Why am I returning to Thailand?

I think the best thing about following God is the ways He leads you to do things you would never do outside of Him. I have lived in California my entire life. I grew up in Livermore, CA and stayed there until I went to college at Biola University in Southern California, then I moved to Newport Beach where I have lived the past three and a half years. I would have never chosen to pick up and move to a country 8,000 miles away from everything I have ever known, but God has something else planned.

Before I left on our short term mission trip to Thailand, I felt the Holy Spirit softening me to the idea that this might not be a short term trip, but a life altering trip. On our first full day in Chiang Rai, we were able to go to church at One Light and I was so impacted by the intimate community of believers. The church body is made up of Thai people as well as ex pats, and the whole service is in English and Thai. It was a glimpse of heaven worshipping in this environment and I was reminded of Revelation 7:9 which states,

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"After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands."

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One Light Church also has a deep heart for evangelism. Our team got to witness the fruit of salvation through the countless seeds planted by the people of One Light Church and we were also able to practice evangelism ourselves. One of the most impactful days for me on this trip was our journey to the remote village where we saw several women who followed witchcraft, repent and accept Jesus in their hearts. We ended up taking down the idols they had built and burned them. We see this done in Acts 19:19 when, "A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas."The Lord is at work in this village and is tearing down idols so that His name will be glorified!"

I am excited to return to One Light and see what else the Lord has planned! I am praying the Spirit continues to break out and move in new ways.