safe in the city

Hey All!
I am writing you this from Chiang Mai at Emmi's guest house.
It's been an emotional day for me- late out at a last farewell party with the Teachers of Nahong and Menajong. Then up at 4:45 AM to pack up and get breakfast ready for the team. The rest of the morning was full of my students crying as I said goodbye until next year. It never ceases to tear my heart out!
BUT- despite the sadness I am feeling now to leave. So many amazing things happened in our last week!
Huge things- a dear friend in the village finally gave her life to Christ after 6 years of exposure to the Gospel from our team! AWESOME.
The fruit is being harvested. Lamud's Father was able to hear the Gospel with our team last weekend and Lamud is continuing to pray for her parent's salvation daily.
Urt is an incredible Disciple and was full of tears this morning. He and Luke have a special bond and he was sad to see him leave.
I can't even begin to list all of the people we were able to pray over and share with!
Several told us that they felt "power" and heat come over them when we prayed in the name of Jesus.
We even had a bonfire party and invited friends from the village over. We were presented with prayer requests by them, and right there, with our 10 Buddhist house guests we were able to pray to God together.
And so, the village is recognizing the power of the One Tue God!
One woman has given her life to it- she is now praying for others in Jesus name and they are feeling the presence of God and getting healed.
This is a huge breakthrough year for Nahong. The spiritual defense against the Gospel is starting the break and people are letting it into their hearts and lives.
But I know I need to go back to the US and finish my job well. The DTS students graduation ceremony will be on Feb. 27th at 5:30 pm. If you would like to attend please let me know! couldn't be more proud of these guys and how they've let God control their lives and be involved in missions. My heart is happy :)

And now you know why it is so hard to eave right now!
But God is faithful, and he has provided a Thai believer (our friend and translator) to disciple this woman via phone while we are away.
For more details I am including Luke's update below. :)
I have to go now and take the students to diner!
Much love,
Please keep us in your prayers!
Chey.

Luke's Letter:


Hello all of you!

We arrived safely in Chiang Mai, Thailand! We got in at about 2pm Thursday afternoon (1am Thursday morning where most of you are) to start our debrief week before heading home.

I want to recap the conclusion of our ministry in Nahong 2012.

So much happened in the last week that it is hard to straighten out in my head. It was loaded with amazing ministry opportunities which equated to very little sleep. When we entered the last week in Nahong we said "if your not emotionally and physically exhausted by the end of this week, you didn't do it right". And that statement proved very true.

First of all, we had 5 parties in the last 3 days in Nahong. First we had a BBQ party at Cru Euw's house (Cru means teacher. She is also the woman who provides meals) that was followed by a bon fire party at our house.
The next night we had a going away party for two teachers who are leaving Nahong school (Cru Dang and Noi the maintenance guy) and for our team.
The next day we went to the school that Noi is going to, for the welcome ceremony and party. Then back to our house to pack before the dinner party at Noi's house.

Although it was busy we had so many opportunities at the parties. We were able to give blessings in Jesus Name to Cru Dang, Noi, and many of the other teachers. We built relationship and met a lot of new people.

Now for big BIG news! There is a woman in Nahong and her name is Pi Peem. Our team has known her over the last six years. There was a time that she left Nahong, but she came back last year.
She speaks very good English and some of our team members started to spend time with her. She offered to cook us spaghetti and she brought it to our house.
While she was at our house she started asking questions about what we believe. If we are just like the Christians she hears about or not. In Thailand Christian is not a great term because of how that label has been lived out. We told her that we call ourselves "followers of Jesus" and we able to share with her about that. She was touched by the Holy Spirit and saw the truth in the message. She got a hunger for the word and started doing bible studies with us. She really seems to understand this revelation. She felt the power and truth of the Holy Spirit. She has been having visions of Jesus in her dreams! Praise God! She also took some of our team to pray in Jesus Name for healing of her brother in law and Pi Peem felt the Holy Spirit strongly!

So God's kingdom is coming in Nahong! Pray that it continues to come and that God would protect Pi Peem, Urt, Lamud, Pi Saap and anyone else who believes! Also pray for Cru Euw. I believe strongly that she is extremely close to knowing Jesus.

God has been powerful on this outreach. There is power in the name of Jesus to break EVERY chain!

I thank you so much for all your prayers!
God bless
Lucas N.