Malawi

In case you have ever wondered if a life following God would be boring, take it from be, it's everything but boring. Rather, it's a wonderful, exciting adventure!!!

I am still in Thailand.  I came here 4 weeks ago with a Tattered Tiaras leadership team and remained here after the team left to stay with my husband  who is completing an internship with long term Bangkok missionary, Peter DeWit. It has been an incredible month learning God's heart for Bangkok,  doing life in community with their church NewSong, Teaching English at a local School, and following Peter and his wife, Pat, as they serve selflessly in their local community. I could go on forever about the lessons we have learned, and maybe one day i will, but right now i want to talk to you about the next adventure God has for me. 

In only two weeks i am scheduled to leave Toronto, ON, to make my way to Malawi, Africa. Tattered Tiaras will be taking another team of girls, this time ranging from 13-22  in age, to the Village of Hope. The Village of Hope is an orphanage for at risk children and is located in 5 countries throughout Africa, including Malawi. The VOH works to "bring lasting hope to children at risk so they can embrace adulthood as independent and contributing members of society"(VOH webpage). The VOH in Malawi provides proper nutrition, education, healthcare and shelter to over 70 children who would otherwise have little to no future.

We will be working with missionaries Connie and Dave Buzikievich who are the National Directors of the Village of Hope. The focus of the trip will working in the city of Lilongwe and surrounding villages with children and mothers. Malawi will give the team members an opportunity to see a part of the world they may have never had the opportunity to see.  However, this trip will not be sightseeing. We want the girls on the team to understand that each one of them, youngest to oldest, has the potential to make an difference in their own world, and the world around them. We want them to learn that it doesn't take much to change the life of one person, not only in a foreign country, but in their own as well. The girls will teach children’s programs, play with children and assist families with daily activities.  I will be the assistant leader on the team along side the founder and director of Tattered Tiaras, Kim Moran. I will be "in training" during this trip as I anticipate leading other teams (possibly by myself) in the following years.  (Learn more about Tattered Tiaras!)

Matt and I firmly believe that this is the next step in God's plan for my life and are so excited to see what he has in store. I am still quite short in funding for this trip however and my non-refundable plane ticket has already been purchased. :) I strongly believe that God does not call us to something that He will not make the provisions for, and I also know that He uses other people to provide. However He chooses to provide this money, I just ask that you would be open to hearing from Him if you are to support me in this. If you would like to donate, you will find a secure PayPal donation button just up a little bit and to your right where you can use any method of payment. Please be assured that 100% of all donations go directly into the Malawi fund. It is no small amount that we are believing in God for, but I know that nothing is too great for my God. 

If you are unable to support me financially, I equally need people praying for myself and the team that we would have safe travels, for health, good and effective teamwork, courage and boldness and of course, finances. 


If you would like to stay updated while I am in Malawi, please continue to check the Tattered Tiaras Blog for daily updates from the team.

If you have just stumbled across our blog for the first time, please join our e-mail list (to the right) to ensure you don't miss an update!  More reflections from Thailand coming soon! 

VOH Malawi

Dear Diary,

I never kept a diary.

I tried. Really, really hard.

But there was always that one day. That one day that was so eventful, so full of stories, that at the end of it, I was just too tired to re-live it all in my diary. 


I'll do it tomorrow I promised myself. 


Two weeks later... it all pilled up and there was simply to much to write. That was the end of my diary. 


That's my excuse for not blogging in the past week. How do you re-cap two weeks of awesome-ness into a blog that doesn't tire you to read and me to write? I didn't know, ( and still don't) so, naturally, I put it off. 


But it wont be the end of my blog!  


To and a half weeks ago I embarked on a Journey to Bangkok with 5 other girls. To out pleasant surprise, our flight was not nearly as unfortunate as Matt's was. While there were no TV's, we had great  air conditioning, and most of us either happily read or slept the whole way. There was no circling of Bangkok before landing, no lost luggage and we actually arrived a little early. 


We stayed in a nice, little and very Thai hotel. We were primarily thankful for the air conditioning and the free breakfast!! 


