Linquist July Updates
Hello Friends and Family!
Another month has passed, and we now have just a little over a month to go before we are going to be flying back to the US! It feels very bittersweet to both Alyssa and I- we are so sad to be leaving the community and the work that we have here, but at the same time, so excited to be able to reconnect with everyone in the US that have been such a great support system for us during our time here. As we reflect on our time here, both Alyssa and I feel so grateful for every experience that God has given us in the past year - working with IJM, all that we have learned while living in such a unique place, and all of the relationships we have formed. We feel very blessed to be here. Here are a few updates on what we have been up to during the past month.
Our life group representing well at the annual men’s retreat!
ECB Mens Retreat
The men’s ministry at our church (ECB) recently hosted a 2-day men’s retreat near Bangkok, which I got to join with several members of our life group. It was a wonderful and very impactful time for me. Our head pastor led the event, and spoke about dealing with bitterness and shame as a part of our Christian walk. In the afternoons, we took several hours to sit in solitude, journal, and pray, which was both restful and very impactful. I also got to meet several of the guys who attend ECB, and hear some testimonies- many of them were very encouraging stories of deep bitterness that they were able to let go of and forgive. It gave me a deep sense of community that has been hard to find here- being able to share our full selves in community with other believers. I came out of the retreat re-energized and very grateful for the ministry of our church here.
IJM Thailand gets new Interns!
The IJM team in Thailand has been blessed with 4 new interns! They have relocated here from all over, and bring a diverse set of skills and experience to the Thailand office. We are super excited for the new energy that they are bringing to the office. We have already been taking advantage of our enlarged intern group- bringing them to visit our church, going out to meals, doing some fun tourist activities,and going to archery together have been a few highlights.
Our awesome team!
Staff Quarterly Prayer Retreat
Our IJM team had our quarterly prayer retreat. These are always very reflective time to take a day out of our work for the whole team to meditate on the year long spiritual development theme. Last year, the theme was peace, with an emphasis on contemplative prayer- a topic with alot of significance for me. This year’s theme is humility- in our work, and our lives. Our country director gave a short talk on humility that I thought had some points which were very relevant. He spoke about how when we have the grace of humility, we see things differently. We see ourselves with honesty and confidence and we see others as God sees them. Humility lets us let go of striving, and accept that God is in control. It lets us let go of trying to be something we are not, believing that we know best, and trying to control people or outcomes. Humility is a blessing.
“Humility is the recognition of the truth about God and ourselves” - Francis of Assisi
Fourth of July Get Together
Alyssa and I had been thinking about how we could scratch the itch of our homesickness, and also make a way to bring our different friends and community together. We were able to host a 4th of July party and put together a menu of the most American food we could think of- tons of hot dogs and hamburgers, mac and cheese, potato salad, coleslaw, and apple pie. We also had a very fun American flag cake! We were so blessed by the amazing turnout- it was really special to be able to have so much of our wonderful community come together to celebrate and have fun. A friend of mine from high school, who is living in Bangkok, led us in a few rounds of American trivia, and two of the new interns from the US led a group line dance, which felt so American!
Bangkok Tour Days with IJM Friends
Alyssa has been an amazing event organizer this entire year, both at work and outside of it, and last weekend she organized an office outing to visit Wat Arun, the Golden Mount, and try out some new Thai food! She and some of the other women in the office did a mini photo shoot at Wat Arun, where they have traditional Thai dresses for rent. Thai food is always one of the highlights of these outings, and we got to try a small street food restaurant that one of our coworkers recommended, which featured all types of duck dishes- including duck intestine (not big fans of that one lol)
LIfe group get together
CG Dinner
One of the members of our church group has been especially encouraging and supportive of us this past year, and he stepped things up a notch by hosting a dinner at the hotel where he works as an accountant. Brother John is uniquely encouraging in his ministry- he works in the hospitality industry, but he really sees this as a means to share the gospel. Every Sunday, he attends ECB in the morning, and then goes to preach at another church, and he has been involved in ECB ministries for many years. The evening featured some very amazing North Indian food, and was a very sweet time for our life group to get together and fellowship before going on summer break. We really have been very blessed by this church group- they are faithful in their ministries and have showered us with love, even though we are only here for a short time. Over the past year of joining them every Thursday, we have gotten to know them, experienced amazing hospitality, and really gotten to see an amazing example of how the body of Christ can come together in unity, even with many differences (8 different nationalities represented in the same room)!
Alyssa’s work
Alyssa has really been shining at work. She is in the middle of being the POC for a trip that the IJM Singapore team is making to Thailand, AND planning a trip for the IJM global team to come visit to meet with a member of the Thai government who has been very supportive of anti-trafficking reform. She has also been working with our country director on speeches and presentations, and has just been an absolute superstar. She wrote a short reflection on some of her work to share with you all!
I had the pleasure of supporting the development of a speech and presentation for an academic conference in Korea. It was so much fun because I realized how much I enjoyed speech writing and developing messages, which I guess makes sense given my history and sales and marketing, but it was empowering as well. The speech I helped develop was about justice system strengthening as a development strategy. It was also an incredibly powerful topic to learn more about. I was able to listen to sermons, books and do a lot of research to support different findings and altogether it was incredibly informative. The biggest takeaway is that of all global aid given in the world, only 1.1% is contributed towards improving justice systems as a development strategy. It makes sense in a way because it’s a complex, long-term investment that doesn’t produce immediate, visible results. But it’s also surprising because effective justice systems underpin so much progress we hope to see in other areas of development. Without good justice systems, many gains in health, education, and economic opportunity are just really fragile.
I’m happy to have played a part in helping communicate this message. IJM, the world’s largest anti-trafficking organization, is doing GOOD work to raise awareness about the role of justice systems in development. I heard feedback that the message was received very well so PTL!!
-Alyssa
We are so thankful for you all! God bless you!
Prayer Requests and Praise Reports
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Pray for us as we arrange details and travel for our upcoming trip back home. We will have a bit of coordination work to do, as Alyssa and I are traveling separately. Alyssa is staying in Thailand to help with an IJM event in our last week. Pray for a smooth move out of our apartment, problem free travel, and for a good handover of projects to other IJM staff members and interns.
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Continue to pray for our office as they look for people to fill the open roles they are hiring for. There is so much amazing work that the team has a vision for, and now the challenge is to find workers to help them execute. Pray that they find the right people at the right time to join the cause of justice.
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Alyssa and I have both encountered different forms of spiritual darkness during our time here, both at work, and engaging with our community. Pray for protection, strength, and wisdom in navigating difficult and confusing situations.
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We are so excited that our church in SF invited us to share about our experience and work in September! Praise God for the amazing IJM volunteers in the Bay Area who arranged all the event details and have helped grow support for IJM at the church.
