South East Asia Outreach April 2014

SEA Outreach 2014

On the 16th of April 2014, Henk and I departed for a two week outreach to South East Asia. We flew directly to Bangkok where we arrived half past five in the morning with temperature already reaching 32˚C. We were taken to the hotel by one of the local pastors called Ray. He's a very nice guy who lost his wife two years ago. She left him and four kids behind. He left the ministry and started to work for salary in order to provide for his children. Now whenever he has a chance to serve in the Kingdom, he does. Truly an amazing guy!

We were blessed to have been given this day to rest as we were a bit tired after the 10 hour flight and 5 hour time difference. We met Dr Richard Suburi from Himalaya Ministries that afternoon and we enjoyed lunch together. We met Richard during our visit to his home during the August 2013 outreach to India. Except for the phenomenal work he is doing in the Himalaya region, Richard is very actively working in the rest of Asia to help reach the unreached and equip the church to do so. It was a true honour and privilege to join him on this mission to South East Asia.

 

The rest of the day we relaxed and tried to catch up on lost sleep and the evening Richard and Ray took us to the tallest building in Bangkok for dinner. It was a buffet dinner stacked with the most delicious looking food one can imagine! Meat, seafood, sushi and almost anything your stomach can desire was in abundance on  display! We ate till we couldn’t eat any more! They have a desert there that is divine! Its sticky rice with a type of coconut sauce and mango. Loved it! After dinner we climbed to the roof of the building. On top of the building the floor is rotating so that one can enjoy a spectacular 360 degree view over Bangkok. The city lights are amazing! 

Our meetings started the following day at a small church in Bangkok. The pastor, Roland, is a very humble man and it was a blessing to minister at his church. We were a smallish group that attended this conference but it was still more than enough people for Jesus to be interested in the conference. The theme for the conference was from Acts 1:8 and was called 'Experience God's power'. For some reason the name of a conference means something and God did allow every single person who attended to experience Him in a very powerful way!

The first two sessions Henk ministered. The ground was hard and it was as if the people just didn't connect with the Holy Spirit. But Henk is an anointed guy and he managed to get something right! Many came forward and gave their hurts, pains and sorrows to the Lord. We believe that when Jesus died on the cross, it was for a whole lot more than just going to heaven one day. Going to heaven is a very important matter and is definitely included, but Jesus also paid the price for our sins, inequities, hurts, pains, sicknesses and transgressions. He paid the full price! It's to be free, saved and healed today while we are still walking on the earth. 

After lunch I had opportunity to share and we kept on encouraging them in their true identity in Christ. Identity in Christ is everything! It is a mayor key to the supernatural! At the end of the session I helped them to connect to Jesus in the spirit and we asked for the presence of the Lord to fill them. He did! It was kind of this awkward moment for me to be honest. I finished my session but nobody moved. All just sat there, eyes closed and enjoyed Jesus! One could literally feel the Holy Spirit's presence just resting there. I love it when the Holy Spirit does the ministering instead of me!

Henk got the job to clean up where I messed up and he then took this thing even further! He shared about the Holy Spirit and how desperately we need Him. Henk did what he did best and he pushed their believe systems to the limits and beyond! It's good for us if our mindsets are challenged! How else will we grow!? Henk received a couple of words of knowledge from the Lord including one of back pain. A man came forward and God healed him! A young lady tearfully testified that she prayed for a while now for God to encounter her; He did! Many other got healed from physical but also emotional pain. Four people also came forward to breakthrough in the gift of tongues. All of them did! They are now Spirit filled children of the most High speaking in heavenly tongues! It was a very good day, but we knew that there was way more install for these people than what we had witnessed.

The following morning we arranged that I would take the first session and Henk the two remaining sessions. We both also felt that something had to break during the worship. It was amazing but it was time for them to start worshipping in the Spirit. After we sang the traditional two songs that morning, they asked Richard to open in prayer for us. Already the Lord of lords were there and the atmosphere was heavy with His presence. Richard prayed and then did exactly what the Holy Spirit longed for us! He asked us to start praying in tongues and press into the Lord with everything in us. We continued the entire morning just praying and praising God. An entire morning of just worshipping God! We cancelled the preaching so that the praying and worship could go on. This I believe is very important! Why else do we have these meetings? Surely an anointed preacher or singer or so can be the reason, and its right! But God must always remain the number one reason! We must allow the Spirit of God to move as He pleases and not imprison Him with our programs.

