Bringing you up to speed...

Apologies for the lack of an update yesterday. It just got lost in the shuffle of a very full day.

So, let me try to give you a whirlwind update before heading out to the village of Dongaul this afternoon.



Our friends Jon, Becky, and Silk arrived via the train from Bangkok. With all of the team (well, all of them that are currently in Thailand) together for the first time, we sat down for a sharing time, as each of our team shared briefly about why we came to Thailand, and then our friends all shared their stories as well.



We followed this up with a time of prayer for the team, for Lynn, and for the activities of the afternoon. Lynn, Amy, Randy, Silk and I ventured to Dongaul to meet the spirit doctor we believe to have put a curse on Lynn that is the source of his symptoms. One of Lynn's intercessors shared with him via an e-mail within the last week that he should reverse the curse by coming in the opposite spirit, so that is what we set out to do. I really don't have time to give the full run down on what transpired, but Lynn, Amy and Silk were able to connect with him for a time (Randy and I stayed in the truck praying and interceding), up to the point where they started to talk about Jesus and about blessing and praying for him. At this point he basically became afraid (not so much him, but the spirits in him) and essentially ran away. He said he had other things to do, but he was basically just running. Lynn and Silk blessed his property and his house, and then we left, and on the way out we saw him again, and he was going every which way to avoid us.



Anyhow, we learned a good deal about this man from just our short trip. We know that he has difficulty seeing. We also learned that there seems to be some sort of brokeness between him and his son. We were going to use his son (whom Lynn and the team here already had a connection with) as our connection point with him, but found out that they were rather distant and decided to go directly to him instead. We are trusting God for healing for this man, both physical healing of his eyes and healing of the brokenness in the family. We very much believe that God wants to use these circumstances surrounding Lynn's illness as a catalyst for a great work in Dongaul, and even beyond. Please join us in praying this way.



After we returned, we shared our experiences with the team, and then had some dinner. Following dinner, Andrew and Cheryl took all the kids, and John and I led our friends in a ministry time. We had a sweet time of worship, followed by John leading a discussion about the kingdom of God - really asking what it is. We were all challenged to bring the kingdom of God to more fullness in our own lives, and in the lives of those around us.



This morning we had another ministry time, and we'll be leaving in a few minutes to go to Dongaul for their regular weekly ministry time in the village. Lynn and Silk will be accompanying us. If you get this first thing in the morning, we'll probably in the village from around 5 am to 9 am EST. Please pray for us as we minister in the village. Pray for another opportunity to connect with this spirit doctor, and that he will have sensed and experienced something that makes him open to hearing more about God. Also pray for protection for us, the team, and the current believers in Dongaul. We believe a great thing happened in the spirit world yesterday, and are aware that that might stir things up a bit. However, we go in the confidence that God is bigger than anything we might encounter in Dongaul.



There's a distinct possibility that this will be the last update prior to our return. We will be back later than usual tonight, and we don't have a ton of time in the schedule tomorrow before we catch our plane to Bangkok at about 3:30. We will have several hours in the Bangkok airport prior to our flight home, so hopefully we can get some internet access there, but we just don't know. Regardless of whether we get another in country update done, we will definitely be posting a final entry on our return, with reflections from each member of the team.