Thailand • Muang Khong • May 2016

"Our journey in Thailand is coming to an end but I wanted to share a few thoughts as I am still trying to grasp the greatness that God revealed to us. I look forward to sharing with you all that God has done and wants us to continue to do. God gave us the opportunity to partake in His work. More specifically, God gave us the opportunity to watch Him work through some amazing people. God opened the hearts of so many children that it is still baffling to my simple mind. I just sit hear writing this post with a smile on my face literally in awe and wonder.

We had no expectations coming into this years summer camp, but little did we know that God was going to use this time to declare He is Lord over this region. The results of this trip were a culmination of hard work, dedication, and love. This includes all of the people currently a part of Shepherds Staff and those who have been a part of us from years past. God called us to Thailand with the simple plan in mind to share His love through deeds and relationships. Many times in the past we had doubts that anything we have been doing was effective. We struggled with the strong holds that kept the people, specifically the children, from being able to embrace the love of God. However, God would say to us "stay the course".

The challenges faced in this region of Thailand are not much different from the US. We are working with children in a region where families are torn apart, children orphaned or abandoned, and affection is fleeting. Love can be hard to find and drugs affect many villages. On the face of the children is fear, anger, doubt, depression, anxiety, shame, and suffering. Yet God continues to say "stay the course". Through relationships and faithfulness during our previous trips we have seen the children start to open up to us, and each other, albeit in small steps.

However, this year something amazing happened. The children not only opened up to us from the moment we stepped foot onto the camp, they opened up to God. This is what we have been praying for since our inception. God has used the hands of Sahtit Jahae and PInsorn Thipjorn to transform lives. But God wanted a unified spirit before He was going to show just how powerful He is. The result: children of many ages, 10-18, not only asked Jesus to be there Lord and Savior; they did it publicly and without shame. My first reaction is to say "mission accomplished", but that is the selfishness in me. We didn’t come to Thailand for numbers or to check off the serving box, we came to transform lives. God has reminded me that not only is the mission not accomplished, it has just begun. We have many children who need our love and support in order to help grow their faith during this fragile time. So we are going to “stay the course” with the Spirit of God leading the way. But we also must rejoice for heaven is more crowded today than it was yesterday."

Luke 15:10 “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents”


- Jeff Stander -