So, here we go again folks! My new friend, Nuu (the one I mentioned two posts ago but didn't know her name), called me again and has invited me to meet her and her little sister at the King's Park for an afternoon of fun and talking. Please pray for me and the kids as we will meet her tomorrow (Saturday at 3:30, our time). I am SO excited and looking forward to how God might use us...pray that she would even come to worship with us on Sunday..wouldn't that be wonderful?!
Thanks for praying...
Showing posts with label ministry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ministry. Show all posts
Friday, June 13, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
a random happening
Oh, the joys of living in Thailand. Everyone wants to be your friend because you are a "farang" (foreigner) and you can obviously speak the lingua franca of the world...English. So, that makes us in high demand and Thais are not shy at all about being your friend just so they can improve their English. I don't really mind this kind of "use me" thinking because at least it gives me a chance to share Christ and the freedom from sin He offers us. Thais are curious and they like to hang out with and get to know foreigners...there is some sort of appeal to the way we do things and they are curious to hear and learn all about us. (just as we are them!) I think it's fascinating though because I don't think we treat "foreigners" in America with the same respect and eagerness to learn from them. And, I know, there are a lot of reasons for that and I am not going to go into a whole political debate on it, but I do think we are missing out when we (as Christians, anyway) don't take time to learn from those who are not like us and to share the Gospel. What better way to share God's love than in this way?
Ok, I have sufficiently digressed in this post. I wanted to talk about a random act that happened last week and how it is affecting my life. Last Tuesday we went to the local mall. Tuesdays are our days off and we often will spend a couple hours at the mall just walking about and getting things that we might need (rather want?). Last week our wants led us to the Annie Anne's pretzel store. You might be surprised to hear that we have Annie Anne's here in Thailand, but it's true, we have it and we even have the yummy homemade lemonade and it tastes just like it does in America (although I have was challenged recently in thinking that my tastes have probably changed and what I think is good American food might not really be so but it just seems so because all other food is Thai so anything that comes close is GOOD!). SO, we were enjoying a little snack at Annie Anne's last week when one of the girls that works there (and mind you we have only gone to this Annie Anne's on one or two other occassions since being in BKK) who we don't know at all and have never met before walks up to us while we're enjoying our lemonade and pretzels and asks me if she can call me sometime to practice her English. It turns out she is studying to be an English teacher and needs some practicing...which is where I obviously come in! So, for the past week she has called me almost daily to talk and chat in English. The conversations are usually not very long...when she's riding on a bus going to or from someplace but they are mostly in English. When I ask a question or answer and she doesn't understand I say it in Thai. Today when she called, it really encouraged me that God can and I believe will use me in this to proclaim the Gospel and to help her improve her English. I want to really get to know her and encourage her and be a good friend to her. These "chance" meetings are rarely that, for God directs our paths and I believe this is one path He clearly laid out for me. She told me her name the first time she called but I didn't write it down. However, would you pray for me and for her? I will try to post a name soon, but for now you can pray that God would use me and pray for opportunity for us to meet face to face and talk and not just over the phone.
I was telling Rachel about this last week and she told me that they have often have people just stop in at their apartment who want to practice their English with her and Melanie! It blew my mind! We do live in a university setting but it just seems like word travels fast about where the foreigners live...and they definitely know where the girls live! And so many of the students are really bold to get a better handle on their English.
