Against the Current

My team and I are placed in Chanthaburi, Thailand for a total of about 6 weeks. We have been blessed with the most wonderful contact we could have asked for. We live with the pastor of Chanthaburi Church along with his wife and young son, and my team stays together in one room that is above the sanctuary of the church. We have bucket showers and a real toilet so that's a definite blessing. 

 

Our ministry looks different from week to week. We are teaching English in a couple different schools, visiting a youth prison and a women's prison, and leading different small groups with members of the church. We also go to different churches on Sundays that the Pastor is discipling and share are testimonies or a word that the Lord has given us. The Lord has already open the doors for us to pray over people for healing and has given us the opportunity to speak life over members of the church and encourage them in their faith. I know the Lord has already started moving here, and I'm excited to see how he works in all the different ministries. 

 

What strikes me the most about ministry in Thailand in general, is that we are working in a 98% Buddhist nation, which means that there is roughly only 1% of Christians in Thailand. Meaning that the fact we are even working with people who have already met Jesus is so bizarre. The churches that we work with only have anywhere between 3-10 members, which compared to the churches we're used to at home doesn't seem like many at all. But when you think about it, its crazy that there are members in these churches at all. It was when we first visited the youth prison that I began to realize the weight of bringing Jesus into Thailand. When we visited the prison we played silly games like rock-paper-scissors and heads up seven up first, and afterwards Arielle shared her testimony and I was asked to present the gospel. The Holy Spirit totally came through and gave me the strength to just lay it out there, telling the truth about who Jesus is and what He did for us. It wasn't until we we're leaving that I realized that there was a huge Buddhist shrine at the back of the room we were in and I had just shared the gospel with it behind me the entire time. 

This is similar to what the shrine looked like:

When I started to think about it, what I had just done was so crazy! I was presenting an idea that almost completely contadicts everything that they have believed their entire lives. It's like Buddhism is intertwined with Thai culture in general. There are shrines to Buddha everywhere with plenty of food and gifts left out as offerings, and people lead a lifestyle that will earn them bigger blessings or a better afterlife. And here is me. Telling of a God that we can not see.  That doesn't live in shrines or ask for gifts or food as an offering. That created us humans and knows every part of us and chooses to love us anyways. Who only asks for our hearts, expecting us to come exactly how we are. A God that chose to die for us, even though we deserve a life completley seperated from Him, and who doesn't want anything in return! And evenmore, we serve a God who is completely and fully alive! I was presenting a beautiful exchange, to change in all the rules and religions and working to earn worth love, for beautiful and simple freedom. Jesus offers complete grace absolutely free of charge. If only one of those kids in that prison got it, grabbed a hold of this gift, or caught even a glimpse of this crazy love their lives would completely change forever. Could you imagine the freedom? It would be wild enough to change this whole province.

I'm just so thankful that the Lord would even consider using me such a thing. Its so refreshing to be reminded of everything the Lord exchanged for us, and this freedom I have in Christ. And I don't want to stop. It might be hard, or awkward but I want to keep asking the Lord to give me these oppurtunities because I know this Love is crazy enough to change nations.