very tearful and I don't think I cried more in all my life. I will never forget their kindness. Our interepreter Piyack had stayed up all night the night before we left to make us bracelets and told us to think of him and know we are in his heart when we look at them.

(Yes that is me in the pink on the right! :)

We then went back to our contacts house and spent an entire day of fasting and praying about our crossing the border to the North in Laos, because we had no translator and Laos is a very hostile place for Christians. We felt that God was giving us the go ahead and it required a lot of faith in order for us to go without a translator in sight. We crossed the border and met our next contact who had finally found a translator for us. We did some skits at the only Christian school in Laos the next morning and then met up with our translator and made plans to go further inland.

Unspecified Location, Laos

It was when we got further inland and away from the city that we could see a big difference in the way the people their lived. Their were bamboo huts and mud floors, and insufficient bathrooms. It was here we learned that we would would be training pastors. When I learned this I felt very intimidated. Who am I to train pastors? We learned that the only training these men had was what they read themselves in the Bible. They had never heard sermons, they had never gone to Bible college. It was unthinkable, when I look over my life, I know I have heard countless sermons. The pastors at first were afraid to be caught by the authorities and wouldn't even look at our leaders when they made plans so the training could take place. One of the pastors had just gotten out of jail a month before we came and the people were living in fear. So we began to teach them and go through sessions of different topics. It was an overwhelming task but God was with us. It made me thankful for all of the teaching I have had in my life. I got to teach about evangelism in the midst of persecution and I got to encourage them. I felt like God was speaking through me when I was encouraging them through His word. It was like God was saying to these people,"I haven't forgotten you, I am bringing people to you, I will never leave you nor forsake you." It was really powerful! When we left you could see the epression on their faces had taken a complete turn, they were encouraged and exuberant! Praise God! We also got to travel to a village that hadn't been visited by missionaries since the 30's! Despite this fact the entire village was almost completely Christian and the authorities somehow allowed them to have their own makeshift church! It was a speck of hope in the midst of despair! We then headed out to our next destination, Viet Nam!

Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam

This part of our ministry took place in the city and was a change of pace for us. The whole city was filled with mopeds, we found out that 80% of people had a moped! So the streets were crazy to see, with people going in all different directions! This was our second closed country. We learned we had to code our e-mails and be careful about what we said and did. We were there under the guise of tourism. We got to minister to a lot of college students and underground churches. We prayed over people, led English classes based on scripture verses, we did discipleship and hung out with college students who were considering Christ. This part was my favorite, I got to get to know some of the girls really well and got spend time with them. I also had the chance to go on the back of a moped with one of them and hand out food to street kids. I will never forget those girls, they even named me "Linh" which means miracle or sparkling. I got to share what God has done in my life, lead a Bible study, and do dramas at place that was a cafe by day and then a ministry by night. It was also here that I lost my passport and my debit card, and God forbid . . .my germex haha! It stunk but I learned a lot here, that I could trust God even when the worst happpens. We got an emergency passport and visa for me and we headed out to Cambodia!

Cambodia

We met up with our new contact here and were happy to be in a more free country, but a very poor, war torn country, destroyed by sex trafficking and the Khmer Rouge. We spent our first night at the YWAM base and took part in an international banquet in which saw presentations from each country and got to represent the US by doing the Cha Cha Slide haha! The next day we had orientation and got to see "Daughters" which is a safe house for women who have been the victims of sex trafficking and teaches them valuable work skills and teaches them about Christ through Bible study, so that they won't return to the sex industry. The sex industry is the main source of income for this country and it is a huge problem. When I got to look into the eyes of these women and smile at them, you could see the pain in their eyes and the newfound hope they now had. The next day we went to minister to orphaned children because of aids as a result of sex trafficking, and also kids who were children of those who have left sex trafficking. We did gospel skits, played with the kids, and taught them Bible stories by acting them out. We visited "Rappha House" as well and got a tour of the building and what the ministry does, which is a lot like daughters. The rest of our time in Cambodia we got to teach parents about the dangers of sex trafficking and about a child's right to providence, protection, ect. We also did a lot of kids ministry and I was able to preach one Sunday about coming to God in faith as opposed to coming in fear like the people Cambodia, who worship idols and demons to appease them. After this very long outreach we got to go on debrief for four days.

