Participants:
Series Code: JFAN
Program Code: JFAN000011A
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00:21 Hello, and welcome to Jesus for Asia Now.
00:24 I'm Natalie Wood and I have my husband Jon 00:26 here with me on the show. 00:28 We have a project to share today 00:29 that is run by some close friends of ours. 00:32 Now their older son went with us 00:34 on a vision trip in 2007. 00:37 And I think we've got... Do we have a picture of Ben? 00:39 Yeah, there is Ben right there. 00:40 In India. Yeah. 00:42 See we call it a vision trip instead of mission trip, 00:44 because on a mission trip, 00:46 well, there is not a lot of missionary work 00:47 you can do on a mission trip, short-term mission trip. 00:50 And this is only two months. 00:52 So we wanted to show the people that are on the mission... 00:57 On the vision trip, wanted to show them 00:59 what different missionaries are doing, 01:01 what kind of different mission work 01:04 that you can do overseas, 01:05 and so we call it a vision trip. 01:07 So he came with us to Thailand, 01:09 we spent a couple of weeks in Thailand. 01:10 We went to India, did evangelistic series. 01:13 We had six teams at the time, came back 01:14 and spent another couple of weeks in Thailand. 01:18 And he just didn't come home. 01:20 He asked us, if we could call his mom... 01:23 And stay. And ask for permission to stay. 01:25 And the way that he said it, he says, 01:27 "When I saw the need, how could I just go home 01:30 and live a normal life, knowing that I had to do 01:33 something to help these people. 01:35 I had to something." 01:36 So he stayed. Right. 01:38 So his parents and his other three brothers, 01:41 younger brothers were still here in America. 01:43 Yes. And they came to Faith Camp. 01:45 They were helping us. They were helping us. 01:47 They were staff at Faith Camp. Set up and tear down and... 01:50 'Cause it was a do it yourself camp meeting. 01:52 Yeah, that was big. 01:54 We had to put the roof on the building 01:55 and everything would... 01:57 Anyway, that's the story for a different time. 01:58 But they were staff at Faith Camp. 02:00 So they heard the missionary stories, 02:02 they heard the messages about working with God by faith. 02:06 And they were challenged in their lives. 02:09 And so few years later, after Ben had gone, 02:12 they were Faith Camp staff several years. 02:14 And then Ben came home. 02:18 And he got his next two younger brothers, 02:19 Andrew and Jason, 02:21 and took them back with him to Thailand, 02:23 and Andrew ended up working in Cambodia. 02:25 He is still working in Cambodia today. 02:27 With the, Wat Preah Yesu/Maddocks Project. 02:31 Right, right. 02:32 And he has married a Khmer girl from Cambodia now. 02:35 Yep. Yes. So beautiful young lady. 02:38 And Jason ended up working in Thailand, 02:41 and he just got married recently 02:43 to a beautiful young American girl 02:45 that went over there to help also. 02:47 So that's kind of neat, but anyway he came 02:50 and he got the two of them and they went over, 02:52 and they started working there also. 02:54 And Ben was primarily working and Jason has ended up working 02:57 primarily with the Karen people. 03:00 Yeah, right there on the border between Thailand and Burma. 03:03 So on the north western part of Thailand, 03:07 on the Thai side. 03:08 Okay. Yeah. 03:10 Well, now we want to get on to Leroy and Lisa. 03:12 Because the next thing that happened was, 03:14 they were asked to go over briefly 03:16 for Sunshine Orchid for just a few months, 03:18 while the other missionaries had to come home on a furlough. 03:21 And they were asked to go and take care of the place. 03:24 Yeah. And so they went... 03:25 And took their younger son Travis with them. 03:27 Yes. 03:28 So after they were there for a couple... 03:30 I don't know two or three months, 03:31 and they fulfilled their obligation. 03:34 They decided that they wanted to stay, 03:36 'cause they saw that there are thousands 03:39 of more villages without any Christian presence at all. 03:42 And so they found a place in Sangkhlaburi, 03:45 which is, you have to go way down 03:47 south to almost Bangkok, 03:48 and then way over kind of west, little bit northwest to the... 03:53 Almost to the border of Burma again. 03:55 And they found a place there 03:57 that was owned by another ministry and... 04:01 But wasn't being used. 04:02 And so they... There was a grasp... 04:04 They were invited by the other ministry 04:06 to use that place. 