(upbeat music)
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- Hello and welcome
to Jesus for Asia Now.
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I'm Natalie Wood and my
husband, John is with me today,
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as we share about a young family
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serving God in the
mountain jungles of Thailand.
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Hello, love. - Hi,
darling. How are you?
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- I'm doing fine
today, thank you.
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- Good.
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- Now I'm looking
forward to the stories
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that we have to share today.
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- Yes.
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- Who are we learning about?
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- Okay. We're gonna go
and spend some time with Jason
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and Shoshana Sharon.
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- Okay. And
where are they working?
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They're working in
the Western Highlands
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up in the jungle,
mountain jungles of Thailand.
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- Okay. So why do they do there?
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- Well, Jason first went there
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way back in like
2008 or something.
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- A long time ago.
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- [John] Yeah.
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And at the time
he was a single guy
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and he started by just
helping wherever he could.
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And then he
started a training school
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where you train in Bible work
and literature, or evangelism.
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I don't know how much
literature they were able to do
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because there's not a lot
of literature in the language
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that is local there,
which is the language
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of the Karen.
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- Right.
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- He was there for quite a
while and his parents came,
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and joined his project.
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- Great.
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- And we have a couple of clips
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from that original
school that was in the jungle.
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(emotional music)
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But then the rules
in the country changed.
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They couldn't
stay there any longer.
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- Right.
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- And so they went and built
another place with his parents
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and a young lady came
and was helping his family.
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- Right.
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- Their family,
his parent's family.
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And they fell in love
and realized they were very
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compatible and they got married
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and she's the sweetest
person you could ever hope for.
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- Right.
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- And they both
have this really humble,
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down to earth approach to life.
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And they're in the
perfect environment
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because they're
around people that, well,
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they don't know anything
about Jesus and they're,
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they live a very
simple kind of rice farming
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kind of lifestyle up in the
mountains and they are Karen.
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So they speak
the Karen language.
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A lot of them speak some Thai,
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but it's mainly Karen
that that area speaks.
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And so I'm
wearing a Karen shirt.
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- Right.
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- And so are you.
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- I am too, yes.
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So Jason and Shoshana as
they were getting together
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and falling in love,
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they actually were
doing Bible studies
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because she wasn't an
Adventist at the time.
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- That's right.
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- And she was interested
in learning and understanding
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what these Sharon
family believed, you know,
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and why they
believe these things.
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And so they were doing
Bible studies together,
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as a family also, but together,
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and that's where the
Lord brought them together
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was as they
studied the Bible together,
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which is really a neat thing.
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- Yes, absolutely.
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- That God used
that Bible study time
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to knit their
hearts together as well.
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- [John] Right.
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- So they're in one as
one in belief as well as,
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as one in family and marriage.
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- [John] Right. Yeah.
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And so they spent a couple
of years there and realized
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that there's so many
villages in that entire area.
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- [Woman] Right.
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- That have no
presence, no witness at all.
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And so they felt it
would be more efficient
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if they moved to a new village
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and started a new center.
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- [Woman] Right.
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So they're out in
this village by themselves.
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They are the
only Adventists there.
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And they are just
living among their neighbors.
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They're not, you know,
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they haven't been like trying
to hold evangelistic series
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or anything like that.
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- [John] Right.
Probably wouldn't work.
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- They've just
been living among them.
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- Yes, so, because
this is a new project,
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Jason was very strong
about not having cameras
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in the village.
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- Right.
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- Because he
didn't want his neighbors
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to feel like
they were on display.
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- Right.
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- And so he agreed to do it,
if our foreign correspondence,
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Jonathan and Hanni
Hill, would only film him
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doing rice harvesting, planting,
and the whole rice cycle.
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- Yeah. Working, instead
of just sitting there talking.
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- Right. And so
Soshana in this video,
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we've split it
up into four parts,
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but in each part Shoshana's
telling their approach,
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the story, what it's like,
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while you see
video of Jason planting
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and then letting it
grow and then harvesting
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and all that stuff.
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So you get to see the whole...
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- Cycle.
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- Basically the cycle of
rice planting and harvesting
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in this one show.
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(emotional music)
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- [Shoshana] So we
are living in Thailand,
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living in the mountains,
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helping the Karen people
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and in our village and in
the villages surrounding us,
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the people are mainly Buddhist
and animists and worshiping
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the trees and the
plants and nature.
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So this past year,
actually two years,
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we've gotten to work a lot
more closely with the people
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and building
relationships with them.
