Our Fourth Sunday @ God Purpose Church

Rev. Somsak, president of the Chiang Rai Bible College, preached and served Holy Communion at morning worship. It was a pleasure to get acquainted with Rev. and Mrs. Somsak. Rev. Somsak has a nurturing relationship with this church. He is the one who has been called in the past to serve the sacraments of Holy Communion and Baptism at this church. Hopefully in this next month, we will take a trip up to Chiang Rai, which is the most northern region of Thailand, to visit the Somsaks and to tour the Bible college there. We praise God for their ministry, which has trained many of the pastors of all denominations here in Thailand.

We need your prayers for our health. Anthony is taking antibiotics for an infection in his ears and throat and we have all had travelers diarrhea for most of the week. (We used the toilets so much that we had to have a water truck come out to refill our cistern. -- Sherri will shoot me for putting that detail in the blog!) Sherri and I are feeling much better, but Anthony has a way to go. Feeling sick has been hard on his spirits too, so please pray for the Lord to lift him up.

We just completed our third language lesson in Bangkok and we have a tutor that just started to work with us last week for three sessions per week in our home. We are now recognizing a few words in each conversation we hear, and that is much better than none.

We are starting to teach English at the church and at our home. These will eventually turn into English language Bible studies. The one at the church is for church leaders and the one at our home is for our neighbors. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will open our neighbors hearts to the good news of Jesus Christ.

Our evenings are quickly being filled with Thai language study with the tutor and church cell group meetings. Daytimes are filled with Bible study, prayer, language studies, and taking care of the necessities of life. We have been blessed with multitudes of opportunities to witness to our neighbors and other folks that we meet in the course of each day. We have many tracts that are designed for different age groups that we hand out to people. These tracts have the name and address of the church on the back as well as a simple map to direct people there. The church has a fantastic location on the main road in the city, so it is easy for people to find. We have had two neighbors come with us to a prayer meeting already. It is difficult to get people to come on Sunday morning because shops are open here on Sunday and it is usually their best day for sales. People who work in shops and restaurants cannot take the time off to come to church. We have the same problem with church members. There are many, many people who regularly come to the cell groups that cannot attend on Sunday morning because of their jobs. For them, their cell group serves the function of a worship service.

Many people have asked for our mailing address. Here it is:

Mike and Sherri Morrissey
101/109 MOO 3MB Sirarom
Tumbon Samad
Ampore Muang
Chon Buri 20000 Thailand

Letters are greatly appreciated. They give our spirits a lift. However, please do not send packages without first e-mailing us at thailandumc@gmail.com.
We would need to pay import taxes on items that are sent to us, so we need to be careful about any packages that are sent. (This is a great rule of thumb for sending packages to any overseas missionaries.) Also, notices are many times not given that a package has arrived, so it will sit in a warehouse without us knowing it is there, unless we know about it so we can keep inquiring at our end.
We thank you for your faithfulness in prayer and your generous financial support that makes it possible for us to serve as your missionaries in Thailand.

May God Bless You!