JANUARY 2016
HOW TO PRAY • Pray for team unity as I and other members of my team return to Bangkok and begin a new season of ministry together. • Pray my relationships with neighbors and leaders in my new community, Suwan Prasit. Pray that I will adjust to life in Thailand once again. • Pray for P’Kung, my friend in Potong who is still battling cancer. During my time in the States, she was doing better, but things have taken a turn for the worse these last few weeks. • Pray that I will know how to encorage others and communicate the love of Jesus in my Thai context. Cover photo: Fruit stand in Central California
Hi Family and Friends, Now that I’m back in Bangkok,Thailand, for another stretch, I’ve had some time to process the last few months I spent in California and Hawai’i during a season of rest and reflection. It was an amazing time spent with loved ones, reestablishing rhythms, and setting a few new goals. In this update, I bring you a few of my reflections gathered while running a marathon, while resting at home, and while leading an art seminar. I recently moved into a new community not far from Potong, the last place I called home. Suwan Prasit is a bit larger and somewhat more developed with varying levels of standard of living. It’s a community that sprang up next to the local temple, its namesake. This community has a pretty established community council doing great things for the development of the community, and I look forward to learning from them and partnering with them to further their efforts. I also look forward to applying a lot of what I have learned during these last few months regarding sharing Jesus with the Thai people. During my time at home, I read several pieces by both foreign and Thai authors on the Thai worldview, Buddhism, and helping Thais understand who Jesus is. My research has also helped me understand how to work better on a cross-cultural team. As I get settled in Suwan Prasit, I look forward to bringing a unique gift, the hope of Christ, to the amazing things that are already happening in my new community! In His arms,
Photo: sharing my first meal with my new neighbors, involving my first time eating spicy raw beef!
During my time in Hawai’i, I wanted to recover a few healthy rhythms that I’ve let fall by the wayside in the busyness of the mission field. One of those rhythms included regular exercise and running. It just so happened that the amount of time I’d have back at home would be perfect to train for the Honolulu Marathon in mid-December! Being my first marathon, I knew it would prove to be a challenging goal for my furlough, so I registered! The following months involved over five-hundred miles, two pairs of shoes, and a lot of chocolate protein powder. But I was diligent and committed, and I was going to see this thing through. During many of my long runs, I would think on the topic of running and finishing well. It takes endurance and training. It also takes some accountability. But especially during the race itself, it took a lot of encouragement to finish strong!
Photos courtesy of Honolulu Marathon
Strewn across all 26.2 miles were volunteers and bystanders cheering me on. They handed out Gatorade, wet sponges, and even beer at some points! They held signs like, “You inspire me!” and “Keep going, total stranger!” At points, I found myself actually laughing out loud, encouraged to keep going. But the best encouragement of all was seeing my parents waiting for me just fifty yards out from the finish line. That was enough to put in the final push to cross the line. During this, my first marathon, I was focused on training well and finishing strong. But my friend Ramsey, now on his third, took away a totally new and inspiring lesson. First of all, let me tell you that Ramsey is no joke when it comes to his outfit. This year, he dressed up once again as the Honolulu Marathon mascot, in full malo and lei haku. But unlike previous years, he wasn’t keeping up with his training as planned. When it came to the big day, he paced some, but found himself paying more attention to those running beside him. Ramsey actually got into conversation with a few people for miles at a time, learning about them and encouraging them on.
Ramsey shares, “It was at this time that I realized how much fun I was having. I had recently grasped the gravity of spiritual gifts and how powerful my gift of encouragement was and that I had a responsibility to use it toward the Kingdom. And here I was unconsciously encouraging people the whole marathon! “God showed me that I’m not a fast marathon runner, he didn’t make me that way. Sure I could beat 4 hours, but that’s not my calling. I encouraged people by running with them, not beating them. And as soon as I decided to jog authentically in who God made and gifted me to be, the run itself seemed easy! I wasn’t trying to be someone else, I was being me and enjoying the gift of encouragement. Previously I may have gotten frustrated at God for not making me faster, but there was freedom in enjoying that God did make me encouraging.”
Ramsey and me at the finisth line
Ramsey, himself a racer, became an encourager like those surrounding us and those waiting for us at the finish line. Yes, running with others may have slowed him down, but being able to cross the finish line with them after journeying together makes the finish so much sweeter! As I have been reflecting on Ramsey’s and my own experience, I have thought about this greater race we run as we follow Jesus, the founder and finisher of this faith marathon before us. We are surrounded by such a great cloud of racers who have come before us from whom we can draw inspiration and encouragement (Hebrews 12:1-2). But not only that; we also run alongside others. And what greater honor do we have than to encourage each other, celebrate with each other, carry each others burdens, and see each other finish strong? I am encouraged as I return to Thailand, looking forward to friends, neighbors, and teammates with whom God has sent me to journey. And I am grateful to have brothers and sisters like you to cheer on and to receive encouragement!
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. HEBREWS 12:1-2
TIME AT HOOOOOOME! One of my goals for my time back in the States was to spend quality times with my family and friends. It had been two years since the last time I had been in the US, and it was the first time I got to spend that significant a chunk of time at home since high school! I was so grateful to be able to celebrate my birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years with my family. But what I was most looking forward to was spending time with my two new nieces. They were both born during my time abroad, and so I watched them grow from afar through their first year. While at home, I learned how to care for one-yearolds, babysat them a lot, and took them out on field trips around the island. It’s amazing how refreshing the love of a child can be! While traveling through California and while at home in Hawai’i, I got to reconnect with so many great friends! I went camping at glorious Yosemite, cooked pretty darn good Thai food to share, attended amazing weddings, and enjoyed simply hanging out. I also got to really connect with my home church in Hawaii and a small group led by my high school friend Dustin. That said, my heart was so full by the end of my five months at home that it made it so hard to say bye. Know that I love you all and am so grateful that you are in my life!
THE POWER OF ART While in California, I co-led a seminar on Art in Missions at our Servant Partners All Staff Retreat at the end of July. It was a great time to come together from all over the world to fellowship, inspire each other, and cross pollinate some regarding ministry. During my first two years in Bangkok, I though a lot about the power of art. Creative expression and artistic beauty, whether it be dance, music, or visual arts, is something that deeply enriches one’s life. But had a difficult time justifying it in an urban poor ministry context. Art can be very resource intensive, and coming from a wheel-throwing, photography, digital art background, it’s hard to feel like I could justify the investments. But that’s just it, there are tons of reasons–whether valid or not–why we should not practice art: It’s not useful. It’s too time consuming. There are more urgent needs to be met. I’m not a real artist. Making art is wasteful. Yet the benefits of beauty in one’s life are immeasurable. Artistic creation and creative expression can help us connect with our Creator, it can offer us a space for deep reflection, and it is also an empowering avenue for our voice to be articulated and heard. So in this seminar, we collaborated about the ways art has changed us and can be used in urban poor contexts. We wrestled over the hesitations and blocks we have toward embracing art and creativity as a powerful form of ministry, and we took steps toward breaking down those barriers. As I return to ministry in Bangkok, I look forward to developing my photography class further, opening it to more students, and packaging it up so that it can be replicated and used elsewhere. Thank you to those who so generously donated cameras and equipment so that this fun and empowering class can be brought to even more students!
KYLE'S CONTACT INFO: Phone: +66-090-979-8187 Email: kyle.apuna@gmail.com Mailing Address: Thai Peace Foundation 3750/9 Ladprao Soi 146/1 Khlongchan, Bangkapi, Bangkok Thailand 10240