| Now let's fast forward
to me being in Thailand. In Bangkok,
the capitol city of Thailand, there
is 1 million university students. I
was part of a Thai church planting team
strategizing to evangelize an unreached
university of 20,000 students. My team
and I were able to minister to students
through teaching English. Our goal was
to get the students connected with Christ,
not ourselves. Being the only Americans
on campus, we were highly visible on
campus and able to attract students.
We held an English club in one of the
university's buildings. There students
would come up to do homework, get to
know us better, ask us questions, sings
Christian songs, read the Bible, play
games, and ultimately, see Christ through
our every action. I found it to be very
easy to turn conversations to spiritual
matters. The students would ask us why
we were in Thailand, what was most important
to us, what are some holidays we celebrate,
how much we were getting paid to teach,
etc. All these questions could be answered
in a way that we were able to bring
up God and His Son Jesus. Words don't
do enough justice to explain how much
God taught, how much I was transformed,
and how real His love for the nations
became to me. I came to love these students
so much; but their lostness/blindness
shattered my heart. I longed for them
to believe that there was one true God
and that He loved them so relentlessly
that He gave His only Son to die in
their place, so that they could have
a relationship with Him. I praise the
Lord that some of my friends did accept
Christ into their lives and stepped
into the Light. I could see the joy
on their faces when they became a new
creation, no longer living in the lies
of Satan. One experience I'll never
forget is when we went to the famous
temple, Wat Prakao. I thought that I
would just be able to admire the architecture
and be okay with the idol worshipping
- WRONG! An eerie, sorrowful, hopeless
feeling swept over me as I entered the
temple. I saw people crying out to idols
with tears streaming down their faces,
without the least bit of knowledge that
their cries were in vain. Part of me
wanted to scream out, "Stop! What
you're doing is useless! THAT can't
hear you!" the other part of me
just wanted to weep because of the immense
lostness. How will they ever know, if
no one tells them? How will they believe,
if someone doesn't speak up? Being Asian,
I too could've been like those worshippers,
bowing down to man-made idols. But I
was humbled there and thanked God for
drawing me to Himself. As I walked around
the temple grounds, I saw several idols
that were decaying and having to be
reconstructed. These idols can't even
help themselves from falling apart,
how could they ever help man? Why does
man choose to worship something they've
made with their own hands, and not the
ONE who made them?
Also, I really wanted to give myself
fully to God's work in Thailand. So
daily I asked for the Holy Spirit
to keep me focused and for me to constantly
remind myself that my life is not
about me; it's about knowing God and
making Him known to others. I experienced
so much joy as I served the Thai people.
I didn't matter how hot it was, how
tired I was, how many people were
crowded in the bus with me, or anything.
I have died to myself and Christ reigns
in me! The less I thought about myself
the more God was able to do through
me and the more joy I felt! It's an
awesome feeling to be right smack
in the center of God's will for your
life. I can't leave out the time we
spent upcountry in the Bahn Nong village.
We lived and served the Karen for
4 days. This part of the summer was
something I was very nervous about.
I knew that I would definitely be
out of my comfort zone physically.
But wow! It was so amazing! The village
we were at everyone was a believer.
The days started early and ended late;
every moment there will be forever
etched into my memory. We helped our
brothers and sisters build 2 different
buildings to a seminary that is in
the village. So those who want to
go to seminary don't have to go all
the way to Chiang Mai, which is 8
hours away. We also went to an animist
believing village to share the Gospel,
hand out tracks, and show the Jesus
Film in the Karen language. Also we
went to the dormitories to spend time
with the students and to share our
testimonies, basically love on them!
Sunday morning worship was awesome!
It was a taste of heaven for me. As
we worshipped there were 4 languages
praising the Lord: Karen, English,
Thai, and Laotian! It was hard to
leave the village, to say good-bye
to our new family. I realize that
I may not ever see them again on this
earth, but I know and await the day
that I will see them again in Heaven.
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