Hat Yai Flood Relief

Ten thousand tourists were stranded in Hat Yai. “The water came so fast we couldn’t get much of our possessions upstairs.” “The water was 5-10 feet in different parts of the city.” “I saw my refrigerator floating downstairs in the flood water.” “I couldn’t wait for the city water to come back on so I used dish soap and flood water to clean the marks & mud off my walls and floors.” These were just a few comments of people affected by the flood.

The pastor’s car at HatYai Baptist and the church vehicle were submerged in the flooding. The pastor didn’t have insurance. His car was stripped to the bare metal. In the church’s parking lot, a man using a high powered washer was cleaning the inside of the shell of the pastor’s car.

Church members came and cleaned the inside of the church building. Desks and chairs were warped. Office equipment such as printers, paper, & literature were lost. Wet hymnals and Bibles were spread out to dry.

We were asked to help another missionary couple get and distribute bags of food. Food was brought to HatYai Baptist Church, put in bags and distributed to families near the church. One community on an island where there is a small 4-5 member worship group also got help. The Thai Baptist Association in Bangkok sent 1,000 bags of items to be passed out. During the handing out of bags at the church, the gates had to be shut so that enough aid would be left to give out on a nearby island. On the island, a community government official helped us get food to those most in need. Our 3-day work helped the community. Thank you Southern Baptists for your help through the Disaster Relief Fund!

Loy Gra-Tong Celebration

This annual ceremony is asking forgiveness of the Mae Kong River for polluting the water. It is also the floating away of your sins. This year the celebration was held on a weekend. Some people painstakingly prepared their floats. Many venders also came to sell to those not having the time to prepare a proper gra-tong. These beautiful floats are made with a section of banana trunk as a base, with flowers, incense, candles and a small coin on top.
The worshippers go to the nearest river or body of water when it gets dark. There they pray to mother earth to forgive them for polluting the water. Then they gently push their small floats into the stream and watch it disappear in the current.

MOST WANTED

Khun El is paralyzed. She has been studying the Bible with us for about 7 months. When we first met her, she could not move her legs much and her foot was stiff and hard. She is improving and she can now kneel and come up straight on her knees with help. Pray for her to walk again & become a Christian.
Khun Guy is the father of 6 children. We teach 3 of them and those 3 profess faith in God. He is a tenant rubber worker. He is addicted to playing cards and has caused his family much grief. He says he has to be perfect to become a Christian. Pray that he will allow God to change his life.
Yik is the wife of Guy. She is a hard worker. She has come to church with us several times. She is afraid for her children to become Christians, but is not formally blocking them from coming. She blames her husband for their family’s money problems. Pray for her to trust in God and depend upon Him for the needs of her family.

Prayer & Praise

1. Praise God for the Disaster Relief fund which made it possible for our flood
relief efforts.
2. Pray for Yik, Guy & El to become Christians.
3. Pray for our Christmas program that we’ll present in 6 schools to be effective in
presenting the Christmas story.
4. Pray for some to come to know God from our church Christmas program in Khao Phanom
and in Krabi town.
5. Pray for Som, Fone, and Nit to consistently study the Bible with us.
6. Pray for us to find a clean stream to baptize in Khao Phanom.
7. Pray for more Thais to come worship with us in Khao Phanom.

MOST WANTED

KHUN FONE – Wanted: to become a Christian. This young married woman came to live in the south with her husband. She works with her husband in the rubber industry, but is often sick. She has migraines which hinder her understanding what she studies with us. Pray that she gives her life to Christ.
KHUN SOM – Wanted: to become a Christian. He is a middle aged rubber farmer. He learned about God from Branee and Bird. He studies with us on and off as we teach Branee & Bird. He tells us that he reads his Bible we gave him and prays each day. He quickly understands the Bible teachings and asks questions. Pray that he give his life to Christ.
KHUN BUN – Wanted: to come to church. She is a young mother, who moved to the south because her husband abandoned her after their daughter was born. A local family is adopting her baby and Bun lives with the parents of the adopting family. She is expected to care for her baby, clean, and look after the fertilizer shop while the family is out selling. She has little money, no vehicle and is living 12 miles deep in the countryside. Pray that she have the opportunity to worship in the city of Khao Phanom each week.