Siem Reap, Cambodia

It is here that we got to see Angkor Wat which is a thousand year old Hindu temple that was built at the height of the Angkorean Empire, which was the last time Cambodia saw preeminence because of war and the Khmer Rouge.

Koh Samet

It was here, an island off of Thailand, that we had our debrief, in which we talked about the trip, spent time with God and enjoyed the island!

Our Departure

I got to meet a Pakistani missionary who inspired me to go on this trip and had supported me on this trip, while we waited for our plane at the Bankok airport, it was such a blessing. We then had abother 12 hour lay over in South Korea and got to see the largest church in the world with largest amount of people in attendance. God is really moving in South Korea!

Wow, I have sooooo much more I could say and I can't possible go through every experience in a blog, but if you all have some questions and some time I could tell you all soooo much more and about how God has totally changed my life through this trip! Thank you all for your prayers and support, I am so thankful and could never thank you all enough! I will be making DVDs of the vids and pics soon and plan to give it to my supporters and anyone else who wants to have a copy! I love you all! God bless!

Delilah a.k.a Linh :)

P.S. Here are the videos we did from each country we visited, enoy!

 

 

I am here sitting at a missionary's house in Nong Khai, Thailand and it has been a long journey to this point! All the way up to the day that I left I wasn't sure I was going and it still hasn't hit me yet that I am on the other side of the world! After bus rides, train rides, even rides on the back of a truck, we are finally here!

We are still in our orientation phase and getting used to our new surroundings. Right now we are showering and having some down time after our seeming endless traveling! I just got done doing the team's laundry and playing with the missionary's one year old girl, who is half Thai, half American. We chased a butterfly around the lush front yard with palm trees, banana trees and tropical flowers. It is soo beautiful here and I can't wait to get to know more of the Thai people. Not long from now we will be heading to Laos, Cambodia, and Viet Nam. I am not sure what is ahead but I am excited to see what God is going to do. I have already written two sermons and am praying I have courage enough to give them.

I am astounded at how God provided for a trip that has cos nearly $3,000. I kept getting on my knees day after day when the money was coming in soooo slowly and it tested my faith beyond what I thought I could bear. I wondered how I would get the insurance, and the rest of the day to day items I would need for the trip but God provided like He always does. This entry is a testimony to His faithfulness, His goodness, and that He answers prayer!

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support! I will be back in July, God willing! I wish I could stay haha! :)

 

Delilah

The Person I Want To Be:

In response to the challenge in this sermon to write down who I want to be, I think I will do just that. Who do you want to be and what are your goals? How do you visualize yourself to be? Proverbs 27:3 says "as a man thinks, so shall he become."

1. I want to be focused

              -to be steadfast in whatever I put my mind to even in the face of adversity.

             - to not let myslef get distracted by things that come along to pull me away from my main goals.

            

2. I want to be organized

              - to be good steward of my time and resources

 

3. I want to be kind and thoughtful

              -  I want to be patient and loving- making time for people in my life on purpose

              - I want to keep my word and be considerate.

              - I want to be the person that remembers anniversaries, birthdays, and such.

              - I want to be patient with those that it is hard to be patient with

              - I want to be forgiving

4. I want to be honest

              - I want to be truthful even if it hurts

             - I want to be the same person in every area of my life, whether it be in church, at work, or with my friends and family.

              - I want to walk uprightly and live my life in the light, without feeling like I need to hid anything from anyone.

             

5. I want to put God first in everything

             - I want to make sure I make time for Him every morning and every part of the day when I feel His spirit prompting me

             - I want to put His plans above my own

             - I want to put Him first in my finances and in my relationships with others.

             - I want to speak about God and His salvation at every opportunity and not hide who I am as a Christian.

             - I want to make God the center of every decision I make

             - I want to continually be renewing my mind with God's word, the Bible.

              - I want my life to be a praise to God everyday

 

6. I want to always give my best

              - I want to give my best at work, at school, in my relationships, and in reaching the goals God has given me.

