ACTS 2nd Track- Central Asia/Middle East

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Pattaya, God’s Favorite City

God opened up a door for our Thailand team to finish up our outreach in Pattaya, a city built around sex trafficking.

The Red Light District in Chiang Mai is nothing compared to what we saw in Pattaya.

Pattaya is beautiful and has been known for its beaches…yet in the midst of that, there is so much brokenness, sin and darkness. Walking street is where we came face to face with it.

My team and I prayer walked the street the first night and was so overwhelmed by everything that was going on. All we could do was weep.

After scouting out the street, we returned the next day  to do evangelism in which a few divine encounters came about. Just a quick testimony, my friend Ellie and I got to pray for a girl who was working at a dancing club. We prayed that God would give her a new job and literally that night, she lost her job.  She called us the next day to meet up with us, right before we left Pattaya. We encouraged her, comforted her, prayed for and connected her to a ministry that would be able to help her with a new job.

I came to Pattaya thinking that this city is dark, dirty and broken, but God thought differently.

As I was worshipping one morning at a church in Pattaya, God showed me His heart for this city. He said “Amy, I dwell here.” I started weeping as I looked around at the members of this church. Many of them came out of that lifestyle and is now being raised up as mighty women of God, worshipers of their Creator.

This was totally confirmed after we met Jessica, a faithful servant of God who has been overseeing the Pattaya House of Prayer. She told our team “Pattaya is God’s favorite city!”

I totally agree with her and my heart and life will forever be changed by this city.

There is a song that is coming forth from Pattaya, a song sung by His redeemed.

Pattaya is God’s favorite city and now its mine too.

Finishing Well & Passing on the Baton

Sawat di Ka!

Although it can be easy to check out and prepare to go back to America, The Lord has been reminding us to press through and finish well. We want to finish well and pass on the baton.

About 2 weeks ago, the Director of Every Home for Christ-Thailand, Dr. Buakab told us during our EHC staff meeting that our work in Thailand was not in vain. That our prayer meetings and faithfulness is not unseen and forgotten.  She then announced that EHC was on board with everything we were doing and they shared with us the vision for the house of prayer in Chiang Mai that will start once we leave with Every Home for Christ.  Our team got so excited when we saw the vision and plan laid out before us and Every Home for Christ. They are serious about keeping prayer going that God may find a dwelling place in Thailand…that this house of prayer will potentially serve the whole region and all churches/ministries. Not only that, it will be a training center to raise up people.

Just last week, we held our last prayer seminar in Chiang Mai which was 80% youth & young adults and it was such a memorable seminar. We did a harp & bowl clinic that got extended into hours of switching singers, musicians and prayer leaders. At the end of the night, we saw an all Thai worship band leading an intercession set. It brought tears to our eyes…tears of joy from proud mamas and papas.

The Thai people had so much fun and they did it so well. We held our last prayer meeting at The Creator’s Church and that night, we passed on the baton to the Thai church. We are stoked to see/hear what God will do in the next couple of tears and what will unfold as the Thai Church cultivate a culture of prayer here in this nation. What can/will happen when God establishes His house of prayer?

The Last Few Weeks

Sawat di Ka!

I apologize for the late post but life has been pretty busy here in Chiang Mai these past few weeks with prison ministries, prayer seminars, Floating Festival, Red Light District, Bless Chiang Mai and Thanksgiving.

Here are the Highlights

Chiang Mai’s Annual Floating Festival –In 3 days,  our team passed out 300 goodie bags for Thai people and foreigners which included The Father’s letter, candy, and coffee/milo, 2 young men surrendered their lives to Jesus, a curious Italian man (covered in tattoos) chased down Alanna asking if the Father’s letter was really true and many spiritual conversations with people.

Bless Chiang Mai- 4000 Thai people gathered in downtown Chiang Mai at Thapae Gate to worship and pray for Thailand. God is truly raising up an army here in this nation.

At the end of the event, out team got to dance like crazy with the Thai youth to One way Jesus. It was glorious.

