A HUGE prayer request

We have a HUGE prayer request for you to lift up to the Lord in your daily devotion time.

TMM Missionaries Carol Fare and Vicki Brown are the Directors of Special Blessings Korat, a powerful ministry for special needs children.  Please check their website at www.specialblessingskorat.org

The building that Carol and Vicki rent for this ministry is up for sale at a bank auction (the owner defaulted on the loan).  The auction will take place on January 23rd, and Carol and Vicki will be bidding on the place to buy it.  They have spent a lot of time and money to modify the building to be a model school and also training center, and they really need to be able to buy this building.  So please pray that they can purchase the building for a greatly reduced price. 

Again, we ask for daily prayers for God's provision.

Sherri and I wish you all a Blessed Christmas.  We are blessed to serve as your missionaries here in Thailand, and we are grateful for your prayers and financial support.
May you and your family experience the Joy of the Lord as you celebrate the birth of God's only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

Many people have informed us that their church or church group is taking a special Christmas offering for Blessing Home.  The Blessing Home fund is completely depleted, and all help is appreciated.

Gifts designated to Blessing Home or other ministries of the Thailand Methodist Mission can be sent to :
TMM
P.O. Box 56
Mannsville, KY 42758

or give ONLINE at https://thailandmethodist.org/donate/

Please share this address and website with your church treasurer/secretary to ensure the designated Christmas offering will be received.  Thailand Methodist Mission is an Independent Faith-Based Mission, and we are not connected with the Advance. 

Rejoice with us!

The past several weeks have been filled with joy because of your prayers.  When you pray, the Lord moves mountains here in Thailand.  Rejoice with us about all that the Lord has done.

1.  On Saturday, we received the building permits for the church construction at Fire of Glory Church in Nonthaburi.  This was miraculous for a few reasons.  The first is that the government office did not charge us extra after the first blueprints that they made were of a building that would be much to expensive for us to build.  The government architect showed grace towards Pastor Somsri and designed a second building for free.  We have never heard of this happening before and we praise God because the budget will be very tight for constructing this building.  The second miracle was that the government worker came in when the office was closed for a public holiday on Saturday, so we could have the building permits to begin construction today.  We have never heard of this happening before either.   Below is a picture of Pastor Somsri displaying the miraculous building permit.

2.  We employ 2 full-time staff members named Boy and May, who are a wonderful young Thai Christian couple married for only a few years.  They come 5 days per week to our home office to help us develop Christian education curriculum.  9 months ago, when we heard the great news that they would have their first baby together, everyone was quite excited.  Baby girl Beenah was born two weeks ago, and she is always smiling (don't tell me it is just gas, I will cover my ears and say "la,la,la,la,la" so I can't hear you).  Mother and daughter are both healthy and we will love having Beenah come to the office with her parents.  (If anyone doesn't know already, Sherri is CRAZY about babies.  When Sherri is holding a baby, she is in her happy place).  Below is a picture of Sherri with Baby Beenah.

3.  Last Saturday, we attended a ceremony to dedicate the land for a new church building at Pradumri Nakhon Pathom Church.  Nine years ago, through the generosity of our church family at St. John's UMC of Aiken, S.C., we helped to plant this church under the leadership of Pioneer Pastors Ekerat and Da.  Ekerat and Da were sponsored by us to attend Bible College and then did a full year of internship with us to prepare for this church plant, and the Lord has worked through them.  Pradumri Nakhon Pathom church has solid leadership and they have been self-supporting for many years now.
A few months ago, they bought a house with extra land.  Half of the house is used for a parsonage for Pastors Ekerat and Da and their family, and half is used as a sanctuary for worship.  Not everyone can fit into the worship room, so many must sit outside during the worship service, but they had this problem at their old place that they rented for the last 9 years.  They begin construction this week on a two-story building that will be completed (hopefully) in the next 4 months.  Once this building is complete, they will have room to grow again.  When a church is self-sufficient, self-leading, and owns their own building, it is a church that is solid and permanent.  Praise God!  And special thanks to everyone at St. John's UMC of Aiken, S.C., for supporting this church for their first five years so they could become strong and vibrant.