04:07 So there is a bamboo hut there... 04:09 Bamboo house there that they were living in, 04:11 and we have some pictures of that. 04:13 Here's a video of the bamboo house, 04:17 and this is the little property that they were on. 04:22 And this is just their living room, 04:24 and dining room, and school room. 04:27 You can see they've got thatched roof, 04:30 she's got a piano there, 04:32 she's got the library there for school, 04:36 just like a regular home, and on the front porch 04:39 they have their little hammocks there 04:42 and there is little Destiny. 04:44 And we're going to talk about her. 04:45 I think that was Hannah. Oh, yeah. 04:48 So it's time to take a nap for little Hannah. 04:51 So this is their life there in Sangkhlaburi. 04:54 They wanted to teach the young people 04:56 that came there how to walk with God and English, 05:00 and so that they lived in the same house, 05:03 there was only one building there. 05:04 Yes. 05:05 They all lived in the same house, 05:06 they all had worship together, they all ate together. 05:08 Yes, yeah. Very family environment. 05:10 Yeah, the school, the focus of the school 05:13 was to have that family environment. 05:15 Smaller school, small scale, but really teach them 05:18 what it means to live a lifestyle, 05:20 a Christian lifestyle. 05:23 Okay. 05:24 Now they were working again with the Karen people group. 05:27 And they wanted to fit in with the local population. 05:31 And so they didn't buy a vehicle. 05:33 They didn't buy a truck or car of any kind. 05:36 No. They bought motorbikes. 05:38 And they're not heavy-duty big motorbikes 05:41 like me might think 05:42 they would need in jungle roads. 05:45 They were more like a moped. 05:47 No, 100 CC, 110 CC, 05:50 and they had a lot of people though. 05:52 So they had to be ingenuitive... 05:56 Ingenious. Ingenious. 05:58 Yes. So they... Creative. 05:59 So they put a trailer on the back of the motorbike, 06:01 they just strapped it on to the seat. 06:03 And we've got video of that as well. 06:04 Okay, yeah, we saw briefly in the other video, 06:06 but here we go. 06:07 So this is climbing into the trailer. 06:11 This is Sabbath morning, getting ready to go to church. 06:15 This is the family van. 06:17 There is Travis, the youngest one driving, 06:20 while I'm sitting on the seat behind him. 06:22 There's Natalie, Natalie is there. 06:24 Yeah. In the trailer. 06:27 And then, of course I jumped into. 06:30 We're all on our way to church. 06:31 Now we should explain who these people are. 06:33 There is the little church. Okay. 06:36 The two getting out right there, 06:38 those were student missionaries 06:39 that joined them for about a few months. 06:41 Right, two sisters. Marie and Jenison. 06:44 Yeah. And so that's Travis. 06:48 And Leroy was also in the trailer, 06:50 and Ben, the oldest. 06:51 That's right. 06:52 So while they were there in Sangkhlaburi, 06:54 people started approaching them, 06:56 because there is a situation that goes on in Thailand 06:59 that is similar to other countries as well. 07:02 If a family breaks up or one of the parents dies, 07:05 and the other parent wants to get remarried, 07:08 and they have the children. 07:10 Many times the person they're going to marry... 07:12 Doesn't want the children. Right. 07:14 So they will leave them with family sometimes, 07:18 by themselves sometimes. 07:20 Sometimes they sell them, 07:21 I mean it's just all sorts of things happen. 07:24 Yeah, just abandon the kids. Yeah. 07:26 And sometimes the parents are drug addicts or alcoholics 07:29 or they need to go and get a job, 07:30 and they just don't know what to do. 07:32 So they leave the children. 07:33 Lot of opium up in the mountains... 07:35 Yeah. In that area. 07:36 So they have had that happen four times 07:39 that the parents had abandoned these children. 07:43 So they have four little girls now. 07:44 They had four boys, and they're all grown, 07:46 and now they have four little girls 07:48 and Hannah was one of them. 07:50 She was there in the video in the hammock. 07:52 And this, you know, this isn't just like borrowing 07:56 the kids for little while, this is... 07:57 That's not baby sitting. 07:58 No, this is like taking them on as their own children. 08:01 Right, it's like adoption, but they can't actually, 08:04 you know, bring them to America or whatever. 08:05 Right. 08:06 And they want them to know their culture anyway. 08:08 And so I asked them, I'm like, you know, 08:10 how long do you plan to be here in Thailand? 