Hello, friend! It has been a while since I had an opportunity to update you about ministry in Thailand (so sorry about that), and I have lots to share with you, so please bear with me!!
During the last week of February, my team bought flowers and then spent the day creating little notes to pass out with them. We painted and drew on them and then wrote Bible verses or short prayers on the other side of the note.
Once we were finished, we walked around Bangkok and handed them out to those we felt the Lord highlighted to us. Seeing the unexpected joy it brought to those we encountered was so beautiful and precious! Handing out the flowers and notes also opened the door for such sweet conversation!
There was one woman in particular that I was able to share a short but impactful conversation with.
After giving her the note and flower, I had the opportunity during our conversation to ask her if there was anything that I could pray over her for. At first, she was a little hesitant because she was Buddhist and not Christian, but after some reassurance that it was okay for her to accept prayer if she was comfortable with it, she told me that she wanted prayer for luck and success in her future.
As I laid a hand on her shoulder and prayed over her requests, for her eyes to be opened to God, for an encounter with Him, and for her heart to be softened, she made a little surprised noise. After I finished praying, she turned to me with tears in her eyes and an awestruck smile and said that she had gotten goosebumps during the prayer and felt a shift in her subconscious!
While we didn’t have much more time to talk afterwards as she had somewhere to be, it was such a beautiful moment and touch from the Lord! Praise God! I have so much faith that He will continue to reveal Himself to this woman!
In my previous blog, I mentioned that we had a few opportunities to evangelize and do outreach on university campuses in Bangkok. Well…on February 27th, AMALA stopped teaching English and transitioned into doing evangelism and outreach ministry full time!
To do that, we moved out of the hostel we were previously staying at in Bangkok, and into a church called Mahapown Rangsit Church (MRC) in the province of Mueang Pathum Thani. My team called MRC home for 2 ½ weeks, and our time there was spent focusing on evangelizing and doing ultimate frisbee outreach clinics at Bangkok University, Thamasart University, and Rangsit University!
Life at MRC was so sweet and overflowing with the presence of the Lord!
The six of us girls shared one room, so it was like one big sleepover each night! Our room had one bed, so five of us slept on foam pads on the floor. Due to the limited space, we kept most of our belongings in the hallway in front of our room so that we could walk between our beds. More often than not, our little room was filled with laughter, silliness, and just so much joy!
Photos of us and our room!
I love this community of women so much and it is such an honor and a joy to walk alongside them!
Even once we were home from our long days of ministry, our nights and mornings were still so full of Jesus, whether that looked like getting into the Word, worshipping, or praying (individually or as a team).
If there is anything the Lord has been revealing to me through these beautiful women of God, it’s how to balance and cultivate having childlike faith and joy while also walking in authority and wisdom as women with hearts after the King!
During one of our team times, Alex had the idea of making a prayer wall and a gratitude wall in our room! Each of us added prayers and things we are grateful for! This quickly became a part of our nightly routine! After we finished reading Proverbs and Matthew together every night, we chose several prayers from the wall and spent time lifting them up intentionally as a team!
Prayer wall!
My team also really enjoys art and crafts, so several of our team times consisted of painting and drawing! On a different wall, we decided to hang up our artwork! Together, we created a space that felt like home!
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Now, let’s talk about evangelism and our frisbee outreach!!
As not everyone on the university campuses spoke English, my team was partnered with the staff at MRC. We would often be partnered one-on-one with the Thai staff, or our team would be split into pairs with one or two Thai staff.
Upon arrival, before we would split up and spread out, we would set a goal for the day of how many students we wanted to talk to, share the Gospel with, and how many would give their lives to Christ. Oftentimes, the number that we finished with often far exceeded the goal we set at the beginning of the day! Praise God!!
During our conversations with students, we would invite them to our ultimate frisbee outreach event (a new sport in Thailand) later that afternoon. This provided space for us to continue to pour into and invest in the students we were talking with and to get them connected with Christian community! We would teach them how to play, scrimmage, and then break into small groups where we would pray, encourage them, and share the Gospel!!
Most times, the students we talked and ministered to earlier in the day would end up attending out of curiosity, and sometimes, we’d even have students who showed up that we hadn’t talked to yet! What seemed random to them was used by God in a beautiful way and our team and the MRC staff were able to have so many fruitful conversations!
God is so cool!
Photos from frisbee and evangelizing!!
Through campus evangelism and outreach, the Lord has opened my eyes to see how intentional His pursuit is of every single nation and every single person, and how unique it is to them! He speaks to each of us in the ways that only we understand and the ways He pursues His children are proof of that! Evangelism truly is seeing Matthew 18:12-13 come to life before our very eyes!!
