Going for it
…Stay where you were called to be. God is there. Hold the high ground with him at your side…
1 Cor 7:24 MSG
The other day I was doing some reading and this piece just seemed to jump off the page and straight to my heart. My last blog talked about not knowing what to do next. I had begun to make decisions that were basically just what I wanted to do. I didn’t have a clear ‘Thus Says the Lord’ moment. When I read this piece of scripture I figured perhaps I am heading in the right direction after all. (Plus as soon as I really made the decision I got horribly sick, something that has happened each time I’ve made a major life changing decision that has me perfectly where God wants me.)
Now that I’ve built up the anticipation a bit I bet you’re ready to hear what my plan is.
One of the ‘careers’ that I’ve thought about pursuing is massage. I’ve looked into schools here in the States and am just not ready to really make the financial and time commitment since I’m not 100% sure that it is something I would want to do. Plus I would really like to specialize in Thai massage, which isn’t offered at the schools here. And the best way to find out if it’s something I want to do, is to actually do it.
My plan is to go take an intense Thai Massage Certified Practitioner and Teacher Training Program in Chiang Mai, Thailand. In two and a half months I would walk away with not only the ability to do Thai Massage, but to also teach it. The school teaches a variety of other massage courses, my goal is to also take Infant Massage, Pregnancy Massage, and Thai Traditional Post-Natal Treatment courses. A big reason that I want to take all of these courses (and maybe more if time and money allows), is that I see all of this not just as a possible career but it is also valuable ministry tools. Combining massage and Holy Spirit guided prayer will bring blessings, healing and rest to both missionaries and those they serve. Since I will be in Thailand, I hope to be able to go back to Mae Sot and bless those that I served alongside as well as to teach some of them the new things I’ve learned. If I decide I want to be able to practice massage in the States (get paid to do it), then I’ll need to go to massage school here in the States and pass all of the exams needed to be certified in whatever State I decide to practice / live.
The massage courses in Thailand are going to cost approximately $4,000. Travel, living and ministry expenses will have to be added to that – $2,000 for travel and $1,000 per month for living and ministry. Living costs in Chiang Mai will be higher than in Mae Sot, I will need to find an inexpensive hotel or apartment to stay at and I’ll probably be eating out a lot since most places don’t have kitchens. With my goal being to spend time doing missions at the end of my training and that this is ministry training I have talked with Kingdom Inc and they are allowing me to raise financial support through them for this trip. The more money I have / raise the more courses I’ll be able to take (or have fellow missionaries come and take with me), the longer I can stay in Thailand to do missions and the more ministry opportunities I’ll be able to have (I’ve found a lot of my ministry funds in Thailand went to supplying first aid and medical supplies and feeding individuals or whole villages in the past). There is a course starting in October, just one month away, and another one starting in January. I will spend three months doing massage courses, and then hope to spend two+ months doing missions.
Will you consider not only praying for me but also supporting me financially?
Click here to give through Kingdom Inc.
And check out the school / course I’m looking at attending – ITM.
Giving
Today is this year’s Giving Tuesday. As I started to write my thoughts on Giving I realized there is a lot that I wanted to say… so I’ll be doing a short series on Giving. Here is a little teaser to get started.
One of the things that I love about Outpour Movement is how quickly each person is willing to give. It’s as if each person holds their hands open wide to receive, yet their fingers are spread wide so that a portion of what they receive can fall to those around them. They give to the poor and the not so poor. They don’t wait for big planned events in order to give, because each day is filled with opportunities to give. Their eyes are constantly open to see the needs around them, and then trying to come up with the best ways to meet those needs. Their giving comes from their hearts. Giving isn’t something that they do, it’s who they are.
There are thousands of places that you could send your hard earned money to this Giving Tuesday. I ask that you would consider giving to Outpour Movement. (And of course you can give towards getting me back to Thailand – Support Casey.)
Photos speak of the past
I’m looking at photos I took on previous trips into Burma. There are still pictures that I have to edit and others that have become favorites. Sometimes there’s a photo that captures a moment that you want to hold on to, and then there are the ones that make you feel like you can see into the very soul of the person.
As much as I love looking through old photos, they are a reflection of the past. They tell amazing stories and bring forth a range of emotions, but they are not my today. Each of those kiddos has grown since the photo was taken and since the last time I saw them.
My hope is that some of these photos tell stories of the future. That the hope in them is true. That the futures of each of these individuals and villages is bright, happy and full of life. And that I’ll be able to see them all again soon. I miss these faces! I miss sitting down and asking how everyone is doing, only to be taken to the houses of those who are sick or injured to see how we can help, to hear their stories and pray with them. I even miss knowing that they are laughing at me but having no clue why.