08:13 And you know the standard life time Adventist 08:17 or career Adventist missionary is five years in a country. 08:20 Yeah, how that can be a career? 08:22 Yeah. I don't know but anyway. 08:24 But they said, well, they've got to go through 08:26 at least high school, possibly college. 08:29 So they're looking at a 20 year commitment. 08:31 They're going to raise the girls 08:32 as long as they raise their boys. 08:34 Yeah. And so this is... 08:36 They're here for a long haul. Right. 08:38 Which is really important, 08:40 because if you just go for a short time, 08:42 there's not much you can do. 08:43 I've seen a missionary that was there 08:45 for five years in Bangkok, and at the end of five years, 08:49 he started to become effective. 08:51 Yeah, because he knew the culture then. 08:54 He understood the people, he had made friends, 08:56 you know, things like that. 08:57 You can't just make friends like, 08:59 you know, microwave popcorn. 09:01 Right, exactly. Right. It doesn't work that way. 09:03 So they're making friends, and as they make friends, 09:06 then people become curious about their life. 09:08 That's right, we have a quote from Mrs. White, 09:10 that talks about how people can raise their families. 09:13 You know we think in our minds, to raise my family, 09:16 I need to go where there is Seventh-day Adventist school. 09:19 But this is what Mrs. White says. 09:21 "If families would locate in the dark places of the earth 09:25 places where the people 09:26 are enshrouded in spiritual gloom, 09:28 and let the light of Christ's life 09:30 shine out through them, 09:31 a great work might be accomplished. 09:34 Let them begin their work in a quiet unobtrusive way..." 09:38 That's from Adventist Home, page 489. 09:40 Yeah, and I believe that great work 09:42 would be done not only in those dark counties 09:44 or dark areas, but in their families, 09:47 the families of the people that go, 09:48 because now you have purpose, you have a reason to pray, 09:51 and ask for God's Holy Spirit. 09:52 You have a focus on spreading God's word, 09:55 not just having a good life. 09:56 Right. Yeah. 09:58 So unfortunately, right next to that property, 10:02 a village was built up. 10:04 And suddenly their days and nights 10:06 were full of heavy-duty rock music. 10:08 Yes. 10:09 And there was no peace there anymore. 10:11 When they first moved there, 10:12 it was in the middle of the country, 10:13 I mean there were few houses, 10:15 but it was very peaceful and quiet. 10:17 When we visited there, it was very quiet. 10:19 Yeah, and so they decided that they needed to move, 10:22 because in a place where there's 10:24 thousands of villages, thousands of places 10:27 where there is no Christian presence. 10:28 The whole, 10:29 I mean the whole country side is available. 10:31 Right, so they went back to Sunshine Orchid for a while, 10:35 and then they felt the Lord calling them 10:36 to one of those unreached places. 10:38 Yeah, but Lisa had a bad back. 10:40 Her back couldn't handle a bumpy road. 10:43 And so they had to find a place that was remote in the jungle 10:46 but no bumpy road. 10:48 And so, Jason went out looking, and he found an amazing place, 10:54 amazing location with a really smooth road. 10:57 It's a river. 10:59 Yes, a river road. 11:02 So they would go up and down the river 11:03 in one of the long-tailed boats, 11:05 which is a kind of boat they use in Thailand. 11:08 I think we have a picture or some video. 11:10 Yes, we have some video of them. 11:12 And this is when I visited, 11:14 just a few little memories of my time there with them. 11:17 Okay. 11:21 This is her getting out of the boat. 11:23 That was my suitcase. 11:24 Then I went out again with Jason, 11:26 'cause he went out to collect coconuts. 11:29 And coconuts were still good, 11:30 they'd be floating down the river. 11:33 He'd be shaking to figure out which one was good. 11:35 These are two little kids, that's Destiny. 11:40 They walk up this handmade trail, 11:43 up to the school, that's the school building 11:46 built by hand with some of the youth 11:49 that were there for the school. 11:52 This is little Destiny. That's Hannah. 12:03 Now there is their house, that's Leroy and Lisa's house. 12:07 Obviously it rains a lot, and this was carved 12:10 by their own hands right out of the jungle. 12:13 So they carved this location out of the jungle 12:15 with their own hands, 12:16 and they got there in late afternoon, 12:19 in evening we had a meal. 12:21 This is the school. 