Vegetarian Festival

The Chinese gathered not far from our house in the provincial field next to the city pillar for the opening event of this 10 day festival honoring the 9 emperor sons of the Queen of Heaven. There must have been around 700 people who came including small children. All the Chinese shrines were represented from throughout Krabi Province. Participants came in trucks to transport their small ceramic Chinese gods. Most had big drums and cymbals to bang on along the way. Once in Krabi, they gathered at the field, beat on the drums as if competing with each other. At times the noise was deafening! Then in certain areas, mainly woman dressed in special Chinese style costumes, danced in front of their ceramic gods. There was a group of men with whips that marched around looking as if they were in a trance ready to crack the whips at a moment's notice. Before traveling to Krabi city, most had called down the Chinese gods at their local shrines to inhabit them. (Some were no doubt demon possessed.) Then there were the men & woman who pierced themselves with rods through the cheeks, who were constantly being hydrated. They at least got to sit in chairs until the ceremony was over. The mayor & governor of Krabi said a few words praising the tradition of the Vegetarian Festival. Then the parade into the downtown began.
Each group gathered their gods to carry in palanquins on their shoulders. Other people drove the gods on the back of their pick-up trucks. Loud firecrackers were lit often and Chinese dragons were winding their way along the roads among the gods. Supposedly, the gods had come out to bless their believers. Those mediums for the gods were dressed in Chinese clothing with their eyes rolled back in their heads, drooling, and acting crazy. Some adherents routinely used swords, knives, or axes to cut their tongues. Sometimes large wooden blocks were thrown to guarantee good luck to store owners. At some homes/businesses tables were set with paper money, rice, chrysanthemums, pears, apples, pineapples, drink - all for the gods to spiritually eat and bless the people.
Vegetarian food was everywhere - guaranteeing to cleanse the soul according to their belief. On into the evening trucks drove around with people banging drums and singing. On the last night of the festival, the ceramic gods were driven down to the river to go back into Chinese heaven to the sound of firecrackers and fireworks.
Pray for the people who follow these gods to soon come to know their true creator and Savior.
"For more pictures of the festival, click on the link below":
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2105646&id=1419370438&l=487e5048e9

Vacation

Our schedules are usually busy, so a vacation of peace and quiet was great. We walked on the beach, Richard rode his mountain bike, but most of our time was resting and reading. One day we even went to a tin mine museum. (Tin mining, up until 30 years ago, was the economic mainstay of Phuket island. Now its tourism.)
Walking down the street each night to get supper, we were mobbed by vendors trying to get us to buy all kinds of merchandise from tee shirts to pirated DVDs of all the latest movie hits from the USA. (Many displaced Nepalese and Bangladeshi people are now selling instead of Thais at many beaches in south Thailand.)

Prayer & Praise

1. Pray for the church in Khao Phanom to grow numerically and be a light in their
community.
2. Pray for those who worship the Chinese gods to come to understand that the true
God wants them to be reconciled to HIM.
3. Praise God for the young adults at Krabi Baptist to continue to seek to do God’s
will.
4. Richard was bitten by a dog in the countryside. Pray for our safety as we go out
to visit and pass out tracts.
5. Pray for Som to seek God more than other things in life & become a Christian.
6. Pray for God to open the door for Bun to get to church and have contact with
other Christians.
7. Pray for Fone to be healthy, understand the truths of the Bible as she studies,
and become a Christian.

Krabi Baptist Church's 15th Anniversary

The music team practiced long hours nightly for an entire week. Flowers had been ordered and church members made gorgeous floral arrangements to brighten up the room. The speaker’s flight arrived at the airport on time. All was ready. There was excitement in the air. In 2 days of services, around 90 – 100 people (each time) came to worship.
The church history told of the early days with their struggles of being one of the first churches in a town of around 80,000 people. Pictures were shown of the shophouse where the services were held and the young pastor lived. In recent years the church helped during the tsunami by building coffins for western bodies, distributing disaster relief of food, fishing nets, helping outlying communities and presenting satellite dishes to schools in areas where there are not enough teachers. Those in attendance also heard about the yearly Christmas program where the church hosts the community. (The program gives a clear presentation of the birth of Christ and how Jesus can lead those that believe to salvation.)
A. Prayoon, the guest speaker from Bangkok, did a great job humorously talking about our duties as Christians and the priorities we set in our lives. Some government officials, who came as part of their job, enjoyed A. Prayoon’s message so much that they stayed the entire service and didn’t leave after they gave their official greetings. Everyone was pleased as we went out on the lawn to eat food. Thanks for praying for all the preparations and the celebrations.
Scriptures that A. Prayoon read from the Bible, his good humor and prayers were repeated on a radio station in town. His words were also quoted at a provincial meeting praising Christians and their views. Praise God for Krabi Baptist Church being a lighthouse in a dark place for 15 years.

Prayer & Praise

1. Praise God for Linda’s improvement from shingles!
2. Praise God that your prayers were answered about the Revival in Krabi.
3. Praise God for visitors at the worship services in Khao Phanom.
4. Pray for more people to attend the worship services in Khao Phanom.
5. Pray that we may effectively present the Gospel message to Thais in the Khao
Phanom area.
6. Pray for Som, Fon, Jarern, Nit, Nok & others to study the Bible in Khao Phanom.
7. Pray that the problem with nerves(related to shingles)in Linda's back to
quickly disappear.