Pat DeWit, our contact and leader for the next 10 days, had our days all planned out. Upon arrival we were given our schedule which included everything from early morning prayer walks through the city, lunches and dinners with many local business owners, walks through the very rich and very poor parts of the city to late nights experiencing Thai  night life. 


Pat's passion is that we would leave with a heart for Bangkok. Mission accomplished! Everything we did was driven with a purpose that we would experience a different aspect of Bangkok. Not as tourists, but as the locals would. 


I'd like to introduce you to 4 people I met along the way that have changed my life. 


On our first day we went into China Town with a lady named Dao (Daow). She is a very small lady, but WOW! she is such a power house! She has an amazing ministry with the girls who are working on the streets as prostitutes. To be honest, when we first started walking around, I didn't notice any girls that I thought would be working the streets. My eyes drifted only to corners and searching out women with no clothes on. There were none. Then Dao told us that most of the prostitutes will look like very normal girls sitting or standing around holding a purse. It's often easy to mistake them because they look like they are just waiting for a friend. Then suddenly my eyes started noticing a lot more girls. I was a little shocked. But what stuck me more than the number of girls, was how Dao interacted with them. She knew them. She cared for them. She looked deep into their eyes and spoke truth into their hearts. It was chilling to see her boldness and love with these girls. We asked one girl why she is working on the street even though she didn't want to be there. "I have a child to feed", she replied. It dawned on me that while some women choose it because they love it, others don't have a choice. Desperate. 

The team and Dao

Dao and a lady we met who makes pillowcases

Another day, we ate lunch with a man named Alex who owns his own Vietnamese restaurant. We went to one of the two locations he owns located in the food court of a university. Most of us were just happy to be there for the great food, but then he shared his heart with us. As it turns out, Alex used to own a huge hotel along the coast of Thailand. Not long before opening day in 2004, he was called inland to a meeting. While he was was away from his hotel, the Tsunami hit the coast of Thailand and took with it everything he had, except his life. He ended up marrying the woman that called him for a meeting. He believes she saved his life. Together they opened the restaurant and are doing very well with it. The beautiful thing about this couple is that, they choose to only hire employees who cannot find work anywhere else. Sometimes even at a risk to himself. He'll even hire refugees and former prostitutes wanting a new start at life. It is very important to Alex and his wife that their employees are paid well. So much so that they take less profit for themselves so they have more to give. Selfless.

First Time trying Vietnamese Food!

Alex and his Wife

  One day after church we went to an event called Big Bite. It was an event put on by a man name Dwight where many different local food vendors (including Alex) came and set up their booths and sold their food! However, they gave all the proceeds to help support the refugees who have fled to Thailand from Vietnam, Cambodia, Burma ect. In the previous blog, Matt talked about our experience meeting with one of these families. Dwight works tirelessly with the refugees in Thailand to ensure they have a safe place to live, food to eat and clothes to wear. Compassionate.

Tim owns an organic produce store. Handed down for generations, Adam's Organics has been in his family for years. They work to provide healthy, fresh, organic produce and supply it to many of the local grocery stores and markets. He does very well for himself. But he is not simply concerned with selling a good, quality product. They have worked very hard to own the farms where the produce is grown and ensure the workers are paid more than fair. He also opens up the space in front of his store and gives it to a Christian coffee stand that gives it's proceeds to the refugees. Adam's Organic's is located in a bit of a sketchier part of town with little Christian influence; Tim hopes their presence will be a light in a dark world. We left with bags full of free produce for the refugee family. Loving.

The Team and Tim and one of his employees.

Coffee Shop outside Adam's Organic. 

I could tell you about many other experiences, both fun and hard, and many other people, but these 4 have really taught me something special and life changing. 


Dao, Alex, Dwight, Tim are all changing lives, doing the Lord's work, furthering His Kingdom. Neither one is in full time ministry. Neither one is a missionary who moved here with a purpose to start a ministry. In fact, they all have full time jobs and a locals in Bangkok. They taught me that we dont have to be in "full time ministry"  to serve God. Somehow, somewhere along the way, I got that idea in my head. In order for me to serve God with all my life, I need to be working in a church or move away as a missionary. Serving God is not a vocation, or a trade. You can't go to school to learn how. It's a life style. Its how you choose to do business. It's the relationships you choose to form. It's the poor and the broken that you give food and shelter to. 