God did through Richard what Henk and I discussed what was necessary. This was the most important session and was truly the highlight of the conference. One lady spontaneously started dancing in front of the Lord while others were broken before Him. Everybody was just spending time with God. He was the cornerstone and centre piece! Henk also shared on our position in prayer, that we should not approach Father with a beggars mentality but with the boldness of a son! That instead of just begging God to answer us, we should instead just release that what is happening in heaven. Release God's Word over our lives, over a town over a nation. Our prayers will have an effective rate of 100%! This freed them and us tremendously! 

After lunch many came forward to share their testimonies of what God did for them, then I shared on the gifts of the Spirit and we practiced a few practical examples. All of them prophesied over each other and the one lady's hand got warm. This is usually a sign that God wants to use you for healing. She had never experienced something like this before. We asked if anyone was sick and a lady stood up and said she had back pain. The lady with the warm hand prayed for her and God healed her! She was very overwhelmed to see that God wanted and could use her! Many of them received words of wisdom also from the Lord. One guy got healed from 8 years of restless sleeping and being tortured with nightmares every night!

Henk took the last session and he shared on being a witness for Jesus. We prayed for them at the end so that God would equip them with everything they need to stand firm for Jesus and spread the Gospel everywhere they go. Many received healing as well as we ministered to them individually and they broke through into the Spirit. The fire of God came on every person there as we asked God to minister to them. Our time with the people of Thailand was very short but very special. God did some amazing things and we enjoyed these people very much. There is still a lot of work for the church of Thailand, but one step at a time the Spirit will take them forward, one soul at a time, one victory over another. Jesus will have His pure Thailand bride, and nothing will stop the King. The bride of Thailand has been raped for many years, but God is the healer and great restorer. He will fight for His beloved!

The evening we went with pastor Roland to look at a facility that God gave the church there about a hour's drive from Bangkok. It's a very beautiful and big building and a person just handed the keys to pastor Roland! Together with Richard, they are planning to have some training at that facility in the future. Afterwards we went to a restaurant with pastor Roland and a few others. We had many dishes and everybody shared the food. One of the many delicious dishes we had was whole fish. What made this fish special was that they had to catch it first, literally! They have fish tanks there and the catch the fish for order and then prepare it. It was very delicious and fresh! Loved it! 

We had a short but powerful sleep that night and woke up again at 4am to go to the airport. We arrived in Vietnam the morning and took a taxi to the hotel. Richard was only expected later the day. We were blessed with a very beautiful hotel and went straight to bed to beat the jetlag we struggled with all this time. Richard arrived in the afternoon and we went for lunch and rested the rest of the day. We also had a meeting with a local pastor that Richard is befriended with to discuss our visit to Vietnam. Richard and I went for dinner at an Indian restaurant while Henk went for an early night's sleep. We met a lady there named Chilli. She is local but speaks almost fluent English and is extremely intelligent. English is very scarce here and language is a major problem. There is just something about Chilli, and Richard had interesting conversations with her. We are praying for her salvation!

The following morning we were picked up by another pastor and  lady who could speak little English. I feel like sharing everything but for the safety of the people I won't. We visited few house churches and we had the time of our lives! It has always been a dream of mine to spend time with the underground church and worship with them. Today my dream became reality! A man with phase 4 cancer got delivered from his pain, a blind eye can now see, one girl accepted Jesus, many different pains healed, and above all we could pray with all of them. It was just glorious!!! It was also a big eye opener to see how we take things for granted. These people are desperately hungry for Jesus and they live in constant danger for the sake of the Gospel. We in the western world are stuck in our comfort zones and we are so after the latest revelations and stuff that we tend to forget how easy and simple the Gospel actually is. The easy small stuff is just as important! Henk stated it beautifully: The Kingdom is in the mustard seed. It all comes down to the simplicity of pure love...

 

One thing I can also say about our amazing day was that the people here is very hospitable. Everywhere we stopped we had to eat fresh fruits with them and drink green tea, luckily from a very small cup. Dessert after fruit was something similar to a 'tinky'. We also had a true family Vietnam lunch seated on the floor eating together. Amazing experience! Just about the best eggplant I've ever eaten! These people eat very healthy. But after a few meetings like this one can get pretty stuffed! I loved every second of this day!