From Vision to Reality: Khao Phanom Baptist Church

During the week, Oh and Meow have a restaurant in their home, serving kanom jin and other noodles. However on Sunday’s, one room in their house becomes a worship center. Expectantly, five Thais from Khao Phanom, began meeting on Sunday afternoons. A. Dusit and 12 other members of Krabi Baptist came in support of the new church start. We met in a cleared room at Oh and Meow’s house. During the first service,there was a warm atmosphere of love. A. Dusit told that his dream to see a church in Khao Phanom was becoming real. He said that driving through Khao Phanom recently, God assured him that a church would be started there.
A sign was made to go on Meow and Oh’s house. The sign says Khao Phanom Baptist Church. Another sign by the street corner tells the times and invites others to come worship. We are thankful for this faithful group of 5 believers, who will soon be baptized. Pray for more Thais to soon join them in worship.

god shelf comes down

Bird and Branee made professions of faith 2 months ago, but their Buddha shelf remained. (A Buddha shelf is a shelf on the wall that supports a Buddha image, or highly respected monk image, amulets and or other household gods.) This is a sure sign that he was not yet ready to relinquish the old even though they wanted Jesus too.
Recently on a wet and rainy day, we went to teach Bird and Branee. After teaching the lesson, Bird said that he had something for us to help him with. To our surprise and joy, he said that he wanted to take down the Buddha shelf. Because Bird was a little afraid of taking the shelf down himself, he enlisted Richard to take the things down. Branee said I feel so happy that the shelf was coming down. Bird said my heart feels lighter already because I confidently believe in Jesus Christ alone. Pray for the heart of Branee’s husband, (who will retire and move into the house with his wife and son in October) to quickly accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Prayer and Praise

1. Praise God Bird and Branee took down their idol shelf.
2. Pray for more Thais to join the worship in Khao Phanom on Sunday afternoons.
3. Pray that Branee’s husband, who will retire and join his wife in October, will quickly believe in Jesus Christ.
4. Pray that Oh and Meow’s restaurant business will not be hurt because of the church signs.
5. Pray for Linda’s health to improve after problems with obstructed veins and shingles.
6. Pray for El to soon become a Christian.
7. Pray that Tip and Chuan, two non-Christians, will come to worship on Sundays.

On the Brink of Choosing

In the community of Ta-lay Hoi, we drove up to the only intersection. We were returning to the town of Blai Pra-ya to eat lunch. A man with long curly hair flagged us down. This man, his mother and a small child wanted a ride into the bigger town to catch a bus. While in the car we talked about God with the man and gave them tracts to read on his long bus ride. Within the week we received a response card back saying that a man named Montri wanted to study with us. To our surprise it was the man who we had given the ride to the week before.
Weekly we teach Montri and his mother Raynu. Montri has attention deficit and must be continually brought back to the subject at hand. At times he really understands what is being taught and he answers our questions well. However, other times his exuberant spirit and the old ideas about Buddhist life, making merit, international mythology, and pop music still have a grasp on his life.
Just last week, someone in the village passed out posters about a Buddist ceremony to be held soon. When he came to Montri’s home, he put them up on the front side of Montri’s house. Montri says he believes in Jesus and wants to go to heaven. But like many Thais he is afraid to be cut off from society for being different. We have finished teaching Montri foundational beliefs. Now we must make a decision about whether to continue teaching Montri. Pray for Montri to truly understand the Gospel and fully accept God’s grace for his life. Pray for Raynu to make some wise decisions about her life, her young grandson living with her, and her husband, who lives in another province.

Disrupting a Spirit Ceremony

Praise God for the different volunteer teams that come to help in south Thailand each summer. One volunteer group from North Carolina was taken to pass out tracts and witness in the country side (Picture on right). Other groups are taken into schools to do English programs.

We went into a school of 300 students to do one such English program with some American volunteers from Texas. In the session for singing songs, a student became disruptive, saying the volunteers could not use their drum. Trying to find out why, we questioned the students. They said our program was in conflict with a special ceremony to the spirit gods going on at the same time near the front of the school. To get more details, we went and asked a couple of teachers.
They explained that while the volunteers were doing the 2 hour program, the principal and 4 of the teachers were doing a ceremony around the spirit of the land’s shrine. The teachers wanted the students to have good behavior. So they held a ceremony asking the spirit of the land to make the students good. In Chinese religious ceremonies, drums are used to call the gods down form heaven to listen to you. This student had apparently gotten the different religious traditions mixed up and was afraid that we would call the spirit of the land away from the ceremonies that the teachers were doing to listen to what the volunteers were doing.

Annual Meeting

We drove 2 days to arrive ahead of the other m’s attending our annual meeting. We helped set up the office and got ready for the daily schedule. This years meeting saw our fellow m’s doing the music and leadership preaching. Daily seminars trained us in more methods of getting our work done. Breakout groups helped us make the training more relevant to our work. It was great to see other friend’s from throughout the country, but it was also good to return home to our own bed. Pray that we will see much kingdom fruit from the information learned.

