Pray for Peace in Thailand

Thailand is a politically fractured nation with two political parties that identify themselves by colors, the red shirts and the yellow shirts (For a good news article, see the BBC news on this link > http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25099105.)
These two groups have had many protests over the last ten years, however the last 2 years have been peaceful.  Now the protests have started up again, and the yellow shirts have invaded and shut down some government buildings in Bangkok.  Yingluck Shinawatra, the prime minister of Thailand, invoked emergency powers to gain control of the situation.

Please pray for peace.  Each time we have seen a wave of protests, they have been more severe than the one before.  And the last one was bloody.  Thailand is not near the point of civil war, but these protests make it trend towards danger.

It will mean a great deal to the Thai Christians, knowing that Christians in America are praying for them and praying for peace in their nation.

Mission Teams Info Meeting AND A Request for your Prayerful Consideration

For all of you who are interested in serving on a Mission Team to Thailand:
We have an information meeting at College Heights United Methodist Church in Elizabethtown, Kentucky on November 16 at 9am.
All of the information for the 2014 Mission Teams is on our TEAM THAILAND website at this address >> http://thailandmethodist.blogspot.com/

The mission in Thailand depends upon your prayers and financial support.
It is only through your prayers that the mission is fruitful.  And it is only through your financial support that children are saved from traffickers through the ministry of Blessing Home and churches are planted in unreached counties in Thailand so that all Thai people have the opportunity to know Jesus Christ.

Here is what we are asking you to do.  Please pray to the Lord for what He wants you to do.  And if the Lord leads you to make a commitment to support the mission, follow the Lord's leading.
So as individual Christians, pray to the Lord and follow him.
As Sunday School classes, UMW and UMM groups, and other groups, pray to the Lord and follow him.
As congregations setting your budgets for 2014, pray to the Lord to see if TMM should be on the church budget.

Here are some numbers to keep in mind.
$500 provides education, nutrition, and Christian care to save a child through the ministry of Blessing Home for one year.  Can you, or your group or church sponsor some children to save them from trafficking?

$4,500 plants a new self-supporting church in an unreached area of Thailand, expanding the Kingdom of the Lord into new territory.  This provides Biblical and Financial training and a business grant to a Pioneer Pastor to start a business that will support his/her family as they plant a new church.

$20,000 builds a church building for a rural church that has outgrown their place of worship.  This is the final step to making a newly planted church secure and permanent.  We encourage all churches that are doing building projects to pray about including a mission church in their plans as well.

Remember TMM for Christmas
Many faithful Christians and churches give special offerings to TMM for Christmas.
This year we are requesting special giving for the TMM Building Fund.
Our goal is to raise $60,000 by the end of the year.
As we have been building the Blessing Home Isan center, we realized we needed one extra large classroom that would also be used as a place of worship for the church.  Part of the funds would go towards completing the Blessing Home Isan building projects.
We also need to remodel a barn at Global Theological Institute that is currently being used as a women's dormitory (it is truly like a tabacco barn), but we need to make it truly livable.  We are also building two classrooms and a restroom building to replace the outhouses that are presented used by the students.
Please be sure to write "Building Fund" in the memo section of your check or online donation.

Give online or by mail
You can give online at http://thailandmethodist.org/donate.html
or send a check to TMM at:
TMM
P.O. Box 56
Mannsville, KY 42758

Blessing Home updates

Fern with her Sunday School teacher, May

Most of the Blessing Home children are served at the Blessing Home Ground Zero Center in Pattaya.  But a few are from some of the other churches that we have planted.  We want you to meet Fern and her older sister Wen, who are two new children in our Blessing Home program, but are being served from the Nakhon Pathom church, a church we helped to plant in this city which is west of Bangkok.

Fern and Wen started coming to the Nakhon Pathom church earlier this year.  Fern suffers from leukemia, and she is not expected to survive.  Her mother is very poor and must be with Fern constantly.  Pastors Ekerat and Da and the Christians at the Nakhon Pathom church have taken her in and have helped the family to the best of their ability, providing food and limited financial help.  Because Fern's medical treatment drains all of the family's financial resources and attention, Wen did not have what she needed to go to school.  

Through your generous financial support, we are able to help Fern and Wen in the Blessing Home program.  We help Fern and her family with help for medical expenses and food, and we now scholarship Wen to go to school, providing for the uniforms, books, transportation, and other needs.  In cases like these, children like Wen would be in great danger of being trafficked to provide needed finances for the family and younger sister.  But now she is protected from this fate.

 

Left to Right: Pastor Da, Wen, Fern, Pastor Ekerat

We also want to give you an update on Naet, who was saved from life as a drug mule at the young age of 4.  Naet moved into a permanent family earlier this year.  Pastor Namporn is now her mother, and Naet has received a new Christian name.  Her name is now Maria.  Pastor Namporn wanted to give her a new life, a new start.

Auntie Bangon, Grandmother Bau, Maria (formerly Naet), and Pastor Nampon

Maria was struggling in school, and having great difficulties in all subjects.  Pastor Nampon has taken a lot of time and effort to tutor her, and now she is doing very well in school.  She even read one of her school books to Sherri.

We have never seen Maria happier.  Now that she is doing well in school, she is really blossoming.  Thank you for your prayers for her.

Construction on the Blessing Home Isan center is on schedule.  Last week, we went to inspect the site with TMM missionaries Carol Fare and Vicki Brown, who will be serving at Blessing Home Isan once the buildings are ready in January.  We are very blessed to have Carol and Vicki serving with us here and it is our prayer that many more will join as long term missionaries here with us.  We have a great need for people to serve at Blessing Home and with the Pioneer Pastor Program.  If you believe God may be calling you to serve, please contact us at thailandumc@gmail.com

Vicki Brown and Carol Fare at the Blessing Home Isan site.