Faith Trip

The other day we went on what was called a "faith trip." We brought no money, no cameras, nothing-just water. The goal was to rely on our faith alone to guide us into the unknown and share with the local community about the ship and its outreach programs. Our group was assigned to a mysterious location called“the dragon tail.” We couldn’t find out from the ship where it was or how to get there. We weren't even allow to ask anyone on the ship how to get there. Fortunately we had translators with us and they had the port guards point us in the right direction.

Along the way we walked on dirt roads leading through a shanty town. Rotting wood beams held up shacks made out of scrap metal, wood and found objects. I was hoping that I would meet some people to tell about the ship. Shortly thereafter, a man in a wheel chair waved to me, motioning for our group to come over to him. I eagerly walked up to him not knowing what would come of it. We chatted for a bit and in his broken English he told us that someone else from the Doulos had come and gave him some clothes. The rest of the people from my group came and he talked with us for a bit. He wanted us to pray for him to receive a new wheel chair. Unfortunately none of us had any money on us but we invited him to the ship. I was really hoping he would come for a visit.

While walking along a forest we saw a monkey sitting on a fence. He was playing with his gonads the whole time. Then when he saw us, he closed his legs as if embarrassed. It was so hilarious. Then he walked further down the fence and proceeded to jingle his bells. Random.

After walking for 3 hours we arrived at a hotel close to the dragon tail. The group was tired so instead of going to the destination we ended up hanging in the lobby of the hotel to rest up. We did a bible study on Revelation 2:21-29 and reflected on it for about a half hour. With no money, we had no way to get back to the ship. And while everyone was tired and hungry we decided to walk back through town to see if we could meet any more locals. As soon as we left the hotel we saw a giant sculpture of a dragon's tail sticking out of the beach. We had only been minutes away from our destination but it was all good.

Along the way tuk tuk (a small cart attached to the back of a motorcycle, the southeast Asian equivalent to a taxi) drivers tried to get our business so I tried talking to them. I asked if they had heard about the ship and one driver had already visited it. The conversation didn’t really go anywhere, let alone allow the opportunity to share our faith with them so we just kept going. There were some volunteer translators that came along with us and I felt bad because one of them was getting really tired and she just had flip flops on. Aggressive drivers kept asking us if we needed a ride and our group began kicking around the idea of tuk tuk outreach.” Since so many of them kept coming up to us we easily could start a dialog and tell them about the ship and why we were there. Minutes later, a tuk tuk driver pulled up. One of our team members, Peter, had had him drive him around a lot before and the driver was super friendly. He asked us if we needed a ride and we told him that we had no money. He said, “no problem, I take you for free.” It was totally a gift from God. We were all tired and he came at just the right time. Six of us piled in and I sat on a ledge on the side! It totally rocked. When we got back we thanked him for his generosity and Peter just happened to have a bible in Khmer (the Cambodian language) that he had been wanting to give him. It was so cool that we had been talking about reaching out to the tuk tuk drivers and here we were already able to minister.

I learned a lot that day. As much as we all wanted to get to the dragon tail, it wasn't so much about the destination as much as the journey. Had we not walked, we never would have met the man in the wheel chair. We wouldn't have invited him on the ship (He actually came the following day and the crew helped him up the gangway. He toured the ship.) Also had we not walked all the way back we would never have bumped into the tuk tuk driver and given him the bible. Its amazing what God will do if you just make yourself available.