Prayer and Praise

1. Praise God for a continuing joint worship for our groups on Sunday afternoons in Khao Phanom.
2. Pray for more Thais to join us in the Sunday afternoon Worship.
3. Pray for Thai leadership to emerge in the Khao Phanom group
4. Pray that members of our Sunday School classes at Krabi BC will begin to be more evangelistic.
5. Pray that we will see more results from evangelistic opportunities.
6. Pray that we will soon see more Baptist churches begun in Krabi Province.
7. Pray for more Thais to be interested in God in Blai PraYa district.

El’s House Gets a Facelift

El became a paraplegic about 2 years ago, after a fall in the field. A year later, El’s husband left her for a minor wife. El’s husband doesn’t support her. El must depend on the generosity of neighbors to wash her clothes, sweep her floors and give her something to eat.
Each week our team would go to teach El the Bible. It was obvious to all how dark & dingy El's room appeared. We thought the room needed brightening. So we had her room plastered with cement so that we could paint. Both of Richard & Linda put on the primer coat of paint on Monday. That first day of painting neighbors came by to see what we were doing. El (not yet a Christian) praised God for what was happening and witnessed to her neighbors as we painted. The next day, four volunteers from Granberry, TX came and painted El’s room her favorite color, light blue and part of the outside.
Thanks, guys for your willingness to serve others!

El’s husband occasionally comes by the house and when asked to study or learn anything about God, he has refused. After the painting was finished, El’s husband came to see what had been done. He fussed because we had not done his whole house. El’s response was “You had a chance to get on God’s side and you refused, if you had chosen God he would have helped you too.”

Lotti Moon Totals Announced

The beginning of June, it was announced that the total amount of money received from the Lottie Moon Christmas offering in the past 12 months reached $148,984,819.41. We praise God for His faithfulness and how this reflects the continuing commitment by Southern Baptists in these times of a challenging economy. While this amount is short of the goal of $175 million, it is the third highest amount received in the history of Lottie Moon. The total amount received enables us to continue to tell lost Thais about God’s plan of salvation & disciple those who are interested in Krabi Province.
Thank you so much for your continuing support and sacrificial giving which allows us and 5000 other missionaries to reach out into the lost world!

Volunteers Open Doors for Evangelism at Schools

We borrowed these volunteers for a day to go into 2 schools near where our Saturday cell group meets. The team from Granberry, Texas divided up into 4 groups: one team sang English praise songs, another group taught English, still another group did sports and the last team presented the Gospel to the kids through an evangi-cube. The students at the elementary school were so excited that they didn’t want the volunteers to leave. This was the greatest exposure to westerners that the students had ever had.
Thanks too to these volunteers, who did a great job and opened the door for more ministry at the schools!
One of the girls from our Saturday group (Ngam, a 16 year old) asked for some eternity bracelets while we were at the High School. She gave them to 4 of her teachers and explained the meaning of the beads. She also answered questions that the teachers had. Praise God for her bravery!
Also at the high school, we met a young woman named Tassini that we had witnessed to 2 years ago. (She is a college graduate, who has contracted with the high school to sell food to the students.) She asked for more tracts, and wanted us to visit her home again to tell her about God. She asked where the Baptist church in Krabi town was too. (Tassini’s house is about 31 miles from Krabi town and for a person to ride a motorcycle that far is hard, especially in the rainy season.) Praise God for His work in the lives of these Thais. May much fruit here be produced in the near future.

Prayer and Praise

1. Praise God for the Granberry, TX & Gastonia, NC Volunteers, who had opportunities to witness in Krabi this past month.
2. Pray for us to see our goal of starting at least one Baptist Church accomplished in the near future.
3. Pray for Dow’s profession that she loves God move her to make time to study the Bible.
4. Pray for Tossini’s interest in God to move her to receive Jesus as Savior and become part of a church.
5. Pray for more Thais to come study the Bible with El on Tuesday afternoons.
6. Pray for our annual meeting in July to be productive for those who attend and for good health for all who come.
7. Thailand has been peaceful this past month, continue praying for unity among her people & a determination to solve their problems.
8. Krabi Baptist Church’s radio station has had a bumpy start with several problems.
A. Pray that many Thais in Krabi will listen and be influenced to know Christ.
B. Pray that the English program that Richard does on Sunday evenings will draw
Thais in search of learning English to know God.
9. Pray for us to draw nearer to God and for us to see more of His leading in our work.

Angel's Rejoice - New Christians in Khao Din

Recently we felt like our lives resembled a yoyo going up and down. Due to neighbors refusing to talk with them for studying the Bible, the number of Thais attending the Saturday cell group fell. We were concerned about the future of the group. Would they follow Jesus or not? We had been teaching them for almost a year, and were coming to the end of the Chronological Bibles stories. We wanted a firm commitment from them to follow Jesus.

