In 8 hours Aaron A. and I will be boarding a plane for the first leg of our journey back to India to join up with the Massah Mobile team.   We will be focusing our time on debriefing the project, and on covering the topics necessary for reentry.   From the logistical side of things Massah certainly has been a challenge, and I appreciate the chance to be with the team once more, to talk about both the challenges and the successes that Massah has seen over the past several months.   Please keep us in your prayers as we travel, rendezvous with the team, and lead the debrief.   Thanks for all your support and prayers!

Aaron T.

here we are back in india! it took us a couple of days to get used to it again, after being in such amazing tropical areas in thailand. but we’re definitely back in the game, and ready to push through till the end. it’s one day at a time, and we continue to pray for guidance and God’s grace in using us exactly how He desires.

yesterday we kicked it old school a little bit! we split up into three pairs, and hung out in hot-spots for israelis. this is how we started our massah ministry, and it seems that it’s going to be a great way to finish it as well.

traveling for so long has certainly brought a lot of strain–emotionally, physically, and spiritually. and it’s more and more forced us to solely rely on God’s strength. and that was definitely my experience yesterday. God gave me the mindset of just letting go and doing whatever i could to tell someone about Him.

sterling and i went to a german bakery down the road, and placed ourselves a table away from a couple of israeli girls. after just a few minutes, we were really disappointed when a guy sat at the table between ours and that one. as we sat there, we prayed that we would be able to talk to the girls before they left. i really felt God there with us, and i felt that He wanted something to happen.

as i waited, i thought of a new strategy that i was excited to try out. we got out our b’rit chadashah (hebrew new testament), and i was flipping through it, trying to read some here and there.

the guy at the table next to us got up to go, and then the two israeli girls asked for their check. i started to get a little nervous, thinking maybe we wouldn’t get the chance to talk after all. i realized that if i didn’t make it happen, it wouldn’t! so i took my opportunity, and used my slightly comical new strategy: i went over with my new testament, and asked them what one of the words meant. they started explaining it to me, and then the girl holding the new testament proceeded to look at the cover to see what book it was! after a look of surprise, she told her friend in hebrew that it was a new testament! i just smiled i said yea, i’m a jewish believer in Jesus. i believe He is the messiah!

the three of us had a great conversation, all about what it meant for me to believe in Jesus, and about what they believe about the messiah. i asked one of the girls if she had ever read the new testament before, and she said no but that she was interested in reading it sometime. when i told her she could have mine, she was very excited and gladly accepted it!

i had already put my name and email address in the inside cover of the new testament i gave her, and i asked for both of their names and emails so we could keep in touch. i am praying that i will be able to see them again, and possibly even get the chance to pray with them, or discuss something that they’ve read.

please be praying also. their names are tamar and stav (tamar is the one who took the new testament)

God is good, and He makes things happen that are in His perfect plans. yesterday i had very low energy, but that didn’t matter. He transformed my mind, and gave me the boldness and strength to be able to go over and share His amazing gift.

Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

First of all I just want to give a shoutout to everyone who was at the west coast ingathering and express how great it was to be able to skype with you and hear your laughter and excitement. It was a great encouragement and we all felt very loved.

Anyway, I’d like to fill you in on a rather comedic experience we had just yesterday, known as a “Visa Run”.

In Thailand, their government gives you an automatic 30 day visa for flying into the country. Once that time has run out, it is a very common practice among travelers to take a trip across the border of a neighboring country… and then literally walk right back over the border in order to extend your visa an extra 15 days. We returned from our visa run to Malaysia last night, TOTALLY exhausted.

We took an overnight boat to the mainland, followed by a 4 hour bus ride to the Malaysian border, where we literally walked, out of Thailand, into Malaysia, and back into Thailand (I stopped for a few seconds just to take in some Malaysian air). It seemed a bit trivial, but we do get another 15 days in Thailand so I’m not complaining. Also, God evidentally had another purpose for us going on this particular visa run.

