ⓒ 2007 WATV

Realizing the Word of God From the Heart

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). According to these words, I started to prepare to go overseas to preach and establish the kingdom of God in Phuket, Thailand.

When I arrived in Phuket, the most difficult thing was the language barrier. I had thought there would be no big problem if I spoke English, but that was my mistake. Because Phuket is a tourist resort, many people can speak English. But their English was coated with a thick Thai accent, which made it very hard for me to understand them. On top of that, the illiteracy rate is about 40%. The Thai people prefer verbal explanation over reading something. If we give them a booklet or the Bible to read, most of them refuse it because they cannot read. When we meet Thai people, we have to explain everything one by one, instead of handing out brochures.

In this situation, the most urgent thing was to learn the Thai language. I had expected to preach the word of God and bear fruit once I arrived in Thailand. However, I had to invest a lot of time to learn the Thai language. This made me very distressed, but there was no way around it. However, one good thing was that I came to know about Phuket, learning the Thai language.

Now, I’m able to preach in Thai, though I’m still not good at basic conversation and make many mistakes. The Thai language has many tones. If you say a word in a different tone, the meaning becomes totally different. Sometimes we all have a good laugh because I misunderstand what the Thai brothers say.

What is gracious is that our lost brothers and sisters come to God, hearing the voice of God, even though I preach in the wrong tones. What I do is just read the word of God. Then they realize the truth and receive God. It is for sure that they listen to the word with the heart that goes beyond the language barrier.


Abundant Fruit Through the Rain of the Holy Spirit

The island of Phuket is a famous tourist resort, located on the west side of the Malay Peninsula. Buses are the main form of public transportation, but the interval at which they run their course is so irregular that we just have to sit and wait, not knowing when the bus will come. So we have to use a taxi or a tuktuk which is a small truck with a roof. Because tuktuks have no fixed rate, people bargain with drivers about the fare before getting in them. Usually the drivers ask for a fare that is too expensive for foreign passengers. For all these reasons, we bought a motorcycle. In Phuket where houses are built close together and the roads are narrow, our motorcycle is a very convenient form of transportation.

In Thailand, most people eat out since both husbands and wives work. Many times we also eat out, because we are busy preaching. The price of food is so cheap that it is not burdensome to eat out. The only problem is the Thai spices. Their flavor is so unique that it does not sit well with Koreans. However, the fried rice tastes really good, so we usually end up eating that.

The area we live in is hot all year long. In the rainy season from May to mid-October, heavy rains pour once or twice a day. Once it starts to pour, you can’t see anything. It pours like it is going to drill holes in the ground. If we see the clouds surging, we have to find a place to escape the squall for a while. In the beginning, we feared that it would not end. But it only pours intensively for about 30 minutes to an hour. When it ends, the sky becomes so clear and the heat is cooled down. In the dry season, it is hard for us to walk in the heat of the day even for just ten minutes. Even if we walk a little, we are soaked with sweat and have to change clothes several times a day. However, our path is like that of a flower, compared with the thorny paths of heavenly Father and Mother,

God poured out the Holy Spirit upon us like a tropical squall, so we could lead many souls to Zion. From June, 2006, I began to preach the gospel in Phuket. From October, the lost brothers and sisters came to God, and during the Feast of Tabernacles 82 people were born again as the children of God.

In Korea, I had preached in comfortable situations and in my native language, but it had been difficult for me to bear even one fruit a month. However, when I preached inarticulately on a far off island, I bore lots of fruits. This shows that the gospel work does not depend on our language ability, but only on the power of God.


“Come Out of Babylon, My People, So That You Will Not Receive Any of Her Plagues.”

In Phuket, 65% of the residents believe in Buddhism, 30% are Muslims, and the rest belong to Christianity and other religions. Christians mostly live in the northern part, the Buddhists in southern part, and Muslims along the coast.

ⓒ 2007 WATV

Most of the residents are Chinese, so many people believe in Buddhism. However, their Buddhism is different from that of Korea. Statues of Buddha and altars are erected in each yard or living room. Some people even have one side of their walls filled with the statues. Many people put the Buddhist bible and Koran together on their altars, wishing to be blessed by all the gods. However, we are not concerned about which religion people have, but about how to lead them to God.

Sister Supa Pon was also a Buddhist. She and her husband became God’s children. At first, she seemed to have no interest in the Bible. However, the more she studied the Bible, the more she understood the truth. She led her child and her nephew to Zion.

Sister Mastika Dasa Ei was a Muslim and only believed in the Old Testament. When she studied who inherited the estate of Abraham, she was very surprised. She realized that all the prophecies would surely be fulfilled, and was born again as a child of God. We watched the movie “The Passion of the Christ” together. She shed tears of repentance, understanding the sacrifice of Christ who died for us.

One day, we were on the way to a sister’s house. A woman, who saw us always passing by her house, called us. She was old and we had no chance to preach to her. At the moment we were about to preach the truth, something unexpected happened. A squall came out of nowhere and started to pour down on us and we all entered her house.

In her house there were her four daughters. The eldest daughter was at her mom’s house to get some rest, being pregnant, and the other three were a high school student, a middle school student and an elementary school student. Thanks to the sudden squall which God sent, all of them listened to the truth and were born as the children of God.

Watching the sisters being born again, we remembered the words: “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘In those days ten men from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, ‘Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you’ ”(Zechariah 8:23).

Sister Sosat only celebrated the Passover and went to her hometown in the middle part of the country because of her job. For three months we could not get in contact with her, so we were very concerned about her. A few days ago, to our surprise she showed up, saying she could not forget Zion while in Bangkok. In Phuket she got another job and now she attends worship services with thanksgiving.

While preaching in Phuket, what we realized is that the gospel work totally depends on God. No matter how delightfully we went out to preach, many times we could not even meet a single soul; even though we were tired, if we prayed eagerly and asked God, He led many souls to Zion.

In this far-off island where the language and culture are unfamiliar to us, the only One whom we can depend on is God. When we face difficulties, we think of the paths our Father and Mother walked; and when we feel tired, we are reminded of the words Mother gave us. Our day is a series of prayer. What else will we be able to do except pray? Contrary to our thought that it would be difficult to seek our lost brothers and sisters with our poor language ability, they realized the truth from the heart and came to God.

Now we earnestly pray that the new brothers and sisters will be good gospel workers, so that the kingdom of God will be established all over Thailand. Father and Mother, please pour upon us the Holy Spirit like a shower so that all the brothers and sisters of the Phuket Zion may grow up to be good fruits, just as the crops grow rapidly once a squall pours down.

Heavenly Father and Mother, we give thanks and praise to You for allowing us, who are lacking in ability, to participate in the blessed mission to preach the gospel abroad.