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And we've also had
opportunities to work
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in the rice patties.
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And God's just been
showing me some object lessons
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between the working the ground
and winning souls for God.
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It reminds me of
the parable of the sower
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and that we have
to prepare the soil.
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We have to work the soil.
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If you plant in bad soil,
nothing really comes of it.
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You have to really
prepare it, work it good.
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And it takes a lot of time.
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And for us, it takes a lot
of prayer for these people.
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I have to carefully
plant when it's time.
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You have to make
sure you have good seed.
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You have to know what
plants need to be planted.
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And then the watering.
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And you have to really
pay attention to the plant.
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The plant's needs, whether
it can handle a lot of water,
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whether a little water,
you don't want to drown it.
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But if it uses a lot
of water and soaks it up,
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you need to be ready to
give it plenty of water.
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And at the same time,
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we're not the ones
causing the plants to grow.
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We're working with God,
we're co-laborers with him.
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You also have to
watch for the harvest.
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You can't try to
harvest too early.
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Otherwise it's ruined.
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And you can't be too late,
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otherwise you've
missed the opportunity
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and you have to watch for
the conditions for the plants.
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If it's sunny and warm,
they grow better and faster.
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If it's really cold or wet,
that slows down the process,
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so you have to
be really watchful.
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You have to get to know the
people that you're working with.
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You have to be
praying for them a lot.
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- Well, that's
neat to see the process.
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- [John] Yeah.
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- And thinking about
the spiritual applications.
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- Yeah. And it's beautiful,
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the interrelationship
between the farming
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and the spiritual.
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- Right.
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- Spiritual seed planting
and harvesting and everything,
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bringing somebody to Christ.
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- Yeah. The
spiritual application has just,
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it's neat to think
about all the different steps.
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- [John] Right.
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- And how it
applies spiritually.
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- Yeah. Now she's got a story
about how this kind of works.
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- Okay.
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- It's been a really amazing
last two years, the head woman,
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when we first moved up
here, you have to remember
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she's from a
Buddhist animist background.
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She didn't want to have
anything to do with God.
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And we were really good
friends, but we had to...
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We had to keep religion
quiet and just live life.
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And so we helped her
and worked with her a lot.
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And after about three years,
she started to really open up.
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She was seeing a difference.
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And the major change
was when my sister came
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and was drawing a
Bible verse on the wall
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at our mother's
house, as in Psalms, 103,
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that the Lord is
gracious and plenteous in mercy,
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slow to anger.
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And I told my sister,
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we should have the head woman
come and check the Thai script
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because we don't know the
Thai script, but she knows it.
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So she came to compare it for us
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and to correct any
mistakes and stuff.
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And when she read that verse,
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it just really struck her.
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The Lord, he's slow to anger?
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Plenteous in
mercy, who is this God?
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And so she asked our
family, our sisters and our mom,
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is there any verses,
other verses I need to read?
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And so they had some
other verses for her to read
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and she had read the
whole chapter, Psalms 103.
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And then she went home
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and we didn't hear
much anything else.
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She did take a Bible with her
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and it was just
quiet for awhile.
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And then one day she
came up to Jason and I,
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and started asking us
questions about, you know,
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becoming a Christian.
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So we talked
with her a little bit
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and then that was it for awhile.
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And then she announced that
she wanted to be a Christian.
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And we were really excited
because we hadn't been able
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to really share much with her.
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It was just a lot of praying
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and living with
her and helping her.
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So a little while later,
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she got baptized and
because we don't speak her
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Karen language,
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it was very hard to
share with her biblical things.
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And so we've spent a
lot of time praying for her,
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asking God to show her
and reveal stuff to her
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as she reads the Bible.
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And he has
revealed a lot to her.
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She has changed so
much and grown so much.
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We know it's not us
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because we can't
speak that much with her.
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And so now she's been,
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she's working with us more
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and she's working at
our office foundation,
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helping us with our
visas and work permits.
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Making it easier and more
possible for us to be here.
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And she now
knows why we're here.
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And she wants to help us.
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She knows we're not
here just to help people.
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We're not
humanitarians in that sense.
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We're here to
show people who God is,
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to share the gospel with people.
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And she is so excited.
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She wants to help
us as much as she can.
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- That's a God thing.
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That is such an amazing
story because it's just like,
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she'd watch them.
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She'd seen. And then when
she read it, it made sense.
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It was like, wait, I
need to know more about this.
00:12:05.55\00:12:09.19
- [John] Yeah, right.