Ok, I have sufficiently digressed in this post. I wanted to talk about a random act that happened last week and how it is affecting my life. Last Tuesday we went to the local mall. Tuesdays are our days off and we often will spend a couple hours at the mall just walking about and getting things that we might need (rather want?). Last week our wants led us to the Annie Anne's pretzel store. You might be surprised to hear that we have Annie Anne's here in Thailand, but it's true, we have it and we even have the yummy homemade lemonade and it tastes just like it does in America (although I have was challenged recently in thinking that my tastes have probably changed and what I think is good American food might not really be so but it just seems so because all other food is Thai so anything that comes close is GOOD!). SO, we were enjoying a little snack at Annie Anne's last week when one of the girls that works there (and mind you we have only gone to this Annie Anne's on one or two other occassions since being in BKK) who we don't know at all and have never met before walks up to us while we're enjoying our lemonade and pretzels and asks me if she can call me sometime to practice her English. It turns out she is studying to be an English teacher and needs some practicing...which is where I obviously come in! So, for the past week she has called me almost daily to talk and chat in English. The conversations are usually not very long...when she's riding on a bus going to or from someplace but they are mostly in English. When I ask a question or answer and she doesn't understand I say it in Thai. Today when she called, it really encouraged me that God can and I believe will use me in this to proclaim the Gospel and to help her improve her English. I want to really get to know her and encourage her and be a good friend to her. These "chance" meetings are rarely that, for God directs our paths and I believe this is one path He clearly laid out for me. She told me her name the first time she called but I didn't write it down. However, would you pray for me and for her? I will try to post a name soon, but for now you can pray that God would use me and pray for opportunity for us to meet face to face and talk and not just over the phone.
I was telling Rachel about this last week and she told me that they have often have people just stop in at their apartment who want to practice their English with her and Melanie! It blew my mind! We do live in a university setting but it just seems like word travels fast about where the foreigners live...and they definitely know where the girls live! And so many of the students are really bold to get a better handle on their English.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Missing In Action
Hi friends. Sorry for the long delay in blog posting. It's not that there is not a lot to post about but more like we have lacked the internet connection to do so but even if we had the internet connection we would have lacked time as well!
So, I will try to catch you up on the happenings as of late and give you a glimpse at what is to come before Paul leaves for a trip in just a few minutes (and he will be taking the computer with him, so again, this will be it for a few days!). I am sorry that some of the recent happenings have not been dictated to you and so you haven't known how to pray, but I hope that the Spirit of the Lord was pricking your heart to prayer for our team anyways...even without the posts. God IS at work here and it's SOOOO encouraging to our hearts and hopefully to yours to hear and see what God is doing.
Where to begin? I guess I will begin with the results of the basketball tournament that Paul went to a few weeks ago. I wish I could say that they went, they won, they conquered but unfortunately they went, they lost, they came home! BUT, not without God opening doors of opportunity to share the Gospel with the guys with whom Paul went. Thank you for praying with us and this trip. Paul was able to deepen relationships with some of the other guys he regularly plays basketball with and was even able to share why he is here and the hope he has in Christ. A few days later began the biggest Thai holiday and that would be none other than Thai New Year. This is the equivalent to Christmas. EVERYONE goes home (up country) and Bangkok is almost a ghost town and the entire nation is in one huge water war. It's a lot of fun but there is also a lot of drinking of alcohol during this time which also makes it a deadly time to be driving. And, one of Paul's friends was killed in a drinking and driving accident one of the nights during this festival. Oat played basketball with Paul regularly and was only 28 years old. Paul attended a viewing for Oat along with some of the other basketball guys and was deeply saddened because most likely Oat is not in heaven with our Savior. Needless to say, this death opened up great doors for Paul to share with many more from the b-ball court. Please pray that God would open up more and more opportunities for Paul and others to share more and more about Christ. Pray for the Holy Spirit to soften hearts to receive Christ Jesus as Lord.
When all this was taking place some other things came to light in the lives of one Thai couple which caused great grief within our hearts. I was so discouraged and wondered what God was doing...but then He assured me He is at work in the lives of our friends and though they must walk thru some dark trials, He IS able to save and He is able to use their hard times to bring them to Himself. I remember Dave (our team leader) challenging us to pray for discomfort for our Thai friends so that they might know Christ and I have prayed that prayer for many of them, many times, but alas, it is hard to see our dear friends suffer and I feel at a loss to offer any hope, unless they repent and believe. I believe God also revealed that because He is at work, our enemy is also at work and we must be prepared for this warfare we find ourselves in. Please pray against the work of Satan and please pray that we would be properly armored to fight this fight (Ephesians 6).
