Participants:
Series Code: JFAN
Program Code: JFAN000071A
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00:01 (dramatic music)
00:22 - Hello, and welcome to Jesus for Asia now. 00:24 I'm Natalie Wood and today my husband, John and I, 00:27 would like to take you on trip to Bangkok, Thailand. 00:30 Welcome to the show, dear. 00:31 - Hi, darling, I'm really glad to be here. 00:33 - Yeah, and you know, I'm really excited 00:35 about the show today, because to me it's like Noah's ark. 00:40 It's a testimony of something only God can do. 00:42 - Oh, yeah, yeah. - Definitely the missionaries 00:45 that are involved here that we're gonna be talking about, 00:48 did not do this on their own. 00:49 There's no way they could've done it on their own. 00:52 - This is such a testimony to faith, 00:55 and God coming through and doing something way bigger 00:58 than I thought could happen. 01:00 - Right, and God using lots and lots of people 01:02 to help to do this. 01:04 - Oh yeah, yeah, God likes to work in a community. 01:08 He likes to work with different people in their place. 01:10 Some people are key, and if they don't move forward, 01:16 then God can't do that work. 01:17 When He's calling them, they need to answer by faith. 01:20 The biggest victories I've seen are people 01:23 that step out, because they know God is calling them. 01:26 They're not sure where He's calling them, 01:28 but they take the first step. 01:31 Say, well I'll do this much 01:33 and God will reveal the next step when it's time. 01:36 - Right and so they do it step-by-step. 01:39 God reveals the next step, 01:41 after they take the step they can see at the moment. 01:44 - Yeah, and some of the steps are way bigger 01:46 than they expected. 01:48 - Yeah, they're like giant leaps, 01:49 and they're like, what, Lord, what? 01:51 And they keep going. 01:53 - Yeah, so what specifically are you talking 01:55 about this time? 01:57 - Okay, well, first we wanna introduce some missionaries. 01:59 We've got a picture here of Brian and Jessica Atwell 02:02 and their second son, Joseph. 02:04 And Jessica's obviously pregnant 02:07 and now they have a daughter named Prudence. 02:09 So, it's a family of five at this point 02:12 and this picture has all four 02:15 of the family members before Prudence. 02:17 Their oldest son, Asher is in there also, 02:20 and Joseph with Brian and Jessica. 02:22 And some of our viewers may remember 02:25 hearing their story before. 02:27 Because they went to Thailand, 02:28 not knowing for sure what God was asking them to do, 02:31 but knowing for sure that God was taking them to Thailand. 02:34 - Yeah, in fact, when they first decided to go 02:36 to Thailand, she was pregnant with Asher their first born. 02:39 And when he was born, he had some medical conditions 02:44 that would've convinced a lot of people, 02:47 they need to stay in America and take care of them. 02:49 - Right. 02:50 - But through some miraculous interventions, 02:52 and some amazing developments, well, they decided 02:56 that they wanted to go anyway. 02:58 And that God would take care of them if He was calling them. 03:01 And so, some miraculous things happened 03:05 and they were able to go. 03:07 - Right, and God has taken care of Asher 03:09 and his medical needs, while they've been there. 03:12 - So the first thing they did 03:13 when they got to Thailand is learn the language. 03:15 And that's not easy. - No. 03:17 But it's very important. 03:19 Because without it 03:20 you're not speaking the people's heart language. 03:23 They may know English, but many of them, 03:25 even when they speak English well, don't believe they do. 03:28 And so they're very timid about speaking with you. 03:32 - Right, and so they might speak a little English to you, 03:35 but then they'll speak to Thai to their friends, 03:37 and it might be a totally different thing 03:39 than what they're talking to you about. 03:40 So to understand Thai, 03:42 especially if you're gonna do business in Thailand-- 03:45 - Right, is very important. 03:46 And so the Lord impressed them that they were going 03:49 to have a business there. 03:50 And so this is part of the reason why they started 03:54 taking Thai and trying to speak Thai as much as possible. 03:58 - Yeah, and so they felt impressed to go 04:00 to a certain part of Bangkok, called Ramkhamhaeng, 04:02 it's like a fed or a district of Bangkok. 