We made it! Month 5, our last month in Asia. Has the time flown by? Kind of sort of but at the same time not really. Come to discover that I love Asia! I kind of already knew that though with going to India but Southeast Asia has been a whole different ballgame. The culture, the funny quirks, the misspelled signs etc.
BUT our last month here in Asia is working with YWAM (Youth With A Mission). I feel somewhat connected to YWAM already as my best friend went through two programs with them and I was able to be somewhat part of her journey during that time!
We are living at the YWAM base here in Khon Kaen (kind of the middle of nowhere). There are students here who are going through the YWAM program living in the same building as us. They are from Thailand, the Philippines, and one man is from Brazil.
The seven of us girls get the top floor of the building which consists of an open room with a table and two bedrooms where we sleep and one bathroom. Praise the Lord for water pressure and a real shower!
Ministry has looked different every day here so far. The first two days involved manual labor in the morning (weeding, trimming hedges, and other fun things with plants) and working with kids at an orphanage in the afternoon. We spent four hours playing games, teaching songs, and ministering to the kids.
The next day we went to a drug rehab facility and ministered to the 30 something young men living there. We sang a worship song, performed the Prodigal Son story from the Bible as a skit, and shared some testimonies. Our host then shared some stories with them as well and gave each of them their first Bible! It was pretty amazing and they didn’t even know it because none of them know Jesus (yet), but we will continue going to this place each week and telling them more about God.
(I was playing the role of prodigal son while Hillary in the middle was the father and Jessica on the right was the older brother)
The next day we walked around a university doing a prayer walk and talking to students about God. Most of them did not speak English, but we were able to hand them pamphlets about Jesus. One student who we were able to talk to for 45 minutes said he was very interested in hearing about God! His family is Buddhist but he is searching so we told him all we could about God and exchanged numbers with him and our host so that they could follow up with him. Please pray with us that he will find Jesus and come to church with us before we leave Thailand!
God is doing some amazing things in this country. At this temple we visited (pictured below) and even at the university, God’s presence was very evident! That is amazing to feel God’s presence at a temple that was built for other gods. Of the many temples we have visited in Asia, this was the first time that I felt God there. But God told me that it was because so many people had prayed over the temple in the past that God was there! And same with the university. Our host had been praying over that university for 18 years. When he was younger and didn’t have his own family yet, he would visit three times a week to pray and tell the students about Jesus. How incredible that his prayers have paid off and Jesus is so very present there! As a Christian, wherever you go as a Christian, you bring Jesus with you. That is why Jesus was at that temple – because so many Christians had come and prayed and brought Him there.
I just finished reading the Circle Maker at the end of our time in Cambodia. The book challenged me to pray big prayers and to not give up even when I think nothing is happening. Coming here to Thailand has given so much evidence of those things actually taking place! Our host has been praying for years over his country and God is definitely present in places here because of those prayers. I hope to continue to pray for this country and these people that God will continue to show up and reveal Himself to them.
If you have been praying for something for many years and still haven’t seen any change from your prayers, don’t give up! God DOES hear you and He IS present. You may not see what He is doing but He is definitely moving and answering your prayers. He is often subtle or tells us to wait on things. But never give up! Even if you have been praying for years for a certain family member to come to know Christ or to get healed…just know that God hears you. It may take someone showing up from another country from the other side of the world to tell you that your prayers have been heard and God is present.
Don’t stop praying. God is listening.
