we’ve moved!

As part of revamping the Quest website we’ve moved the blog to the main website. So, update your bookmarks and RSS feeds. The blog is now HERE and you can subscribe to the RSS feed HERE.

 

quest outdoors

Quest Outdoors [People, Nature & Outdoors] meets this Saturday, March 1, for another snowshoeing excursion.  If you’re interested, contact ministry leaders Eric and Carina Long at carinastrappello[at]yahoo[dot]com.

To give you a glimpse of what to expect: 

 

qjc presents

the qjc ministry is asking, ‘how can we go deeper together as we seek to follow god’s mandate to love mercy, seek justice and walk humbly’? we recognize that this is not a peripheral command of our faith but a central part of our identity and we desire to go deeper in fellowship and community as we seek god’s heart together. this next year we will be creating different platforms and venues to do just that.

the quest justice and compassion ministry is hosting two awareness and community building forums in the next month. check it:

on march 15th we will be holding a depth class entitled: why the homeless? this class is typically offered two times a year. in this class we explore the questions: who are homeless? what is our call to serve? how do we dispel myths about the homeless? and more. it is a great opportunity to learn more about how we can care and reach out to our brothers and sisters who are homeless and give us an understanding of the challenges they face each day. we encourage all to come who have an interest in deepening their own knowledge and awareness, as well as commit to serving this growing population in ballard. the class is held from 9 am to 12 pm. lunch will be served. immediately following we will be hosting our ‘to the streets’ outreach and encourage those in the class to join us.

on march 17th we will be hosting our first monthly qjc meeting at q café from 7:30pm to 9:30 pm. the heart of this group is to build community around the issues of justice and compassion. it will be a learning experience, as we study together the book the dangerous act of worship: living god’s call to justice. there will be teaching, food, fellowship and community building. we encourage those who are passionate about issues of justice and compassion to come and share your heart and vision in community and meet others who are like-minded in passion. this is a monthly focus group that will meet on the third monday of every month.

if you have questions please feel free to contact pastor deanza at deanza@seattlequest.org

 

lauren winner @ quest

Quest is very excited to host a “learning conference” with Lauren Winner on October 10-11, 2008. The previous two learning conferences we hosted were with Tony Campolo and John Perkins.

Details are still coming together but we’d figure we’d have some good conversations surround faith, sexuality, chastity, and gender issues. But, who knows. But mark those dates [and forward this link to others] if you are interested in joining us. Our hope and commitment with our learning conferences is to make them financially accessible and a venue for community building.

 

q cafe open house and new website

Q Cafe is hosting an OPEN HOUSE on Thursday, February 7 from 7-10pm to show off our new space and give folks a chance to check out our new coffee [Stumptown Coffee] and tea [Tea Cup].  Because we’re currently only open from 8-5pm, some folks have been unable to visit.  Our hope is to eventually be opened late on Thursday nights and then expand our hours from 7am - 9pm beginning in the Fall.

Also, we’ve put together a new website for Q Cafe

 

the lent season

We begin the Lent season this Wednesday.  Lent signifies the 40 days (not counting Sundays) that begin on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday, or the day before Easter Sunday.  The forty days are significant because the Israelites journeyed through the desert for 40 years and Jesus himself fasted in the desert for 40 days.

Historically, early Christians also adopted this rhythm of ‘giving up’ something during this Lenten season.  The purpose isn’t simply to give something up but in doing so, it helps us to focus on Jesus Christ - his suffering, sacrifice, and resurrection. 

 

quest outdoors

Beginning next month - February - Quest is has launched a new ministry simply called ‘Quest Outdoors.’  As the name implies, it’s focusing on People, Nature & Outdoors, and enjoy’s God’s beautiful creation.  As it gears up for its first excursion [snowshoeing @ Snoqualmie Pass] on Saturday, February 9, we thought it would be good to interview the ministry leaders Eric and Carina Long.  Along with their love for the outdoors, Eric is a professor at Seattle Pacific University and Carina is a full time artist.  We asked them a few questions to share their personal love for the outdoors and their hope for the ministry.