Below are two pictures, the first is of Pastors Ekerat and Da back in 2009 when they first planted the church (and did not yet have children).  The second picture was taken this week at the Land Dedication ceremony.

4.  October is Winter Break for Thai schools, and it is a time when many Thai churches baptize new believers because they have time to travel to the lake or ocean.  Usually there are a few hundred new believers receiving baptism every October at the churches planted through the Pioneer Pastor program (and even more are baptized around Easter).  We are invited to officiate at the baptism services of the churches, but it is impossible for us to make it to all of them. 

When Thai new believers are baptized, it is celebration, and they shout out "Alleluia!" and "Thank you, Jesus" as they dance and sing with hearts that overflow with joy.  There are never any dry eyes, as we all are overwhelmed by the Amazing Grace of our Lord.

Below is a picture of Sherri and I baptizing a believer from Abundant Blessing Church in Sukhothai province.  Sixteen new believers were baptized from this church on that day and it was the first time that both of us performed baptisms together (usually one of us is officiating and the other is taking pictures).

Now for a few reminders.

A.  Many of you have asked for information on the next opportunity to serve on a mission team in Thailand.  The next team is coming to Thailand on October 11, 2019 - October 21, 2019.
If you are interested, please visit our Team Thailand website for more information > https://thailandmethodist.blogspot.com/

B.  Please remember the Thailand Methodist Mission on Giving Tuesday, November 27 and throughout the Christmas season.  We are asking for special offerings and donations to go to Blessing Home this Christmas season, because the Blessing Home Fund is depleted and we need help. 

If you are moved by the Lord to donate to the Thailand Methodist Mission, check may be sent to this address:

TMM
P.O. Box 56
Mannsville, KY 42758

OR

you may donate online through our website at  https://thailandmethodist.org/donate/

Christmas Offering 2018, An invitation to the 2019 VIM Team, and an Update on Church Construction

This year's Christmas Offering

Every year, many churches and individuals give special Christmas offerings to Thailand Methodist Mission and each year we have a special project that we are raising funds for.  Last year was raising funds for a church building in Nonthaburi province, and we received all of the funds needed to buy land and do all of the construction.  These offerings make a huge difference, an eternal difference here in Thailand.

This year's Christmas offerings will be going towards the Blessing Home Fund.  This fund is used to operate the Blessing Home Centers, provide scholarships to Blessing Home children, and to pay for the salaries of Thai staff as well as cover any medical emergencies that the Blessing Home children have.  The Blessing Home Fund is depleted now, and we have an urgent need to build this fund back up in time for 2019.  

Please encourage your local church to take up a special offering this Christmastime for the Blessing Home children.

Our blog updates are truly for the primary purpose of having as much prayer support as possible for the mission.  We focus on praise reports of what the Lord is doing here in the mission in Thailand as well as prayer requests.  But we sometimes have people ask us about how they can give to the Thailand Methodist Mission, which is a faith mission.  We do not receive budgeted apportionment funds, but instead rely on faith on the free-will offerings of individuals and churches.

If you would like to donate to the Thailand Methodist Mission, you can send a check by mail or do online giving.

Checks can be sent to:

TMM

P.O. Box 56

Mannsville, KY 42758

OR

Give online through our website at https://thailandmethodist.org/donate/

An Invitation to Come Serve on a Volunteers In Mission (VIM) Team in Thailand in 2019

WHEN: 2019 October 10, 2019 (arrives in Thailand on Oct. 11) and depart on Monday, October 21, 2019 (you will arrive back in the US on the same day, October 21, due to the “magic” of crossing the International Date Line).

COST: Cost of your flights plus $1,500 for Team fees, lodging, food, and transportation.  A $500 discount is given to all pastors coming for the first time to serve on a VIM team with the Thailand Methodist Mission. 

WHO TO CONTACT:  Rev. Dr. John Kalz will be once again leading the VIM team to Thailand.  If you are interested, please contact John via email >> kalzjd@gmail.com

WHAT ARE WE DOING: We will visit some of the new Pioneer Pastor Churches to pray with the families of new believers and those who are shut-ins.  We will have fun mini-English camps for the children. 

