Hello Everyone,
We have a request. Please download and print copies of our 2024 Thailand NOW Newsletter and share with people in your church. Also please post the newsletter on your church bulletin board.
Click on the Newsletter Icon to download our 2024 Thailand NOW End-of-the-Year Newsletter.
Thank you!
On October 9, we celebrated the Grand Opening of the Abundant Life Training Center and it was truly a joyous event that was attended by regional Christian pastors and leaders as well as local government officials.
(Above is a picture of Mike, Pastor Somsri (Mentoring Pastor of the Pioneer Pastor Program), and Sherri cutting the ribbon to enter the large meeting room.)
The Abundant Life Training Center gives our mission the ability to train many more people in the Abundant Life Financial Training Program and the Pioneer Pastor Pastors program and to do this much more economically too.
We give special thanks to our brothers and sisters of Rolling Plains Methodist Church of Zanesville, Ohio for sending a vision team and the funding needed for this Grand Opening celebration. This vision team of four women travelled with us to many ministries in Thailand, and they served as Prayer Warriors, praying individually with hundreds of Thai people. The prayers of God's people are the powerhouse of the mission
(Below is a picture of the Rolling Plains Methodist Church Vision Team at the Grand Opening Celebration)
Thailand NOW National Mission Rachada "May" Kuntisa serves as the director of the Abundant Life Training Center and her husband "Teddy" helps her in numerous ways to make things work. We are blessed to have them serve with us at the Abundant Life Training Center. (Below are pictures of us and Thai pastors praying for May and Teddy. and also a group picture.)
Our first training event will be a Pastors Training on October 21-24. We still do not yet have dormitories built so the pastors and their families coming to the training must stay at hotels. We are now in our final phase of fundraising to build two large dormitory buildings that can accommodate 72 people. This will allow us to save a lot of money, since we will no longer need to use hotels for trainees to stay at.
For the Final Phase of fundraising for these two large dormitory buildings, we need to raise $242,000, and we just began fundraising in September.
(Below is a graphic showing our progress, which is slow because we have just begun.)
Be sure to designate your gift to the Building Fund.
Blessings in the name of JESUS,
Mike and Sherri Morrissey
Executive Directors of Thailand NOW
Sherri and I are grateful for the generosity that is making this training center possible. This training center is an absolute necessity for our mission to keep up with the rapid growth and multiplication of the churches. The Abundant Life Training Center will greatly increase the numbers of clergy and laity we can train in the Abundant Life Financial Training Program and the Pioneer Pastor Program. Through your generosity, Phases 1 through 3 have been completed without incurring any debt:
As funds come in, we will first build the foundation for both buildings. We must do both foundations at the same time because the foundations must rest upon very long reinforced concrete columns that are hammered into the ground to reach bedrock. This hammering process shakes the ground, and would risk damaging any nearby building. So that is why we have the foundation of the buildings in orange above.
Eighteen years ago, when Sherri and I came to Thailand to serve as missionaries, our mission was to plant churches in unreached parts of Thailand, specifically in counties (sub-districts) that have no Christian churches at all. Our first church was planted in 2007 in Bowin, a county of 150,000 in population that had no church. Most of the time, when we plant a church, that church will go on to plant another church (or more) within the first year or two. Bowin church was no exception, and they went on to plant three more Pioneer Pastor Churches. Grace Church in Nonsomboon (where the Blessing Home Isan Center is located) was one of those three Now Grace Church has now planted 2 other churches.
Run Now Mission Church is the second Pioneer Pastor church planted by Grace Church and will be led by Pastor Korawit (see his picture below). Pastor Korawit has moved from the Korat region (where Grace Church is located) to Nakhon Si Thammarat province, far away in Southern Thailand. Run Now Mission Church is being planted in Tha Ngio. Tha Ngio is a county of 14,000 people with no Christian church in the county.
The new
church will be named Run Now Mission Church, and we are working in partnership
with Think Small organization to start children and youth ministries
there. Pastor Korawit has rented a
building that is a quarter mile away from the university. The left side will be the church building and
the right side will be for two businesses so that Pastor Korawit’s family and
the church can be self-supporting.
Pastor
Korawit’s business is installing CCTV security systems, remote control gates
and doors, and fiber optic
networks. His wife Pla will operate a
food kiosk in front of Pastor Korawit’s business. Funds from Thailand NOW are being used to
rent the building for the next 6-months (to give time for their businesses to
set up and become profitable) as well as equipment needed for the church and
businesses.
This church
is the 106th church planted through Thailand NOW and the 50th
Pioneer Pastor Church.
Please pray for Pastor Korawit and Pla that hearts will be open to Jesus as they share the Gospel with people, the vast majority of whom will hear the Good News of Jesus for the first time. Please pray that their new businesses will thrive so that they can support themselves in ministry.
Sherri and I thank you for your prayers and generosity which make all of the ministries of Thailand NOW possible. You are a vital link in this chain of blessing.
Uniforms for the Blessing Home kids
March is always a great blessing for us, because it is the month the Blessing Home kids get measured for their new school uniforms. Each teen needs 3 sets of uniforms and shoes (younger children only need two sets), an academic uniform, a scouting uniform - yes, every Thai student is a scout, and a physical education uniform. These uniforms are required for every student to attend school.
For Sherri and I, seeing our Blessing Home kids in their school uniforms. These uniforms are a manifestation of how wonderful the trajectory their lives are on because of your generosity that makes this ministry possible. These children and teens are in school and are not being trafficked! God is great! God is good!