04:05 Because in the show I walk the city that I shot 04:09 back in 2010 an '11 with Pastor Doug Ven, 04:12 we saw how that center, that church plant had to be closed, 04:18 and so they'd always had a heart for that area. 04:20 - Right. 04:21 - In that district, there is a university 04:23 that's the 12th largest in the world. 04:26 - Right, over 500,000 students. 04:28 - Yeah. 04:29 And so, they went into that area, 04:32 God opened up a door, they were able to get a rental 04:35 to rent a house for their family 04:38 and they were looking around for a little roadside stand 04:41 or a little shop or something 04:42 where they could have a fruit smoothie, 04:44 or a little restaurant or some, 04:46 they couldn't decide what they wanted to do. 04:50 - Right, and they felt kinda flaky about it, 04:52 because they'd have this idea and then that idea 04:54 and then the other idea. 04:56 And I mean, what ties together a restaurant, 04:59 a smoothie shop and a rock climbing wall? 05:01 I mean, it just, they felt very flaky. 05:04 - Yeah, and so. - And then. 05:06 - They were looking and he saw an advertisement 05:09 for a building that used to be a dormitory, 05:12 it's five stories tall, this massive square footage 05:18 and he's like, there's no way. 05:19 It's gonna be way too expensive, 05:20 and I don't need that big of a building. 05:24 - Right, over 15,000 square feet, 05:26 I mean, that's really big. 05:27 - Yeah, but it kept coming back to him 05:30 and finally he went and checked it out, 05:33 the landlord came way down on the price 05:35 and he felt impressed and so he leased it. 05:39 - [Natalie] Right, so the next couple pictures we have, 05:42 you can see there's a building that's painted red 05:44 on the front. 05:45 That is their building. 05:47 - Yes, now this is a another angle at it, 05:49 and you can see that large, kind of wide, 05:53 but multi-level, the tallest building in that picture. 05:56 That's the university. 05:58 - Okay. 05:59 - Not just that building, 06:00 but that whole campus is the university 06:02 and in the next shot we're gonna turn a little bit 06:04 to the right, and you get this view. 06:06 - Okay, and this is the stadium. 06:08 And if you read the lettering on it, 06:11 it's the national stadium, 06:12 it's where the Olympic teams 06:15 and the national sports teams train. 06:17 - Yeah. 06:18 - There's also a rock climbing wall here, 06:20 where the Thai National Rock Climbing team trains. 06:23 And so, Brian and Jessica had gone there 06:26 climbing a few times and had met some people. 06:28 And so they started kind of being more interested 06:32 in having a rock climbing wall. 06:33 - Yeah, being seen that there's a small community 06:35 that would support this type of thing 06:38 and very encouraging. 06:39 - Right. 06:40 - So, when you lease a building in Bangkok, 06:43 it's just a shell and then it's up to you 06:47 to go inside and put in water, 06:49 put in electricity and remodel it the way you want it. 06:52 Now, this was a dormitory and so they had to knock 06:55 out a whole bunch of walls. 06:57 - Right, 'cause everything was small bedrooms. 06:59 - Yeah. - Or small dorm rooms. 07:00 - Right, so it was a lot of work, huge amount of work. 07:04 I have to be honest with you, 07:05 when Brian first told me about this plan, 07:07 I thought, there's no way. 07:09 It's gonna cost way too much. 07:11 He says that remodeling the interior was gonna cost 07:13 like $45,000, I'm like, "There's no way". 07:16 Because I know how long it, I mean, 07:18 just, that's a lot of money. 07:19 That's not gonna happen. 07:21 - And it takes a long time to fundraise sometimes. 07:23 - Right. 07:24 Well, that's been our experience. 07:25 - Yeah, we have a video testimony 07:27 from during this time. 07:29 - [John] Okay. 07:30 (bright piano music) 07:32 - [Jessica] We know for sure He led us to come to Bangkok 07:35 and start a business as ministry. 07:39 We're gonna be the cutting edge, 07:41 first vegan pizzeria in Thailand. 07:45 - It was just really encouraging to see 07:47 that God is directing and God is building all this up. 07:52 - Fishers of men have their fishing holes 07:55 and so we've created a fishing hole 07:57 where men are gonna hang out 07:58 and hopefully we can catch them for the kingdom of God. 08:04 - The five Fs are fun, fitness, faith, 08:06 fellowship and fortitude. 08:11 The renovation process has been going on now 08:14 for almost 15 months I think. 