Lessons Learned in Quarentine

What do you imagine when you hear the words mission trip? For me i think leaving behind many of the comforts of home, embracing a new culture, weird new foods to try, getting dirty and Sharing the love of Jesus with the world. All such things are a part of many trips but what about Quarantine?



This summer while in the wonderful city of Phnom Pehn, Cambodia I learned what its like to be Quarantined first hand. It was a hot afternoon and we were having team time before going to the Center of Peace (COP) to do a VBS for the Kids. We were going to teach them some English, a Bible story, and play games with them. One of our team members was not feeling well that day so she stayed behind and rested while we went out to the COP. Before leaving we prayed for her and hoped she would feel well soon as this was out first day of Ministry rather than training since we arrived. We arrived at COP and began playing with the kids who were more than enthusiastic about our arrival and enjoying every minute of our attention. Eventually we split the kids up by age and headed to separate rooms to do VBS. The kids loved every moment of this as well though some of the translators were not all there so we had to overcome the language barrier that prevented understanding of what we were saying, which was a challenge but it got easier as time went on. After finishing our VBS lessons and crafts we were back to playing again until the time for us to leave came and we said our goodbyes to the kids we had all grown to love in just a mater of seconds and only grew stronger with each passing minute.



Upon arriving back at the base we received news that our teammate had been taken to the hospital and was being tested for swine flu. This news was a shot below the belt for us from none other than the Devil himself. We instantly got together and began to pray for her and hoped for the best. The day carried on on and we did various things from eating to cleaning and finally free time came. during free time many of us had decided to walk to a nearby Internet cafe and call home upon finishing with that we walked over to a nearby store and found all kinds of food goodies to buy from ice cream to drinks to crackers and fruit. We had a lil party and celebrated a good first official day of ministry. By the time we had finished eating everything it was time to get to bed for the early wake up the next morning.



The daylight of morning came faster than I had hoped and it was time to wake up and get ready for another day of ministry we had breakfast and went from there into our Quiet times in which i prayed for our team and for the health of the one missing as well as the ministry time at COP. When Quiet time was over we went to the team meeting to review the plan for the day and then head out from there for ministry. During the meeting we received some sad news our team mate had tested positive for swine flu and was being held at the hospital for observation. This was devastating news to hear but we all knew we had to keep our focus on what we were here to do and that was to show Cambodia Jesus so we prayed again for her and continued to pray often for her thought the day as we repeated the same plan as the day before at COP, with a diffrent lesson. Upon arriving back at base we had some more team time and then dinner. It was during dinner that another teammate began feeling ill and they took him to the hospital as well.



By the next morning we had all awoken to seven less teammates than we began with. They were all at the hospital being tested and examined for the swine flu as well. We got the news during breakfast that we were not going to the COP as a precaution to protect the children from getting sick and spent the day in prayer and confusion over what had happened. Many of us had no idea what was going on since this had changed all our plans so we spent the time praying, praying, and praying some more until we heard more news.



The first news came in the form of packing orders the next day for some of the guys in the room across the hall from ours. They were being moved to a room previously occupied by girls who also moved into other rooms. so we could free up a room to bring our teammates back too because they were released to the base but had to be kept in a room together separate from us so as to avoid spreading the flu around. It was at this time that we learned of the seven who got tested for the swine flu only four of them were tested positive. This brought the first bit of hope to our ears since receiving word that the first teammate had gotten it. They also informed us at this time that our group had the first four confirmed cases of swine flu in Cambodia and that they had not required quarantine but asked us to please remain in the building we were in and to prevent the chance of spreading it more than it had spread already among us. This request was one we reluctantly followed as we all were anxious to get out and continue ministering but out of respect for the nation and the government we followed.



