Participants:
Series Code: JFAN
Program Code: JFAN000119S
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00:00 (dramatic music)
00:21 - Hello and welcome to "Jesus for Asia Now." 00:24 I'm Natalie Wood and my husband Jon, is joining me today, 00:27 as we once again travel to the Northern Plains of Thailand 00:31 to visit a missionary family living by faith. 00:34 Hello love. 00:35 - Hi, darling. 00:37 - So we're going to the Plains of Northern Thailand? 00:39 - That is correct, we're going to Sukhothai. 00:40 - Okay. 00:42 - A small town, city, 35,000 people, in Northern Thailand. 00:47 - Okay. 00:48 - It's a very unique city 00:49 because it's about 400 miles north of the bay, of the ocean, 00:55 but it's only about 100 feet in elevation. 00:58 So it's a big, flat, broad plane, 01:01 that entire central part of Thailand, 01:03 from Bangkok all the way to Sukhothai. 01:05 Sukhothai is in the north, 01:06 you go a little bit farther than Sukhothai 01:07 and you get up into the mountains. 01:09 - So what are we learning about there today? 01:11 - Well, many years ago, we would travel through Thailand 01:14 and look at all the different cities 01:17 that had no Adventist presence whatsoever. 01:19 - Right. 01:21 - And we'd always felt overwhelmed thinking, 01:22 how in the world will we ever reach all these places? 01:25 And just a few years ago, 01:27 the Lord led us into a new way 01:30 to enter into unentered cities. 01:33 - Right, and that is by prayer. 01:36 - Yeah. 01:37 - Asking God to send someone, to open doors, 01:40 to send His spirit there, to help the people 01:44 to have hearts that are ready to hear 01:47 when He sends someone there. 01:48 - Exactly. 01:49 When we started praying like that, 01:50 especially claiming Joshua 1:3. 01:52 - Right. 01:54 - It says, wherever you place the sole of your foot, 01:55 that have I already given unto you. 01:58 So it's like wherever you're going to place 02:00 the sole of your foot, I have already given to you. 02:03 And the definition of faith is taking God's word for 02:07 and believing what it says, 02:10 and depending on that word to do what it says it will do. 02:14 - That's right. 02:15 So I know we've talked about this on other shows, 02:16 so people may remember the stories. 02:19 We did some prayer walks, 02:21 we've prayed there are a number of times, 02:22 when we just stopped at the bus stop there. 02:25 And we would get off and we would pray, 02:27 and then we'd get back on and keep going. 02:29 So all of those types of things we did, 02:31 and just asking God for his plan for this city. 02:34 And then God sent a family, 02:37 and we've talked about them, 02:38 we've interviewed them on here before, the Norton family. 02:41 - Yeah. 02:42 They sold their home, they sold everything, 02:44 moved over to Thailand. 02:46 The husband had been to Thailand once just to check it out, 02:49 but, and he grew up in the mission field. 02:52 But the wife, Kasey, never been outside the United States. 02:57 - So there were a number of challenges, 03:00 and we'll cover some of those in our next episode 03:02 that we do about them. 03:04 But in this one, 03:06 we wanna talk about all the different types, 03:08 or several different types of the ministry, 03:10 that God is raising up through this method, 03:13 which is by prayer. 03:15 So once they got there, their job as missionaries there, 03:21 was to talk to God, listen to God, 03:23 connect with God, and see what he did. 03:26 - Yes. 03:27 - And so step-by-step, he began leading them. 03:29 - Right. 03:31 And so when they moved to Thailand, 03:32 the plan was for them to stay in Chiang Mai 03:34 for at least six months and do language training. 03:38 But one of their sons had some asthmatic 03:41 type of condition in his lungs, 03:43 and he didn't do well in Chiang Mai. 03:45 And so he ended up in the hospital a lot. 03:48 And so they decided to go down to Sukhothai 03:52 just to check it out. 03:55 Jonathan and Hannah took them down there, 03:57 because they'd been there before, 03:59 because Jonathan's parents were thinking about 04:01 coming to Sukhothai, but a decided not to. 04:04 But when they had come, 04:06 they had found a house that was being built, 04:09 it wasn't ready, 04:11 but it was being built with the plan for it to be rented. 04:15 - And Jonathan and Hannah, who are they? 04:17 - They are JFA foreign correspondents. 04:19 In fact, they're the ones that took all the video 04:22 in Thailand that you're gonna see in this show. 04:24 - Right. 