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And this is the head
woman of the village.
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- [Woman] Yeah.
00:12:12.53\00:12:13.80
- And so she had
a lot of influence.
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- Right.
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- And it took her some time
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to learn and to grow
and make that decision.
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But when she did,
she's never looked back.
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- Right. Right.
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And she's been persecuted.
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- [John] Yes, she has.
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- She's no longer the
head woman of the village.
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- [John] Right.
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- She has been almost
ostracized from there.
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Someone else's in charge
in the village now, but...
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- [John] That's right.
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- She doesn't, you know,
she's not looking at that.
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She's looking at Christ.
00:12:38.65\00:12:39.49
- Right. Yeah.
00:12:39.49\00:12:40.92
- So, and living
her life to help others.
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It's just beautiful.
00:12:42.96\00:12:44.16
- [John] It is.
It's very beautiful.
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In fact, during this COVID
season, she loves taking rice
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and different essential supplies
to neighbors in the area
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that are really suffering.
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- Right.
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- Because many of
them have lost their jobs.
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They can't go out and work.
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They can hardly
get out of their house
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and it's very restricted.
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And so she was able to
bring some life supplies to them
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and I've got tons
of pictures of her
00:13:05.48\00:13:07.72
just handing out to people.
00:13:07.72\00:13:09.45
And she loves doing that.
00:13:09.45\00:13:11.29
- That's really neat.
00:13:11.29\00:13:12.42
That's really neat.
00:13:12.42\00:13:13.69
I'm so thankful that
our donors have been giving
00:13:13.69\00:13:15.69
to the COVID relief fund.
00:13:15.69\00:13:17.49
- [John] Yes.
00:13:17.49\00:13:18.96
- That's enabled us to
say, yeah, here's some money.
00:13:18.96\00:13:20.90
Please help as many as you can.
00:13:20.90\00:13:23.57
- Yep. That's
right. Every month.
00:13:23.57\00:13:24.97
- So that's been a blessing.
00:13:24.97\00:13:26.87
- That's a huge blessing.
00:13:26.87\00:13:28.34
I don't know how many
lives it's actually saved
00:13:28.34\00:13:29.84
from starvation,
but there's quite a few.
00:13:29.84\00:13:33.01
- Yeah. Yeah.
00:13:33.01\00:13:34.28
- [John] So that's cool.
00:13:34.28\00:13:35.81
So the next video we have
is the story of grandpa Jacob.
00:13:35.81\00:13:39.31
- Okay.
00:13:39.31\00:13:40.15
- [Shoshana] We'll
call him grandpa Jacob.
00:13:46.42\00:13:48.82
He lived in another village.
00:13:48.82\00:13:50.66
He had liver cancer
and we found out about him
00:13:50.66\00:13:55.63
about the time he
was supposed to die.
00:13:56.83\00:13:59.50
The doctors had given
him about eight months
00:13:59.50\00:14:01.90
and it was about...
00:14:01.90\00:14:02.84
His eight months were about up.
00:14:02.84\00:14:04.71
And there wasn't really
anything we could do for him
00:14:04.71\00:14:07.48
at that point because
he was on his death bed,
00:14:07.48\00:14:10.48
but we just
tried to make his life
00:14:10.48\00:14:13.58
a little bit more
comfortable and easier
00:14:13.58\00:14:15.95
and just visited him.
00:14:15.95\00:14:17.59
He loved being able to see
our two or one kid at the time
00:14:17.59\00:14:21.89
just to visit with them
and take them some bread
00:14:21.89\00:14:26.46
and stuff that
our mom would bake.
00:14:26.46\00:14:28.83
And they loved it so much.
00:14:28.83\00:14:30.83
And after a while of
visiting, I told Jason,
00:14:30.83\00:14:33.60
you should see if he
wants to listen to the Bible.
00:14:33.60\00:14:36.74
We have audio Bibles.
00:14:36.74\00:14:38.54
So he asked him if he
wanted to listen to stories.
00:14:38.54\00:14:41.48
And he said, sure, he doesn't
have anything else to do.
00:14:41.48\00:14:43.91
And his radio
doesn't work anymore.
00:14:43.91\00:14:45.85
So we gave him an audio Bible
00:14:45.85\00:14:47.92
and he started listening to it.
00:14:47.92\00:14:49.38
And after about a month,
00:14:49.38\00:14:51.75
he announced us that
he wanted to worship God
00:14:51.75\00:14:55.69
and we were really excited.