And, lastly, yesterday (Sunday) we returned from a two day church camp at the beach. It was wonderful. Many folks came who do not yet know Christ as Lord. We had times of worship and we also had times of teaching. I had the opportunity to meet with many who do not yet believe and it's encouraging to hear that several of them are so close to receiving Christ but have some reservation, mostly due to their parents. You see, in Buddhism, when your parents die, you as a child are to go and make merit for your deceased parents and when the child becomes a Christian the parents feel they are then without hope as their child will not be making merit for them. Pray for God to reveal that He is able to give more hope than merit making could ever dream to give...pray for families to come to know Christ.
On the other hand, I also spoke with some who were not interested and quite obviously the eyes of their heart are darkened. This was hard but again it reminds us that only the Holy Spirit can open the heart to receive His WORD and we must persevere in prayer on behalf of them.
This is just a nutshell of our lives the past few weeks. Again, God is at work. It's neat to hear from the Thais their thoughts on Christianity and their interest and even for some to hear how God has been calling them for some time but have yet to repent and believe. Please pray for God's Spirit to soften those hearts to do just that. We praise God for all of you who pray for us, our team and the Thais we love who do not yet know Christ. Please persevere in prayer, not giving up for God is building His kingdom and we must wait on His timing and His Spirit to work. Pray that we would be faithful witnesses and proclaim Christ to everyone at every opportunity.
Once Paul gets back I will try to post some pics of the past few weeks. =)
So, I will try to catch you up on the happenings as of late and give you a glimpse at what is to come before Paul leaves for a trip in just a few minutes (and he will be taking the computer with him, so again, this will be it for a few days!). I am sorry that some of the recent happenings have not been dictated to you and so you haven't known how to pray, but I hope that the Spirit of the Lord was pricking your heart to prayer for our team anyways...even without the posts. God IS at work here and it's SOOOO encouraging to our hearts and hopefully to yours to hear and see what God is doing.
Where to begin? I guess I will begin with the results of the basketball tournament that Paul went to a few weeks ago. I wish I could say that they went, they won, they conquered but unfortunately they went, they lost, they came home! BUT, not without God opening doors of opportunity to share the Gospel with the guys with whom Paul went. Thank you for praying with us and this trip. Paul was able to deepen relationships with some of the other guys he regularly plays basketball with and was even able to share why he is here and the hope he has in Christ. A few days later began the biggest Thai holiday and that would be none other than Thai New Year. This is the equivalent to Christmas. EVERYONE goes home (up country) and Bangkok is almost a ghost town and the entire nation is in one huge water war. It's a lot of fun but there is also a lot of drinking of alcohol during this time which also makes it a deadly time to be driving. And, one of Paul's friends was killed in a drinking and driving accident one of the nights during this festival. Oat played basketball with Paul regularly and was only 28 years old. Paul attended a viewing for Oat along with some of the other basketball guys and was deeply saddened because most likely Oat is not in heaven with our Savior. Needless to say, this death opened up great doors for Paul to share with many more from the b-ball court. Please pray that God would open up more and more opportunities for Paul and others to share more and more about Christ. Pray for the Holy Spirit to soften hearts to receive Christ Jesus as Lord.
When all this was taking place some other things came to light in the lives of one Thai couple which caused great grief within our hearts. I was so discouraged and wondered what God was doing...but then He assured me He is at work in the lives of our friends and though they must walk thru some dark trials, He IS able to save and He is able to use their hard times to bring them to Himself. I remember Dave (our team leader) challenging us to pray for discomfort for our Thai friends so that they might know Christ and I have prayed that prayer for many of them, many times, but alas, it is hard to see our dear friends suffer and I feel at a loss to offer any hope, unless they repent and believe. I believe God also revealed that because He is at work, our enemy is also at work and we must be prepared for this warfare we find ourselves in. Please pray against the work of Satan and please pray that we would be properly armored to fight this fight (Ephesians 6).