04:25 So Jonathan and Hannah took them down there, 04:28 and they drove around and they drove past this place, 04:31 that hadn't been finished before, 04:32 but now it was finished, and then they rented it. 04:35 - [Jon] Right. 04:36 - And they moved there. 04:37 - [Jon] Yeah. 04:38 And what was amazing is the son 04:40 that had been having the health problems, 04:41 all those health problems cleared up. 04:43 - Right. 04:45 - And so they took that as this is God calling us 04:47 into this place. 04:49 Now, it's a unique kind of approach 04:51 because usually there's lots of training 04:53 that takes place beforehand, language learning, 04:57 culture learning, all these things. 04:59 But this time, they went in weak, 05:04 and amazing things started to happen. 05:06 - Yeah, their neighbors saw that they needed help, 05:09 knowing where the markets were, 05:10 communicating with people, getting furniture, 05:13 their landlord brought them a table, 05:15 we've talked about that before. 05:16 And just they needed help, 05:20 and so people came and helped them, 05:22 and then they were able to make friends. 05:24 - Exactly. 05:25 - And so their weakness, 05:27 actually became a connection creator. 05:31 - It's their connecting point. 05:33 And so I remember being there once and they were asking me, 05:37 can we open our gate on the front yard, 05:41 because everybody else has their gate closed. 05:44 And Hannah says, yeah if the holy spirit leads you, 05:46 open the gate. 05:47 And so they opened the gate and they've got a bunch of kids. 05:49 They came with five kids. 05:51 And so the kids started playing on the street, 05:53 and before long, 05:54 all the gates in the neighborhood were open. 05:56 - And all the kids were playing together. 05:58 - Exactly. 05:59 And some of the kids would come over 06:01 and eat with them all the time. 06:02 And so it was a beautiful situation, a beautiful experience, 06:05 the way the Lord led. 06:07 And we had always told them your main job there, 06:10 is to host the presence of the holy spirit. 06:14 - Find out what God wants you to do. 06:15 - Don't try to do a ministry, 06:17 don't try to plant a church, 06:20 don't do all that kind of stuff. 06:21 Just stay connected with God, 06:23 you'll be the beachhead of the holy spirit, 06:25 in a place that's dark 06:26 and has only known evil spirits for centuries. 06:30 And what that does is that, 06:33 that connects them with the God that knows what to do next, 06:37 better then we do. 06:38 - Because he knows the hearts 06:39 of all the people that live there, 06:41 he knows their hearts 06:43 and he knows the hearts of the people 06:44 that he's trying to reach through them. 06:45 - Yeah and if we say you need to plant a church, 06:48 or you need to do this kind of ministry, 06:50 then their focus is gonna be on doing the ministry, 06:53 planting the church. 06:55 And then the personal connection with God 06:56 is going to be less important. 07:00 So when we emphasize and make of primary importance, 07:03 the spiritual side, 07:04 because what we're trying to accomplish, 07:06 is a spiritual. 07:07 - Spiritual warfare. 07:08 - Exactly. 07:09 And so as they focused on Christ, 07:11 Christ led them into accepting a couple of kids 07:15 that were from the slums. 07:17 Long story, we've already told it before, 07:19 it's an amazing miracle story. 07:21 And then they started to have opportunities 07:23 to accept more kids and they started to envision. 07:27 Actually from the beginning 07:28 they were envisioning a children's home, 07:31 because they love kids. 07:32 - And they had an idea from God, 07:34 from several texts in the scriptures, 07:36 that God had impressed upon them, 07:38 that they would have more children in their care. 07:42 And during this whole time when they had a few kids, 07:45 and they started being asked to take more kids, 07:48 they also were asked to teach English. 07:51 - Yes. 07:52 - And also wanting to learn Thai, 07:54 they wanted to have a place 07:56 where they could meet with people. 07:58 - And so downtown, right about 150 feet 08:02 away from where we had prayed. 08:04 - And one of the places. 08:05 - Yeah and we had claimed Joshua 1:3, 08:09 they rented a three-story, what they call a mission post. 08:13 - Right, it's an office building 08:16 or a storefront type of building, 08:18 but it has three floors. 