We were accompanied most of the trip by a couple from New Zealand who mostly kept to themselves. They sat with me in the back for the van rides, and noticed that I was reading “The Weight of Glory, and other addresses” by C.S. Lewis. On the boat ride back to the island we’re staying on, Jyoti, the woman from New Zealand approached me and asked to buy the book from me if I finished it during the ride. I said “of course”, and noticing what could be a great opportunity, I got right down to reading the rest of the book. After a while I had finished and went over to where Jyoti, her husband Mike and a few of their friends were hanging out. I gave her the book and told her she didn’t have to pay me, and asked what she believed about God. She explained her very “spiritual” beliefs about God and the rest of the world. I told her that she’d probably disagree quite a bit with this particular C.S. Lewis book due to the strong biblical basis for all of the arguments he presents in his speeches. I bookmarked one of the more apologetic essays and said she might be better off starting there. That got us talking quite a bit about human nature and sin and God’s plan of redemption, and she said she’d be open to corresponding about the book as she read it. I wrote down my information in the book and she wrote hers in my travel journal, along with a very nice message. During the rest of the boat trip I got the chance to talk a bit with Jyoti’s other friends, and her husband, who were delightful people. This was a great encouragement when I realized that it was God’s plan for me to run into Jyoti and her friends.

Please pray that Jyoti encounters God’s truth in reading the book, and would be open to talking about it with me. Jyoti’s background is highly spiritually confused, growing up with her parents in ashrams in Dubai (where she acquired her name), and living with her not-so-devout Catholic grandmother for a while after her parents separated. Please pray that God would open her eyes, as I believe He is pursuing her heart.

I’m glad I could share this with you all! Please know that I love you very much and I’m incredibly appreciative of your continued prayers and support.

love,isaac

Description: Update and overview!

So we are on an island in the south of Thailand, and have been for a few days now.  This is completely new and different. The feeling of the area we are in is different from that of India: Chill/thoughtful; different from Nepal: adventurous/sporadic; different from Bangkok: Distracted/traveler-central; and different somewhat from Laos: lazy/pleasure-seeking. Although I think Laos is the closest.  We are in the party zone. People attend massive parties every night, late into the night. The four of us guys attended the years more anticipated beach-front party, ‘The Full Moon Festival’, on the 2nd as an evangelistic experiment much like a ‘viability sortie’.  Rather than J4J t-shirts, our “colors” were made up of neon colored body-paint that said messianic things like, Yeshua ha’maschiac, Yeshua Ch’ai, and Yeshu=Yeshua=Yeshuah.  It was and interesting experiment.  Most people were not interested, much to distracted by their intoxication levels, but some of us had a few conversations with interested Israelis.

What I want to share with you is something I wrote in my journal today, kind of a poetic reflection of the experience. Here you go…

I stepped out with hesitation into the sandy water that was far too close to the entrance of the beach.  Nothing had changed in the few hours since I had been here last, hoping that the tide would lower and  waters subside from their seemingly palpable irritation.  Almost as if trying to keep something out –away, in defense of itself.  Somehow it seemed obvious rather than silly to attribute human characteristics to the harsh ocean that I had stepped, calf-deep, into.

It was eerie how dis-unified the scene was before me.  Possibly alarming, but more unsettling to experience the contrast.  The stark contrast between the breathtaking landscape existing in a frenzied blur of jade, aqua, cerulean, taupe, and variety of leafy greens shining under and irrepressible sun; with the crashing rumble of the lathering shore breaking, and the warm howling of a pent-up wind.  Drift wood and garbage circled my ankles as the water sucked back to its source in its unending rhythm.  I walked deeper, avoiding a long piece of metal roofing that had been taken captive, probably at so0me point during the night’s downpour.

People came from all over the world to stand here, with expectations of ease and tranquility, imagining themselves blanketed by the unhindered rays of warmth as well as the peaceful chimes of the soothing call of the sea.  THERE WAS NO PEACE HERE.  Not anymore.  Something had been distorted in only a matter of days; barely plural.  ‘Something like punishment’ , I thought instinctively, but I shied away from that sort of thinking… naturally.  It wasn’t like me to see the world through superstitious eyes –at least not with a great amout of self-denial.  But it was so connectible, and my true tenancy towards symbolism swallowed my efforts to not think of God in his punishing role.  It was NOT like me to think of God that way: Heartless. Callous. Merciless.  I was appalled by my thoughts immediately, knowing uncertainly that there is always a balance.  I took it back, for my own comfort.

Shattered and fanged beer bottles rolled up and down the shore with the waves across the almost white sand.  There were less littered in the water now then there had been on the beach two nights ago, but I couldn’t be sure.  They were everywhere, abandoned; and staunch sobering proof of what went on here.  I thought back to all I had seen on this beach, remembering the orgy of tanned, muscled, beautiful bodies pulsing to the beat of an overwhelming bass-noise that deafened the sound of all the alien accents of the attendees.  Alcohol-soaked, eyes glued to the artificially brightened sky that exploded with fireworks.  Everyone was here to not remember much in the days to come.  That is except for us, and so I felt like an intruder, out of place and vulnerable; which I decided was okay.

