Visiting the Dark Side

Earlier in the week, Linda and Missionary Kellie went to visit a lady of the night.  They walked along Sukhumvit Road to an area where there were many bars.  Men came to drink whiskey and beer with those women (some as young as 13 years old) who served as prostitutes.  Once at the bar, Kellie gave money to the bar manager so that this Thai woman could leave the bar and go out to eat with us.  They took the sky train to a barbecue place.  While waiting for the food to cook on a small burner, they talked about ordinary things (her life in the service industry and spiritual things).  The lady said that she and her siblings were good people.  She wanted Linda to agree that being a good person was good enough for God. Linda disagreed telling her that God had a standard. Just being “good” was not up to God’s standard. God had a plan to send a perfect representative to help mankind.  She then asked Linda, “how have you been helped by God?”  Linda related how God had helped her family when she returned to the USA to care for her parents before they died.  The lady seemed interested because Linda had challenged her thoughts.  She asked Linda to pray in Thai for her, which she gladly did. Before long, it was time for the lady to return to work at the bar.

About mid-week, Linda went out again with Missionary Kellie.  This time they went to the Chinese section of town to have a meeting with two Thai Christians who works with prostitutes.  Once through with the meeting, the 4 of them went to search for a lady, who they had an appointment with.  They found this woman and ate a papaya salad in a tiny alley with her. Linda and Kelly tried talking to this 53 year old woman about God. However, she was pretty hardened claiming that she had all that was needed in life – a nice house and lots of gold. After a few more minutes, they gave her a Christian tract and ended the conversation. The lady said that she would read the tract and invited them to come back again.

A few feet away, the 4 Christians ran into 2 young women seated on the steps of a 7/11.  They too were prostitutes. Each claimed to be in their early 20’s, but looked much younger.  At first they tried to ignore the 4 Christians, but soon became engaged in conversation.  As they talked, one girl began to cry.  She told them that her father was in the hospital and not able to walk.  She said that her mother was at the hospital caring for her dad and that she was trying to help her family by making money.  She said that she herself had a bad heart valve and needed an operation.  The other girl began to say that she was afraid that she had an STD. She didn’t know where to go to a doctor to get help. Kellie told her that she would help by getting her to a doctor.

Linda was saddened about the women she had met those 2 days. With the exception of one, she had no doubt that debt and lack of education were the reasons that had led them to this profession. It was clear that Satan had cast a dark shadow over this nation.

Please pray for these women to know Jesus personally. Pray for Kellie and other missionaries who have the heart to work with these often forgotten women who work on the dark side. 

City English Project

This week Richard has been helping missionary Eric set up the City English Project Center. Most of the work and renovation had already been completed. Just a few minor odds and ends needed to be done. In the near future, the City English Team hopes to open the center to a full slate of activities to include English teaching and Bible studies leading to a new church. Please pray for God to call out more workers to help teach at the center,  for tech and media personal with skills to take the website to the next level which includes online study, plus they would like to develop a phone app.

Looking Back

For a moment, I would like to reflect back on last week’s opportunity that our team had to teach English and the Bible to workers at a tile company. Also, on our day off from teaching, the team got to explore Buddhist temples and observe Buddhist religious practices. Below are quotes from both experiences:

·       “I saw people at a temple bowing down. This encouraged me to want to pray even harder for the missionaries” – Katie

·       “I saw many people so far from God. I was so happy to be able to share God’s grace with them” – Jacquilyn

·       “Love transcends all languages” – Jennifer

·       “I was so excited to see the students draw pictures and describe the Bible story that they had just learned. It showed me that God was at work!” - Richard

·       “It was clear that our Thai interpreters had a wealth of knowledge and a heart for the  
 people” – Christi

·       “This was such a great opportunity to get the gospel out to so many people” – Linda

·       “Is it time to eat?” – Steve (On a more serious note, Steve was excited about the eagerness of the students to learn. One even clapped loudly upon hearing the story of what Jesus had done for them)

Five Volunteers Return to the USA

As I write this blog, 5 members of our team are getting ready to land in America after a 10-day trip to Bangkok, Thailand. For five days last week, everyone got up around 6AM in order to leave about 7:00 for the trip to the tile factory on the outskirts of Bangkok. We returned back to the Guest House around 9PM each night tired and sometimes exhausted. Then each spent another hour preparing to teach the next day’s lesson to 57 employees of the tile factory.

Though a grueling schedule, everyone was delighted to have the opportunity to serve God by teaching English and the Christian worldview. Each day we were greeted by smiling faces and eager learners. The curriculum was well written by the Thailand missionaries. After the first couple of lessons, teaching went smoothly. The Thai students enjoyed learning English by practicing their conversation skills, participating in games and activities. They learned the “Hokey Pokey” and “Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes”.

The Hokey Pokey

But the highlight of each day was teaching 30 minutes of Christian worldview. In most cases, this was the first time the students received a complete overview of how sin entered into the world and broke man’s relationship with God. They heard about the importance of the cross and of Christ return to make a new world and restore man’s relationship with God. After each presentation, the students were asked to go to the white board and draw out the story. Then they had to explain the meaning of the story. They seemed to catch on pretty quickly. Thai interrupters were in each room to help with explaining the story in more detail and to correct any misunderstanding. What joy to watch the Thai student tell back the story that they had just learned!

The time for the volunteers ended with a trip to Antioch Baptist Church on Sunday.  Monday was a day off.  Some visited the tallest building in Bangkok for some photos of the big city. And of course, there was lots of shopping and eating authentic Thai food. The volunteers left Bangkok around 5:00PM to go to the airport for a 9:00PM flight to America. The trip to the airport was quite an ordeal! If you have a chance, ask Jennifer, Jacquilyn, Katie, Steve or Christi how they survived what was supposed to be an hour travel time, which grew into two and half hours!

