Participants:
Series Code: JFAN
Program Code: JFAN000099S
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:21 - Hello and welcome to Jesus for Asia Now. 00:24 I'm Natalie Wood. 00:25 And today we're going to check up on a family 00:26 we interviewed here on this show just over a year ago, 00:30 right before they moved to Thailand. 00:32 My husband, John, is here with us today. 00:34 Hello love. 00:35 - Hi darling, how are you? 00:36 - I'm doing good today. 00:37 - Awesome. 00:38 - And I'm excited about our story. 00:40 - Yes. 00:42 This is an ongoing developing story, project, vision, dream, 00:47 for probably almost a decade. 00:51 I first went up to Sukhothai, 00:53 which is a small city in Northern Thailand. 00:56 There's a big plane from Bangkok 00:58 all the way up several hundred miles. 01:01 And in the Northern end of that plane is Sukhothai. 01:04 It used to be the capital of Northern Thailand, way before 01:07 the big unification happened several hundred years ago. 01:11 There was no Adventist presence whatsoever 01:13 in that entire city, 35,000 people. 01:16 So not a huge city. 01:17 But not having presence. 01:19 And I'm thinking there should be. 01:21 And so I started praying. 01:23 We started praying and we started putting out the call 01:25 and many, many years went by and just praying for the city. 01:30 Now, I have to tell you before we go any farther, 01:32 so I don't forget. 01:33 There's another city we're praying for also right now. 01:36 - Right. 01:37 - And that city's 125,000 people and it's a big city, 01:41 but it needs to be reached. 01:43 There's no Adventist. 01:45 There's no missionary. 01:46 There's no church. 01:47 There's no Bible workers. 01:48 There's nothing of our faith in that city. 01:53 That needs to change. 01:54 - Right. 01:55 - So in the fall of 2018, we went to Virginia to a church 01:58 where a friend of mine from high school was the pastor. 02:01 - Right. 02:02 - And we made three presentations 02:04 and this family was like, "God's calling us." 02:08 - Right. 02:09 - Where can we go? 02:10 Where's your biggest need? 02:11 And we're like Sukhothai. 02:12 - Right. (laughing) 02:14 - So people can watch that previous episode 02:16 that we shot with them. - [John] Yes. 02:18 - [Natalie] 'Cause we interviewed them. 02:19 - [John] Each of them independently. 02:20 - [Natalie] Right. 02:22 - He had gone over with me for a couple of weeks 02:23 just to check everything out. 02:25 - [Natalie] Right. 02:26 - She had never been overseas before. 02:27 His family, he was raised in a missionary family. 02:30 So he was all, you know, "We're ready to go." 02:32 Let's do this. 02:33 - Yeah, it was simpler for him. 02:35 - Yes. - But, yeah. 02:36 It was much harder for her to come to that. 02:37 - Yeah. 02:38 And what's unique about their family is they had a lot kids. 02:40 - [Natalie] Right, they have eight children. 02:42 - [John] Yes. 02:43 - [Natalie] And five of them are in Thailand with them. 02:44 - [John] Aha, the three others are older. 02:46 And so they've got their own lives back here in America but- 02:49 - Right, going to school and stuff like that. 02:51 - Right, yeah. 02:52 - But anyway, so they launched and they... 02:55 It took them a year to sell their house, sell everything, 03:00 you know, get everything organized and get ready to launch. 03:03 But then they launched and they went over there with 03:07 a family of eight. 03:09 - And one of them - One of the older boys 03:10 was there with them when they first went. 03:13 - And so the plan was that they would settle into Chiang Mai 03:17 for six months and get language study. 03:19 - [Natalie] Right. 03:20 They got to Chiang Mai and they didn't thrive. 03:25 They didn't do well. 03:26 - One of their sons has asthma and with the pollution, 03:29 from the smog from cars there 03:31 and also the burning that they do in some of 03:33 the agricultural activities, he was not doing well. 03:36 He ended up in the hospital like within a week or two 03:39 of them getting there. 03:41 And so it was really scary. 