Katrina & Kyle Williams
Missionaries
November 2020

Hi Friends, 

August marked one year in to our time in Thailand. Honestly it feels a lot longer than that because we all live in a bit of a different world today than we did in January. We have finished our year of formal language studies feeling confident that we now have the tools to continue learning in less formal settings. Pray for us as we have entered more official roles. 

CRICS

Katrina began volunteer teaching classes on the 25 th of August. (All teachers except for Thai staff are essentially volunteers.) Before classes began she spent time in teacher orientation and prepping for her two classes, chemistry and yearbook/digital design. Because Thailand has not had a locally transmitted case of COVID in over two months, CRICS can meet as a community on campus. Precautions are still being taken, like masks and temperature checks. Not all the teachers have been able to return to Thailand so the school is working with a skeleton crew, with teachers picking up classes until the full-time teachers can arrive. You can be praying for CRICS and its teachers both in and outside of Thailand. 

I (Kyle) have started at the Envisage office. My first week was spent assisting a team project to administer a survey in a nearby country. The survey is designed to gain a better sense of what challenges and vulnerabilities people are facing in their daily lives in the various different regions of the country due to COVID-19 and violence. There are many challenges when trying to access some of these regions and people. Mistrust of foreigners is high so we do our best to mitigate our presence and let national staff lead. Internet access is limited, travel from region to region is further hindered by militias, monsoons, and poor infrastructure. To sit down with the thousands of individuals needed to validate such a study will be tough. The challenges are high but not impossible. We have an eager team. 

AN ANXIOUS MOMENT AND THE UNKNOWN

Normally when a missionary type person addresses an anxious moment it has to do with some foreign stressor. But not for me right now. I love Thailand. I love getting to know this beautiful place. I love my job. My current anxiousness is primarily about the US. I feel like I don't understand it. I am not sure I ever did but it is just so palpable right now. 

In SE Asia a lot of people wear masks all the time. So when we were all instructed to wear masks, everyone just wore a mask. I don't understand why so many people are so adamantly against what seems like a simple request in the States. 

After 38 years living on this planet, in 5 countries, on 4 different continents, I am convinced that hell is a present reality on Earth…but so is the Kingdom. Jesus proclaimed that he was bringing sight to the blind, good news for the poor, and freedom to those who are incarcerated. It's weird that these things have become a "right vs left" argument instead of just ideas that Jesus took seriously. Maybe that is what hell does. Maybe it divides us into ideologies instead of binding us together in love. 

Maybe our battle is against division of the spirit and not flesh and blood. Maybe our weapons in this fight are not violent but spiritual fruit: love, peace, patience, gentleness, faithfulness, kindness, joy, and self-control. I must remember that it is these things that destroy the walls of hell, not my political ideology, theology, intelligence, or even rightness in thinking. Here, I would echo Paul’s words: “Knowing every deep mystery of God and Heaven and eloquently teaching others, counts for nothing if my love for others wanes.” 

Winning the war against darkness hinges on my ability to hold my views (political, theological, personal) gently and kindly, loving neighbor and enemy, without differentiation. To battle like Christ I must carry peace when I go to dark places. This is exemplified on the cross. Jesus was victorious, not because he clung to an ideology of his individual rights and militant power, but when he freely gave up his rights for the sake of others, when he spoke "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."

I frankly have not been great at this as I read the news coming out of the US. I find myself filling with anxiety as we approach the US elections. My anxiety sometimes turns into fear, which sometimes turns into hatred of those who are politically different. I must repent of this. My high school self would assure me that it is never the external circumstance that dictates my ability to love my neighbor and seek justice on their behalf. Meaning, if the British won the War of Independence, I could still love my neighbor, or if Germany or Japan won WWII I could still love my neighbor. I lean into this idea for November. No matter who wins I need to still love my neighbor and my enemy. I need to seek justice, shalom and freedom on their behalf. This doesn't mean I don't have a preferred candidate, it just means I know none of them are Jesus.