Eight people came that Saturday. This included one man, who has come sporadically. Ah-john Dusit, the pastor at Krabi Baptist, came with us. He explained what it means to follow Jesus and gave an invitation at the end of our lesson. Seven of the 8 made the commitment to follow Jesus. The Bible says that the angels rejoice in heaven when we are saved. Praise God!!


The Bible also says that God hears the prayer of a righteous man. Thanks for your prayers!

Our Daughter’s Visit

Jamie was here with our granddaughter, Natalie for 3 weeks. In the course of her visit, she went to Viet Nam with us, visited a Thai friend in Phuket, went to Aow Nang beach with her family for 3 days, and went to Phi Phi Island with her husband while we keep Natalie.

Natalie was a real joy! She went to cell groups with us in 5 locations and was a great hit with the Thais. She got her picture taken numerous times with different Thais from our groups. We also had great delight in being grandparents up close for the 3 weeks, instead of through the web cam on our computer.

New Christian Radio Station - FM 100 - True Love

This past month, Krabi Baptist Church began a 300 watt community radio station. Besides playing Christian music, sermons and other Christian programming, several of the church members are DJs. Even Richard is on the air doing a 2 hour Easy English program once a week. He mixes secular and contemporary Christian music with the English lessons. It is exciting that God’s Truth can be proclaimed in this way.

Praise and Prayer

1. Praise God for the 7 Thais in Khao Din who accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior!
2. Pray for Pa, Gal and Am to make a commitment to study the Bible consistently with our Saturday group.
3. Praise God that we had a great time with our daughter and her family even in the midst of the violent protests in Bangkok.
4. Pray for us not to be sick. (Both of us had a bad case of food poisoning.)
5. Pray for Thai government officials to make good decisions about the country’s future.
6. Pray for Thai leadership to emerge from the groups that we are teaching.
7. Pray as we witness & pass out tracts that we find people interested in studying God's Word.

Training to Witness

Each Saturday we teach a seeker group* in Khao Din of about 7 to 10 people. In order to establish a church, it is necessary to get members of the group to actively witness to the people in their community. There is no way we can do this alone. To help train members how to witness, we began taking them out (along with a church member from Krabi Baptist) in April. We went house to house using a picture set explaining Creation to Christ. The seeker group members thought passing out tracts & talking to people about God was so much fun that they didn’t want to stop! Pray that our witnessing will produce results. (*Seeker Group is a group of interested people studying the Bible but have yet to make a commitment to Christ)

You Prayed & They Returned

Last month we asked you to pray for a family that had dropped out of one of our cell groups. We were concerned about a teenager and 12 year old in the family who were showing a genuine interest in the Bible studies and close to believing. Thank you for your prayers because they returned! However, the parents still sit on the outside as we teach. So your next project, if you choose to accept, is to pray for the parents to return & participate in the weekly Bible study. (The father told Richard that the reason he didn't come was because he drank, smoked, & gambled. Richard told him that he would never be excluded because he was a sinner. The only ones excluded are those who think they are perfect & don't need a savior)

Thai New Year - April 13-15th

Thais usually return to their homes in the country for Thai New Year in April. Many people are off from work the whole week. During this festival, Thais will pay respect to their elders and visit friends. At the local temple or a place announced by the community, Thais will come to give blessings and politely pour water on the shoulder of the elders. Besides this formal ceremony, children and teenagers partake in a massive 3 day water fight. They splash and spray water on anyone in close proximity, including adults, police, and tourists. This New Year is the year 2553 according to the Buddhist calendar.

Krabi Bike Race

Richard was in a Bike Race on April 9th. It was really hot that day, and some of the racers quit the race early because of the heat. A six bike pile up occurred during the race as one biker fell over from heat exhaustion. Richard won a 3rd place trophy for his age group of 55+. He received his trophy from the mayor of Krabi town.

Immigration – Yearly Visa

We went to Bangkok earlier in April to get our visa renewed for the coming year. We knew that many Thai government offices had moved north of Bangkok to get away from traffic congestion. We were surprised when we saw the new facilities. The buildings had several stories- it was almost like a shopping mall on the inside. Each building had its own bank branches, convenience stores, restaurants, cleaners, etc. We went early in the morning to Immigration, so there were only a few people ahead of us. We were grateful for the new air-conditioned building and the spacious waiting room inside. We took a stack of documents along with us. Thankfully,there was only a 2 hours and 45 minutes wait to get our new visa. God is good.

