17th
Thailand - James Yu (6/9/11)
Dear supporters, Here are the complete details about what I will be doing in Bangkok this summer. From June 15th to July 25th, I will be living with a host family in Klong Toei, the largest slum community in the city, where I will be working at Baan Chivit Mai (House of New Life), a ministry that works to keep children out of prostitution and drug trafficking. My work there will be primarily relational and incarnational. I have been placed in Klong Toei to live as the urban poor live, to understand what they go through, and to experience in a very tangible way God’s heart for those who are marginalized and oppressed. This will not be a conventional task-oriented mission trip. I am not going to Thailand to build wells or houses, or distribute little bottles of hand sanitizer. If your conception of a missions trip is task-oriented, then this may bother you. It may seem like I am simply taking your money to go on a personal “poverty tour”. This used to bother me too. But the more I come to understand incarnational ministry (ministering to others by living life with them, just as Jesus ministered to us by dwelling among us), the more I realize that the Church has become comfortable with simply doing things for the poor. In the process, we have started to treat the poor more as projects than as individuals. Having understood this, I find value in relational and incarnational ministry. I am unapologetic about my role in Bangkok this summer, and I am infinitely grateful for the financial support and prayers that you all have provided for me. Please continue to pray for me. Pray that God would protect me and my team from all the possible logistical mishaps that might occur. Pray that I would learn to be selfless and not selfish and that I would be moved to love those I am serving. Finally, pray against spiritual attack from the Evil One, something that many of our modern minds (my own included) find dubious and circumstantial, but which we cannot afford to ignore. Finally, pray that I can live out the Scripture that says: “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 6:25 Blessings, James Yu