Update on the Fire of Glory Church Building Construction

Construction is happening at a rapid pace now.  The retainer wall (holding in 6 feet of fill dirt) is complete and the security wall is complete on three sides (the front side will be done last, so we can easily get materials into the work site).  2 small apartments for workers and 2 restroom buildings are being built.  Doors and windows are being installed on these smaller buildings this week.

We hired the local government architect to design a building for us and to make blueprints that are needed to obtain necessary building permits.  The government architect ended up designing a building that was much larger than requested, and way beyond our budget.   He said he made the building larger because it would be more beautiful with larger dimensions.  However, we cannot proceed with these blueprints.

So now we have asked for help from a friend of ours in Thailand who is a Plant Engineer for a firm that operates 5-star hotels.  He has made highly detailed sketches of a building that would be within our budget and would be a very practical design for a church building.  We will be bringing these sketches to the government architect, to have him turn them into blueprints and to proceed to obtain all of the required permits to build.  Please pray that all goes smoothly with this process.  There are some things that are not in our control and we need to be in the good graces of the local government authorities.

Once we have the new blueprints made and approved, we can begin construction on the church building.

TMM missionaries Allie and David Houle arrive this week

God is Good!  All the Time!

We give praise to God for answered prayers.  New TMM missionaries David and Allie Houle will be arriving in Thailand in two days from now.  They will be serving at Blessing Home in Pattaya and the first year they will be doing intensive Thai language study, which is difficult and can be discouraging, so keep them in your prayers.  We have prayed for a long time for God to fill the need to have missionaries serving long term at Blessing Home in Pattaya, and God has answered those prayers.  It is necessary to have full-time, long-term missionaries on site at Blessing Home Pattaya in order to provide the after-school services and regular home visits needed to do this ministry effectively.  As the children and teens get older, it is more and more difficult to keep them in school, especially in Pattaya, where there are fast-life easy-money distractions and temptations.  We have to "up our game" to meet the challenges.  

This quarter, we had our first drop-out from high school at Blessing Home Pattaya.  We are trying to convince this Blessing Home teen to go to classes for a high-school equivalency diploma (like a GED in the States).  But as of now, this teen has not made the move to go to class.  We know we cannot win with every one of the kids but we want to do better.  

This past week we had training with the Pastor Banya and Teacher Amporn at Blessing Home Pattaya to use a new electronic curriculum to teach English and Bible with the Blessing Home kids after school and on Sundays.  2 new televisions have been mounted on the walls to the smaller classrooms and a new computer was purchased so they can use the new curriculum.  This next week will be the first week using the new curriculum, which we believe will be more helpful to the kids and fun too.

God answered prayers for the David and Allie Houle as well.  God has provided the prayer and financial support they need to serve in Thailand as career missionaries.  But in the final month before their arrival in Thailand, they had two answers to prayer.

First, David and Allie needed to sell their tiny house (yes, like the ones you see on TV shows), but they were having problems selling it.  Many people wanted to buy it, but a tiny home is considered to be an Recreational Vehicle (RV) so they could not get a standard home mortgage, and did not qualify for an RV loan.  Well, on the last week before coming to Thailand, their tiny home sold, and it sold for the price they bought it for a few years ago.  Now they are debt-free (very important for missionaries who will see a great decrease in salary).

Also, their paperwork for student visas arrived very late, but they were able to get student visas and the process went smoothly.

Thank you for your faithful daily prayers.  We see God at work through the power of prayer.

The goal has been reached! Thank you, Jesus!

All of the prayer warriors prayed that when we arrived back in Thailand we would have all of the funds on hand needed for the Fire of Glory Church land and building. We are pleased to let you know that we are back in Thailand now and ALL of the funds have been donated and received! Thank you, Jesus!  Hallelujah!

All of the land has been purchased and the land was filled by over 6 feet of dirt.  Retainer walls and security walls are now being built (about 70% complete now).  Next, a building will be designed and blueprints made to be approved by the provincial government office (interesting, in Thailand they call them greenprints not blueprints).  Then after all of the building permits have been issued, we will begin construction. 