What is ‘Quest Outdoors? 

 

q cafe 2.0 - now open

After a month of closing the Q Cafe to rest and re-examine our identity and purpose, we are very excited to re-open our doors today [redeem your coupon]. As we marked our 5 year anniversary recently, I am thankful for the many things we’ve accomplished over those years. But, I’ve also learned how unsustainable it was to pursue all that we initially wanted to do. In a sense, we wanted to change the world. Now, we’re rebooting with the hope of simply being a great neighborhood cafe. As I work with our newly forming Advisory Board, I’ve been trying to explain to our potential new customers that our identity is:

“Q Cafe is a neighborhood non-profit cafe featuring espresso and tea, art, live music, and community events.”

 

qcafe turns five

This Saturday, Q Cafe is celebrating its 5 year anniversary. Please join us if you’re able from 6-8pm for some random entertainment, great coffee, and free dessert.

In our first year as a churchplant, we decided to do what no sensible group of people would do: embark on a building project and birthing another organization. We raised funds to help start a non-profit and non-religious cafe in our hopes of blessing our neighborhood and our city.

When we opened our doors in November 2002, we weren’t quite sure what to expect. We asked ourselves these questions:

 

To the Streets UPDATE

Hello!  I wanted to send you an update regarding our last distribution and some current needs that we have for the ministry of QJC.  This past weekend we had 57 men and women (47 men and 10 women) come out to “To the Streets”.  It is one of the larger distributions we’ve had since the summer started and although we were short handed (4 volunteers) we were able to meet the needs of each person and we got a chance to connect with each person that came through.  We also provided a memorial space for Ronnie Robinson who died at the beginning of September. 

 

a fierce kind of beautiful

Sometimes as pastors we write about what’s happening at Quest, what’s going on in ministry, or current theological issues. Tonight, I wanted to share a bit about my family, my upbringing, and most of all, to ask you to pray for a family.

I often share that I represent the fourth generation in a timber family. Born in Forks, Washington, I think I was born with the ability to tell a pine from a spruce. My father is still a hand-faller out in Forks, the man with the chainsaw out in the woods cutting down trees. To give those of you urbanites an idea, if my father worked at a software company, he’d be an expert programmer, highly specialized, and able to do work very few people possess the skills for. If you have ventured out to the Olympic Peninsula, you may have gained a sense of the cultural differences between ‘city’ people and ‘logging’ people. There’s another vocabulary: rigging slingers, choker setters, hand fallers, block and tackle, yarders, cats (short for caterpillar, a big bulldozer), stihl, husquvarna, carhartt, caulk books, and everything in between. Loggers wake at dawn, grab their hickory shirts, suspenders, and hard hats and head for the forest to provide for their families. Even now, I associate my dad with the smell of sawdust mixed with chain grease and sweat. To me, it smells like home.

There’s a sense of pride in what my family does, but also a sense of danger. Two years ago this past October, my brother and dad were working together on a logging job. My brother used to be a ‘rigging crew boss’, the guy who told all the other guys who were helping move the logs from the forest to the logging trucks what to do. Again, to contextualize it for the city-dwellers out there, he was like a project manager or division director. One morning, something went wrong. Mistakes don’t happen often in logging, but when they do, someone gets hurt. A log moving through the air swayed a little too far out of line, and hit a standing tree, which fell on my brother, crushing his face, skull, wrist, and a few vertebrae in his upper back. My dad helped pack him the mile or so to the road, and stayed with him through the ambulance ride to the hospital. Despite the doctor’s initial diagnosis, he could move his legs. In the weeks that followed, our family held a continuing vigil on the waiting room floor of Harborview’s neurosurgery wing. Before he left the hospital almost a month later, seven surgical teams had reparied his brain, face, hand, jaw, teeth, nose, and stablized his back injuries. Today, he continues to have good spirits despite the fact he has been told he may never work again. He continues physical therapy, holds his two children, can walk and move around alright most of the time, and continues to heal. Hopefully, he will be cleared to work part-time soon. The funny thing? He wants to go back to logging.