08:19 And we have a little video about that, 08:22 and in it, they talk about 08:24 what the different floors are used for. 08:26 - Yeah. 08:27 - All right, let's watch that now. 08:29 (dramatic music) 08:38 - [Robert] So at the mission post, 08:40 we initially wanted to place to where we could have 08:45 a church in the city. 08:47 Then we called the landlord 08:49 and they set the terms and everything. 08:52 And the building was in a really great location. 08:54 It was big enough for what we were looking at doing, 08:58 though we didn't have the money, 09:00 the down payment or the rental payment for it. 09:02 But we decided Kasey and I prayed about it, 09:05 and we decided that we were just gonna go ahead 09:07 and step out in faith. 09:08 And 24 hours before we signed the contract, 09:14 somebody donated a lump sum of my money, 09:17 and it was enough for us to pay the down payment 09:20 and buy all the furniture to go into the admission post. 09:24 (soft music) 09:27 - So the mission post is in town. 09:30 It's about a 20 minute drive and it's our church plant, 09:34 and initially it was gonna be an English language school, 09:36 but COVID kept shutting that aspect of it down. 09:38 We do a food ministry out of it. 09:40 We employ a cook and her son who prepare vegetarian food 09:46 for us to take out to people in the community. 09:49 (dramatic music) 09:52 It has been probably, I think in many ways, 09:55 the most stretching aspect, as far as frustration, 09:59 because there's so much potential. 10:01 It's a building in the business district of Sukhothai, 10:05 and so much could be happening from there, 10:07 and yet it feels like so little is, 10:09 because we feel like we're spread too thin. 10:13 (soft music) 10:18 - [Robert] It's a three-four building, 10:20 so we wanted the apartments on the top, 10:22 so any missionaries coming to visit could stay there. 10:25 Or we eventually found somebody 10:27 that would take over the program, 10:30 that could stay in the apartment that was upstairs. 10:35 And the second floor is the church which we utilize. 10:40 And the first floor is the dining area 10:44 and the place we set up for English class to go on at night. 10:51 And unfortunately, we have tried three different times 10:54 to start up an English program, 10:56 and do English tutoring for the kids and stuff. 11:00 But every time we really start going, 11:03 COVID would hit and it would shut everything down. 11:07 The students would quit coming, 11:09 and everybody would be scared. 11:11 So we wouldn't have any students and everything. 11:14 So as of right now, 11:15 we don't have an English program going on. 11:18 But COVID is actually lightening up here, 11:20 so we probably will start looking into starting back up. 11:26 But at the same time, 11:30 it's gonna stretch me pretty thin 11:32 to try to run things here 11:33 and tried to run things at the mission posts 11:36 for the English class. 11:37 So we need prayer for that, 11:39 because we would really like to get that program growing, 11:42 and we'd like to have somebody there full time, 11:44 that can actually do the work there, 11:47 so that I don't have to go back and forth every day. 11:50 (dramatic music) 11:53 - Over the course of the year 11:55 that we've been renting the building, 11:57 our landlord has come in on various occasions, 12:02 and almost every time she picks up literature 12:05 that's in there, 12:06 and she's just very excited and enthusiastic about it. 12:10 So when we had to go back and sign the new contract, 12:14 she informed Robbie that she's read all of this literature, 12:18 all of the books, and she knows she wants more. 12:21 And she ended up saying she wanted to come to church. 12:24 And so she showed up for the church service, 12:27 and it happened to be on a week 12:29 where we had additional guests. 12:32 So there was a Thai lady who was able to sit with her 12:36 and make her feel comfortable and welcome. 12:38 So a really nice introduction 12:41 to what it is to sit in a church service. 12:46 I'm really excited to see what will come from that, 12:50 and just how God will grow that 12:52 as we're settling into a better routine here 12:55 on the children's own property, 12:57 what God may then open the doors for in town as well. 13:02 (dramatic music) 13:20 - Exciting isn't it? 13:21 - Yeah, it's really neat to see 13:23 and to hear the story of the landlady. 13:24 - I loved how when they were getting ready 13:26 to rent the place. 13:28 They made the decision by faith, 13:31 then the Lord provide the means. 