I had some great discussions with my group of people in the morning. It was me, my translator & about 8-10 people from the village. We talked about loving God with all your mind, strength & soul, the Saduccees & Pharisees, the story of Joseph, the problems of the village & dealing with sin in each others lives. We talked for about 3 hours! I hope that it is really fruitful in their lives.
The locals asked us to stay for lunch & my translator gave me the go-ahead, so I joined in despite having packed a lunch. It was DELICIOUS!!! Later, I found out that it wasn't chicken, but monkey... hmmm... still not sure how I should react! I'm still feeling healthy so far :)
The afternoon was pretty uneventful. Chatting with the kids & our translators, playing/watching some pickup volleyball, more sitting trying to stay out of the rain. After dinner (another local meal, but less tasty & less suspicious meat) we each had one home to go to & share the gospel. This was definitely the sad part of the evening.
This family had only the elder mother as a believer & her daughter-in-law was visibly very ill. Very, very ill. No one was too impressed with the story of salvation. One man asked why if God loves us, he would send us out of the garden for eating one piece of fruit. I explained that it wasn't the fruit, but the content of our heart & their response was "eh, oh well." So sad. Clearly they are not at the place of accepting, but hopefully what they heard sticks with them.
I also shared the hope cube that has information about HIV & AIDS. I was later informed that this girl has indeed tested positive but since she was not born in a Thai hospital, that does not give her citizenship & thus, she cannot get ARV medicine. I really am begging God that she would see the hope there is in Christ before it's too late.
While this village has electricity, it is still very poor. Homes with spaces between every board, lots of drug usage & selling, broken homes, fathers in jail, children without parents & Christians who lack motivation to share Jesus with their unsaved friends. I desperately hope that God changes this village soon, they need it.
I don't really have any closing thoughts... we'll see how tomorrow goes! Hoping for a day with a little more encouragement. I know Jesus can save, but I'm very scared of how long depravity might rule here. Today was the day I've most desired for Jesus to come right now. I'm sure the next few months of my life will include a lot of praying & processing all this. But still, I'm very grateful to be here despite the spiritual challenges. Thanks for your prayers!
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