Praise and Prayer

1. Praise God that Yik, Mike, Nam and Sai have returned to Bible study on Saturday
afternoon.
2. Praise God that our daughter, Jamie, arrived safely to Thailand. We were able
to join her and go on a side venture to Vietnam.
3. Pray that Gal’s family will come consistently to study the Bible on Saturday.
4. Pray for Am to lead her new husband, Boy, to know Jesus Christ as Lord and
Savior.
5. Pray for Sam-ran, a business man in Khao Phanom, to be interested in spiritual things.
6. Pray for both El and Bird/Branee to get rid of the idols in their homes and worship solely the one true God.
7. Pray for God to raise up Thai Christian leaders for our groups in Khao Phanom.

Bird Breaks Free from YoRay Religous Sect

Instead of an idol, the Thais come to worship the word, “Savior” written in Japanese on a wall. This savior will come when the world ends.
This Buddhist religious movement began in Japan during the 1930s. They seek to make an ideal world through eating organic foods, art (painting/flower arranging), and divine light healing. The also do rituals to ancestors and accept many good teachings from other religions. 660,000 Thais follow this teaching.
Bird was in YoRay for 6 years. We now teach him and his mother on Tuesday afternoon. Richard recently went with Bird to pick up some things he had stored at the YoRay Center in Suratthani. During the travel to Surat, Richard asked him, why he had come out of YoRay. Bird responded, “I saw the truth in Jesus and I wanted the truth.” Praise God!!

Cool Mountain Vacation

Richard & Linda took a vacation to the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. We stayed in a private home, read books, put together several jigsaw puzzles, hiked, and had a quite time away from the daily hour trips to work in Khao Phanom & Blai Praya. It was cool in the mountains – a relief from the heat of Thailand. The area we stayed in is called “Little England” because of the Tutor architecture of the hotels and many of the local homes. We also got to practice our English speaking skills and worship in English .

Seminary Student Testimony

During the summer break here (March –May) seminary students go to several places in Thailand. One team came to practice things they had heard in class in the south. They came a few days to help us with our work.
One of the students gave his testimony. Tong was a dancer in bars and discos in a Thai tourist city and was into drinking heavily plus other things.
Tong’s mother had been inhabited with spirits for 12 years. She had been to and spent lots of money on 2 spirit doctors, who both died. His older brother became a Christian and led his mother to God. The spirits left her when she became a Christian and didn’t return.
When Tong returned home, his mother asked him to go to church with her one Sunday. His thoughts were, “I don’t want to go, but to appease my mother I’ll go. I became a Buddhist monk temporarily for my mother, going to church one time is certainly a much shorter time than a couple of weeks as a monk.” He went to church and he too met God. His life changed and now he’s studying at the Baptist seminary in Bangkok so he can work in a church with teenagers. Praise God for calling Thais to Himself, who will in turn bring many others to Jesus.

Praise and Prayer

1. Praise God that Meow and Chaat are seeking God. Pray for Meow and Chaat to study and grow to become Christians.
2. Pray for Yik, Mike, Ngam, and Sai to desire God more than other things in their lives and return to Bible study.
3. Pray for Gal, Pa, Bal, Am, and Khwan to be able to stand the pressure of being ostracized/isolated by their community because they are studying the Bible.
4. Pray for Sam-ran and his daughter to study the Bible and come to know Jesus as Savior.
5. Pray for Moo whose mother is dying of cancer to put his trust in God.
6. Our daughter’s family is coming for a visit the end of April. Pray for us to have good safe travels and bless our time together as a family.
7. Pray for Southern Thai Christians to lead lives which are testimonies to God’s love and power to change lives.

Paralyzed Lady Hears God's Voice

El is paralyzed from her waist down. Jiap met her while she was out selling Cell Food (a food supplement). Jiap asked us to visit El because she wanted to hear about God. We went feeling like El really wanted to be healed and would accept anything just so she could walk again. While there we asked her to lay aside her former Buddhists beliefs and try Jesus. Tow, a member from Krabi Church, came to play the guitar and we sang some Christian songs which El said she liked very much. We talked about God and told her about praying for forgiveness from the things she had done wrong. Jiap wrote out a simple prayer for El to say at night before she went to sleep.
The following week during our visit El said, “you know after I said that prayer you gave me to say, I heard a voice telling me that Jesus was already helping me. I was surprised and looked around to see where they voice came from, but saw no one.” Her neighbors and relatives told her that she was just being brainwashed, but El said she felt better and wanted to know more about our God. This was good because Richard had asked Jiap to teach her the first lesson in the Chronological Bible lessons. He is trying to get our group members to teach what they have learned to others. (Jiap has taught 3 lessons already & is doing a great job!)
We left a song book with El and she has been using it to sing some of the songs in the book. She has even been getting those who visit her to sing with her.
Her husband, who has a second wife, came for a visit and noticed a difference in El. He said that she didn’t fuss at him now. A few days later, he came and gave her about $40 to buy food. This is great because since he left to find another wife, El has been dependent on others helping her. Now her husband is coming by on a regular basis and helping her.
Please pray for El’s healing, and most of all, for her to believe in God.

