Tonight we were blessed to be a part of the local church’s youth group, and by ‘youth’ I mean women from ages 16 to 47!
When we arrived we were blessed to hear of God’s quick answer to a prayer. Last night at the worship service we prayed for a girl named Garn’s mother, who on Easter became paralyzed and was not able to walk. She called Garn this morning and told her she was able to walk!!! She also expressed an interest in moving (she lives in Northern Thailand) down near her daughter in order to be able to learn more about her daughter’s faith and God. What an answer to prayer!
About 30 minutes after we arrived, we were on our way to a fun and Spirit-led youth group. We started introductions with a group of 5 women. Following the name, age, job, and favorite food sharing, a 17 year old girl named Lydia led us in worship on the guitar. And then it was time for the fun to break out!
After worship, I led the group in some small group games. One game in particular was quite fun, the Hi-Ya game. This game requires everyone to make the best samurai warrior noises possible. Mass chaos breaks out as everyone has to pay close attention and perform the right actions to stay in the game. Many laughs were had.
Our talk of the night centered around alcohol and what the Lord has to say on it. We had each person take 2 slips of paper and write on them negative ways that alcohol has affected them, friends, or family members. We taped these pieces of paper together to make a paper chain (you know like the ones you make as a kid
at Christmas time to count down the days). Gary used this for an illustration later.
After the short introduction on the topic, we pulled out of our back pockets the old “In the Light” drama, which we hadn’t done since Guatemala. This illustrated a girl trapped in the sins of drug and alcohol abuse and turning to Jesus to set her free. Our audience of 5 was very entertained.
Following the drama, Gary gave a brief talk to discuss the issue in further detail. Using our paper chain (representing alcohol), he wrapped his wrists up as if a slave to sin (going along with scripture references in Romans 6). To emphasize the dramatic point of Christ freeing us from our sins and making us slaves of righteousness instead, Gary, with the strength of Arnold Schwarzenegger, managed to break himself free of the paper chain, leaving it in pieces on the floor.
God had a purpose for this topic to be discussed tonight. Towards the end of Gary’s talk a woman, who spoke very good English, and her daughter walked in to join us. Better late that never in this case for sure! She immediately picked up on what we were talking about and began to ask questions. She told us her husband has been drinking for years and asked how she could make him stop. Gary was ready to answer this, relating part of his testimony to her and emphasizing that it is in God’s hands. The Holy Spirit could change him, and she could be faithful in prayer. All of us prayed for her and her husband.
We closed the time first with more prayer requests. A few people wanted us to pray for their families because they were the only Christians. We were also asked to pray again for the boy (whom I wrote about earlier) that will lose his sight in the next year. We found out that he actually had accepted Christ last Sunday on Easter! We were thrilled to hear this and prayed for him and the others. After prayer we opened up the time for a question and answer session. We were asked questions about American culture, and how we ended up on a trip around the world. Fellowship with these girls has truly blessed our team. We hope to see some of them one last time tomorrow at church.
Praise the Lord for Christian friends in Thailand!
Sarah, on behalf of Team Doulos
