Alibye's Den

Well, I'm home now. Sitting on my couch, about to eat some food out of my own fridge and watching Radiohead live from the basement on DVR. I have all the comforts of home and no wants unsatisfied. I have to say that my journey was again life changing for me. After seeing so many people who are so grateful to get a bag of rice, a bottle of oil, and two tiny cans for fish, I hope I will no longer complain that I don't have enough cash to go out for a hamburger at lunch instead of taking a sandwich from home. I will just be thankful that I have food in my house.

 

Also, after sharing my faith with people I don't know on a daily basis, I began to realize that I don't really share my faith with people I do know ever. That is probably the biggest eye opener to me. I really feel that I should be more open about my faith and offer to do more for the people I know. Even if they don't share in my beliefs I'm sure no one would turn down my offer to pray for them.

 

I'm kind of wondering what my day at work will be like tomorrow. After being in a land where life is so much simpler and everything is less rushed, it's hard to think about going back into the hectic day to day life that I had been in. It's not that I don't want to be back home, but I do want to try to bring some of the Thai mindset back with me. I really don't want to let life drag me around anymore, but spend my time how I decide. I think that's what it really is, here it seems that so many things are always coming up and all of them are considered important. In Thailand, there was really just one thing to think about, doing what God had called us there to do. That is something I believe God will help me to work out as I get back into "normal" life.

 

Let me say a big thank you to everyone who has supported me both through physically and spiritually on this trip. The work done in Thailand is not just from me, but from all of you as well. I pray that God bleses you all for your faithfulness to Him.

Well I didn't get to update the blog anymore while we were in Thailand because the internet cafe didn't open early enough to allow time. The first half of our last day in Thailand we spent doing what we did with most of our time there, visiting people and handing out tracks. We visited a small villiage and handed out packets along with tracks. The packages had a VCD and a few small Christian books written in Thai. Most people in the area we were do not own DVD player, but do have a VCD player. VCDs for those who don't know are like DVDs except the disk is actually a CD. Since CDs don't hold as much data the movies on them are either much shorter or the movie will be split across two disks. After we finished up, we had a break of sunshine and drove by the beach and spent a little time there. There were a few shops close by so Brian and I went and looked in them. We managed to finally find some kids sized T-shirts for our kids! We went back to Keith and Traci's house and ate dinner and had some prayer time and talked about our trip. This was really cool for me. I have to say that I am excited about what God is doing in Thailand. I really feel this is an example of the early church we read about in the book of Acts. These people are truly having life changing experiences. They are being transformed by having Jesus in their lives. For the first time ever they are free from the bondage of having to earn merrit for their next life or appease spirits so they will have good luck. I believe there will be some new house churches started in some of these villiages and through them many others will come to know Christ.

We took a day off and went to Phucket. It is way more western than Phang Nga. We visited a few shopping malls and street markets. It's funny because everywhere you go, you can haggle the price. Even in the high end shopping malls. We found that many of the cheaper things are marked up higher than the expensive items. We took a taxi from one of the street markets to another mall. It was only a small truck with a cover over the bed of the truck. The back was full so I rode in front with the driver. We talked for a while and I was able to share Jesus with him. We gave him some tracks and he gave me his phone number. He told me to call him if I was ever in Phucket again. His name is Mr. Jimi. So everyone, please pray for him that he may come to know Christ. Today is our last day. We will be going out witnessing again today and tomorrow we get on the long flight back home. That will be the hardest part of the trip.

Today has been another good day of sharing the gospel with surrounding villages. We went into an area that is mixed with Muslim and Buddhist villages. I went with Rich and Nim. The first house we went to was owned by an older woman in her sixties. She had her mother who was in her eighties living with her and her youngest son who was nineteen. They allowed us to share the gospel with them, but told us they believed Ala would judge them when they died and that if they were good enough they would go to heaven. Before we left we offered them a copy of the gospel of John in Thai, but they refused. As we left their house we realized the village mosque was right behind their house. We then shared the gospel with a man right on the mosque steps! He seemed very eager to hear and we were able to give him a copy of the gospel of John. Later as we were sharing with a couple who owned a restaurant (ranahan in Thai), the call to prayer started coming out from the mosque. It was kind of eerie. The chat was Ala Akliba or “Ala is the greatest.” This is the same thing the Muslim extremists yell before they blow themselves up in acts of terrorism. Keith was telling us many of the Muslim houses here have a copy of the Koran, but it is in Arabic. The Muslims in Thailand cannot even read their own scriptures! This is a great advantage to the Christians who have the Bible in Thai. After lunch we went back to the same area and visited a few Buddhist households. We met an older man who takes care of his wife’s daughter. His wife died a few years ago and her daughter from another marriage is paralyzed from an accident. He was very interested in the gospel. We left him a copy of John and a Jesus movie in Thai. The next place we visited was wonderful. The entire family listened and said they understood as I went through the plan of salvation using the evangicube. They said their daughters had been going to a Christian school nearby and were interested in Christianity. They obviously were too. They also wanted more information. So we were also able to give them a Jesus movie and a copy of John. Please pray that a house church will be able to be started in this villiage. Tonight we are having chili dogs!