03:44 - Yeah. 03:45 And so during that time they were... 03:46 She was struggling and she's like, 03:48 I don't know what I'm doing here. 03:50 It was just like between freaking out and face. 03:53 - Right. (laughing) 03:54 - She was back and forth. 03:56 - What's amazing about them is that before they came, 03:59 they said, you know, we're scared about this, 04:01 but we want to learn faith. 04:03 We want to see God work in our lives. 04:05 And we want to be tested. 04:07 We want that. 04:08 It's gonna be hard, but we want that. 04:09 And this is the right attitude 04:11 because this is God's plan for us. 04:13 This is God's life program. 04:16 He took the children of Israel out of Egypt, 04:19 but he took them through a series of tests 04:21 so that they would learn to trust him. 04:24 And most people don't wanna go through that. 04:26 - Right. 04:27 - They wanna have the salvation, 04:28 they wanna be out of Egypt, 04:29 but they don't wanna learn real faith, 04:31 real dependence on God, because it's hard. 04:34 - Right. 04:35 - But those that want that, God does amazing. 04:38 I've seen this over and over and over again in a lot 04:41 of people's lives when they choose that path, God steps out. 04:44 And he does amazing things for them. 04:46 And they come out with strong testimonies and strong faith. 04:49 - Right, right. (laughing) 04:50 - And so this was the path that the Nortons were on. 04:53 - [Natalie] Right. 04:54 - And so during that time, 04:55 when they were struggling up in Chiang Mai, they decided, 04:59 well, we'll just go down to Sukhothai, 05:00 which is about five, six hours South of Chiang Mai. 05:02 And we'll just check out the city, 05:04 see where we're gonna go. 05:06 So they got Jonathan and Hannah to drive them down there. 05:10 And Jonathan just happened to turn down a road 05:14 that he'd been down before 'cause his parents had looked 05:17 at moving to that city the previous year. 05:22 And turned down a road where there's this house that, 05:24 at that time, when he took his parents there, 05:26 had been under construction. 05:29 They drive down that road and that same house, 05:31 the guy just had put up a for rental sign. 05:34 So the construction had finished. 05:36 He called the guy, guy came out there, showed it to them 05:40 and they rented it. 05:41 - Wow, that same day. 05:43 - That same day, you know how long some people look 05:46 for a rental. 05:48 - Yeah.(laughs) 05:50 That's a miracle. 05:51 - Yeah. 05:53 And then the owner was so supportive of what they're doing. 05:56 He bought them a kitchen table, massive kitchen table, 06:00 'cause he saw how big their family was. 06:03 - And he showed up one day and said come help me. 06:06 And they didn't know where they were going, 06:08 but they went to help him. 06:09 And they went and got all the table and all the chairs 06:11 and everything. (laughing) 06:13 - And then they're like, this neighborhood, 06:15 she's like, "Our front gate, I feel like we should leave 06:19 "our front gate open 06:20 "because everybody else's gate is closed. 06:21 "Is it okay?" 06:23 And he says, "Yeah, as the Lord leads." 06:24 So as they open their gate 06:26 before long within the next couple of days, 06:28 everybody else's gate was open too. 06:30 And the kids started playing in the neighborhood. 06:32 Kids started playing together. 06:33 They started making these contacts and they started, well, 06:37 of course they are learning the language online. 06:39 - Right, yeah. 06:40 That's also a miracle. - [John] Yeah. 06:42 - Because before that, it wasn't available online. 06:44 - [John] Right. - Without a larger fee. 06:46 - [John] Right. - But for the same price, 06:48 the place was willing to do online for them, 06:51 for the sake of their son. 06:52 - Right. 06:53 So so they're sort of going down to this place. 06:55 They haven't gone through a cultural training 06:59 or language training. 07:00 And so they're raw from America in this new place. 07:03 And what happens is the neighbors see that they have need. 07:08 " Oh, you need to buy some food." 07:10 " Yes, where do you buy food?" 07:12 "Oh, I'll take you." 07:13 And then the neighbor would then take them to the store, 07:15 introduce them to the store owner 07:17 and tell them what they needed. 