Stereotyping: 46 countrieS in 10 years!

Sooo hello my fellow people! How is your beautiful self? (technically that sentence isn't englishly correct :P NEITHER IS THAT ONE. Anyway guess who is finally in Thailand????? Like seriously I bet you can't guess? lol
So it has been a struggle and a half to get here. I honestly was not 100% sure I was going to be in Thailand until I was on the plane, and honestly Jesus came through in ways I don't even understand but that is a story for another day. Today the story is lightly different. I have honestly been trying to get another angle on stereotyping since before I left South Africa. I was going to write about a girl who heard God tell her to go into missions with her parents on her last year of high school, before exams but I was not able to talk to her in detail in time so hopefully when I go back to s.a I will get the chance to.
So back to my trip, we arrived here Friday at 4 a.m when it was still dark out after almost 3 days of travel by air and by bus. Believe me you I did not know what pregnant feet were until yesterday. We, as a team, were all super tired and had just arrived into the Thailand humid heat that makes your clothes stick to your skin. *to be honest it's better than the cold I left behind in Capetown.* But the point is we finally arrived here (Chiang mai) and found out the house where we are staying is Heaven! :P hahaha okay maybe a little piece of Heaven but after the traveling and pregnant feet it honestly does feel like paradise. and we were all like

It's a huge bungalow with fans and spacious rooms and a spacious kitchen and dinning room. Sadly we are only here until tomorrow but as an introduction to Thailand it is a great way to start :)
Now the man behind it is what this post is about. Basically this place is a hospitality house and Len, the man who owns it just wanted it to be a place of rest and receiving of missionaries to send out into the rest of Thailand. He lives here with his son, Jonah, and a beautiful couple from South Africa who heard God's call to come to Thailand as missionaries. In all their lives you can see their hearts to serve us and hearts that shines Jesus' love so bright it burns. So the last two days have been amazing *but I still have pregnant feet, does anyone know how to get rid of that?*
Anyway back to the point one of the benefits of these two days is that we got to hear their stories and it turns out Len and his son have a kind of extra ordinary one. You see they are originally from South Africa  and even though have now been running this hospitality ministry in Thailand for about a year, they originally left South Africa about eleven years ago!
So what- you may be asking- have they been doing for the ten year gap period in between? They my dear, have been on a pure backpacking evangelizing and tract giving ministry where they traveled to 46 different countries all over Africa, Middle East, Asia, Europe, and the States in 10 years! Now this is how it started according to Len...
Ten years ago as a not too old but not too young man either, Len finally listened and obeyed God's call for him to be out on the mission field after a long time of being stubborn with God. It wasn't easy because God told him to give everything and I mean EVERYTHING away and live out his faith. Jonah, his son, also heard God speak to him, and in his own words with a silly grin he told me, "but I wasn't as stubborn as my dad was ."

 

*they look much more good looking than this* lol.
So they set out, leaving behind family, friends, and possessions behind with only 300 dollars in their bank accounts, no supporters, the backpacks on their backs, and God's call on their lives to trust Him.
-now let's pause for a second, as you read this your probably thinking about how it sounds like a super another sweet story with another lesson about how God will always come through, ending with they lived happily ever after- but *play* this is more than that!
Can you picture yourself and your mum, or your dad, or your child, getting rid of all the plans you had for yourself, to be a doctor, a lawyer, a business person, a doctorate, having quite a few degrees to your name, the security in being able to provide and the simple comforts of life as well... Like seriously? Can you picture yourself giving all that up?!
First of all the scrutiny you will get! Don't you think in this day and age everyone who truly loves you will think your crazy! Like I know if I went to my friends and family and told them on a very serious note that I am leaving next week for a few years, not knowing what or how God will provide they will look at me like I am plain retarded and tell me to wait at least a few years until I get my life together.
But they went for it, and they told me they have a million and one stories of how God proved He was God countless times.
The fact is it was NOT easy, but honestly you should see the light in Len's eyes as he talks about visiting Israel and feeling God, or giving out gospel tracts and seeing people break down because it was God ordained, and seeing Jesus come through in miraculous ways! His words were, "I get so much satisfaction out of it." Basically even though it's not easy, if it's of God it's worth it. And the truth is...

I am not going to be all preachy and stuff but A verse I have come to love is 1 Corinthians 2:6-7. It basically says that our generation is so stupid that we think God's wisdom is stupid. In a way that is also the cool thing about God's Kingdom. It's crazy, upside down, backwards, and again is stereotypical plain stupid to the world but it is a heck of an adventure and if you can handle being stereotyped as a Jesus freak it's most probably worth it. :)

Now I love you all but am sleepy and we are traveling tomorrow again to our outreach location by bus! *oh no stupid pregnant feet* again any advice on that please let me know :P GOODNIGHT :)