It’s hard to overstate how much a draw the forest is to those who work there. My dad, his dad, his dad’s dad, my brother, they all share a common culture, a common language, a common love of being outside working at a way of life that is fast disappearing. Yesterday, I received an all too familiar phone call: someone, a logger’s son, someone I grew up with, whose sister I went to school with and whose dad worked with my dad, was working in the woods with his dad, cutting timber. Again, something went wrong, and a tree unexpectedly jumped from it’s stump and hit 23 year old Shane in the head. His dad performed CPR for 45 minutes, but the injuries were too great. Shane died doing what he loved, growing up with tragic stories like his own, knowing full well the reality of the risk involved. And yet he did it anyway, because he loved it that much. Because working with his father meant that much. Because family and forest is life to loggers, because the trees, and the men you work with, and the smell of sawdust and chain grease and sweat are your world. And for that, I weep for Shane and his family today.

Shane’s mom went to his house today, to pick up some of his personal effects and his sketchbooks. As she picked up a sketchbook, a letter that Shane had written to his girlfriend fell out. Not knowing what it was, she read through it. In the letter, Shane shared with his girlfriend his belief in happiness in heaven, that despite whatever difficulties life might hold, he knew they would find happiness in heaven, whether together or apart. They were going through a rough patch, but he believed God had a bigger plan. As the potato salad and pies, the prayers and hugs, the stream of loggers and logger’s families flood Shane’s parent’s home, I pray that hope would flood their hearts. For his parents, his sister, his niece, his girlfriend, I pray for comfort. And for them, I grieve, knowing it just as easily could happen to my family, or others.

This life, the life of a logger, just as much as the life of a police officer, a lawyer, a computer programmer, is unique, and somehow, a fierce kind of beautiful.

For Shane’s story in the Port Angeles newspaper:
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070711/NEWS/707110307

A second story about the accident, and the logging industry.

Pastor Leah

 

A Living Legacy: Quest at the Annual Meeting

Last week, a few folks from Quest trekked down to Portland for the Evangelical Covenant Church Annual Meeting. This year marked the 122nd Annual Meeting, and this year’s Portland location versus holding it at the denomination headquarters in Chicago meant Pastor Ray, Elder Board member Barb Lundquist, Caniesha Warren, Pastor DeAnza and Pastor Leah were all able to attend. Quest and Interbay were also part of the meeting agenda on Friday morning, as Interbay was honored among the churches that closed within the past year as a “Living Legacy” church. Interbay’s example was seen as such an inspiration to others within the denomination, that the ECC as a whole made the decision to honor the church with this award for the first time, with the intent of honoring one such congregation every year. As Pastor Ray and Barb shared a snippet of the history, and how God had compelled the hearts of those at Interbay to be so incredibly “Kingdom minded”, people in the audience and on the podium were moved. The story begins here, with us, but God continues to use this example in ways that we cannot imagine. May He be glorified.

 

Mystery of Hope: A new focus group for those struggling with depression

Depressive disorders affect approximately 18.8 million American adults or about 9.5% of the US population age 18 and older in any given year.  This includes major depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder, and bipolar disorder.  In fact, depression will be the second largest killer after heart disease by 2020.  The following contains some details on depression in the US:

·         15% of the population of most developed countries suffers severe depression.

·         54%of people believe depression is a personal weakness.

·         41% of women are too embarrassed to seek help.

·         15% of depressed people will commit suicide.

·         30% of women are depressed. Men’s figures were previously thought to be half that of women, but new estimates are higher. 