               - I want to be persistant, never give up on my dreams and God's call on my life

 

7. I want to be bold and not let fear keep me from doing anything

               - I want to take the path less traveled by

               - I want to do what is right and what is better even if I have to walk it alone

               - I want to be genuine and be who I am, speaking my mind

                - I don't want to be shy or afraid to be who I am, or afraid to express my opinions

              

8. I want to think positively, speak positively, and do things that are positive.

                - I want to encourage and uplift others with my words

                - I want to think positively of myself and my abilities, appearance ect.

                 - I want God's word to be a filter for all that goes into my mind, filtering out thoughts and actions that don't fit my character in Christ.

 

9. I want to be a good steward of my body

               - I want to eat in a healthy manner

                - I want to make exercise a commonplace event in my everyday life.

 

10. I want to always be growing and never staying in a rut

               - I want to find solutions to reoccuring problems I find in myself.

               - I want to be developing my talents and abilities everyday

               - I want to continually press on in my relationship with God and be persistant

               - I want to look for the lesson in every hardship and learn it at that point in time

 

11. I want to develop godly friendships/ relationships

               - I want to reserve the deepest parts of my personality with those that are deserving of it and are truly godly instead of throwing my pearls to swine.

               - I want to keep certain boundaries in place, so that people don't walk all over me.

               - I want to speak my mind when it is godly to do so.

              

12. I want to be wise

              - I want to be wise in what I say

              - I want to be wise in who I make my close friends

              - I want to be wise with the opportunities arround me

              - I want to be wise with my resources God has given me

 

13. I want to be generous

              - I want to be giving and continually keeping a surplus to help others

              - I want my house to be open

              - I want to always be pouring out the gifts God has given me

 

14. I want to live life on purpose

             - I want to not waste time doing things that are menial, or simply fill time with useless activities

             - I don't want to do anything that doesn't have an eternal purpose or anything that would sidetrack me or ruin my testimony

              - I don't want to do anything that is not in keeping with a person living with Christ.

             - I want to write down my goals and take steps to follow them

            

When I think of gypsies, I tend to think of street merchants that move from city to city, with tons of jewelry and makeup on their faces. Their feet caked in dirt and mud from the dusty streets they've endlessly traveled. Their one purpose in life seemed to be traveling, being the migratory people they were. Of course you could always think back to the Disney movie "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," and the character Esmerelda, haha!

Anyway, what does this all have to do with me? Well, my parents are moving, which means I am moving. We are moving only 45 minutes away from where we are now. Since I was very little, my family and I, which at that time consisted of just my mother and I, never lived anywhere more than two or three years at a time. Changing schools, making new friends, packing and unpacking boxes is like second nature to me. I am a modern day gypsy. I think though I could look at it in a negative light, I know that God has good plans for me. I believe He is using this to teach me things I couldn't otherwise learn. When I think of people that have lived in one town their whole life, I don't quite understand it, it is alien to me. I think that this whole migratory lifestyle is training me for when I am on the mission field. I am also reminded that just like moving is a transition state, so is this life. This life, this world is not my home. My home is much better, and it is eternal. It is with my Father God in heaven. I can't wait for that day when I finally can rest in His arms, and I no longer have to move anymore. Till' then, I am just passing through knowing my true home is with God. . .

I'm a leaf on the river
Fallen from the tall oak tree
Drifting down this moving stream
Wherever this life carries me
I'm a tumbleweed
In the desert wind
Just tumblin' while
The sun’s shinin'
I have no boundaries
Call me a gypsy

I'm restless
Just ramblin'
What do you do, where do you go
When nowhere feels like home
I'm restless
Am I an angel fallen from heaven's grace
Oh, it feels like that some days and I can't find my place
I guess God just made some of us
To live and die by highway dust
Guess I just have to trust
On the days I'm crawlin'
This is my callin'

I'm restless
Just ramblin'
What do you do, where do you go
When nowhere feels like home
I'm restless

Oh, to hold somebody close that cares
Oh, to finally find some roots somewhere
I know someday I'll find that it's out there
But until then I'll just keep movin'
What do you do, where do you go
When nowhere feels like home
I'm restless

"Restless" - Sara Evans

Exodus 2:22 "I have been a stranger in a strange land."

 

Here is a video I made while filming my team and I practicing our drama for our mission trip this summer. The drama is the "Everything" drama by Lifehouse. Please pray for our team! :)