Southeast Asia – July 28, 2023

Up until now, we’ve had three very full days of ministry through home visits and Compassion Kit parties. Waking up tired was no surprise. We were encouraged with today being the last day, where temptation exists to slow down and start to “check out”, to instead pour more into this last day! And so we went!!

We went into the area our translator lived, and into an area of people who lived in mud-walled and thatch-roofed homes. We went into a home that was adjacent to the settlement while we waited for the people in the settlement to gather together for the Compassion Kit party. This home visit was just a little different. There was more discussion between our translator and one of the family members, an older man, as they spoke in their native tongue. One of the younger men simply got up and left. By the time we got to the settlement, the people had gathered and we presented our compassion kit party program. Not long afterwards resistance came. It was the first time we had been so openly challenged. We realized that the younger man who had left at the home visit went to report us to the tribal leaders. We were able to finish what we came to do, and then left.  It was a reminder that this is what Christians who live in a country that may have laws providing for Christians to exist, but political or societal oppression can still occur.

We next went to the home of a local missionary who had moved into the area to start a church plant. He told us that he was so grateful that we were willing to come all the way from America to visit them because they provided the Christians here much comfort as well as encouragement. They were able to see that the same God at work in them was at work in us also, and there were true familial relationships between the two cultures in Christ. Even the men who did not know very much English would refer to us as “sister” to get our attention. The second thing he shared with us about his gladness of our coming was that as foreigners to the people they would most likely listen better to us than they would the local Christians, who had shared the same gospel message with them already. He has seen when the foreigners share the gospel, the people consider it more thoughtfully. Yet another reminder as to why we have STM trips.

We had our next Compassion Kit party in this church plant building. And this is where the team put more into this last of Compassion Kit parties than any others that were done this week! A clear gospel message was presented with the declaration that God is not one in a line of gods, but the one true God! What a note to end on!

We begin to travel back tomorrow, utilizing three flights and 22 hours to get back home! We are all encouraged by the Christians here who are bold in their faith, motivated by their love of the Lord and love of their fellow countrymen!