Saturday, February 7, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
Life in Mae Wang
Our life in Mae Wang has been a blessing in every way. We feel at home and comfortable here doing God’s work among the Lanna people. We feel as if it was an experience that we will never forget. A short excerpt from my journal day 16 “We anticipate the Lord’s work among these people. We know that His will, will be done in this place. Your face shine down like the stars so bright with so much light. Sing a new song in this place, sing with joy and happiness people of Mae Wang. For our God is the one and we will worship Him at all times, in the morning, at night Your name be praised. May it echo in the streets of this village. May the rocks cry out and sing your praise oh God if the people will not. May they see your majesty oh God.” That is our prayer for this village.
We have been preparing for this time in the village for about 6 months now and I feel that the Lord has used my life up to this point for preparation to do his work. I had very low expectations going in to our time here. I told myself that whatever it is it would be working for the Lord and not for myself or my own comforts. The food, the living conditions, the people, the ministry we had very low expectations from the beginning. I felt as if the food would not be eatable because it would be too hot. I felt as if we would be camping out every night, and I felt the people would be cold and we would not be able to communicate with them. I felt as if it would be hard and I went in hoping that my faith in the Lord would increase and that my relationship with Jordan would grow stronger. I also expected the Lord to have gone before us in the hearts and lives of the people here.
What happened in the village was very different than my expectations in many ways. First off the people of San Kanta and Don Pin were so welcoming and took us in as their children. Mae Sà and Pa Sin were so wonderful and treated us as if we were their own children. They have gone above and beyond what they should have done for us, but most of all, they loved us. The people were very shy at first not really opening up, the kids were our only friends the first two weeks, and then we saw God open the hearts of the village and the hearts of the people. After we danced with them, after we ate what they ate, after we had learned their language enough to talk to them, after we had taught their children, after we dressed like them, after many days of riding our 1970’s kirin standard edition bike we started to see a difference the last week and a half that we had not seen the first few days. We just smiled as big as we possibly could and hope that the light of God would reveal himself to the people. So much so that Jordan was placed in a place of honor with all the ladies during sports day, and I had a chance to walk in the parade with the elderly men. They have given us gifts and many people come to our house to talk to us in Thai. Their face lights up when you speak to them in their own language. They have even let us pray for a few of them.
I was not surprised to see how the Lord has been working here. During the middle of our time here I cried out to the Lord saying you have been doing work here, but where. The Lord is doing mighty things here through many people here in this village. Emily, Lydia, Quintin, & Kim have been scattering seed throughout. The joys of this time have come from the Lord and seeing his work here. The 11th day we were here we had a girl come up to us and say in perfect English “I love Jesus.” We didn’t know if she is a true believer or not. It took us quite a while to get to know her because she wouldn’t come to the house, because she lived far away. We finally got a chance to get to know her. She is a believer but her parents are not believers. What a gift from God. I feel as if every so often God gives us encouragement and shows us little victories that keep our faith strong. This was a victory. We went to the girl’s house the last week and we found out that there was a family of new believers of just 4 months. Wow, how much God has moved while we have been here. It took us 31 days to find a house church, but we found it and it was beautiful. The sweet spirit of the Lord was over the entire place. About 10 kids were their and they have come from Bankad because their parents do not believe. What faith these children must have to be set apart even from their parents. There were around 4 families their with the pastor, who preached from the word of God. He spoke English and said that they were new believers and that they were not baptized yet because they were still learning about their faith. What a joy to worship the Lord in Thai. The house that we were at is the house that is in the village. They told us their testimony about how their little girl heard about Jesus. Bop Bee became a Christian and led her parents to the Lord later. What a treat to see these new believers in Christ and seeing that it can be done here in this village and in Thailand.
The saddest thing that we see is the people don’t have knowledge. Ma Saa for instance is as sweet of lady as you will find and has a soft heart, but she cannot read. She for lack of knowledge does what everyone else does. She cannot find out for herself what to do because she must go on what people say to do. They do it because that is what they know. They don’t question why or what will happen someone told them at some point what to do and they do it. It is sad to see that even the monks say that the people worship in vain. I met a friend while we were visiting Doi Su Tep and I ask him who are the people praying to when they walk around, his reply was Buddha. I said, “but even bhudda himself said not to worship him, and he is only a man just like you and me.” His response was chilling almost frightening to hear. “Your right Buddha must not be worshiped they just don’t know any better.” The stark reality is that they just don’t know any better. For instance, at this house church we went to I recognized a lady who had just been next door about 2 hours ago with her 1year old baby inquiring of the spirits how to heal her baby because she cries all the time. I wondered why she would be going to church, and asked the pastor if she was a believer. The pastor said she is not a believer yet and she is a seeker. After the service they wanted us to pray for the little girl’s healing. We prayed and told the woman through the pastor who speaks English that her baby will be healed through Yesu and only Yesu. I told her that the reason that her baby was not healed already was because she was going to the spirit doctor and that she is not to go back and that her baby will be healed, for God wants the glory for Himself and He alone.
My heart is overjoyed when I see the Lord moving every day and when I am on the front line battling the enemy for territory that belongs to Him. He is evident and real in every day life. He has been our comfort when we are scared, He has been our rest when there is no rest. He has been our word when we cannot speak, He has been our light in a dark world. The Lord has been teaching us so many wonderful things about His love and His compassion on peoples that do not yet know Him. He has grown me and Jordan together and we are running after Him. She has been there to comfort and to calm, and it is something we as a family will tell our grandchildren about. He has shown me in Daniel how Daniel stood up and trusted the Lord God in a foreign land and his actions spoke to the people so much that they loved him. They came to know who his God was because of God revealing himself to them through his faithful people. We pray that God would reveal himself to the people of this land.
