Back in Bangkok!

An interesting thing about Thai culture...
It seems that everyone we meet has an amazing plan for what our day should look like. I can't tell you how many times a day, as Jon, Jenny, and I (Kirsten, obviously) are innocently trying to... get to the grocery store, for example, someone will stop us, ask us where we're going, pull out a map, and start telling us to go to this tourist information place to buy tickets to some resort or that  market to buy such-and-such. In searching for a reasonable explanation for this behaviour, we have stumbled across two semi-viable possibilities: either Thai people have soundly stereotyped all tourists and are thus simply doing us a favour, or else the three of us have managed to walk around Bangkok with such distinctly discombobulated looks on our faces that not even the most detached of passer-bys could misinterpret it and walk away without lending a hand. As a team, we are now honing our "intelligent" look. We will keep you updated on the success of our endeavors.

When Darkness meets Light...

We visited 3 bars last night.  I'll be honest... it's actually very hard to share what we experienced and learned. Words just are not enough to explain the hopelessness and deception we witnessed. Words are also not enough to explain the supernatural battle that is raging, that we can sense in those situations. But I'll try. :)

Lessons and Thoughts from Chiang Rai

The past week has been a whirlwind of new places and new ideas. My team and I (Kirsten) are now in Phnom Penh, staying at a beautiful hostel and taking the day to recuperate a little. With a little extra time, I am going to try to condense some of our recent thoughts so that hopefully you all can benefit from what we've been learning and discussing as well.

Everybody's got a water buffalo... yes, it's true!

Phnom Penh. Craziness from start to finish.
It began with a beautiful train ride from Bangkok to the border town- we arrived at the station at 5 am by faith that there was a train was leaving at 6 (we had seen it somewhere on the internet, but had NO idea when the blog was written and if it was still correct).

Destiny Rescue in Chiang Rai

We had a God-connection at the grocery store when we were buying ingredients for pizza- Jon ran into a guy named Sonny who was trying to find yoghurt. Turns out Sonny is the Kiwi Jack Bauer and is currently in Thailand doing some crazy work to rescue girls from the sex trade.

Chiang Rai

Hello everyone!
I don't have a lot of time for an update, because we're on our way to the store to buy ingredients to cook an American meal for our hosts: pizza and brownies with icecream for desert!! Sounds simple enough, but, as we've learned, things are rarely "simple" when away from home. So we're looking forward to finding out what twists and turns are awaiting us there.

As a quick summary, we are now in Chiang Rai in Nothern Thailand. We're visiting a ministry called New Generation, which works with the Akha people group (a small ethnic minority that live in Thailand and its bordering countries).  Our friend, Art, runs a home for teenage Akha boys who are studyng in the city, away from their home villages. It's been an incredible experience, and I look forward to being able to fill you all in on what we learned while here! For now, though, if you're interested in hearing more about this ministry, go to akhadorm.blogspot.com.

On a more personal note, our team has been greatly blessed here. The hospitality of our hosts is incredible, the food and lodging free and delicious, the weather only mildly uncomfortable, and our unity and companionship as a team is just a lot of fun and very encouraging. We have been praying for our health, and God has certainly been protecting us! So far the most we can complain of is various rashes... which we have dubbed "the pestilence". :) God gave our team Psalm 91 while we were travelling. We take it as His promise to continue to protect and watch over us both physically and spiritually as we journey.

Thank you for your prayers! Please keep lifting us up... and watch our video blogs on youtube (get the link on the previous blog posting).

Love and peace to you all!

Videos

So, I (Jon) have been trying to get the videos I just uploaded to link here, but the gadget is not working (I don't know if it's the gadget's fault, or this computer's, or the internet here, etc).  Anyway, I just uploaded 3 videos to http://www.youtube.com/user/trekagainsttraffick .  Sadly, I couldn't fit all of trafficking in... but, you know what it means.  ;)

The time is ticking...

Just thought I (Kirsten) should throw in a little update, since it's been awhile! Basically, Jenny and I are leaving SUPER early on Wednesday morning for a loooong trip: we leave 6 am on Wednesday morning and arrive at 11 pm on Thursday night. I don't even have the energy to calculate how many actual hours of travel time that is... all I know is that our bodies are going to be so messed up by the time we get there. And we are going to have a GREAT time. :)

Where

While in Thailand and Cambodia, we plan to make 4 stops to learn about the issue from several different angles:

The Mission

Hey everyone! Here's the scoop:

A couple of years ago I had a crazy (and kind of selfish) dream to go on a backpacking trip to Southeast Asia. Two of my friends jumped in on the idea with me and we began praying for God to show us what He wants us to do. Wonderfully, God decided to indulge my dream... over the last few months we have consistently come into contact with numerous people who are fighting sex trafficking in SE Asia. The idea of going and helping them out in anyway we can began to grow in our minds. To make a long story short, the three of us are headed over the Thailand and Cambodia at the end of July!