“Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:38)
To God be the glory; great things He hath done! We have had a blessed time out meeting people and telling them of the wonderful news of Jesus Christ. The first two months of the year have been very exciting, to say the least. They started off like this: I had seen a very elderly man walking on a busy road several times and had been praying for him. It seemed he was walking of necessity and not for exercise. Every time I saw him, Silas was never with me. Finally, one morning as we went out sharing the Gospel, I saw him, and Silas was with me. We stopped to talk with him, but the man was very uneasy at my presence, so I slipped away, praying as I continued handing out tracts. I had gone all the way to the end of the road, and as I was making my way back, I saw Silas and the man bow their heads as he trusted the Lord Jesus to be his Saviour. As I drew near to Silas, a man from a business where I had left a tract a few minutes before was waving to get my attention. We went to see what it was about. They were Christians and had moved to that area about a year before. They had been praying for God to send someone to start a church near them. They were very happy to learn that we had come to start one, and they have been attending ever since.
One Thursday morning as I was headed to meet Silas, I saw a morning market. We decided to pray and go to the market and spread some good news. Almost immediately, we met a Thai man who had lived in Texas for a little while. Upon hearing that I was from Texas, he was very happy and wanted to sit down and talk for a while, so we did. When we asked him if he knew where he would go when he died, he replied, “I’m afraid it will be very bad for me.” He eagerly listened as we explained to him that it didn’t have to be that way. After hearing the wonderful news how that Jesus had paid for his sins, he quickly called on the Lord Jesus for salvation. Praise the Lord! Then he said, “All of these people need to know this.” And with that, we handed him a few tracts and said, “You give these as you go your way, and we will give ours as we go our way.”
At the same market, mopeds slowly made their way through, as the road was full of people. We were busily handing out tracts when a young family stopped their moped and asked what we were doing. I handed them a tract and told them we were telling people about Jesus. They said they had never seen anyone doing this here before. The people behind them started honking horns, as they were blocking the way. Then they were gone. I didn’t see them anymore.
Later that day, we got a call from a young boy who said he had received a tract from “Uncle Forang” (“foreigner”). He wanted to know what it was. We asked for his parents, and his father came on the line. We told him who we were and what it was about and asked if we could come explain it to them. The father invited us to their home, and we were able to share the Gospel with the entire family. Praise the Lord, they all trusted Christ.
The next morning, the family from the market the previous day, who had stopped their moped to ask what we were doing, showed up at the building we are renting for the church. They said they were Christians and had been wanting to do more for God. They wanted to tell people about Jesus but didn’t know how to go about it. They were shocked to see someone actually doing it. They asked if they could go with us sometime. Though it wasn’t in my plans to go at that moment, I asked if they could go now. They said yes, and off we went. I believed in my heart that God was doing something special. We prayed and went. As we stopped the vehicle, there was a lady passing by pushing her bicycle, whom Silas stopped and began to talk with. The lady was very concerned about her soul and listened intently. After some time of talking with her and answering her questions, the lady said yes to Jesus and called on His name. The wife of the couple who had gone with us looked up at me and said, “That was amazing! I’ve never seen anything like that before in my life. I think I could do this.” Praise the Lord for working wondrously in people’s lives.
These two months ended like this: I was having some trouble with my back and went to see a man who had some training in chiropractic. While I was getting adjusted, I told Silas he should tell him about Jesus, and he did. The man finally told us he wasn’t interested, so we left a tract and went on our way. That tract made it into the hands of a Buddhist monk, and a few days later, the monk called and said he wanted to know more about what he had read, especially Romans 5:12, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” He was 66 years old and had heard about Jesus when he was young but had not yet met anyone who knew about Jesus. Silas answered as many questions as he could but didn’t know the answers to everything he asked. Silas was late for a Bible class he takes online with Pastor Saint Jomhong, a Thai pastor and friend of ours in the Songburi Province. Silas asked the monk if he could have his teacher call him back to answer his questions, to which the monk happily agreed. Silas told Bro. Saint about the monk and asked if he would call him. Bro. Saint was very happy to call the monk. He answered his questions and preached to him Jesus. In the end, the monk decided to put his faith in Jesus Christ. The monk goes by the short name of Tom. Please keep Tom in your prayers. We have sent him a John and Romans and are looking forward to following up with him.
Please keep Bro. Isaac and his family in your prayers. He is doing a tremendous job for the Lord in India. We are looking forward to his being ordained. I’m grateful that I still have a part in the work for God there, teaching the men online even though I cannot be there in person. We are praying and are still in need of US$850 for a second Gospel horse (motorcycle) for the men to use to get to other villages to share the Gospel. Also, funds (approximately US$5,000) are still needed for materials to build a building for them to meet in for church.
My wife and I are doing well. We want to praise the Lord that the doctor says she is still cancer-free. She has taken her last chemo pill, and she is very happy to be finished with them.
We love you all and thank you for all of your faithful prayers and support!
Yours for His harvest,
Andrew & Denise Long
Romans 10:14
