Light in the Darkness

WOW WOW WOW WOW!!!!!!!! We are in our last week of one of the most amazing summers of our lives! It has truly been an amazing experience and we have been so blessed throughout this whole summer.

We visited a cave the other day, and it was such a surreal experience, God's beauty is so evident in everything we see. It felt so symbolic as we were in this cave and there is a beam of light that shines through at the end of the cave, and my team and I just sat there and stared as we realize how blessed we are that God has brought us out of the darkness. God has opened up so many opportunities for us to be able to share, and we hope that these people here in Thailand look to leave darkness and go into the kingdom of the Son!

"For He has has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us

into the kingdom of the Son he loves."      -Colossians 1:13

Please pray that:

• More look to leave the darkness and go to the Son
• We continue to be bold and strive to follow God's will
• All of the Nehemiah Teams around the world, to be looking to God in everything and that they be a light in the darkness

-Jonathan

 

 

Patience is a Virtue

We have been in Thailand for a month now, and have really become close with the people, culture, and about a million friendly ants. God has been faithful and has answered our prayers. Our prayers that we would find people that could speak English well enough that we could share the gospel with.

Last Thursday we had a day off from school and we decided to split up; one of us felt called to go to a fair that was going on and the other two felt like we should explore. When we met back up at the house in the evening we had both explained that we had shared the gospel with people. At the fair it was an English teacher we had at a school we help at. The exploring team met two guys outside the "Monkey Park". One was Buddhist, the other was Muslim.

We praise God that He gave us an opportunity to share the Gospel with those who had not heard it. God has humbled us and has shown us that we should be patiently obedient. He has shown us that He has a plan for this region and that if we stay obedient to him people will hear his good news. Praise God for everything he has done and will do!

Our friends from the monkey park

Please Pray:

• For those we share with this week... that the Lord will continue to speak to their hearts
• Our friend we are preparing to share the Gospel with this week
• That we would find more English speakers
• That we would be continually strengthened and encouraged

Hide and Seek

In southern Thailand two languages are spoken fluently by most people, Thai and Malay. With no translator other than our supervisor, it is difficult for us to share the gospel on a regular basis. The people speak just enough English for us to order our food and to ask how are we doing. Our team is trying to find those who speak English well so that we may share the gospel with them.

God has shown us an individual who is our age that speaks English better than most. We have built a friendship with him and were preparing to share the gospel with him & his friends. However, out of the blue, he explained over a text message that he had to leave town and would be back in two weeks. We are preparing for and eagerly awaiting his return. 

However during this time waiting his arrival, we must be put to good use with others. Our supervisors have explained how our mere presence has already opened doors for them to share the gospel and they have seen some promising responses. We are also actively looking for English speakers that we may have an opportunity to share with. 

God has the ability to break through language barriers to achieve His goal and we have faith that the best is yet to come. God is faithful and has shown us that there is promise and hope here for these people. Our hearts long to see the hopeless find hope and the lost be found.

-Daniel

• Please pray for our friend out of town and that his heart will be prepared to receive the gospel. 
• Pray that we will find other persons of peace.

Divide and Conquer

Walking down a street in Southern Thailand it is not uncommon to see a Buddhist temple, Chinese temple, and a Mosque within blocks of each other. This kind of religious diversity is one of the key reasons why Southern Thailand has been and is so unreached. And in all of these religions even though they do not specifically believe in spirits, the people all still believe in appeasing the spirits to protect them.

Splitting into two teams we set out to help with English at some schools, though both schools were predominately Muslim, they did in fact have both Muslim and Buddhist teachers. In these schools they had specific classes to learn about Islam and how to pray, also are let out early on Fridays to go pray at the local Mosque.
     
After helping in the schools with English, we venture out into the community to find local fields to play sports. We started by playing soccer or "futbon" at a local Chinese school, and then split our efforts to play "takraw" outside of a government office. Both of these sports bring in Thai males of varying ages helping us to reach a large demographic.

Though in all of this religious diversity we have realized that the people of Southern Thailand have two things in common; they really like soccer and they really are lost.

Pray that doors will open through sports to develop relationships that will lead to spiritual conversations.