Outreach #2 - Nan - No Plans

The second outreach I did here in Thailand was quite different than the first. For this outreach we had no plans. We knew the province we were going to, but that was it. We were going to go there and then pray and ask God where and what he wanted us to do in that province.

We got on a bus and 4-5 hours later arrived in Nan, Thailand. We got our stuff out of the bus and sat down and prayed for God to show us where to go. The word “Luang” came to me and some others felt God was telling them we needed to get on another bus and go somewhere outside of the initial town we arrived at. Luang turned out to be the name of a town only 45 minutes away, in the same province. We got a hotel in the city of Nan for that night. That night we prayed again and another person in our group felt I should lead the first full day of outreach. Each day was to be led by a student in the team and not by the leaders. My response was to jokingly say that I felt God was telling me to go last. I was quite nervous about leading a day and being responsible for making the decision of where to go or to stay in Nan. The next day we went prayer walking around Nan in the morning. After that we had an prayer time where we asked God when we should leave Nan or if we should stay. I got the work “bai mong.” I knew mong was a Thai word for time, but I didn’t know that “bai” was Thai for one. Bai mong was then 1 PM. Another student in our group also felt God was saying 1 PM. So I decided we should go to Luang at 1 PM!

We arrived in Luang and I decided to find accommodation in this tiny village first. We went to a restaurant and they said we could stay at their shack behind their place. We later found out that there were no hotels in this town and this restaurant was considered the best one in town. The Lord is faithful! We could have easily been stranded in the town with nowhere to stay. That night we met with the head of the town and she wanted us to put on an English camp for 5 days for the children of the village. They were very gracious in accepting us into their town. There were even two long-term missionaries in this town which the DTS leader, who was on our team for this outreach, just happened to know. He was previously unaware they were working in this remote area of Thailand. I don’t think this was mere coincidence to find these people. They were very helpful with the things we did in the area in the coming days.

So we taught English camp for 5 days. Twenty-five students showed up the first day, but by the last day over forty came. The last day of camp we asked if they would like to know Jesus more and many of them prayed with us. We also did prayer walking in the afternoons and talked to the local people, well the Thai’s did on our team. I went with them and got the conversations translated. Thai village people are very kind and welcoming!

We then went back to the city of Nan and talked to people on the street about Jesus and went to the larger hospital in Nan. We prayed for people in the hospital and I held very basic conversations with them when a Thai wasn’t around to translate.

Overall it was an amazing outreach where God showed how faithful he is. Several adults made commitments to Christ and a lot of the children we taught English to did. One of the leaders on our team prayed for two women who were then miraculously able to walk when they hadn’t been able to before. Both women decided to become Christians right then and there.

We went in not having any plans and just asking the Lord to guide us. God certainly did that. There were too many situations that worked out so well on this outreach for me to believe they were just mere coincidences.