(Below is a picture of some of our teens at Blessing Home Isan being fitted for their new uniforms.)
English Camps
For Thai kids, summer break is from the middle of March through the first week of May. This is the time that many of our churches do English Camps. You would call it Vacation Bible School, but we call it English Camp because every parent wants their children to learn English because it is the language of international commerce, and being fluent in English opens many doors of opportunity. At English Camp, they hear the Good News of Jesus Christ and worship the Lord, they learn English with fun games and songs, and eat good food and snacks.
Below is a picture of children at the Chaiyaphum outreach (which is a location where we are planting a new Pioneer Pastor Church and a new Blessing Home Center) enjoying a game together.
Our pastors are very busy during this time, because they will usually do at least two of these camps, one at their own church and another at a location (like Chaiyaphum) where there is no church. Most Thai churches connected with Thailand NOW go on to plant at least one or two other churches, and these English Camps are one way that they use to evangelize and make disciples of Jesus Christ.
Songkran
Songkran is the Thai New Year celebration and it was celebrated on the weekend of April 13-14. During Songkran, most shops and businesses are closed so that everyone can travel to be home with extended family. Usually when tourists think of Songkran, they think of children and adults wearing vibrant colored flowery shirts having fun out on the streets tossing water on each other. But Songkran was not always celebrated in this raucous manner. Songkran was originally a time for young people to bless their elders.
In the Thai churches, we celebrate Songkran in a beautiful way from their tradition. The elders will sit while the young come and kneel and pour flower scented water on the hands of the elders, as a sign of gratitude (many times this evokes tears of joy which are contagious). Then the elder will lay their hands on the younger person and give a word of blessing. This is truly a magnificent custom.
Praise God! Great is the Lord! We want to some wonderful recent victories to share.
First, there are two new church plants happening this month.
First, the Praise. As you know, we have been trying to get visas for our four Thai national missionaries to come to America to visit supporting churches. Last year, we failed to get a visa for Pastors Wassana and Corn. We had all of the necessary documents, in fact, we far surpassed all of the requirements. But the officer at the American embassy in Bangkok would not even read any of the documents showing full sponsorship and itineration details of all the supporting churches they would visit. The officer rejected both of them without even a cursory examination of any supporting documentation, and it was discouraging.
So this time, we sent May, who is the Director of the Abundant Life Financial Training Program, to try a different location to get a visa. Last week, May went to the American Consulate in Chiang Mai, which is in the "Bible belt" of Thailand. The consulate officers there would be accustomed to giving visas to Thai pastors and Christian leaders serving with Christian organizations in America. The consulate officer there in Chiang Mai carefully read all of the supporting documents, and May was granted a visa to come to America. God is good!
Also, a few weeks ago, May and her husband Teddy, had a House Dedication Worship Service. Many Thai pastors and Christian leaders attended this ceremony. Their house is at the Abundant Life Training Center, and your donations for Phases 1 and 2 of the construction of this project bought the land (which includes the land the house is built upon) and also 40% of the cost of building their home. Thank you for your generosity which made this possible. (Below is a picture of Sherri giving words of blessing to May and Teddy at the House Dedication Worship Service).
Second, the Update on the Abundant Life Training Center.
Phase Two Construction is wrapping up nicely. The Director's housing (May and Teddy's home) is complete. The sanctuary is complete and the construction of the restroom/kitchen building will be completed this next week. (Below is a picture of the sanctuary, which is temporarily being used to store some of our items until we can distribute them.)
We have been fundraising for Phase Three now, which includes: 1. Purchasing and Installing a large 3-Phase transformer and poles to carry electricity to every building on campus; 2. Purchasing and installing eight 3-phase air conditioner units; and 3. Constructing a Security Wall around the perimeter of the campus including gates in the front entrances and a beautiful sign as well.
Total cost of Phase Three is $47,000 and we have now received $23,150. We need $23,850 to complete this phase. We are almost half way there! If you would like to donate to this project, please be sure to designate your gift to the Building Fund.
Installation of the 3-Phase transformer and installing the electric poles on the campus has been accomplished. We hope to have the air conditioner units installed in the next few weeks. Then we will wait for the remaining funds needed, so we can build the perimeter security wall. This will be a big project, since it is around 11,000 feet of wall that must be built.
Finally, we would like to forward an Urgent Prayer Request from Allie and David Houle that they shared via email.
After sharing with you all last November about our adoption finally being approved, we have been working to get all the documents in order and translated into English to be able to bring Aden back home to America to meet the rest of her family. We have finished all the paperwork on the Thai side and Aden now has a passport, but now we must wait for her visa to be approved to go to America. Aden is a Thai citizen with a Thai passport, and because she was adopted locally in Thailand (not internationally), she was not automatically given an American visa and it will take time for her to get citizenship. That’s why we must go to the US Embassy and request a visa. We’ve already applied for the visa but we must go in-person for an interview scheduled on February 27th. Please pray that we meet the right officer who will see and understand our situation and grant Aden a 10-year visa so that she can travel back and forth to America with us for years to come. |
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After the interview, Aden should get a visa within a week or so and we will plan to travel back home to America for a visit in mid-March. It’s hard to believe that it has been 5 and a half years since we have been home and I know there will be an adjust period for us and for Aden. We are extremely excited to be back home and plan to take a longer itineration in America, for about 5 months. This will allow for time with family, fundraising, and therapy for Aden. |
Your prayers are greatly appreciated and very powerful. We are blessed to have so many people lifting this all of the missionaries and team members of Thailand NOW up in your prayers. God is good!