Please pray for us because our next 4 weeks involve long stretches of hard travel.  We will be preaching, teaching, and training in Southern Thailand over these next four weeks and it is a long distance from where we live.  But it is essential because this is a highly unreached area of Thailand.

Your prayers are the engine room of the ship called Thailand Methodist Mission.  Please keep the powerful prayers coming our way.

Almost There! Just two bricks away from completion!

We are so very close.   So close!

Sherri and I have been praying that we will have the full $150,000 needed to complete construction of the Fire of Glory Church building when we head back to Thailand on July 5.  It was just a month ago that we had only $98,000.  And now we need only $2,000 more to be complete with this project.  Praise God!  Below are two pictures of the construction happening at Fire of Glory Church in Nonthaburi.

Pipes burst at our home in Thailand

Two weeks ago we were contacted by our landlord in Thailand.  She said our water pump has been very loud and working continuously for 2 full days and the neighbors were concerned.  It was a Sunday evening when she contacted us.  We immediately contacted our staff and told them to please go and check.  It took them awhile to get there because they were working about an hour's drive away.  When they arrived they found that a pipe burst in our downstairs bathroom (Praise God it was not upstairs!).  The water flowed from the bathroom through our office and then to the kitchen and then out the door.  We will have to replace quite a bit of furniture in the office and kitchen now.  But it could have been a lot worse.


The Abundant Life Savings Group Program lifts up families out of poverty and debt.

May Kuntisa is Sherri's assistant serving in the Abundant Life Savings Group Program.  She not only translates curriculum and materials but is being trained by Sherri so that she will lead this program in the future (our goal is to always train Thai leaders to do the ministries). 

May and her husband Boy have been faithfully doing the program, saving her money to build up an Emergency Fund equal to 3 months of income as well as paying down debts.  Back in March, May stood up in the morning worship service at her home church, Life Center UMC of Pattaya, and celebrated that they were able to meet the goal of having a fully funded Emergency Fund.  This was a great encouragement and inspiration to the others in the group and helped others to become motivated.

Two weeks ago, May stood up at her church again, this time to celebrate their debts are paid and they finally paid off the last credit card.  Part of the celebration that we do in these groups is cancelling the credit card account and then coming to church on Sunday morning to cut the credit cards up in front of the church.  Sherri receives pictures of people cutting up their credit cards at church and we were delighted to see May doing this.  Below are some pictures.  May said the Abundant Life Savings Group at Life Center UMC was very happy for their success and that the members of the group are seeing progress in their lives as they move towards Financial Peace that comes from doing finances God's way.

Need for Safety... A BH Isan Student graduates at university... and an update on the Building Fund

A PRAYER CONCERN: Safety for our missionaries

2 years ago, the missionary house at Blessing Home Isan had two break-ins when everyone was out of the house.  And Carol and Vicki upgraded the security on the house to make it more difficult to see into the house and to break into it.  We suspected that it was one of the former students at Blessing Home Isan who dropped out of school and was now in with a bad crowd who were breaking and entering many homes in the town.  The increased security seemed to do the trick and we had no more problems with break-ins.  That is up until last month, when an unsuccessful break-in was attempted while the house was occupied.  Shelby Gillespie, TMM missionary and Director of Blessing Home Isan, was safe (God answers prayer!  God is Good!) but a bit shook up over it all, as anyone would be.  We were very happy with how the Thai Christians sprang into action when Shelby called for help.  The pastor, who lives next door to Shelby, immediately came and did a security sweep of the grounds when he was contacted. 

Security has been improved with extra lights and equipment at the missionary house, however we do request your prayers for safety.

A PRAISE FOR ANSWERED PRAYER: Bo, a Blessing Home Isan student, graduates with a degree B.S. degree in Nursing.

We are very proud of Bo, who overcame great difficulties and challenges to finish the race towards completion of her Bachelor's degree.  Speical thanks to all who gave to the Kentucky United Methodist Missions Night Offering at the 2014 Annual Conference.  This is the fourth Blessing Home student to graduate from the generous offering given by Kentucky United Methodists. 