 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,  I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Matthew 25:34-40

"Every time we complain we advertise our sin of entitlement."- Patricia Dewit

Every missions trip should include a slap in the face that brings you back down to earth and gives you a glimpse into how blessed you are, and how much God has provided for you.

On Monday July 16, the Tattered Tiaras team and myself experienced that sudden awakening to reality.  We visited a house full of North Vietnamese refugees, from the Mong hill tribe. We arrived at the house, and saw a small house tucked away at the end of a long driveway. There were little children outside playing. It seemed like a relatively normal place. But one could not know the stories of pain and unendurable suffering that lay inside the hearts of the people residing there.

(It's possible that I may have gotten my numbers wrong, and if so i will correct them upon learning more, but I believe there are 9 children in the house, and between 6-8 adults, mostly women.)

We had picked up some groceries for the people there, and proceeded inside to greet the people there. Immediately upon entering the house, I looked to my right and there was a man lying on the floor, eyes open, staring blankly at the ceiling. A little shaken, I proceeded upstairs to sit with the women of the house and share a little about each other. The members of the team handed over the groceries, and we shared our names and where we come from. All the while the little children are poking around curiously at the bags of groceries.

One mother began to share her story of how she came to be in Thailand.

This is her story.

Upon becoming a believer of Jesus Christ, the Vietnamese government, a communist government,  began cracking down hard on the followers of the Christian faith. They began threatening the people, and setting traps for them. they raided their church gathering with a pesticide that induced unconsciousness. They dug a pit outside the building where they gathered, and planted sharpened stakes at the bottom, in the hopes that when they exited the building, they would fall to their deaths. They attempted to force the believers to recant their faith by beating them, forcing them to drink animal blood, threatening imprisonment, and even threatening death. Her husband was arrested once, and released, told to never believe in Jesus again. He received warning that the police were coming to get him again, and so he fled into the jungle behind his house. when the coast was clear he came and collected his family, and fled Vietnam into the neighboring country of Laos. However, the Vietnamese police pursued them all the way into Laos and they were encountering trouble from the local police, due to the fact that Laos is also a communist country. Therefore, they were forced to flee into Thailand. it was here that her husband was arrested and thrown into immigration prison. He has no hope of getting out until the vietnamese government recognizes him as vietnamese, or the Thai government grants him access, both of which are extremely unlikely. it costs 25,000 baht, or around 850 dollars to bail him out. However, even if he is bailed out, he could be tossed back in the day after. These refugees live in constant fear, when their supposed crime is believing in the God of the bible.

(We heard two stories, and it is possible some of the details have been crossed over, but they were both from the Mong hill tribe, and so both endured similar persecution. However, if I receive more clarification, I shall make the corrections.)

There was a guitar sitting in the corner, and I tuned it up and worshipped in a circle of people made up of those who have seen little to no persecution, and those who have seen the depths of human depravity. Singing "Follow You" by Leeland in that group was something I will never forget. Although we speak different languages, God speaks through music in a unique way.

I discovered that the man lying on the floor downstairs was a pastor, who was similarly persecuted, and forced into a hard labor camp. the hard labor took an extreme toll on his body. His kidneys are failing, and so he lies in agony on a daily basis.

As we sat with him, I couldn't help but think hard and deep about my brother, who is a doctor, and what he could do for these people. to see this man suffering so much after all he has endured, is something that I am quite confident would stir you, my brother, to tears. You are often on my mind as I wander the streets of Bangkok, seeing medical need all around me, and feeling helpless to do anything. You, however, have pursued a narrow path that enables you to do something. You weigh heavily on my mind these days.