We went to minister at a bible school the next day. There were about 17 students there completing a 2 month course. I took the first session and shared about inner healing. We prayed together and they gave their hearts to Jesus so that He can free them. Henk took the second session and shared about identity in Christ. The students took their old nature and threw it away and they stepped into their new identity as sons of the most High. We also prayed for God's love to manifest and the Holy Spirit showed up to help us! It's all about the love of Jesus!

Lunch time we had a cup of Vietnam tea with one of the brothers who started the school and training program. They minister in prisons, drug rehabs, HIV shelters and many more. The work they do is massive! I saw a video on the work these guys are doing last year and it shook my heart! It was such a massive blessing to witness the work of these guys on video and to see what the Lord is doing. Something inside me gets alive when I see the work of God in these areas. And now, on this very day, God took us right into the offices of the man that is behind it all. He is an amazing guy who came from a drug and prison background, had an encounter with Jesus, and now he is busy transforming one of the hardest nations in the world! It was like a dream come true for me!

We had a delicious Vietnamese lunch and then Henk shared and equipped the students to not only love Jesus more but also make a greater impact in the lives of others. These people are so pure and one could see that they are trained by the Spirit Himself. The biggest mistake we as westerners can make is to come and corrupt them with our own little theologies and religious ideas. God is raising up a pure and holy generation for His glory and He will use them to impact the nations and manifest His Kingdom on earth. We prayed for them to be filled with the Holy Spirit and laid hands on all of them. One girl manifested a demon as he gave her great heart pain as we prayed, and God set her free. We also prayed for the sick. Two guys struggled with their concentration when spending time with Jesus in the Word, and God healed them. God also healed another guy who had a bad shoulder! Another good day in the Kingdom of Light!

We flew back to Bangkok and spend a day there resting. In the evening we met with a lady called Nan. She was Hindu that turned Christian. She is a modern single mom that is doing very well for herself working hard. We had dinner with her and then went to the streets of Bangkok. The prostitution there is like nothing on earth. As we walked the streets the picture became clearer. The emptiness of the men that were there looking for love, the dead emptiness of the ladies who is killing their own conscience to support their families and many scenes like this. One thing that also stood out is the face of these prostitutes, how it changed when you looked them in the eye with love, dignity and respect.

Something they don't get often. Then one also think of these girls and their dreams. None of them dreamed this for them when they were young! 

Except for the obvious spirits of lusts and so in the air, there was also a very friendly spirit there, making all this hell very welcoming and attractive, a very subtle spirit. We walked the streets and many welcoming faces invited us to these sex shows. One guy we spoke too, the more he understood us, the more distant he became, as if he is trying to protect the walls he build around his heart, not wanting to feel exposed and shameful. He didn't want us to pray a prayer of love and blessing over him. He has a two year old child waiting at home. We walked and prayed and worshipped Jesus as we went along. We then went into a alley located for man love. This was an unpleasant experience! We went there to pray, we did, but ended up praying also to not fall victim! These guys will physically touch you to try and invite you into their bar. It was as if the spirit attempted to jump us from all directions. But we came out in tacked and in prayer for these people. Today I can laugh at the situation, but the truth remains that this is the reality there, seven days a week. It was one of the saddest sights I've seen in my life. A true hell on earth just below the very inviting surface of the country. May the Kingdom of Light invade Thailand and manifest heaven to these people!

We slept for two hours and then left for Cambodia. This was hard for me! The heat was extremely warm, reaching close to 40 degrees and humidity that I don't know. As you breath the air burns all the way to your lungs. At the border you have to walk for quite a distance between the two border posts. The handle of my bag broke on the flight from Johannesburg and I was forced to carry it by hand and not drag it behind me on wheels. Things like this will test the flesh in me! :)

But I survived and we were picked up by one of the local pastors. We went to their school and enjoyed a cup of coffee and ice cold water with them. Their ministry there is a school where they teach people English. This is very much in favour of the government as well and serves as a very good tool to preach the Gospel. This is the strategy of many of the churches in Cambodia. Cambodia is 95% Buddhist country, but they are the peaceful kind of Buddhists. They allow all religions but the country remains Buddhists. It makes it easier for the Gospel to be shared but still very challenging with the history of the country.