Right now I still need an additional $500 – $600 a month before I can head back to Thailand and Burma. With my support raising history and currently being in a very small town in the States, that sounds nearly impossible. I’ve never really had great financial support and have saved the majority of my pennies to pay for as much of my missions as I can. And being in a tiny community traditional fundraising events just either aren’t possible or going to raise the funds they would somewhere else. God has to show up. I NEED people to give, people who I see at my parent’s little store, and people that I haven’t seen in years. So my goal for this month is to raise $1,000. No, that will not get me back to Thailand. But it will help give me some more faith and hope as it gets me one step closer to getting back to the place that I love.
On Hold
You know that annoying feeling when you’re trying to make an important phone call and you get put on hold? Sometimes there is that annoying music that they play, if you’re lucky there will be a recorded voice that comes on every once in a while to tell you what number you are ‘in line’. The worst though is when there is no music at all, you’re just on hold. You have no clue how long you’ll be on hold or even if you’re still on hold and the other line hung up?
That’s kind of how I feel right now. On Hold. Only there’s no music or recorded voice telling me how much longer I have to wait.
We’re still waiting to get answers on my family’s health issues, but so thankful for doctors who are really trying to help and are fighting for them. And extremely grateful for the ‘good days’ that they have.
My return flight back to Thailand is in a week, but right now it doesn’t look like I’ll be on it. Even if my family was in perfect health by the day I’m supposed to fly I still wouldn’t be able to head back to Thailand… I don’t have the finances to go. I had enough money in my support account to get me through until my visa ended and I would need to head back to States to get it renewed… but I came back early, having to spend more on my ticket than I had originally budgeted and wiping out most of what was left in my support account in the process. Then once in the States there are lots of additional expenses, renewals that need to be made and things to ‘stock up’ on.
One of the things that is important to me before traveling anywhere is to make sure that I have enough finances to cover a return ticket and several months budget saved (just in case). Yes, it’s a safety net. Yes, I do rely on God and the support of others. But I also desire to be responsible with the funds and even the lack of funds that I have.
So right now the plan is to stay in the States. I’ll be working part time at my parent’s store and continuing to help out at home while my family tries to focus on their health (and the store). If you are in the Boise area and either want to connect or know of a church or group that would be interested in hearing about Burma, Thailand or missions in general let me know, I’d love to connect with more people here! Or if you just want to chat while I’m in the States, holler. Plus you can continue to help me out by sending up your prayer, sending me your words of encouragement and by giving financially.
And of course I’ll wait in expectation of God continuing to show up in big ways… in health, finances, and all areas of life.
Baby boy
After I made the decision to come back to the States to help my family I had about a week in Thailand to do ministry and wrap up a few things before leaving. I was able to spend time down at the border and even go with my whole team to visit our villages across the border, filling my heart up before having to leave.
While arranging things for my team to cross the border for a day trip, I asked our contact to stop by one of the villages to check on a mom and baby boy we were providing formula to (she wasn’t producing enough milk to provide all her baby needed). I got a call back that mom and baby were doing great, but that they were now having to share the formula since a there was an orphaned one-week old baby in the village. What?! I didn’t even know that a woman in the village was pregnant! Thankfully we have a supporter that has committed to paying for the formula for the first baby boy, and another ministry in town was able to donate formula that day so we could get more to them right away.
When we visited the village a few days later I brought some photos that I had developed from previous trips to give to the people in the pictures. They were flipping through the photos, handing them out, when they got to one picture I heard several people softly gasp… everyone gathered around and said, “it’s her”. Unbeknownst to me, I had taken a picture of the mother who passed away and brought it with me.
My heart broke. I knew the momma. I didn’t know her name, but I knew her smile and her face. I knew her three year old daughter was just getting to the point where she was no longer afraid of us. This was a sweet young mom who had a beautiful smile and you could see her love for her daughter. And now she was gone.
We asked lots of questions trying to get the story of what happened to leave a two week old baby boy without a family. Apparently the mom had her baby at a hospital in another town, but three days after giving birth she died of a heart attack. The father lives and works somewhere else and has the daughter. I’m not exactly sure if it’s a sister or just a really close friend who’s family has taken in the newborn, but we got to sit in her house and hold this precious baby boy.
