~ A Month in Time

~dancing at the Saturday night market~ 

To some people a month seems like a long time to be in a foreign country.
An entire month in a place that is in no way familiar to the place you call home.
That's four whole weeks of life smack dab in the middle of an unknown culture with people you haven't met before!

beautiful gardens designed by the current
king's late mother 

I have several email addresses - all of them with a reason of how they came to be. One of my most recent ones is also my current favorite: worldtraveler. Now, I've only been in two continents so far, so I can't rightly say I've traveled the world yet! But I've been born with a traveling bug in me - the kind that if I would have been around in the pioneer days of North America I would've been on a wagon train blazing the trail to the West, no doubt.

at one of the large tea plantations

The reason I like that email address so much is because it signifies a passion of mine: a passion for exploring, adventures, learning new things, and growth - always growth. Every time I read those little words that compose that simple little email address, my thoughts inevitably go to a bigger picture.

In a bigger picture, 1 month is only 8% of your year. Which also means, if you live to the age of 70, four weeks is merely about .11% of your life...so...a month really might not be that long after all :) In a bigger picture, a month in a foreign country doing life in a very unfamiliar place with people you haven't met before is going to be only a small .11% blip in the history of your life-span.

market at the Karen
(long-necked people) village

Yet in a bigger picture, that small little blip just might be what changes your entire life forever.

The first time I traveled outside of the continental United States, I was 9 years old. Along with seven of my siblings and my parents, I flew to a little village in the mountains of Guatemala to a mission that had served as an orphanage during/after the 30+ year civil war that had ravaged the country. My dad had seen the orphanage while it was still fully running, but by the time I got there, full-time orphan care had turned into more feeding center and village outreach programs. (That same location is still being used for similar outreach programs today.) We spent a month there. A month that changed my life...although it took years to find out just how far-reaching of an effect those four short weeks would have.

one of Thailand's night markets

In the years after, I saw many changes happen in that village/town, experienced the ups and downs in the lives of people who became like family, and watched God using all of it to work changes in my own life and bring perspective to what otherwise would have been a very narrow, sheltered outlook on life. Twelve years and many, many details and lessons later, another month in another strange and foreign country is being used to change my life again.

So how is Thailand? Hot and humid! But it's also been raining off and on this past week so that helps cut the humidity a bit. It's also beautiful with green hills/mountains and colorful architect. The people are very kind, respectful, and helpful and the western staff has been very welcoming.

Thai food!

Most of my work days (weekends are days off) have been filled with numerous meetings on policies, procedures, and detailed information on what exactly is involved in helping girls who have been sexually exploited and trafficked find healing and confidence, as well as empowering them to be able to successfully reintegrate into a 'normal' life. We've covered things like defining the roles of house parents, how the safe homes are run, and what child-protection looks like; seen what's involved in counseling, case working, education, and vocational training; and even learned some basic self-defense strategies - and still have a week and a half to go! Sometimes all the information and detail that I've been learning almost seems a bit overwhelming, but I'm reminded again and again of how this is God's work.

Buddist temple

God hears the cries of the oppressed and He will answer them - Psalm 10:17, Psalm 34:18, Psalm 82:3, Job 34:28, and on and on. Even after seeing how a Destiny Rescue operation and aftercare program runs, there are still questions we have that won't have answers until we are on the ground in the Dominican Republic and figure out practical hands-on applications of what we've been learning here in Thailand, since each country has different laws and standards that we need to honor and work with.

hand-painted bowls

But even with all the questions, the anticipation on getting on the ground and putting to use all this newly-learned information keeps growing. Seriously, to think that I can be used to demonstrate the heart of God, to help answer the cries of the oppressed, to be an advocate of justice - how can that not be exciting?! It seems so big! Yet it's so simple. 

Simple how? 
You place your will into the hands of God and open your heart to let Him show you His heart. 
You let go of the things you hold so tightly on to - things like comfort, safety zones, routine - and open your hands to receive what He wants for you and of you. 

hand-carved flower soaps 

God has created us to grow, learn, experience, and explore. Combine that with Jesus' teachings and examples of serving, forgiving, loving, pouring out of yourself and into the lives of others and life begins to make sense. 
Too many of us want it all figured out. Because then it's safe - you know what is expected and what to expect. But God purposely created us to need Him. When our perfectly formed safety bubbles burst and suddenly life becomes ugly and full of despair or when the routine becomes mundane and we find ourselves questioning whether our lives even have purpose, He knows. He created us to need Him so we would hang on to Him! He wants us to find our safety in Him so that when all around is unknown filled with questions, we have peace because we know Him. 

assorted nuts for sale

But the really, truly awesome thing about it all is that it never stops! He always has new terrain for us to discover and new ways to demonstrate to us His heart and our worth in Him. 

On another note (or maybe kinda, sorta that same note):
Since the Everetts and I will be moving indefinitely, we are planning to apply for temporary residency in the Dominican Republic, which would allow us to stay in the country for a year at a time and give us the ability to work and operate. We just found out some previously unexpected possible delays related to the paperwork involved in the application process. If things go as we've been told they probably will, this will be the first delay to getting started that we've run into. Please be praying that God's timing (whether that means sooner or later) will be clear and we will continue to trust Him to show us His will. (Because we are still human and really don't have it all figured out yet!)

~mountains of Thailand~