On Persistence

My God is persistent.  He is persistent on loving me, persistent on burning in me, persistent on keeping me wholly for Him. 

This is what He revealed to me about Himself in the last few weeks. 

October 19, 2012 was the expiration date of my Thai non-immigrant visa.  This visa is the hinge of all our documents here --- my work permit, Jason’s visa --- thus allowing us to legally stay in Krabi.  In February of this year, I acquired my U.S. citizenship in Hawaii where I was granted my US passport.  This event marked the end of a long process of making sure that it’s okay for me to stay out of the States for a very long time.  Thinking that since I am no longer a Filipino citizen both Jason and I agreed that I should use my US passport in entering Thailand.  And our first agenda on the first day of our arrival here was to go to the immigration office to figure out how I can transfer all of my visa stuff from my Philippine passport to my US passport.  After explaining our situation with what we thought was enough information to the immigration officers, the advice we got was to wait for October --- the month of my visa renewal.  Needless to say, we took it as raw and as simple as the advice came from the authority we believed understood where we are. 

Our naïveté brought us eight months later to a huge immigration bureaucratic mess that could have ended up with us leaving the country.  Learning of our mistake, our hearts were crushed and, I must admit, I was very angry.  It is never as simple as that.  Not with immigration.  Now we have this exorbitant amount to pay at the border with money we don’t have, and I have to leave the country immediately.  For me to go back, I have to re-apply at the Thai Embassy in Penang, Malaysia hoping to be granted, despite being branded as overstaying for 208 days in Thailand, with a new visa on my new passport. 

We prayed. We spoke to fellow Christians, and they prayed.  We shared with our supporters, and asked for prayer and help.  And we prayed more.  And in 3 days or so, not only did we raise more than enough money to pay the fine and for the trip to the border but our hearts were filled with extreme peace and comfort with the assurance that all will be well. 

We felt your prayer.

We felt God.

The incident that happened turned out to be a reminder for us that God is persistent in keeping His love, in keeping His promises, in keeping us wholly for Him.  He wanted to show His strength when we are totally weak and desperately in need losing any control over the situation.  The confusion at the immigration and the anger that resulted out of it was definitely the enemy’s handiwork, but the glory that came out of the mess because God’s people gathered together in strength for Him was definitely our Lord’s handiwork.  

For some, what happened was mere bad luck.  For us, what happened was a God moment.  One that would make you look to Him and say, “You are indeed amazing and persistent!”

PBA Thailand Team (May 2012)

Palm Beach Atlantic University (PBA) sent us a missions team of 9 amazing people of the faith last month.  They spent about 3 weeks helping us with teaching English, praying, and ministering at Ao Nang International Fellowship and Santisuk Krabi Church.

They did prayer walks around Krabi at mosques and temples --- praying for strongholds to be broken, and for the Thai people to be set free.  They also helped in preaching and leading worship at the Ao Nang fellowship as well as preaching at the Thai church in Krabi.  They taught English everyday at Prakhun Language School (a Sowers school) and had opportunities to share the Gospel with some of the kids.  They also taught English at Sarapachang Technical College in Krabi for a few days and led two English camps where they spent the night with some of the kids. 

The team has helped us a lot not only in our daily tasks here but also in making connections to further spread the Word.  We pray for the Lord to continue the work He has begun in this area and, in His time, complete it. 

We want to take this opportunity to thank the team for the time they spent here, for the love and kindness they have shown us, and for their generosity.  We also want to thank Mark Kaprive of PBA who has made this trip possible.  Thank you for continuing to send teams through Sowers.  We also would like to thank the Sipat family who has taken care of the team as well as the volunteer teachers of Prakhun and our Thai brothers and sisters of the faith.

Below is a short video that was made for the team highlighting some of the memories made during the trip. 

Abba, Father

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." - Romans 8:15 

What an encouragement to know that we can call Him, "Abba, Father"; that we are His sons and daughters; that there is no need for us to be in bondage and to fear for we are children of the Most High King!