With the reality of children and babies being sold for sex, slavery and even body parts I get nervous when children are unwanted or parents are to poor to provide for them (I don’t know what I would do if anything ever happened to the kids I visit). I was so relieved to realize that the ‘adoptive mom’ is a woman that I know from the village! She is an amazing mother of two young boys who has lovingly opened her home to this baby boy. The woman’s husband even came and sat down with us for a bit, he made a bottle and helped hold the baby after a freshly changed ‘diaper’ (not something we normally see men do). The man made sure to let us know that this baby will be loved and cared for by his family.
Leaving was a little harder this time around as the realities of the people here are no longer rumors and stories, but they are now undeniably real and affecting the people I call friends and family. The more we become a part of people’s lives here the more we are going to be faced with stories like this, and have a desire to help meet the needs of these people who just can’t do it for themselves. When I got the call there wasn’t a question of ‘if’ we would help provide for these babies, because the obvious answer was yes. The hard part comes when realizing that right now, these types of calls aren’t in the budget because our ministry budget is coming out of our personal budgets for the most part. Many of the events we do are covered by supporters or teams, but the daily and emergency things aren’t necessarily covered by anyone specific. When you wonder why I / missionaries keep asking for money remember stories like this…. of a newborn baby boy who doesn’t even have a name yet, who lost his mom and who’s father isn’t in the picture, of a young family who is struggling to feed their two boys who aren’t old enough for school yet have lovingly decided to raise a baby who is not theirs, and of a mother who’s willing to share what little she has to help keep this precious life alive… the funds that you give go towards me / missionaries provide not only for personal expenses but also giving an entire village a reminder that they are not forgotten and helps restore the hope that this baby boy will be able to live a long and happy life.
Give – Casey Wells or to Outpour Movement (general fund)
God, Family, Ministry
If you’ve ever served in a church or religious organization I’m sure you’ve heard: God first, family second, and then ministry (work).
It’s a wonderful saying and something that is sometimes hard to remember. Putting ministry (or work) first and letting everything else fall behind it happens more often than any of us would like to realize. Sometimes it’s confusing to know when your family needs more attention than the ministry as your heart and focus are pulled in so many different directions. I mean we are supposed to be doing ‘all things as unto the Lord’, right? So lines feel a little blurry sometimes.
For a while now some of my family members have been battling with different health issues. There have been a couple of times where the question of if I needed to go home came up, but I never had a peace about heading back to the States for my visit before my visa expires the end of the year. All that changed. I can’t say it was a specific thing that happened or something that was said, because I don’t really know. What I do know is that I need to be home with my family right now. When I finally made the decision and talked with my family and my team here there was an absolute peace that flooded through me. I know that I can’t change their physical health, but by being home for a bit it will help give my family a slight sigh of relief knowing that I am there to support them no matter what the future holds.
As I make the journey across the ocean in a few days will you please pray for me? Pray for safe travels filled with God’s favor, peace and rest. Pray for my family – their emotional, physical and spiritual health, for wisdom and discernment as we wait for answers in how to get them healthy again. Pray for my team & the ministries I’m a part of in Thailand and Burma – they are going to be on a skeleton crew for a bit as people will be in and out of the country, pray for peace, unity, and divine favor, revelation, rest, and blessings upon my whole team, the ministries we help with and the businesses we’ve started to help fund the work here.
Going Somewhere New
I just got back from going into a completely new place. We’ve known about this place for a really long time, but never had the opportunity to go (or it was just bad timing when we finally were invited). It’s one of those places that when you hear stories or just see a glimpse of, it breaks your heart. Today was no different.
I can’t post pictures… because I can’t take any while I’m there. Many people would consider it a very dangerous and dark place. And in reality it is. But I had no fear while I was there. The people are broken, abused and desperate. They have no hope and no future, they are only looking at the very short term. Yet we were told that the people all recognize us, and if we keep going back we will be welcomed like locals.
Today we got some basic first aid stuff to clean up a cut that a preteen boy had on his foot from stepping on a piece of glass. We brought coloring pages and crayons to give to the kids and told them how good their art was each time they brought it over for you to look at with the biggest smile on their face as they showed off their art work. We met a woman who wanted prayer for her health. We also prayed for another young boy who had tumors on his neck and had a slight fever (the tumors were not there a month ago, the last time I saw him). Some of the little boys are getting used to seeing us on the street and getting more comfortable around us, which makes me so happy.
Please pray for this place. Pray for my small team (this isn’t somewhere we can take visiting teams, so there will only be a few of us who can to go into this area). We want to spend more time there on a consistent basis. Pray for wisdom and discernment for us. Pray in agreement with us, that as we pray for people that people really will be healed, that the Lord will hear and answer the prayers of His people.