07:18 - Right and help them. 07:19 People at the market would take them and take them to 07:22 wherever it was that they needed whatever. 07:25 And- - Yeah. 07:26 So these connections are starting to be formed 07:28 because of their need. 07:30 And then we remember Preaw. 07:33 - [Natalie] Right. - Okay. 07:34 The young lady that was adopted by Josh and a lot about her. 07:38 - [Natalie] Right. - Then a little while later 07:41 she found out she had siblings. 07:43 - Right. - [John] Younger siblings. 07:44 - She's never known about them. 07:46 - Yeah, like 10 years younger. - [Natalie] Wow. 07:47 - A boy and a girl, Wind and Sky. 07:50 They were in terrible condition, 07:52 just terrible condition in the slum. 07:53 And the mum or the aunt 07:55 or whoever was taking care of them was like half paralyzed. 07:58 And so they were just fending for themselves 08:01 in the slum environment. 08:02 And Josh and Hannah couldn't take any more kids 08:05 'cause they were maxed out. 08:06 - Right, they're only allowed to have certain number- 08:08 - [John] Right. 08:09 - Before it's illegal. 08:10 - And so they called the Norton's. 08:13 Can you take two kids? 08:14 And I remember (laughs) their response. 08:18 If you're looking for somebody to say, 08:19 I have to pray about it. 08:20 Let me think about it. 08:22 You've got the wrong people.(chuckles) 08:23 - Yeah. - [John] We'll take them. 08:24 - We've already been praying. 08:25 - [John] Right. 08:26 That's what Kasey's answer was, yeah. 08:27 - Exactly, so they took two kids. 08:30 Before long, they took- 08:32 - Three more. - Three more. 08:34 (laughing) 08:35 So now they're maxed out. 08:36 - Right, so they have five of their own children there, 08:39 plus five children that speak three other languages. 08:42 (laughing) 08:44 - And what's amazing about this. 08:46 You know, we get messages from people, our viewers saying, 08:51 "What are you doing about the flesh trade?" 08:54 Because it's- 08:55 - Huge problem. 08:56 It's a huge problem in Southeast Asia, Thailand, 08:58 especially Bangkok. 09:00 And I have a really good friend that has done ministry 09:03 in Thailand for a very long time. 09:05 And they used to work with the flesh trade, 09:07 with prostitutes. 09:09 And he told me that the best thing we can do 09:12 is bring education to the kids 09:14 before they get sucked into that trade. 09:18 - Save them before it comes to them. 09:20 - Yeah, because once they get into that, 09:23 it's really hard. 09:24 And a lot of them don't even wanna get out. 09:27 And if you pull them out, it's like, 09:28 they just wanna go back in. 09:30 Because it's easy money and it just messes with their mind. 09:34 And it's just a bad thing. 09:36 - Self value and all that self worth. 09:38 - Exactly, and so to keep them out of that flesh trade 09:42 is really the number one priority. 09:45 And so that's what's happening here 09:48 is they're getting those kids out of there 09:50 before they get sucked into that. 09:52 - Right, that's awesome. 09:53 - Yeah, very cool. 09:55 So, very excited about that. 09:57 But we have a video that introduces us to 10:01 who these kids are and who this family is and everything. 10:03 - Okay, let's watch that now. 10:05 - Okay. 10:06 (upbeat music) 10:09 (children laughing) 10:10 - That's too full over there. 10:12 (indistinct) 10:16 - Robbie has had sort of a passion and an interest 10:19 in the mission field for a long time 10:20 because of this mission family. 10:22 And I did not. 10:23 - And we had John and Natalie come to our church 10:27 and speak on what they do. 10:29 - And it was as a result of those meetings 10:31 that we felt compelled to come. 10:35 And so that was a whole process of praying, 10:37 making sure that it was God leading. 10:39 And we felt pretty confident that he was going to have us 10:45 here by September of 2019. 10:47 And all the pieces fell into place. 10:49 We ended up in Thailand on August 28th or 30th. 10:54 It was like one day before September. 10:57 So His leading was very clear and evident. 