00:14:55.69\00:14:57.79
And so we kept going every week
00:14:57.79\00:15:00.40
and having worship
with them and singing.
00:15:00.40\00:15:02.56
And we would take a
whole bunch of instruments
00:15:02.56\00:15:05.30
and he loved the violin.
00:15:05.30\00:15:07.67
He just thought
that sounded so pretty.
00:15:07.67\00:15:10.71
And we would just
sing for a long time.
00:15:10.71\00:15:13.68
And after they
decided to worship God,
00:15:13.68\00:15:18.05
it was maybe a month after that.
00:15:18.05\00:15:20.32
Jason and I, we
were here in our village
00:15:20.32\00:15:22.52
doing whatever we
were doing that day.
00:15:22.52\00:15:25.52
And these guys came in,
they said, hey, we have a cow.
00:15:25.52\00:15:29.39
This cow is from
the other village.
00:15:29.39\00:15:31.16
Would you be able to haul
it back to the village for us?
00:15:31.16\00:15:34.03
And I said, a cow?
00:15:34.03\00:15:35.83
You want us to be
cow haulers today?
00:15:35.83\00:15:38.27
I said, okay, God, if
that's what you want us to do.
00:15:38.27\00:15:41.20
We had our brother, Travis,
his truck, his big truck here.
00:15:41.20\00:15:44.94
Because it was rainy season.
00:15:44.94\00:15:47.28
And so they got that
cow up into that truck.
00:15:47.28\00:15:50.08
And on the way out
the door, I was like,
00:15:50.08\00:15:53.48
I should probably take
our bag that has our passports
00:15:53.48\00:15:55.98
and stuff in it.
00:15:55.98\00:15:57.49
Not that we'll
need it, but maybe.
00:15:57.49\00:15:59.09
And it happened to have
two more audio Bibles in it.
00:15:59.09\00:16:02.26
And so we went to the village
00:16:02.26\00:16:04.96
and they were
trying to figure out
00:16:04.96\00:16:06.53
where to let the cow out at.
00:16:06.53\00:16:08.66
Because you need to
have backup to a bank
00:16:08.66\00:16:10.67
to get the cow out.
00:16:10.67\00:16:11.90
The best place happened to be
00:16:11.90\00:16:13.34
in front of
grandpa Jacob's house.
00:16:13.34\00:16:15.80
So we drove all the way
back to grandpa Jacob's house
00:16:15.80\00:16:18.17
and backed up.
00:16:18.17\00:16:20.94
And they were getting
the cow out and his wife,
00:16:20.94\00:16:24.11
grandma Rachel,
00:16:24.11\00:16:25.35
she came out to
see what we were doing
00:16:25.35\00:16:26.92
because we don't normally
come in the middle of the week.
00:16:26.92\00:16:29.88
I'm like, oh, this cow
happened to be in our village.
00:16:29.88\00:16:32.32
And they needed
somebody to bring it back.
00:16:32.32\00:16:35.02
So we're bringing the
cow back like, oh, okay,
00:16:35.02\00:16:36.99
well are you guys
going to come in and visit
00:16:36.99\00:16:39.13
while you're here?
00:16:39.13\00:16:40.63
And we say, yeah,
we have a few minutes.
00:16:40.63\00:16:41.43
We can come visit.
00:16:41.43\00:16:42.70
So we went in and
saw grandpa Jacob,
00:16:42.70\00:16:45.77
and the first thing,
oh, I'm so glad you're here.
00:16:45.77\00:16:48.47
The audio Bible
has stopped charging.
00:16:48.47\00:16:50.24
We can't listen to any more.
00:16:50.24\00:16:51.71
And so Jason said,
00:16:52.64\00:16:54.38
well we didn't bring
any more audio Bibles.
00:16:54.38\00:16:56.11
I said, yeah, I did.
00:16:56.11\00:16:57.81
I grabbed the bag and
it actually has two in it.
00:16:57.81\00:17:01.05
And so I went out and
got him another audio Bible
00:17:01.05\00:17:04.02
so they could
continue to listening.
00:17:04.02\00:17:05.72
And then he asked if he could,
00:17:05.72\00:17:07.19
if he could have another one,
00:17:07.19\00:17:08.46
because there's
other people in his village
00:17:08.46\00:17:10.39
that need to know about God.
00:17:10.39\00:17:12.09
And so I think during the
time of helping grandpa Jacob,
00:17:12.09\00:17:16.56
we gave out about five
audio Bibles to that village.
00:17:16.56\00:17:19.43
And after he passed
away, we went to visit them.
