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2014 Mission Trip

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2014 MISSION TRIP

I had a great experience assisting with arranging a Face To Faith conference in Mae Sot, Thailand.

Rusty contacted me, having visited the Thai-Myanmar border area before, and asked if he could come with a team to provide evangelism training. The local church was made up primarily of factory workers from neighboring Myanmar. Their days are long and education levels were often limited. A great strength they had, however, is a thirst for knowing Jesus and faithfully met together every Sunday evening. When we floated the idea of a missions training course during their only 3-day work break in year, I wasn’t sure how they would respond. Actually, they were eager to meet together, if somewhat nervous about their ability to be good students

Rusty arrived with a team of seasoned world travelers who were warm and friendly and quickly put our local church members at ease. The conference leader, Don, laid out a solid foundation of why Christians are called to evangelism, and not just pastors. I think this is one of the main points that really hit home with our congregation. The local people tend to be bashful, particularly if they have limited education. They rely heavily on just the pastor to spread the word. The Face to Faith educators were encouraging and motivating. The sessions were followed by practical application, going out into the community. One of the attendees said: “I never thought I could do something like that, just ask people about their beliefs and tell them about Jesus. Really, it wasn’t as uncomfortable as I thought it would be. We had a lot of good conversations and made new friends, and saw new faces start to show up on Sundays.”

The team used fun activities to demonstrate ideas, which really helped with engaging all the participants and helping those with low literacy really grasp all the ideas. I had to laugh when all the yards of string, and balloons were steered towards the main training and not the kids ministry section. To see the shining faces of our church members laughing and participating in the learning illustrations was so great. I enjoyed seeing these relationships being built across language barriers, as they worked with our friends. The team put in the effort to learn about the local customs to show their respect and partnership with the local church.

After the conference, our local Pastor gave a heartfelt speech. He expected to feel exhausted at the end of this week, but he actually felt energized. He really appreciated how the team helped to equip the church to work together. They celebrated the 13 new believers and twenty people who had rededicated their lives to the Lord. 

A big heartfelt thanks to the Face to Faith team for breathing in fresh energy to the Light of Love Church, and for braving the hottest temperatures of the year to do it.