Untouched

07. April 2013 · 2 comments · Categories: 2013, Mission Reports

I slip on my backpack, grab my 2 small suitcases and after a last check around the hotel room I lock and close the door. Down the stairs I check out handing the key to the Thai lady at the desk. I wave goodbye to a number of the wonderful Thai people who I’ve gotten to know. They want to know where I’m going. I tell them. They wave.

On the streetside I find a taxi and tell him I want to go to the airport.

“500 Baht.” He offers.

“No, too much. By meter?” I counter.

He calls one of his friends who is willing to take me charging by meter. All the taxis have meters on the dash which calculates a price based on time and distance. It really helps to make sure you are getting a good price. Unfortunately many times the drivers want to give a price, which may or may not be too expensive. Some will agree to go by meter.

After loading the luggage we are off down the road speeding through the streets. The sun has gone down and the street lights cast light on the road. A periodical red light stops us.

I think back to earlier in the afternoon. The Thai man I was standing next to in the river taxi. He understood English. He was telling me the name of one of the boat stops. He said it was like the word Satan. He said it differently that I do but after several times I understood. “like in the Bible” He explained. The Bible! What does this guy know about the Bible?!!  I picked up on it right away and asked him what he knew about the Bible. He didn’t know much. It didn’t sound like he had ever actually read it. But someone had told him about the word Satan. When he said he could read some in English I snatched a couple of GLOW tracks out of my waist pack and gave them to him explaining that they talked about the Bible.

In the BTS train station I was standing in the line in front of the counter to get change for the ticket when the family in front of me didn’t seem to understand how to get the tickets. They finally got the right change that they needed. Then over in front of the machines I realized the must have never taken the BTS sky train before. After getting my ticket I showed them how to operate the machine to get the tickets for all of them. Then showing them how to get through the gate we were off up to the train stop area. When I asked where they were from they told me they were from Israel. Interesting meeting them in Bangkok!

At the MBK Center I got a few Tshirts and looked around through the many shops. So many shops and stores you can get lost inside! 5 different stories with small shops can make for quite an experience! After finding the other item I needed to find and looking at some camera gear I headed back to the BTS station to get back to the hotel. Outside on the network of walkways suspended over top of the street I saw the spot where 2 years before the TAM (Thai Adventist Mission) did a Health Expo to reach out to the people of Bangkok with health. Hundreds of people go by there every hour and the event was met with great success with people requesting Bible studies and lessons. Today a weekly boxing show has setup on the area.

The taxi car flies along the tollway above Bangkok. I’m on my way to the airport to fly back the the States. As we go I realize that I’m going to miss Thailand. Even though I know I’ll be coming back, I still have a hard time leaving. There’s so much need here. The people are open. Yet there is hardly a few families working for the Thai! It’s essentially an untouched field, yet there are nearly 70 million people in Thailand! Eighty nine percent of this population are ethnic Thai or Thai-Chinese. That’s over 60 million precious Thai people that live without knowledge of the true God. How will these people hear? God wants to use humanity to reach out to humanity. That means us. Who will He use to reach the Thai people with a knowledge of Him? Who is willing?

Not Ready

04. April 2013 · 1 comment · Categories: 2013, Mission Reports

“Well this is where I’m supposed to leave you to catch the bus”.  Tim brought me to town to take the bus to Bangkok.

I have grown to love Cambodia, the people are so friendly. I’ve been here for only two weeks, and already I don’t want to leave. But other work calls. During this 2 month long trip we visited several places in Asia, and nearly each place stole my heart as I saw the need for people and funds to do missionary work.

We had an opportunity where we could have shared a book with a Thai man but there was nothing in Thai and he couldn’t read English. None of SOP being printed in Thai. If only books like Steps to Christ (which has been translated into Thai) could be printed in Thai they would find their way into the hands of willing Thai readers who otherwise might never have any other opportunity. But the Mission Printing Press has been closed because of unsufficient funds.

In India where JFA funds are already falling short of the amounts needed the Conference is requesting more JFA Bible workers. Then Thomas who is one of the Bible workers, was asking us to start several more evening schools. Then there’s the SDA church in a town of 60,000. The outlying villages have churches, but this central body of believers still has no church building. For 6 years they have been worshiping in a rented facility. However if the facility is needed for a wedding or some other event, then that takes priority and our members are essentially kicked out. The area also has no SDA school, so the children have to go to the public schools in the area which require them to attend on Sabbath, and are also more expensive. A piece of property has been located on which to build a school and church building, at a total cost including buildings of less than $100,000 but the funds are not available to even buy the property.

Our media center in Kenya is also facing severe financial constraints, and would be able to advance much more quickly if the funds were available.

 

I believe there will be a time before the end of time where God will make available unlimited resources with which to finish His work with great speed.

“Lord, for the sake of those souls with no opportunity please provide funds for your work to go forward and be accomplished”. The uncultivated green fields blur by outside the window as I plead. The response hits me like a brick wall.

“People aren’t ready.”

My eyes fill with tears. I know it’s true. Funds alone are completely incapable of fixing the problem. In fact they would just make a bigger problem if provided when God’s people aren’t ready.

What will it take for us as God’s people to be ready? What will it take so that we will be in a situation where God can entrust us with the resources and tools to start his work where it hasn’t begun, and to finish it? Are we going to wait for persecution?

Overwhelmed

08. March 2013 · 1 comment · Categories: 2013, Devotional, Mission Reports

“How many villages are we passing when we go to our site?” Jon asks. We are on our way back from one of the sites we’ve been working in this week.