12:22 These are the students that were there for the school. 12:24 We had a wonderful worship and by candlelight. 12:29 We sang songs. They have no power there. 12:31 That's right, they had a little solar panel 12:35 that would be enough to charge batteries, 12:37 but I had used all their power to charge 12:40 my batteries for my camera. 12:42 So they had to go by satellite. 12:44 This is the kitchen, the Karen people, 12:48 young people would make breakfast 12:50 in their kitchen like that. 12:51 I mean, go through the day, 12:53 having school there in the room. 12:57 Okay, and they call this one 12:59 Jason's English Medical Missionary Training School. 13:01 That's correct. Okay. 13:03 'Cause Jason was the one that founded, and he was... 13:05 They were given this property 13:07 by the chiefs of five different villages 13:10 that surrounded this place. 13:11 I mean they weren't really close, 13:13 they are far way, but this is... 13:14 No one was living here, it was being completely unused, 13:17 they were given this place by those. 13:18 It was a government's property 13:19 and so those village leaders were in charge of it. 13:22 Right. 13:23 That's what they thought. It's like federal land. 13:25 But this building is kind of a, bit of a miracle story, 13:30 because this is the second building 13:31 that's on that same location. 13:34 The first school that they built, 13:36 they had just got it completed 13:38 like on a Wednesday or something. 13:40 And then students for some reason, 13:42 most of them were requesting 13:44 that they go home for the weekend. 13:45 So they went home, and that Friday morning, 13:47 a big mango tree that was standing 13:49 right behind the house 13:50 that had showed no signs of weakness or anything, 13:52 all of a sudden, just fell on that. 13:54 And this is like a 50 foot tall. 13:55 It's a dorm school building that was three stories, right? 13:59 Two stories tall. Two stories. 14:00 There was a little loft in the third storey, 14:02 but it was mainly two stories, 14:04 and it just flattened the whole thing. 14:05 Right down the middle. Yeah. 14:07 And if any of the students had been in there, 14:09 they would have been either very injured or even killed. 14:13 Absolutely. And it was amazing. 14:15 Because almost all of them went home 14:17 and the rest that were there, 14:18 there were on the kitchen cooking. 14:19 Down with at the house, the Sharon's house. 14:21 At the Sharon's house. 14:22 So they're completely outside the building. 14:23 Yeah. It was a total miracle. 14:25 Right, and so there were like, "Oh, my goodness, 14:27 it's taken us so much work 14:30 and so long to build this thing... 14:32 What do we do?" Yeah, it cost them... 14:33 $400 to build that building. 14:35 And they were like, "we don't have another $400." 14:38 Right. 14:39 And then the students came back. 14:41 And they showed, they used this opportunity 14:42 to show the students 14:43 how Christians response to disaster. 14:46 And they says, "Well, 14:47 Lord must have a reason for it..." 14:49 And so they kept it. And he protected all of you. 14:51 Yes. They've told them that. 14:52 And the students saw it too. 14:54 Yeah, so they started praising the Lord. 14:56 And within a few weeks, 14:58 they had rebuilt the whole thing, 14:59 but this time, it only cost them $12. 15:02 Right, because the students knew 15:04 how to get the thatch 15:05 and they knew how to do the bamboo properly. 15:07 And the roof, they got to get this right leaf, 15:10 and you've got to fold it just right 15:12 and it's got to dry just right, and in the previous were... 15:15 Stretch it or hook it together, however they call it, 15:17 I don't know if they call it sewing them or what, but... 15:19 The previous building, they didn't know how to do that 15:21 so they had to buy the roof, 15:22 that's why it cost them so much, $400. 15:24 This time it only cost them $12, 15:26 for like some wire and some nails and stuff. 15:29 So within a few weeks they had it build again, 15:32 the building that you saw in this video. 15:34 Okay. All right. 15:36 We have another video now of them at that place. 15:38 So they'd been here at this property 15:40 for about two years, 15:41 and they had the school running for about a year. 15:43 And doing amazing work with these young people, 15:48 it's awesome. 15:49 Really wonderful young people, 15:50 and they were just soaking it up, loving. 15:53 You know some of them didn't like the rules, 15:54 they didn't like to live like a Christian. 