00:17:20.84\00:17:25.71
We were one of the
first ones they told
00:17:27.94\00:17:29.54
that he passed away.
00:17:29.54\00:17:31.08
And so we got a truckload
of people from our village
00:17:31.08\00:17:32.71
and went over to the
funeral and grandma Rachel,
00:17:32.71\00:17:36.89
she came out checked, do you
guys have another audio Bible?
00:17:36.89\00:17:39.99
Somebody came and
took grandpa's audio Bible
00:17:39.99\00:17:42.69
because as soon as grandpa dies,
00:17:42.69\00:17:44.83
all his possessions
are just up for grabs.
00:17:44.83\00:17:47.76
And so somebody else
came and took his audio Bible.
00:17:47.76\00:17:51.00
And so we had another one.
00:17:51.00\00:17:53.23
I had taken some in
case we needed them.
00:17:53.23\00:17:55.80
And so she...
00:17:55.80\00:17:57.11
Jason got it turned on
for her and she sat down
00:17:57.11\00:17:59.31
and she just listened to that
for like a half hour straight.
00:17:59.31\00:18:02.24
She just sat down
and listened to it.
00:18:02.24\00:18:04.18
I had never seen
anybody so hungry and thirsty
00:18:04.18\00:18:07.78
to hear the word
of God that she was.
00:18:07.78\00:18:10.65
And her children asked her,
00:18:10.65\00:18:12.69
now that
grandpa has passed away,
00:18:13.69\00:18:16.56
are you going to return
to worshiping the spirits?
00:18:16.56\00:18:19.73
And then she said,
oh no, not what it...
00:18:19.73\00:18:21.86
Since what I've
learned about God, I'm...
00:18:21.86\00:18:24.37
There's no going back.
00:18:24.37\00:18:25.60
I'm going to follow
God the rest of my life.
00:18:25.60\00:18:27.80
And that was so
encouraging to hear that,
00:18:29.10\00:18:31.84
that somebody else
wants to follow after God.
00:18:31.84\00:18:35.84
- Isn't that beautiful.
00:18:44.09\00:18:45.39
- That is really neat.
00:18:45.39\00:18:46.82
- Yeah. Those audio
Bibles are really powerful,
00:18:46.82\00:18:49.22
especially where
people can't read.
00:18:49.22\00:18:52.69
Even if they can
read, they read very slowly
00:18:52.69\00:18:56.26
and the Bible itself, you know,
00:18:56.26\00:18:58.57
doesn't do well in such
moist conditions and stuff.
00:18:58.57\00:19:02.20
- Yeah.
00:19:02.20\00:19:03.04
- And so an audio
Bible, they can listen,
00:19:04.14\00:19:05.64
it's recharged by the sun
and there's plenty of sun there
00:19:05.64\00:19:09.18
except during rainy season.
00:19:09.18\00:19:11.15
- Yeah.
00:19:11.15\00:19:12.48
- But they can just listen.
00:19:12.48\00:19:13.72
And the cool thing
about when they're listening
00:19:13.72\00:19:16.99
is that everybody in
the house hears it too.
00:19:16.99\00:19:19.05
- Right. And their houses
have bamboo walls, most of them.
00:19:19.05\00:19:22.62
So then people outside the
house can hear as well, so...
00:19:22.62\00:19:24.56
- Yeah. This is
true. It's beautiful.
00:19:24.56\00:19:28.26
- Yeah, it's really neat
00:19:28.26\00:19:29.73
that they were able to
bring that joy to the grandpa
00:19:29.73\00:19:32.97
before he passed away.
00:19:32.97\00:19:34.54
And he had time
to learn about God
00:19:34.54\00:19:37.74
and choose to
give his heart to God.
00:19:37.74\00:19:40.38
- So awesome. Yeah.
00:19:40.38\00:19:41.61
- [Woman] That's
really neat. Yeah.
00:19:41.61\00:19:43.01
- Yeah.
00:19:43.01\00:19:44.48
- And that the grandma
was like, yeah, it's gone.
00:19:44.48\00:19:45.18
Can you give me another one?
00:19:46.18\00:19:47.42
- [John] Yeah. I
want another one.
00:19:47.42\00:19:48.22
- It was just... Yeah.
00:19:48.22\00:19:49.18
- [John] She was missing it.
00:19:49.18\00:19:50.35
- Yeah. What a
blessing, you know,
00:19:50.35\00:19:51.29
for her in her time of sorrow.
