A word from Brad

God is so amazing. I am going to be honest with you all. I have been a way from home for a very long time and was beginning to feel a little weary and frustrated that I was stuck in Thailand for 18 days. I have had a great time so far and i love Andy and our group a lot, but a was having a hard time putting my heart into the ministry aspect. If that makes sense. This is something i have been praying about since I got to Thailand on December 31 becaused I didn't need to let this effect what i am here for. Today my prayers were answered. We Met with a guy after church today who was named stew. He brought Go with him. Go is a Thai who used to be a monk but is now a Follower of Christ. He told us his testimony about how he had a dream, his dream was that there was man who said "come follow me" he was on a green hill, Go said he wanted to come follow him but was hesitant because right in front of him was a giant cliff and it seemed he would fall off if he stepped foward, then he woke up. Then he started getting Bibles from all kinds of people, even monks, then a man told him that God wanted to know him which shocked him because people dont ever say that to monks. He struggled with this for a long time and had to a draft sort of thing. He draws a card out of the box. If he draws a black card then he doesnt have to go in the army, if the card is red he is drafted for two years. He was so scared he would be drafted. All his relatives had given him relics and went through all the rituals to help him have luck and not get drafted. Right before he was about to draw he started praying to God. He says he didnt know why but he prayed and sayed "God if i can draw black i will go back and follow you." The pieces of paper were in a bag and also wrapped in a straw soi you could look in the bag and still not see what you were drawing. He reached in to draw and also looked in the bag, he said that he saw that one of the straws said black on it. He said it was a miracle that he saw the word black. He drew that one and sure enough it was black, all the others in line with him drew red. So, He follows God, now he still hangs out with the monks and sleeps at temples with them. He talked about how other monks are having dreams also, but they are scared to be outcasted from there family if they follow Jesus so they go to the temple and do the Buddhist things then they goi off to a friends and study the Bible. He also told us that he doesnt call himself Christian, He believes the Bible and follows God. He believes the word Christian has been turned into a word that turns people away. All this to say that this showed me that it doesnt matter if we don't see thousands of people come to know Jesus while we are here. It is not about us at all. God will work in the lives of the Thai people. God never promises that we will always see results of our presence in a place before we die, he just promises that his Word will not return void. So now, what is our job here? We are only here for a short time. Well i came to find out that I just have to be obedient and trust that as long as we allow Jesus to work through us while we are here in whatever way He chooses, results will happen and we should be priveleged to have this opportunity to work for our King ang it shoudl continue when we are back at school. We won't see results i can almost gaurantee but the Lord's Word will not return void. That is what i got out of today and most of it i had heard before but i needed to hear it again. The most encouraging thhing was that God made himself known to Go, but then used others to water. God doesnt need us, but he has chosen us to carry His Word. This blog may be all over the place but i feel better after righting it so, i hope you can see something of what i am talking about. This is my first blog so there is a lot of mistakes and i never capitalize "i" unless it is a school paper because it saves time and energy. Thank you, Good luck and good night --Brad Vyers