In the afternoon we reached our hotel in Battambang city. It's a very classy hotel! We were really spoiled with luxurious but very affordable accommodation. We were still planning to go for a swim and visit our host pastor in the late afternoon, early evening, when a dark cloud approached the city. A storm came up and we were observing from our room's window. The wind and rain was like nothing I've seen in my life! Tiles flew from the rooftop and trees were bend to the limit. It was a very shocking sight, like a cyclone or something! We climbed in bed and enjoyed a short but good rest while the thunder and rain continued to crush down outside.

Our meeting with the pastor got cancelled because of the rain but the pastor with some of his team later came to visit us at the hotel and we enjoyed dinner together. Only then did we realise the extent of the storm. According to the pastor it was the worst storm in the 15 years he has lived there. Structures, homes were destroyed. 2 people lost their lives. Then it hit us right between the eyes, and we realised that we didn't even think of praying against the storm. The Lord tried to warn us several times before the storm, but we still missed it. We repented and prayed for the people affected by the storm. The Lord gave us as His children authority to pray and take authority over the storms and we didn't. 

We also learned more about the situation of the church during dinner and pastor Sam shared what their ministry are doing. There is one big denomination that is split up in two parts because of personal agendas and church politics. There's even a court case in process for two years now. It is a great shame to the church as an organisation. Friends and even families are split up because of this. Pastor Sam and his team are doing all they can to stay neutral in all of this and save as many relationships as possible in the sense of keeping love and forgiveness and so forth alive in the church. Pastor Sam and his team is doing amazing work. When I first saw him I could see Heaven's authority on him. He's a very humble guy and has very good knowledge and understanding of the western world. They have a school where they teach people English amongst other subjects. They are also running a bible school and have believers and non believers on their staff. Their ministry is based in one of the busiest prostitute, brothel areas in the city. Now one of the brothels became their church and school! And apparently the neighbour brothel is also busy selling his property! One of his team members is also an ex-monk now serving the Lord full time! We had an amazing dinner with them and then went to bed for a good night's rest

We only had one session with the bible school students in the morning and Henk ministered to them about the culture of honour. It was a real good word and the Lord opened up something there. We also had opportunity to pray for the sick and one lady with bad eyesight had an increase in her sight. After the session we had lunch and met with few other pastors and church leaders. Brother Ray had to leave us because he had to minister the following day in Bangkok. They also gave us the afternoon off for some reason so we decided to spend it wisely and went swimming! Cambodia is extremely hot and humid! Early morning temperatures reaching high above 30 degrees! The swimming was a blessing! It's a massive pool and the water was a refreshment to our bodies. Just then another dark cloud approached us very much the same as the previous day with the storm. The hotel staff got busy tying down trees and prepared for the worst again. We learned our lesson and decided to pray. We worshipped Jesus then spoke to the storm commanding it to lose its destructive spirit and calm down. It was literally five minutes then the wind, clouds everything quieted down completely! Later on the internet we could see the storm on radar and saw how it just vanished!

Late afternoon we left to the mountains outside of the city. Cambodia also experienced a genocide in the 70's or 80's. Many people got killed. They wanted to show us one of the locations where over ten thousand people got murdered. We got out of our motorcycle taxi, paid our 'park fees', and climbed on bikes to be taken up the mountain. On the mountain we first stopped at a Buddhist temple that served as a prison during the genocide. The temple is very artistic made up of beautiful, friendly childlike pictures of Buddhism. All very innocent and inviting but just behind all these pictures hidden was a clear picture of death and destruction. Inside the temple was an old monk. I went inside and greeted him. He is a very friendly guy with a beautiful smile! Here also our one driver shared with us the history of the genocide.

We walked to the caves where the mass grave was. It's a cave that goes down into the mountain, almost like a huge hole in the mountain. They equipped the mountain to be tourist friendly with stairs and they put all the human skulls in cages. The people who bring offerings to their gods still uses those skeletons for their rituals. Down the first pile of stairs where all the bones are, lays a massive open coffin with Buda inside. Then down the next part it becomes very dark and slippery. It's about a 30m drop from the top and the people were pushed into these caves and left to dead. Those who didn't die on impact, later died because of thirst, injuries and stuff like that. Apparently it only took few hours for someone to die. We went down there and started praying to God in heaven and asked for Him to help clean this up. No longer we need to celebrate death, but because of Jesus we can celebrate life! We also went to the very top of the mountain to enjoy a view of almost hole of Cambodia! One could see very far! The earth was flat and we could even see the buildings of Batambang! Every night from the caves millions of bats comes flying out in formation to go and hunt their dinner. It was quite a sight to witness! A dark cloud of bats flying in formation of for a evenings' hunting! 