00:19:51.29\00:19:52.59
- [John] Yeah.
00:19:52.59\00:19:53.89
- And loneliness.
00:19:53.89\00:19:55.09
- Yeah. And it's
such an amazing concept
00:19:55.09\00:19:56.89
to think that people,
00:19:56.89\00:19:58.59
there are people in
the world that don't know
00:19:58.59\00:20:00.53
that God exists,
don't know who he is.
00:20:00.53\00:20:03.57
And so they're led
by fear all their life.
00:20:03.57\00:20:07.00
Is the tree
spirit going to hurt me,
00:20:07.00\00:20:10.27
is the ground
spirit going to hurt me.
00:20:10.27\00:20:12.64
- If you don't
do whatever, then...
00:20:12.64\00:20:16.01
- [John] Certain
rituals or behave right.
00:20:16.01\00:20:17.28
- I will be
attacked by whatever spirit.
00:20:17.28\00:20:19.48
- [John] Exactly. Yeah.
00:20:19.48\00:20:20.95
And so they live
their life in fear.
00:20:20.95\00:20:23.69
And when Christ comes
in and they hear about
00:20:23.69\00:20:26.55
the strongest spirit in the
universe is kind and loving.
00:20:26.55\00:20:31.56
That's like, well, yeah.
00:20:32.29\00:20:35.06
That's life-changing, yeah.
00:20:35.06\00:20:36.60
- Yeah. That's for sure.
00:20:36.60\00:20:38.57
That's for sure.
00:20:38.57\00:20:40.07
Well we've got another
story of another grandpa.
00:20:40.07\00:20:42.07
- [John] Awesome. Okay.
00:20:42.07\00:20:43.87
- Another grandpa
that we got to help,
00:20:43.87\00:20:47.78
we also found out about him
when he was on his death bed.
00:20:47.78\00:20:52.25
He was...
00:20:52.25\00:20:54.25
The doctors had given
him about a week to live
00:20:54.25\00:20:56.99
and sent him home to die.
00:20:56.99\00:20:59.65
And he had a
really bad headache.
00:20:59.65\00:21:01.36
I've never seen anything
so bad. He was miserable.
00:21:01.36\00:21:03.73
He couldn't do
anything except toss and turn
00:21:03.73\00:21:05.96
and moan and groan.
00:21:05.96\00:21:08.00
So we went to visit
him to see if we could help
00:21:08.00\00:21:10.67
with his headache.
00:21:10.67\00:21:12.17
And that's when we found
out he had also had cancer
00:21:12.17\00:21:14.94
and the doctors
had done chemotherapy,
00:21:14.94\00:21:17.11
but there was nothing
else they could do for him
00:21:17.11\00:21:20.11
and the family wanted to know
00:21:20.11\00:21:21.34
if we could help
with his headache.
00:21:21.34\00:21:23.08
But there
wasn't much we could do
00:21:23.08\00:21:25.01
because he was so far gone.
00:21:25.01\00:21:28.12
But as we were
praying, Jason felt impressed
00:21:28.12\00:21:31.55
that we should do a charcoal
bath, a neutral charcoal bath.
00:21:31.55\00:21:34.92
And so we took our bathtub,
00:21:34.92\00:21:37.49
took it over to his village
00:21:37.49\00:21:39.03
and they had to pull some
of the sides off of their house
00:21:39.03\00:21:42.40
to get the bath tub in and
to haul the water and stuff.
00:21:42.40\00:21:47.37
And they did the neutral
charcoal bath for about three
00:21:48.97\00:21:51.64
days. And his
headache did go away
00:21:51.64\00:21:53.04
and he was doing
a little bit better,
00:21:53.04\00:21:55.34
but then his
blood pressure went up
00:21:55.34\00:21:56.85
and we didn't feel comfortable
00:21:56.85\00:21:58.31
doing the charcoal bath anymore.
00:21:59.48\00:22:00.78
So we just kept
going and visiting
00:22:00.78\00:22:02.28
and seeing if there was
anything else we could do
00:22:02.28\00:22:03.69
to make him comfortable.
00:22:03.69\00:22:04.99
And then I again told
Jason, maybe he should ask him
00:22:06.39\00:22:10.76
if grandpa wanted to
listen to some stories.
00:22:10.76\00:22:15.73
And so he went and asked him
00:22:16.60\00:22:17.80
if he wanted
listen to some stories.
00:22:17.80\00:22:19.10
He said, sure.
00:22:19.10\00:22:20.37
So we gave him an audio Bible
00:22:20.37\00:22:22.34
and he listened
to it for one night.
