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.