The Phil Files

I am sitting in the Tokyo airport and we’re about a third of the way home. Our goodbyes were sweet, precious, and tough. But, the Lord was so involved in every step of what happened and I go home with special treasures in my backpack and deep hope in my heart.

Thanks to Robert Reagan, we have a clip of the 7 Nation Gospel Choir. I hope you get a sense of the diversity, something we didn’t even notice until one of the Chinese girls said, “There are seven nations up there singing.”

Missionary Journey from Robert Reagan on Vimeo.

I’ve been serious enough for two weeks, so I thought I would share a picture with you of Mitt, an incredible gift to the Kingdom, who knows how to have fun and be a great influence for Jesus at the same time. Did we have fun? You bet we did! And along the way, lives have been changed, the Kingdom has been experienced, and seeds have been planted. How can you not be excited about that?

Mitt in His Native Element

I took my shoes out of the shoe cabinet one last time. It is going home day.

Two incredible weeks that will forever leave an imprint in my heart and a connection with people I will never forget. For me, the ritual of the shoe cabinet — out each morning, in each evening — sums it up. We’ve done the best we could, given our hearts to our readers, and have in place plans for ongoing contact and also a follow up plan for each of our readers. They will not be dropped. Now it is trust time — trust that those who walk with them next will continue with them on their journey, trust that the Lord will continue to work on their heart, and trust that the relationships we have begun can last across unbelievable cultural differences.

So say a prayer for us as we journey home. This will be a long day with meetings with the new interns who will take over for us. A good bye lunch with my friend and reader Tom. And hard good byes with our Thai and Chinese readers at the zone.

We’re taking the shoes out of the shoe cabinet one last time and will head home with the dust of the Thai streets on our feet and the precious concern for our readers in our hearts.

What a blessing today has been. Five different churches met in one location to worship the Lord. Having been in Chiang Mai 15 years ago when the church was first planted, today was a great victory.

I was also blessed to sit between two of my readers. Candy was on my left reading out of Chinese Bible, listening to a Thai preacher, being interpreted by an English speaker. On the other side was my friend, Tom. We talked about the meaning of the Lord’s Supper, discussed what was being said, and had a good time together. The highlight for many folk was the Gospel choir that Samuel Cook put together to sing a couple of songs. As soon as they got situated, Candy said, “There are 7 nations in that group!” She was excited. As I thought about it, I was not only excited, tears formed in my eyes. It took me a little longer to verify what she had immediately realized: this was Samuel Cook and the 7 Nation Gosepel Choir!

We had people from our Payap Christian Zone from Japan, Singapore, USA, China, Malaysia, Thailand, and Australia!

Two other of my readers prepared a delicious Chinese dinner for me. They had to walk a long way to the store, bought the vegetables and meat, walked back, and then cooked the meal. What a special treat and what a touching kindness. On top of all of that, I had a special sessions with two of my readers. Thankfully I kept my composure, but it wasn’t easy. My how precious people can become to you in a few short weeks.

As soon as I finished my last session, we went to the Night Bizarre, but I visited with Robert Reagan the whole time. Then we had our final evening dinner together with Robert and his wife. This was a great time with great food and great friends. Afterward, we all piled into our room and watched the returning home video and filled out our forms. It’s now 1:00 a.m. and it’s been a long day, so say a prayer for our safe return, but please … please pray even harder that the seeds that we have planted will take root and bear fruit in the precious lives that God has led to us.

Let's Head Out!

We have just gotten back from a major act of faith! What was hoped to be 30 people going off for a retreat in the mountains above Chiang Mai turned into a great, exhausting, exhilarating, and emotional 26 hours with 50 people.

My LST Roomie, Kent, Sampling Roasted Corn on the Cob in One of the least likely places you would expect it.

We made a couple of stops along the way up the mountain. We sampled cuisine from the road side stands and we also went to visit an Asian Hilltribe Village. These were both welcome bits of relief from the crowded trucks and also gave us a good experience with the cultural issues those who follow Jesus face

Three of My Readers at the Hilltribe Village

We went to “The Shack” for the retreat. It’s part of a national park, and to say the conditions were a bit rustic is an understatement, but actually nicer than what we had been told!

Like so many things we’ve experienced, you mix Thai, Chinese, American, Australian, Japanese, people with those from Singapore and Malaysia and you have an opportunity only the Holy Spirit can fill.

Unloading at the Top of the Mountain #1

We climbed steep roads in trucks very overloaded by Western standards and ascended into the beauty and the blessed cool of the mountain above Chiang Mai.

We played games. We sang cultural songs, fun songs, popular songs, and we worshiped. We saw folks jump in and cook and clean and help. We played games all over the countryside in groups.

What was amazing to me was that this was all planned and pulled off by several of the Thai young men in the congregation — they even did a lot of the cooking, although the Chinese young ladies often pitched in.

We were situated in a coffee orchard and the view was breathtaking

Retreat Site

… almost as breathtaking as this incredible group of people that our LST team believes God put together for us to experience and influence.

And to be quite frank, our personal experience, our glimpse of the scene talked about Revelation 7:9-12 — where there are more people than anyone can count from every nation, tribe, people, and language, worshiping the Lamb of God in the throne room of heaven — was moving beyond words.

