Bangkok

I've made it as far as Bangkok, where I'm resting up in a guesthouse before continuing my journey to the islands. I'm feeling rather weary, not only because of the late night before I departed and a late night arrival here, but because of an amusing (in hindsight) mix-up with my departure time. I checked in to the guesthouse around 2:30am and the guy on reception made a note that I would need a taxi to the airport at 6.30pm this evening. A few hours later I was rudely awoken by the phone in my room ringing, and a female voice on the other end saying urgently, "Your taxi here! Is 6.30 already!". She hung up before I was fully awake, and I stumbled around the room for a couple of minutes in confusion... SURELY I hadn't slept for 16 hours?!? I flung open the curtain to look outside but the louvres were frosted glass, so I looked out the peephole... it didn't look like evening, but it's hard to tell through a peephole. I rang the number listed for roomservice to double check the time, and it turned out to be the same woman I had just spoken to. I felt a bit silly saying, "I just wanted to check the time... is it 6:30... in the morning??" But we soon cleared up the confusion and I crawled back into bed.

My one outing from the guesthouse before heading back to the airport in the evening was to a nearby market, to purchase a watch!

What to pray for...

For me:-

• That God will continue to grow me spiritually, making me more in His image & giving me a greater understanding of Him.
• That God will grant me contentment in whatever situation He chooses for me, & help me not to be distracted by the things of the world or what other people are doing.
• For clarity regarding God’s plans for my future - that He will reveal to me where he wants me to be, & prepare the way for me.
• That God will use me for His purposes as I travel & meet people who may never have heard of Jesus.
• For safety & health in travel (I’ll be undertaking a fair bit of traveling on my own, by plane, train & boat, & travelers often get sick in Asia).
• That God will help me to be more disciplined & deliberate about spending time reading my Bible & in concentrated prayer.
• That I’ll have an edifying time in Chiang Mai, learning useful skills from the task of observing & reflecting on the local culture.

For our persecuted brothers & sisters:-

• For continued boldness amongst believers as they share the gospel. Pray that people's hearts would be softened & open to the truth of the Gospel.
• Pray for those who persecute Christians, that they may come to repentance & the knowledge of God’s grace.
• Pray for the leadership of churches in places where pastors, teachers & evangelists are removed from their churches & detained. Pray that the Lord will protect His people against sects & cults.
  Pray God will change the hearts of political leaders. Whole nations can be changed when a leader is saved.
• Pray that Christians who suffer for Christ will remain faithful to Him & be kept strong in their personal faith. Pray that they’ll have courage, strength, wisdom & unshakeable trust in the sovereignty & love of God. Pray that they'll be able to forgive their persecutors.
• The availability of the Bible to people in their own language is fundamental to evangelism. Pray for the translation, printing & distribution of scriptures & for couriers who take them into restricted countries.
• Pray for Christian missions around the world which assist, equip & encourage persecuted Christians throughout the world.
• Pray for the wives & children of Christian men who’ve been imprisoned or killed for their faith. Pray that in times of loneliness & distress, they will know God's presence, comfort, strength & provision.
• Hundreds of thousands of Christians in restricted countries have been converted through radio ministries. Pray for the provision & development of good programs that teach solid Bible truth. Pray that new Christians will be able to link up with other Christians & find a church where they will be welcome & grow.

Plans for the future...

The immediate future...

As part of my course at SMBC, I’m required to do a 4-week overseas cross-cultural communication fieldwork placement . It seemed sensible to try & combine this with some investigation into long-term ministry possibilities.

There are many countries where there is systematic repression of the gospel & varying degrees of persecution against Christians, either by the government or by the general public. But there is one country which had captured my imagination before I even got to college & began hearing from the missionaries who visit SMBC each week. It’s a very restricted country so I’ll refer to it as Tashbaan. It’s a place of stark contrasts - it’s beautiful & heavily touristed, yet in many ways extremely oppressive for the locals. Having done a bit of investigation, I decided early this year that it didn’t seem possible - I couldn’t find information about any missionaries there, & it’s an Islamic country so going on my own didn’t sound like a good idea.

Then we had a visit from a couple who are the mainland south-east Asia area coordinators for Pioneers (a mission agency I very much like the sound of). In the course of our conversation, it came to light that Pioneers actually have a team in Tashbaan, who like the idea of people to coming to work in the scuba diving industry (which is an idea I had been contemplating) & had been praying for Australian team-mates!

I was put in touch with the team leader in Tashbaan, & after months of exchanging emails we made arrangements for me to visit for 3 weeks, staying with a family who is based there long-term.

Given that accommodation is quite expensive in Tashbaan, so I’m largely dependent on staying with team members who are living in a fairly stressful environment, I decided it would be too difficult to do my cross-cultural fieldwork there, so I started investigating other possibilities.
Meanwhile, several people I was in touch with from Pioneers suggested going to the conference in Thailand in late January. This idea fitted well with the fact that the Tashbaan team-leader & his family will be attending the conference, but won’t be in Tashbaan when I am!

