Tuesday update

[posted by: liz swauger]

Well, as many of you may know, Tuesday was a little rough (it is 3:35am Wednesday here as I write). The jetlag caught up to all of our team-- which included dizziness, nausea, and other less-than-pleasant side effects I'd rather not detail. But suffice it to say, yesterday was a painful blur.

However, despite not eating-- and feeling all around like I might keel over at any moment, I think that yesterday was one of the best days we've had. Even though I was weak-- He was strong.

The morning started off with a private meeting with Adjong Thongchai-- the man who represents all the Protestant interests in Thailand-- he is thought by most to be the most influential evangelical in all of Thailand. We were able to hear his heart for the Thai's. What was interesting was that, for as much as he planned (and "prepared the fields" if you will) He refused to put a limit on the things that God will do here. At one point, I asked him how many teachers they would like for a semester-- what a "full staff" would be... his answer? That the more the workers, the larger the field. That God will always provide just enough people to accomplish and reach those who need to hear. He didn't have a number, or a goal, his prayer is just that those who are prompted by God to come-- come. And he trusted that that would be enough.

After our private meeting with Adjong (meaning: "respected teacher") Thongchai, we went with him and some of the IMB/LifePoint staff to the Bayoke Tower. This is the tallest building in Thailand. We ate on the 74th floor over-looking the city. Afterwards, we were able to go to the observation platform and see the city as the platform slowly spun us in a circle to get a 360 degree view of Bangkok. I have never seen a city so big in my life-- it is at least double the size of NYC.

While talking to Thongchai, he further affirmed the fact that building relationships is the most effective way to share the Gospel with the Thai people. (We definitely have seen this as 30+ students our age meet multiple times a week to sing worship songs and study the Bible-- and yet 80% do not yet have a relationship with Christ-- they just love the people at the BSC and want to spend time with them. One of the "small group leaders" is named Dang, and we walked past him one night with all these guys and girls surrounding him, him on the guitar, and people singing songs like "As the deer panteth for the water..." in Thai. Not because they have a relationship with God, but because they love Dang.) Then, once people are your friend, they listen to the things you have to say. Then, they accept your beliefs as part of accepting you. Then, they transition into really accepting it for themselves, whether you were to believe it or not. This process is called "discipling someone to salvation." The Thai people are accepted into the Christian community before they ever accept Christ. They come to church, small groups, learn about Christ in their classes-- and this provides them with opportunities to ask questions (which they do!) and work out what it means to be a Christian, and the cost of discipleship. Once they do accept Christ for themselves, then they are already a part of a community, and there are not "shocking revelations". They understand that the price of believing is rejecting Buddhism, which is more than a religion here, it is the way of life. There is nothing in America, that I can think of, that so completely touches and affects everyone-- like Buddhism does here. No one's worldview is left untouched by Buddhism. From what people have told me, and what I have seen, "To be Thai, is to be Buddhist." So to reject Buddhism, is to reject a key part of what has been their identity their whole lives. Praise God that people here are seeing that Christ is worth the price.

After a (too brief) afternoon nap, we went on to help with the Conversation Corner. The best way I can explain the set-up, is like speed-dating-- We sit on one side of a long table, and then people trickle in and out of the seats across from us.

Monday night was our first night doing this-- and I was able to share the Gospel with everyone I spoke with-- however, the language barrier was a difficult thing to overcome with many of the "lower level" English speakers. I did have a good conversation with a girl named Ting-- and she seems so close to accepting, please be praying for her! I think every team member has been able to talk with her in some way about the Gospel.

One of the things I found discouraging on Monday night, was that people either had no knowledge of God (at all) or they were so deceived by Buddhism, that they couldn't understand key elements about the Gospel. In Buddhism, there is no God-- and curiosity doesn't seem to really be fostered. So people never think about where nature came from, or how humans originated, etc. Things that we would see as basic questions about life, they never consider. As a result, when we talk about God with some of them, they literally have no base-knowledge to build on. Who is God? Why did His Son have to die? How did Jesus dying take away our sin? were common questions. They didn't know anything. And that was difficult.

However, tonight was more encouraging at the Conversation Corner. Instead of trying to talk to lots of people, I just talked to one: Song. Song is a 28 year old guy who lives with his sister not too far from the BSC. He doesn't take classes at the BSC, but he comes for the free events it does because he wants desperately to improve his English. He spent 4 months in New Zealand working on a farm in exchange for room/board and conversational English help. I've never met anyone with such an interesting story. He is Thai, but his grandparents (who I think raised him) were Chinese. He works at a pig farm and also raises crocodiles at his house. Yes, crocodiles. They buy them as babies and then raise them to about 2 meters and then sell them to people who dry the meat and use the skin to make purses/belts/etc. Who raises crocodiles at their house?? Seriously.

We talked about everything. About life in America and Thailand-- about jobs he'd had-- about the "crime rate" in America (talk about a broad spectrum)-- about how Americans date (also equally as broad...)-- about places we had been-- things to do in Thailand-- and then we bridged to religion. I think that about half of our time we were working through Christianity/Buddhism. And Song was very proficient in English, so it wasn't too hard to discuss more complicated matters... which we did for about two of the four hours.

Do Christians believe in reincarnation? What is the standard to get to heaven? Why did Jesus come to earth? What role does the Holy Spirit play in the life of the believer? Where did we come from? Why is the universe so big? Who made the earth?... all these questions, and so many more.

And praise God, that, despite my own physical weakness, He was able to give me words to speak to share His Truth with Song. For Song, the Gospel was confusing-- but he was asking good questions. And as I would answer things about God, he would tell me things about Buddhism. It was such a neat exchange. He would tell me about "walking meditation," where one focuses on becoming aware of everything around you-- even of your subconscious in an effort to clean your mind. And then I would share about the Holy Spirit and how when you accept Christ, you receive the Holy Spirit and He renews your heart and gives you peace, comfort and renews your mind, etc.

He said he would come back tomorrow (or I guess it's today now) to talk more-- and my prayer is that he really starts thinking about the things that were brought up. That he is unsettled. That when he looks at nature, he doesn't just say "Oh, that's pretty... moving on" but that He marvels at the One who made it. That when he sees the stars, he notices them and realizes that a God who created something so large and vast, must be incredibly big. That the universe does not just exist to sustain us-- but to declare the excellencies of the One who made it!

Please keep Song and Ting in your prayers. Please also keep praying for our team-- for our energy and stamina to persist in being bold for the Gospel here. The Thais are willing to hear, pray that we would be clear in how we share.

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of all nations--