Belated December Newsletter

I started this journey to Thailand with the understanding that I was doing exactly what God was asking of me. When my friends, family, and supporters asked me how long I was going for, I always said that I would be there as long as I was meant to be. I never wanted to be anywhere I wasn't supposed to be. I intended to come alongside dedicated Thai nationals to share my experience and help wherever I could. I've always felt so lucky to be a part of a project that has been a dream for such a long time. The leaders of Global Breakthrough and Overlake Christian Church's Serve the World team have done an excellent job selecting individuals on the Thai team that are capable of making the project soar. In fact, our Thai director has the leadership skills, vision, passion, and experience to make BHC wildly successful. This success is not, and has never been contingent on my presence in Thailand. I've observed how effectively Thai people are able to help their own without the help of a farang (foreigner). My main purpose and desire for this trip was to aid in setting up a microfinance infrastructure that can be self-sustained by the Thai nationals as well as to create a business development project. I can proudly share that the Thai nationals team has plans to sustain both.

The goal all along was to create a system that the Thai people could self-sustain. If anything, my experience in Thailand has taught me how much more equipped Thai people are to help their own people than foreigners. The Thai culture is such an intricate puzzle that is difficult for a westerner to comprehend. Basic interactions are laden with enigmatic social cues that, to a western eye, are easy to miss. Upon this realization, I felt confirmed by our model which is to encourage nationals to run their own projects. They offer an ownership that foreigners can't realize. They are driven by their faith in God, patriotism for their nation, and most importantly, a deep love for their fellow Thai people.

In the same way I've recognized these ideas, I've realized my own responsibility as an American to help my own people. The American culture is in my blood. I understand the sociological norms and I know how to lead and motivate my peers. As many of you know, the problem of human trafficking is alive and well within the land of the free. The culture and context are different, but in the end they are all the same in that innocent and beautiful women are being bought and sold.

With that I would like to ask you for your trust and open-mindedness as I disclose the most recent twist to my adventure. I have decided to stay in Seattle and continue this journey here. So much of my personality is surrounded by my spontaneous nature. I want to be an active participant in a beautiful adventure that impacts many lives. God is asking me to start a new adventure here in my own country; an opportunity which affords me the tools to tackle human trafficking from a new and much needed perspective.

While I thought my move to Thailand was the start of a grand new journey, I now realize it was merely the prologue. My journey begins now, as I take what God placed on my heart in Thailand and integrate it into my journey here at home in Seattle. I have many challenges facing me. For example, I need to find a job that will support me and enable me to remain a dedicated part of the Global Breakthrough team. Your prayers in these needs and your prayers for peace as God guides me on this journey is very much appreciated.

"Sexual Healing"

I've recently found this YouTube video from a local Seattle-ite where he talks about the affects of casual sex on both man and woman.  I've seen how the oversexualization of our culture pressures people to settle for a fake kind of love vs. waiting for the real deal. First of all, I love spoken word so I appreciated this man's words for his craftsmanship, but I love this even more for the raw reality it brings light.  Give it a watch:

Oh the Holidays!

Ohhhh the holidays! Where time moves at WARPED speed and there never seems to be enough hours in the day. Add some crazy jetlag and a wicked cold and each day gets that much shorter. It gets harder to find the quiet time you need: Peaceful time with your Heavenly Father and slowing down to "smell the roses." It's easy for this season to be corrupted into something it was never meant to be. A time of closeness, love, joy, and thankfulness can easily be skewed into greed, discontentment, anger, and dissatisfaction. 

Think about it: This season is all about thanking God for sending his only Son, Jesus, to this earth to save us. What's even more fantastic is that God knew all along what he was doing when He sent His son as a baby born into poverty, laid in a mucky manger, and greeted by barn animals and shepards (who, in those days were crazy loners). He was wrapped in dirty clothes and was completely defenceless. Our glorious savior was placed in the most unlikely of situations so that no one could say, "God just couldn't understand what I'm going through." He knows. He lived it. That is the reason for the season: God so loved us that he gave us his only Son to be the savior of the whole world.