The next week felt like a year as we counted the days till we could finally return to the children who had by this point felt like our own. During this time we made pinatas, a giant chutes and ladders game, enjoyed a fashion show in which we all competed, had a talent show and coffee night, as well as took naps, and continued praying, bonding, and growing in our faith. This experience was an amazing time of growth spiritually because we were literally trapped in a house with nothing more than bibles, a guitar and each other. We had sessions ranging from water purification systems being used as a tool for missions, to homiletics, and effective prayer. The time spent within that quarantine was enough to give us all an even greater passion for why we were there and time to reflect on what we had already seen of this nation. God taught us all so much during this time that by the time it was over we all counted quarantine a blessing and no longer something that held us back but a chance to grow and learn. The time spent in quarantine was easily one of the most spiritually close to God feelings I have ever had and I believe it to be nothing Short of a blessing.

During this time i received a note from the first girl to get swine flu that has be an encouragement ever since and I have read it many times when feeling down and without fail it has always encouraged me.

"Hey Man,

I hope that you are doing well! I just want to encourage you to continue being a leader by letting God's joy overflow out of you, Even while we are stuck in one place. I am so glad that were friends, teammates, and most of all not sick-mates. Stay healthy keep loving Jesus and drawing near to him. May he bless you and keep you and may you be filled with strength :)

These things i have spoken to you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full
[John 15:11]"

The Lessons Learned In Quarantine were many and life changing and remind me always that what the devil meant for the bad the Lord used for the good.

Walking to Love

Its a Thursday afternoon and we have been in Mae Hong Son, Thailand for five days now. The landscape is now familiar and we have learned our way around town. The morning air is surprisingly crisp this morning and the cloud cover is keeping it somewhat cool, which is a nice break from the day to day hot mugginess, as I walk from the hotel to the restaurant for breakfast. We had pancakes today which is a rare treat for us and a pleasant break from the rice and veggie norm. After breakfast I head off to the poolside where i seek shelter from the now hot sun beating away the cloud cover and begin my Quiet time (Personal Bible study and prayer time to start the day) today I choose to continue reading through the books of 2 Timothy and 1 John. It was now 8am and time to leave for some door to door evangelism in the city.

My Ministry Group or MIG as we called it had decided to walk to our pick up location this time rather than take the taxi to the lake. We did this because we had visited some people on the outskirts of the city near our hotel the previous day and wanted to stop by to pray with them again and continue building the relationship we had started with them. Our trek began as we walked towards the city we stopped along the way to visit those we had met earlier that week. The air was no longer cool as it had been earlier that day and had become very humid. So we stopped at a 7-11 and got some water and ice cream to cool off and keep hydrated. I also bought some dragon fruit which quickly became one of my favorite fruits while in Asia. We sat and took a break for approximately a half hour worn out from all the walking. Refreshed and renewed we set off down the road again heading into the main part of town where upon arriving took another short rest in the shade and bought some more water. While resting Olivia, one of the girls in my MIG, spotted a blender in a store across the road and suggested we should go over there and buy it because the one in the restaurant wasn't working right and kept getting jammed. When we got to the store and saw the price we decided to all pitch in and buy it for the restaurant. It was getting late now and nearing the time to go to the lake and meet the others from our group to take the taxi back to the hotel for lunch. With this in mind we headed off to the lake to meet up with the others.

We arrived about ten minutes early so we decided to walk around the lake and pray. Halfway around we came to a man who was in a wheelchair and decided to stop and pray for him while we waited for the other MIG's to arrive. We tried to talk with him through who we found out was his mother and a Thai English dictionary. We learned his name was Thai and that he was 30 years old, he had never walked and we were guessing he had cerebral palsy. After having talked to them for a little while we looked over and saw the other MIG getting into the taxi so we got up about to walk over and meet them then the taxi took off. At first we thought they were coming around to pick us up since we were on the other side of the lake but they just kept driving toward the hotel and left us there. Having no way to Get back other than walk now we decided to spend some more time praying for Thai and it was then that I felt God tell me to pick him up and let him walk. The rest of the group was ready to leave at this point and worried about what to do since we missed the taxi. It was in this environment I announced to them that we needed to pick this man up and help him walk for the first time in his life. This statement was greeted by a group of puzzled faces that just wanted to leave and find a way back to the hotel to eat lunch as it was now about 12:30pm we were all hungry and worn out from all the walking in the heat. At first every last one of them were resistant but despite suggesting the most daring thing I have ever done in my life and receiving a response of we need to go from the team I insisted we do it. My insistence paid off because Olivia decided OK ill help you lets do this. After about 5 minutes of attempted explanation to the mother and asking permission, by Christina's awesome dictionary Thai speaking skills, we thought she agreed and with that we picked him up. The first steps were a moment I will remember for a lifetime. As he stood and walked with our help for the first time in his life he got a smile on his face that can not be described in words other than absolute peace and joy. After about a minute he was exhausted as this was probably one of the most physically exhaustive things he has done in his life if not the most. With that we carried him back to his wheelchair and said our goodies for the day praying for him one last time and then leaving to try and get back to the restaurant before all the food was gone.