15:57 They wanted just do whatever they wanted to do. 15:58 Some of them really, really appreciated the structure 16:02 and they appreciated the hope that Jesus gave them. 16:05 And, but then, some really sad things happened, 16:09 because the government in Thailand changed. 16:12 It became the military government. 16:14 Yeah, it became a military and so. 16:17 Well, we'll let Lisa tell the story. 16:19 Okay. 16:21 I used to have a mission school, a Bible, 16:25 English training school down in the jungle. 16:30 But last year, 16:32 a lot and lot has changed in Thailand. 16:35 And even though we had permission 16:38 to be where we were, and do what we were doing. 16:41 One day the military 16:43 and a lot of officials came down to our school, 16:48 they let us know that the laws are changing, 16:49 we're going to have leave. 16:53 It was no longer legal for us 16:54 to live out in the jungle like we were. 16:57 So since I had to leave, then the following week, 17:02 we were met by another delegation 17:04 of soldiers with big guns. 17:08 They were really nice also, but they told us 17:10 that we had on week to move, that was on a Sunday. 17:14 And so, of course for us that meant 17:16 that we had actually five days, 17:17 'cause it would have to be done before Sabbath. 17:20 And we had three buildings and two bathrooms, 17:25 hydro electric system and a solar system. 17:28 And we had to move all of it in five days. 17:34 And it was just actually nine of us, 17:37 but five were little kids. 17:39 So we started tearing into the place, 17:41 and we worked like I didn't think 17:45 it was possible to make it. 17:48 And we prayed, 17:49 and by the end of the first day, 17:53 we realized that this was impossible. 17:57 Absolutely impossible, so we're praying, 18:00 we're just saying, "Lord, you know our needs, 18:02 you know, we can't do this." 18:03 We're tearing apart mangled hall, 18:05 trying to get it taken down when we heard a noise, 18:09 and looked outside, 18:11 and there were 18 brown skinned angels 18:15 coming down the path, and by some sort of a miracle, 18:19 even though there was no communication out there, 18:21 some of our students had found out 18:24 that we had to move in that amount of time. 18:27 And they came, and they brought people 18:29 that we never even met before. 18:31 And by Friday morning, 18:34 we were taking the last load down 18:36 when the military showed up. 18:39 And they just stood there with their mouths open. 18:41 They did not think it was possible either. 18:44 But God is good, 18:45 and He sent us the help we needed right 18:46 when we needed it. 18:47 So we knew for sure that God was moving us, 18:51 you know, it's not a fun thing, 18:53 and it was really disappointing. 18:55 And yet, God worked it out for in ways 18:59 that I couldn't even imagine. 19:02 For instance, five of our students 19:04 chose to go down to Travis' school 19:06 and become teachers. 19:08 And it worked out really, really good 19:09 because he needed teachers 19:11 who were really grounded in the Bible, and our beliefs, 19:15 and our standards. 19:17 And it's really hard to find that out here. 19:19 But those students had been really well trained 19:23 after being there for a year 19:24 and so, Travis was able to keep his school going, 19:27 because we lost our students. 19:30 So that was, it turned out to be a huge blessing. 19:33 So God had a plan. God had a plan. 19:35 Even though they were disappointed, God had a plan. 19:37 It has been very tiring 19:38 and hard work for them to relocate again. 19:41 But this time they've purchased property. 19:44 Okay. Yeah. 19:45 And they're actually building on property that they own. 19:49 And now they're building, a real cement and brick house. 19:56 So now why are they having to do that? 19:57 With a four young girls 19:59 that they are working on adopting, 20:00 they're taking care of us their own children. 20:03 In order for adoption for them to become legal, 20:07 they have to have postal address. 20:09 They have to live in a place with the postal address. 20:11 And the government won't give a postal address 20:15 to a bamboo's building. 20:16 Bamboo building. 20:17 So they have to build in cement, 20:20 and so of course, the Sharon way. 20:23 That's a lot of work. 20:24 That's a lot of work, and they do it themselves. 20:26 And the local people have said that, 20:29 you can go and get sand, 20:31 and gravel, and rocks from the riverbed. 