Great Small Beginnings

Thai provinces are divided into districts, similar to what we might call counties.  Each one has tens of thousands of people in it. Our burden is that there are seemingly a countless number of districts that have no churches – and many without even a single Christian.  For over 20 years our family has worked here with the desire to see God’s kingdom come and His will be done here in Thailand just as it is in heaven.  We share Christ with patients at the clinic, we knock on doors and visit people in their homes, we teach English in schools as a springboard to bring the Gospel to communities, and we do mobile clinics in districts all over the country with the desire to see people introduced to the Father’s love so that a local body of believers might be born and the Lord would be glorified in their praise.  
     BP is a district about 40 minutes southwest of us.  There is no body of believers there.  There has never been a church there.  Three years ago we began concentrated efforts to bring the Gospel to BP.  We did a number of mobile clinics, taught English in schools, knocked on door after door, passed out tracts in the market, and shared the Gospel over and over again – year after year.  Occasionally, someone would show interest for a short time, but local pressure and their own disbelief would always stop them short of following Christ.  
    

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the 10th grade class Gary and Rez taught 

 Then a few weeks ago, Gary and Rez brought a team to join forces with a team from South Mountain to come teach English and again help us take the Gospel into BP.  Sandi came a couple months in advance and she and I teamed up with some of my Thai staff to walk the streets of BP, knocking on doors, sharing Christ with people we met on the streets, and passing out tracts in the market.  In all our visits, we found no one even remotely interested.  But the principal of the school was very anxious to have us come help his students learn English, and many of the school’s students were freshly embroiled in a number of personal difficulties, so the Lord was preparing the soil for the Gospel seed that Gary and Rez’ team was bringing.
     After 4 days of teaching English and sharing the Good News, we gathered in the middle of the school’s soccer field to worship the Lord and intercede on behalf of the people there.  Two boys from the school followed us, and accepting our invitation, they joined us as we sang and prayed.  We asked them how we could pray for them and then gathered around them to pray.  Both of them were from broken homes.  After our time together, I asked the boys where they were headed.   One said that he was going to set up his roadside cart where he and his mom sold home-made ice cream every day after school.  I asked if we could visit.  Nearly 20 of us drove up to his little stand where he and his mom were selling their coconut ice cream.  Mong was obviously very happy to have us visit him, and his mom was perhaps even happier.  We all enjoyed having ice cream together, and enjoyed getting to know each other even more.  Soon we were talking about the Lord and His plan for our life.  I asked Mong’s mom if he had talked to her about what he was learning about God through the English teachers.  She said, “Yes, I think he wants to become a Christian.”  I asked her how she felt about that and she said, “Well, I’d like to know more about it.”  I said that I would be very happy to tell her more and asked when we could meet to learn about God.  She said, “How about right now?”  So right there we talked with her about who God is – that He made the world, that He is holy, that He loves us, and will one day judge all men and decide their eternal destiny.  When we finished, she seemed eager to have us come back – and very eager for us to continue to befriend her son.  

This is Mong drawing the bridge diagram Gary taught them  answering the question for that day. 
Why should I believe in God?

 

 

     Then a week later, we visited again.  This time a friend of the family was there. Also a student at the school where we did the English camp.  I asked her if she had talked to Mong and his mom about God, and her reply was, “I want to become a Christian too!”  So right there, just as Mong and his mom had done a week earlier, she prayed to make Christ her Lord.  Now there are 3 in this place that had no believers for such a very long time.  
     The “church” of BP is still very small – just 3 believers, with a faith that is less than 2 weeks old.  But Sandi encouraged me with a quote from Zechariah: “Do not despise the day of small beginnings.”  I am overjoyed by seeing the Lord save these 3 precious people.  Please pray for BP and this brand new family of faith – and thank the Lord with us for these days of small beginnings.

Mong and his mom's ice cream shop

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    A week later we returned and taught her more of the death and resurrection of Jesus and how men could have their sins forgiven and at last be right with God.  When we finished I invited her to repent of her sins and submit to God as Lord of her life.  And right there, at a table a few feet from her ice cream stand, she and her son (who smilingly said that he was very ready!) placed their faith in Christ.  We rejoiced as we watched salvation come to this BP family.