AN UPDATE: Raising Funds for the New Church Building in Nonthaburi

As you know, we are in the States for a few months to speak at churches and to raise funds for a new church building for Fire of Glory Church in Nonthaburi.  They are over-crowded and cannot afford to build the church without some help.

We have committed to raising $150,000 for purchase of land, raising the land above flood level, and building a church facility.  So far over $98,000 has been raised!  We hope to raise the remaining $52,000 soon.  We appreciate the generosity and kindness of God's people in helping with this project.

Of course, every time we give an update on the progress of the Building Fund, we include my (Mike) lame graphic (yes, I will keep my day job and NOT try to go into graphic design, hehehe).

If you would like to give to help Fire of Glory Church construct a much needed building, please be sure to designate your gift to the Building Fund.

You can send a check to TMM by mail to:
TMM
P.O. Box 56
Mannsville, KY 42758

Or give online through our blog at thailandmethodist.org

A Blessed Week with two team members from Kentucky

This past week Judy Heathman and Charlene Skaggs of Russell Springs UMC served in Thailand with us.  They were a great blessing to the Thai people and to all of the TMM missionaries!  Judy is a Registered Nurse, so she blessed the Thai people with health checks.  Charlene is a member of the Board of Directors of the Thailand Methodist Mission, and it was wonderful to have her be able to witness all that the Lord has done.

Judy doing a health check on a
member of Sai Noi Church, one of
the newest Pioneer Pastor Churches.

Judy and Charlene served at all three Blessing Home Centers and visited Special Blessings Korat.  They also served at Sai Noi Church, which was planted through the Pioneer Pastor Program only 6 months ago.

The final stop on their mission trip was to Fire of Glory Church.  Fire of Glory Church is led by Pastors Somsri and Warin, and we are in the midst of raising funds for constructing a church building together with the members.

We need $150,000 to complete the construction and we have so far received a little over $82,000.  We will be coming back to the States to raise the rest of the funds for this essential construction project.  We will be asking all of the churches that we visit (and all of the churches that we cannot visit this time around) to please take special offerings to help us complete this project.  We are praying that when we head back to Thailand on the first week of July that we will have the full $150,000 raised.  Please pray.

Charlene and Mike burn the bank note while
 trying not to set the field of straw on fire.

The $82,000 that has been received has already been put to use.  The land has been purchased and the bank note totally paid off.  And there is also enough funds to bring in dirt to fill the land up by 6 feet, so it is above street level so it will not have problems with flooding.  The field was a rice paddy, and we had to wait for the rice to be harvested before beginning to fill the land.

On the last day of their mission trip, TMM Board Member Charlene Skaggs represented our mission in a ground-breaking and note-burning ceremony at Fire of Glory Church.  All of us gathered out on the land in the boiling mid-day sun.  We burned the bank note for the land and celebrated God's provision for all of our needs.  Then we had a ground-breaking.... but really in Thailand, we do not generally do ground-breaking ceremonies, we do ground-filling ceremonies.

Yes, it is a ground-filling ceremony because most land plots are rice paddies, so they must be filled with dirt to be usable to construct a building upon.  So instead of digging the first bit of dirt, we shovel on the first buckets of dirt.

Pastor Somsri, Charlene Skaggs, Mike Morrissey, and Elder Samai (Somsri's husband) all had gold painted shovels to fill in the first dirt.  Then all of the church members took a handful of dirt, and after the prayer of dedication, each person cast their dirt onto the land.

The day after the ceremony, trucks and front loaders started coming in to fill up the land.  It will take about a month to fill the land, and then we will need to wait about 3-4 months for the rain to fall to pack the dirt tight so it is ready for construction.  And the wait is OK because that gives time for the rest of the funds to be raised.

If you would like to give to help Fire of Glory Church construct a much needed building, please be sure to designate your gift to the Building Fund.

You can send a check to TMM by mail to:
TMM
P.O. Box 56
Mannsville, KY 42758

Or give online through our blog at thailandmethodist.org

We invite you to visit our new websites.