And, lastly, yesterday (Sunday) we returned from a two day church camp at the beach. It was wonderful. Many folks came who do not yet know Christ as Lord. We had times of worship and we also had times of teaching. I had the opportunity to meet with many who do not yet believe and it's encouraging to hear that several of them are so close to receiving Christ but have some reservation, mostly due to their parents. You see, in Buddhism, when your parents die, you as a child are to go and make merit for your deceased parents and when the child becomes a Christian the parents feel they are then without hope as their child will not be making merit for them. Pray for God to reveal that He is able to give more hope than merit making could ever dream to give...pray for families to come to know Christ.
On the other hand, I also spoke with some who were not interested and quite obviously the eyes of their heart are darkened. This was hard but again it reminds us that only the Holy Spirit can open the heart to receive His WORD and we must persevere in prayer on behalf of them.
This is just a nutshell of our lives the past few weeks. Again, God is at work. It's neat to hear from the Thais their thoughts on Christianity and their interest and even for some to hear how God has been calling them for some time but have yet to repent and believe. Please pray for God's Spirit to soften those hearts to do just that. We praise God for all of you who pray for us, our team and the Thais we love who do not yet know Christ. Please persevere in prayer, not giving up for God is building His kingdom and we must wait on His timing and His Spirit to work. Pray that we would be faithful witnesses and proclaim Christ to everyone at every opportunity.
Once Paul gets back I will try to post some pics of the past few weeks. =)
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Praise to the Lord
"I will always thank the LORD; I will never stop praising him. I will praise Him for what He has done; may all who are oppressed listen and be glad! Proclaim with me the LORD's greatness; let us praise His name together!" Psalm 34:1-3
I want to praise the Lord and I don't want any glory or praise for it. I have been wanting to share this information since it happened but have really struggled in my heart with true motives. I am a sinful human and we humans (for the most part) like praise and like to hear what a good job we're doing and perhaps especially if we are missionaries or pastors...we are often tempted to write a good prayer letter or, in this case, blog post, so that all you back home will know that WE are doing a "good job." Well, this, of course, is rubbish and is sinful. Taking any glory of the work here is sinful. Only God is worthy of the glory. I don't want all of you out there who read my posts to think I am bragging or in any way taking glory for what happens in this land (and that goes for our entire team). We, as a team, recognize that it's ONLY by God's grace that we see any fruit of the labor here. I also want to clarify that when I share a testimony of God's faithfulness here it's not to show what a great person I am...because I am not a great person, just a regular 'ol gal who God sometimes chooses to use as His tool, despite my weakness and unfaithfulness to Him. With all that said, I proceed with this post. Please do not look at the messengers but only the ONE who is worthy of the praise due His name.
Last Friday I took the boys and our Thai intern, Tang, to the park. I met up with a friend of mine that I've been getting to know over the past couple months. She has a son a little older than PJ and he is a very sweet little boy. If you recall the first time I met her she had a lot of questions about Christianity and (http://henrysinthailand.blogspot.com/2007/01/encouraged.html)Catholicism. I answered the best I could with what I remembered from my Christian terminology. Well, last week, I introduced my friend to Tang (the intern from Bangkok Bible College). She opened right up to Tang just like she did with me and started to ask her a bunch of questions...and Tang could answer SOOO much better than me! And, Tang, having a tremendous heart for evangelism shared the Gospel with my friend...right there sitting on the sidewalk beside the playground area. Tang had brought along with her a small booklet of pictures that walks a person thru the Gospel. It was incredible to witness and as I looked after the boys I prayed and prayed that the Spirit of God would work. My friend hasn't received Christ yet, but she did bring her son to Joy Kids the next day and joined the English class I am teaching on Saturday mornings!