13:32 - Right, right. 13:34 And the land lady that keeps coming, 13:35 and taking literature and tells them she's read at all. 13:38 I just, I love that. 13:40 So then in addition to the mission post, 13:42 they started having the children come, 13:44 and they realized very quickly, 13:46 that the house that they had rented in town, 13:48 was not gonna be big enough. 13:49 - That's for sure. 13:51 - So then they started looking for property, 13:52 and God miraculously led to a piece of property 13:57 out in the country. 13:58 And how big is it? 14:00 - There's 11 acres. 14:02 - Okay. 14:03 - But thankfully God provided buildings already existing 14:06 on that property, 14:08 so they didn't have to build a lot of buildings. 14:10 - Okay well, we have a video about the children's home, 14:13 so let's watch that now. 14:15 - All right. 14:16 (soft music) 14:26 - [Kasey] So we arrived in Sukhothai on October 1st of 2019. 14:30 And we came really very clueless, 14:34 having no idea at all what we were supposed to be doing. 14:38 We sort of expected that we would have 14:40 a period of time where we could adapt to the culture, 14:43 to the language. 14:44 And very quickly God made it clear that 14:48 he was going to put things before us to do beyond just that. 14:52 And so two weeks after we moved into Sukhothai, 14:57 we were asked to take into children. 15:00 And we had those two children alone for the first, 15:06 I believe it was nine months. 15:08 And then we started getting more children fairly rapidly. 15:12 We ended up with six 15:13 by the end of the first year in Thailand. 15:16 So the odd thing is that, 15:18 though we really felt like at that point 15:21 God was asking us to move forward in establishing 15:24 some type of children's home, 15:26 we've never been fully convinced that a children's home, 15:31 like was the end all be all of our ministry. 15:35 And so this idea was planted to simultaneously 15:41 have sort of a discipleship program, 15:43 where we would bring largely existing believers, 15:47 and bring them into a setting where they could 15:50 be discipled in living Christ centered lives. 15:55 And we saw that happening in conjunction with the children. 15:59 So the children being a part of this ministry, 16:03 and we didn't have like a full clear picture 16:06 of what that would look like, 16:08 but we move forward with what was right before us, 16:10 which was the children's home. 16:11 So we moved to this property in December of 2020, 16:15 and then by the middle of this year, 2021, 16:20 we had an additional five children. 16:23 But still, even though we could see 16:27 the whole children's home concept taking shape, 16:30 almost without us trying this, 16:32 we weren't looking for children, God brought staff to us. 16:36 And so we just watched God bring believers 16:42 who were coming from sort of a different perspective 16:44 of Christianity and also a new believer in our teacher. 16:47 And all of this gave us an opportunity 16:50 to do this idea that God had planted, 16:53 that didn't seem like it had anything to do 16:55 with the children's home. 16:56 And so now those two concepts are kind of working together 17:02 to create the ministry that is here. 17:06 (soft music) 17:11 - [Robert] I would really love to see this place 17:14 actually fill up with more kids, 17:17 all the beds that we have with the rest of the dorm rooms, 17:21 and the empty beds we have with the other dorm rooms. 17:24 Then that's a lot more kids 17:25 that we can bring into this place once we're certified. 17:31 And there's probably a lot more than what 17:34 we're going to be able to handle on our own. 17:37 We had envisioned a school here, 17:40 but in talking with the local government and everything, 17:44 I don't know if it's feasible for us 17:46 to be able to do a school. 17:48 So it's gonna take a lot more prayer 17:53 and see what God wants us to do. 17:56 But we do envision the ability to continue 18:03 bringing in more kids, 18:05 kids that really need help and having a place 18:09 where they can be safe. 18:11 (soft music) 18:14 - [Kasey] Moving forward, 18:15 what I think that we are praying about most specifically 18:19 is moving beyond this property. 18:22 So God has brought children and staff here, 18:27 but instead of seeing the children as the ministry, 18:30 seeing them as part of the team, 18:33 the ministry team that God is establishing here. 18:36 And so really trying to instill in each person, each of us, 18:42 adults and children alike, 18:43 this passion for taking the gospel out there. 