We invite you to visit our new websites.  The websites contain information and links to blogs and facebook pages for all of the TMM missionaries as well as new videos you can use in your church or church group to learn about Blessing Home and the Pioneer Pastor Program.

Here are the links to the two websites:

thailandmethodist.org

blessinghome.org

Out of the hospital..... and a word of Praise for the Gideons

Your prayers surround us while we are on the field in Thailand and we are grateful for your love and care.  We knew you were praying for us these past few weeks because we have seen God's Healing Hands at work in my body (Mike).  

After eating at a buffet at the Thailand United Methodist Annual Conference, I was struck with food poisoning.  This is not uncommon, and usually it takes me out of commission for 2-3 days, but this time was different.  I had severe diarrhea and vomiting, and although I did my best to keep drinking water and electrolyte water, I could not stay hydrated.  I passed out in the bathroom on the second floor of our house, and Sherri had to call Boy, one of our TMM staff to come help bring me down the stairs and drive me to the local hospital. The doctor put me on IV antibiotics and water, and I started to get a bit stronger and the vomiting stopped.  After two days the doctor released me from the hospital even though the diarrhea was still severe.  

I was at home for only one day, but I could not remain hydrated no matter how hard I tried to drink water and electrolytes.  So Sherri drove me to Bangkok to go to the Bumrungrad International Hospital, which is the best hospital in Thailand.  I spent four days there receiving a different set of IV antiobiotics and medicines as well as lots of IV water.  I had to fast from food and drink for two days, and then for this next week I am on a diet of porridge and soft overcooked noodles to allow my digestive system to heal from the damage that was caused by the bacteria.  Praise God the diarrhea stopped and I am feeling stronger.

Here is a picture of me at the Bumrungrad Hospital on my second to last day.  We have a business training for bi-vocational pastors in Southern Thailand on the 17th of this month, and I had to get the curriculum complete now so there would still be enough time for staff to translate and print all of the materials.  In this picture, I am writing to complete the materials for this training because the deadline was approaching.  Through your prayers, I had strength to work on this in the hospital.

On a different note, a note of great praise we would like to tell you about how the Lord is working through the Pioneer Pastors in Southern Thailand in Chumphon province.  Our Pioneer Pastors are working with the Gideons to hand out over 40,000 New Testaments to student in every school in the province as well as to prisoners in the detention facilities in Chumphon.  We are grateful to the wonderful and vital ministry of the Gideons who make available New Testaments and Bibles to be given to those who do not yet know the Lord.  

Even though almost all of the students are Buddhist or Muslim, the families will allow the students to take the New Testaments home and the families will read them because they were given out at school.  School Principals and Teachers are highly respected leaders in the community, so when they give approval to give the students Bibles and New Testaments, the parents know that it is OK to allow their children to read them.  We praise God because EVERY school allowed the Pioneer Pastors to hand out Gideon Bibles!  This was a great answer to prayer!

Fire of Glory Church Building Fund Update

We give thanks to the Lord touching the hearts of people to give generously to the Building Fund during the Christmas season.  Now over $77,000 has been raised to buy land and construct a building for Fire of Glory Church.  Pastors Somsri and Warin, veteran Pioneer Pastors, have planted 2 churches in unreached counties and have assisted in the planting of 2 more Pioneer Pastor churches.  At this time, Fire of Glory Church cannot grow larger because they are filled to capacity.  The new church building will enable them to continue to grow and thrive and plant more churches in unreached areas of Thailand.

We now have received enough funds to completely pay off the bank note on the land (we look forward to having a ceremony to burn the bank note!) as well as funds to raise the land by about 6 feet because it is a rice paddy at this time and needs to be raised above street level so it will not flood.

We will continue to raise funds now for constructing the building itself.

If you would like to give to help Fire of Glory Church construct a much needed building, please be sure to designate your gift to the Building Fund.

You can send a check to TMM by mail to:
TMM
P.O. Box 56
Mannsville, KY 42758

Or give online through our blog at msmorrissey.blogspot.com

We praise the Lord for making things grow

1 Corinthians 3:6-9a
I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service.

New Year’s Day is always a very special day for us.  It is a day of thanksgiving and praise to the Lord for the wonders that He bestowed in the year 2017.  As we see all of the myriad ways God has blessed the Thailand Methodist Mission, it humbles us because we know it is all because of the Lord.  We are just workers in the fields fulfilling the purpose for which we were called. 

