Lest anyone think that I only work and never play, just look below at a few pictures from our recent vacation.  Upon returning from Thailand, Dan and I were blessed to take our daughter Brenna and son-in-law Paul for a week long cruise down to the Mexican Rivera.  It was a great week with our kids, catching up, and sight seeing and playing too many games of scrabble to count. (Paul remains the champion, which is quite a feat in the Sandeen household)

I continue to be amazed at the beauty of God’s handiwork in the many places I have traveled.  My favorite on this trip was seeing “Los Arcos.”  This is where the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean meet.  They are separated by a slim strip of land and these arches mark the spot where the two seas collide.  And trust me they really collide.

All good things must come to an end.  However, I came back rested and renewed and ready to move forward in all the things that God has called us to!

Enjoy!

Pastor Julie   

Glad to be together and get away!

The adorable still newlyweds! 

The last day of our trip started out being light.  We had returned from the Village on Sunday evening and were given Monday morning off until 11:30am.  We all went to lunch together then we went to McKean Hospital very close to Zoe Children’s Home. 

We knew prior to going that McKean Hospital is a Leper Colony, housing people who had leprosy. We were told that most of the patients there were Christians. Our role was to simply go and sit and visit with patients there.  I know all of us were a bit hesitant and did not know what to expect, since this was clearly out of our realm of experience let alone our expertise.  We arrived and were given a quick debrief by one of the missionaries and then pared up with a  Zoe Bible student as an interpreter.

We mostly went in groups of two or three.  I ended up being alone with Dakota my interpreter. (Who by the way spoke exceptionally good English) My first visit was with an 80 year old man sitting in a wheel chair.  He had been at McKean for 30 years.  I began to ask him questions about his past, his family, employment, travel etc.  I spent a good ½ hour just asking him questions. I asked him for some wisdom he could share with me, since he is 30 years my senior and I am sure he had some good life experiences that could speak to me.  Sadly, he told me that his life was a waste until he found Christ which was only in the past 10 years and that all of his life prior to coming to McKean, was wasted on partying, going from job to job, never leaving Thailand and not having any family that comes to visit.  I prayed for him prior to moving on to the next person.  I was grateful that my first visit was with a man who was not disfigured in a noticeable way.

From there I moved on to the women’s area and found 2 wonderful ladies sitting out on a picnic bench.  Both had visible signs of leprosy, missing limbs, near deafness, etc. I quickly prayed in my mind and ask God to help me to focus on their faces and their hearts so that I could be a conduit of love and peace to them without focusing on their physical losses.  God met me right in that moment.  I again carried on a good conversation with the help of Dakota.  Nearing the end I asked one of the women how I could pray for her?  She responded by asking me to come inside the dorm room to pray for 2 other friends, who were bed ridden.  I gladly accepted!  What a selfless request on her part.

My last encounter was in a tiny cottage home, with a man who had no hands and no limbs below his knees.  He sat on the floor on a rug watching a Thai TV game show.  We chatted briefly, but long enough to find out his wife had passed away about 9 years ago and he still dreams about her almost nightly.  He often asks God to take him home so he can be with her again.  That pretty much undid me as I prayed for him and went back to meet the rest of our emotionally wiped out team.  Silence or tears was all that occurred in our vans on the drive back to the Zoe Children’s home.  Not many words were spoken as all of us pondered this incredibly impacting opportunity.

The question came quickly to me; “Where in my daily life do I see those who are the same as these, the rejected, the isolated, the marginalized?  Though they may not have leprosy they experience the same.  Am I willing to sit, listen, ask questions and simply love on those who I (God) love regardless of their physical limitation, Am I willing to do that where I live?”  Am I willing to go to those who do not fit into society, or into my idea of who is safe?  They can’t come to me, so will I go?”

Those are not easy questions. Yet I know that the God who loves me, who found me, who would walk for days and weeks, to find me wants to do that through me reaching our community.  Though I don’t have a plan, or know exactly how this will all play out, I do know this; my answer is a solid “YES” here am I send me.

Will you consider joining me?

Posted By Julie Sandeen At 9:06 PM •

 While having our Sunday lunch, prior to leaving the hill tribe village in Thailand, we sat with the Pastor of the village and a man who is 78 years old.  Through one of the Zoe interpreters, PNid, this is the history of the village that we were told.

The 78 year old man 38 years ago went to the elders of the village to make a suggestion.  You see, the village was completely Buddhist at the time, and they were experiencing all sorts of difficulties.  Members of the village were dying for odd reasons, or no apparent reason, they had been praying to the spirits and trying different types of traditional methods to bring health and blessing to their village.  Nothing was working.

The suggestion he made was that since what they were trying was not working, perhaps they should call for a missionary to come to their village and see if they could help them.  The elders agreed and a missionary came.

Today, 38 years later, the entire village all believe in Christ.  The pastor of the village was not even born at the time.  He has been the pastor for the past 10 years.  The village is thriving, all of he people attend church, they work together and recently completed a new church building.  It is beautiful, with wood doors and windows that open out and a ceramic floor. (That is a huge cost in this area)  They have no electricity in the village, but use solar panels with cable to a very large car like battery to provide light in the church.

As I sat and listened to that story, once again, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, all it takes is one person to say yes and see what Father God can do?  I knew at that moment I was being challenged again, to continue to say yes, to be used in any way that I’m needed.

Here was a man that did not know Christ, yet God had a plan for this village.  He worked through a simple man to bring about transformation that is and will continue to affect a generation that has passed, the present generation and the generations to come.

