A Personal Story Sandwiched Between Two Praises

One of our two new church plants in process this year is in the village of Nongplasawai in the northern province of Lamphun, about a 10 hour drive from our house.  This new church plant in progress is a daughter church of God is Good church, which is about a 20 minute drive from our home.  God Is Good church was just planted in last year, but is already in the process of planting two new churches in counties that have no Christian church of any type.  So how did God Is Good Church decide to plant a daughter church a 10 hour drive away?

That location was chosen because of one of the elders at God Is Good Church, whose name is Kajad.  Kajad found the Lord Jesus Christ when he moved from the village of Nongplasawai to Chonburi, where he met some Christians who loved him, prayed with him, and led him to the Lord.  Since that time, Kajad has grown strong in the Lord and is one of the leaders who started God Is Good Church.  Kajad has led his family back in Nongplasawai to Christ, but there is no church in that county, so his family remains spiritually vulnerable and his hometown and county remain unreached.  Kajad has been praying for 8 years for a church to open in his hometown so his people can hear the good news of Jesus Christ.

Kajad (right) taking a selfie with his older brother from the village of Nongplasawai

A view from Nongplasawai village to Mt. Inthanon.  Absolutely beautiful.

Kajad and the elders and pastors of God Is Good church have been leading evangelism teams to his home town frequently.  The issue right now is that the church needs a place to meet and the pioneer pastor needs a place to live.  But when Kajad went to find a place to rent, there was only one place available, and the owner refused to rent to Christians that wanted to start a church.

Just this past week, Kajad signed a long term lease agreement for land in his village and soon they will begin to build a house for the pioneer pastor and a meeting room for the new church.  When Kajad told Sherri about the plans for building the church, he showed his arm and said, "Every time I think about this, the hairs on my arms stand up!  I am very, very excited!"

And we are excited too, because now there will be a church in a place that has never been reached for Christ throughout history.  Please pray for this new church plant that it will progress quickly and be fruitful.

Now for a personal story.  We are near the end of the rain season, and we have been pummeled with downpours.  Last week, it rained so much that our village flooded and the water came within inches of our front door (praise God our small driveway and house are raised about a foot from the road.
During the flood the electricity blacked out too, so we had to use our phones as flashlights so we could lift valuables off of the floor (in case the flood waters entered the house) and pack a few days of clothes and office items to evacuate.  It was good that we evacuated when we did because the flood water on the main road was already very high and our small car is pretty low.  We have had several times our car has floated in flood water, and we try to avoid having this happen again.  Now that the flood has dissipated, many of the main roads are washed out and dangerous, having edges and sections that have caved in.  We have had to use alternate routes to travel to Blessing Home now.

The large classroom for Blessing Home Isan is complete now (the building on the left).

 Now for another praise.  The final phase of Blessing Home Isan construction has been completed for a month now.  The large classrom building is used for teaching students at Blessing Home Isan as well as it is used as a sanctuary for Almighty God UMC.  It is beautiful and it is so helpful, because now Carol and Vicki can teach two classes concurrently, increasing our capacity for ministry.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for making this possible.