11:02 (upbeat music) 11:07 I remember at our house in Virginia, 11:11 I would walk around the house in the mornings praying. 11:17 And I take my Bible with me and I'll stop occasionally 11:20 and read something. 11:21 And one of the verses, 11:23 I don't even know where it is right now, but it said, 11:25 "Enlarge your tents or expand your whatever." 11:31 And as we already felt like, 11:35 that's what we were gonna come here to do. 11:37 And as I was reading that, 11:38 it really felt obvious that God was saying children 11:42 are in your future. 11:44 And I really felt like he was asking me to start praying 11:47 for those kids. 11:48 And so that as I was walking around praying for the children 11:51 that we had at that time, 11:54 I also started praying for the children that 11:57 He was going to give us. 11:59 (upbeat music) 12:02 - We moved into this house in Sukhothai 12:06 a month after getting to Thailand. 12:08 And then two weeks after we got here, 12:10 Josh Bauder sent a message. 12:12 I think he was kind of joking. 12:13 And he just said, 12:15 let us know when you're ready to take in some kids. 12:16 We just answered back, well, we're ready anytime. 12:19 Also kind of joking. 12:20 And- 12:22 - They gave us a call and asked us if we'd be willing 12:23 to take in Wind and Sky. 12:26 And we said, sure. 12:28 And so we got Win and Sky from the slums of Bangkok. 12:33 - [Kasey] They were street kids. 12:34 You know, they, they fought, they punched. 12:37 - And now it's just to see the change that has come 12:41 upon Wind and Sky, 12:42 since they've come here has been a blessing to see how God 12:46 can actually work. 12:47 (upbeat music) 12:52 We had made a promise to God. 12:53 We weren't actively looking for children, 12:55 but if He sent them our way 12:57 that we weren't going to tell anybody now. 13:00 - I guess it was almost nine months after Wind and Sky came. 13:02 We got another call from Josh saying 13:05 that there were more children. 13:06 Gao and Fasai came. 13:08 They're brother and sister, 13:10 who actually never really lived together. 13:12 So they don't really know each other 13:13 and they don't speak the same language. 13:15 So they can't even communicate. 13:17 I think five days after Gao and Fasai came, Jen came. 13:22 And they're from totally different setting from 13:25 what we understand than what Wind and Sky are. 13:27 And they have adjusted much easier. 13:30 (upbeat music) 13:33 Because why, we got this question. 13:35 - [Robert] It was a little bit difficult 13:37 because we only get them for a little bit in the morning 13:40 and then we take them to school. 13:41 And then when they get back from school, 13:43 I only have them for a little bit in the afternoon. 13:45 And then they're in bed. 13:46 - One of the biggest concerns, honestly, 13:48 isn't even the teachings. 13:49 It's the stuff that the other kids have 13:51 like on their cell phones and are showing them. 13:53 And it's like, you're trying to bring them home. 13:55 Then in this little bit of time, show them lots of love, 13:59 but then also help them like decompress and like put off all 14:05 of this stuff that they've taken in during the day. 14:07 And with having this little bit of language (chuckles) 14:11 to be able to do that with. 14:13 I think that's probably honestly the hardest part 14:15 of having them. 14:16 It's just trying to undo what's done every day. 14:18 (upbeat music) 14:25 I think ultimately what we envision 14:28 and we feel like God is leading toward, 14:30 especially with the number of children that have come 14:32 in such a short period of time is to establish. 14:36 - Something that's big enough that we could develop 14:38 and put several homes on the property 14:42 so that we wouldn't have like a traditional orphanage 14:46 where there's one big building with lots of kids. 14:48 We want to have kids that have actual home environment. 14:52 - And also where we can establish a school 14:56 so that we can give them a practical education 14:59 that really introduces them to discipleship. 15:03 We want to teach them to wanna teach others 15:05 and not just impart knowledge to them. 15:08 It will take a piece of property and the funding to build. 