Week 10: Prayer Fulfilled

I fully believe that those of you reading this blog, as well as many others, have been honestly and consistently praying for this mission. In the last week (even in the last few days) we've seen a beautiful blossom of relationships and movement in our ministries than cannot be explained naturally. It's hard to even tangibly recount what we've seen and experienced, but I feel that it's obvious that the Spirit is in it.

Up until this Saturday I had held a few conversations with a select number of the guys that I daily play basketball with. On Saturday evening, almost every guy on the court decided that me and my fellow intern Phil were great friends, and guys that had never before addressed me decided to struggle through Thai and English to try to have conversation with me. They were opening up to our jokes, playing around with us, talking about getting together outside of basketball, looking forward to the next day of playing, and just generally acting as our friends. Tomorrow (Wednesday) we've now got a grill-out planned for all of our basketball friends. We hope to further establish those relationships and let all of these unbelievers feel comfortable around Christians (hopefully even begin some relationships with Christians who're going to be here longer term).

And then there's our daily times on campus. The girls on the intern team stumbled across an entirely new part of campus where dozens of groups of people just sit in pavilions all day long. They started some great relationships with people from clubs across the campus. Whereas before this last week they experienced mostly frustration in conversation, short times on campus, shallow relationships, and confusion as to their place here, the interns now have one of our girls going out with some Thai friends tonight for a movie, we had a birthday party last night for a Thai girl who'd never really had one before, four Thais stayed until nearly 1:00 AM (and one guy stayed the night with us), one new friend had the gospel shared with her, and we filled every spot for our upcoming campus retreat (and had to turn some people down because of lack of space!).

But I have to add onto all of these obvious works of God the spirit with which God has blessed us. Monday morning we listed to a sermon entitled "Doing Missions When Dying is Gain" by John Piper (look it up at www.desiringgod.org). Maybe it was just me experiencing this renewal, but I think it was all of us. We have been reminded in the last week that our purpose in being here is not relaxation, not frivolity, not passivity. Even though we may still have few opportunities to actually DO, and are still learning to REST in Christ, my spirit has been brought back to the reality that God has blessed us in Christ so "that Your way may be known on earth, your saving power among ALL NATIONS." (Psalm 67.2) I'm not sure how to convey this, but in some way I feel that I've finally come to a point of no return. I don't think that I can ever return to the states and live a life of comfort, focusing my heart and energies on me and/or my family's security without being willingly in sin. I am irrevocably tied to the life and salvation of these Thai people. Maybe I won't ever end up back in Thailand for ministry - I still think that's completely possible - but I cannot escape the knowledge I now have of the work of God's people among nations without a strong gospel presence.

So then. What crazy has happened in the last week? Well, not a whole lot, but here's a quick list: I at a Ngong (a fuzzy strawberryish looking fruit that breaks open so that you have a jelly substance wrapped around a pit). I went to an open air market - this deserves a little more explanation. This market was an enormous collection of tin roofs covering tiny shops for hundreds of yards - maybe even miles. I got lost a number of times amid the knife, trinket, Thai handicraft, silk, clothing, and art shops. This is not to mention the occasional Thai women yelling who knows what, so that people would buy their goods. Imagine a flea market pumped on steroids, dirtied quite a bit, and spiced (sometimes literally) with Thai culture. I also ate seaweed chips.

So, if you're not convinced that prayer is necessary and effective...stop reading these blogs. Just kidding. But it seems so obvious to me that God is using the regular prayers of His people to faithfully carry forth His Word to the nations - and we're getting to see the beginnings and even some of the fruit of that. Here are some specifics you can pray for in the upcoming week:
-The Campus Retreat. We have 45 Thai people (maybe all of whom are unbelievers) along with 17 staff and/or Americans going to the beach for three days to live life together and hopefully experience the gospel. Wit will be here, as well as a few of my other personal friends.
-A woman named Phi Dha. She is the roommate of one of our youngest, most evangelistic believers at the church. She's so close to faith, searching it all out, but feels incapable of understanding and trusting Jesus with all of herself.
-The unity and effectiveness of the intern team. I've been amazed at how God's turned personality differences and awkward moments into growth and joy on this team. Pray that He continues to change us into Christ's image as well as to use us for His glory.
-The Wednesday Cookout. As well as any future events and all of the relationships I have from basketball - I suddenly have a fresh heart of care for those guys.

Another week finished, and we're now within a month and three days of returning. Unbelievable.

P.S. - No Pictures this week, sorry. Next week for sure though.