One-sided conversations are boring.

So I want to give a big thanks to those of who joined in by sharing what makes you come alive with me.  From playing music, to sharing Jesus with kids, to loving hurting families, God is using you as His hands and feet on this earth.  And that’s pretty dang cool.  If you didn’t respond, I’d still love to know about you and what you are passionate about.
 
In my last update, I told you about the opportunity I have to be a real, live, full-time missionary in Thailand.  (No idea what I’m talking about?  Read it here.)  Now I want to add a little more flesh to those minimal details and hopefully answer a few of the most common questions…
 

• Are you going with the same organization as you did for the World Race? Nope, that was Adventures in Missions.  (They’re super cool too, though - check them out if you’re looking for mostly short-term missions opportunities!)  This time, I’ll be with Avant Ministries.  They’ve been around for 120 years, sending teams of missionaries to places in the world that have had, at most, almost zero exposure to the Good News.
   
• How long will you be gone?
  I’ll be over there 5-7 years (whoa!), but I’ll be able to come back for short stints within that time frame. 

• Are you going by yourself or with a team?
  No way am I going alone – I’d just get lost all the time.  I’ll be on a team with all these people!

    

• Will you have to learn the language?
  Yep!  For the first year or so, my team and I will be learning Thai at a language school in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand.  à¸¡à¸±à¸™à¸ˆà¸°à¹€à¸›à¹‡à¸™à¹€à¸£à¸·à¹ˆà¸­à¸‡à¸¢à¸²à¸à¸¡à¸²à¸

• What exactly will you be doing?
  After language school, we’ll be moving farther northeast to the Isan region of Thailand, where we’ll build relationships with Thai people who have likely never heard the Gospel.  As we share the Truth about Jesus with them, we will pray and work to form churches among these new Thai believers.  If you want to get fancy with the terminology, we’ll be doing something called Short-Cycle Church Planting.  Feel free to check out a more extensive description of that here if you feel like geeking out, but don’t worry – I’ll tell you more about it later.

• When do you leave?
  The official “launch” date is still in the works, but it’s looking like sometime between December 2014 and January 2015.

• Will you have access to the Internet?
  Yep – praise God that the Internet can be found in the Third World too.  So, no fear, you'll still have a steady stream of food pictures blowing up your Instagram. Like this one.

I have so appreciated your encouragement and excitement about what God is going to do in Thailand.  Would you be willing to pray alongside me as I prepare to go and for the hearts of the Thais already there?  I am specifically looking for at least 5 people to commit to praying for me and my team on a weekly basis.  This thing definitely won’t fly without others partnering with us, seeking favor from the Father on our behalf.  If that’s something you’re excited about, please send me an e-mail to let me know!
 
Several of you have said you know people who care about Thailand.  Maybe they’re really into missions, or they live there now, or they’ve ridden an elephant at some
point – whatever the reason, that’s awesome!  If you think they might be interested in learning more about what my team will be doing there, feel free to send me their info or just pass this along to them!
 
Alright, that was a lot of information…  But it’s exciting when things are happening, and there is stuff to share.  So, tell me...  If we were having this conversation at Starbucks, and I just told you all that stuff about my life, and now my mouth is tired and it’s your turn to talk for the next 10 minutes…  Tell me, what’s God stirring up in your life?