The first fruits... parties in heaven!

Recently I happened to meet a small team from Australia was able to join them in some of their ministries. They were days filled with joy and blessing, here are some stories:

@ School: The first day, I joined the team to teach English at a Middle School English Camp. I taught Years 5-9 for an hour each, with very basic resources and having to rely on my Thai a lot as even the teachers struggled to understand even the simplest of sentences. 

@ Prison: Another day, we visited a Juvenile prison. We were able to minister God's love through Thai and Isaan songs, testimonies and sharing the Word of God. My heart was heavy with God's love for the 300 or so teenage boys and 6 girls gathered there. They needed to know their Father in heaven loved them dearly and wanted more than anything to heal and restore their lives. And praise God, they did hear that, and were all given a Gideon's NT to read as the Spirit continues to work in their hearts.

@ Hospital: 

Visiting the Government Hospital in Ubon was quite a shock as the corridors were filthy, smelly  and had cats and dogs roaming freely through them, as well as many people sitting or sleeping in them. The Thai church we were partnering with led some songs of worship and shared from their own lives and from the Bible to a small crowd. Meanwhile, those of us not fluent in Thai went to pray and share what we could in the children's wards. It was a delight just to be able to pray for these children and their families, but God had a special surprise in store too.
I had prayed for a baby who had severe stomach problems. As I finished praying and sharing God's love with them, and had moved to another bedside, the Grandma came running over and saying, "Come and look, come and look! God has already helped us!" The little child had started eating the bread I'd left with them. I didn't fully understand but eventually gathered that the child hadn't been eating at all before. The Mother and grandmother were so full of joy that Jesus had heard their prayers and answered already. It raised not only their level of faith, but mine, and probably that of all those listening in the ward. Praise God for He is good!

Next, we visited a Cancer Hospital. This was heartbreaking too. The wards we visited had terminal cancer patients. You could see the despair and hopelessness in their eyes. The air itself seemed to be thick with pain. Yet where the darkness is thickest, light shines the brightest.
The old man in this picture started crying as soon as we approached. I sensed they were tears of fear. We'd barely started talking when he said he wanted to accept Jesus. I wondered how that could have been, but we prayed with him and he cried tears of joy. Only then did he share that he'd been to Christmas programmes at a church in his home town but never made his own decision to accept Jesus. This was his opportunity, and he had grabbed it with both hands. We encouraged him that his name was written in heaven and he can be sure of eternal life in Jesus, that he was now a child of God and had no reason to fear. The tears kept flowing, tears of relief and joy.

Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” 

(John 4:35b-38)

My Thai Christian friend Nui, seen on the left in this picture has been a patient in the same cancer ward. She was completely healed and now has a passion to share the hope of Jesus with others in the cancer ward. I decided to join her in her weekly hospital visits. This week's visit saw another miracle of salvation. 

Nui had prayed for this dear lady, Phi Rap last week and now shared the hope of both healing and the gospel message of salvation. Again, we felt her heart had already been prepared by the Holy Spirit. She was incredibly receptive and wanted to receive Jesus. She explained that the idols meant nothing now that she knew the living God, and He had taken away her sin so she would not have to strive to constantly make merit by herself. We were rejoicing and praying with her and then I asked her mother, sitting beside me, what she made of this. She had been quiet but then her face lit up as she expressed how grateful she was that God had helped her daughter. She said she had a dream last night that she had washed a very dirty towel and it was still dirty. Then someone washed it for her and it was sparkling white, with gold inside... She wanted to pay but the man said it was free, she didn't have to pay! When she told her husband the dream this morning, he said, "This means that someone is going to come today and help our daughter". Pure revelation. And when we came along and shared Isaiah 1:18, 55:1-3 and 53: 4-6 with her, it explained her dream. All she had to do was connect the dots. The Holy Spirit gave them revelation, praise God! Nui and I both had goosebumps. We serve an AWESOME God!   

But the visit was bitter-sweet. While one more name was written in heaven, we went to visit a young man of 29 who we'd shared with last week and prayed for, but found his bed empty. He had passed away early this morning. We only get one shot at this life. Let us choose life. Let's live it to the full. Let us choose God, and let him breathe fullness of life into us.