Bible Drill

There is a lively song in Thai which teaches the books of the New Testament. The Thais love the song. We taught it to the children in Toong Pru and then had them memorize the names of the New Testament books. Upon completion of the memorization, we gave the kids new testaments. Now we’re having Bible Drills to help them learn how to locate the different books in the New Testament. The older children excitedly compete each week.

Fellowship at the Beach

Richard left the house about 7 am to pick up members of the Khao Din group and bring them to church in Krabi town (about 50 kilometers away). After eating lunch at church, we took the group to Nop-pa-rat beach. The kids played in the water as the adults watched from the shady shoreline. The kids had fun collecting small jellyfish in cups (That’s fun?). Later we went to the Sea Shell Cemetery which is part of a National Park. Everyone was amazed at the small shells which once were deposited at the bottom of the sea thousands of years ago but now compacted on rocks visible to visitors. However, the kids liked the shopping area most of all. It was a good escape from regular activities & a great time to get to know the individuals in the group better.

Prayer and Praise

1. Praise God El’s life is changing and that her husband has taken more interest in helping her.
2. Pray for El to be healed, but most of all for her to become a child of God.
3. Pray for Montri to understand what he studies each week and begin practicing what he learns.
4. Pray for the groups we teach to remain faithful as we are gone on vacation and to meetings in March.
5. Pray for the Gospel to break through to the hearts of the ToongPru children and their families so they will to come to Jesus.
6. Pray for the Thais at Krabi Baptist Church to show more interest in Vern and that he will become more involved in Krabi Baptist Church.
7. Pray for members of each of our groups to actively witness of their faith.

Children's Day 2010

The 2nd Saturday in January is Children’s Day. Most towns and schools have activities for the children. They play games, do Thai traditional dances, get prizes, and free snack foods. We joined Khao Phanom city in their celebration. Eager children began coming before 8 am. We had a steady stream of children until lunch. We gave away 700+ children’s tracts, snack foods, and balloon animals. Two church friends blew up and tied off the balloons as fast as they could so that we could make the balloon animals. By noon, all four of us were ready to eat lunch and rest. Both friends ended up with blisters from tying off the balloons.

Funerals

The deceased in Thailand are kept in a refrigerated casket during funeral dates. We have attended 2 funerals lately. Both of the funerals we attended were for Christians. One deceased person was kept at Krabi Baptist Church through the 2 days of services. The family slept in the same room with their loved one. Richard preached one of those services about Jesus being the good shepherd. Each service ended with those attending eating rice porridge and beverages. The non-Christian mother asked for her daughter’s body to be cremated so that she could take her ashes home.
The second funeral we attended was for a relative of one of our cell group members. We traveled three hours away through some beautiful mountainous countryside to the city of Na-korn-Si-Tham-ma-rat. A Presbyterian church has a cemetery in that city. The cemetery had a shelter where the services were held and the family stayed. We arrived about 11 AM. The family made sure that we were greeted and had something to drink. About 30 minutes later they served us lunch with a choice of 7 toppings to put on our rice. (Serving food is standard for most funerals in Thailand.) We left about 3 PM and did not stay for the night services. (This would have put us getting home about midnight and having to work the next day.) According to Thai tradition, we left an envelope with money in it to help the family pay for the funeral expenses. The services lasted 7 days and the deceased was buried in the cemetery in a partially buried vault.

Encounter With A Spirit

A young couple drove 4 hours into Ranong Province with us to visit a Thai pastor friend and the church of 50-60 persons which meets in his side yard. The church has ½ Thai and ½ Burmese people. During the service, Richard preached with a Burmese man translating from Thai into Burmese. His message was on the importance of prayer.

At the end of the service, our friend, the pastor asked those who were sick or experiencing personal problems to come forward for special prayer. Several walked to the front including a lady who was having headaches and complained that she was dizzy. She looked rather distant as well. As the pastor spoke the name of Jesus, the lady being prayed for started to sway like she was going to faint. Richard immediately grabbed her arm to keep her from falling. However, she jerked away like a halfback breaking free from a tackle. Linda saw the lady stumbling. Thinking she was about to collapse, Linda reached for her arm but the lady spun away like a top out of control. We were both shocked by the bizarre behavior.

On the way home, the wife of the young couple that rode up to Ranong Province with us asked about the lady that was prayed for. She thought the lady had a spirit inside her. She explained that her grandmother is a spirit medium. When her grandmother invites a spirit to enter the body, her actions are very similar to the woman who was prayed for on Sunday. We both came to the same conclusion because the Bible clearly shows that evil spirits both resist and fear the name of Jesus.

