Thailand Mission Trip 2015
As we arrived in Thailand we were greeted with much love and warmth. I was excited to see how the Lord was going to use us in Thailand. So many emotions and feelings were running through my mind. We arrived in a small town by the name of Mae Sot, Thailand. Our team of 26 people settle down for the night and early the next morning began preparation for our evangelism efforts as well as the medical clinic. After morning devotional, we had a great breakfast and began our day with a planning meeting. Our team leaders shared with us some of the key responsibilities and projects that we would be involved in for the next 4 weeks. Quickly we divided into small teams, and began to plan for our outreach efforts as well as preparation for the opening night of our Evangelistic seminar. As the day drew on and the sun was setting, we began getting ready to depart to our site to hold our very own Evangelistic series. I was nervous and exited all at the same time. My heart was beating fast and my mind was filled with questions, “Will the people come?” “How many will come?” “Will they want to come back?” Together with the translator, we set out on a 20 minute drive into the village of Cow Market.
When we arrived at Cow Market, we didn’t see anyone there. I was not sure what to think. An empty stage with one small light bulb that was crowded with flies and mosquitos. Empty cold metal chairs scattered around the stage. “Surely this couldn’t be our venue”, I said to myself. Who will want to come here? I began to ask the translator, “Where are the people?” In my mind I was beginning to worry. The translator assure me that the people would come. He told me that as soon as we would set up the projector and begin singing songs, the people would rush over to see what was going on. Sure enough, as we set up the projector, children from the village came running over to us to see what was going on. As soon as we began singing our first song with the children, the parents came to as well.
Our Evangelistic series on opening night began with a 15 minute health presentation. We wanted to let the people know that we cared for their physical and spiritual health alike. Once the health presentation was over, the children were dismissed to go join the children’s program. For all others, we discussed the validity of the Bible. Over 40 people participated. Our hearts were filled with joy to see so many come to hear the Word of God presented to them in their own language. For the next 3 weeks, the Lord was working in the lives of the men, women and children who were coming out to the seminars. Many more came out to hear the word of God and our last week we had over 160 people in attendance from the local village. The Lord blessed and multiplied our efforts.
We began doing house visitations with the local pastor. The people welcomed us with open arms and open hearts. Many wanted to know more from the word of God. We talked on the topics of death, second coming, hell, salvation, baptism, faith, health, diet, and heaven. The people were truly hungry for the word of God. Their hearts were on fire because they were able to hear present truth presented to them right in their home village in their own native language. What a joy it was to see young men and women make a commitment to follow the Lord all the way in the waters of baptism. We held a baptism service our last Sabbath in Thailand. What a high Sabbath it was. The joy and happiness in the hearts of these newly baptized believers was so precious in the sight of the Lord. Maranatha!