Your faithfulness in prayer and generous financial support bless us and the Thai people, and the Lord has made things grow.  You make this mission possible and we are thankful for your service to the Lord. 

In 2017, the Lord blessed this mission in numerous ways:

• ·         Over 300 children are receiving weekly services at the four Blessing Home Centers.  It is always thrilling to see the children in their school uniforms, knowing that they will not be in the brothels and opium dens, but instead have a bright future.
• ·         Three unreached counties that never before in history had a Christian Church now have one planted through the Pioneer Pastor Program.  In 2017, churches were planted in Nonthaburi, Chachoengsao, and Ubon Ratchatani provinces.  Now there are a total of 35 churches planted in formerly unreached counties in Thailand.
• ·         Seventeen students graduated at Global Theological Institute, receiving their Bachelor of Ministry and Master of Ministry degrees.  These graduates serve at churches throughout every region of Thailand.  Now there are a total of 76 graduates in the past 5 years, and many of them have planted new churches.
• ·         Thailand Methodist Mission provided the majority of funds to purchase a Sunday School building for Prasiri UMC in Bangkok.  This provides permanence and security for this church.
• ·         A children’s building was built at House of Immanuel Church in Buriram province so they would have a place to teach the Bible to children.
• ·         Over 85 Thai Christians are members of Abundant Life Savings Groups and are making vital progress in saving money for emergency funds, getting out of debt, and learning family budgeting and small business management skills.  We see their progress as they get out of debt and send us pictures of themselves cutting up credit cards.  We see them develop as they speak with joy about having saved money for emergency funds for the first time in their lives.  We see happiness on their faces, as they learn and save together.

New Year’s Day is special to us, for another reason.  We look forward to this coming year and all the wonderful blessings God will shower down upon Thailand in 2018.

Through your continued support, we will continue to work “in the field” to bring the love of Jesus to Thai people.

Our goals for the Thailand Methodist Mission for 2018 are:

• ·        2 or more Pioneer Pastor Churches will be planted in unreached counties in Thailand (please pray as we are interviewing pastors and leaders now and seek God’s Will).
• ·        Curriculum and videos for the Abundant Life Savings Groups will be completed and a group of trainers will be educated and developed.
• ·        We will begin planting churches and ministries in the Southern region of Thailand.  This region has a high percentage of the population is Muslim.  Four of the provinces in the Southern region have a Muslim majority.  We need your prayers because ministry must be done in a different way here, especially in the Muslim majority provinces.  Please pray for safety for the Thai Christians that will work with us in this region (and for us as well).
• ·        Blessing Home Centers will become places where Thai Christian leaders from other ministries can come to be trained in ministry to children and youth.  TMM missionaries can help train Thai leaders and missionaries from other organizations for fruitfulness.

Sherri and I are honored to serve as your Ambassadors for Christ to Thailand.  We wish you a Blessed New Year!

And a RE-POSTING of an important article for online donors

Please Read: Crucial Information for Online Donors

Thailand Methodist Mission has recently needed to change our online giving portal to QGIV since the former company, JustGive has now closed.  All of you who have automatic monthly donations through JustGive, your donations stopped last month.

We are asking all who are have automatic monthly donations through JustGive to please continue to set up a recurring monthly donation through QGIV by clicking on this link >> https://secure.qgiv.com/for/thametmis/
Your giving is crucial to the operation of the Blessing Home Centers and other ministries of the Thailand Methodist Mission.

Our website (thailandmethodist.org) is currently being renovated and should be up and running by the end of January.  I (Mike) tried to change the old website to link online donors to the new QGIV site, but it was beyond my abilities.  So I am waiting for the website renovation to be complete.  However, I was able to change the link on our blog at http://msmorrissey.blogspot.com/ so that it directs online donors to QGIV.

We are grateful for your faithful support of the Thailand Methodist Mission.