Life Center UMC in Pattaya is our home church in Thailand and we love our brothers and sisters here. Life Center UMC has both a Thai congregation and a Chinese congregation, and both are growing and getting stronger every month. This is wonderful news, because Pattaya is a very difficult place to grow a church, because it is the Sodom and Gomorrah of Southeast Asia. Yet Pastor Banya, whose name means “wisdom”, lives up to his name in his wise and faithful leadership.
Life Center UMC is also the church which sponsors Blessing Home, which most know is a ministry which serves street children and orphans in Pattaya, providing food, education, safety, medical care, Christian education and the Love of the Lord to the 64 children who receive care each week.
This past Sunday was a special day in the life of the Thai congregation as 7 new believers were baptized in the universal church of Jesus Christ. Out of the 7 that were baptized, we wanted to highlight 2 of them.
The first is a young teenager named Nok, who is the daughter of Pui. Pui is the director of Blessing Home, and we are very blessed to have her leading this ministry. Pui is one of those people that is highly gifted in many areas of life, and she is a faithful hard worker in the church. She leads cells the praise team and can play the guitar, she teaches children, and then leads large events at the church. She can teach and preach and do it all. And by her side is her daughter Nok, who is a sweet-spirited young lady who help run the computer at church and is one of the most thoughtful teenagers we have ever met. No one has to ask her to do anything. If there is a guest speaker, she will get them water to drink. If there is a young child who needs assistance, she is right there. Well, today, Pui’s daughter Nok and her brother and sister-in-law were all baptized. Pui was beaming with joy the whole day. It is wonderful watching Nok grow up to be a very kind, gentle, generous, and gifted young woman, just like her mother, Pui. God is good!
The second new believer is Sinchai, who was the oldest person baptized. Don’t ask his age, because I (Mike) forgot to ask. Sinchai has been a believer for 29 months now and during that time God has held his hand through many serious trials, the largest of which was his stroke which paralyzed his left side. Sinchai had a very slow recovery from his stroke, and yet He has trusted in God the whole time. Sinchai is a real prayer warrior. When he prays for you, you know that things are moving in the spiritual realm, because he prays with his whole heart. When he prays, it is often that we find ourselves weeping with joy over the goodness of our Lord. It was a joy to be there with him at his baptism.
I know recently we have posted many baptism pictures, and we hope you do not grow tired of articles about these baptism services. It is just that it is a great time of rejoicing for us here in Thailand, and we want to share that joy with you. New believers in Thailand face much pressure to return to their old life and their old faith. Some new believers experience persecution and loss for their new faith in Christ, and it is a miracle when they overcome all of this to be baptized members of the church.
So today in your prayers, please give thanks and praise to God for working miracles in the lives of these new believers in Thailand.