Upon talking to him, we discovered that his father was the first Christian in his village, a fact that this pastor is quite proud of. He asked us to pray for him, and so we all bent the knee and approached the throne of grace, asking for this mans deliverance. there was not a dry eye in the place as God's presence filled that room. I sang over him with no shame or trepidation. God has given me a boldness here in Thailand that I haven't experienced before.

The impact of this day is one that will not be forgotten. To meet such heroes of the faith, people who have fought the good fight and kept the faith, is not something one simply forgets. There are people here in Thailand who are fighting for the release of the man who sits in prison, appealing to U.S. senators. I will hopefully returning to visit these refugees before I leave, as they want me to teach them some guitar.

I am hard put to truly put into words all of the thoughts and feelings that raced through my heart as I sat with these people.

Looking at my wife, and realizing how much I take her for granted was a prevalent thought as I listened the her story of her husband.

Looking at my life, and realizing how pitiful my own "problems" are.

Hearing these women sing "great is thy faithfulness", and recognizing their sacrifice of worship to be so much sweeter in the ears of God than even the loudest band at the biggest conference with the biggest crowd.

but perhaps most of all, hearing Pat's thought from the first time she walked away from that refugee house.

"Every time we complain we advertise our sin of entitlement."- Patricia Dewit

 HI everyone!
I am heading off to Udorn this weekend to help Peter preach and to lead worship for a couple of days! some women from Laos are coming across the border and into Thailand to have a bit of a retreat. Laos is a communist country, so it is quite the opportunity for them to come to a retreat and be able to express their faith. I will be preaching about servanthood, and I will be leading some worship! I have to do a song in Thai, and I am really excited! That's something I've never done! But singing in Thai really rolls off my tongue easily, so I enjoy it! So look forward to some pictures from that!

But before I left, i figured some people would be interested to know a little bit about where I am staying! I am staying with full time missionaries, Peter and Patricia Dewit, who have been here for quite a number of years! this is home for them now! And they have opened up their home very graciously to me, and have just been so great to be around! I am staying in their attic, which is air conditioned! yay! makes sleeping no problem!!

I have been trying to post some pictures but the internet is so slow right now for some reason that i can't! But I will as soon as I can!

See you soon,
Matt

So, I'm going to Thailand tomorrow. It still hasn't sunk in, as far as I'm concerned... I'm just hangin out with some girls in a hotel room. I am currently in Vancouver in a hotel right next to the airport. We are here for team training, tonight we are just going to spend some time getting to know each other and do a little bit of team training. I'm really excited for all the girls to get here and have the whole team together, it's been a long time coming. To tomorrow afternoon we fly out. I must say, after hearing about Matt's eerience, my excitement for traveling has kind of been deflated. I am, however, prepared! I got my books, a sudoku game book, a full iPod of music, my neck pillow and a whole lot of gravol. We will be arriving in Thailand at 12:20 am Wednesday morning, which will be around 10:30 am on Tuesday in BC. So I'm totally gonna miss out on Tuesday. Let's hope it wasn't supposed to be an awesome day for me. For the next two weeks while I am on the tattered tiara program, I will not be online. I want to make sure that I am focused on what it ahead of me rather then " when can I get to my computer". But, you won't be left out in the cold. Visit the tattered tiaras website and Kim, the team leader, will be doing her best to update the tattered tiaras blog as often as possible. That will fill you in on all out adventures. Visit www.tatteredtiars.com. Please keep the team in your thoughts and prayers. And few blogs down I posted a little flyer of our team with the schedule so you have an idea of what we're doing each day. Talk To you soon!!!! Much love, Nicole!

I never thought I would be so relieved to see my own name.

Leaving Nikki at the airport was harder than I let on.  I hate goodbyes, and saying goodbye to my wife was not something I relished remotely. Watching her disappear into the crowd, back into normal life, wasn’t easy. But, as lines do, I moved forward.