What a blessing and an honor to be invited into and partner with the Lord in His pursuit of His children!
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Fun fact: up until a couple of weeks ago, I had never shared the Gospel before! To be completely honest with you, initially, I was very intimidated by the thought of it, and for a short period, because I was partnered with one of my teammates, I was able to avoid it.
BUT on March 5th, I shared the Gospel for the first time with two groups of students! That day, I woke up and I just had a sense that God was saying it was time to take the step and move from a supporting role of interceding (which is equally as important!!) and to actually share the Gospel from start to finish!
Sure enough, later that afternoon, the opportunity for me to take the lead and share for the first time fell into my lap, and a supernatural peace stilled my heart and mind, and the words I needed to speak immediately were produced within me! God is so good!
While neither group of students made the decision to commit their lives to Christ, I am believing and praying that seeds were planted within them and that they will have an encounter with the Lord!
Then, two days later, Alex and I tag-teamed sharing the Gospel with two girls with the help of one of the Thai staff, Amy, and through our conversation, God moved their hearts so much that both of them decided to give their lives to Jesus! Praise God!! Seeing the life it brought to both girls was such a joyous and incredible experience and one that I will never forget!!
Even despite my reluctance and timidity, God was so kind, merciful, and gentle in His instruction and guidance throughout the 2 ½ weeks we spent at MRC.
No matter how many times I stumbled through it or how clumsy my evangelism attempts were, His abounding grace and mercy was constant, and the people He led me to were so kind and receptive. And guess what?! Through my weaknesses, insecurities, and clumsiness, God still moved!
Our humanness isn’t enough to prevent the glory and hope of the Lord from being revealed!!
Praise God!!
The truth is, God doesn’t put us in situations and wait to see if we fail, He puts us in situations and then stays right beside us to guide us. Like a father with a toddler learning how to walk, He holds our hands with each step!
How beautiful is that?!
Throughout the 2 ½ weeks that my team served at MRC, we shared the gospel with over 100 students!! Praise God!!! Of those 100, we had around 8+ students accept Christ into their hearts!! Of those 8, I was able to personally witness 4 make that decision!!
God is so good!!
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God has used my time evangelizing with MRC to open my eyes to the need for sharing the Good News.
Growing up in a nation where most know of or have heard of Jesus and the Gospel desensitized me to the need for it until I was placed into an environment where most have never even heard of Jesus or His love for them.
Every time we talked with the students, there would be a moment while we were sharing where it was like a switch flipped, and all of a sudden you could see the ache and depth of longing, brokenness, hunger, and hope that was lit within their eyes as creation recognized their need and desire for their Creator. Each heart stirring to life as it heard the Truth for the first time.
As heartbreaking as it was to witness, it was incredibly powerful and sobering and gave me a more Christ-centered and founded perspective. I am so grateful that the Lord convicted me of a blindness I hadn’t realized I possessed, and opened my eyes to recognizing the need for the life-giving power of the Good News He designed for all people and nations.
If you would like to pray, here are some prayer points!
- For the students at Bangkok University, Tharmsart University, and Rangsit University to come to know Jesus and accept Him into their hearts;
- For the 100 students that we ministered to, that good seeds would continue to be planted on fertile soil and that their desire and curiosity towards the Lord would increase and that they would encounter Him;
- For MRC church, that they would continue to be a beacon of hope in their community and that the Lord would continue to use them to reveal His glory and love;
- For the MRC staff to receive a fresh outpouring of the Spirit and for their speech to continue to be salted with radical love and truth;
- For new students to continue to be brought to Amane and that the Lord would continue to move their hearts towards Him and that all students, new and old, would encounter Jesus; and
- For the Thai people to have radical encounters with the Father and to be set on fire for Him!
Joyfully His,
Areonah
Beautiful! Praise the Lord! Prayers sent!
Love how every step you take in faith, He is creating some sort of victory in you, in addition, to all the wonderful things in those around you. He is just so good! Wow
Thank you!! 🙌🏽 amen!! He really is!!!
Praising Jesus for the open doors and giving you the willingness to walk through them! For a people that are bound in fear and spiritual darkness, I am asking the Lord to make you beacons of His light expelling the darkness! May the seeds you planted grow to full maturity and multiply!!!
In Jesus name!!! Thank you so much!!
I love how you are stepping out into new areas and are letting Holy Spirit take you out of your comfort zone to share His love with others!! You are glowing and shining!!
Thank you so much, that truly means a lot!!! 🙌🏽