So rather than trying to drone on and on about what happened, let me share some pictures with you with some brief description of what’s happening.

Fun.

Let the Games Begin

Fellowship.

Food.

Mitt from Malaysia our Main Man

Focus.

It was all there. What a way to further connect our readers to the family of God!

The View from My Teaching Station

Team 3 are Champions of the Jungle Scavenger Hunt

The Old Dudes Win at Dodge Ball vs. The Young Dudes

With many of our readers being Chinese students, we have heard again and again about how good Chinese dumplings are. So for cell group, the Chinese students who were readers and several of their friends came in from their classes and made dumplings. It was a lot of fun and very yummy.

If you can imagine about 20 young ladies rolling dough, boiling cabbage, making hot sauce, chopping pork, boiling water on a porch with lots of laughter, teasing, and chatter, then you can begin to get the picture. It was a fun ending to a very good and intense day.

Our morning devotional time went well. Samuel Cook led our thoughts. Arriving just before our devo time were 5 ACU interns, all young ladies, weary from the long flight to Chiang Mai. We talked about the plan for the day, prayed for our readers, and then went as a group to visit a little shop set up on the front porch of one of our readers. She was a gracious hostess and we enjoyed our time well. Robert then took Larry to the airport for a flight to Korea to meet some ACU professors and some Korean alumni industrialists. So we split up trucks and headed back. We somehow got lost in our truck and it took quite some time making our way back.

I had new readers at 3:00 and so I barely made it back in time to cool off and get ready for my day. I read with the first reader — which turned out to be a married couple — and then had two other sessions with people very very dear to me. Both went exceptionally well — better than I could have hoped and I had been praying about them.

Once they were concluded, we began cell group meeting, which involved the dumpling meal — which I ate on the back porch with several of my readers who were cooking them. After the meal, we had a time of singing and then a bit of discussion about our trip up the mountain today and overnight retreat on the mountain.

I went to bed full — full of walking in God’s grace, full of fond memories, and very full of wonderful Chinese dumplings made with love and care by these special Chinese young ladies.

Wednesday was quite a day for our LST team. We met for our morning devotional and talked about our need to help each other be responsible and above reproach in all that we do — there was not a problem, we just want to make sure that the impression we leave on our Thai and Chinese readers is the one we intend. What we do and how we do it leaves an imprint, good or bad, on the lives of these precious people. After discussion and prayer, we read Hebrews 3:12-14 and then saw the following public service video as a visual reminder of our need to help each other along the way:

Part of being a team is being there for each other in every way possible! Everything about being in a different culture as a friend of others sets precedents and leaves impressions that will last in people’s hearts long after we are gone. It is great having a person like Robert, so versed in this culture, as our mentor, guide, and friend.

Some had morning readers, others had email and other tasks. Then we went to lunch together at a Thai hamburger place called Mike’s. They were good ol’ “greasy spoon” burgers. In the bustling center of Chiang Mai, we ate one of the best American style hamburgers you can imagine.

This allowed more time for informal talk about strategy, for Robert to go over some of his longer term plans, discussion about this weekend’s upcoming retreat, and visit about how we connect our readers to those who will be their ongoing friends as the summer progresses — Robert has five ACU interns coming in to Chiang Mai to help with the rest of the summer work.

I spent some time specifically visiting with Debbie, one of the interns now here. We visited about several of my readers and Debbie’s involvement with them. Debbie is an incredibly mature young Christian woman who has lived several years in Japan. Her spiritual depth, coupled with her quiet demeanor and yet firm conviction enables her to minister well in Chiang Mai.

We ran a quick errand or two, then we all headed back to The Zone to get prepared for our afternoon readers. Each of my sessions went extremely well today. My readers were well prepared, our friendship in each situation is well established and the sessions fly by. We now read the material quickly and finish the lessons with plenty of time for meaningful conversation.

Each of my readers has a slightly different orientation and feeling about the material we are reading. Yet I believe I have a sweet and good relationship with each of them. I also learned that I will be getting a new reader tomorrow.

Today was a day that I invested in the culture of several of my readers. I prepared a little presentation for one of my readers and one of Kent’s — they are roommates and we had heard that they came from the beautiful city of Guilin. They young ladies were thrilled to see pictures of their hometown and talked about each of the places in the presentation. Valuing their culture and trying to respond appropriately and genuinely is crucial to building genuine friendships. It is also a way to expand your own knowledge of God’s incredible world and the sweetness of people in other cultures. Here’s a short YouTube of what that beautiful city looks like:

We completed our time with our readers, and one of my readers and friends, Tom, took our whole LST team out to a beautiful restaurant that overlooks the city of Chiang Mai from one of the mountains west of the city. The view was beautiful and food was delicious and we had a wonderful time! Robert and I plan to take Tom out for lunch on Monday, shortly before we leave to return home. Tom’s gesture of appreciation and hospitality was a wonderful blessing and great time for visiting. In addition to our LST team, a judge who is a member of the congregation, also went with us. Judges are highly respected and important people in Thai culture. This was a great way to finish the day and get real taste of Thai culture, food, and friendship.