ALVINREID.com

“I am so happy. I can talk to God in Thai!” These words, coming from a new believer named Alisa in the wee hours of the morning in Chiangmai, Thailand, epitomize my recent trip there. Hannah and I journeyed from Raleigh, to Detroit, to Tokyo, to Bangkok for the night, then to Chiangmai to join our students already there on a mission trip/class. This was my first trip to Asia and Hannah’s first out of the country, and what a memorable one it was!

I often challenge parents in our churches not to let their children finish high school without going on a mission trip to a third world nation. Our great God is Lord of the earth, not just our local communities. Josh traveled to Costa Rica at 15 and has since been to Europe. Hannah at 15 has been to Asia and will go with me to Africa in 2010.

I wanted to share a few highlights of the trip and make a few comments. We spent most of our time in Chiangmai. Chiangmai demonstrates both the beauty of Asia and its lostness. Riding in took-tooks, eating buckets of rice, savoring a cup of Starbucks (they are everywhere), and shopping at the night bazaars formed much of the memories. Our students attended classes in the morning. I spoke each morning, leading the times of devotion, and I attended some of the classes and enjoyed learning more about Islam from Dr. Bruce Ashford, a wonderful teacher and friend. Students had also learned about sharing with Buddhists. In my witness there I encountered far more Buddhists than Muslims. The afternoons and evenings were spent in the community and at the markets. The Night Market served as a central focus of our witnessing, and offered some great shopping as well! Here are highlights (note-those of you on facebook can see my many pictures there!):

1. I have had opportunities to share Christ with Muslims here in Wake Forest as recently as this past month. In fact, Michelle told me that Sunday at our church (Faith Baptist) a family came to Christ out of Islam. But I had not shared with a Buddhist in over a decade, since I saw a young college student come to Christ from Buddhism in the mid 1990s. Sharing with Buddhists reminded me of the importance of knowing not only the gospel, which is of foremost importance, but also epistemology, cosmology, and some knowledge of other worlds religions.

2. Related to this, I enjoyed very much the night I went to Monk Chat, where guests are invited to sit up to two hours or more and discuss religion and other matters with Buddhist Monks. I spoke with one monk and discovered I knew the Eightfold Path better than he did (some young men admitted to becoming monks to avoid military service). In another case I discovered speaking to them about various approaches to history (cyclical versus linear) and coherence helped to open them to discussions about faith.  In one conversation in which a monk asked about our system of government I was able to use our Constitution and our system of checks and balances to explain depravity in a way that he understood. I think that was a first for me J.While I did not lead a monk to Christ I only grew in my conviction that the god of this world has indeed blinded the minds of unbelievers. I sensed an oppression spiritually at the Monk Chat I felt in places like Salt Lake City at Temple Square and at the Vatican, where so many have been blinded from simple faith in a perfect Gospel.

3. I am as proud as a dad can be of Hannah. She went to Monk Chat without me on Friday. She sat for 2 ½ hours speaking to two monks. She said she told them everything she ever heard me preach! She marveled at her ability to recite verses she was not aware she knew. I told her how the Holy Spirit gives us help in such times, and she witnessed that reality. I cannot say how proud I am that a 15 year old can sit and discuss theological matters and share Christ with seasoned Buddhist monks.After that she joined other students in witnessing to a Dutch couple over dinner.

4. Reuniting with former students. I enjoyed dinner with Jesse and Shanee Snodgrass, a couple I taught back in the day (I remember when Shanee was Shanne Perkins). I love this couple so much. How great it was to catch up with them on their side of the world. I also enjoyed a nice meal at the Hard Rock in Bangkok with former students who have served in the region, and helped Angela by lugging a bag back to the states for her. I love to teach and so love being with my students in their ministry context.

5. The animals. Hannah and I share a great love for God’s creation. We took in a reptile farm (I had a king cobra put around my neck, pretty cool!), rode an elephant through the jungle, rafted down a river, and then played with tigers. Not your typical day for sure! 

6. Worship in a local Thai church. We enjoyed a great worship band (they sang mostly Western songs in Thai with English words on the screen). It is always a blessings to worship in a local culture.

7. Alisa. The greatest spiritual blessing for me was this beautiful, tiny, 19 year old Thai girl named Alisa who came to Christ our first weekend there. This trip did not see hundreds come to Christ. This did not feature a citywide crusade. The work here is hard and requires heavy lifting and deep spiritual work. Several did come to Christ. Alisa stood out. She came to Christ and was immediately embraced by some of the young ladies on the team including Hannah. Her boyfriend did not respond in kind. He beat her, bit her, and blackened her eye. I confess to wishing at one point I could find him and lay on hands without prayer! But Hannah and April and Jen in particular loved on her. Our last three nights in Chiangmai she stayed at our hotel with them. She told the ladies she had never experienced such love. She reminded me of Lydia in Acts 16. She so radiantly embraced the gospel, and like one of my devodtions (I focused on I Thessalonians) she experienced affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit (I Thess. 1:6). In spite of her difficulty she shined with Christ’s love. I know Hannah will never forget her time spent with Alisa.

I could say much more about this trip. I am grateful for Ed Pruitt whose skill at leading such trips is unparalleled. I enjoyed fellowship with Bruce Ashford and his new bride Lauren (yes, you owe me, Bruce). I love being with our students. I loved serving with Hannah. Most of all, I enjoyed sweet fellowship with Jesus.

Thailand stands as a reminder of the need of the world. A beautiful land with beautiful people, yet lostness fills the atmosphere. Thailand has become known for its awful prostitution, including child prostitution unrivaled on the earth. To see a white man walking along with a young Thai girl, knowing she is his mistress, is gut wrenching. Recently a band from Northern Ireland called Bluetree came to Thailand with their church on a mission trip. They came to the city of Pattaya, Thailand, known to be the number one city in the world for sex change operations. The evil in the city is visceral, a missionary told me. While there, the group discovered a club called The Climax. Walking down the street by the bar, band leader Aaron remembered: “I promise you, as a red-blooded male, to keep your head in the right place you’ve got to look down at the ground and walk down that street and pray because it is just so in your face. People hit you with menus about everything, flashing lights, just everything you can imagine goes on in that place. You see kids as young as eight, nine, 10, just selling themselves, you know?! You see 60-year-old guys walking down the street with two 13 or 14-year-old girls. Forget about the Christian thing, you just get raging! You properly get raging when you see that happening, you know?”Aaron discovered The Climax would allow them to play at the club, even though their music was all about Jesus. “As long as people keep buying Cokes” they could stay. So the played. In the middle of the set, rather spontaneously, they composed and sang a song. Chris Tomlin later heard it and sang it at the last Passion conference. If you have itunes I challenge you to buy the song (the Bluetree version is best). Here are the words which have rung in my ears all the while I was in the great cities of Thailand.

You’re the God of this city

You’re the King of these people

You’re the Lord of this nation

You are

For there is no one like our God

There is no one like our God

Chorus:
Greater things have yet to come

Greater things are still to come

And greater things are still to be done here

You’re the Lord of Creation

The Creator of all things

You’re the King above all Kings

You’re the strength in our weakness

You’re the love to the broken

You’re the joy in the sadnesss

You Are

For there is no one like our God

There is no one like our God

Here is Alisa with my daughter Hannah. Pray for her!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 11:46 am and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.