00:22:22.34\00:22:25.37
When we went back the next
day, he had gotten a lot weaker,
00:22:25.37\00:22:28.71
so he couldn't talk anymore,
00:22:28.71\00:22:30.58
but his whole
countenance had changed.
00:22:30.58\00:22:33.48
And he had been a
murderer. He had killed people.
00:22:33.48\00:22:36.55
He had spent time in jail.
00:22:36.55\00:22:38.22
You could tell he wasn't
a nice person to be around.
00:22:38.22\00:22:40.79
His wife. She's
just really hard.
00:22:40.79\00:22:45.06
And you can't
really communicate with her
00:22:45.06\00:22:49.03
because she has a wall up.
00:22:49.03\00:22:50.67
And so he couldn't talk
anymore to share with us what,
00:22:52.07\00:22:56.50
you know, if there was anything
he wanted to share with us.
00:22:57.94\00:22:59.44
And we didn't know,
00:22:59.44\00:23:00.94
but just seeing the
change in his countenance,
00:23:00.94\00:23:03.18
we knew that
something had happened
00:23:03.18\00:23:05.91
and that God was
working in his life.
00:23:05.91\00:23:09.28
I was just
imagining that he had listened
00:23:09.28\00:23:12.09
to Jesus on the cross
with the thieves on the cross.
00:23:12.09\00:23:17.09
And it was
realizing that, you know,
00:23:18.76\00:23:21.30
for him that that
could have been him,
00:23:21.30\00:23:23.40
one of the thieves on the cross.
00:23:23.40\00:23:24.73
And he was the murderer.
00:23:24.73\00:23:26.20
And just being
up there with Jesus
00:23:26.20\00:23:28.87
and just thinking
of the life change
00:23:28.87\00:23:30.77
that could have been for him,
00:23:30.77\00:23:32.01
that God is
willing to forgive anyone.
00:23:32.01\00:23:34.58
No matter the circumstance,
00:23:34.58\00:23:35.88
no matter whether
they're about to die,
00:23:35.88\00:23:38.38
God is willing to
forgive them at any point.
00:23:38.38\00:23:42.35
And so I also believe that
we'll see him in heaven too.
00:23:42.35\00:23:47.36
He lasted about another
week before he passed away.
00:23:48.76\00:23:51.83
And we got to go back and
visit his wife just recently.
00:23:51.83\00:23:56.80
We took her a bag of oranges
because we wanted to keep up
00:23:58.30\00:24:02.27
our friendship with her.
00:24:02.27\00:24:04.41
And when she saw us, Jason
gave her the bag of oranges.
00:24:04.41\00:24:08.41
And she said, is that for me?
00:24:08.41\00:24:10.78
And I'm like, yeah, grandma,
00:24:10.78\00:24:12.25
we brought you a bag of oranges.
00:24:12.25\00:24:14.25
All of them?
00:24:14.25\00:24:15.45
Well, yeah grandma,
all of them are for you.
00:24:15.45\00:24:18.15
You're giving them
to me? All of them?
00:24:18.15\00:24:21.22
Like yeah, grammy, you
like oranges, don't you?
00:24:21.22\00:24:23.89
She was like, well, yeah. Huh.
00:24:23.89\00:24:26.76
Like, okay, this is
a little bit strange.
00:24:26.76\00:24:29.86
And so, as we were leaving,
00:24:29.86\00:24:31.63
she actually thanked Jason
for giving her the oranges.
00:24:31.63\00:24:35.10
But I was so taken back by that.
00:24:35.10\00:24:37.77
Normally people are
used to getting stuff
00:24:37.77\00:24:39.97
and being offered
stuff, but she was...
00:24:39.97\00:24:41.91
She wasn't used to it.
00:24:41.91\00:24:43.68
I don't think anybody's
ever done anything kind for her.
00:24:43.68\00:24:46.51
So we've worked with a lot
of people in these mountains,
00:24:47.92\00:24:51.09
serving them,
helping with medical needs,
00:24:51.09\00:24:53.59
taking food to
them, doing massages,
00:24:53.59\00:24:55.99
helping fix their tools,
all kinds of different things,
00:24:55.99\00:24:59.89
building
relationships with them.
00:24:59.89\00:25:01.70
And we just
continue to pray for them.
00:25:02.93\00:25:04.27
There's a
handful of other people,
00:25:04.27\00:25:06.77
some grandpas and
some of their families
00:25:06.77\00:25:08.77
that they're
just on the verge of,
00:25:09.94\00:25:12.17
they see something different.
