ความสงบ

Another week has passed and God continues to show us His goodness and ความสงบ (peace). We have had some stellar high moments this last week and a few low moments but God is our comforter and our team comes out of those low moments feeling better than ever. It is in those low moments that we draw closest to each other and to our Father. Just want to clarify however that this week they good outweighed the bad by a landslide.

After our first bible study last week on Thursday... no Friday, we were challenged by a question from Kaison. "Why only twice a week?" We thought about and we realized that we had no reason... so we decided to change our twice weekly to seven times a week, unless God provides ministry opportunities at night, which He did. After I finished blogging last week I met up with the rest of the crew for a relaxing day (Jeremy dropped in on us) of just chilling and meeting a few guys. That night we went to a bar hoping for some good live reggae music but... it sucked, instead we had a rather deep discussion about weed, morality, and the DESPERATE need for a church in Tonsai.

The next night was New Years Eve, which might I say was quite an experience. We started the evening by meeting a guy named Eddie (New York) who was drawn in to our conversation by the talk of Yerba Mate. For those who have yet to experience this delicious tea... Stop reading. Google the nearest place to purchase a cup and let your taste buds be enlightened. Tea aside, it was awesome to see the variety of ways God draws people in to conversation. All and all we spent the night talking to different people, jumping through flaming hoops, dodging shoddy made fireworks (not really dodging... just staying well out of range) and then trying to block the pounding bass out of our ears as we tried going to sleep while the rest of the parties raged on.

The next day we had our first "low" of the week, a opportunity for God to show his sovereignty. After intercession in the morning Gabe and I went to send a few emails but stopped when we noticed an infection creeping up his arm from a small scratch on his elbow towards his chest. We instantly prayed for healing and then decided we would wait on the Lord on which course of action to take. While we waited for a decision Cristina and I went climbing with a student named Ben from New York. After climbing we went and had our bible study which was full of distraction (mosquitoes) but none the less it was good. 

The next day we was Sunday so Kevin took us to the coolest "church" ever... A CAVE!!! it isn't really a church but we hiked up in it and after wondering around and exploring for a while we sat down and had a sweet session of worship and communion. From the depths of the mountains worship of our Lord rang out... it was the best communion I have had yet.


That night Gabe decided that he didn't want to mess around with an infection this early in the trip so he decided to head to a clinic in AoNang the next day. Thankfully God provided ahead of time and we had some amoxicillan with us so we could get him on the path to recovery. After a good night sleep we packed up and headed over to clinic. Jeremy drove us to the clinic and after only a short period of time Gabe was out with a new batch of anti-biotic pills to fight the infection, praise Jesus. After the clinic we had lunch at Tesco Lotus, Thailand's equivalent of Wal-Mart, which we drove to the bus station where we said goodbye to Kevin. We prayed for him and off he went, on to another series of adventures, now in Laos. Next was Kaison, we dropped him off at another, smaller, bus station that would take him back to his church in Nakon.


And then there were four... it felt weird being back to just our team, but we will adapt and jump back into our routine of sharing the gospel. Tuesday... yes... I'm positive it was Tuesday, began rather uneventful. Some good worship in the morning, some wondering around, climbing in the afternoon... but the evening... Oh how I love my God. At dinner we met up with a young Russian man we had met earlier and only had short conversations with, but this time was different. God opened his heart and allowed us to pour the Spirit in. 


Costas (the young man) had seen us worshipping previously and wondered why we smiled and sang in the morning, not a direct quote but the some of his question. We then explained why we worshipped and why we  are here in Tonsai. That just spurred on more questions. We answered his question and essentially just shared the Good News with him. It was wonderful! At one point he looked across the table at Cristina who was sharing her faith and he told her that he did not understand the words that she was saying but he understood what she was saying, he pointed from his head to her head as if to say there was a deeper connection. OH YA MY GOD IS GREAT!!!! After we wrapped up this talk we spent the rest of the night just hanging with him. We ended the night by agreeing to give him a Bible so that he could read it as he continued his travels.

The next morning as Gabe and I were sitting eating breakfast Costas came up, full of joy, and asked if we had the Bible, slightly taken aback by his desire we informed him that we did not have it  on us but we would get it to him that night. After a wonderful day of climbing with a Spanish couple, Habi and Sara (we shared the gospel with them as well), we were able to give the Bible to Costas. As Isaac handed it to him his face was lit up like a young boy receiving his best Christmas present EVER!!! 


If we did nothing else on this trip this moment would still make it worth it.

Prayer:
Continued healing
Hearts open to the Gospel
Our mouths open to the Spirit
Safety while climbing
Clarity for visa run details


HOW FAR WILL WE GO?!?!