Thanksgiving 2013, A Message of Gratitude and Love

Thanksgiving is coming up; as Jason and I sat down to think of what we are grateful for and to count our blessings, our supporters topped the list. 

We are very grateful for you! 

We are so grateful for your prayers, and, for your financial support.  We praise God for your generosity and willingness to unselfishly share your lives with us as God provides our needs through you, to continue the work here in Thailand.

Thank You.  We cannot say this enough.  We are humbled beyond words by your kindness.

Today at Peace Church Ao Nang, the newly planted church where Jason and I serve, we celebrated Thanksgiving Day with people from all over the world.  A small sample of what it would someday look like, as every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ as the King of kings!  The tradition of giving thanks to God is now being observed by some here in South Thailand where the percentage of Christians is under 5% of the population.  But one day, we believe it will be a tradition that most of South Thailand, if not all, will be celebrating --- to give praises and thanks to our God.

Many of you have asked about my family as the news about the devastation of the typhoon in the Philippines captured international attention.   Thank you so much for thinking of me and my family back home.  I want you to know that they are doing fine.  Their city was not in the path of destruction. I am thankful for this, but I am sad to see that thousands did not escape this terrible calamity.  And for those of you who sent help for the victims through Sowers International or other means --- thank you.

Last month, I was privileged to join Prakhun Language School students on a trip to Singapore and Malaysia where we not only had the chance to eat and play with the kids for 4 days; we also had the opportunity to pray with them together at night before going to sleep.  We had lots of fun and loads of interesting stories, but my favorite part of the whole trip was the chance to pray with them.  On the last night that we were together, I was extremely tired and almost went to sleep without praying with them.  They were the ones who reminded me that we haven’t prayed yet, and that they want to do it before we go to sleep.  To me, that was the best thing that ever happened during the entire trip besides riding the Transformers’ ride at Universal Studios’ Singapore.  Haha!

Also last month, Peace Church celebrated its first ever baptisms. Five youngsters answered the call!!

Again, Jason and I would like to say, “Thank You.  We deeply appreciate you guys.  We love you in Christ Jesus!”

Gone baptizin'

Prakhun Language School field trip

Tawan and Non (a couple of Kezia's students)

Free

“Not only did Christ set you free for freedom, but He set you free for free.”  - Jason Lewis

In the last few weeks, Jason has been preaching a series entitled, “Free,” speaking about living a life of freedom in Christ.  It has been such a blessing to see God working through him, speaking to him and through him at Peace Church Ao Nang (the small, but going strong fellowship we have here.)

Many of us are in prison to some invisible chains that have held us captive for many years.  In the first installment of the message on being free, I was struck with the truth of God’s word that all I had to do was to let go of these long held chains that have bound me for a long time.   And as I am writing this update, I start reflecting back on the message and realized how God longs to not only free me from what is holding me back to fully experience the promises of life in Him but to free the Thai people who are shackled by their erroneous spiritual beliefs. 

How it must break the Father’s heart to see His Thai children lost in the wilderness of the enemy’s lies! 

I urge you to continue praying for the Thai people (and other nations) to come to know His Son, Jesus Christ.  They are in desperate need of a Savior.  The Father yearns to set them free.

As I have mentioned, Jason is preaching at Peace Church Ao Nang.  He is blessed to share the pulpit with Pastor Roslen Sipat.  Both of them take turns in preaching on Sundays.  Jason was also recently invited to preach at Santisuk Krabi Church (the Thai mother church of Peace Church Ao Nang) at the end of September.  We are super excited to receive this news and see this as a great opportunity to strengthen our bond with the Thai believers. 

Jason also leads the Wednesday evening bible studies where we have been studying the book of Philippians.  This is attended mostly by Thai people, and so we have a Thai sister who helps translate.  This brings me to our Thai lessons.  Jason and I are taking Thai classes at a local school 3 hours per week.  And we are proud to say that we can now read and write in Thai.  (There are 44 consonants and 32 vowels in the Thai language, so this is definitely a milestone for us!)  We are still not fluent in the language, but we are hoping to soon get there.   Do pray for us to have superhuman capacity to grasp this language. 

