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Thailand 2017, Part 2

(Psst... if you missed part 1, you can read that here: Thailand 2017, Part 1)




I've thought about how best to tell this part of our story and I'm going to tell you in the least sensational way that I can, with the facts of the story. I want to tell it because it happened and was part of our trip, but it does not hold any level of importance to what the Lord did during our trip. I think if anything, the enemy wanted to use this to distract us and scare us from the good work that HE was doing. (Also, I want to note, that on all of the mission trips both Kyle and I, as well as my mom and sister have each been on, NOTHING like this has ever happened before).

So I was awoken abruptly from my sleep around midnight. I heard loud yelling from men coming in the front of our resort and I heard someone banging on our back patio door screaming my name over and over.......

What happened is that there was a married woman, having an affair and meeting a man in the hotel room next to Dixie and Lauren's room. Her husband (who we suspect was drunk) followed her there and mistakingly started beating on Dixie and Lauren's door. They held the door shut and pulled the curtains closed tight and he eventually figured out he had the wrong room and went next door to where his wife was. Apparently, he dragged the woman out to the back patio of that room (each back balcony was partitioned off for each room) and started beating her. Dixie and Lauren, scared and not sure what was going on, saw him beating her and feared for her life so they started screaming at him to stop! At some point they (I think the other man got involved too?) dragged her out to the front of the resort and Lauren and Dixie hopped over the partitions on the balcony next door, first to my mom and sister's room, but they were dead asleep and didn't hear them (how, I don't know!), and then to my room where Julie and I woke up suddenly. While they were still in the front, beating up this woman, and we had no idea why, I finally got my mom on the phone and she called Gift and Dui. In the meantime we hopped over the partition to their room (two stories up!!!) and waited on Gift and Dui to get there. They made it there in like 4 minutes, as well as had called the police who were also there very quickly. They arrested the two men, but the woman had escaped on foot. (They eventually found her and as part of her punishment made her return to the resort and apologize to my mom).

Once we found out the story and that we weren't being targeted nor was it a random burglary or attack on our resort, I was able to relax. It was unsettling, yes, but it helped me to know the facts and how unlikely something like this was to ever happen again. Also, the police stayed at the resort that night and we found out that there was a Thai soldier also staying right there who said he would look out for us too.

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So, after that happened, we were able to get back to sleep and woke up Sunday morning ready for a new day.

Before church we had breakfast at our hotel downstairs in kind of an eating picnic table area. Gift had gone and picked up fresh food from the market (She did this every morning). I'm going to tell you right now that I'm going to show you and tell you about all the food we ate because of two reasons. 1. It was amazing and 2. As it turns out, I think I might be a closet foodie. I just really like food.


Of all the Thai food, this one is probably my favorite. It's called "Moo sa steak", it's basically a grilled pork skewer with a special peanut sauce on it. I could eat it every day of my life and not be tired of it.





After breakfast we headed for Sunday worship at the church at Nong Nae.





It's so hard to describe what the experience of worshiping outside the western bubble is like until you get to experience it first-hand. I say that, not as a slight against the west. I love living in America and I love American churches, pretty passionately. But I say it as more of a nudge for my own heart. It is so easy for me to get so comfortable. And sometimes I'm prone to forget to keep the Church about the most important thing. And every single time I've had the opportunity to worship in a different culture than my own, there is an instantaneous crashing of those walls. My heart softens and every.single.time. I have teared up remembering. Remembering the truth that the Gospel is for THE WHOLE WORLD. Remembering the truth of how big our God is that he would create and love and die for all of us. All cultures. Puts so many things into perspective. Instantaneously. 



A guy name Brother Wut preached. He is the son of a pretty well-known pastor in the area and one my Grandaddy knew really well. It was hard to follow along since I didn't speak Thai, but our Thai friends told us afterward how amazing and passionate his sermon was. He has a pretty powerful testimony. He is no joke, a Thai rockstar. But he loves the Lord so much and he shared (I found out afterward) that as soon as he started publicly being open about his passion for the Lord and the Church, his success took off like crazy. The Lord blessed his work in music. 

He is on The Voice Thailand. I'm not exactly sure what his role is, if he's a coach or if his band is the house band? It was hard to understand that part, and I googled but it's in Thai and google translate didn't help me out, so I'm not quite sure what he does, but he's on there... see! he's the one right in the middle.....


Also, of course we took our picture with him afterwards. You can guess whose idea that was, too!


After the service was over, we went downstairs to eat lunch with everyone. I'm guessing I probably don't have to tell you how good it was, but I'll tell you anyway. Our friends cooked a feast and it was amazing (and beautiful!). 



After lunch we went back to rest since we were all so tired from the night before. We napped, and showered, and facetimed our babies who were just starting their days stateside. 

For dinner, we went to the nearby town of Bangkla, which is where my mom grew up and my Grandparents were missionaries. I'm going to tell you about that in a future post. The restaurant was right on the river which was so fun!! (And also reminded me how sea-sick I can get, I had to look away from the water because I was getting a little queasy even though we were on steady ground). And of course the food was delicious. 



After dinner, we settled back in at the resort and had a great night sleep (with no crazy interruptions).  Stay tuned for Part 3!

This trip to Thailand was with Lifevesting International. LVI is a missions organization committed to helping National pastors move the Gospel forward all over the world by resourcing them with discipleship training, boots on the ground ministry and short term trips, and relationship building. We would love for you to be a part of it with us! To join our monthly email list, email me at wileyadventures@gmail.com. To find out more information about how you can partner with us and support this ministry, you can email me or visit the website at http://lifevesting.org/

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