The Crazy Lawson Tribe

Brothers and Sisters,

It’s time for an update for all of you. We’ve been surprisingly busy traveling and getting all of our documentation in order so that we can remain here in Thailand and have a baby!

The end of May, Chris attended a small portion of some training on how to best make disciples of the Isaan people. Then the next day we traveled to Laos, and, by the grace of God, received our new visas to remain in Thailand. A few days later, I (Chris) went to Ubon and Det Udom on the eastern border of Thailand to hang out with Greg Nemer and Andre Provost and see what the house churches there looked like and how they functioned.

In the middle of my trip, I got an emergency phone call from Whitney about her being in severe pain and throwing up uncontrollably. I immediately left our meeting and with the help of my brothers, I got to the nearest bus station, which was about an hour away. I then rode 5 hours back home and straight to the hospital, where we ended up staying overnight because Whitney had a kidney infection. Praise God that all the believers in Det Udom started praying as soon as they found out, and when I arrived at the hospital Whitney told me that all of the pain and nausea left her right before lunch, which is exactly when everybody started praying!

Once we got home from the hospital and had a minute to breathe after such a full schedule, we decided that we should take a trip down to the beach with our family before we added another baby to the mix. So, we left for Rayong, on the eastern side of Bangkok, and enjoyed an amazing and refreshing time in a beautiful hotel that was right on the Gulf of Thailand.  This was such a nice time for our family. We got to disconnect from all of the things we had to do and just be together. We swam in the pool every day, twice a day, and enjoyed hanging out and playing board games in our room. On our last day, Dorothy Mae, who has proven herself to be a brave little swimmer, jumped off the side of the pool right on top of my head. When her chin hit my head, she crushed her bottom tooth and it split in half. I then took an emergency trip to the local dentist, and they removed the broken portion of the tooth and gave us some antibiotics. Dorothy Mae was incredible, and she didn’t even whimper when they pulled out the shards of her teeth. Once we arrived home in Khon Kaen the next day;  I took Dorothy Mae to the local university clinic, where she had a root canal done on her broken tooth. Would you believe that she didn’t shed one tear or even begin to complain throughout the entire procedure! They didn’t even sedate her! God’s grace is amazing!

If I’m not careful, I’ll just share all of the challenging parts of our experiences here, but I have to tell you that in every single place that we went, Jesus was represented, and people responded. I prayed for one of the workers at our hotel, and God healed both of her feet. Then she received the Good News about Jesus. The hotel staff was so touched by the presence of the Holy Spirit through our family that they came together and wrote us a note about how sweet and special our family was and how they were going to miss us so much when we left. They even bought us a going away gift! At the hospital with Dorothy Mae, I shared my testimony with a woman who could speak English, and she was so moved by the truth and love of God that she connected with us on Facebook and we are going to have dinner with her. Just yesterday in the village, we prayed over a woman who had problems and pain in her hand and God healed her completely.

Life continues to press on, but it’s to the throne of God that we feel pulled. Isn’t it an amazing privilege to bear the name of Jesus? What an amazing joy to walk in the unending, overflowing, peaceful and powerful presence of Holy Spirit! Our lives are so short and our time so limited that we can’t afford to focus on our problems. God never allows us to go through things without His purpose and our greater good being worked out in those situations. There are broken and hurting people EVERYWHERE, and Jesus is their only hope, THROUGH US!  I want you to know that you are loved. You are the most valuable thing in this world to God. He paid the price of His Son for you! You are beautiful, created in His image. You are amazing! Isn’t it astounding that we can serve such a loving and powerful Daddy!? We love you guys. We know that we wouldn’t be here without your support. You guys are making all of this possible. In the last 2 weeks, we’ve had 20 more people give their lives to Jesus here in the villages. Jesus is so amazing!!!!! This means that they are now stepping into freedom from sickness, depression, fear, and Hell. God is so good, and He is establishing His kingdom every single place that we place our feet. God bless you all as you go out and destroy the kingdom of the Enemy!