Week 5: Jesus Paid It All

     Located in John 4:1-42 is the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus noticed her even though His disciples did not, and through her, many Samaritans in that town believed and became followers of Jesus.     In the same way, my team has been encouraged not to simply pass people by, but to recognize them as possible people of peace who may be interested in the gospel and who may come to faith in him. For us, sometimes it is simply giving someone a tract that gives a clear message of the gospel. As daunting as that sounds, we want to be bold in spreading seeds of the gospel and be comforted by the fact that God can use a tract and an open heart in a mighty way to bring people into His kingdom. We were reminded of this story by the founder of Nehemiah Teams, Jess, who came for a short visit with us this week. It was a huge encouragement to have him there with us. We were also able to share with him some of our experiences this week. God has provided us some opportunities this week to spend time serving the people in the community. Even though they are small actions, they show the community that we are willing to get dirty and work hard alongside them to show them that we love them. One of these experiences was working in the rice fields. We only spent a short time out there, but the field workers were delighted to teach us how to plant and bundle rice. We also were able to work for a short time at the local mushroom factory. Even though we were unable to share the gospel with them, they recognized the fact that we are Christians and that we showed love to them. Jess joined us the afternoon of his visit at a nearby Christian school. Even though the school is Christian, most of the students are come from Buddhist families. Afterwards we were able to talk and pass out tracts to some of the parents as they came to pick up their children from school. Pray that God would use these small actions of love to glorify His name and draw lost people to Himself.
   This week our team also had another opportunity to visit a school. It was a unique day for the students and teachers because a monk was coming to visit and speak. Not only do the students and teachers listen to the monk speak and participate in chants to gain merit, but they also offer food to the monk which is another way for the people to "make merit" or do good works to gain something. Mae Or, which is the mother of one of our host families was the one who brought us to the school. The night before she began preparing baskets for us to use as offerings for the monks. We were able to represent Christ to the students, the teachers, and to our host families to politely refusing to offer food to the monk because Jesus paid our debt! We owe nothing to nobody. We are free from having to make merit or do good works to gain eternal life or to gain "good standing" with the monk or even God. Jesus has paid the price, and we stand righteous before Him. After the monk left, we spent time with the students playing games, learning English, and presenting the gospel. We did not do it in a way that was rude towards the Buddhist beliefs of these people; however, the gospel speaks for itself. Pray for these students and teachers that God would give them dreams and visions that would draw them toward Him.
    A large part of our time is spent with our host families. Our team is split up to where we each have our own host home, but the houses are very close together, and the families are related. My host mother is Na Daeng and her husband, Na Bum. Their children are Eua and Tha. I have enjoyed having them as a host family. Daeng and I spend much time together cooking dinner and practicing English and Thai. One night she asked me about why us girls pray and sing together every night. I was able to share about how we sing to God to thank Him for everything He has done for us. I was also able to share about how Christ died for us, and that is why we are thankful. There have been other opportunities I have been able to share shortly with her about Christ. These are only small things because I can't share much because of the language barrier. Pray that these words I have spoken to her and the actions I have done to reflect Christ speak to her heart.
     My team and I had a unique experience the other day when we went to visit a nearby temple to pray and "tract plant" as we like to call it. We met a monk there that was very nice and even opened the doors of the temple so that we could look inside. He also let us bang on a huge gong and stood there with us as we prayed over the temple. Before we left, he motioned for us to come inside a small building that stood on the grounds of the wat. He expressed to us how he wanted to do a blessing ceremony over us before we left. We had heard of this before because our supervisors had discussed it with us. While he did the blessing ceremony, we prayed for him and then gave him a tract afterwards. This was a special experience, and one that I will never forget. Pray for the monk and the tracts that we were able to "plant" on the grounds of the temple. Pray that God would use these to glorify himself.
    There were many times throughout the week as we stayed busy that I felt hopeless. These people are so ingrained in their spirit worship and Buddhism that it seems hopeless that the gospel will ever penetrate through. God has worked in me to help me to have faith to know that He can do mighty things in this community. Whether He chooses to do these things while we are here or after we are gone, we must have faith and know that He is at work even though we can't see it. He is worthy of His name being proclaimed despite the outcome!

I hear the Savior say,
“Thy strength indeed is small;
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Find in Me thine all in all.”

Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.

Lord, now indeed I find
Thy power and Thine alone,
Can change the leper’s spots
And melt the heart of stone.

And when before the throne
I stand in Him complete,

Jesus died my soul to save

My lips shall still repeat

Prayer Requests:

• Pray for our host families: Na Deang and Na Bum, Mae La and her husband, Po, and Mae Or and her husband, Pa Giat. Pray that we would be a light to these families and that they would see Jesus in us!
• Pray for our team as we finish out the last week and a half. Pray that we finish strong and be bold in proclaiming Jesus name at every opportunity.
• Pray for our Thai supervisors, Ajan Bandhit and Teewa. They are over the Northern Thai Baptist Association. Pray for them and their ministry and as they follow up with our host families after we leave.
• Pray for Rungnapah and her ministry at our last village. She is continuing Bible study with Khun Loun, Khun Thee, Aom and Nye. Pray also for two of the teenagers that came to Sunday morning worship: Earn and Pan. Both teenage boys seem increasingly interested in the gospel. Pan could not put his Bible down the whole time we were there!
• Pray for all the other Nehemiah teams, that they would finish strong!
• Pray for our guy team, Luke and Jamie, that they would also finish strong and see fruit! They have been in the same village all summer.
• Pray for our health... still experiencing physical aspects of culture shock.