“Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:38)
Praise the Lord! What a wonderful God we serve! As you know from the last letter, we had 58 in attendance on Christmas Day, for which we were very grateful and excited. Thailand has Children’s Day in the middle of January, so we planned another big day at church, hoping to top the attendance of our big day at Christmas. When I arrived at church on Children’s Day Sunday with my last load of people, there were a lot of people standing outside. One of our regulars ran up and asked, “What do we do? We don’t have enough chairs!” I laughed, as I stepped inside, and to my surprise, the building was already full. We only had 56 chairs. More than 100 people had to sit on the floor or stand. We had a wonderful day, with 168 in attendance and several people trusting Christ!
What a joy it is to tell you about the wonderful hand of God. One evening, my wife and I went on a date to get some pizza by a lake. This lake has a nice path to walk around, and there is a Buddhist temple nearby that has a program where foreigners come to learn how to meditate. The foreigners often walk around the lake in the evenings. Most of them are in their zone and won’t even acknowledge you exist. This night one of students was sitting at the pizza shop when we arrived. He had just started the program. I said hello, and he spoke back and was very friendly. His name was Niv, and he was from Israel. He was very surprised that I was happy to meet someone from Israel. We chatted for a little while; then he had to head off to meditation.
A few days later, my wife and I went to take a walk around that same lake. Niv saw us and made a beeline for us. He had been traveling the world in search of inner peace, which is what had brought him to that temple. He said, though, that all of the chanting and noise from the meditations was driving him crazy; he wanted to go where there was some peace and quiet and asked if we knew of any place. We have a small detached apartment on the church property, and we told him he could stay there if he wanted. He was happy to get out of there. I went to eat dinner with him the next evening, and he told me of his family. One side of his family was very religious, and the other side never even so much as thought about God. He was mostly raised without the knowledge of God.
Lately he had begun to wonder, and hence his world tour of searching. He had already been to several countries and participated with several religions, but he was still empty. The more I heard, the more amazed I became at the mighty hand of God, which had brought Niv, not knowing exactly what he was searching for, to our town. God had caused our paths to cross, and we were now seated together talking.
After some time, I said, “I know what you are searching for, and the amazing thing is that the hope of all men took place in your own country.” He slid to the edge of his seat with his eyes moistening and a yearning desire to know true peace. I opened my Bible and began telling him about Jesus, from the birth of Christ to His sitting at the right hand of the Father. I have never enjoyed telling the story more in my whole life. Niv sat on the edge of his seat and soaked up every Scripture. “Niv,” I said, “if you believe what you have seen in God’s Word, I want to show you a promise from God to you.” He said, “I believe it; I know this is true.” I said, “Here is the promise.” I opened my Bible to Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
I continued, “Jesus is seated in Heaven right now listening for anyone to call on His name, and the moment they believe on Him and call on His name, He gives unto them eternal life and saves them from Hell. Niv, would you like to claim this promise?” “I sure would,” came his reply. “Niv, why don’t you lay your hand on the promise and call on Jesus’ name and let Him wash all your sins away.” “This is what I need,” he said. His hand began to tremble as he laid it on the promise and began to pray. “Jesus, I believe what You said, and I’m calling on Your name. I’ve never known You before, but I want You to be my God.” My heart was about to absolutely explode. Tears began to flow down my face for the joy of what I had witnessed God do. When Niv finished praying, he looked up and said, “Thank you for helping me know the truth.” We stood and embraced. GLORY to God in the highest!
We are very grateful for all the Lord has and is doing here! Please keep us in your prayers! Pray that God would give us wisdom, the power of the Holy Spirit, strength, and good health to do his work. Pray for these precious people to grow in the Lord.
Thank you for all your faithful prayers and support!
Yours for His harvest,
Andrew Long
Romans 10:14
