Akha gathering in Pattaya

Yesterday, on Nov. 17, we joined Pastor Sarah of Pradumri First UMC and Pastor Nimmit, a new UM pastor from the Akha tribe. He is planting a new Akha UMC church in Pattaya, and we had a second organizational meeting at the beach sidewalk in Pattaya. Twenty four Akha hill tribe Christians came to the meeting, taking a break from selling their handcraft items to tourists. Everyone was very excited about starting this new church. The problem we have is that we need a place to meet that is accessible by walking for the Akha people. Pattaya is a very expensive city, so we cannot afford to rent a building there. Please pray that God will provide a building that we can use on Sunday afternoon or evening for this new church.

This Week: L2P School and Ethnic Ministries in Pattaya

This week we are completing the second half of our License to Preach School (L2P), which is a basic course for training those who will be entering the ministry. The course we teach is the same material used at the L2P training in the Kentucky Annual Conference. We thank Dr. Rice for giving permission for these materials to be translated into the Thai language.

The one thing about Thai Christians... they never ask easy questions. Teaching these courses that are required for credentialing is challenging. The pastors and Bible College students always keep us on our toes. We really enjoy teaching. There is no better way to learn material or to be refreshed in it than to teach it.

Right now I (Mike) am at our home office while Sherri is teaching. Our printer decided to "bite the dust" yesterday, so I had to get a new printer today and am doing a printing marathon.

Last Sunday, we attended the Chinese service at Life Center UMC in Pattaya. The worship leader was Pi Mary, a former member of Pradumri First UMC who is of Chinese origin. Pi Mary led the worship with joy and confidence in the Lord. We met several new visitors to the church and were happy to see the fruit of their hard work for the Lord.

On Tuesday, I went down to Pattaya with Pastor Sarah of Pradumri First UMC and Pastor Nimmit, who is an associate pastor at Pradumri. Pastor Nimmit is from the Akha hill tribe and has a heart to reach Akha people in Thailand, Burma, and China. We went to the beach at Pattaya, where Pi Mary arranged a meeting with some women she knew that are Akha. These women sell handcrafts to tourists at the beach. There were 6 women there and they were all interested in starting an Akha congregation. We had a meeting over dinner and decided to start meeting on November 17th at the Major movie theater. We don't have a building at this time, so we hope this location can work out for long term.

Pray for the ethnic ministries here in Thailand, especially in Pattaya where there is such great need.