We have now been in Chiang Mai, Thailand for coming up on three weeks. We were at the train station in Bangkok for a good part of a day, after two flights (first from Jordan, and second from Baharain), and then caught at 13-hour night train. Needless to say, we needed a few days to recover, and then try to acclimate. We thought Jordan was hot, but Thailand is next level.
According to a brief google search, Thailand has set the record for hottest temperature records in the world. And the country is just moving out of it’s hot season and into its rainy season – so, according to locals, we have come at just the right time.
As hot as it’s been, Thailand has already been a beautiful country to explore, and the people easy to love. After settling, we had Parent Vision Trip (PVT), where parents had an opportunity to come and join us in the field. They got to live life right along-side us, doing ministry, worship and prayer, street evangelism, as well as hearing testimonies and having some fun! When parents left, we did a mini-debrief as a squad, where we began to think about and pray into what life will look like for us coming off the field.
This past week, we finally stepped into our last ministries on this race. My team, Y4Y, gets the pleasure and honor to partner with Actsco BookHouse, which provides thousands of Christian books and bibles, as well as Sunday school materials, Christian reference and library books, and more for free! Books, which are donated to the organization from all over the world, are then sorted and distributed throughout Southeast Asia. What we have been doing this week, and will get to do the rest of our time in Thailand is organizing four shipping containers worth of books!
Some have been damaged by water and mold. We try to salvage what we can, but we also want to give people well cared for books, rather than something that has a cover falling off, dog-eared and marked up. This is an ironic statement, because my bible certainly wouldn’t pass the test. Once we sort what books can be kept, we clean the covers, and sort them. I am largely sorting the bibles, so I am separating versions into different boxes to be restored until they can be sent out. There are many more versions than I’ve ever heard of, and every type of devotional bible that you could possibly want. There have even been side-by-side bibles we’ve come across where there are four versions being compared! We’ve found brand new, untouched bibles, and bibles that have been passed down generations. The oldest I’ve come across dated back to 1869, right after the end of the Civil War. Others recorded family trees. Others were memorial bibles, dedicated to a person who passed. A few bibles had commentaries attached, that were writted by Oral Roberts, the founder of ORU (Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma), that my teammate, Jillisa, just graduated from!
Morgan came up with a fun, and also really sweet pastime as we sort, which is to tape up things we find in the bibles and books we’re sorting through. We’ve found all kinds of things: sweet letters, dedications, favorite verses, study notes, favorite quotes (including a Maya Angelou quote), cute bookmarks, cards, photos, and even a hand-drawn map to a friend’s new house in Indiana. Here are some quotes:
“May this book answer all your questions, provide a path for your journey and enlighten your soul. I want what’s best 4 you and your future. I want you to make wise choices. I want you to know what LOVE is. And the bible has all ofthe answers. ‘If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.’ John 15:7”
“To Jamia,
The time is grown near, dear friend.
Our work together soon must end.
We’ll miss your kind and helpful hands;
you’ll always in fond memory stand …
In closing may we give to you,
God’s Word, so simple, yet so true.
A Holy Bible with God’s plan
of salvation for every man.
In Matthew, verse forty-six chapter thirteen,
the merchant man a Pearl of Great Price seen.
And you, Jamia, like this man of old
I pray will find this Pearly of Gold.”
—
What do we do while we are sorting, you may ask? We chat, listen to music, worship, listen to podcasts, and spend at least an hour each day interceding in prayer! Recently our team was reflecting on Colossians 3:17, which says: “Whatever you do [no matter what it is] in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus [and in dependence on Him], giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” And I am so proud of my team for using this time to serve the Lord with their hands, and glorify Him with their mouths.
We also get to hang out with our new friend, David, a long-term worker here who is our contact with Actsco. We especially get to enjoy his company over our lunches, where we exchange jokes as well as receive wisdom and insights into religion, culture, and what life doing work oversees can look like.
If you would like to donate to Actsco, check out their website at: actscobookhouse.org, or email them at: [email protected].