08:17 We got an original estimate of four months 08:19 to fully renovate everything, have it finished, 08:22 and throughout this process there was a lot of things 08:25 that they were on the original invoice from the builder. 08:28 And I looked at it and I was trying to save money, 08:30 and so I started cutting things out, 08:31 I said, "Well, I know how to do this, 08:32 "I can do that, I can do this, I can do that". 08:35 For the most part I was by myself for a lot of it, 08:36 and so, I would just listen to sermons on my headphones. 08:39 And so that day specifically I went home 08:41 and I was talking to Jessica, and I was kind of ranting 08:44 about how I was so frustrated with, 08:47 there's all these things I don't know how to do 08:49 and there's things I do know how to do, 08:50 and I gotta do those and those still don't even work out. 08:52 And I said, you know what, I've listened to so many passages 08:55 and so many things today that God will bless that city work 08:58 if we trust Him and we move forward in faith, 09:00 and I said, I'm just gonna hire some people 09:02 to do this work. 09:03 I said, even though I know how to do it, 09:05 I said, I need to be focusing on the ministry side 09:07 of things and not just saving a couple hundred dollars. 09:09 And I opened up my phone, I was checking my emails, 09:12 and there was an email from someone, 09:13 and they said, hey we just wanted you to know 09:15 that we're praying for you, and also to let you know 09:17 that we just sent you a donation for $10,000 09:20 to help with the renovation work. 09:22 And I literally just went 'round the corner 09:24 and I fell on the ground, I was crying, I was praying, 09:26 it was just like, I was confessing how negative I've been, 09:29 how selfish I've been in trying to take what I could take 09:34 from it and there've been countless times 09:35 when God has done things like throughout the last year. 09:38 Where it's just, He's trying to remind me 09:40 that this isn't your project, this is My project 09:42 and if you'll just let go of it, I can do stuff. 09:45 (bright piano music) 09:51 - We have our cafe, which you saw, the sea scene 09:56 and that's where students can cone and hang out 09:59 and spend an extended amount of time 10:00 where we can build relationships with them there 10:03 and then the next floor will be the restaurant floor, 10:06 then you go up to the next level 10:07 and that will be where the church is, 10:09 where we could hold free clinics, 10:11 and also holding lectures 10:13 or maybe like depression recoveries, 10:15 alcoholics anonymous, these sorts of things, 10:17 it's a really nice space for that. 10:19 Then you go up to the next floor 10:20 and that's like saving the best for last, 10:22 the rock climbing wall up there 10:24 and the fitness center on the roof. 10:26 - So, we're trying to figure out 10:27 how everything's gonna get tied together, 10:28 and I was messaging my friend, Calvin, in the States 10:32 and he said, "Have you heard what we're doing? 10:34 "The ministry that we have going on?" 10:36 I said, no, and he sent me a link to it, 10:37 he said it's called F5 Challenge. 10:39 They do fitness events, the five Fs are fun, 10:43 fitness, faith, fellowship and fortitude. 10:45 And so, when we prayed about it, 10:47 so this seemed like it would just bring everything together, 10:49 it's like one club 10:51 and so on the front actually we put the sign, 10:52 the first sign we put up was Club F5 and so, 10:55 it's kinda like a membership thing. 10:57 You can sign up, you can be a member of the gym, 10:58 but then it also includes a certain number of meals 11:01 at the restaurants and certain number of juices, 11:03 it's kind of all one thing. 11:04 And it really just brings everything together 11:06 and so, the idea is that we have this gym, 11:10 people can come and kinda learn and practice climbing, 11:12 but the real goal is that once a month we take a trip, 11:15 we go outside of the city, there's a few places 11:17 within three hours of here, 11:18 where there's some really awesome outdoor climbing, 11:20 but then we can take people out, 11:21 we can do a weekend camping trip, 11:23 get them out to where they can be in nature, 11:25 see God's creation and it gives us opportunities 11:27 to talk to them about God, and we do worships with them 11:30 in the morning and in the evening. 