I remember thinking, about 15 minutes before boarding my first plane to Shanghai, that I should go and release my bladder. But, I didn’t want to miss my first flight either, and who knows what kind of nasty surprises could happen in the bathroom? So I held it. Which resulted in gut-wrenching agony for the first 45 minutes of the flight. The first 6 hours dragged on at a never-ending pace. There were no outlets, no TV’s, and a ton of Asian people, of which I am quite confident none of them spoke English. I didn’t want to use my laptop, because I wanted to save those precious few hours for when I really needed something to distract me. I tried reading, but to avail, as there was no air conditioning in the cabin, which meant I was sweating from head to toe, and couldn’t concentrate on anything other than keeping mu body temperature as low as humanly possible. The second 6 hours passed a little more smoothly. I’d like to be able to credit it to something other than drugs, but, sadly, I cannot. Two gravol’s in my stomach, and I passed out for three hours. Blissful sleep. But then, I awoke, as we often do, but not always, and wasted away the next three hours in anxious worrying. For you see, this is my first time overseas, my first time on an airplane for a trip longer than 4 hours. I knew that the arrival was coming up, and I had no idea what I was going to do. Apparently it is cheaper to book two different flights, with two different carriers, in two different terminals. So I had to get off my plane, go through Chinese customs, get my luggage, check in again, and then board. But once I had miraculously found my way through all that, they told me I had to switch terminals. Sooooo, I hoofed it to the other terminal, 15 long minutes away. Once there, I checked in, gave them my stuff, and went to find my gate. Two hour lay-over’s are a joke.

The second flight was slightly more enjoyable, as I dozed for half of it. The second half was spent wondering if the next leg would go smoothly. It did not. First off, my plane circled Bangkok for an hour, and so we arrived an hour late. Go figure. It’s a weird thing that circling your destination will make you late. Regardless, I got off, and then proceeded to exchange all my money, and go through Thai customs. There were about 20 arrival desks, where you could fill out your arrival and departure card, and not one of them had any cards to fill out. However, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a little woman peeking out at me from underneath a blanket, behind what looked remarkably like a desk. I practically pounced on the woman, and discovered there was another one underneath with her. These were the customs guards, sleeping on the job, not passing out arrival cards. I tried my best to get arrival cards into the hands of the people on my plane. They should have given me a name tag. Anywho, the line up was long, and I was already an hour late, so I feared my driver wouldn’t be there anymore. When I got up to the desk for customs, the guard wanted to know where I was staying while I was here. I didn’t know Peter’s address, so I said I didn’t know. So he rejected me, and sent me back the way I came. My phone, up to this point hasn’t been working in this part of the world, and I couldn’t find a payphone. So, naturally, I saw a discarded arrival card that said “Princeton hotel” on it, and I figured if someone else can stay there, so can I. So, I put that down, and the same guard let me through. I grabbed my bag, and took off. I needed to now find my driver.

I followed Peter’s instruction as best I could, and I couldn’t find my driver. I came to a fork in the road, and decided I should probably just try and use a payphone. So I finally found one that took visa, and as I was dialing the number of my driver, my cell died, taking with it the only access I had to those numbers. So I grabbed my carry-on bag, and sprinted up the stairs where the city was. Then I realized I had left my luggage downstairs next to the phone. Sooooo I sprinted back down to the pay phone where God must have stood guard over it, because it was still there.  Then I decided to go that way. And lo and behold, my driver was there.

And hence, you now understand why I have never been so relieved to see my own name.

God, you are stretching me in ways I don’t want to be stretched. But you are my strength, my fortress. I will reside in you. Give me the patience to walk through the streets of Bangkok and see what you see, and feel what you feel. Please keep my heart receptive to what you want to teach me, and what this city has to teach me.

Love you,

Matt

I miss him already...

Well... he's off!

You know, I think you really realize how much you love a person when you have to say good bye at an airport...

lets just say...I really love him.

Fine.. yes! I cried! I know I know, I'll see him like, next week. But to be fair, this is the longest we've been apart from each other and there's just something about watching a person disappear through those guard protected frosted pane glass doors that keep the 'unqualified' out at all cost.

It just seems so... final.

But thankfully, I know it's not. I should see him sometime towards the end of next week. however, my schedule is really full, so it is possible, though unlikely, that I wont see him until July 20th. But I don't want to talk about that.