Our Father loves to embrace us through other people.  Jason and I are continually in awe of Him as He not only daily provides us of our needs but even goes above and beyond to make our hearts smile and overflow with gratefulness and love.  Last December, Sue Fairless and the Whitleys sent us a care package to make our first Christmas here in Thailand extra special with hot chocolate and sweet messages.  And about a few weeks ago, the Copelands sent us another care package so we can have some of the stuff we miss from the West (like, Doritos cheese flavor...haha!)  This just reminds us that our Father cares for us and wants to give us even little treats like hot chocolate and Doritos, and we praise Him more and more!

Our Father hears and answers our prayers.  About a few months ago, I prayed for a door to open so I can meet and make friends with the local Thais.  He did not only answer that prayer but even provided for me an opportunity to be in daily contact with them when I was invited to teach for 3 months (January to March) at a local school.  Even though my teaching stint at this school is over, I made lasting friendships with some of the Thai teachers which I pray would become the bridge for the gospel to be shared and to be heard!

Our Father is faithful.  Prakhun Language School (a Sowers school) recently finished the summer term for English learners with about 20 students.  Prakhun is Thai for grace, and it is, indeed, only by the grace of the Lord that we are able to continue to open our doors and offer English to Thai students as He brings more of them on our steps.  Prakhun provides us our legal presence here and allows us to connect with the locals.  It also provides us a lot of opportunities to share the gospel to the kids and to their parents.  Below is a recent picture we took from our English Day Activity for the summer term.

English Day 2012 with our Prakhun Language School students for the summer term

Our Father loves people from all tribes and tongues.  Now, we are in the midst of preparing for a short term missions team from Palm Beach Atlantic University of West Palm Beach, Florida who will be arriving here next week.  While Jason is also preparing to lead a team in China from the same school.  He leaves for China this Sunday.  The Lord called them to go and share His love to His people in Asia, and here they are answering that call!  We are very excited for what the Lord will do through these teams as they connect and minister unto the hearts of the people they meet.  We know that He is going to do something great through these teams, and we are looking forward to be a part of that!

Our Father holds the future.  We are super excited for what our Father has in store for us!  We may not know the details, but we are confident that He is going to take care of us.  As His Word says, For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." (Romans 8:15)

There is no need to fear the future for He is our Abba, Father!

We love you!

Jason and Kezia

The Old Rugged Cross

Hawaii

So we did it! And by “we” I mean all of us. You guys had us totally covered in prayer and that made all the difference. It was so encouraging to know you were with us. Kezia is now a U.S. citizen and this process that we started in December 2010 has finally come to a close. I think my dad said it best “Praise God! Now we can all move on with the rest of our lives!!”

Our trip to Hawaii was amazing. We chose Hawaii because it was the closest U.S. soil to Thailand that was equipped for handling our case, and therefor the cheapest air fare. God however, chose Hawaii for other reasons, reasons we didn’t anticipate but sure did appreciate once our eyes were opened. Logistically, Honolulu is one of the most “Filipino-immigrant” friendly cities in the U.S. In Kezia’s group of people taking the oath, 48 out of the 100 were Filipino. While we were there we met second and even third generation Hawaii born Filipinos, there was even a Jollibee!! (one of Kezia’s favorite Filipino restaurants). This was the exact opposite of the offices we dealt with in Raleigh and Boise.

Besides the logistics, God wanted us there for another reason also. I was able to connect with an old friend I hadn’t seen in 7 years, Davidson Brooks. He has a house on the east side of Oahu and invited us to stay there. It turns out Davidson is running an MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) ministry out of his house and also teaching the Word at night. The first night we arrived at his house we were able to join in one of their meetings, God is doing amazing work there. We would like to especially thank Davidson and his wife Tiff for opening their home to us, what a blessing it was to stay with you guys. 

Touring the island of Oahu

Opening prayer at Davidson's house

Kez and I singing a song for the group at Davidson's

Davidson's amazing backyard

Old buddies, Jason and Davidson