I am still continuing to teach at Prakhun Language School.  I teach English, Math, Science, and Health in at least 2 levels.  I also continue to help in all other details and ministries at Peace Church, wherever it is needed, and continue to be a part of outreach efforts through street singing on two Saturday nights in a month at the beach.

Finally, I want to let you guys know that I am going home in September to the Philippines to visit my family for a week!  It’s been three years since I last saw my brothers and sister, and I miss them terribly.  My brother also had a baby boy last year, and he will be celebrating his 1^st birthday during my visit.  I am so stoked!  So grateful that I get to be there when he turns one.  He is the first nephew of my family, and I cannot wait to see him. 

Once again, Jason and I want to say thank you for continuing to be there for us.  Words evade us in fully expressing our gratitude for your kindness and generosity.  We continue to lift you all up in our prayers for God to bless your lives abundantly.  He has been so good to us and keeps on showing us His favor through you!

And please, do not stop praying for Jason and I.  We need lots of it! 

In Our Messiah’s Love, we declare our love for you!

Living Things

Monday mornings seem to be the “woe is me” part of my week. This Monday’s morning was no exception. Self absorbed and over-analyzing the sermon I preached the day before, I was regretting the position I had put myself in that committed me to go teach English at an elementary school at 8:45. I’ve been teaching there for about a week and generally I have fun, but this morning I just wasn’t looking forward to it. It’s tough teaching English in Thailand, sometimes you’re not sure how much you’re helping.

 

So I come in to the class and the Thai teachers are so happy to see me that I feel convicted for not wanting to be there. They give me the teachers guide to the day’s lesson and I see the title at the top of the page: “Living Things”. So I start teaching:

 

(me) “Book?”

 

(students) “Non-living thing!”

 

(me) “Good! Bird?”

 

(students) “Living thing!”

 

Round and round we went, they were understanding and I was warming up! So I start looking around the room and pointing at different things.

 

(me) “Pencil?”

 

(students) “Non-Living thing!”

 

(me) “Good! Flower?”

 

(students) “Living thing!”

 

Then I came across something in the corner of the class that made me pause. It was a shrine, an altar. It was a table, and on the table were four Buddhist statues, three smaller black ones and one big gold one. In front of the idols was a candle and burning incense. Part me said “don’t go there, just teach them English” but another part of me said “point at it!” I was genuinely curious as to what their answer would be. So I decided to go for it, I pointed at the idol. Then the class in unison, just as if I’d pointed at a person or a bird, said “Living thing!”

 

My heart sank. I wanted so bad to teach them this statue’s eyes don’t see, that it’s ears don’t hear, that its mouth doesn’t speak! But it was not the time, I held back. Then just as I was about to move on, I heard a small voice from the furthest corner of the room.

 

“May mi chi wit”

 

Which in Thai means “no life”. I was amazed! I took a closer look and it was a little boy, I walked over to him, he looked nervous, maybe he thought he said something wrong. I bent down next to him; I said “Aray kap?” which means, “What did you say?” He said it again, this time a little quieter than before, as if he didn’t want the others to hear, “May mi chi wit”. I cupped my hand to his ear, I leaned in and whispered, “Tuk” which means, “correct”. We exchanged a look of agreement, and capped it off with a high five. The LORD has big plans for this kid.  

 

 

Thanks PBAU!!

Hi everyone, Kezia and I are happy to report on the success of the May team. For those of you that dont know, we had 7 students sign up for a month-long missions trip to Thailand through Sowers from Palm Beach Atlantic University in Florida. It was a lot of hard work but we are so blessed that they came. They were a huge help to us here and they left with our utmost gratitude.

The trip included prayer walks, church ministry, street evangelism, and English teaching. I put together a video and hope you enjoy it! Thanks PBAU for sending us these servants of the LORD!





Please keep Sowers International in your prayers, we have teams happening now in other countries and some happening in July. As for Kezia and I, please continue to pray for our ministry here, and especially our visas, which are always confusing, expensive, time consuming, and an all-around pain in the neck!

