In Thailand, it’s not very often that you meet Thai Christians. I’ve seen statistics that show as high as 95% and as low as 93% of Thais are Buddhist. Less than 2% of the population is Christian with the other 3-5% being Muslims and other religions. Those are some staggering numbers.
But that doesn’t mean that God isn’t moving here. The other night we were hanging out in the bar with some of the friends we’ve made working there. There’s one girl named Taylor* who is easily the biggest personality in the room. When she’s happy, everyone knows it because she has a laugh that penetrates every part of your being and a smile that lights up the room. It’s easy to say that she’s one of the more popular girls in the bar.
The cool thing about Taylor is that you will never see her without this beautiful gold cross around her neck. As we sat and talked with her, my squadleader, Victoria, complimented her jewelry. Her response was something I won’t soon forget.
She said, “I’m 32 and I’ve had this necklace since I was 15 and I wear it everyday. I don’t know what it means, I bought it because my name starts with ‘T’ and I thought it was pretty. But I love it so much and I don’t know why. I’ve never been attached to something like this.”
Taylor just kept saying she didn’t know why she loved the necklace so much but she couldn’t bear to part with it. She later showed us a cross bracelet she wears every day and told us how she has similar feelings towards the bracelet. Again, Taylor said she didn’t know why she felt that way.
We quickly, and carefully, told Taylor about the Gospel of Jesus and what that cross means. A friend of ours with our church, Jovie, had pictures of the Gospel with descriptions in Thai. That way we wouldn’t lose anything in translation. We spent time with her explaining the significance of eternal salvation and the difference between Christ and Buddha. At the end we prayed with her and she cried. She said she’d never felt love like this towards people but she loved us so deeply and she didn’t know why. She asked us to come back again the next night to talk to her more about the cross and about “this Jesus.”
It’s amazing to think about, really, how much the Lord has been pursuing our friend, Taylor. For 17 years she’s worn a necklace she didn’t know the meaning of and felt a deep connection to a piece of jewelry that had no apparent significance. She was literally wearing Christ around her neck and didn’t even know it. How cool is God?
Taylor didn’t accept Christ but she’s curious. Every time we come in to the bars she hugs us and misses time with male customers to talk about different questions she has. I have no doubt that she will come to know Christ and break the stereotype that “to be Thai is to be Buddhist.”
I ask that you be in prayer for our friend and for people like her who have the yearning for something more but don’t know what that “something” is. Ask for God to continue to place people in to their lives that will tell them about the love of Jesus and be a light to them. Pray that there are new disciples added to the Kingdom every day.
God’s got work for us to do, we just have to be willing to do it.
All the love from Thailand,
Katie Mere
*The name of my friend has been changed to protect her identity.