20:34 And so they go down there, praise the Lord, 20:37 they now own a pickup truck. 20:39 Yes, they had to buy a pickup truck to haul all their, 20:43 all of their supplies for building. 20:44 Yeah, 'cause the river is probably an hour away. 20:47 And so they drive down and they shovel the... 20:49 And... They shovel the sand. 20:51 The rice bags into with the sand. 20:53 And they shift it, and then they get the rocks 20:56 and the gravel, everything, they haul it back up. 20:58 So all they have to do is buy the concrete 21:00 and then they mix it by hand. 21:01 We got some video of what that looks like 21:04 in mixing in this new place. 21:06 First of all, we're going to do 21:07 a little flyover of their property 21:09 so you can kind of get a feel for... 21:11 Where things are located. 21:12 We visited there recently, 21:13 and one of the friends that came with us had a drone. 21:17 So we got to fly and that was a lot of fun. 21:19 Okay, so let's watch that. Yeah. 21:22 This property has two, in the bottom 21:24 you can see two houses, 21:26 and now we're looking at the blue house. 21:28 I actually got to help a little bit 21:31 with my own two hands. 21:32 There is Leroy mixing up some cement out in the front. 21:35 You've got one of the young ladies 21:37 building the posts, 21:39 there's going to be some posts out front. 21:41 And that roof is going to extend all the way up. 21:43 This is their new truck, 21:45 and so this is what they shared. 21:46 And this is going to become the school now. 21:50 Okay. Okay. 21:51 And then they're going to live actually in this house. 21:53 And the cement's going to come all the way out 21:56 past those posts. 21:57 And all that cement was done, mixed by hand. 22:01 Those bags there on the right hand side, 22:03 that's all cement. 22:04 Yep. I mean, that's all sand. 22:05 That's all sand from the river. 22:06 They just brought that up while we were there. 22:08 And my son James went down and help them load it in, 22:11 but all this is done by hand. 22:12 And unfortunately, Lisa ends up doing a lot of it. 22:17 And she has a bad back. Yeah, and then... 22:20 So they're working hard on that. 22:21 Yeah, and you can see how the house 22:22 is built into the side of a hill. 22:25 When they first decided to build right there, 22:28 it was all covered with bushes, so they couldn't really see, 22:30 and so Lisa thought, we'll built here. 22:32 And then when they cleared the bushes, they realized... 22:35 It was too steep to build there. 22:37 It's steep, so they had to dig. 22:38 So she and the girls dug all that dirt out. 22:41 So all the dirt that's in front... 22:43 That's the field dirt. Used to be under the house. 22:47 Yeah. 22:48 It's just incredible, you can see here, 22:49 sitting here building... 22:51 Leroy and I did a lot of that wall there, 22:54 but she is coming back 22:55 and with the brush and some water, 22:57 they're making it all nice and clean. 23:00 So it looks really good when they're done. 23:03 So you can see, this is the way they build those posts, 23:05 they do it all by hand, they have that little form 23:07 and the girls get in and get involved, 23:09 get their hands cementy, and this is how they do it. 23:15 Slow going, but when they're done, 23:17 you know who else is going to do it. 23:19 They don't have the money to hire 23:21 a lot of people to this work, 23:22 and so they just get in and do it themselves. 23:24 Well, we have a little video clip of Lisa 23:26 talking about some of their needs. 23:28 Yes. 23:29 I need people who can teach in the Thai schools, I need... 23:34 Yeah, just simple English. 23:36 You don't have to have any kind of education for it 23:38 as long as you speak good English. 23:40 But just need people who'll teach, 23:44 who'll care about the villagers and want to be friendly, 23:47 go visit them, talk to them. 23:50 When we moved here, they offered us this land 23:53 and it's a nice piece of land. 23:56 We took it, it has water and... 23:59 But we didn't know that people had been 24:02 killed on this place and so it was cursed. 24:05 And so anybody who stayed here should have died. 24:09 And so simply living here is the witness to the village 24:12 and you know, they... 24:14 everybody in every village 24:16 in this whole area knows about it. 24:19 Here we are, we're still alive. 24:24 Sometimes just being somewhere is a witness, 24:27 even though you don't think of it as being a witness. 