Anyways, the time difference to Thailand is 14 hours from BC, 11 hours from Ontario and  8 1/2 hours from Newfoundland.

After a stop over in Shanghai, he will be landing in Thailand at 12:20am on Friday, July 6th (Thailand time). Needless to say he'll be pretty messed up. He'll be arriving at 12:20 am on Friday, but it'll feel like 10:20 am on Thursday!

Best part is... I get to do it all on Monday! woo!

I actually am excited, I love flying and I get to go with an awesome group of girls. But it's a long haul.

Please pray that jet-lag doesn't mess us up too bad and that we adjust smoothly.

Please also pray for us financially as it looks like we still need about another $250 for my Thailand trip, There are always unforeseen costs, not to mention my whole Malawi trip. But the Lord is my strength and my provision and I am learning to rely and trust in Him!

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"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, 

by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, 

present your requests to God."Phil 4:6

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and 

lean not on your own understanding; 

in all your ways acknowledge him, 

and he will make your paths straight." Prov. 3:5-6

Thanks for your continued prayer and support!

Ps.

Check out the Tattered Tiaras Thailand Team (that's a lot of T's!)

Click Here!

Our First Anniversary

Well, yesterday marked one year of Marriage!! It was such a wonderful year, full of laughter, challenge, love and many many memories.

We thought we'd share with you some of our most memorable moments in the last year:

1. We must start out with the wedding day. if you were able to share in the day with us, you know it was a beautiful day ( not talking about the weather of course!). I'm pretty sure it was the best day of our lives thus far!

2. One thing we will never forget is the wedding night. WAIT! i'm not talking about that!  I (Nicole), in the efforts of being funny, kicked my shoes off and one flew across the room and hit Matt... exactly where you don't want to hit a guy. Oops!

3. Honeymoon. Have you heard about that yet? If not, to make a long story short, Matt got severely sun burnt and was laid up in bed for 4 days. Once he was finally able to move, I got an infection. Then, right before we were about to leave, we ate some bad beef and Matt became really stomach sick... that was not  a fun trip home! To top it all off, when leaving the Vancouver airport for the hour long drive home, Matt took the wrong suitcase. Not to be discovered, of course, until we got home. I, being the more healthy one of the two of us, got the privilege of driving back to Vancouver to exchange the bags. It was truly a memorable honeymoon.

4. The look on Matt's face when I came home with all my hair cut off. He tried so hard to be happy!

5. It was an amazing year of growth for the both of us. I had the honor of standing by Matt's side as he pursued his dreams and grew as a musician. He is going to start recording soon and I couldn't be more proud.

6. Christmas. along with many other firsts this year, we stayed in BC and celebrated our first Christmas together. We put up our first little tree, I burnt my first ham, and we went skiing for the first time!

7. Watching during the many times Nikki would lay things such as plastic lids and baking pans down on the stove while the burner was on will always be some of my (Matt) favorite memories.

8. Laying in bed and falling asleep to him singing to me. Favorite!

9. Many games nights and late night chats with our neighbors and good friends Allie and Kyle.

10. My (Matt) parents coming to visit was a great two weeks for us! we did so much stuff together, and it was neat to be able to show my parents what life is like out here! they were awesome, and we cant wait to have them come out again!!

11. Going home. we knew that our missions trips this summer were going rock us, and change the way we think. we didn't expect that to happen when we visited home, but God really worked in our hearts while we were home. it wasn't easy trying to balance our two families, but in the end, we discovered that our love for family is something that really weighs upon us as we travel and do the things God has called us to do. While we were home, I (Matt) had the honor of being best man to my brother, and Nikki did a reading. the wedding was great, but they held a fundraiser for us at the wedding. it revealed to us how much our family and loved ones really believe in us.

So those are just some of the memories from this wonderful first year of marriage! we look forward to another great year, and many more after that!!

We spent our anniversary just being lazy with each other. We had a big breakfast, watched movies in our PJ's, went to the Keg for supper and finished off the evening with a good ol' game of scrabble!

Thank you to everyone for your support over this past year!

With Love,
Matt and Nicole