Our trek back became a surprisingly fast journey because as we were walking toward the hotel we stopped for a second at a cafe so we could use the restrooms and get some water, Stephanie came ridding around the corner on her moto. When she saw us standing there she stopped to see what was up and we let her know our taxi left without us to which she put her cell phone to good use and got us a ride back to the hotel saving us the vast couple mile long walk back. This served as a huge relief and some of the stress that had built up was relieved as our taxi arrived to pick us up. On our way back we stopped at the hospital to pick up our translator Jasmine, who had gotten malaria during our time in Mae Hong Son, before returning to the hotel to rest and get ready for the night ahead.

I may not have seen Thai physically healed but i know without a doubt that the time we spent with him planted a seed of light in his life. There were many barriers that prevented us from reaching him weather it be the lack of a translator, his inability to speak due to his physical condition, or the stress of the situation. Yet a miracle took place during that time in the fact that we took the time to overcome these obstacles through the power of love, and share Jesus with him and his mother through our actions.

"It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching."
~St. Francis of Assisi~

"Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words."
~Francis of Assisi~

"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth."
~3 John 1:4 ~

Me and Olivia helping Thai walk

My MIG with Thai and his mother
L to R: Christina, Thia's Mom, David, Emily
Olivia, Thai, Me

The Slums

The slums is a very Unique place to visit. The smell that fills your nose and the colapsing living structures in which so many live are some of the first things to great you as you approach. This is then followed by the curiosity of what the stench is causing your eyes to take in even more detail. Within this detail lies the answer; the remains of dead animals that havent been picked clean, the trash that fills the ground, the polution of scents from the market across the road wafting in that direction, human and animal waste that has no septic tank to hide in, and stagnant muddy water that fills so much of the ground this is the slums.

"For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich (2 Corinthians 8:9)"

The Idea of poverty is not one that is foreign to Jesus as he himself was not of royal blood here on earth rather he was born of a virgin in what is belived to have been a cave with animals surounding him. This circumstance was probably not to much unlike that of the slums, it was probably smelly, Uncomfortable, and downright crowded with all the animals. This would not be your most ideal place to live, and deffinatly would serve as a prison of sorts when you have no other place to live. Living here would cause you to be labled as an outcast, and leave you unloved by anyone on the outside who passes by and dosent even care, even going so far as to belive they deserve it, traped here with no hope of leaving, this is what these people live with every day. Now imagine thats you.

In Phnom Pehn, Cambodia on a sunday afternoon me and my team had the opportunity to visit the slums and love on these people. We arived and within seconds of being noticed were surrounded by a mob of kids and looking for an open space to play. Through one of our translators the kids led us to the location where they spend most of their days playing, but i couldnt help to feel bad because this land had poop and garbage covering it except a small little dirt section. This is where we spent the rest of our after noon. We had brought Jumpropes and other toys for the kids that we left with tham after that day. They were all having a blast playing handgames and jumping rope. Part of our team split off and went into the slums with translators inviting everyone to come to the spot we were at and watch a drama. Once they had returned we had everyone sit down and Phillip, one of the team leaders, Gave a short testamony and explained to them about the drama. The group that was doing the drama went up to the front of where everyone was sitting and began the dram. A hush fell over everyone as they watched intently, curious why so many white people would come visit them and give them a free show. At the end of the drama there was an uproar of clapping that surrounded us because many people had begun watching from up on the bridge also curious as to what was going on. Phillip stood and went to the front again where he presented the gosple and told them all about Jesus. He also said that if anyone needed prayer to come to the front or find one of the people on the team to pray with them.