@ the Village:

 The following week, I went with Nui to visit Pa Suay - a lady we are discipling as she is a fairly new convert. Since around last June when she chose to follow Christ, she has been the only Christian in her little unreached village. God has given this dear lady a passion for the lost in her village but they have mostly sidelined her out of the community - people fear what they don't understand. This time after we shared with her from the Word and prayed together, she said there was a man in the village who wanted us to visit so we went to see him. This is his story.

Lung Ya had been a Buddhist monk for many years. He had firmly held beliefs and when a short term team from Singapore came through his village witnessing about Christ he said he wasn't interested because he had already had much religious education. However, he is paralysed in his left side, and therefore agreed to receiving prayer. A week later, he visited Pa Suay, telling her that he had felt something when the team had prayed for him and he wanted to know more about Jesus. Of course Pa Suay gladly shared with him about Jesus from the Bible, and told him we would visit. When we saw him, he beamed and said he wanted to know Jesus. As we explained more about freedom from sin and hope in Christ, his face kept brightening and he said he wanted to teach others about Christ as we were teaching him! We explained that he needed to receive Christ first and that this meant a total change and new life. He was keen... so we led him in prayer and there was another party in heaven! He agreed to meet together with Pa Suay weekly to learn more about Jesus and worship together; and so a small village house church is born!! We have met with him and Pa Suay twice since then. Lung Ya is an eager learner, soaking up all that we share from the Word, and keen to participate in worship together. What a joy. We pray that God would stretch out his hand to confirm his Word with signs and wonders. This man is one of those! Please pray for spiritual growth, physical healing in Lung Ya's body, and for his wife and family to also receive the beautiful gift of salvation that he has accepted.

Snapshots of Isaan

On our Visa run to Laos - met with some friends for food and fellowship. Yes, that coconut is bigger than my head and was impossible to finish drinking. And the fish on the grill is talapia - a Thai/Lao favourite. 

The picture to the left below shows a Chinese medicine stall. Here we saw strange and pretty gross things (like 2 headed lizards with 10 tails, which you can see in the foreground) that people buy at great expense to 'cure' them of various illnesses / misfortunes. It was heartbreaking to see people resorting to such means because they don't know the true freedom and healing that Christ has brought.

This is a Thai style dinner party - everyone brings food, then they all cook it together on little barbecues and eat while they cook, chill, chat, sing karaoke songs and play music. Now that is my kind of party. :) As you can see it was a little chilly that evening - the beanies are out in force! This is the coldest winter Isaan has had for 30 years. The temperature is in the mid-twenties during the day if the sun is shining, and in the early teens at night... which is chilly when houses are built to keep cool and there are no heaters in sight. I know I shouldn't feel so cold, being Welsh and all... but apparently I have acclimatised! :)

This barbecue has an interesting mix of 'falang' (foreign) and Thai food - jacket potatoes wrapped in foil, pig intestines and Thai sausage. Mmmm.....

As I mentioned, it's far too cold for the Thais at the moment. Apparently dog fur doesn't do too well at keeping dogs warm, so all the pet dogs wear little jumpers!!

 The main temple, or wat in Ubon. It is all decked out in gold and apparently contains some of the Buddha's remains. When we visited, we saw many devoted Buddhists purchasing flowers and gifts and offering them to the monks. It is the main way they make merit, in hopes of a better life... in their next life.
Do they have any assurance? Nope.
Any hope for God's help with the struggles of their (often very difficult) daily lives? None.
So what are they left with? The real religion completely mingled with Buddhism here:

Animism (appeasing the spirits all around them).

As a result, outside most houses and in groves of trees, just like the Canaanite religions of the OT - you see these high places. Spirit houses, where the spirits of the area are believed to reside. This is the focus of appeasement offerings like you see in the picture - apparently Red Fanta is a firm favourite.
While it may seem ridiculous to us, this is the only hope they have, because otherwise they believe they are at the mercy of various malevolent and easily offended spirits.

Oh Holy Spirit ~ we long that you would be poured out on this nation, to free this people from the many things that enslave them. Have mercy Lord, and forgive them for the sins which permeate this land. Cleanse the land from the influence of deception. May your kingdom come in Thailand and your Spirit be poured out, to soften hard and deceived hearts; may the light of your truth shine brightly and may demonic strongholds of idolatry, immorality and fear be broken. May the people of this land experience your power to save, heal and set free, and your love to fill and make them new. Give them the hope that only you can give, of a sure and eternal life with you starting from now. 

In Jesus name and for your glory. Amen.