Sleepless in Laos: Kailah's Story
“Kailah…”
My dad’s gentle voice was muffled - like it was coming from far away.
He softly placed his hand on my shoulder.
“I’m so sorry, but It’s time to wake up…”
His voice seemed to grow steadily more distant as I drifted back to sleep.
But he continued.
“Kailah…”
In the back of my mind I knew that he would keep trying to wake me until I stirred.
But my head felt heavy - like it was pinned against my pillow - and when I tried to open my eyelids, they wouldn’t budge.
It was about four in the afternoon, and the two of us had arrived in Laos that morning after a nearly forty hour commute, including a brief overnight stop in Bangkok.
I knew that it was crucial that I stayed awake this afternoon so that I would be well rested for our festival performance the next day - we absolutely needed to be fully alert and ready to go by that time.
But I was finding it impossible to fight my urge to sleep.
Our plan had been to each take a brief one-hour nap, stay awake until it was actually night, then get to bed at a decent time.
It seemed like a good plan in theory, but the reality of jet-lag was fighting hard against our “really good plan.”
My dad had been faithfully trying to follow the plan, but somewhere in the depths of my exhaustion, I knew that he was beginning to weaken.
Minutes later, he confirmed it.
“Why don’t you just keep sleeping…”
I embraced the idea wholeheartedly - this new plan felt much better.
And we both slept very, very well.
Until three o’clock in the morning.
After staring wide-eyed at the darkened ceiling for several minutes, I rolled over and looked at my clock.
There was no way I would be able to sleep through the night.
“You up, Dad?”
“Yup.”
It looked like we would be starting our day a little earlier than we had expected.
We spent the day practicing, praying, and preparing for the show, and as the sun began to set, we grabbed our equipment and got ready to leave.
It was time.
And I was exhausted…again.
It was possible that this was going to be a problem.
We had been looking forward to performing in Laos ever since we had been invited several months ago - Laos is considered a “closed” or “restricted” country, because Christians are not permitted to share the message of Jesus in public.
We would be performing at a large open-air festival, and we had been told that we would have some freedom to share our story as part of the show.
But we were going to have to be single-minded, alert, and focused on sharing with wisdom and excellence.
And we were fading fast.
I stumbled into the hotel elevator and rested my head on my dad’s shoulder. I had almost succeeded in taking a twenty second nap when an obnoxious bell rang and the doors opened.
In the lobby, we were greeted by some friends - a Malaysian band that we had met earlier in the year. They invited us to pray with them.
Honestly I didn’t even feel energized or strong enough to pray, but I knew that I desperately needed God’s strength, boldness, and wisdom as we got ready to share the Gospel in a closed environment.
So I bowed my head and they started to pray.
They cried out to God and expressed a genuine desire to really know Him and to share the truth of Jesus with the people of Laos.
Their passion to share Jesus was contagious, and as they prayed I didn’t feel so tired anymore.
I felt that we were heading into battle, and that God wanted to move in a powerful way.
We finished the prayer, got into the bus, and my dad and I took our seats in the dark back row.
The two of us whispered a quiet prayer.
“God, please give us grace. We pray that You would draw people to Yourself, that You would move in and through us, and that lives would be changed tonight.”
And God answered that prayer.
We performed, we shared the message of Jesus, and in the midst of a beautiful closed country in Asia, we watched people respond to the love of Jesus.
And this is why we do what we do.
This is the message…
Haven’t seen “THE SCANDAL” yet? Take a few minutes to check out one of the most important videos we’ve ever made…
More. Committed. Than. Ever.
Last year was a year of incredible challenges, but we are more convinced than ever that Jesus is STILL the answer.
We've had to reschedule most of our 2020 outreaches until this year, but we're still committed to the goal of reaching as many people as possible in every nation with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ and we’re excited to report that things are SLOWLY STARTING TO OPEN UP!
Please pray for God's wisdom and courage as we move forward in our mission to share the love and message of Jesus in every nation.
If you'd like to help us share this message with a tax-deductible monthly donation or a one-time gift, simply click the link below for more information. We're deeply thankful for you, friends!