Week One

How have I seen God working around me? 

I’m going to start with the great news of what happened yesterday. Yesterday, I walked to this hotel down the street. On the second floor there is a church and I went to it. I sat down in a chair and moments later this man comes and sits next to me. I turn over to the man and ask him if he had been to this church before. He turns to me and tells me that he moved from Singapore to Chiang Mai one week ago. He then told me he had never been to church before and that he just googled church and showed up. After the two hour service, he accepted Jesus Christ. I was thinking about church that night and how wonderful it was to be next to a man from the other side of the world. How great it was for multiple languages to be worshiping the same god at the same time. 

Roussian – Sept 14 I went to the Night Bazaar (big night market) with a few from the squad.(Claire, Alyson, Lexi, and Sydney).  I prayed and asked God to give me someone to talk to. Once we arrived at The Night Bazaar, this man walked up to me and just started talking to me. The conversation just naturally took off and we talked for a half hour. He told me about his wife and kids and how he has to work. He told me he was from Nepal and came to Thailand to start his own Tailor shop. He also mentioned that this was the slowest time of the year for business. I then asked him if I could pray over him and his business. A big smile came over his face and he walked us back to his store and invited us in. We sat down on comfortable leather couches and talked about his business. Then we all prayed over his business and for his family. He thanked us and then told us that 7 years ago there was a Christian Nepal group here and how he got to read the bible. He mentioned how the group left Chiang Mai and how he stayed a Buddhist. I then looked at him and told him about the power of prayer. I told him whenever he needed something, to ask Jesus. I told him Jesus is always listening and that nobody would have to know if you gave it a try. I then told him to just seek and he will find. On Sept 18 I went back to the tailor shop and talked to him. We only talked for ten minutes and I did not mention religion at all. I am trying to build a relationship with this man instead of just throwing the bible at him. I will be back to see him. 

Barlo – Sept 15 Austin, Logan, and I rode a sketch Tuk Tuk to meet this guy they had met the day before. We arrived at this mans’ work, which happened to be another Tailor shop. This man is 19 years old, is still in High School, and had moved to Thailand one year ago from Burma/Myanmar. He is studying political science so he can go back to Burma and fix it.  He needed something English to read so Austin and Logan had come by to drop off a bible. Barlo turns on the AC for us, gives us waters and mints and sits down on the couch with us and we talk. We got to pray over him before we left. A couple days later he friended me on Facebook and invited me to this local church. Something came up and we did not get to go. I hope I get to see him again too. 

Monk Chats-  I have been to talk to the monks four different times now. I try to get to know the monks and what they believe. The thing is I don’t think they really know what they believe. Every time I go they tell me something different. They are some of the nicest people and it has been so great to get to know them. Most of them become monks to bring honor to their families while some become monks to get a free college education. You can tell some of their minds are turning and thinking when you try to tell them about Christianity. I haven’t experienced much progress at monk chats, while some of the boys on my team have had some really good conversations. This is part of our weekly ministry to go and talk to the monks. We are building strong relationships, and  6 have friended me on Facebook. Most of these monks will stop being monks once they finish college, so throwing some seeds on them and watering them every week is a great opportunity to reach them. 

University- The same place where we chat with the monks is a University where Thai people learn to speak English, so that they can become English teachers. A bunch of these students have been to monk chat every week so they can practice their English with some Americans. I have friended some of these students and gotten to see them weekly. The students I have gotten to know are actually Christians. I can’t wait to see the opportunities God can make through this. 

Ministry – My ministry has been doing renovations around the Hostel, anywhere from painting, sanding, bunk bed making, cleaning, etc. One day a week we go to the orphanage where we mow some grass with these handmade weedeaters and lawnmowers that look more like a bicycle. We then get to hang out with the kids there. We also go to monk chat one afternoon. Tonight we are going to the University to hangout with the local college students. Building relationships and sharing the gospel.