15:15 And it'll take, I think a teacher, a Thai teacher, 15:16 with a master's degree and obviously help. 15:20 (upbeat music) 15:26 - If you ask them, they don't wanna go home. 15:29 They miss their parents. 15:30 They talk about their parents, 15:32 but you ask if they wanna go back. 15:34 They say," No." 15:34 They like it here. 15:36 So knowing that is heartwarming that God 15:40 is actually working in us to show them the love 15:43 of an actual family. 15:45 But the biggest prayer we need is that they will accept 15:48 who Christ is by seeing the example of Christ in us. 15:52 - I think that the thing that we most need prayer for 15:55 is just to have a continued, willingness to do hard things. 16:03 We need to somehow be able to learn the language. 16:06 It's not optional for us with what we're doing. 16:09 And I think just for these kids to have their minds open and 16:13 for the Holy spirit to be able to do the work 16:15 that we're literally not able to do, 16:17 and maybe it's not even our job. 16:22 We want to be humble enough to step out of the way 16:25 and allow the Holy Spirit so that God gets all the glory. 16:29 (upbeat music) 16:41 - Isn't that amazing? 16:42 - Yes. 16:43 - Yeah, God's really called them for child ministry. 16:46 - Right. 16:47 It's such a miracle what God has done 16:49 in those children's lives to bring them from where they were 16:52 and they didn't go into the stories. 16:55 - Right. 16:56 But when the first two came, when Wind and Sky came, 16:58 the little girl would see demons. 17:01 And one time Kasey came to the room 17:03 and she was there screaming, don't let it hurt me. 17:06 And she was looking at nothing in the corner, 17:10 but there was obviously something she could see 17:12 that Kasey couldn't see. 17:13 And then Kasey ran to the other room and asked her son 17:16 that was there to pray and then ran back 17:19 and the little girl was pushed up against the bed, 17:22 just flailing there, 17:23 trying to get away and she couldn't get away. 17:26 And so she said in the name of Jesus leave 17:29 and little girl hit the floor and ran to her 17:32 and just sobbing in her arms 17:33 and just an amazing story of how, you know, 17:37 she saw that there was major spiritual warfare right there. 17:40 - Yes, yes. 17:42 And God had prepared her for that. 17:43 - [Natalie] Right. 17:44 - But can you imagine that little girl being harassed 17:47 by demons when there was nobody to call Christ? 17:50 - [Natalie] To help her. - Yeah, yeah. 17:52 Unprotected. - [Natalie] Yeah, yeah. 17:53 That's just really sobering how many others 17:55 are out there like that. 17:57 - Yeah, probably a lot more than we would like to think. 18:00 - [ John] Right. 18:01 - Right. - Right. 18:02 But in, during that video, 18:03 you saw that they were talking about a need 18:05 to set up their own school. 18:07 And to find their own property. 18:09 And to build houses on that property. 18:12 - Right. 18:13 Since that video was filmed (laughs), 18:16 they have found a perfect piece of property. 18:19 - Right. - Yeah. 18:21 And we have a video for that. 18:22 - Okay, let's watch that now. 18:24 - Okay. 18:26 (upbeat music) 18:31 - We lived way out in the country, on the mountains, 18:34 the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, 18:36 and we didn't have a large property or anything like that, 18:39 but we lived in the country. 18:42 And we had plenty of room for the kids to play. 18:45 (upbeat music) 18:50 - When we left Virginia and ended up in Sukhothai. 18:55 And there was just so much concrete everywhere. 18:58 There was the sense of loss, especially for the children, 19:01 the loss of their ability to grow up, surrounded in nature. 19:07 And so for the last year, 19:09 there's been a bit of a grieving process, 19:10 I think for us and for the kids. 19:13 The Thai children that we have don't know 19:15 what they're missing. 19:16 But as our family size has increased and the need for, 19:22 especially, outdoor space has grown. 