18:48 (dramatic music) 18:52 Big vision wise for the future. 18:56 However long it is that that we have to work, 19:00 would be just that we would do that, 19:02 that we would be sensitive to God's leading, 19:04 and that we would be praying for these people. 19:07 That even before we would go out 19:09 and talk with them or pray with them, 19:11 or put anything into their hands 19:12 for them to read. 19:13 That we would be asking for the spirit to go 19:16 and do the softening of the hearts, 19:17 and the preparatory work that needs to happen, 19:20 for them to sort of have those divine encounters, 19:26 that God wants but that we tend to shy away from. 19:31 (soft music) 19:40 - So this concept that she has 19:42 of discipling disciple makers, 19:45 that's a concept that has developed since they've been. 19:47 - Right and it's so neat that they have the concept 19:51 that not just are they disciple makers, 19:54 but not just are the staff disciple makers, 19:57 but they want the children to learn to be disciple makers. 20:00 Also as they're learning to be disciples, 20:02 that it's our ministry, 20:04 it's not our ministry. - Exactly. 20:06 - You know it's not us doing ministry to you, 20:08 it's all of us doing ministry to all of the people 20:11 we see and we meet. 20:13 - Exactly, and so this is the way that seeds get planted 20:16 and then multiplied. 20:18 So it's a beautiful thing that they're doing. 20:20 - Right, and we have another video 20:22 that talks more about the property itself, 20:25 that we wanna share at this time. 20:28 (soft music) 20:39 - As these children had begun to come 20:42 and we were living in a house in town 20:43 and there was very little place for them to play, 20:46 it was mostly concrete. 20:48 We knew that we needed to be praying 20:50 that God would provide us a country, 20:52 a home in a country setting to raise them. 20:55 We know that the council is that, 20:57 that we should have these types of things 21:00 in a country setting. 21:02 The benefits to the children are exponential. 21:04 I mean there's no comparison 21:06 between the lives that they're living here 21:08 and what they were living in town. 21:10 And they have opportunity for, 21:13 you know, physical exercise and the fresh air. 21:16 They have creative outlets and so much of society. 21:22 Young children in society today are addicted to screens 21:25 and to, you know, of all different kinds, 21:29 and whenever you put them in a place like this, 21:33 they don't even ask about that. 21:34 There's not, they have no desire for it, 21:37 they want to be in nature. 21:39 So you can see just a significant difference 21:42 in the behavior of the children, 21:44 the language that they use, 21:46 the way they communicate with each other 21:48 and with the adults, 21:50 The types of things 21:52 that they engage themselves in naturally, 21:55 just a tremendous difference, 21:58 and the only real change being the location 22:01 of where they're living. 22:03 So it's, we are so abundantly thankful 22:06 for the provision of this piece of property. 22:09 (soft music) 22:11 We entered into a two year purchase agreement 22:14 for this property in December of 2020. 22:19 And so that in itself has been a blessing 22:22 because that has allowed for us 22:24 to develop the property 22:25 before it's actually paid off. 22:28 (soft music) 22:30 - When we first moved here onto this property, 22:34 we had a vision of a building, 22:39 a dormitory, building a classroom, 22:42 and a chapel meeting hall area. 22:46 With the kids in our house, 22:47 our house was really small, pretty quick too. 22:50 And we had 14 children in our house at one point in time. 22:57 (soft music) 23:00 As we were continuing to develop the place, 23:03 we got the classroom done, 23:06 but we decided halfway through the project, 23:08 that we were doing a chapel and a classroom into one. 23:12 And got that down, 23:14 and got the three additional bathrooms done completed. 23:19 And then we started on the dormitories. 23:22 Seney, myself and Malee, 23:23 we couldn't work fast enough to get all this done, 23:26 so we actually had to contract a lot of it out, 23:30 so that it would actually get completed fast enough. 23:34 So we got the dormitory is done, 23:37 and then we moved the kids to the dorms, 23:40 and each dorm room will hold six children. 