Every place we travel brings with it an opportunity to leave a profound impact on our lives, but what I have found is that it is less about the place and more about the people in the place that leave that lasting impression. Thailand left this great impact on me, and it was largely due to the friendship I made with our translator and fellow teacher Lakna, or Na, as we called her.
My Teammates and I formed a friendship with her quickly! She is kind, sincere and very hospitable, always making sure that we were well taken care of and comfortable. After our first couple of weeks teaching with her at the local Buddhist Primary School in Chian Mai, Donkeow Village she, and our other teacher friends invited us to go to a boxing gym with them after school! Allison and I excitedly accepted the invitation (*TIP for Future Racers: Always accept strange invitations from your hosts.. You never know what you’ll actually end up experiencing!*).
After arriving we found out that the price was a bit steep for a one hour, one time class. Plus Na didn’t have on proper boxing attire… So the three of us opted to sit out and watch the other two take the class. As we sat there talking Na mentioned that her back was aching, her hand reaching back to ease her pain while she was sitting on the ground next to me. It wasn’t the first time she had mentioned this pain she was in. Throughout our day of teaching she had expressed her discomfort, as she shifted her posture, struggling to find relief.
When she mentioned it this time, as we sat there on the ground, I knew that I wanted to pray for healing in her back. Na, like all of our other friends in the village, is Buddhist. God opened many doors for me to share with her the Truth of Jesus and my own testimony of healing and transformation that I’d experienced through Him during our time together the month. She was very open to hearing what I had to say. The mutual love and respect we had for each other allowed us to speak openly and freely despite all of our differences. Knowing this I assumed that she would be willing to let me pray for her.
“Na, can I pray for you?” I asked.
“Yes,” she replied with the look of concern that she often wore on her face.
I asked if I could place my hand on her back and she said I could. Allison reached out and placed a hand on her as well as I said a simple prayer..
“Lord Jesus, Please take the pain from Na’s back.
For her good and for Your glory.
Amen.”
“…What happened?!” she exclaimed, now wide-eyed and staring at me in disbelief. She was bending over and straightening her back over and over again, looking back at me with a face of shock!
“Jesus healed you,” I said as she smiled from me to Allison and back to me again.
“Reary?!” she asked in her Thai accent.
“Yes really! You’ve been healed.”
She asked me if she could thank Him and I told her of course she could. Then Allison and I watched as she knelt down right there in the boxing gym, bowed her head, closed her eyes and prayed to Jesus, thanking Him for the blessing of healing she’d just received.
The excitement and disbelief created a great joy and energy amongst us that carried over for several days as we celebrated what God had done! This day and this experience was followed by many conversations and questions between Na and I.
I could see it on her face.. She was wrestling with a very important and difficult decision within herself. She’d encountered Jesus in an undeniable way. Now what was she going to do?
The following week the teachers from our school threw us a going away party. It was so much fun! We feasted, laughed and sang Taylor Swift karaoke, off key and far too loud.
As the night was carrying on I moved down the table and found a seat right next to my dear friend Na. I greeted her but could tell from the look in her eyes that something was wrong.. As I asked her about it her eyes began to fill with tears. She told me she believed Jesus but that she spoke with her parents and they told her she wasn’t allowed to leave her family’s Buddhist roots. She began to cry and told me she feared I would no longer be her friend because of this. With the karaoke blaring in the background, my eyes filled with tears too. So much running through my mind that I knew I wouldn’t be able to communicate. So much that I wanted her to know. I reassured her of our friendship, that it is of course not dependent on the faith she holds or religion she identifies with. I told her I understood. The decision she found herself faced with is eternally significant… And it is not easy.
“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes,
and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”
Luke 14:26
“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth.
I did not come to bring peace but a sword.
He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me…”
Matthew 10: 34 & 37
This story is one I was tempted not to share. After all, I am not able to provide a grand conclusion where Na turned from the bondage of religion and tradition and followed Jesus, repenting and walking in newness of life. However, I do believe that this story is still important. It is real. The true testimony of one young woman’s struggle in making, what I believe, is the most important decision in life.
Her story is not over just because I am gone.
I know that God is still at work in her heart and life.