00:25:12.17\00:25:14.68
We've shared with them
about more of who God is.
00:25:14.68\00:25:17.38
And they're just on the verge.
00:25:17.38\00:25:19.71
They're really
wanting to know more,
00:25:19.71\00:25:22.55
but we're still
waiting and praying
00:25:22.55\00:25:25.02
cause we don't
want to push them.
00:25:25.02\00:25:26.69
And it's almost
time for the harvest,
00:25:27.82\00:25:28.76
but we have to be patient.
00:25:28.76\00:25:30.53
The fruit has to be just right.
00:25:30.53\00:25:32.93
And so we're
really excited to see
00:25:32.93\00:25:34.50
what God will continue to do.
00:25:34.50\00:25:36.77
The time is short.
00:25:36.77\00:25:38.67
And there's not many more
days before Jesus comes back
00:25:38.67\00:25:41.44
and there's so many people
hungry and thirsty for more.
00:25:41.44\00:25:44.67
They don't know what they're
hungering and thirsting for,
00:25:44.67\00:25:47.91
but they need
to know who God is.
00:25:47.91\00:25:49.78
And so I just want
to encourage people
00:25:50.98\00:25:52.48
that the stuff that we
live for our daily lives,
00:25:52.48\00:25:57.49
it's so easy to get comfortable.
00:25:58.92\00:26:00.96
But we need to put that aside.
00:26:00.96\00:26:03.36
We need to take up our
cross and follow Jesus.
00:26:03.36\00:26:06.86
We need to get out
and share the gospel
00:26:06.86\00:26:10.07
because nobody knows who God is.
00:26:10.07\00:26:12.47
They think it's just say the
prayer and you're good to go,
00:26:13.90\00:26:16.00
but no, God wants to change us.
00:26:16.00\00:26:17.71
He doesn't want to
leave us in our sin.
00:26:17.71\00:26:19.87
He wants to help us.
00:26:19.87\00:26:21.21
And there's so many
people who need help.
00:26:21.21\00:26:23.61
They need to be
lifted up. They need help.
00:26:23.61\00:26:27.28
And if nobody goes, they're
not going to get the help.
00:26:28.72\00:26:32.72
They're never going to
feel the freedom from sin
00:26:32.72\00:26:35.49
and the joy of living for God.
00:26:35.49\00:26:37.49
(emotional music)
00:26:38.99\00:26:41.80
- You know, it reminds
me of that verse that says,
00:27:01.05\00:27:03.39
they that sow in
tears shall reap in joy.
00:27:03.39\00:27:06.86
- [Woman] Right.
00:27:06.86\00:27:08.29
And you know it with
everything that's going on
00:27:08.29\00:27:09.59
in the world today,
00:27:09.59\00:27:10.56
it's very clear that
the world itself is gonna...
00:27:11.76\00:27:13.56
Is just about ready for harvest.
00:27:13.56\00:27:16.46
And so if we're
going to do anything
00:27:16.46\00:27:18.73
to increase heaven's population,
we've got to do it quick.
00:27:18.73\00:27:23.74
- Right. The time is now.
00:27:24.61\00:27:26.11
- You know, the time is
now to make a difference.
00:27:26.11\00:27:28.64
To make an effort,
to do everything...
00:27:28.64\00:27:31.18
To put everything
that we have into the work
00:27:31.18\00:27:33.11
and pray God blesses it.
00:27:33.11\00:27:34.78
Yeah.
00:27:34.78\00:27:35.88
- Thank you so much
for joining us today.
00:27:37.05\00:27:38.55
And please pray for Jason
and Shoshana and their children.
00:27:38.55\00:27:42.29
As they seek to
serve these people,
00:27:42.29\00:27:44.53
just humbly working among them.
00:27:44.53\00:27:46.73
If you'd like to get involved,
00:27:46.73\00:27:48.13
you can contact us at
Jesus for Asia PO box 1221,
00:27:48.13\00:27:51.60
Collegedale Tennessee,
three seven three one five.
00:27:52.97\00:27:56.24
Call us at (423) 413-7321.
00:27:56.24\00:28:00.71
Or visit our
website at jesusforasia.org.
00:28:00.71\00:28:04.28
May God richly bless you
until we see you next time
00:28:04.28\00:28:07.42
on Jesus for Asia Now
00:28:07.42\00:28:09.65
(emotional music)
00:28:09.65\00:28:12.49