Depression and other emotional/mental health problems are a growing issue in the US.  As the statistics grow in our society we must remember that they are also increasingly growing in the church.  Historically the church hasn’t done that great of a job supporting people who struggle with mental health problems and that has contributed to a negative impact on how individuals see themselves in light of their mental health.  In addition, men and women have been stigmatized within the church and have internalized the pain of these problems.  Most people separate their mental health issues in the life of the church and seek outside support for their mental health problems from outside sources: counselors, therapists, doctors, support groups, etc. due to the fear of experiencing shame and guilt within the church.  All that to say, we seek to provide a space where men and women experiencing issues of depression and anxiety can come and find support and care in their journey towards wholeness and health.   

We believe that the call to come alongside people is encapsulated best in Romans 12:15 as it states to, “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn”.  The call of Romans is a foundational component to building relationships with each other.  Regardless of our stereotypes, our inexperience, or our fears with mental health issues the church must come alongside men and women in this walk of life to aid in the healing and restorative process.   

This fall, Quest church will be starting a new group called: Mystery of Hope for men and women who are experiencing difficulty with depression, anxiety, stress disorders and other mental health related issues.  As a group we’ll be studying the book, “The Cry of the Soul” by Dan Allendar & Tremper Longman III, praying for each other and the struggles we face as we seek God’s face, learning how to speak into each others lives with hope and compassion and learning to express our feelings in a safe and confidential group setting.  This upcoming Sunday, June 24^th at 1:30 pm we will be having a luncheon at Laurie Crafts home (where the group will be held over the year) to get to know each other a little and to give more information about the group starting in the fall.  If you are interested in hearing more please join us on Sunday or contact Pastor DeAnza at deanza@seattlequest.org.  The group will be co-led by DeAnza Spaulding and Laurie Craft.  

 

a report from cameroon

This is a brief report from laurie b. who is on a short term ‘vision trip’ to cameroon.  Please continue to keep her in your prayers. 

As part of my evaluation of the after school program, I have been observing each of the after school program classes (book club, art/music club, and bible club). In one of yesterday’s classes, the children were learning/memorizing Philippians 2:14, “Do everything without complaining.” The teacher asked the children to give examples of situations when they shouldn’t complain. I listened passively as the children named “normal” situations: complaining when their parents ask them to clean, complaining when they have conflict with their siblings, etc. But my easy, passive mood quickly changed when one child - Seth - confessed, “I shouldn’t complain when I am hungry.”It is hard to explain the thoughts and emotions that I’m forced to reconcile when I have faces like Seth’s imprinted in my mind. My ideals are challenged, and my beliefs questioned. This internal process is not a new to me, especially after having lived here for 7 months last year. And although it is a difficult process, it is important and necessary. It’s also a blessing!  Having said that, I am excited to report 2 points of good news…

 

The Advent Season: Giving Tree

 The Advent Season: waiting for Christ our King!

This time of year brings so much busyness and distraction.  Our culture continues to over load us with images of buying and buying and more buying!  In fact, statistics show that depression, anxiety and suicide escalate during this time of year because of the pressures we feel to buy into all the external messages of consumerism.  When in reality as Christians this time of year is really the opportunity to reflect and to give thanks and to wait together as a community the coming of our King: Christ Jesus our Lord!  

 

Quest - Happy 5 Year Anniversary!

Thanks to each of you for your prayers, stories, hard work, service, giving, dreams, belief, friendship, and partnership in ministry.

Quest Pastors

 

seattle, music, and qcafe

its really true.  everyone in seattle is a musician. everyone’s in a band.  everyone’s in with eddie vedder.  everyone’s in with dave matthews.  and if you’re not in a band, you just lie and say you’re still in a band.  and if you want to skirt around the idea, you just say, ‘i’m an artist.‘  but let me just say, i love seattle because it has so many musicians, artists, and creative folks.this is one of the highlights we have had in planting quest church five years ago: we have met such a diverse community of people - especially entrepreneurs, social workers, globally minded folks, artists, and musicians.

 

parking map

please drive carefully!

