Songkran - Thai New Year

April 13-15 was the Thai New Year. The Thai calendar dates time from the death of Buddha. This is the year 2552. The first day is the day that Southern Thais go and pour water on the shoulder of their elders as a blessing. Nowadays, it is a day of fun. Everyone expects to get wet. If you venture outside your house, there are truckloads of children and adults with large urns of water. Water guns abound and everyone gets wet. This whole week most Thais return to their hometown and visit relatives and friends. On the second day of the New Year, we went to the beach at Ao Nang (Awl Nang) and walked.

Richard's father's funeral

In February Richard’s father, Red, had an operation. The operation went well. Red was stable and he was sent back to the small hospital at the senior village where he lived. Red's condition and our emotions went up and down the month of March. Our daughter, Caroline sent emails and made phone calls keeping the whole family informed about Red’s condition. In an effort to find out what was really happening, both our daughters, Caroline and Jamie flew to Florida to visit their grandfather on March 19th. On March 22, Red died. Red's will was read at the senior village. He stipulated that Richard do the funeral service. We made plans to return to Virginia. We weren't able to get a flight to America for 4 days. Even though we were anxious to go, Richard used the time to prepare for the funeral. Once in Newport News we were welcomed and supported by our family and church there. We connected with friends and relatives there. At the graveside service, Richard did a great job. When the sailors presented a US flag to Richard's younger brother, he cried. Two days later we returned to Thailand thankful for the opportunity to be with family at this time.

San - Returned Mail

A response card arrived in our mailbox in early February asking for literature and stating that a 14 years old boy wanted to become a Christian! We were excited & promptly sent the literature & a VCD that he requested by mail. Later we received another response card from him asking for the same literature! This was puzzling since we assumed he'd already received it by mail. But we sent him the literature again. Two weeks later it was returned to us. In following up, A. Nantana called the boy to see if the address was correct. He said that the address was correct. We again sent out the material. It was once more returned to us!!! We were frustrated and called again asking if we could come visit & bring the literature. The boy asked us to come to his "school" in May when school opened again. However, on April 21st, San called us and asked where his literature was! We explained what had happened. This time he asked us to come to his HOME. We did! We gave him the LONG AWAITED material and talked to him, his sister, and father about God. The fact that San asked us to visit in his home was a brave step to take for a teenager. By allowing us to visit he was publicly saying to his Buddhist family that he wanted to know more about God. Pray that San will study the Bible, understand the Gospel, and believe in what Jesus did for him.(NOW the rest of the story: Trying to find a woman in January, we visited Dead Elephant School in Khao Phanom. In the process, we passed out tracts and booklets to the teachers and children there. San's younger sister received one of the Christian booklets at the school. She shared it with her brother, San.)

AM

A friend was eager for us to meet a girl that he knew. We went to the Khao Phanom District Office and found Am working as an intern there. She invited us to her house and got off the rest of the morning to take us there. After driving 15 kilometers on paved roads into the countryside, we turned onto a dirt road. Traveling about 2 1/2 kilometers, we made a left onto another dirt road another 1 1/2 kilometers. Once we parked the truck, we walked another 200 meters among rubber trees to meet her family. They were all surprised and glad that we had come. Am’s grandfather had been a Christian. Since her father moved to Krabi province (10 years ago) the family didn’t go to church because they were too far into the countryside to conveniently go (the closest church being about 60 kilometers away) and their only vehicle was a motorcycle for 5 people. We talked to them about God and they asked us to return. During our next visit, we asked if we could come back to teach. We are excited to announce that we will begin teaching Am's family on May 9! Please be praying for many adults to show up.

Krabi Boat Races

Teams from different villages practiced paddling their long narrow boats in the streams, canals, and rivers nearby. Finally the big days arrived. Racing teams,other villagers and tourists traveled to Krabi City April 17-19th for the annual boat races. For those three days the river was filled with boats racing or people in boats watching the races. Teams from different villages and with different colored shirts raced in the morning. As with all good celebrations there was lots of excitement and plenty of food to be bought from local venders.

Prayer & Praise

1. Praise God for some promising leads on starting cell groups.
2. Pray that as the Holy Spirit works in the lives of San, Meow, Oh, Dom, & Am (Khao Phanom), they will receive Jesus as Savior drawing their family and friends to God.
3. One day mobile clinic in Khao Pha-nom on June 15. Pray that the clinic will
a. be a success in opening doors for ministry
b. bring in patients who are receptive to God’s Spirit and Word.
4. Continue to Pray that the pastor and members of Krabi Baptist Church will be real soul winners and catalysts in bringing many new persons to Christ.
5. Pray for Jiap to lean totally on Jesus and allow His Spirit to shape more of her life.
6. Pray for those in Blai Praya - At, Ooi, Gan, Oh, and Montri to know that Jesus is their Savior.
7. Pray that our lives may be fully surrendered to Christ and HIS kingdom work.