Last month I had the opportunity to go to a seminar here in Chiang Rai hosted by a Christian agriculture foundation that invited Luka and his staff to attend. The conference was about "Following Jesus," and was led by an American man who was formally a pastor in America as well as a missionary in Burma. There were about 20 people in attendance who were Thai, Filipino, American, Lahu (another hill tribe people group), and Akha. The seminar focused on teaching us seven basic characteristics of who Jesus is, scripture memorization, how to share our testimonies, and how to replicate this seminar to others around us. Honestly, when I was preparing to tgo I was feeling rather cynical about it, and was surprised at how much I got out of it and was challenged. It was such a refreshing and rich reminder of the reasons as to why I have chosen to serve Jesus, and the life that comes from reading the bible. Normally the word "evangelism" makes me cringe with all the ideas I associate with it. My first thoughts take me to someone forcing Jesus into a conversation that feels unnatural, or the man I remember in Seattle who would hand out tracks on a street corner in Capital Hill wearing headphones listening to a game and a shirt saying, "Turn or Burn"...all of which make my stomach turn.
After this conference I was reminded of how simple the gospel is...and reminded that it is not our goal to lead someone to Jesus, but to instead bring them closer on the spectrum to knowing Him. The speaker shared that the average person needs to hear the gospel or about Jesus on average 8 times before they are ready to follow Him. Though it could be 4 times, or 44. But our role is to share Jesus with them in our daily lives...to love Jesus with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength and from that same love we are to love our neighbors. Simpler said than done...but there was something about the simplicity that drew me closer to Jesus this week.
One of the students at the Akha Youth Development Center (Amporn Saepah) recently quit her studies and got married this last February. Her wedding was traditional Akha style, and over a period of three days she sat through various traditions and ceremonies. One of them being where everyone hurls pig poop at her (the bride) and she is unable to clean up before going to bed that night. The wedding took place in her future husbands village at his home. After she marries she will move in with her husbands family and be expected to take care of this family (cooking, farming, cleaning...etc). One of the specialties was the raw pork, which I kindly avoided. 
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