11:31 But the main important thing is building a relationship 11:34 and when you're at the bottom of a rope 11:36 and you're holding that rope 11:37 and you're the only reason 11:38 why that person isn't gonna fall down, 11:40 it builds a lot of that trust, 11:42 it is an important factor in being open to spiritual things 11:45 and these different ideas that are contrary 11:48 to what they've grown up believing. 11:51 So, right now, we have a great staff, 11:54 we're really excited for this and really excited 11:58 for things to open 11:59 and their wanting to interact with people. 12:00 In reality we need at least four more 12:04 to be able to operate properly, 12:06 probably a couple more than that. 12:07 And so, we're just asking that people can pray 12:10 that we can find the right workers, 12:13 that have a heart for ministry. 12:15 We also need somebody to come and help 12:17 with pizza baking. 12:20 It would be so much easier if somebody that has the training 12:23 and the experience could come and do that, 12:25 so that's definitely another prayer request we have. 12:27 (bright piano music) 12:39 - Amazing, huh? 12:40 - Yeah, to see where it came from 12:42 and where it's at now is just so-- 12:46 - [John] Inspiring. 12:47 - Yeah, it's such a testimony to God's provision. 12:51 And how God encouraged them time after time, after time. 12:54 - And He has such a heart for the city. 12:56 - Hmm-mm, there's a quote that a friend 12:58 of ours shared this morning on Facebook 13:00 and I just wanted to share it. 13:03 It really ties to the show and it was just like, 13:05 wow, we've got a lot to think about. 13:08 "Often we have been told 13:09 "that our cities are to hear the message, 13:11 "but how slow we are to heed the instruction. 13:14 "I saw One standing on a high platform with arms extended. 13:18 "He turned and pointed in every direction, saying, 13:20 "'A world perishing in ignorance of God's holy law 13:25 "'and Seventh-day Adventists are asleep.'" 13:27 That's from a book called "Evangelism", page 32. 13:31 - Wow. 13:32 Let's wake up. 13:33 - Yeah, it is time to wake up. 13:35 - Yes. 13:36 - And we have lots of opportunity 13:37 and when God does things like this, 13:39 it's just like, wow. 13:42 I wanted to mention, they were talking about the pizza 13:44 there, a couple of times they mentioned it. 13:47 And it was amazing how God provided the equipment 13:50 for them to have a pizzeria, 13:52 they were just gonna have a restaurant of some kind. 13:54 But then they were looking around for restaurant equipment, 13:58 and they found an advertisement from somebody 14:00 that had boxes of restaurant equipment for sale. 14:04 - Yeah, crates. - Yeah. 14:05 - Yeah. 14:06 - And the guy said, I can't open. 14:08 He let them open a couple of them and showed them things 14:11 that were in it, but he said, I can't open anything else. 14:14 So, he had to buy these crates without knowing 14:17 what was inside, except a couple pieces that he saw. 14:20 But he knew that based on the value of those pieces, 14:24 what he was getting was a good deal. 14:26 - Yeah, and this guy that was selling them, 14:28 he was from Italy, he was actually from Rome, 14:31 he had set up a pizzeria in Bangkok, 14:34 but then he had to go back home to Italy, 14:35 but he also knew how to make vegan pizza. 14:38 - Right and so he went and taught them 14:40 after they got it there. 14:41 It was kinda crazy, because they had to bring the pizza oven 14:45 into the second floor with a crane-- 14:48 - Through the window. - Through the window, 14:49 it was kinda crazy. 14:50 But anyway, so they have more equipment now, 14:54 and it's just they don't have the people 14:57 to help to run it. 14:58 - Yeah, so out of all five floors, 15:01 how many floors are actually operational right now? 15:04 - Well, right now, because they don't have enough personnel 15:07 to open the smoothie shop and the restaurant, 15:09 the climbing wall area and the gym at the top are open. 15:15 They also are making special breads 15:17 and other things to sell. 15:19 So, they go to special events and sell breads 15:21 and sometimes they stand out in front, 15:23 they have a table out front, 15:25 and offer people that walk by, if they wanna purchase 15:28 their baked cooks. 15:29 - Yeah and a lot of people walk by. 15:30 - Right, well this is something they're doing right now. 15:33 - Yeah, so they really are in need of a business partner, 15:36 or somebody that knows how to run a restaurant 15:38 to come and open up that portion of their ministry. 