 

Back in Bangkok

We just spent the last two nights in a Southern Thailand town called Sangklaburi that is located near the Burmese border. We stayed in the home of a Karen family that included a grandmother who was recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for her work with externally displaced persons from Burma (EDP’s). Some of her projects include: a children’s home caring for orphans and high risk children, caring for people with HIV, a home for the disabled and mentally unstable, vocational training projects, child education programs and more.

We left their home at 5:30 this morning and drove 6 ½ hours to Bangkok. We then headed off to Rahab ministries, an organization that works in one of the most notorious red light districts in the world—a place called Pat Pong.

It has been a long trip thus far, mostly for the very reason that there have been many situations that do not fit into our normal way of understanding this world. One of the T-shirts that an organization had on display says, “Normal is over.” Tonight we were debriefing as a team and we agreed that after this trip, normal is most certainly over. We have encountered much together– beautiful people with the generous hearts dedicated to acts of service in some of the most broken and oppressed places.
We have had a great opportunity to meet all kinds of leaders who are faithful to the same God we serve!
Each place we have visited has asked us to pray for them, to not forget them and to share their stories with those we meet. Help us remember to do this as we return home and continue to pray for us as we finish our time here together. We will be debriefing in Bangkok on Monday from 6-10pm PST.
Peace*
Mike & Kate

 

kkbbsc?

After a stay at the fabulous ‘Moss’ Hotel in Mae Sariang, the group left early Thursday morning for better digs. After a early wake up call 5:30am, we visited a camp for displaced people. Despite extremely rough conditions, (no vegetable gardens, rice patties, patures for livestock and and constant threats of violence, these people showed an amazing resilance and hope in God.

One of the highlights of this visit was Noah, Deanza and Kate leading the nursery school (ages 4-6) in head, shoulders, knees and toes! The kids got a little stuck on the eyes and ears and mouth and nose part, otherwise they were very quick studies! We also toured the camp, prayed w/ the pastor and donated supplies. Though the visit lasted only a little over an hour, it left a lasty impression on the whole team.

Next we set of for M– L- refugee camp which sits on the Thai side of the Thai-Burma border. This camp was unbelievable, in terms of its size, sophistication and poverty. First of all, the camp has been there for more than 20 years and now has more than 50,000 people living there. Most of the people living there are from the Karen State, just over the boarder, however there is a broad sampling of ethnic groups from all over Burma.

At M– L- camp is the KKBBSC, or the Karen (something) Baptist Bible School and College, (sorry, I forgot what the second K stands for!) This Bible school was amazing. It boasts three different majors and more than 300 students are enrolled. The school is led by very devoted and extremely well educated men and women. David noted that their library was quite expansive, definitely besting Quest’s literary inventory. These students come from camps all over Thailand to learn. It did not seem like an easy task as they were constantly cleaning, singing, studying or in class, not having ESPN and Comedy Central probably helps one’s work ethic. After dining with some of the teachers, we settled down for a good nights sleep. Most of the noted that we slept better on the wood floor of the Bible school than at the Mae Sariang Hotel de Moss. (It just smelled too much like Tacoma, yuck…sorry if you’re from Tacoma).

This morning we awoke and were greeted by a very very good meal. I had been craving bananas, for various reasons, and sure enough there were bananas a plenty. So far today I’ve eaten four or five, I started getting loopy after the third. Additionally, there were home made DONUTS!!! As they say in Thai, we were eem! (full & happy). However, our happiness was soon replaced w/ nervousness as we immediately went to perform in front of the entire Bible school, all 300 students. When I say perform, I mean sing 3 songs, read a psalm and share a sermon. This may not sound extremely daunted for those of you gifted w/ musical talents, however in our group was a bit lacking. Thankfully, we made it through the service and the songs. David did a fantastic job of preaching out of Exodus, chapter 3. He made the correlation that because so many members of the American church do not understand true suffering, we have great difficulty understanding the heart of God. Whereas those like the Karen people who’ve endured oppresion and strife since 1949 have a truer understanding of God and His will. Good job David!

