October ’19 Prayer Letter

For this letter I want to share a few stories of salvation that have recently happened in the ministry in Thailand.

The road to faith for a Thai usually involves a long road of re-education (discipleship and teaching) about how they understand religion and the Gospel. The typical Thai is extremely superstitious and has been told that “all religions are the same—they teach you to be a good person.” Additionally, their starting framework that they filter what they are hearing through is Karma—that they need to ‘do good in order to get good.’ 

So, usually, with this mindset, a Thai may be very willing to try some Christian things and see what happens, but is still very far from repentance and faith.

Too often, this follows the path of the seed on rocky ground. Initial enthusiasm, but at the first sign of trouble, they get discouraged and fall away. A typical cycle for this may be 2-4 weeks. Most often we have seen that this initial enthusiasm to learn about Jesus is being added onto what they already believe. They have prayed to many idols and spirits throughout their life, and this Jesus is another to try out.

But recently we have seen a few that have been coming for years finally express repentance and faith.

Three Recent Salvations

‘Man’ came to our very first outreach before the first service of the church, and has come to maybe 75% of everything since. But it was only a few months ago that he trusted Jesus.

‘Rook’, similarly, has come since the very beginning, and just a few weeks ago finally said he is ready to believe.

‘Emi’ is a young girl that has also been coming for years, but it wasn’t until camp that she decided to finally express that she wanted to become a Christian.

There are many many others that are currently coming, and have been for some time, but not yet made a clear expression of true repentance and faith. Please continue to pray for them as the Gospel breaks up this fallow ground of hearts in which God is working.

Yours for the Gospel in Thailand,

Philip & Lori Bassham

(Claire, Grace, and Emma)

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         (Claire, Grace, and Emma)