15:41 - Right. - Yeah. 15:42 - All right, you got to be at the grand opening. 15:44 - [John] Yeah. 15:44 - And our next video shows-- 15:47 - The grand opening of the climbing wall. 15:49 (inspirational piano music) 16:15 - So recently we've been working really hard, 16:18 preparing for a grand opening event. 16:21 We had a bouldering competition, 16:23 and it was kind of a sneak peek for all the climbers 16:26 in this area, and what was really amazing is, 16:29 we had over 200 people show up 16:32 and the only advertisement we did was word of mouth 16:34 and through social media and it was absolutely amazing, 16:37 we had 75 competitors show up. 16:40 The competition lasted for what? 16:43 Almost 12 hours and people stayed through the whole thing, 16:47 it was just a great day, it was a huge success. 16:49 (inspirational music) 16:53 (crowd cheering) 17:01 (crowd cheering) 17:12 (crowd cheering) 17:18 - Yesterday, we had over 200 people coming, 17:20 and 80% of them we didn't know, we never met before, 17:24 and they're from various walks of life. 17:26 It affords us an opportunity to connect with those people. 17:29 I would've never met probably any of them, 17:32 if it hadn't been for them coming here. 17:34 They aren't people that I'm interacting with everyday, 17:37 they're not in my circle of influence, you could say. 17:40 But this facilitated and opportunity to build a connection, 17:43 to build a relationship and to be able 17:45 to broaden that and strengthen that 17:47 into a relationship become. 17:48 - In Asia, it's definitely true that you are the only Bible 17:52 some people will ever read. 17:54 And because they're so experiential based, 17:58 they learn about God through you. 18:02 - We told everyone that we were shutting down 18:04 on Friday evening and we weren't going to continue working. 18:08 They were all very confused, 18:09 they said, you're not ready yet 18:10 and they were not gonna work on Saturday, 18:11 they said, you're not ready to be open yet. 18:13 You have to open Sunday morning at eight o'clock, 18:15 how are you gonna close down? 18:17 I said, you know what, God is gonna work it out, 18:18 but He's asked us to rest and so we're going to do that. 18:20 So we're giving opportunities through these experiences 18:24 to witness to people without using words, 18:27 without sitting down and studying the Bible, 18:29 but we're giving them an understanding 18:31 and a real picture of how God works. 18:35 - [Jessica] We're so glad that God has given us a ministry 18:38 that is fun, because Thai people wanna have fun. 18:41 - They're also very focused on health, 18:43 because they're having all these lifestyle diseases 18:46 on the rise, coming up and they don't know anything 18:49 to deal with them, they don't know, 18:50 the doctors don't know how to deal with it, 18:51 nobody knows how to deal with these things, 18:53 they don't think that there's any connection 18:55 to their lifestyle and so we have something that's fun, 18:58 but it also addresses a felt need, 19:00 a need that is clearly out in the public. 19:02 So it gives us an opportunity to bridge both 19:04 of those things and they're interested in it. 19:08 Throughout this process, there've been so many challenges. 19:12 And there've been ups and downs, 19:13 but every time we're at a bottom, 19:15 it's a point where God, I feel personally calls me to prayer 19:19 and reminds me that I'm focusing too much 19:21 on what I can do, and it's almost immediately, 19:24 I stop and I pray and God comes through with something 19:26 that's completely disconnected, it's not somebody 19:28 that I talk to and have told them these problems, 19:30 it's somebody who just randomly sends a message 19:33 and says, we felt pressed that you need this help. 19:35 And so we're gonna send this, 19:37 and so God has just worked 19:38 in so many amazing ways like that. 19:40 (chattering) 19:48 - I love that shot, that smile at the end. 19:50 - Yeah, and Brian and Jessica's passion 19:52 and their ability to connect, it's just a beautiful thing. 19:56 - Right. 19:57 - And their testimony of how God has led 19:59 and directed, yeah, by their faith has done amazing stuff. 20:04 - Right. 20:06 - So you can see how this draws people in 20:07 and provides an opportunity to make connections 20:09 and in Thailand especially, 20:11 it's the connections that matter. 