Was the land purging itself?  Purifying the area swiftly and powerfully…?  Whether or not the beach was truly personified and attempting to redeem its territory in the mystical way that I fantasized –There was no doubt that there was a shift, and the weather was unruly.  I couldn’t help but decide, against my better knowledge, that it was fighting back.  The thought had crossed my mind that night even, as I lied on the sand , eyes closed with the ringing of partying in my ears.  sounds that I was not accustomed to.  As I lay there, faking my comfort in being here, aware of bodies in the dark, some passed out, some on the verge of climax; the rain began.

For two days previous the sun had shown in perfect glory upon the calm tropic.  And now, as the full moon highlighted this human experience of shallow pleasure and independence, the skies flooded down upon the Rites. I had thought it then: ‘how appropriate?, and I went back to my room and fell asleep to the echoes of the lustfully drunk celebration muffled by the piercing wind outside my window.  Now, I surveyed the damage trying to make some symbolic conclusion to amend my discomfort at the sight.  Absorbing the wreckage, the balance I had known existed surfaced to my awareness like a life-raft…

‘God is loving, and God is jealous.’

So once again it’s been kind of a while since I’ve posted, so I’ll just give you the most recent happenings:

We took a train to Laos a few days ago to seek out the traveler scene there and see how the ministry dynamic could go in the popular areas. We cut our time very short there, only to about 2 days, because apparently it is not the season for Laos yet. We ended up talking to two Israeli girls and found a handful of Europeans, but that was it. The boys took the opportunity to go tubing in the pretty dirty river there, and then we left soon after on an overnight train back to Bangkok.

We are leaving tonight on an overnight bus to the south of Thailand, where we are planning to spend a couple weeks at the beaches (it is definitely the season for that area right now). There is a Full Moon party that we are planning to be present for to see what kind of interactions we can have there with people- both inside and on the outskirts of the happenings. So, be praying for us there for the next few weeks!

Even though the past few days have been pretty slow as far as ministry and we have mostly been traveling back and forth on the Thailand/Laos border, God has been using this time to teach me a lot about living in freedom in my relationships with other people and with him. He is showing me how approval-based I am in my nature, and that because he is my father, I am free to be myself without judgment. How cool is that?!

So, we have almost two more months before returning home December 16th, but in that time we are moving around to three different Thai islands and also returning to India to spend time with Israeli travelers who frequent the beaches there. I have a feeling time is going to fly by pretty quickly. Thank you for all your prayers and support of us. We were just talking the other night about how we can see visible changes of growth in each one of us and in our relationships with each other. That really has been the faithfulness of God to continue working on us individually and as a group. That thought brings so much joy and I really am just so thankful for his constant faithfulness. He’s always here, and always on our side.

Thinking of you guys, pretty much all the time. Much love!

Description: Isaac speaks on Hebrews 4

Description: We found the chabad house.

this is something i wrote down in worship last week that i wanted to share with you:

Lord, it’s so good to just be still in You. to have peace. to be renewed. to not worry. to be hopeful. to be content in Your love. Your LOVE. Your love is perfect. it is full. complete, not lacking. with You, with Your love, i am not lacking anything. i am still in Your love.

Lord, it’s so true. i want to stay in Your presence all day. Your peace in unlike anything else. it’s soft. i feel comfortable in Your presence. Your love. Your arms. it doesn’t even make sense. but it’s amazing.

i love you all. thank you for keeping us in prayer.

We landed yesterday afternoon and made our way to the high-traffic traveler-scene on the outskirts of the city.  Bangkok is very different than anywhere we have made ministry efforts.  There are many Israelis where we are, and many signs on the street that I write to you from are in Hebrew.  What is difficult, we are finding in the day that we have spent so far, is that Bangkok is very very westernized and very modern; and what we have observed is that people in this traveler-scene are  much less friendly,  much more like that of city-strangers in America (which is very different from the chill, relaxed, friendly culture of the India traveling scene). So we must adapt to that difference and prod where is most effective.

Please pray that God gives us discernment in our new environment.

Also, the spiritual climate here in Bangkok is very dark. 

Pray protection over us and wisdom in dealing with situations that arrive as a reaction to realities that we cannot see.

much love

Remy