Finding someone who was willing & able to act as my fieldwork supervisor proved a challenge, but that’s now confirmed & I’ll be hanging out with some Australian Pioneers missionaries in Chiang Mai for 4 weeks, helping them run English classes for Thai university students.

My itinerary:-
28 Nov-18 Dec:- Tashbaan - exploring & meeting the team
18 Dec—18 Jan:- Chiang Mai—doing fieldwork & investigating mission work in the region.
20-26 Jan:- Pioneers conference in Pattaya, Thailand
28th Jan:- Home again!


Longer term plans...

The long term plans at this stage are fairly hazy. There are still many countries “on the list” (I’ve given details of those countries on the following page). Asia is the region that I’m feeling most drawn to, but I’m open to whatever God may have planned for me.

Wherever I end up, it’s likely to be a restricted country - and that means I’ll be there as a “tentmaker” of some description (English teaching seems to be a good option in many of these countries). I may well be in a paid job, which will mean financial support needs will be lower than they otherwise would be. But my prayer needs will be greater!

As new developments unfold, I’ll try to keep everybody updated. I’d very much appreciate your prayers along the way - and also your thoughts. I’d like my church family to feel free to have input, if there’s a particular country that’s on your heart or that you feel may be part of God’s plans for me. I’d also like you to pray for the countries that I’m considering, as their needs are very great.

I hope that by the time I return from Thailand, I’ll have a fair idea of whether I should apply with Pioneers, much greater clarity about whether Tashbaan is a long-term possibility for me, and if not, what the other options are.

Whatever the future holds, next year will be largely taken up with my studies and I’ll continue to be very involved at RPC. It may also involve getting qualified as an English teacher in my spare time!

I’ll let you know when I know more... some countries I've been considering are (in no particular order):-

• China
• Laos
• Nepal
• Burma/Myanmar
• Vietnam
• The Maldives
• Indonesia
• Bhutan
• North Korea

You can find out more about the situation in these countries and how to pray for them through organisations like Open Doors and Voice of the Martyrs (www.persecution.org).

Debbie's Travels: The story so far...

If you’re reading this, then you’re probably aware that I’m currently studying at Sydney Missionary & Bible College (SMBC), with a view to serving in long-term mission overseas. But you may not know about the journey I’ve taken to bring me to this point. There have been a few key events...

I’ve been a believer from a young age, having grown up in a Christian home, and the first time I contemplated applying to go to Bible college was around twelve years ago. Even back then, the thought that was in my mind was long-term overseas mission - possibly inspired by the experiences I’d had living in Fiji for two years as a child. But somehow, life got in the way and the idea of Bible college was shelved for several years. The thought resurfaced again a few years ago, but at that stage I put it aside because I had not long settled at Randwick Presbyterian Church (RPC), and I didn’t want to leave that support network. At the time, I didn’t feel I had the emotional fortitude to contemplate overseas mission as a single woman.

In mid-2003, along with a group of friends from RPC, we held a 24-hour prayer vigil. For me, this was a fantastic experience of spiritual focusing and rejuvenation. It was also the occasion when I started reading a book called “Jesus Freaks”, which tells the stories of dozens of Christian martyrs from Stephen in the book of Acts, right up to the 1990’s. Reading this book is what sparked my passion for bringing the word to restricted countries, and supporting our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world.

I subscribed to newsletters from Open Doors and Voice of the Martyrs, and in early 2006, after much prayer and contemplation, I decided to apply to go on a short-term “courier# trip” to Hong Kong and China with Open Doors. My application was approved but I didn't want to commit to dates until I found out how much I would be getting for my bonus that year. I had calculated the costs for airfares and accommodation. When my boss told me how much my bonus would be, it turned out to be about $500 more than the costs I had calculated - which I figured would be about right to cover food and incidentals for my 2 week trip! The same day I was told about my bonus, I got a voicemail message from Open Doors asking if I was ready to arrange dates! Needless to say, I was on the phone pretty quickly and my flights were booked within two days.

The 2 weeks I spent in Hong Kong and China was another great time of spiritual renewal and invigoration for me, and it made me more convinced of an idea that had been formulating in my mind for months - that I needed to take a step back from my full-time job in the city and concentrate more on God’s work. I’ve never been career-oriented, and it just no longer made sense for me to be investing so much time and energy in a job that mainly served the purpose of financing my eastern suburbs lifestyle!

On my return from Hong Kong, I attended the ReachOut missions conference in Katoomba, which I found inspiring and challenging. At the end of the weekend, when they called for people who were willing to go wherever God sent them to stand up and commit themselves to that, I saw no good reason not to stand up, so I did.

Around the same time, I was chatting to a friend of a friend who grew up on the mission field, telling him about my recent trip and the thoughts I was having. He asked if I had considered going to Bible college, which hit me like a bolt out of the blue. Yes, I had considered it… and it seemed it was time to consider it again! That evening, I spoke to John & Karine Woldhuis (missionaries from our church who were preparing to depart for Ecuador) about their time at SMBC, and the courses offered there. It turned out that an open evening was coming up, so I planned to go... By the end of that open evening, I had decided which course I was going to apply for!

And that should bring everybody up to date!

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