January 2024 Newsletter (Ethan)

Greetings from Ethan Johnston, a follower of the Way, the Truth, and the Life. To all whom this letter will reach, may the grace of God dwell with you richly. 

The last you heard, I was in Cambodia preparing for Thailand. We set off on a 17 hour journey to arrive in Chiang Mai, Thailand where we slept for one night. We then caught the 8 am bus to Chiang Dao, Thailand. We arrived to a host who was incredibly excited to see us. 

Wanida and her husband, Aaron, hadn’t received a team to help in their ministry since before COVID. We were an answered prayer to them. The sixteen of us got in the back of a pick up truck we would soon become familiar with and headed for their home. That’s where we met their children, all eleven of them! 

I will be completely honest in saying Thailand entirely felt like a blur. We were in Chiang Dao only a short time, about three weeks, but the time there was jam packed! We partnered with them at the local private and government schools teaching children from kindergarten all the way to high school. It was a beautiful opportunity to share the love of Jesus and the Gospel with them. We also helped build the base back up a little bit for the expectation that more teams will begin to come again. Lastly, we went way up in the mountains for what was possibly the most widespread church gathering I’ve ever attended. Not widespread in that there was an incredible amount of people there, but rather, it was the amount of churches that decided to host a joint event in a village as a form of evangelism. We met believers from all over Thailand and even believers from South Korea! Over those days, the Gospel was spread through that village in multiple ways, from food being provided for everyone as well as house to house evangelism, all culminating to a night to celebrate the birth of our Savior through dance, stories, and singing. The whole event ended with a big church service in the morning of the last day. I’m not exactly sure how many people came to know Christ during that time, but I will tell you that those seeds have been planted and WILL grow! We ended our time in Thailand with a debrief week with the whole squad of forty five people plus leadership. We celebrated what the LORD had done over the past two months. Then we celebrated Christmas and even got to celebrate the New Year together!!! 

Next thing you know we’re back on an airplane and heading to Johannesburg, South Africa. We landed in OR Tambo International Airport and spent the night on the beautiful floor before waking up to catch our flight early the next morning to Port Elizabeth. Finally, we were only an hour drive from our new home in Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa! 

During debrief we felt the LORD’s leading for us to take up a different team from the one we had been leading up until this point. I had been leading team “Israel” and switched to lead team “Alabaster.” At first, it was a learning curve as we began leading a different group of people. However, getting to lead Alabaster over the last month has been such a pleasure. I’ve gotten to see the LORD move in such mighty ways in their lives and in ministry. We have prayed for people on the street and seen them be set free from demons. We’ve prayed for people and watched them have relief from pain. We have had other opportunities too, like teaching at a primary school and each being responsible for 20+ children. Of course, I taught them one of my favorite songs, “Akeko ofana no Jezu” which means “there’s no one like Jesus” in Siswati which is very similar to Xhosa, the language they speak. 

During our time we would occasionally (every day) stop at the convenience store for a bottle of water or a chocolate bar and some Coca Cola. On my first visit I took a look around the store and found a bottle of coke and headed for the check out. I put my drink on the counter, and in response, “eight Rand,” a very monotone voice said. I smiled and reached into my bag for some coins for what is the equivalent of about thirty cents in the States. “How are you today?” I asked politely. “I’m fine,” he responded, still very monotone. With that, I paid and walked out of the store. Later that same day, I returned to buy a bottle of water, and when I went to pay, I opened my fanny pack, which had about one hundred dollars worth of Rand in it. “What are you doing? You’re going to get robbed and stabbed,” he said in a panicked voice. I knew that South Africa in general wasn’t very safe, but I wanted to hear what he had to say, so I asked, “is there a lot of that around here?” He replied, “yes, people are robbed every day over a few Rand. My brother was stabbed to death over fifty Rand (just under three dollars).” I then zipped up my bag and offered my condolences before asking about the rest of his family. He proceeded to tell me about his family back in his home country in the Middle East and how he was just helping by sending money back for them. Our conversation was cut short by the line of people forming behind me, but at that moment, I decided that I would visit my new friend every day. Over the past month, I’ve gotten to watch this man’s whole persona shift from being a cold, monotone clerk to a smiley, joking young man. We shared why we were here and what we believe. He, being a Muslim man, has different beliefs but there is mutual respect between us. Every time I walk into the store, we greet each other with smiles and a short conversation. This became custom for us until one day when I walked in and it was as though everything had gone back to the way it was before; he was stone faced and didn’t bother greeting me. “Okay, well this is different,” I thought to myself. I went on as normal, grabbed my Coke and went to check out. “Hey man, are you okay?” I asked. “No, I’m tired and I’m getting sick and I’m tired of being stuck here,” he replied. I listened to him share a little more before I asked “My brother, can I pray for you?” I could tell he didn’t want me to pray for him but was conflicted about ruining the relationship that we had cultivated. As he began shaking his head no, I said “Even just a ten second prayer for you, my friend.” He begrudgingly said, “okay, that’s fine.” I began, “LORD, would you bring healing and restoration. Father, bring rest and joy. Touch his heart. In Jesus’ name, amen.” I prayed just a simple prayer but in eager expectation that Christ Jesus our LORD would show up. That was the end of the interaction,and nothing happened immediately, but later that day I wanted to go check in on him. I walked into the store and was met by the biggest smile I had seen yet. He was even laughing. Not only that, but he never got sick. PRAISE THE LORD! Jesus is so faithful to show up when we call upon him. My new friend knows that I prayed in Jesus’ name and knows that his entire day was changed. Even his whole month was changed by the love of Christ. I will continue to see him over the rest of our time in South Africa and I pray that the LORD will continue to knock on his heart’s door and I pray that he will answer the call of Jesus.

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