So as you've noticed I have been back for a while now. When I first returned in August my schedule back looked something like this.
Thursday: Finish OMF debriefing and fly down to San Diego where my car and stuff were
Friday: Drive up to Los Angeles, dump my things in my apartment and drive to InterVarsity Leaders retreat until Monday
Tuesday: USC InterVarsity back to school all day planning meeting
Wednesday: Move in day for all university housing
Thursday-Sunday: Welcome week and the busiest 5 days of the year for new student outreach. (also trying to unpack my stuff)
Monday: Classes start (still trying to unpack my stuff)
Needless to say my first few weeks back were pretty crazy. Since then things have been busy as well, with me leading a Bible study in 2 freshman dorms, going to a church community group, and volunteering at an organization called World Impact on Fridays, plus classes, friends, music, and trying to figure out what to do when I finish up at the end of this semester. Throughout it all God has been good though and has been continuing to show me so much about myself, the depths of my own sin and my need for a Savior.
Some of you may have already recieved the thank you letter I sent out recapping my summer in Thailand but I thought I would post it up here as well. Hope that it blesses you.
Thank you so much for supporting me in my trip to Thailand this summer! I was amazed to watch God faithfully provide the finances for my trip through the generous support of people like you. Now that I am back in the States I wanted to let you in on a few quick glimpses of what God did in my summer.
God taught me patience and humility
Going into this summer I was expecting God to teach me big things. However, the things He taught me were not often what I was expecting and didn't come in ways I expected to be taught. Perhaps the biggest thing God taught me was patience with my teammates(and others) which arose from tensions within our team. While our team loved each other we also had several significant conflicts arise, particularly over time-management and punctuality issues. Through these challenges God taught all of us a lot about our own faults and the quickness with which we so often judge others. While it was not pleasant at the time, as our team leader Brian said at the end of our trip, “I'd do it again in a heartbeat!” “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:11
God amazed me by saving people
One of the highlights of my trip occurred during a 2 week period when three other members of my team and I were going to universities with Thai Youth For Christ workers and engaging in conversational evangelism with English students. On our first day there, a Thursday, I met a Thai student named Wit whom I helped with homework, hoping the conversation would turn to more evangelistic topics. He soon had to leave for class however, and I invited him to a party that our team was having at our church that Sunday night, not really expecting him to come. Three days later however he showed up 2 hours early to our party(!) and by the time I'd gotten there had already talked with local Thai church members and decided to accept Christ. Praise God! Wit became one of our closest friends for the rest of the trip and is truly a living testimony to God's power in His saving grace. “According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again...” 1 Peter 1:3
God made cross-cultural missions more real to me
There are few things in life more important than sharing the good news, and God used this summer to help drive that truth into the bedrock of my soul. One of the sad realities of our trip is now that we left the local Thai church we worked with is no longer able to continue many of the programs we ran (English teaching, slum outreach, orphanage outreach etc.) which God used as tools for sharing the gospel simply because there are not enough indigenous believers to sustain the programs. While in America Christianity is everywhere I met people in Thailand who had never heard the name of Jesus (Prai-yay-su in Thai). People are needed to share the good news of Jesus and my prayer is that you and I would stay faithfully invested in God's call to bring the gospel to all peoples. “How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?” Romans 10:14-15
I want to reiterate my thanks for your support of my trip this summer one more time. If you want to hear more (or just say hi) don't hesitate to contact me (lundeen@usc.edu and 920-277-2947) or check out my summer blog: www.e-l-in-thailand.blogspot.com Thanks so much and God bless YOU!