20:14 - Right, so part of what they're doing 20:15 with the climbing wall is taking people out 20:18 into the country to learn how to climb, 20:22 but also to be out in nature, away from the city. 20:25 - Yeah, and it's an all day event, 20:26 they drive out early morning, climb most of the day 20:29 and then drive back, a huge bonding time. 20:32 And Brian talks about that in this next video. 20:34 - Okay. 20:36 (inspirational music) 20:46 - F5 is actually the refresh key on a computer. 20:48 And so, the idea is that, we have this here, 20:52 people can come and kind of learn and practice climbing, 20:55 but the real goal is that once a month we take a trip. 20:57 We go outside of the city, there's a few places 21:00 within three hours of here, 21:01 where there's some really awesome outdoor climbing, 21:03 but then we can take people out, 21:04 we can do a weekend camping trip, 21:05 get these people away from the city, 21:07 a lot of these people have not even left this area 21:08 of town, let alone this giant city, 21:11 so get them out to where they can be in nature, 21:14 see God's creation and it gives us opportunities 21:16 to talk to them about God, we do worships with them 21:18 in the morning and evening. 21:20 The main important thing is building a relationship 21:23 and when you're at the bottom of a rope 21:25 and you're holding that rope 21:27 and you're the only reason why that persons isn't gonna fall 21:29 down and bust their head open on a rock, 21:32 it really builds a trust and a connection. 21:35 Our climbing trainer yesterday was telling me, 21:38 I was trying to test and see 21:39 if the guys were paying attention, 21:41 and so I didn't tell them I was gonna fall 21:42 and I just let go and dropped off the wall. 21:44 And I'm thinking that was a terrible idea, 21:46 'cause what if they weren't paying attention, 21:47 you would've went down, but even in that, 21:49 it's building trust. 21:50 I mean, he's building trust with the workers, 21:52 the workers are building trust with him. 21:54 It builds a lot of that trust that is an important factor 21:57 in being open to spiritual things 21:59 and these different ideas that are contrary 22:02 to what they've grown up believing. 22:04 (gentle violin music) 22:20 One of the lessons that I gave the workers was to ask, 22:23 what spiritual lessons did you learn 22:25 from our last climbing trip 22:26 when we went out and you went onto a mountain 22:28 and climbed in a cave? 22:29 And they were all kinda like, oh, but one guy was like, 22:31 "Oh, I can tell you", and he talked for 10 minutes, 22:33 he's like, "I've been thinking about this", 22:34 the rope is like this and it's God's mercy 22:37 and I mean, he's explaining all these things 22:39 and he finished and he's kinda looking at me, 22:41 I said, good, the next time we take a group of people out, 22:43 you're sharing that with them. 22:45 He's thinking about that and so he's getting an opportunity 22:48 to think about that and he can share with other people 22:50 in a more personal setting when they're talking 22:52 and it just gives that opportunity to share 22:55 about these certain things. 22:57 That's the biggest door that we brought into here, 22:59 is that door of trust and like, I don't know 23:01 if I can really trust you, 23:03 are you trying to take advantage of me, 23:05 everything here is really tricky, 23:06 but when you fall and somebody catches you, 23:09 it's like, okay, I think I can trust you, 23:11 and so it breaks down that big barrier 23:14 and leads to open discussion about other things. 23:18 - Hey, wow. 23:20 (laughing) (gentle music) 23:32 - Pretty cool, huh? 23:33 - yeah, that's really neat. 23:35 - Yeah. 23:36 - What an opportunity for people to get out of the city. 23:38 - Yeah, and so if somebody comes with them 23:40 to go out to this climbing event out in the country, 23:43 they might be the only Christians 23:46 that those people have ever known or interacted with. 23:49 - Right. 23:50 - They can get a real picture of what Christianity can do. 23:52 - Right. 23:54 - And they've got stories of people going out 23:56 and never have gone rock climbing before 23:59 and they come back and they say what a great time they had. 24:02 One young lady went out in the morning 24:05 and she was not interactive, she was kinda sulky 24:08 and she just warmed up during the day 24:10 and then she texted her friend that evening, 24:12 she said, wow, I wish, I had such a great time, 24:15 I wish I hadn't spend all night drinking the night before. 