23:43 And right now we have four Thai boys, 23:45 and six Thai girls, 23:49 actually seven Thai girls, 23:51 but the littlest Thai girl is still living in our house. 23:54 We've figured that she's too little 23:56 to be on our own in the dormitory. 23:59 (soft music) 24:02 God has been amazing because all the money that we needed 24:05 for every project, 24:08 has come in just as we needed that money 24:09 to complete certain parts of the project. 24:12 Now that the projects are done, 24:15 our money has been slowly diminishing back to where it's, 24:19 like just enough for the month to furnished our food 24:23 and the little bit of necessity that we need 24:27 to keep things going. 24:28 God has been amazing. 24:31 (soft music) 24:33 - [Kasey] If we had one prayer request 24:34 regarding the property itself, 24:36 it would just be for the provision 24:38 to complete this purchase agreement ahead of time 24:42 if it was his well. 24:44 (soft music) 24:54 - And that's what's so beautiful 24:55 about putting God in charge, 24:56 and your primary task being to lean on him, 24:58 because this becomes his project, not our ideas, his ideas. 25:03 And as he leads, we can have that confidence, 25:06 yeah, this is what God has asked us to do, 25:08 we know that even if we have difficulties, 25:10 it'll be for a good purpose. 25:12 - Right. 25:13 Right and we don't have to stress over the money, 25:15 we don't have to stress over the details. 25:17 You know, how are we gonna do this? 25:18 How are we going to do that? 25:19 We pray and give it to God, 25:21 and then God provides step-by-step 25:24 exactly what we need. 25:25 - And you know, this isn't the experience 25:26 of just the Norton's. 25:28 - [Natalie] No. 25:29 - All of the missionaries that we've seen 25:30 going under this plan, 25:32 have seen God do miracles to provide for them. 25:35 And we've seen their faith grow in leaps and bounds. 25:39 - And it's so beautiful. 25:40 - [Jon] Yes. 25:41 - It's been a delight to see. 25:43 - It has, it has. 25:45 And even that's how we started camping on Matthew 6:33 25:48 for the last 15 years. 25:50 And we've seen God provide, 25:52 and we worry less about our finances now 25:55 than we did when I had a regular job. 25:57 - Yeah. 25:59 - So God is faithful. 26:00 And what this does is it calls everybody in. 26:02 This can be done by anybody, 26:04 it isn't some special person or with certain skills, 26:08 or training or something like that, 26:10 anybody can start serving God right now. 26:14 - [Natalie] Connecting with God. 26:15 - By making that step, 26:17 by taking that time in private prayer with their families, 26:20 and say, God, what is your biggest vision for my life? 26:23 - Right, right. 26:25 And one of the things I love about Robbie and Kasey, 26:27 is they recognize that so much, they need God. 26:31 - They're not trained for this, they're, 26:33 you know, he's a firefighter and good at what he does. 26:36 Apparently they loved him at his previous job. 26:39 And she's a housewife and mother, 26:42 and they feel like, I mean in over their heads, 26:46 but they, then they throw themselves at God's mercy 26:49 and depend on him. 26:51 - And say God, what do you want us to do? 26:53 - Right. 26:54 And then they're like, okay, hang on, hang on. 26:57 - Yeah. 26:59 So when I asked Jonathan and Hannah to do an update 27:01 on the Norton project, we were planning to do one show. 27:05 And they went up and Jonathan says, 27:08 I've got nine segments, 27:10 so much is happening here. 27:12 And so we're gonna have to split this one show 27:15 into three shows. 27:17 And so this is part one of a three-part series, 27:20 about the updates of what God is doing in Sukhothai. 27:23 And remember it was only a couple of years ago, 27:25 there was no Adventist presence whatsoever 27:28 in the entire city. 27:29 - Right, there was nothing. 27:31 - There was nothing. 27:32 So God is doing amazing things 27:34 and we're so excited. 27:35 - Yes he is. 27:37 And if you would like to be a part of what God is doing 27:39 in Sukhothai with the Norton family, 27:42 and all this discipleship and discipling that's going on, 27:45 you can contact us at Jesus for Asia, 27:48 PO BOX 1221, 27:50 Collegedale, Tennessee, 37315. 27:54 Call us at 423 413 7321, 27:58 or visit our website at jesus4asia.org. 28:02 May God richly bless you until we see you next time 28:05 on "Jesus for Asia Now" 28:08 (dramatic music) |
Revised 2022-02-01