Passing By
Lately I’ve noticed how much I tend to just pass by things in my rush to do whatever it is that I am doing. Being in a culture that seems so relaxed and slow moving at times makes me realize how much I still try and live in a fast paced world.
I just started taking Burmese lessons… I finally came to terms with the fact that taking Thai lessons probably wasn’t the most practical since I was starting to really focus on Burma. You would think that since I am spending time in villages in Burma that I would be practicing my Burmese with the kids and mommas who have stolen my heart, unfortunately I haven’t been. When I’m in Burma my brain is constantly attempting to stay ahead of whatever is happening, my focus is on the team that I brought over and how smooth everything is going. My head is so full and moving so fast it’s nearly impossible to slow it down long enough to remember one of the half a dozen phrases I’ve learned. If I’m spending the money on lessons to learn the language so that I can build deeper relationships with the people I’m here to serve, than I need to slow down long enough to at least attempt to tell them hello and ask how they are doing in their own language.
A couple of weeks ago we were taking a team down to the border to spend sometime in prayer. I love having teams come to the border, it often makes it easier to pray when you are looking at the people and places you are praying for. Plus life on the border is so different than anywhere else in Thailand or Burma, it’s a real eye opener for those who’ve never seen real poverty before. The last couple of teams that have been here for a week or two have been able to not only pray at the border but also build relationships with a few of the street kids. Again, my focus is normally the team, making sure that they aren’t to overwhelmed with what they are seeing and that they have direction for prayer when they get stuck. But this last time a couple of staff came with me and our contact was there as well, so I did something different…
There is this woman that I often see sitting in the shadows of one of the parked vehicles next to the border. She sits there, begging. The thing about this woman is that she has the most incredible smile. When she smiles the atmosphere around her brightens. You can tell her smile comes from the inside out. So this time, I didn’t pass by her. I grabbed my contact, told the team to go ahead and start without me as I squatted down to learn more about this woman with an incredible smile. It was easy to see she had leprosy at one point and I knew she wasn’t living in the leper village that we regularly visit. I learned that she is 28, her husband left her, she has two kids, and she loves Jesus. We laughed together and I got to see more of her amazing smile. I got the chance to pray for her and felt like I made a new friend. Since that day I’ve seen her one other time, it again resulted in smiles, prayer and hugs.
It doesn’t matter where in the world you are, or what you are doing… we all need the reminder to slow down every now and again or we’ll miss the opportunities and the people around us.
He Needs Good Community
The other day one of my roommates and I got to take a friend down to check out the border area and meet our Burma contact. The border here is interesting because there is a small stretch of land in-between Thailand and Burma, it is a land that belongs to no-one (which is where it got it’s name “No Man’s Land”). Since the land belongs to no-one, there are no laws, it is a place that people go to when they are no longer welcome in either Thailand or Burma. You can only imagine the things that happen in a place that has no laws, lets just say it’s not a safe place for me to go for multiple reasons. From a distance the land just looks very overgrown, but if you look closely you can see that people have created homes under the brush and even have a well and small garden. Our contact said there are at least 150 children living there, which means that there have to be a lot more adults!
Our contact has built relationships with the children and the adults living in No Man’s Land. He was explaining to me that he was at the border that day because the night before he got a call from a drug-dealer that lives in No Man’s Land. This man called our contact asking for advice, his 3 or 4 year old son gets angry a lot and his mother is in prison, so he just doesn’t know what to do. Our contact told the man that his son needs good community, he just needs to be loved. So our contact was picking up the boy to take him to a playground and let him play and be around good community for a couple of hours! As we were leaving I handed our contact a few dollars, he looked at me and asked why I was giving him money. ‘Because you are looking after children, and tonight you are going to take that little boy to a playground to have fun and then you guys are going to have dinner.’ He was just as touched by my small gesture of paying for dinner as I was of him offering to take a boy, that is desperate to just be a little boy and to be loved, to a playground.
I LOVE that the people here who trust no-one, trust our contact. And I love that our contact understands that helping people feel loved, valued, trusted, and giving them even a basic education can transform not only that individual, but a whole nation. Our contact is discipling people in what a Godly life should be without ever even having to share the gospel with them (at least not sharing it quite yet). My prayer is that these relationships will continue, that our contact will continue to be able to reach out to people that no-one else can…. and that one day some of these people who trust no-one else will begin to trust the Outpour team as well, that we will be able to build relationships with them and help them see and grasp the goodness of God and of the world around them.
Photographs are not of No Man’s Land, but one of the villages that we visit in Burma.
