English Hook

I never took teaching English as something that could be such a powerful soul winning technique. My experience here during the last couple of weeks has proven to me how useful English is in spreading the Gospel.
I was talking with a friend of mine. We call her Magdalene. Her friend Mary is always with her. They have been good friends for a long time. Now they are both Christian and are such a blessing to me and the others here. They are practically family here at the church plant. They were once Buddhist, as are most of the people here in Thailand.

Magdalene was telling me some of her stories. For example, how she reacted the first time she prayed in class. The English teacher, the head teacher here, had asked everyone to kneel down as they prayed together in class. He always ends class with a prayer written on the board (they need to practice). The thought of kneeling down in front of everyone got her upset. She doesn't kneel down for the Buddha, and know the teacher was asking her to kneel down in class?! As he started to pray Magdalene looked around. She didn't see the God that the teacher was praying to. Mary became furious. Could they be playing a joke on her? Is he serious? She got so mad that she told me, "I wanted to box (muay thai) him, right there in front of everyone. " Instead she got up and left.
Eventually she came. "I had to learn English, even if that meant listening to a crazy person." She came back to the English class. Now we joke around with her and call her crazier than the teacher. We are friends here and she is on fire for the Lord. She has told us that everyday she prays that she can tell someone about Jesus!
She was like so many of the students here now. I can see in their eyes, when we talk about Jesus, that they don't care. Some students will begin to speak in Thai to each other. I can see the ones that are trying to belittle the message to other students. Even though they don't want to hear anything about Jesus, they will stomach it, because they want to learn English!
Before I arrived here, there was only one teacher here. There were sometimes some guest teachers, staying for a couple days or weeks, but they all eventually go home. Now I share the burden with the teacher here. During the week it is usually just me and him in this house. He cannot pay me. But God is good. Food is given to us by students, usually the older women, and when they don't give us food we make rice and beans. (The Thai do not like rice and beans, or potatoes). Thank God my friend comes from an African home where rice and beans are the staple food! It's one of my favorite dishes in the whole world!