Student Explains Cross and Crown Story

Praise God for the dedicated team that worked together so well and had joyful spirits regardless of the unpredictable schedule. The Thai’s really grew fond of the group and the Bangkok missionaries praised their efforts. The missionaries will begin follow up on the students who want to know more about Christ in the very near future.

Richard and Linda stayed on in Bangkok to work more with the missionaries. This Saturday they will head to Bangkla to work with another missionary couple, the Mackins.  Please pray for the evangelism outreach and the English Camp that they will be participating in next week.

One Close to Believing!

Kukguy is a young woman who works as a saleswoman at the tile company where we were teaching English and Christian worldview. Her employers have told their 300 + employees that they are Christian and about God. The employees consist of about 200 Burmese warehouse and factory workers, and around 125 Thai office and sales people. But only 1 or 2 of the Thai workers are Christian. Kukguy has many personal problems. She has noticed a difference in her Christian employers who show genuine concern for their workers. When our group came to teach last week, Kukguy told another employee that she was seriously thinking about becoming a Christian!  Please Pray that in the very near future Kukguy will take the step to follow Jesus as her savior.

Is a Little White Lie OK?

The volunteer team has been teaching English and the Christian World View at a tile factory on the outskirts of Bangkok. The factory is owned by a Christian who is concerned that his Thai employees hear the gospel. Most of his Thai workers are not Christian and have very little knowledge of what Christians believe.The majority of our classes are made up of sales people working on the display floor at the tile company.

Each day there is a 30 minute presentation of the gospel included at the end of the English lesson. On one particular day, the lesson was about sin entering the world and how it affected man's relationship with God. At the conclusion of class, some employees stayed late and poised a very practical question to our teachers. The question: "Is it OK to tell a little white lie?". They are under pressure to meet sales quotas every month. Thus, to keep their customers happy, they often told "a little white lie" about delivery dates if the material ordered would arrive late. They rationalize that telling the truth would only make the customers mad. But if they told a little lie, then the customer would stay happy and they could keep the sale.  But in reality, they were feeling guilty about lying especially after studying the lesson on sin. The teachers and a missionary tried to explain that lying is a sin that displeases God. No matter what the circumstance, telling the truth resulted in a better outcome, and in the end, the customer would appreciate their honesty. Pray for God's spirit to fill their inner need for peace and to give them the courage to be honest with their customers.

Ja's Problem

Ja works at a tile company

Jennifer, Katie, and Jacquilyn were finishing their English class one evening. The only Christian student in the class, Joseph, whispered to the teachers, “one of the students named Ja, has a big problem. Would you pray for her?” The teachers learned that Ja's 88 year old mother was in the hospital. Ja had to leave work early every day to care for her Mom. By leaving early, Ja couldn't meet her monthly sales quota ($57,000) and was worried about being able to financially support her family.  Ja is a single mom struggling to raise children on her own. The teachers prayed for her for difficult situation. They asked that God would bring healing to her Mom and give Ja peace. You also can pray for Ja who is under a lot of stress.

A Simple Hug

One of the woman students the team has been teaching during the week stopped Linda in the hallway. She walked up and hugged Linda and said, “Thanks for being my teacher”. The student went on to say, “I’m not very smart. I don't understand or speak English well.” Linda hugged the student in return and explained that English was a very hard language to learn. She went on to say that learning any language is a slow process which takes a lot of patience. The student was encouraged and walked away with a big smile on her face. It only took a minute to show a little kindness, but it made a big impact on one student.

Beginning Our trip In Thailand

Thursday, while driving to get the plane in Houston, Steve got stopped by a constable for "tailgating". It was a strange situation, almost like a setup! Ask him about this experience when he returns to America (Fortunately, he didn't get a ticket).

We got to the airport and boarded the plane about 5:00PM.  Twenty eight hours later we arrived in Bangkok, Thailand on Saturday morning.  Upon rounding up our luggage on the turnstile, we found out that Katie's checked bag decided to lay over in Houston!

We were met at the airport in Bangkok by 2 IMB missionaries and a Thai friend. We went to Eric Mullis' house to have a brief orientation. Then we went out to eat Thai food for lunch at a roadside restaurant. Our teammates were excited to taste new Thai dishes! Later, Linda took everyone on a tour of the nearby fresh food market. Then we retuned to the Mullis home for more orientation. Later in the day, we broke into 2 groups and took taxis to a food court in downtown Bangkok.  In one of the taxis, Richard had the opportunity to witnessed to the cab driver about finding eternal life with Jesus.

Sunday, we attended Antioch Baptist Church where 2 of our teammates, Steve and Katie gave their testimonies to the congregation. Linda translated their stories into Thai.  After the church service, we had the pleasure of eating a Chinese soup with rice noodles, fish and pork. We left church and returned to the Mullis' home to review the English curriculum we will teach beginning Monday morning. When the meeting was over, we walked to the subway, got aboard a train and returned to the heart of the city to eat at a food court.  Then we walked about a 1/4 mile back to the quest house.

Once back at the guesthouse, it was a joy to find Katie's suitcase waiting on her! She was so happy not to have to wear the same clothes to teach in on Monday that she began the trip with on Thursday. So far, our adventure has seen Richard and Linda practice the Thai language (often struggling trying to remember lots of forgotten words from 4 years of retirement). Our teammates have learned lessons in Thai culture and discovered new Thai foods. But most importantly, we all realize just how important our job will be this coming week in introducing lost souls to Jesus.

Please pray for each of us to be led by God's spirit as we begin teaching early Monday morning. We leave the Guest house at 6AM to teach employees at a Thai tile business.