This is the kind of wonder I've been in constantly while in Thailand. Each child in the slums, each prostitute in the bar, each orphan, every human being there (and everywhere) is brilliantly and wonderfully loved by the great Creator of the universe.  There, it seems that the love is so much more tangible because so many have never felt real love before. As soon as you tell them how Jesus loves them, you can see it in their eyes that they have never known that kind of love and care.

I challenge everyone to try to imagine how tangible the Father's love is for His children this season. The same love is available and abundant all year round, but I challenge you to recognize it in THIS season where it's so easy to be distracted by basically everything else.

Here is the online Christmas service from my church (Overlake Christian Church). It's super short and talks a lot on what I have just discussed. Enjoy!


Home for Christmas from Overlake Christian Church on Vimeo.

Give Thanks Everyday! Especially for your Heart!

As some of you may remember, this past summer my dear friend's brother had sever heart failure and had only 10% function at one point in time. Most people don't live below 25% function, so the fact that he survived that time was purely by God's good Grace. He and his family have been through a roller-coaster of a year weighing out all the options ultimately leading to a heart transplant. Unfortunately, some things delayed him from being apart of the transplant list for a bit, but about two or three weeks ago, he got on!

Here is where it gets good: last night he and his family learned that there was a heart for him. A live and beating heart. Of course, we all know that this means that someone of similar build and age had to die for this to be possible. Its a bitter-sweet event.

The transplant went seamlessly last night and the heart began beating almost immediately in his chest. I'm sure someday he will contact the donor to thank the family for the sacrifice of their loved one so that he could live. It's the ultimate sacrifice. This makes me think about a lot of things. Where has this heart been? What has this heart accomplished? Has it loved? Did the previous owner have an appreciation for it beating in his chest like Cody and his family does?

Here is what I want to ask: how much do you appreciate your beating heart, breathing lungs, and thinking brain everyday? The fact that you have use of your hands, feet, arms, legs, and eyes is a blessing. How much do you thank God for your simple existence everyday? We are in a season of "WANT! WANT! WANT!" when it should be about giving to those in need.

I know Thanksgiving is over, but be sure to take some time to say thanks for the little things. Show the people you love you appreciate them. Thank God for every blessing because none of us DESERVE anything but death. God paved the way to life for us by bringing Jesus to earth as a little baby. Give thanks and praise for the good gifts that God loves to give.

I am so thankful these days :)  God is SOOO good!

Feeling SOOO Overwhelmingly Blessed!

I made I home safely to Seattle and was greeted warmly by my dear friend, Raquel (with a Starbucks Pumpkin Spiced latte in hand). One of our greatest friends (shout out to Andrea and Justin) is getting married TODAY so we went to see them on their last night as single people. As we were driving, I reflected on what a blessing it is that God made such a home for me here. For all intensive purposes, I have no family here and the reason I came in the first place four and a half years ago was because God said, "Go."

I moved here knowing no one. I didn't know where God was going to lead me and what the next steps were, but I felt immense peace about simply being here. I didn't know how to be alone and certainly didn't known how to be self-sufficient. I didn't know what God was preparing me for, but I knew I was on my way. When I think about it, moving from San Diego to Seattle was my first real act of complete obedience.

The first two years were a challenge, mainly because I tested my will over God's (trust me, I paid for it dearly). It took me two years before I found friends worth having. It was such a lonely time, but God knew what he was preparing me for, and it was good! This is precisely why that reflection back was so affirming. God has been so faithful to me!

God had made me a home here like nowhere else. It isn't home because I've always been here. It isn't home because I went to college here. It isn't home because I wanted to make it my home apart from God. It is my home because of the profoundly fantastic relationships that God has placed in my life. He has wooed me here with his lush greenery, majestic mountains, beautiful lakes, and a playground of His glorious creation. He has written a love-story here with every glorious mountain peak, quiet stream, peaceful green pasture, majestic creature, and sunset.

Really, it's funny that God has wooed me to this place because before this, I was a Southern California girl through and through. I didn't own close-toed shoes, always had a tan, surfed, skated, and I didn't own a rain coat. I didn't know what an ice scraper was, why someone would need chains for a car, how to dress in layers, or how to drive in the snow (the last part remains debatable). God is hysterical! He took me out of my element to make me into a woman after His own heart... the woman He created me to be.