When water recedes it leaves behind mud
The morning after the flood I woke up with the same question on my mind as everyone else, ‘how high are the flood waters’. Not living in the effected areas I had to rely on social media… I was so relieved to learn that the waters had receded in town! Overnight the water had gone from a few feet deep to not even covering the streets in the downtown area.
A boy sifts through flood waters and garbage looking for anything that might be valuable.
Unfortunately those who lived and worked along the river were not as lucky. On both the Thailand and Burma side of the river the water covered the entire first floor of the buildings next to the river. Being a large import and export border the area is surrounded by large and small businesses as well as villages. Some people received the warning that the river was going to rise and were able to evacuate, but not everyone heard about it before it was to late. Many people were stranded until the waters went down… three days later.
A man wades through flood waters looking for items that can be used to rebuild houses in ‘no-mans land’.
It’s one thing to pray for flood victims that you don’t know, but as I prayed people’s faces came to mind from my many visits across the border. After the waters receded a group of us went down to the border to pray and see the damage. I prayed for those effected by the flood, and that we would run into our contact as I really wanted to know my friends were all ok!
A woman working to clean up flood water, mud, and garbage left over from the flood near the border.
God heard my prayers, and we found Myo, our contact!! We were able to encourage him and remind him that we are praying for him and his people. Myo tried to help many people get to higher ground before the flood, unfortunately not everyone wanted to listen to him. He said that three boats that were crossing the river tipped over. At least 200 people had died in Burma due to the floods. Myo had been renting a small room right next to the border, he didn’t have much, but being an educator he had lots of books and a collection of photos and notes for an autobiography he wants to write, he lost everything. Our time was short with Myo as it was late. We asked him what were the greatest needs at the moment… he said that temporary refugee camps had formed at four different monastaries so people had somewhere to stay and a bit of food, but they needed medicine.
Some of the clean up after the flood in the market area received immediate attention by the government.
The same night I went to the pharmacy to pick up the medicine that Myo said the people needed. The pharmacist was wonderful in helping me find the best options to purchase, and told me if I could stop at a clinic in the morning she would like to make a donation. So on my way to the border the next morning I stopped at the clinic and was given two bags full of medication! She more than tripled what I had purchased!! A friend and I travelled to the border to meet Myo, he was blown away by the amount of medicine and supplies we brought him. As he looked through what we brought he almost came to tears over the small bottles of baby powder in one of the bags. Myo was so excited to be able to get medicine to the people who needed it. (He was able to give some directly to people he knew needed it, and then hand the rest over to a doctor who was also staying at a monstary.)
Myo taking the medicine and other supplies that we purchased into Burma to share with flood victims.
Those living in villages or not on the main road are still struggling with the cleanup from the flood. Not only did the flood waters do LOTS of damage, but they left behind several inches of a clay like mud on and in everything. I watched antique shops have to take every item out of their shop and use buckets of water and paintbrushes or toothbrushes to clean their wooden merchandise. The amazing thing is that it didn’t take long for many of the shops to open back up.
The view across the river at Burma. Note the entire wall that is missing from one of the buildings due to the flood.
A few days ago we got to meet up with Myo once again. He again was beaming over what we able to donate. Myo let us know that all of our friends in the villages were untouched by the floods! All of the people who had been staying at the different refuge camps had gone home or found somewhere else to stay. As Myo said, ‘things keep happening to my people, but we are survivors, we keep on going.’ I asked if people still needed anything and he told me, ‘ we don’t need food or anything, we just need love’.
Please continue to pray for the people of Thailand and Burma who were effected by the flooding. Pray for the businesses and economy (many people in Burma lost their jobs because businesses couldn’t stay open). Rainy season is almost over, but the flood was the worst they’ve had in over 10 years.
Leap of Love
I originally wrote this blog for Outpour Movement, but I wanted to share it with you here as well. It can sometimes be difficult to live in a third world country so far away from the people, things, and language that you know… this is a beautiful reminder of why being here makes an impact even when it doesn’t feel like it.
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Have you ever had a kid come running and leap into your arms? Maybe it was your son or daughter, a niece or nephew, or maybe one of the kids from the Sunday school class you teach.
But was it ever a child that you didn’t know?
One that you never had a real conversation with?
One day soon we will share a bit more with these little ones why we are here and where our love for them comes from. I can’t wait for the day when language barriers fall away and they can understand what it’s like to make that same leap into the arms of Abba, Father God. Until then, we’ll keep greeting the kids with open arms and open hearts, loving every smile, giggle, and hug that we give and receive.
goldenglances 