OMS Outreach Online May-August 2021 | Page 15

Scott ’ s call came as God broke his heart for unreached people groups while he was doing a Kairos course ( Christian mission education ). Learning that more than 40 percent of the world ’ s population lived in parts of the world where they may never meet a Christian or hear the Gospel convinced Scott of the urgency and importance of personally participating in missions .
Once both Scott and Sarah were willing to go , they only needed to determine where . They started visiting missionaries who worked with unreached peoples and decided to add a few weeks onto the end of their honeymoon to meet with church planters in India and Thailand . In Thailand , they prayed for the Isaan people group .
After an hour of prayer , Scott declared , “ I think this is it ! God is calling us to the Isaan people .” He was right ! God confirmed repeatedly to the Morrisons that the Isaan region of Thailand was where he was calling them to serve .
The Morrisons ( from Australia ) have served in Isaan , Thailand , since 2017 . They are passionate about seeing every Isaan person access the Gospel and move from being unreached to reached . This includes 20 million people , with only 1,800 Christians for every million people — the goal is no small task !
One of those unreached is the woman from whom they buy their noodle soup . Scott shares this testimony : “ One day , she asked me , ‘ What do you do here ? Are you a teacher ?’ I responded , ‘ I ’ m not a teacher . We tell of the way out of sin .’ She looked at me with wide eyes and said , ‘ I have a lot of sin . Could you teach me ?’ This sparked a great conversation that left the door open for me to return . A few days later , we passed her and stopped to ask if we could bless her in Jesus ’ name as she was setting up her stall . She enthusiastically accepted , and we prayed a blessing over her .
“ Fast forward three days . She came running up to me and said , ‘ Scott , since you gave me that blessing , I received
2,000 baht ( around a week ’ s salary ).’ But then , she spoke a word that I didn ’ t understand : “ huay .” I told her , ‘ This is God showing you that he sees you , loves you , and wants you to know him . The God who created the world and gave life to all people wants you to be in relationship with him .’ She was grateful and full of joy , saying that she was eager to learn more .
“ I came home , positively buzzing about the interaction . I told Sarah about it , mentioning huay , the word that I didn ’ t understand . Sarah smiled at me and said , ‘ Huay means ‘ lottery ’!’ We had a good laugh , knowing the lottery isn ’ t usually something we would promote as God ’ s vessel for financial blessing ! But who am I to say he didn ’ t choose to reveal his goodness to this woman , at this time , in this way ? Regardless , this opened a fantastic opportunity for her to begin a journey of discovering how good Jesus is !”
Today , Scott and Sarah pray often , share the Gospel frequently , and train local believers to do the same . They find people who are open to the Gospel and show them how to gather with friends and family to read Scripture and pray .
They rejoice that the year began full of joy and enthusiasm in their ministry as they saw two young believers baptized , two households begin following Jesus , a coworker miraculously healed , many incredible Jesus conversations take place , and consistent answers to specific prayers regarding Buddhist people around their town . The Morrisons believe that God is preparing the hearts of many Isaan people for his Good News .
Throughout this issue , you have read the recurring message from Jesus : “ The harvest is plentiful , but the workers are few ” ( Luke 10:2 ). The workers certainly are few . And so , we pray to the Lord of the harvest for people like you !
photo , page 14 : Bangkok , Thailand , woman selling local fruits and vegetables in an open-air market at night ( photographer Michael Aleo ).
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