Cornelius moment in a cafe + God gave us a bible

08/19/23 – Chiang Mai, Thailand

In this blog I will tell a story of a family in a cafe being taught the gospel, and a woman giving us a free bible in the Thai language to share with the cafe owner! 

We have been in Thailand for almost 5 weeks. Ministry has been hard but teaching me a lot about the Fathers heart for people, and how to do ministry like its life. We work with a cafe called Bella Goose but its aim is to bring the gospel, transformation, and reliable jobs to people in bad situations. It is a pleasure to serve here, to learn, and to experience Jesus.

Acts 10 (Mini) Cornelius moment

One week while working at a house working, I built a friendship with a man across the street who owned a cafe. I got coffee from him, he sang me a song (he is a music teacher), and I shared a simple message about the Father’s love for Him displayed through Jesus. He said he wanted me to come back and share more, I also met his dad who wanted to hear more as well. I prayed for them after leaving and was hopeful to see God move more.

Next week we came back, and the Lord was moving. We got coffee and hung out. The owner gathered his family. He brought out his dad, his older sister, and a student with the dads business who was from turkey. They all spoke good english and their hearts were soft to hear about Jesus. They had met christians before and heart about the message of Jesus, but nobody sat down to explain to them who the son of God is and the cross of Christ for our salvation.

Their hearts were moved and stirred, infatuated with the story of Jesus. They had some mixed catholic and Buddhist school upbringings but were wide eyed at the gospel. The Turkish woman couldn’t stop smiling at the message of God’s love to save her from death in Christ. They asked amazing questions and want me to come back next week to share more and sing them a worship song! It was also a pleasure to see my teammate come alongside the work of God and share her testimony with the family. Her name is Alexa wood and here is her page: https://adventuresinmissions.servicereef.com/events/adventures-in-missions-3/jan-2024-world-race-expedition-11-months/participants/alexa-wood?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaaBgRP1Kb3E1nA0GMh__tSV2HaMB-kkcKsFiYg_xZAhK3D1TzO60U5vqI0_aem_6RxPVh9z6D66o4d42bzMfQ
 

This was like a mini Acts 10 Cornelius moment! Where I was summoned to share the gospel with a man and he gathered his whole household to here the good news of Jesus! Praise the Lord!

Since then, Ive been able to meet up with the cafe owner and share more and more with him! Sing songs with him such as “what a beautiful name it is”, read with him stories such as Ezra restoring all things in the temple and how God wants to restore all things in Christ. How nehemiah was zealous to rebuild Jerusalem and how Christ came to save us and i must be zealous on how I build my life in Him (Matthew 7:24-27), and how Esther submitted to her uncle as if he was her own parent which shows us a glimpse of the depth christ submitted to God to sacrifice His life to save us (Philippians 2:5-11)! Tanner was able to also teach him about Ephesians 2 and that we are saved by grace. His reaction to the word of God was by recognizing God was putting it in his heart to change the way he thinks and understand the salvation of Jesus. Praise God! 

God gave us a bible!

John 14:13-14 – whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

I recently read The Heavenly Man, by Brother Yun while in Vietnam. It is a story about a Chinese man who God raised as an apostle to the nation of china from 1970-2000; accounting millions of salvations, thousands of secret house churches and miracles, even prison escapes from persecution. BUT, the very first testimony is that Yun begged God as a young man to send him a bible because no one in china had access to the word of God. Nearly 100 days later a man dropped a bible off at his door in the midnight hours and Yun encountered Christ and began his ministry.

3 weeks prior I met a woman who owned a sandal store at the night market and I found out she was christian. When I realized our cafe friend wanted to read the bible for Himself, I asked God to give me a bible and I went to this woman. Told her the story and she said she would get me a bible. The next day she texts me to come get it and it was totally free! The bible she gave me was her husbands old bible before he got saved 3 years ago! Hallelujah, God gave us a free bible by word of mouth and faith, once belonging to a man who wasn’t even saved but now is! Now our friend at the cafe has the opportunity to read for himself (in his native language Thai) and come to know Jesus Christ!

Thank you so much for reading and praying for me!

To give: https://adventuresinmissions.servicereef.com/events/adventures-in-missions-3/jan-2024-world-race-expedition-11-months/participants/noah-weinstein