24:31 So what she meant like that 24:32 is that there's lot of Thai schools around the area, 24:35 and there is a big push in Thailand to learn English, 24:37 and so, if a person can go there 24:40 and just teach conversational English, 24:42 doesn't take a degree in educationary thing. 24:45 It's just "Can you speak English?" 24:47 Go there and you can help out these Thai schools 24:50 and be a huge witness, make connections 24:52 and do friendship evangelism, it's very powerful. 24:55 So that's what she is talking about. 24:56 They had a lot of request from surrounding villages 24:59 to go and teach there. 25:00 And there just aren't enough of them. 25:02 Right, so that's one of the needs 25:04 that she is talking about, but there is other needs also. 25:06 And their biggest need is for people to come 25:09 and stay long term. 25:10 Learn the language, learn the culture, 25:12 really connect with the people, and start doing this working. 25:15 They're in one village, maybe influencing 25:17 five or ten villages in the area, 25:19 but there are thousands of villages 25:21 where there is no Christian and no witness 25:23 and nothing is being done for them. 25:26 Right, and they all need to know, 25:28 because Matthew 24:14 says, 25:31 "And this gospel of the kingdom 25:32 shall be preached in all the world." 25:35 Every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. 25:36 Every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. 25:37 Yeah, and in addition to this, this is the Karen people, 25:42 and in that area, the Karen are probably 25:45 the one of the most reached. 25:46 Right. 25:47 Then you've got 110, 109 other people groups 25:50 just in Thailand alone, plus the other... 25:53 I mean, it's just... 25:54 The need is endless, and so what can I do. 25:56 Well, I may not be able to fix everything, 25:58 but for just a few like that, 26:01 boy with the starfish on the beach, 26:05 and he is throwing one, you know, 26:06 there's thousands of starfish, 26:07 he is throwing one after another, 26:08 and his dad is like, "You're not going to throw 26:10 all these starfish in. 26:11 You're not going to make any difference." 26:12 And he's picked up, but for this starfish 26:15 I'm going to make all the difference in the world. 26:18 And so that's what God is calling us to do. 26:20 They do have other needs besides people. 26:22 Yes. They do need funding... 26:24 Because as soon as that dorm opens, 26:26 they will have students that they need to feed, 26:28 they need to provide school materials for. 26:31 And then they do have, you know, 26:33 the building to finish, and it does cost a little bit. 26:35 All the welding and the roof cost them some money. 26:38 Materials... 26:40 And anyway they do have other needs as well. 26:43 And if they have to do a visa run, 26:45 then it costs them money, 26:47 sometimes they have to come back to America 26:49 for visa renewals and things so, they do need funding. 26:52 Yes. And they need prayer. 26:54 Yes, lots of prayer. 26:55 Because they wouldn't be where they are, 26:57 if it hadn't been for prayer, lots and lots of prayer. 26:59 Guidance of the Holy Spirit and the Lord opening the way. 27:02 And when prayer happens back home 27:04 for the people on the frontlines, 27:06 it builds a wall of protection, 27:07 spiritual protection around them, 27:09 allows them to work. 27:11 In countries like this, that's really important... 27:14 Right. 27:15 Is the prayer, but the way it works 27:17 is that Jesus for Asia provides financial services 27:19 for the Sharon's and other projects 27:21 similar to theirs. 27:22 So when someone donates money to them, 27:25 they do it through Jesus for Asia. 27:27 So when somebody donates money for the Sharon's, 27:30 all of it goes, we send all of it. 27:32 We don't keep a certain percentage 27:34 for administrative overhead. 27:36 We trust God, we camp out on Matthew 6:33 27:38 for that need. 27:40 And God has provided all along. 27:42 And so, if you send $100 27:45 to the Sharon's through Jesus For Asia, 27:46 we send $100 to the Sharon's, 27:49 and they can use it on their frontline projects. 27:50 And we've done that from the very beginning. 27:53 Right. 27:54 I want to invite you to prayerfully consider 27:56 how the Lord may be calling you to help forward the work 27:59 of the Sharon family among these precious people. 28:02 You can send your tax deductible love gift 28:04 to Jesus for Asia, PO Box 1221, Collegedale, Tennessee. 28:10 Call us at (423)-413-7321 28:13 or check out our website at Jesus4asia.org. 28:17 God bless you until we see you again. |
Revised 2016-07-27