25

Dec, 2008

Christmas in India

by: Revolutionary Life

Greetings in the name of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. We are writing you from Chiang Mai, Thailand! We’ve been here for nearly two months, and they have been eventful – to say the least. When we first arrived, our goal was to connect with a few orphanages in the area. Little did we know of all we would experience in ‘the land of smiles’.

After getting settled (and devouring our first hamburger in months), we met a young lady named Cindy who was heading up a missions team to a children’s home nearby. She invited us to come along, and four hours later, we arrived at a small colorful compound. As soon as we stepped from the truck children came running and smiling from every direction.
We all walked inside, ducking under the short doorway, and sat in a big circle. It was worship time. The children clapped and smiled and laughed during the fast songs, then during the slow songs, closed their eyes, lifted little holy hands, and worshiped their God and Father. The words were in Thai, Burmese, Karen, & English, but the message was singular: “God, You are Good, and we Love you!” This was a home of rescue, and these were the rescued.

Over the next few days, the short term workers got to work and we joined right in. We painted the walls, taught bible lessons, took the kids swimming, and loved on them as much as possible. During that time, we learned that these kids each carried a story deserving of it’s own book. One little girl in particular was purchased for 500 baht (like $15 US bucks), in order to keep her from being sold into prostitution. Some of the others had been rescued out of active trafficking or abandoned by their parents. Each had been rescued by the love of God in action, and the youngest was 1 year old, a baby girl now named ‘Blessing’.

Towards the end of the week we took part in a medical outreach, where Darlene had the privileged of sharing the gospel with an elderly Buddhist lady. She had a damaged knee, and a broken heart. She and another woman had just had their husbands brutally murdered. As they prayed for her knee, the woman began to weep.
“I’ve never felt love like this.” the woman said.
“It’s God’s love for you.” Darlene replied.
That was all that was needed. Darlene perceived she was ready, shared the Gospel of God’s Love through Christ, and she became a follower of Jesus. Many people before had loved her, and it was our privilege to see their work bear fruit. It really is amazing how much we can accomplish in building the kingdom of God when we simply be the example of Christ’s love, then share the gospel. This lady felt the love of God wrap around her, the God’s LOVE changed her life forever!
It was such a blessing to witness the love of Christ in action, but still very sobering to realize the reality of slavery still alive in the world. As the body of Christ, we must stand for freedom!

After our time at the rescue home, we took a trip to a large refuge camp, sitting just on the right side of the Burma/Thai border. In a small building packed with scores of people, we preached to a group of evangelist. We spoke of ‘love that overcomes evil’, and it was indeed a word in season. All of those evangelist are currently being trained to take the gospel into histile territory.They are brave hearts, and it was a blessing to be among them.
From there we traveled to the north eastern corner of Thailand with another mission team. They were facilitating an outreach to a village of Shan people. Because of the Shan’s conflict with the dictatorship of Burma, this particular community (over 200 people) had all escaped out of Burma into Thailand in one night. The goal of the outreach was simple: show the love of Christ, and preach the Gospel. The teams handed out many boxes filled with packets of good things needed for the winter. Then after some dancing and funny skits by some children (Who themselves were rescued and brought up to love God), the Gospel was preached to these people for the first time. The alter call was given, anticipation hung in the air, we prayed silently for minds to be open and hearts to receive the message of hope. No one responded.
“This is normal.” said the leading missionary there. “They always think before responding, but when they do, they are committed for life.”

We packed up and headed back to our hotel. The next morning we arose, and prepared to head back south, but elsewhere something else was happening. One of the leaders of the outreach had gone to pick up 2 families for church. He took his vehicle alone, but he soon found out that he would need help. Standing in a large group, many awaited to go. Back and forth he drove, packing as many people into his car as possible. The church doubled in one day! Praise God! He is good!
It is such a privileged to share in this work with you. You are the missionaries here as much as we are and when you give to us, your gifts of love are deposited into the people of the un-reached world! That LOVE changes lives, and together we are changing the world! This Christmas as we all gather together, let’s remember the wonderful gift of love God gave us and how it has changed us, then let’s get ready to give more love next year, than ever before!

Thank You for 2008! 2009, here we come!

Dustan & Darlene

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