24:17 - Yeah. - You know? 24:19 I would've been able to enjoy it better. 24:20 And so there's these positive things 24:22 that are already happening. 24:23 And it's still a brand new ministry. 24:25 - [Natalie] Right, so we have a few other pictures 24:27 from when they went out climbing, 24:29 we'll just go through those quickly. 24:30 Just different people, climbing, 24:33 different looks and views and-- 24:35 - [John] Lotsa ropes and they get up pretty high. 24:39 - [Natalie] Yeah, they do, I don't think I wanna go 24:41 climbing with them there. (John laughing) 24:43 Although it's a lot of fun at the climbing wall itself, 24:45 learning how to use the equipment properly, 24:48 learning how to tie the knots they have to tie, 24:50 learning how to belay each other and depend 24:53 on each other, these things are all really important skills. 24:56 - [John] Especially even for the Thai team. 24:58 The Thai, his own employees, for learning all these skills 25:02 and also learning the spirit of outreach 25:05 and friendship building for the kingdom. 25:09 - Right. - Yeah. 25:10 - Yeah, there's some good challenges there 25:12 from what they've described to us. 25:13 - Yeah. 25:15 It's a very non-traditional form of outreach. 25:18 But we're told that we should try every method. 25:21 - Right. 25:22 - To arrest the attention of the people 25:23 and to make those connections. 25:25 - Yeah, also the area for health ministry meetings 25:29 and things like that is unfinished at this point. 25:32 So, that's another opportunity. 25:34 - But you can imagine 25:35 that all these different ministries is too much 25:37 for one man to do, especially with three kids 25:41 and one of them being a brand new baby. 25:42 - Right, Jessica's hands are full. 25:46 - And they're stretched to the limit. 25:48 And so they're really praying for God 25:51 to provide more workers, especially workers 25:54 with business skills or experience 25:57 with restaurant management, and that type of thing. 26:02 - The last picture we have shows the baked goods 26:04 that have come out of the oven. 26:05 We have a friend from America that went over 26:08 and taught the team how to bake different types 26:11 of breads, different types of crusts for pizzas 26:14 and stuff like that, and he's a very talented chef 26:18 and so, it was a great thing for this team, 26:21 and he empowered them and so they've begun, 26:25 actually making their own recipes which is really neat. 26:27 - And they take them out and sell them out on the street, 26:30 and they go to different expos or fairs 26:33 and they sell them there, and it's doing quite well, 26:36 they're very popular items to sell. 26:39 So we need to really pray 26:41 that the Lord will provide the people 26:43 and resources they need to make this large investment 26:46 of time, effort, money, people, 26:49 to really come to fruition and be all that it can be. 26:52 When we say the word, missionary, we always think 26:54 of somebody in the jungle. 26:55 But what about the concrete jungle? 26:57 Over half the world lives in cities now. 27:00 We should go where the people are. 27:02 And so Bangkok is a huge city. 27:05 My first time there was in 1969. 27:08 I was five years old, and my dad took pictures, 27:11 took slides, and on one of the slides I was looking at, 27:14 recently, my mom had written, how are we gonna reach 27:18 this city of 3 million people? 27:20 - Three. - Now it's 12. 27:23 So we really need to do something, we really need 27:25 to support the hands of these people 27:27 that have stepped out by faith, 27:29 and invested their life and their kids' lives 27:31 into reaching the city. 27:33 - Right. 27:34 If you would like to help this awesome ministry 27:37 or you know someone with restaurant or business experience, 27:41 please contact us at Jesus for Asia, P.O. Box 1221, 27:45 Collegedale, Tennessee, 37315. 27:49 Call us at 423 413 7321. 27:53 Or visit our website at Jesus4asia.org. 27:57 Please remember to pray for Brian and Jessica 27:59 and their family as they work 28:01 to reach the unreached in Bangkok. 28:03 May God bless you, until we see you next time 28:06 on Jesus For Asia Now. 28:08 (dramatic music) |
Revised 2019-11-12