It turns out my friend had seen "The DaVinci Code." Tang told me this on our way home. It all made a bit more sense at that point because my friend isn't Catholic. I was annoyed when I heard she had seen that movie but then I stopped and thanked God for the opportunity He provided thru such a horrible movie. Had she not seen it, would she have these questions? I don't know but once again God shows us He is still in control and can use evil for good...just like with Joseph way back in the OT and just like Adam and Eve when they disobeyed and got kicked out of the Garden...God had a much bigger plan, didn't He?
Well, I know many of you are faithfully praying for the Thais. Please continue to pray. God is working and we, as a team, are encouraged at what HE is doing here. Pray for hearts to be softened and ready for the Good Seed of the Gospel to take root. Pray that it lands on good soil. Pray for our interns and Thai staff as well. They share the Gospel so naturally, pray that we foreigners can learn from them. Pray also for all of us to be bold and yet humble as we share. God is SOOO good. Praise the Lord with us!
I want to praise the Lord and I don't want any glory or praise for it. I have been wanting to share this information since it happened but have really struggled in my heart with true motives. I am a sinful human and we humans (for the most part) like praise and like to hear what a good job we're doing and perhaps especially if we are missionaries or pastors...we are often tempted to write a good prayer letter or, in this case, blog post, so that all you back home will know that WE are doing a "good job." Well, this, of course, is rubbish and is sinful. Taking any glory of the work here is sinful. Only God is worthy of the glory. I don't want all of you out there who read my posts to think I am bragging or in any way taking glory for what happens in this land (and that goes for our entire team). We, as a team, recognize that it's ONLY by God's grace that we see any fruit of the labor here. I also want to clarify that when I share a testimony of God's faithfulness here it's not to show what a great person I am...because I am not a great person, just a regular 'ol gal who God sometimes chooses to use as His tool, despite my weakness and unfaithfulness to Him. With all that said, I proceed with this post. Please do not look at the messengers but only the ONE who is worthy of the praise due His name.
Last Friday I took the boys and our Thai intern, Tang, to the park. I met up with a friend of mine that I've been getting to know over the past couple months. She has a son a little older than PJ and he is a very sweet little boy. If you recall the first time I met her she had a lot of questions about Christianity and (http://henrysinthailand.blogspot.com/2007/01/encouraged.html)Catholicism. I answered the best I could with what I remembered from my Christian terminology. Well, last week, I introduced my friend to Tang (the intern from Bangkok Bible College). She opened right up to Tang just like she did with me and started to ask her a bunch of questions...and Tang could answer SOOO much better than me! And, Tang, having a tremendous heart for evangelism shared the Gospel with my friend...right there sitting on the sidewalk beside the playground area. Tang had brought along with her a small booklet of pictures that walks a person thru the Gospel. It was incredible to witness and as I looked after the boys I prayed and prayed that the Spirit of God would work. My friend hasn't received Christ yet, but she did bring her son to Joy Kids the next day and joined the English class I am teaching on Saturday mornings!
It turns out my friend had seen "The DaVinci Code." Tang told me this on our way home. It all made a bit more sense at that point because my friend isn't Catholic. I was annoyed when I heard she had seen that movie but then I stopped and thanked God for the opportunity He provided thru such a horrible movie. Had she not seen it, would she have these questions? I don't know but once again God shows us He is still in control and can use evil for good...just like with Joseph way back in the OT and just like Adam and Eve when they disobeyed and got kicked out of the Garden...God had a much bigger plan, didn't He?
Well, I know many of you are faithfully praying for the Thais. Please continue to pray. God is working and we, as a team, are encouraged at what HE is doing here. Pray for hearts to be softened and ready for the Good Seed of the Gospel to take root. Pray that it lands on good soil. Pray for our interns and Thai staff as well. They share the Gospel so naturally, pray that we foreigners can learn from them. Pray also for all of us to be bold and yet humble as we share. God is SOOO good. Praise the Lord with us!
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