Really, all of those things aren't what really make this place home for me. It's the wonderful blessing upon the relationships that I have here that are so breathtaking. I have a family here that is carefully crafted out of deep and meaningful relationships. Relationships that are sacrificial and satisfying at the same time. I have a spiritual support system that is so strong in the "most unchurched city in America." My friends think of me and pray for me often. Without these wonderful people, I wouldn't be able to financially be able to go to Thailand. I have a church that believes in living DANGEROUSLY for Christ, loving God, serving His people, and serving His creation with all our hearts and soul. I am SO blessed!

Friends, you have blessed me tremendously. You have been a significant part in God's love story to me, and that is such a beautiful thing. Thank you for loving me like you do. You help me be a better person. I love you with all my heart!

It feels good to be home :)

Calling ALL Men!

Hey MEN! Yes... you! I'm calling out to YOU! I am calling out to you to tell you that YOU were called to GREATNESS! You were designed to protect, provide, defend, and be strong.


One of the things that fascinates me the most about the sex industry is how contradictory it is to what really brings happiness, wholeness, and joy. The sex industry says, "Hey, sex is fun, it feels good, so why not do it? Who cares who you do it with? As long as it's consensual, no harm, no foul." It teaches you that looking at porn is harmless. It's just you in your room watching something on your computer...you know... doing your thing. Here comes the buzz kill: It does do harm and it won't bring your lasting joy.


I'm not even going to talk about this on the woman's (or supply's) side. I want to talk about the demand side: The men.


The men who come to Pattaya to take out a bar girl start to all look the same after a while. They all seem to be in the same latter years of their lives (between 50 and 80 years old). Many of them have been married before, have families, daughters, sons, even grand kids. They often walk around without a shirt on despite their giant pot-bellies and carpet on their chest. In my experience, they have been rude and ungentlemanly (not holding doors, getting up from their seat on the song teaw when an older woman gets on, not making apologies for knocking someone while walking, etc.). They are misfits. They are the kind of men who wouldn't get very far with any other self-respecting woman from their own country. They have been rejected, unloved, and emasculated by life's challenges. They are far from champions.


They come to Pattaya in search of one thing, but really it masquerades as something else. They come for sex, but what they really want is love, affirmation, something REAL. They will, of course, deny all of this saying that they want something easy and uncomplicated, but think about this: What kind of an ego blow is it to have to PAY for sex or a girlfriend? Talk about settling. These guys come to basically settle for something that has the facade of the "real thing" but is so far from it that they have to pay for it to continue.


Now, onto the porn. It's known that many of the women in armature pornographic images and videos are trafficked. They are moved around so fast that no one can tell if something is wrong or not. As spoken about in the video below... well... watch the video:



Jacob's Story from Unearthed on Vimeo.




Here is the point of this all: The demand is the biggest part of the problem. It's time to stop beating around the bush and take some responsibility. Every time you brush off this responsibility, you become less of a man. My blog. My opinion. Man up!! Do something about this. Stop the demand!

I have more to say on this subject so: TO BE CONTINUED...

Breaking the Silence

I am SO sorry for not posting for one month. Everything is good and it's been COMPLETELY eventful. Here is a summary of what has happened:

• My team from Seattle came to give a training in Khorat and in Pattaya
• More of my team came from Seattle to do outreach on the streets of Pattaya for two weeks.
• Many were brought out of the bars and shown the love of Jesus
• Many left the bars permanently and either came into our safe house or were sent home.
• Pattaya Praise happened with an emphasis on the slums of Pattaya
• People were healed and came to Jesus
• Awesome worship teams from Ireland, Australia, and Thailand came to perform.
• Some important steps were made in the business development
• The microfinance project is fit to launch soon

I've been exhausted by nonstop weeks with my team, the excitement of Pattaya Praise, and rounding out some rough edges before I leave this Friday. I'll be coming home for a month during the holidays. Things are good! I'm sorry I haven't been more communicative, but this is what paid the price when going at a break-neck pace.

In short, It's been a good month but MAN am I ready to be home!