Prayer and Praise

1. Continue to pray for Montri to be healed from the traffic accident injury, and believe fully in God.
2. Pray for a full commitment of Krabi Baptist in the area of church planting in Khao Phanom/Blai Praya and follow-up.
3. Pray for Ran to be completely healed of several diseases, and gain strength, so that he can work and support his family.
4. Continue to pray for Linda to be completely cured of related effects of chikungunya disease.
5. Pray for Vern to study God’s Word, understand what he reads and accept Jesus as his only Savior.
6. Pray for each group we teach to grow in their faith in God and be active in telling their friends and neighbors about Jesus.
7. Continue praying for more adults to study the Bible with us in Khao Phanom and Blai PraYa.

Khao Phanom Christmas Program

Thanks for praying. God heard your prayers!!! We had 32 Non-Christian Thais come to the Christmas program in Khao Phanom. In addition,10 members from Krabi Baptist Church came to help, plus ourselves and Nantana. So altogether, 45 excited people participated in this special Christmas outreach. What a great celebration of the birth of Christ! The children in Khao Din surprised us with a dance that they decided to do on their own. The dance was performed to music of 2 Christian songs. Our pastor from Krabi Baptist preached for 15 minutes and everyone enthusiastically listened. Our co-worker (Nantana) told the Christmas story as we changed scenes using felt figures depicting the story of the angel visiting Joseph & Mary, the shepherds in the field hearing the Good News, and the Magi’s visit to worship the new born king. There was plenty of singing, games and of course prizes. Everyone got a present. With any celebration in Thailand, there must be food. On this day the people in Khao Din provided plenty of food. The entire day was truly a blessing from God.

Krabi Baptist Christmas Celebrations

In Thailand, many think that Christmas is the westerner’s celebration of the New Year. They don’t know that Christmas is the birthday of Jesus Christ. Christmas is truly a special time of year in Thailand. It is the best time of year for Christians in Thailand to explain the meaning of Christmas.
Church Christmas Caroling took place Christmas night by going to homes & businesses of church members. We started at the pastor’s house and proceeded around the province until 3 AM. All were tired and needed lots of sleep, but all had a joyous time singing and praying for of the families of each home where we caroled.
Lotus (the local Walmart type store) allowed us to do a Christmas program in their mall. This included children dancing, Christmas songs, and the pastor telling the meaning of Christmas. While the program was taking place, other members of Krabi Baptist went passing out special Christmas tracts to shoppers.
Krabi Baptist Church invited many Thais to a special community Christmas program on December 27th. The program this year had over 500 people attending. The program was held outside in the field beside the church. Children did traditional Thai dancing, the pastor preached for 15 minutes about Jesus' birth and the worlds desperate need for a Saviour, several plays were performed, lots of games took place and food was eaten at the end of the event. It is our prayer that God works in the lives of the Thais who came to the Christmas program so that they will make Jesus Lord of their lives.

Bicycle Race

On December 11th, Richard entered a mountain bike race in Krabi. He and his friends practiced a few weeks before the race. The competition began near the Andamen Sea and ended on a steep 45 degree angled hill overlooking the sea near Krabi’s Royal Residence. Richard was able to keep up with most contestants through out the race with many being much younger than he. However, the last hill of the race did him in. After 34 kilometers of riding non stop on dirt roads, trails through rubber tree plantations, & a few paved roads, he struggled to make it to the top. Two men in the same age group passed him at the last minute beating him by about 20 seconds! Going across the finish line Richard was exhausted but proud that he had finished the race! After recuperating with 3 bottles of cold water plus 3 bottles of Gatorade type liquid, he felt much better. Overall, Richard came in 12th out of the 26 participants and got a trophy for his efforts.

Lottie Moon

At this time of year we want to express our appreciation of your support through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. This funding helps by providing a truck for us to drive while doing ministry, tracts and books to give out, Bible teaching materials, and resources to do special evangelistic events through out the year. The offering is a vital funding for our organization’s work. Thank you for your support.

Prayer and Praise

1. Praise God that A. Nantana’s baby boy arrived safe and healthy on December 30th. We are now without a Thai co-worker. Pray for God to prepare the right person to work with us.
2. Children’s Day is January 9th. We will be tying balloon animals & giving our Christian tracts in Khao Phanom city. Pray that these activities touch the lives of Thai adults and children that attend the Children’s Day Program.
3. Pray for Ran, a father in a family at Tung Pru, to be completely healed so that he can work again and support his family.
4. Pray for Linda to be completely cured of related effects of chikungunya disease.
5. Pray for the husband, Vern, of a recently deceased Krabi Baptist church member to come to know God as Savior.
6. Pray for the quick and complete healing of Montri, a member of our BlayPraYa seeker group. (He was hit by a motorcycle as he was walking home.)
7. Pray for Kingsley (a Christian from Cameroon) as he teaches and witnesses at Blai PraYa High School, a school of 2,000 students.