“Many. But these are small villages, you know.” The answer came no sooner than another question was asked-

“How many of these villages are unreached?” The question comes.

“All of them.” comes the reply. No Christian influence in countless villages scattered throughout the countryside! True even though small, the combined inhabitants make up a larger number and are just as precious to Jesus as anyone else. Why should they have no opportunity, unreached just because they are in a smaller village?

“Someone should start a primary school here” Someone else had an idea. A good idea at that. A primary school could serve the needs of a number of these small villages and give education as well as knowledge of God to those in these villages. Educating the young it would create an entering wedge into many homes already open to the gospel.

But this is not the only such idea that has come up on this trip. Starting a primary school was only one. We had also found other villages where we wanted to start evening schools. Then there were three villages where one of the Bible workers had specifically requested evening schools. And the pastors in this Region asked for media ministry… Not to mention the need for more Bible workers to follow up in these new places.

I sit. Overwhelmed. A sense of tiredness strikes me. After this last year of toil and burnout, my mind becomes terribly tired and overwhelmed when I find opportunities like this, because I know I can’t do it all. Who will help? Are we waiting for God to do something? He’s already given us the command, He’s waiting for us! Opportunities are perpetual and boundless in this place where the gospel has hardly placed it’s foot.

A local Bible worker’s salary is $60 US, a get by income for most Bible workers, but so many JFA Bible workers are working here faithfully and winning souls for Christ. So many other places need Bible workers, so many places have no Bible workers, no churches, not just Adventist churches, but no church of any Christian denomination! The people are in darkness, in ignorance, they have no knowledge of God or His love. They are clueless!

Jesus gave everything to save us. What are you willing to give to Him? Who will go to impart the knowledge and love to these precious souls? Who will send someone to them? Who will fund local workers? Who will contribute time and talents? Who? Will you? If not you, then who?

Security

08. March 2013 · 2 comments · Categories: 2013, Devotional, Mission Reports

“I can’t be a missionary before I’m 25.”

“Why not?” I ask surprised. I’m talking with a younger member of our group about missions.

“Because I want to finish school and college and get a job and get married first.”

I don’t understand… so many youth in our church somehow do exactly this. And the problem is that often once they get through college and they get that good paying, secure job they want, they are tied down with debt and are unable to break free to fulfill God’s command in Mat 28.

We are too attracted to the ease and the security that the world’s way of life offers. The regular job. The nice house to live in. The car to drive every day. For many of us, our worst trouble is when we lose our job, or when the car is totaled in an accident, or when the house burns down.

But the real question is: What are we living for? Who are we living for?  Do you really want the security that the world offers? A good paying job, a nice house, good neighbors, that boat in the back yard? Sure you can still try to be a witness for God even if you have the comforts of life. But what does your experience with God really consist of? Is it just talk? or is it real?

Don’t you want to live for God? to take security under His wings? It doesn’t matter if you have a nice house, or a nice car, or live in a nice neighborhood. These things don’t matter if you want God’s security. But if you want God’s security you have to go where he asks you to go even if it’s not secure. Just think, going to an unsafe place because God asks you to go is actually the most secure and safe place to go! If God asks you to go, then He know’s its for your eternal good. You may not have a nice house, a nice car, a good paying job, or even a paying job at all, but you will learn to depend on God more, and the eternal wages will make it worth it.

Do you want to live for God? Do you want to fulfill His plan for your life? to place His wishes above your own? to place the things of this world in second place to Him and His wishes? Even though you might not have a nice house or the comforts of this life, He promises a mansion for you in heaven. Is it worth it? Is it worth it to you?

Torn

27. February 2013 · Comments Off on Torn · Categories: 2013, Devotional, Mission Reports

Feb 21 2013

Why does it happen? If you’re committed there’s no choice…

Masses of people fly outside the window next to my seat in the van.

We are on our way to the meetings we’ve been doing this week. Yesterday we went to a village with a  population of 500 people. This village is completely unreached! There is no church. No Bible worker. No Adventists. Not even a Christian living there! No knowledge of God. No Christian influence until last night. Last night we drove in the rough main road to the village stopping at a paved cement part of the road. Setting up right on the road, a Hindu temple provided a place for the people to sit. Probably 50 or more people came last night. Gabe shared one of Eric B Hare’s children stories first, then he followed that with a talk about the importance of water for health.

Tonight I’m on my way there again. I didn’t plan to go, it happened at the last minute. Since I’ve been here with the camera to record for a show, I’ve been a floater without an assigned team. I planned to go with another team working on the other side of town. But Gabe was feeling sick and wasn’t able to go tonight. I didn’t want to go in his place… I needed to record with the other team… but there was no one else to go to this village of 500. If I didn’t go the site would have to close for this night. If I did go, then I would miss the other team. What to do? It’s not fear of being in front of people, rather it’s inability to fill both needs. It’s not the first time I’ve been torn like this. If only I could do both… but I can’t. Why is there no one else to go? In a minute my mind was made up.

60-70 people show up tonight. One of the local brothers who came with us shared a children story. Next it was my turn. Using the little projector, I shared basics of health. Going through each of the 8 doctors of health I explained briefly about each one.

The last one came with an opportunity. I shared about my God. A God who cares about every part of our lives. A God who loves us. A God who wants to be our friend. No doubt this was all new to these people. Next a question… “How many of you want to learn more about this God?” More than 10 hands went up…

A Bible worker could work in this village if there was a sponsor… Are you willing to sponsor a Bible worker for this village or others like it? There are infinite opportunities! Or perhaps you would be willing to go and train people here, or to do meetings in these unreached places. Are you willing?

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