19:25 - Kasey and I've been praying and wanting to find a location 19:32 that's bigger with more yard space, 19:35 not necessarily a bigger house, 19:37 just more yard space so that the kids can go out and play. 19:40 Somewhere with trees so that kids can play on the trees 19:44 and climb and just be kids. 19:47 - But we know the kids need useful occupation. 19:50 They need to be able to expend their energy outdoors and 19:56 just really learn from the book of nature. 19:59 (screaming) 20:03 (upbeat music) 20:11 (upbeat music) 20:15 - Just this week, I think just yesterday, 20:17 we came upon a listing for this property here 20:22 and it's a 24, 25 Rai. 20:24 And it has multiple houses and just building structures 20:31 that will meet very specifically the needs 20:34 that we've been praying about. 20:35 And the land is just amazing to be here with the kids 20:40 and to hear their excitement and how excited they are 20:42 to tell the other kids about this possibility. 20:45 (upbeat music) 20:48 - It is a beautiful place. 20:51 It's everything that Kasey and I have talked about. 20:55 Has all the combinations that we need and more, a lot more. 21:01 There's no nobody else around. 21:03 It's just rice fields everywhere, as you can... 21:06 As far as you can see. 21:08 And driving into here and a couple of back roads 21:11 and a dirt road to get into the property. 21:14 And as soon as we found the property and drove in, 21:18 it was like coming home. 21:23 There's flower bushes, everywhere. 21:25 There's fruit trees, everywhere. 21:29 Plenty of places where we could make a garden. 21:32 Plenty of water to sustain everything, too. 21:37 - There's familiar sounds. 21:38 And it just has this feel that this is what 21:43 we've been waiting for and praying for for the last year. 21:46 And yeah, there's definitely just the sense of peace 21:50 and this feeling of home being here. 21:56 - It has three different houses on it. 21:58 Plus other rooms already developed for about the same price 22:03 as we would find for a smaller chunk of just a rice field, 22:08 which is a blessing because you can't find something like 22:11 this for the amount of money they're asking for. 22:17 - So beyond just meeting the needs of the children, 22:21 we've had sort of this dream, 22:24 this vision for creating a place to be able to bring people 22:30 for discipleship training, to allow new believers, 22:32 to come and live among other believers, 22:34 to really disciple them in Christian living. 22:38 And as a by-product of that, 22:41 we would love to do camp meetings 22:43 where we're bringing together, you know, 22:44 new and old believers to be revitalized 22:49 in the Christian walk. 22:50 And this space would be perfect for that. 22:54 There's lots of lodging, there's lots of outdoor space, 22:57 there's outdoor bathrooms. 23:00 It just would meet every need that we would have to utilize 23:03 this for that purpose as well. 23:05 (upbeat music) 23:10 Well, we are very hopeful that this, you know, 23:13 God led us here because this is the place 23:16 we wanna stay surrender to His will. 23:19 We don't wanna jump ahead of him. 23:21 And so we would invite anybody who sees this 23:25 to join us in prayer, 23:26 that God will not only lead through the process, 23:30 but make it very evident whether this is the place or not. 23:41 - Isn't that exciting. 23:42 That is, it's a beautiful place. 23:45 Looks like- - Yeah. 23:46 It's already got the buildings, they don't have to build. 23:48 - [Natalie] Right. 23:49 - It's already there. 23:50 And this is a lot cheaper 23:51 than the majority of the properties. 23:53 I mean, it's like half to third, 23:55 the price of the normal property of that stature, 23:59 of that nature in the area. 24:01 - Wow. 24:02 - Thankfully, 24:04 the owner here of this property has given us terms. 24:07 - Right. 24:08 - So she's allowing us to pay it off in two years. 24:10 - Right. 24:12 - And so- - That translates to? 24:14 How much do they have to put down? 24:15 About 20,000 down and then $7,500 every month 24:19 for the next two years. 24:21 - Wow. 24:22 - So that's a big chunk, but with God, 24:24 all things are possible. 24:25 - Right, right. 