Finish the course- 2 Weeks

"But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God." -Acts 20:24

With just over two weeks left in Thailand, our team is beginning to feel a sense of urgency to take advantage of this wonderful grace-filled opportunity of ministry in Thailand that we have received from the Lord. Our team from Birmingham, the CCP team from Lexington, Kentucky (who do ministry on a smaller campus in Khon Kaen-Northeastern University), and the staff from Campus Outreach Thailand enjoyed a blessed celebration of Independence day a few days early on Saturday so we could continue ministry this coming Monday. We traveled to a nearby country club where we enjoyed the pool, tennis, driving range, badminton, a Thai cookout, and wonderful community with relaxation and laughter for an afternoon as we rested up for our last two weeks. 

As I have briefly explained in earlier posts, during the first 5-6 weeks of school at KKU the freshmen are involved in something called 'Freshi Games'. Each department/faculty compete against other faculties in particular sports from Tennis, to tekral, to vollyball, to ping pong, to fencing. All in all, around 15-20 sports. These events revolve around 5,000+ freshmen students, so the campus is a little crazy this week. The sophomores and juniors have been practicing and training these freshmen to compete in these games for around 4 weeks now, and the games finally began last Wednesday. 

Science factulty Badminton practice at the church's gym

Since our ministry group has been building deeper trust and friendships with 5 or so freshmen, we have been visiting them to watch them compete in these games and have been able to hang out and talk with them after their events. This will continue until Friday.

Click here to see some of the sports:

Fencing

Volleyball

Tekral

Our goals this week have changed a bit. As we continue to meet with the students whom, by God's sweet grace, we have connected well with the past 5 weeks, we want to meet with as many new students as we can in order to connect them with the COT ministry and our ministry leaders. Since we will not be here in 2 weeks, we want COT to have as many contacts as the Lord can use us (The Americans) to attract. So, please pray that the Lord directs our paths so that we may meet interested students who are searching, though they may not know, for a savior.


I want to tell you a quick story of a small conversation that I had with a freshmen science student today that the Lord may continue to use for an eternal impact. We usually arrive at the 'Complex' for lunch everyday around 12. The students usually have class at 1, so we basically have an hour with the different students we meet up with each day. It was around 12:50 when I noticed a ring in which the student was wearing that we were eating lunch with and ask him what it was and what it meant. He explained how it was a symbol for Hades and how he had an entire collection of rings that stood for each of the 'gods' you hear of in the Odyssey. I asked him if he believed in Hades or the underworld and he said yes and that he also believes in Bhuda. I then asked him if he had ever heard of Jesus and he said, 'Yes, I believe in him too' and that 'all gods lead toward heaven'. I explained as much as I could in English about my view on Jesus and asked him if he would like to know more about Christianity. He said he would love to learn more about other religions. What an amazing door the Lord opened in this short conversation. Please pray for an effective follow-up with this student. As he had to leave for class, it broke my heart to hear how sin and the devil have the entire culture of the Isaan people group either unaware of Jesus or that He is just like any other gods as a means to get into heaven. The Lord continues to remind our team of the great need for laborers in this lost world and the emptiness of the hearts of the millions around us that don't know of the unconditional love of Jesus and the beautiful redemptive story of the gospel.

Matt & Erin Fransisco (CCP COB Staff leaders) and
Nai (Science Faculty COT staff) & his wife Blaa 

I hope and pray that everyone has a blessed and grace-filled 4th of July celebration in the States. If you are from PTC, you better enjoy the awesome parade on Peachtree Parkway and fireworks on Lake Peachtree. :) Please pray that the Lord will continue to use us and the COT staff to reflect Christ and His glory in a big way these next 2 weeks as well as physical and mental strength. I love you team!


Campus Outreach Thailand- COT website for more information


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