The Respnse was jawdropping as many people came and wanted to ask us more we did not have enough translators to keep up. That day 16 people decided to Give their lives to Christ, and many more asked for prayer. Two girls that were deaf wanted to be hear so a few of us started praying for them then decided to sing worship songs over them. The words "I belive that your my healer, and I belive your my portion, I belive that your my savior, and I belive your more than enough for me, Jesus your all I need" began to spill from our mouths as we moved from one song to another. Finaly we started praying again one at a time as the rest of us sang "The Stand" by Hillsong United durring this time they both began to get big smiles on their faces. Our translator began to ask them in sign langulage weather or not they could hear to which they responded with a very excited "yes!".

It was time to leave and head back to our base for the night to eat dinner and spend some team time. At this point we shared the stories of what God did that day and thanked him for his grace. We were all excited about going back and having the opportunity to Love on those kids again, because all of us had become very much so attached to some of them in one way or another that day. That night before foing to bed I prayed that we would see them again, and that the work that had started there would only continue to grow and bear more fruit.

Football aka Soccer

One interesting thing i have noticed about other cultures out of all the countries i have been too is this, they will always be better than you at soccer! Why is this? I think it is because for so many of these nations its their form of exscape from the menial mundane boring task of life, that we all dread having to do, similar to our entertainment industry in America. This brings to light two problems that I see.

1. We are not participating in physical activities, minus the "Remote Thumb Olympics",

This sadly enough is deteriorating out health, because if we do not get enough physical activity we will atrophy and eventually wilt and die. Morbid possibly, but true none the less God gave us a body and told us to take care of it (1Corinthians 6:19-20) because it is his temple for those of us Christians. Christ lives in us so we ought to honor him with our bodies,as well as our actions, and take care of them. Exercise is a great way to maintain our health, and believe me you get plenty of it playing soccer.

2. The lack of being able to play soccer makes me and everyone else look like an idiot when they/I try and play.

Granted this may sound selfish, but I'm not gonna say its always a problem, because ultimately its the fact that we are there playing with them that they care about not how good we are. The problem with this is its very hard for one such as myself to step out and do something i know I'm not good at knowing they are laughing at me and wondering what they are saying in their native tong. Somehow i have discovered this creates a major roadblock for many not just me. Even if we cant understand what they are saying we all have pride that screams I don't wan't people to discover I'm not good at something, rather I want them to look up to me in everything they do.

The last point I would like to make about American culture versus everyone elses in regards to soccer is this. Why do we in America insist on calling it soccer when every other part of the world calls it football? I will leave this for you to answer for yourself.

Next time your walking down the street and you come across some kids with a soccer ball join them and remember this is the sport that many kids around the world play every day as their only form of entertainment, because they don't even know what a T.V. is they live in such a remote or poor place. So ask yourself this is it any wonder were bad at soccer when the way we learned was watching a movie about a dog that could play named Airbud?

1Corinthians 6:19-20
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Why World Wide Jesus

World Wide Jesus is an idea that is so simple it often gets over looked by many. The idea is this Jesus died on the cross for everyone not just the privileged few in our social circle that we see on a regular basis, or the select few who go to church. This thought though simple is often lost behind all the noise of theology and doctrine within the church, but one thing that has been left begging for an answer is where are the ones who go to all peoples of the earth. I say this fully aware there are many who do Go! but also painfully aware that many turn a blind eye to The Great Commission in which Jesus commanded us to heal the sick, cast out demons, to make Disciples of all nations. (Matthew 28:16-20 & Mark 16:15-18)
This Blog is dedicated to world wide missions to show the love of Jesus Christ, keeping those of you who have supported me in my mission endeavors updated on the fruit of the work being done, and keeping you current on the issues facing me so you can keep those needs in prayer. I am but a servant of the Lord going where he leeds. This is the story of my service and the fruit that is come of it as a way of saying thank you to my supporters, you will now be able to read the stories that your prayers and financial support have enabled to happen by the grace of God.

Thank you and God Bless,
JOSIAH DARR


Matthew 28:16-20
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Mark 16:15-18
He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."