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I have always heard that with the right attitude you can learn something new from all situations.  Christmas is no new event in my life, having 21 (now 22) under my belt.  However, in Thailand Christmas is not about being with family and making it to grandma’s house on time.  Christmas here is about evanglism, an opportunity to add meaning to all the garland.

As a couple of the missionaries have pointed out to me, this is a season of favor for the Kingdom of God.  As Scripture says, “The fields are ready for a harvest!”  All we need are workers.  In the last week of Christmas the harvest has been plentiful all around Thailand.  In Angsila alone I have seen 12 people come to know Christ and the love that encompasses that.  In TLC, a church I’ll be working at in April, has seen nearly 30 people come to Christ.

Amongst all the Life introduced this last week, we have also seen many people move much closer to Christ.  The Thai people often speak in “percents” to describe where they are at with different things in their lives.  Someone could only like another person 30% or put 60% into an event.  I had the chance to sit and talk with someone on our “intentional outreach list” where she moved from 50% believing in God to 80%. 

There was a young girl at church last Saturday who was only 15 years old.  She only happened upon the church, her first time ever, and heard of a Love that she needed so desperately.  Six weeks ago she was riding in a taxi with her mother, younger brother, and father.  The father stopped the taxi, turned around and shot her mother to death.  He then shot her younger brother to death.  For some reason he let her go.  She found out later that her father chopped up her younger brother and put him in a trash bag.  But last Saturday she found out about the true Healer.  Now real healing can happen in her life.  Pray hard for her, that God would continue to break into her life and heal her.

We spent time in intercessory prayer for a few church members hosting an evangelical outreach in their home for friends and family who don’t know Christ.  God spoke volumes to the team during that time, and though it is difficult to not be “a part” of the event, we know God was there.  We have visions to share with people, encouragement to give, and our hearts overflowing with the Spirit.

By far the highlight of my last week has easily been Saturday night and Sunday.  One of the guys who’s so close to meeting Christ let me join him for work.  He’s 18 years old, and after church he was scooter-mobiling-side-carting on by the church and I jumped on.  I got the chance to bucket water up from a well and drive to the pier (mind you, at about 10pm) and give people water.  Driving down the busy market pier was sweet to say the least.  Thai culture allows for people to call out foreigners as they see them which gathers alot of attention.  I would shout back the little Thai I know and we’d press on.

Golf is known clear down the pier, which is where he sells fish on the weekends.  Joining him and his friends was easily the closest to the kind of ministry I want to do later in life.  It’s about joining the people in life, getting soaked with buckets of water.  Ministry with them was about doing my best to learn their language, letting them call me silly, and allowing them to laugh at me.  I can’t even count the number of times mom’s asked me if I had a girlfriend, and after I answered no, they would introduce their single daughter.  If I wanted I could have left that pier married before midnight.

Golf then called me at 6am Sunday morning and I got to sell meat-balls-on-a-stick to all the same people I met the night before.  I told them all that I was able to sell so many because I was a handsome foreigner.  Works every time.  I sold them all with Golf mostly because I learned how to say “my mom made these.”  Clearly a lie, but man, laughter sells everything and anything.

Golf told me he’d call me when he had more work.  All too often when I’m at the church people never come looking for me.  With the language’s great difficulty it is hard to create solid relationships of “hanging out” with people.  For the first time Puun came in the door and shouted up the stairs for me.  Could’ve easily brought tears to my eyes had I not been so excited to sell crabs to people I don’t know.  There isn’t alot on a peir in Thailand that could attract more attention then a young white boy shouting on and on about how sweet the crabs were.  Sweet moments like Golf praying that they would sell all his seafood and knowing that God will be faithful in his life; these moments were so often, and so God-filled.

I’m going to help him next week too.  There isn’t much that can wake me up at 2am with such excitement, but easily work on the peir with Golf is one of those. 

Pray for Golf.

Pray for Puun.

Pray for all the people in the small town of Angsila.  Whenever the church hosts a huge event, and people come to know Christ, the village puts up another Buddha statue.  As depressing as it seems, there isn’t much the Enemy can do to stop the Kingdom of Christ from taking the village, should He want to.

Thank you for your prayers, for continually enduring long posts, and for supporting me in everything God is chosing to do through me.

–Thomas

ps. Best moment of today had to be hanging out the back of a Song Tao (public truck taxi), with a starbucks coffee (brand new, I was the first customer. ), and rocking out to Lady Gaga.

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