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“you need this one”

today Jesus spoke to me: “You need this one.”

After over 40 hours of travel, our team is in our longed-for country of Thailand! The past two days have mostly consisted of recovering from jet-lag, settling into our host home, and becoming Thai at heart through culture orientations. We’re in a city called Ratchaburi, which is about 2 hours from Bangkok. We’ve explored to the local 7eleven gas station and the mall supermarket for some groceries, learning some english lessons to teach the Thai children, and prepping for ministry.

but rewinding a few days before this, when our team was still 12 strangers just now meeting at training camp in Georgia at the Adventures in Missions base, we were poured into a whole lot. and of all the incredible truths that were given to us, one stood out to me most: how if we would all seek that one person who the Lord has set before us to interrupt their life with the good news of Jesus, then that would be a whole lot of “one” peoples that would be impacted or come to know Jesus. Honestly during this time at training camp, I was wrestling with doubts and lies, wondering what kind of impact we really could have on the Thai people in just one month or whether I was even supposed to be coming on this trip. I think the brokenness of Thailand was suddenly seeming daunting and maybe overwhelming. But when this simple impactful challenge was set before me, I immediately started praying for every person on my team to at least find their “one”. the one that they could introduce the gospel to for the first time, to just plant a seed. the one that they could have a difficult conversation with about Buddhism and Christianity. the one that they could see fruit from, of the Lord rescuing them into freedom. just one. just one would be miraculous and a beautiful testament of His power and His presence.

And let me tell you, every girl on my team is ready for their one. We are all expectant and eager for what is The Lord is wanting to accomplish here.

So back to today in Thailand, technically on an “off-day” as we prepped for our scheduled ministry, walking around with a few friends in a mall, I started praying for a ministry opportunity. Our team had talked earlier that day about how meaningful it is when ministry happens when it’s on a whim, just following the Holy Spirit. so I figured I’d pray for a divine appointment there in the mall, specially with someone who could speak english. We were in a store, and a young girl timidly begun a conversation in english with us, and from there we made friends with precious 18 year old Kukkik. We had a light conversation then said goodbye to our new friend.

As we walked away, I confessed my excitement to my friends Mikaela and Hannah that I was just praying to talk to someone who spoke english, confessed my conviction to talk to her about Jesus, and confessed my frustration to not know how to transition into talking about Jesus. We three girls stood in the middle of the mall, going back and forth with these emotions, being encouraged and discouraged at the same time… when Kukkik came back over to us and asked if she could hang out with us! Of course we excitedly said yes! As she led us to her favorite stores, she asked, “So why do you come to Thailand?” a perfect way to transition into telling about Jesus- the reason we came! The Lord opened the door for us through her, when I lacked the confidence, words, or ability to. But when she asked this, we froze up. what do we say. at the airport, we were told to check tourism as our reason for coming, so hannah was quick to fill the awkward silence by answering “tourism!” but knowing that wasn’t right nor what we wanted to say, we awkwardly stuttered and tried to find the words. then the Holy Spirit took the reigns (thank goodness) and gave us one word. Jesus. Mikaela simply said, “for Jesus.” And a confused look came over Koo-keek’s face. She had never heard the name Jesus before. And from there came the rest of the words we needed, the words that added up to the whole story of the gospel. the gospel that she had never heard of before. the Good News itself was indeed actual news to Kukkik

You could see her face light up in amazement when we shared with her how our God came down to earth as a perfect Man. You could see how intrigued she was as we showed her a picture of a cross for the first time from Google images. You could see her blank expression as we asked if she was happy with her Buddhist faith and as she explained it was just because her parents are Buddhist.

She was wearing a corduroy bag that I complimented during our first conversation in the store. I even oddly read the words that were on the bag out loud (not really knowing why I did that as soon as I did it). But after we shared the Gospel with her, the words on her bag caught my eye again. They read: “You need this one.” this one. i just needed this one. what i had been praying for was literally written on her.

she didn’t give her life to Jesus after hearing the His name for the first time, like I wouldn’t expect her to at all. this is huge news, it changes everything. but it’s a seed.

this one gave me hope. hope is all i needed. confirmation that He is truly listening is what I needed. i needed confidence that if we ask for opportunities and sensitive to listening for His voice, He really will show up.

Jesus always knows what we need. And He is what we need.

Jesus gave our team that first “one.”

And I have faith that Jesus isn’t done with Kukkik.

 

KEEP READING!!!

best part of all this!!!!!!!!update: fast forwarding to later in the day that this blog was posted: Kukkik came to accept Jesus as her Savior. She wanted Him to be her God! She traded death for Life today. like what! humbled and amazed by Jesus who can be quick and mighty to save! After her getting to spend the day with us exploring and praying for Ratchiburi, we shared some testimonies of God working in our lives, our host home Noiy shared his story of being a Buddhist becoming a follower of Jesus, /’d shared the gospel with her in fuller depth in Thai. It brought her to such genuine tears. After leading her in prayer to accept Jesus’s gift of eternal life, She said she felt a warmth and felt someone standing beside her, with her like she had never felt before. Jesus. so real 

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