As many of you know I got to spend the past week with my Dad. He flew half way around the world to spend a week with me and to share in my World Race experience. It was an amazing and an exhausting week spent doing every kind of ministry you do on the race. We went to a children’s home, spent time ministering to children in the slums, went to the bars and ministered to women in pain. We did treasure hunts, had feedback, debriefed every thing we did, explored a city and shared about our pasts, presents and futures. It is a week that will live on in our memories forever. It is here that I got to share with my father some of the experiences I have had with my Heavenly Father. I got to show him what the past 8 months of my life have been like and what my foreseeable future will look like. My parents both knew that missions was something I was committed to and something I had been called into. However, I feel this trip has really put us all on the same page. My father has known my Heavenly Father for as long as I have known Him, but I feel like he got to experience Him in a new way on this trip and in a way that I have been experiencing Him since my first mission in may of 2009. It was one of the best weeks of my life getting to share my greatest passion in life with the father that gave me life and the Father that continues to breathe life into me.
Fortunately, my heavenly Father had things all figured out before I left for this trip around the world. If it were not for me signing up for this trip, postponing my departure, Challenge: Asia turning into “manistry” in Thailand, Seth Barnes having a vision to invite parents in month 9, then me inviting mine, my dad saying “yes,” AIM choosing to have it in Chiang Mai, and God speaking to everyone throughout the entire process, I would have never have visited Chiang Mai. I never would have had my heart break for the people there and received God’s call to return there.
My plan is to return to Chiang Mai, Thailand by the end of the year 2013. I will be returning with the organization God had me start back in 2009, when He first laid the burden of missions on my heart. More details will follow, but I wanted to alert everyone about my next step after finishing the Race. I still have Malaysia and Cambodia to finish up, but I am confident Thailand is where the Lord is calling me next. I wanted to say thank you to my earthly father and my heavenly Father for this week. Thank you for continuing to invest in me to help us all grow closer together. I look forward to our next trip together and the many more adventures to come.
Keep an eye out for updates on my plans for Thailand and Code Ministries in the near future!