It speaks loudly to me and I trust that this will speak loudly to all of you.  Are we who know Christ willing to be the “ONE” who God will work through to bring about transformation to our families, to our neighbors, to our friends and to our community who are lost and dying without Christ in their lives?  300 people (and more if you count those who have already gone on to be in Heaven) now know Abba, and will spend eternity with Him.

Will you be the “One” who says yes?

Pastor Julie

The Catalyst to change a community!

The Pastor of the Village

Bawan, who is one of the Zoe house parents with his Father and Mother who still live in this village.  Bawan is now impacting the Zoe children who in turn will impact the future generations!

It is one thing to be able to be part of a mission trip, it is another to actually take what you see and do while on the trip and see how it translates to my everyday life.  This is the second time I have been to Thailand, and God has been faithful on both occasions while in the midst of the trip, highlighting and speaking the word and truth to me along the way.

I want to share two experiences with you, using words and pictures to bring to life truths about God and about us.  Today I will just give you one and I’ll share the second one, in another blog, hopefully next week.

On our trip, we took a weekend to go and minister to a Hill tribe Village, 4 hours Northeast of Chiang Mai.  We all loaded up in 4 wheel drive vehicles, mostly 3 to a vehicle to make the journey.  We left the city about 8:30am and finally arrived in the village about 12:30 in the afternoon. 

The trip was adventurous and long.  We drove through cities that might remind you of going to Fresno on highway 99, they were paved and there is a lot of agriculture along the road.  That scene did not last for long.  Soon we found ourselves on dirt roads.  I think we were on dirt roads for nearly 2 ½ of the of the 4 hour journey.  Much like driving to Big Bear or Yosemite, or Sequoia, we found ourselves on very winding roads.  The difference was these were dirt roads, with an unbelievable amount of potholes, rocks, part asphalt or concrete broken pieces.  The road is narrow in parts, allowing only one vehicle to pass at a time.  Often small scooters or small pick up trucks would pull over to allow our caravan to pass first. (They call it village hospitality in Thailand)

After about 2 hours, we would see out the window a village from a distance.  As we went up and down hills, into valleys, and back up to the tree lines I kept thinking to myself, oh, this must be the village coming up that I am looking at, only to find us driving right past it.  We just kept going deeper and deeper into the forest of trees, lakes, streams, and vast open areas of fields growing, rice, or lettuce, or cabbage, or fruit trees.  The scenery was beautiful, lush green, with an occasional hut in the middle of the field, or a wood house with a thatch roof.  Even if you wanted to take a nap, you couldn’t because of the bumpy road or out of fear of missing the view.

Finally we arrived at the village.  The last bit of excitement was crossing over a river (they also have a suspension bridge they use to cross by foot especially when the river rises) in our 4WD vehicles that allowed us to officially enter the village.  We were greeted by a man that is the head of the village and treated immediately to a Thai lunch. 

After getting acclimated and settling in, I began thinking about the drive, with all of the twist and turns, hills, scenery and villages along the way.  I knew I was sharing my testimony in the Sunday morning service and was thinking through what I wanted to share.  My testimony is one of God’s amazing love for me and how He found me.  He loves me so much that he took a sad family situation and turned it around; put me in a set of circumstances that would allow me to find Him.

It was while thinking about the drive that it struck me!  If Jesus was alive today, he would make the journey on foot from Chiang Mai to the village to find this tribe of Karin people because He loves them.  It was 4 hours by vehicle travel, but on foot it would take days, maybe even weeks.  Yet that is exactly what Jesus did.  He went from Village to Village to share the love of the Father with anyone who would listen.  The road was a huge visual for me, about the length and depth of God’s love.  We often equate it to the ocean, when we think about how high and how wide and how deep the love of God is. This time, I saw it on a very long road.  There is NOTHING that can stop Father God, from finding us, he will go to any lengths, be it a road, full of dirt, mud, rocks and potholes or anything else, He would and does make that journey to find us and to love on us. 

For this village, Father God d

I wish you all could be here with the team in Thailand, so you could experience all that we are.

Our Sanctuary team is doing an outstanding job, interacting with the kids at Zoe Children's Home.  We have been teaching bible stories, doing crafts and games and sharing with the kids about other nations, that still need Jesus.  We have had a blast with all of the Zoe kids along with 18 other kids that come in the afternoon from another local Children's Home.

Yesterday we were able to take the Zoe kids on a field trip the a local Elephant Camp, which most had never been to before.  It was shear joy watching their faces as we all saw what the elephants can do when they are trained.  To cap it off, we got to ride with one or two kids on the elephants. 

I'm putting up some pictures for you to see.  It's not the same as being here, but hopefully it will help to share in our experience!

Aree, an 18 year old Ministry Student who did our interpetation for the preschool through second grade kids at camp.  She is a full of life and loves to be tickled!

Caroline with one of the Zoe girls!

Jake sharing his recent picture with one of the boys!  They love digital camera's not just seeing themselves, but taking over as photographers.

A young baby elephant sat long enough for us to pose for a great shot.  This is me with Bun, who I got to ride the elephant with  and watch a show!

Jonathan, looking rather safari-ish with his two boys on an elephant!

We are leaving for the Hill Tribe Village on Saturday AM.  I will try to post some pictures on Monday Morning when we get back!

Enjoy, pray for us and pray for Zoe, that God will open more doors to them for a permanent place to live and for more lives to be reached to share the gospel!

Pastor Julie