After the service we prayed w/ the handicap refugees, most victims of landmines and disease. Then we took off and arrived safely in Mae Sot. I like to call it the Juarez City of Thailand, nuf said. We had a leisurely afternoon and Western style dinner after a few meetings w/ some of the NGO’s in town. (The next time you’re in Mae Sot, check out Bai Fern and order the Bai Fern Delight Pizza. They stuff Canadian bacon and cheese inside the crust! EEM!)

And thus we arrive here at the lobby computer at the DK Hotel in Mae Sot where I will bid you adieu as I am search for some late night ice cream.

Please keep the team in your prayers. Pray for health and a shared vision.
But even more than that, PRAY FOR PEACE, HOPE AND PERSEVERANCE FOR THE KAREN!!! Karen has been under attack since 1949, yet still resist. I’m reminded of our nation’s brief stuggle w/ the British that lasted only from 1775-1786, a fraction of the time the Karen have fought for their right for peace, freedom and their ancestoral lands.

For anyone that read this far, thanks for your continued support, it is extremely encouraging to know that there is an army of people praying for our team!

Peace,
Noah

 

we’re in mae sariang! moving closer and closer to the border…

hi friends,

we are currently staying here in mae sariang. it is a small thai town near the thai-burma border. the past three days have been a whirlwind of learning and hearing about the amazing work of our brothers and sisters on the other side of the world from seattle. among those that have been gracious enough to take time out of their busy schedule to meet with us has been Karen Teachers Working Group and Karen Women’s Organization, Free Burma Rangers, Partners, International Justice Mission, New Life Centre and Just Food. We’ve also met up with missionaries Alan and Joan Eubanks who work with a WA tribe hostel for children.

believe me we’ve been learning and seeing so much. and from hearing the stories about young children who are forced into sex trade to hearing about the IDP’s in Burma our hearts are heavy. the sense that you get here Thailand is that: her heart is broken. The problems surrounding oppression, enslavement and exploitation of the people are complex and multi-layered. there are no easy answers or solutions yet, dedicated men and women are working so hard for freedom and justice and we’ve had the priviledge of meeting a few of them. it is inspiring to be in their company and challenges all of us to think about how we can be better stewards of our time, resources and energy.

it has been quite a process of hearing and thinking through each of the issues. our hearts are heavy and weary. in our devotions today we spent time listening to the voice of god. you see, the needs are so great you could literally jump in anywhere to try to be a help and so we humbly confess we need god’s spirit and voice to lead us where we might be the greatest encouragement and help to his people. in the midst of our travel and the sense of immense pain god’s spirit is very poignant here. he is near.

peace of Christ,
pastor deanza

 

hill tribes and cinnamon rolls

today was our last full day in chiang mai and we made it count. after a whirlwind tour of four different groups yesterday, we decided to cut today’s schedule to just three… amazing stuff. it’s been encouraging to see christians on the leading edge of creative advocacy here- new life center works to bring education and job skills to at-risk hill tribe girls, and we were able to buy a bunch of handcrafted goods made on site by girls getting vocational training. we are learning that some of the biggest barriers to helping victims of trafficking are citizenship and alternative vocational skills, so it’s great to see new life center working on both of those fronts, as well as offering holistic spiritual care and mentoring.

this afternoon we were hosted by the ‘garden of hope’ and ‘just food’- both parts of a larger vision to provide a hope and a future for people involved with prostitution or other exploitative situations. their long term goal is to not only offer care and support, but also to open opportunities for a culinary school, entrepreneurial training, and other important market needs so that people can work towards a sustainable career outside of exploitation. we agreed to taste test their brownies and cinnamon rolls- you know- just to help them out. noah ate four.

the group is doing well and enjoying the time here- the people we’ve met have been great and encouraged to hear about quest. please pray for us as we process through all we’ve heard- there is so much to consider and think about as we prayerfully discern how quest can partner and be a presence in what god is doing here.