24:27 - And altogether we can each give a little bit. 24:31 - Right. 24:32 - And pray a lot.(laughing) 24:33 - Right, and God will open the doors. 24:35 - Right. 24:36 - So Robbie and Kasey, Kasey is quite a writer. 24:39 She's been sharing her spiritual journey for a long time. 24:42 And especially since they went to Thailand, 24:44 she's made a commitment that she's gonna continue 24:46 to share it, whether it's hard or whether it's easy, 24:49 she's gonna share whatever happens in their lives 24:52 so that other people can be encouraged 24:53 on the spiritual journey as well. 24:55 - [John] Correct. 24:56 - And so there's a couple of different ways 24:57 to find that information. 25:00 One is on Facebook, 25:01 there's a page called "Walking Redeemed." 25:03 And then she has a blog also called "Walking Redeemed." 25:06 And then their YouTube channel 25:08 is also "Walking Redeemed Kasey Norton" 25:11 - [John] Okay. - 'Cause that's her name. 25:12 So you can go there and see videos 25:15 that they've made recently. 25:16 They just started doing this, not too long ago, 25:19 because they had to get settled in 25:21 and everything like that first. 25:22 But now they're making videos where she shares 25:25 some of these spiritual journey type of thoughts 25:27 that she's having. 25:28 - Correct. 25:29 - [Natalie] So- - Yeah. 25:30 They're very inspiring. 25:31 - Yes, and challenging too. 25:32 Challenges the way I think as well. 25:34 (laughing) 25:36 And we'll just show a brief clip from one of those now. 25:39 - [John] Okay. 25:41 (clicking) 25:45 - [Kasey] When things feel impossible or too weighty, 25:48 He shows up and slides things right into place 25:51 in so many ways for doing nothing here, 25:53 besides tending to that, 25:54 which He puts before us each day. 25:56 Sometimes the effort's ugly 25:58 and other times slightly more graceful. 26:01 But always the true impact comes from His love and mercy 26:04 being so desperate to want every last person 26:07 to know they are seen. 26:09 If we can sometimes be those hands, 26:12 God uses to work a little love into tired, worn down hearts. 26:16 Well, then we're all the more grateful 26:18 to even have the opportunity. 26:22 - Well, it's neat to have someone over there, 26:24 that's willing to write down and put into words, 26:26 these challenging insights that she's having. 26:29 - And somebody that has those insights to then teach others. 26:32 - [Natalie] Right. - In that country. 26:34 In that dark land that less than 1% is Christian. 26:38 - [Natalie] Right. 26:40 - And so to bring some of these concepts 26:41 that hit at the heart of (chuckles) who our identity is 26:46 and who we are as people and how we live life. 26:48 - Right. 26:50 - It's gonna be wonderful to have that influence 26:51 in that country. - [Natalie] Right. 26:52 And to train our future Bible workers, 26:55 it's gonna be wonderful to have that level of training. 26:58 - Right, they do have a couple right now 27:01 that's joining them to be Bible workers. 27:03 - That's the other thing we forgot to mention. 27:05 - [Natalie] Right. 27:06 - They've also just rented a place downtown, 27:09 three story building. 27:11 And this is going to be their language school 27:15 and English language school. 27:16 They're teaching the local Thais. 27:18 - [Natalie] Right. - And the first church plant. 27:21 - Right. 27:22 - That is so cool. 27:23 - Yeah and to see what God is going to do, it's just... 27:27 I can't wait. - [John] Right. 27:29 But I'm so thankful for what he's doing already. 27:31 Such an encouragement to continue to pray for them. 27:34 - God is truly leading. 27:36 - Right, He is. 27:37 And if you would please pray for the Norton family 27:40 and these precious children they have taken in. 27:43 If you would like to help this work go forward in Thailand, 27:46 you can contact us at Jesus for Asia, PO Box 1221, 27:51 Collegedale, Tennessee, 37315. 27:54 Call us at (423) 413-7321. 27:59 Or visit our website at Jesus4asia.org. 28:02 May God richly bless you until we see you next time 28:06 on Jesus for Asia Now. 28:07 (upbeat music) |
Revised 2020-12-02