God's Salvation Power

Twenty-one year old Katie approached a Buddhist family sitting in their yard. Here is her story: "After sharing God's story from Creation to Christ, I did not feel led to ask them if they wanted to accept Jesus' free gift, yet, so I asked if they needed healing for anything. The man and woman said yes, their legs. I prayed and asked them to stand, and they said it was somewhat better. I prayed again; they said it was almost completely healed. Then I asked them to repeat a prayer after me. Again, they received more healing. Finally, I asked them to pray silently and ask God to heal them. Then they stood up and were completely healed! The man got up and literally started running around. His smile was unbelievably large. After that, this family of five all accepted Christ! When I returned to disciple them, two more people were there. They, too, were healed and accepted Christ. God is so good!" 

Katie and her disciples

A mom of two young girls, left them and her husband at home and traveled to Thailand with us on her first mission trip. Here is how Lisa communicated some of her experience: "Amazing! In one word, I would say miraculous. Never in my life did I believe in modern-day miracles. I heard many stories, but my faith to see it with my own eyes did not exist. We met a sweet single mom, and she was drawn to as by hearing us share with a man playing guitar on the street corner. We heard her moving story, and I felt compelled to share my story with her. After hearing my testimony and that of my team members, she teared up and wanted to hear God's story. She accepted Christ! She then requested prayer for a back issue that prevented her from standing without assistance. We prayed. Moments later after we finished praying, she stood up quickly and exclaimed, 'I am healed!'  This was something I never believed could happen. Others standing around noticed and smiled--the entire street corner felt God's love and power. His faithfulness blew my mind! I will never forget the love that God gave me for the Thai people."

Lisa's new friend has no problem kneeling for the photo

Megan's most memorable experience how the fish keeper Sansong came to Christ. "God was testing my obedience to follow His voice. On Monday, we went down a long road that led us to a fish pond. We felt led to share with a man sitting under a covering near the pond. He was very welcoming as we shared the gospel, but when asked if he wanted to follow Jesus, he responded, 'No, because I'm a Buddhist.' But as we returned each day to visit, I could see God chasing away layers of hindrances.  Sansong began to delight in the story of how Jesus called the fishermen to be His disciples. He finally shared His most pressing worry: "Is it a sin to catch fish?' We explained it was not, but nonetheless, Jesus covers all sins. He beamed with joy at this news. He then shared that his daughter was a Christian and had shared God's story with him several times,but he had not heard such relatable stories. He asked us to pray for his daughter to get a good job and that night his daughter received a well-paying job in Bangkok. Sansong began to see how Jesus is the living God. On the third day I woke up and God revealed to me that I was to share the shepherd story with Sansong. I had no idea how a fish keeper would relate to a shepherd, but I was obedient and we read the story together. Sansong began laughing with joy and stated he related most to this story because he was a shepherd of his fish and now understood God's love. He then decided to become a follower of Jesus. Before we even got to train him how to share his new faith with others, Sansong was sharing God's story of forgiveness with other fishermen."

Pastor Yut, Sansong, and Megan

Team member Mary, who has been on about a dozen trips with e3, shares her story of personally seeing God for the first time heal physically: "A 63-year-old widow heard God's story and was very receptive and open. We prayed for her knee as she had a hard time walking and was home bound. The Lord healed her and then she received Jesus, the healer of the heart. When we saw her later in the day, she had walked to her mother-in-law's house. Her mother-in-law wanted knee and eye healing; the Lord healed both. After hearing the story of Jesus, she also received him with joy. When we returned for Bible study, they were waiting for us, their knees and eyes healed--no cane for the 81-year-old! We studied the story of Zaccheus; the Lord was teaching them so many things about Him. They said they knew Jesus loved them and they wanted to tell their family about Him, so we practiced with them how to share God's story." 

A few other highlights include 15-year-old Cameron's Buddhist translator Bee receiving Christ on Wednesday after watching God heal two people physically. Anne had the privilege of praying healing for a monk in his 40s. The following day as we continued discussions with him, he said all religions teach people to do good things. We agreed with him and then explained that only Jesus forgives sin. He listened intently to what Anne continued to share with him, and he asked the Thai Christians to meet with him, even after Anne's departure.

God's greatest work was His ministry of reconciliation, drawing 80 Northern Thai people to himself for all eternity. 244 others heard His story and will contemplate this truth as we continue to pray for their salvation. Although we had to return home, 62 people were trained to share their faith and will continue the work. A total of 20 small groups were begun, and we will continue to pray they will develop into house churches as our Christian Thai partners continue the discipleship process with these new believers and seekers.