Pizza – A Life Dream!

“Jesus therefore answered and was saying to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and greater works than these will He show Him, that you may marvel.’” John 5:19-20, NASB.

At a meeting in Thailand I met a monk who spoke the same dialect I had learned while serving in a neighboring country. It was awesome to speak with him in his native language. We exchanged contact information and agreed to set up a meeting the following week.

The following week, I invited the young monk to come over to my house for a visit and to eat dinner with my family who were visiting from the United States. He mentioned that he would be bringing three other monks along with him. I gladly picked them up at the Wat (temple) and brought them home. We had a wonderful morning exchanging ideas, sharing about our families and talking about their home country.

My family asked very good questions and the monks gladly explained about Buddhism and their life as monks. We shared a delightful meal of Thai food and I indicated that I would like to meet them again. I mentioned gathering for another meal, and I asked them what they would like to have. One of them commented that he had heard about a food called "pizza," but none of them had ever tried it. When I mentioned that we could have pizza the following week, one of them said, "You just fulfilled one of the dreams of my life!"

The second week I went back to the temple and picked up the monks. On this occasion, I met another eight monks and learned that two additional monks would be coming to our home for pizza. When we arrived back at my house, they were able to meet some university students who had been working with my family during the summer, and the first question they asked was, "Could you explain to us the process that one must take to become a Christian?"

No probing! No pressure! No baiting or enticing on my part! They asked, and I willingly, without reservation, gave them a two hour presentation of the Gospel! Yes, I can get a little wordy, but I felt that lots of background information would help them better understand the Gospel. They took meticulous notes and asked questions throughout the presentation. One commented, "I’ve never heard this message before." The next question was really amazing, "Would you be willing to teach us the Bible?"

After a few milliseconds of thought (trying to keep from stumbling over my tongue and looking ridiculous in the sheer thrill and excitement), I said, "I believe I could do that!" So, we made arrangements for the following week to begin a Bible study.

*Excerpt from the newsletter of a Pacific Rim worker serving in Thailand.

Pray that:

The monks attending this Bible study will be drawn into a personal and saving interest in the Gospel, and not just an academic interest.

Pacific Rim workers will be ever alert to divine appointments with people of peace and people of good will.

Short-term immigrants coming to Thailand from restricted access areas for work or study will have the opportunity to meet with Christians and hear the Gospel.

Pacific Rim is a region of the International Mission Board, SBC.