Mae Sot

I have this really bad habit of moving to places that I’ve
never really spent a lot of time in. The good news is that I’ve been to
Thailand several times, and I have driven through Mae Sot (I spent most of my
time outside of the city, but did drive in to get a couple of meals).

 

Before I go into all the details of what I ‘think’ my life
will look like when I move to Thailand I want to give you some background on
Mae Sot. I want to help explain the question ‘why’ first.

 

Mae Sot is located in Western Thailand and boarders Burma (Myanmar). It’s about a five-hour drive from Chiang Mai, and I’m guessing it is
a little bit longer to get to Bangkok. Sadly Mae Sot is a stereotypical boarder
town. This includes: black market, refugees and illegal immigrants, human
trafficking, drug trafficking, sweat shops, etc.

It is a real city with electricity, water, internet, and a
variety of restaurants. (I might be surrounded by mountains, but I’ll be living
in a city.) There are quite a few foreigners who have lived in Mae Sot for
years and lots that come through to do volunteer work. I like to think of it
almost like a place where original hippies and modern hippies come together 😉  This means that there are nice
coffee shops and restaurants with live local music ranging from cultural to
rock. I am hoping that part of my ‘ministry’ will be hanging out with the
foreigners and helping them to connect with God and each other. I’m also
excited because I am believing that having such a variety of people in Mae Sot
will equal lots of great friendships.

Of all of the places that I’ve travelled through around the world, Mae Sot was different than anywhere else. I knew that this was a place that I wanted to invest my life into. I want to be there when heaven opens up, people are free to live the lives they were created to live, people are healed, and darkness has to flee because the light has taken over. In my heart and my gut I know that the Lord has Mae Sot in His sight, He has great plans for it, His heart is for them, and He has not forgotten them.

 

In order for you to fully understand the part of my
reasoning of why I want to live in Mae Sot and work with Burmese Refugees, you
must first get a glimpse at what is happening in Burma. Stay tuned as my next
blog will highlight Burma.