On the mountain we also saw many monks. One monk had a nose shaped like an elephant. They worship elephants in these areas as well, but the guy was very friendly and willing for me to stand next to him for a photo. One's heart cant but cry out for these amazing people! Henk received a very clear word of knowledge for another monk but I think because of the crowd of tourists that was present, he denied the word that Henk had for him. All we could do was just to love the people. And I believe that's all we have to do! Just pure simple love from Jesus! They had us posing for photos and all were smiling and laughing!

The following morning I could minister to the staff of the school where believers and non believers were present. They asked me to share my testimony and to keep it simple because of the differences in the audience. I shared with them and many could relate to the story. We are all human, and although there are many differences, there is also quite a few things all of us has in common. And Jesus is the answer to life's questions! We ministered to the people as they came forward to experience the Lord Jesus and receive healing from Him. 

 

We had a short but amazing time in Cambodia and were truly blessed by the people! Straight after the service we headed back to the border to reach Bangkok in time. It was hot and humid, and I went through the same bag carrying experience again! Nan was waiting for us at the border of Thailand to take us to meet her pastor at his church. Unfortunately we reached Bangkok too late because of the traffic and we missed the pastor, even though he waited a long time for us. It was real disappointing! But it was a long day of travelling and because we were pushed for time we didn't ate the entire day. We were starving and went to a local German restaurant and got spoiled with sticky rice and mango pudding!

Sunday morning we got picked up to go to Nan's church. Richard left very early the morning to fly back to India. It was very interesting and enjoyable to be part of another church and to just sit and receive. We were given headsets where a lady translated the message for us. I loved the church and to see the mixture of young and old and especially the young adults how on fire they were for Jesus. After church we all sat together and enjoyed a delicious lunch. We were blessed to be seated on the main table with the pastor and few very high profile people in Thailand. Many of them recently only received Jesus and is now believers! This is very high ranked people in the kingdom of Thailand. What was funny to me was the ladies at the table. They were also a bit older than most of us, and to see their hair was very special! They also perm their hair just like our elder ladies do as white Afrikaner South Africans! It made me long back home! They were very friendly! The one next to me was able to speak little English and she tried to made conversation with me all the time, making me feel very welcome. Truly a special experience!

The church also has an English service. This was the own initiative of one of the ladies in church and they are only a few who gather together every Sunday after lunch to worship the Lord in English. In this service was only Nan, the lady that translated for us and led the worship, and three people from a country in the middle east. They had to flee the country because of the Gospel. It was two brothers and their sister. Henk and I were both asked to share a short message with them after an amazing worship session. It was very small and informal making it really fun and personal. We prophesied and prayed for everybody there. This is what one of them wrote on facebook afterwards:

Today its was wonderful day for me.....I met two Pastors they were from South Africa.....They are the wonderful men of God...They prayed for me and Prophesied on me...I received too much Blessings through their prayer,,,,,I was Happy today....becoz They told me true about my self and about my future....and after That we had a great Dinner with Pastor Hamilton and His wife Pastor Halena Filmalter.....wooow God Bless Them All ,,,,♥

 

The afternoon we had time to spend in Bangkok world famous shopping mall and buy a few things for our loved ones back home. This was hard work! That evening we were treated to dinner under the open sky.  We departed straight after that, to the airport for our flight back home. 

To summarise this outreach is just to say WOW! Thank You Jesus!!! Jesus truly is the best thing that can happen to all of us! The Gospel is easy! We visited three countries lying very close to each other, but yet they differ like day and night. Each country was a unique amazing experience and it will always be something I'll treasure in my heart. One thing is for certain; we have to go again! There's work to be done! Please pray with us for these amazing nations and the people there. Thank you for every person  that were part of this amazing experience through prayer and finance. Also thank you to every person reading this! May God bless you!