We have been preparing for this time in the village for about 6 months now and I feel that the Lord has used my life up to this point for preparation to do his work. I had very low expectations going in to our time here. I told myself that whatever it is it would be working for the Lord and not for myself or my own comforts. The food, the living conditions, the people, the ministry we had very low expectations from the beginning. I felt as if the food would not be eatable because it would be too hot. I felt as if we would be camping out every night, and I felt the people would be cold and we would not be able to communicate with them. I felt as if it would be hard and I went in hoping that my faith in the Lord would increase and that my relationship with Jordan would grow stronger. I also expected the Lord to have gone before us in the hearts and lives of the people here.
What happened in the village was very different than my expectations in many ways. First off the people of San Kanta and Don Pin were so welcoming and took us in as their children. Mae Sà and Pa Sin were so wonderful and treated us as if we were their own children. They have gone above and beyond what they should have done for us, but most of all, they loved us. The people were very shy at first not really opening up, the kids were our only friends the first two weeks, and then we saw God open the hearts of the village and the hearts of the people. After we danced with them, after we ate what they ate, after we had learned their language enough to talk to them, after we had taught their children, after we dressed like them, after many days of riding our 1970’s kirin standard edition bike we started to see a difference the last week and a half that we had not seen the first few days. We just smiled as big as we possibly could and hope that the light of God would reveal himself to the people. So much so that Jordan was placed in a place of honor with all the ladies during sports day, and I had a chance to walk in the parade with the elderly men. They have given us gifts and many people come to our house to talk to us in Thai. Their face lights up when you speak to them in their own language. They have even let us pray for a few of them.
I was not surprised to see how the Lord has been working here. During the middle of our time here I cried out to the Lord saying you have been doing work here, but where. The Lord is doing mighty things here through many people here in this village. Emily, Lydia, Quintin, & Kim have been scattering seed throughout. The joys of this time have come from the Lord and seeing his work here. The 11th day we were here we had a girl come up to us and say in perfect English “I love Jesus.” We didn’t know if she is a true believer or not. It took us quite a while to get to know her because she wouldn’t come to the house, because she lived far away. We finally got a chance to get to know her. She is a believer but her parents are not believers. What a gift from God. I feel as if every so often God gives us encouragement and shows us little victories that keep our faith strong. This was a victory. We went to the girl’s house the last week and we found out that there was a family of new believers of just 4 months. Wow, how much God has moved while we have been here. It took us 31 days to find a house church, but we found it and it was beautiful. The sweet spirit of the Lord was over the entire place. About 10 kids were their and they have come from Bankad because their parents do not believe. What faith these children must have to be set apart even from their parents. There were around 4 families their with the pastor, who preached from the word of God. He spoke English and said that they were new believers and that they were not baptized yet because they were still learning about their faith. What a joy to worship the Lord in Thai. The house that we were at is the house that is in the village. They told us their testimony about how their little girl heard about Jesus. Bop Bee became a Christian and led her parents to the Lord later. What a treat to see these new believers in Christ and seeing that it can be done here in this village and in Thailand.
The saddest thing that we see is the people don’t have knowledge. Ma Saa for instance is as sweet of lady as you will find and has a soft heart, but she cannot read. She for lack of knowledge does what everyone else does. She cannot find out for herself what to do because she must go on what people say to do. They do it because that is what they know. They don’t question why or what will happen someone told them at some point what to do and they do it. It is sad to see that even the monks say that the people worship in vain. I met a friend while we were visiting Doi Su Tep and I ask him who are the people praying to when they walk around, his reply was Buddha. I said, “but even bhudda himself said not to worship him, and he is only a man just like you and me.” His response was chilling almost frightening to hear. “Your right Buddha must not be worshiped they just don’t know any better.” The stark reality is that they just don’t know any better. For instance, at this house church we went to I recognized a lady who had just been next door about 2 hours ago with her 1year old baby inquiring of the spirits how to heal her baby because she cries all the time. I wondered why she would be going to church, and asked the pastor if she was a believer. The pastor said she is not a believer yet and she is a seeker. After the service they wanted us to pray for the little girl’s healing. We prayed and told the woman through the pastor who speaks English that her baby will be healed through Yesu and only Yesu. I told her that the reason that her baby was not healed already was because she was going to the spirit doctor and that she is not to go back and that her baby will be healed, for God wants the glory for Himself and He alone.
My heart is overjoyed when I see the Lord moving every day and when I am on the front line battling the enemy for territory that belongs to Him. He is evident and real in every day life. He has been our comfort when we are scared, He has been our rest when there is no rest. He has been our word when we cannot speak, He has been our light in a dark world. The Lord has been teaching us so many wonderful things about His love and His compassion on peoples that do not yet know Him. He has grown me and Jordan together and we are running after Him. She has been there to comfort and to calm, and it is something we as a family will tell our grandchildren about. He has shown me in Daniel how Daniel stood up and trusted the Lord God in a foreign land and his actions spoke to the people so much that they loved him. They came to know who his God was because of God revealing himself to them through his faithful people. We pray that God would reveal himself to the people of this land.
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