We love you all and couldn't be here if it wasn't for your support, thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Grace and Peace,
Jason and Kezia

Our God is Love

Our God is Love

Indeed, He is love!  It is His nature.  Jason and I not only know this, but we experience it daily as we continue the work we’ve been privileged to be a part of here in Krabi.  We experience it through your generosity and your continued support to us.  (Thank you so much for everything!  We praise God for your kindness.  We know we could not do ministry here without you.)  We experience it through the people we are surrounded with.  We experience it from each other.  And, last but most definitely not the least, we experience it from family!

 

Family is a special gift from God.  We are blessed beyond words to have Jason’s parents in our lives, so we were ecstatic when we found out that they would be visiting us for two weeks around Easter time. With his parents visiting and the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection, we definitely felt God’s love. 
 

We are so thankful they were able to come hang out with us for a while.

The Big Guy preaching at our church on Palm Sunday

 

Our fellowship here, Peace Church Ao Nang (we recently named it), had major plans for Easter.  Some of which involved the street singing/dancing, where I danced with Phyllen (the Sipat’s daughter) the “Tambourine Dance” in the streets of Ao Nang; and the sunrise service, which was led by Jason.  It was a huge success!  We had some of our Thai brethren join us during the sunrise service, and we had several tourists from the area come during our regular fellowship time. 

April is summer time in Thailand, which means local schools are closed.  But Prakhun Language School opened its doors for a 2-week summer program that culminated last Friday with an English Day.  These kids continue to learn English with us every term.  Please continue to pray that they will see Jesus in us, and that as we share Him with them their hearts would be open to receive His love.  Some of our kids are beginning to ask more questions about our God, and some have even asked for a copy of the Bible.  God is definitely at work in the lives of these kids.  Watch a short video below about our English Day!

Now, we are in the midst of preparations for the coming of the Palm Beach Atlantic University team in May.  They will be helping us with the ministry here for a month.  Please pray that all the support they need is raised before they leave, that their hearts will be sensitive to God’s leading as they minister here, and that as they encounter Thai people they will have opportunities to share the Gospel. Pray also for divine appointments and a sweet time of ministry and fellowship with this team.

What we do here, we thank and praise God for!  We know that it’s only because He invited us to join Him and strengthened us that we are able to do this.  Continue to lift up in prayer the work He is doing in the world through Sowers International, as well as, other ministries.  May He be glorified at all times!

Grace and Peace!

Jason and Kezia

Sawat Dee!! from Thailand once again :)

It's Jason here and on behalf of my wife, I would like to thank you again for your continued support. Our last update was in October so it's been a while, lets get everyone up to date..

The November highlight was our "International Day" at the church plant. It was our Thanksgiving celebration, but apparently Thanksgiving is only celebrated in the U.S., so instead we had everyone dress up in their national garb. It was loads of fun! I was an American cowboy, and Kez represented her Filipina roots, here's a pic:  

December was busy, as I'm sure yours was also. The highlight for me was watching Kezia dance a tambourine dance with Len Len Sipat, Roslen and Phylla's daughter. They performed it at a street Christmas concert that the Sipats put together in Ao Nang, check it out!: 

Our January highlight was our visitor. We LOVE visitors!! Rhonda Glasscock from Rolling Hills Covenant Church spent a few days with us. She was such an encouragement! My wife and I got to show her the ministry here and just had some great fellowship. Thanks for coming Rhonda! And come back soon!

February's highlight was a surprise. A couple of people at our church expressed interest in learning Spanish. Knowing Spanish, I volunteered to teach them a 2 week crash course. I was expecting four people to show up but I was delighted to see 14! The class included Ukranians, Russians, Thai, and Filipinos. We ended the class with a home made chicken taco feast! Good times :)

Spanish Class

Plus, every Friday the women's group meets at our house, Kezia is taking them through a series on the book of Esther.. 

And every Sunday I'm either preaching or leading worship at the church...

So the last few months have been fun! Lots going on...

Please keep us in prayer, we need it...

And come for a visit! We miss all of you.

Thanks and God bless!

Jason and Kezia