Korean Church
All
of them said no. After being turned down by the last English-speaking church
in the search result, I
leaned back in the chair and sighed. I had reached the end of the rope.
Then I saw that the next search result was a Korean church. I had heard that there are more Korean missionaries than Western missionaries in that southeast Asian country, so it made sense that there would be Korean churches as well. As I had run out of English options and had nothing to lose, I called the Korean church, got through to its senior pastor and explained the situation as well as I could. There was an extended pause, so I began to wonder if the Korean pastor had understood the situation that I had described, but then heard him say, "Bring her to here." Upon hearing those words, I saw a vision of a lightning cutting through a dark sky.
I ran out to Kristin, told her, "Hey, there's a pastor who actually wants to help us," and shared the news. We then took a tuk-tuk to the Korean church, which seemed to be holding Vacation Bible School. We sat waiting just outside the sanctuary, inside which the children were in the midst of a praise and worship service, when something interesting happened. Whenever there was a loud cry of a certain word from inside the sanctuary, Kristin opened her mouth wide and let out the guttural noise from two nights earlier. When I asked her why she kept doing that, she said the demons inside her are freaking out at that word, which turned out to be "Jesus" in Korean, which the demons inside Kristin apparently understood.
Soon, five Korean men approached us. It was the senior pastor and four of his elders. After introducing themselves and greeting us, they surrounded us and escorted us inside the sanctuary through its rear door. When the door opened and the sound of the children praising the Lord at the top of their lungs hit us, Kristin shuddered and her legs gave way, so we carried her the rest of the way to the center of the rear part of the sanctuary, and laid her down on her back.
What happened next was something out of the movie The Exorcist. As she heard the deafening sound of Jesus being praised, her eyes rolled into her head, she began to spit up blackish phlegm and cry out in the guttural voice. Six men holding onto her shoulders, arms and knees couldn't keep her still. The demons in her were freaking out with physical strength that wasn't human.
I looked up a few times and each time saw that at least one of the children, who had been facing away from us and toward the pulpit, come over to check out what was happening. The last time I looked up, I witnessed a glorious sight. All of the children - the entire crowd - had turned around away from the pulpit and were walking toward us, many with their arms raised, while singing their praise song to God. 2 Kings 6:16 came to mind: "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them."
Just then, the youth pastor who had been leading the worship came to us, told all six of us to let go of Kristin, so we did and drew back. He then pointed his open hand toward her and said, "In Jesus name, stop bother her!" Kristin immediately stopped spitting, fell silent, and seemed to deflate like a balloon whose air had been let out.
We then carried Kristin out of the sanctuary, into the senior pastor's office and onto its couch, where the youth pastor began to cast demons out of her while the rest of us prayed. Once in a while, he asked her if all of the demons are gone. For the next hour or so, she continued to reply, "No," and then after a long pause, finally replied, "Yes," at which point everyone in the room erupted in thanksgiving and praises to God.
The senior pastor disclosed that the youth pastor is a specialist in spiritual warfare; the youth pastor said that he had read books by and considered himself a student of Charles Kraft, who teaches spiritual warfare at Fuller Theological Seminary in California. I had never heard of Charles Kraft but was amazed at what I had just witnessed. Kristin and I profusely thanked the senior pastor, the elders, and especially the youth pastor, promised to return to thank them again, and left the Korean church in a tuk-tuk.