Thai/America Thanksgiving:  Our outreach couldn’t have been a better time…it was perfect that we got to spend Thanksgiving with our new Thai family. Yes, our group of 10 has now increased to who knows how much…

Instead of having an all American thanksgiving which was impossible to do, we decided to mix the two. The ACTS team cooked green bean casserole, broccoli casserole, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, cookies, and peach cobbler while the Thai people cooked the meat including pig brains that looked like egg with spices. The Thai people loved the American dishes…praise God.

The most memorable moment that night was when we all went around and gave thanks. Many of the young girls from the Peace Home said they were thankful for our team and prayer, how they’ve grown so much in The Lord from coming to our prayer meetings. They’ve also shared about the love and closeness they’ve felt from our team…never underestimate a hug or a smile.

Pra Yesu Rak Khun! (God loves you)

Roses in the Red Light & A Kiss from The Lord

Sawat di Ka!

Amy here.

So just wanted to let you all know about the ministry we’ve been doing here in Chiang Mai. Our weekly routine and strategy is that every Sunday evening, our team would hit the streets near the Thapae Gate to prayer walk and do evangelism.

After stumbling upon the Red light District with our friend Tanner Peake from Every Home for Christ, we made it our mission to saturate that street with prayer and evangelism.

During our prayer meetings, we would cry out for laborers to be raised up and sent into the red light district. But little did we know, God was raising us up and sending us in as laborers…into a place that is hard and dark. We became the very answer to our prayers.

After prayer walking one night, our small team of 6 saw roses and decided to buy them and passed them out to the women.We included the roses with some Thai tracks about “true happiness in God.” We trusted God and His word as we made our way through the street.

That night was the beginning of a series of divine encounters and open doors including the Rabbit Bar in which God highlighted and we had prayed over during our prayer walk.

Just last week, Darius, Eric and I visited The Rabbit Bar again to visit our new friends and got a kiss from The Lord. As we walked into the bar, I noticed a new face sitting in the corner. I made my way over to her and introduced myself. Da was her name, spoke very little English and I spoke very little Thai. We sat down at a table near the front of the bar and with very few Thai and English in our pockets, we made conversations. After about 45 mins of getting to know each other, I found out, she had only started working there for 3 days, had a teenage daughter and was very unhappy with her job.

I asked if I could pray for her and handed her a track I found in my bag. She opened up the track, read one line and started weeping right before me. I immediately grabbed her hand and started praying for her. God’s presence and love was so tangible in that place…Da kept crying and so I came over and held her whispering “God loves you so much” in Thai. After a few minutes, she left to go upstairs to her room and I didn’t see her for another 30 mins. I got to see one more time before we left Chiang Mai which I will post about later. In that moment, I saw God break into a language barrier and touched a heart with His love and mercy.

As Darius, Eric and I made our way out to head home, the lead barista handed me a beautiful white rose and said “this is for the rose you gave me that one night.” That rose was a kiss from The Lord…that as out team passed out red roses that symbolized His love and redemption, we received a white rose as a promise that He was restoring purity, holiness and innocence to the women.

Worship on The Highest Point & Let the Children Come

So while we were at ACTS waiting on The Lord for Thailand, Uganda & Kenya, multiple people had similar visions and impressions about our team worshiping and praying on a high mountain.  That this would be one of the strategies we’ll use in Thailand.

We held onto the vision and kept in our team’s binder.  Although we did not pursue it, the strategy pursued us. Just this past Saturday, our new friends Wiwat and Chu Chat from Every Home for Christ suggested that we go up to this one mountain in Thailand to pray and worship.

We drove for about 2 hours to arrive on a mountain, which was known as “The Highest Point” in Thailand. God didn’t just orchestrate it so that we can go up to a mountain, but the highest point in Thailand to lift His name on high. We worshiped in the rain as we prophesied an outpouring of His Spirit over Thailand. There were some tourists that walked by and took pictures of the group of “Fa Rang Ba” (crazy foreigners), our new name. Oh yea, crazy for Jesus.  

After worship and prayer, we headed down the mountain to a Hmong Village to do home to home evangelism and distribution. We split into groups and went throughout the village.