tomorrow we’re heading for the thai-burma border and the real adventure begins… we’ll update again when we can, but internet access will be spotty at best…

shalom,
david

 

first days in thailand

in bangkok, ronald mcdonald puts his hands together and bows with the traditional thai greeting as you enter to gorge yourself on the icon of american consumer gluttony abroad. there is no escape from pax americana! this mall also had a starbucks and a sizzler…

we spent yesterday meeting with tons of organizations here- partners int’l, free burma rangers, int’l justice mission, and a local missionary family active with minority hill tribes in burma. amazing stuff. these people have been through so much. we’re just trying to take it all in, listen, process, and pray. we may not have any internet access for a few days, so until then… (david l)

 

arrived safely in thailand

…or perhaps ‘who would Jesus bribe’ would be a more appropriate title for this posting. the thailand team arrived safely in bangkok, joining rich norman and some of our world aid contacts. customs gave us a difficult time as instead of checking baggage we used our allowance to bring over a good deal of medical supplies donated for the hill tribe people (including the karen) who do not have access to supplies. somehow, this was not easily understood in customs despite world aid’s record as having brought in over 300 tons of donated supplies throughout their history. we left the airport without the supplies, which were locked in ‘customs bond’. early this morning, after a couple hours sleep, rich, mike, and i went with one of our world aid friends to the airport. after four hours with the customs officials (it took about an hour and a half just to convince them we needed to get to the customs desk), we were able to pay a ‘tax’, and get the goods out of lockdown. all is now safe, and in about half an hour our friends will head north with most of the supplies. the remainder will come with us tonight to chiang mai.

we’ll post photos as we’re able to get to an internet cafe; i write you now from the world aid office, where the team is feasting on some fried rice prepared by one of the women working here. thai food is GOOD!! we feel blessed to be here. we’re reading the rhythm reading with you, here’s a passage from psalm 118 that struck us during our devotionals:

6 The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
7 The LORD is with me; he is my helper.
I will look in triumph on my enemies.
8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in man.
9 It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in princes.

Please continue to pray with us as we prepare tomorrow to meet with the first of the agencies we will visit, including a children’s home, and international justice mission. Each day, a different team member will be posting an update on how we’re doing, prayer requests, and photos. Thank you for following along with us.

Peace to you, Pastor Leah

 

packing some action

…or perhaps ‘who would Jesus bribe’ would be a more appropriate title for this posting. the thailand team arrived safely in bangkok, joining rich norman and some of our world aid contacts. customs gave us a difficult time as instead of checking baggage we used our allowance to bring over a good deal of medical supplies donated for the hill tribe people (including the karen) who do not have access to supplies. somehow, this was not easily understood in customs despite world aid’s record as having brought in over 300 tons of donated supplies throughout their history. we left the airport without the supplies, which were locked in ‘customs bond’. early this morning, after a couple hours sleep, rich, mike, and i went with one of our world aid friends to the airport. after four hours with the customs officials (it took about an hour and a half just to convince them we needed to get to the customs desk), we were able to pay a ‘tax’, and get the goods out of lockdown. all is now safe, and in about half an hour our friends will head north with most of the supplies. the remainder will come with us tonight to chiang mai.

we’ll post photos as we’re able to get to an internet cafe; i write you now from the world aid office, where the team is feasting on some fried rice prepared by one of the women working here. thai food is GOOD!! we feel blessed to be here. we’re reading the rhythm reading with you, here’s a passage from psalm 118 that struck us during our devotionals:

6 The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
7 The LORD is with me; he is my helper.
I will look in triumph on my enemies.
8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in man.
9 It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in princes.

Please continue to pray with us as we prepare tomorrow to meet with the first of the agencies we will visit, including a children’s home, and international justice mission. Each day, a different team member will be posting an update on how we’re doing, prayer requests, and photos. Thank you for following along with us.

Peace to you, Pastor Leah