We had a really good day at the village yesterday. I spoke with 3 women in 3 different homes and all were very receptive to Jesus. One woman said she wasn't ready to make a decision so we prayed with her & about 2 minutes later she said "okay, I'm ready to confess & follow Jesus!" It was so cool to be there for that!
The other two women said they believe Jesus & that he is the only way to God, but just kept saying they couldn't decide right then. They were both about as close as you can get to accepting Jesus without actually accepting Him (hope that makes sense)! I am confident that they both will soon - one of them came to the church service at night!
This village was so different from Got Pa Bong. I was mostly talking with people from the Karen tribe (a northern Thai tribe) & none had fully heard the story of Jesus. I wonder how many more there are in that village! My teammate Jerek had met with a family & had felt like they were hopeless - he felt like they were offended by him but they still showed up to the evening service too! You can tell that many people there desire to know the truth & are looking for more than just a better life.
I have been so blessed by my translator this week as well (her name is Ratana). She is so devoted to God, has great intuition about people & what they need to hear, she was always looking for ways to help me & never tried to just say what she wanted instead of what I was saying. People just love her too! Most people were receptive to her, opened up easily & often invited her for lunch. She encouraged me multiple times when I was despairing for Got Pa Bong - I cannot say enough good things about her! She also let me use her phone to call my husband, shared Thai goodies with me & gave me a foot massage... I wish you all could meet her :)
Today, we'll be doing some debriefing, riding elephants & get settled in Chiang Mai for a couple more days. Crazy that our village time is done. I enjoyed it thoroughly! While being there from 10am-8pm was not my favorite thing, I could see myself doing something like this long term or maybe just often. I felt some of my gifts in discernment & teaching were very helpful & also confirmed by others who have only just met me. God has done such a work here in these villages & with all of us - I'm about ready to sign up on another trip!!
Thanks again for all your prayers & for the encouraging emails! You'll never fully understand how they have all been perfectly timed & so dear to me. I'll be home in a few days & can't wait to write more about all I've seen & heard here in Thailand. Praise God for all He does.
October 25, 2011 at 9:27 PM
I know you're already home, and I'm about to read that post, but I wanted to reply that it was so encouraging, and I felt real joyful empathy, to hear the story about the 3 women and how so many of the people there wanted His Truth and were seeking Him more than 'just a better life.' So thank you for sharing that with us. The stories of your trip are really encouraging somehow, even though I'm not able to be on such a mission trip myself currently. Thanks for being so brave and going and doing that work for the Lord, and sharing it with us, it's an encouragement to see God move, and for us to do our part in the mini-mission fields He has us in now too.