Highlight of the village:

Alanna, Theresa, a Thai translator and Amy went towards a community of houses, saw bananas outside of a house so we decided to stop by and buy some. The moment they stopped by, little kids started approaching us.

As the children started coming one by one, we felt it was the perfect opportunity to share the gospel. So we told them to gather around for a story. Alanna shared a quick story about Jesus, The Fathers love and the Helper, the Holy Spirit. God was already marking some as she shared the story. We then told the kids to wait on the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus to them. After a few minutes, we asked who wants to know Jesus as their friend and Father? All 16 children raised their hands. So we all held hands with the kids and invited Jesus into our hearts.

Heaven partied hard that day!

God’s presence was so tangible there and we finally understood  when Jesus said “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them.  For to such belongs the kingdom of heaven. And He laid His hands on them and went away.” Matt 19:14-15

Lampang & Creative Access Country

We apologize for posting this up so late but it has been busy since we’ve got back and we are all getting back into our rhythm of a normal schedule.

Our trip to Lampang province and then to a “Creative Access Country” was a trip that we’ll never forget. We’ve all been impacted by it and we pray that you will too as you read this blog post.

The 3 hr trip to Lampang was great. There were a lot more temples and a lot fewer Christians there. The city had a darker atmosphere.

We made our first stop at a prison, where we were searched and was only allowed to bring in our bibles and passports. As we walked in, you can instantly feel the brokenness and hopelessness that covered the room. There were about 100 men in the room, some stood outside and listened.

Ellie shared a special song that The Lord gave her about us being God’s inheritance. Then Darius and Amy shared their testimonies on why they follow Jesus, about the love and freedom in Jesus. How God’s plans are good and not of evil, to give us a hope and a future. (Jer 29:11) After the gospel was preached, 20-30 prisoners raised their hands and said they wanted to follow Jesus. Although, this story might be considered a norm in prison ministries we believe with all of our hearts that those brothers were marked in some way that we can’t even fathom and was forever changed by the love of God. Please continue to pray for them, that they will continue to follow Jesus all the days of their lives and may God raise them up as mighty men of valor and lovers of Jesus.

We then went to a nearby village to pass out packages and do home-to-home evangelism. We saw people get healed as we laid hands on them. One group asked a woman if they could pray for her and she responded, I’ve heard about Jesus before when I was younger in a Christian school. “How do I get rid of my sin?” She had continued with her Buddhist practices but still felt tormented in her soul and full of sin. Even Wiwat, a seasoned church planter in Thailand, was shocked at how God had prepared her. They shared the Gospel with her and she gave her life to Jesus that day. Our team also got to pray over her son Winning. We prophesied that he will one day win souls for Jesus as a world shaker and history maker. Praise God!

We stayed the weekend in Lampang at a church for a prayer conference with Every Home for Christ. The ACTS team did special songs, shared testimonies and led morning prayer meetings. But get this, although our prayer meetings seemed so weak, God saw it in a different light. Many Pastors from the nearby churches would poke their heads in to join us later on told us that they were deeply impacted by our meetings and would like us to do prayer seminars at their churches. God opened up doors for us that no man can shut.

A highlight of that weekend was when God changed our schedule as Abi shared her testimony on being filled with The Holy Spirit. We then prayed for the children to filled with The Holy Spirit and then the adults asked if we could pray for them as well!

After Lampang we made the long, bumpy (some got car sick) yet gorgeous mountainous trek to the “creative access country.” It is a small communist nation that is in the top 10 list of persecuted nations. Our purpose there was to pray for the nation and prayer walk key locations. We also prayed and trusted the Lord for divine appointments.

Because it is illegal to share the gospel in this nation and for the safety of the underground church leaders, we did not share the gospel. Instead, we prayer walked around government buildings and temples, lifting high the name of Jesus. The Lord promised Brian that like in Joshua’s day, He would give the ACTS school every place our feet touch. As His ambassadors, wherever our feet touched, we are claiming land for Him. Truly, the feet of those who bring good news are beautiful for He has anointed them for us both for evangelism and prayer.

In less than 3 days, our hearts have been knitted to this nation as we waited on The Lord for His heart for this land that He loved so much. The Holy Spirit came upon us and we found ourselves in a hotel room weeping in intercession, crying out for souls, for God’s persecuted saints and for laborers to be raised up.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matt 5:10. God opened up a door for us to meet these blessed ones from a college ministry and to have fellowship with them. The faith of these students have provoked us all as we listened to their stories of how they came to know Jesus and how they’ve all been persecuted in some way for their faith.

They have given up so much to follow Jesus. Some have been disowned by their parents and few have served prison sentences for sharing the Gospel. Yet they run all the harder and love Jesus all the better. Please continue to pray for these Daniels to be able to stand for Jesus in the midst of a dark nation and for the Gospel to run swiftly throughout that nation. He is worthy of the reward of His suffering. May Jesus have His inheritance. (Psalm 2)

Weak Intercession that Fuels Love & Compassion

Since being here, I’ve been thinking a lot about what Dick Eastman said when God spoke to him that he would see 100 million people get saved through his ministry. But this will only happen out of a place of intercession which will birth a missions movement.

“Amy, you have no idea of the power and impact of your prayers, of your team’s prayers.”  God has been speaking to me a lot lately in this area about prayer. How we are birthing souls through our intercession.  That though our prayers may seem weak and small, nevertheless it carries weight. That our prayers move heaven, angels are being dispatched and demons are fleeing.

Even while prayer walking, I am encouraged to know that though it doesn’t seem to make sense or have an impact in the natural, there is much being done in the spiritual. That wherever my feet touch, I am claiming land for Jesus. Truly, the feet of those who bring good news are beautiful for He has anointed them for us.

My Intercession has been taken to another level since being here because I actually now see the faces of the people I am contending and crying out for.  Their faces fuel my intercession and intercession makes room for compassion that fuels my love and passion to make Him known to them. Intercession fuels my love for the lost like the monks in the temple, the people on the streets, the coffee shop owner, the taxi driver and the list goes on and on of the endless sea of faces that I see day to day.

Something I’ve realized being here in Thailand is that I am able to love anyone or any group of people because of His heart and desire for them. I find that love and desire to contend for the people or nation only in the place of intercession.

Prayer goes beyond a people group, culture and language barrier. Prayer reaches deep in the heart of God and manifests in the physical through compassionate acts of love of evangelism and outreach.

I am asking God to flame that fire in my heart for Thailand and the places surrounding it. That my love for the Thai people would grow immensely as I abide in Him who is love and who’s desire is that none shall perish.

God has a Plan

I didn’t realized this until I arrived in Thailand that God had a divine plan for me to be here for this season of my life.

Truly, God has a plan when He sent a former Buddhist, in a Buddhist family to live in  Buddhist nation for 10 weeks to pray & share with Buddhist people.

God, thank You for Your ways, for they are higher than ours.

You should be an ACTS Student!!

Dear friends, This past July-September I had the privilege to join the ACTS Program at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. ACTS (Antioch Center for Training and Sending) is a 6-month program designed to equip young leaders to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit and change the world through worship, prayer and missions.

During my three months in Kansas City I was able to spend hours in the prayer room encountering God, receive important teaching from IHOP-KC leaders, and train for cross-cultural missions. I also got to experience amazing community with like-minded brothers and sisters who are all wholeheartedly pursuing Jesus.

Currently I am on the three-month outreach portion of ACTS in Thailand!  The Lord has marked me with this call to take Jesus to the nations as an intercessory missionary and to see a people, group and nation worship the God who created them. Since being here in Thailand, I’ve seen people surrendered their lives to Jesus, healed, delivered and challenged to live a radical life for God.

The next ACTS program is from January 15-June 30, 2012. The outreach locations for the next track will likely include Turkey, Lebanon, and Nepal. I know you have a huge heart for missions and prayer and I invite you to prayerfully consider applying for this next program. You can find more information about ACTS online at: http://actsschool.com/

Blessings!