A time of grief in Thailand

As you all have seen in the news, there was a terrible mass killing in Northeast Thailand this week.  A man who was dismissed from the police force last year entered the nursery where his son attends and he attacked the teachers and children ages 2-5 years old.  Only 23 of the usual 90 children were there because flooding from rain and a mechanical breakdown of the school bus prevented most from being at school that day.  Of the 23 children present, only 1 survived. 

The killer then drove to his house, taking the lives of his son and wife before committing suicide.  A total of 23 children and 13 adults were killed as well as many other were injured.  It has been a time of deep national grief.  Mass killings are a rare occurrence in Thailand.

We know many of you have been praying and we appreciate your thoughtfulness.  

Director of the Abundant Life Financial Training Program, Ratchada "May" Kuntisa, graduates.

May began serving on staff with us many years ago as a Thai language tutor for new missionaries, and then was promoted to serve with us as a translator and then as Director of the Abundant Life Financial Training Program.  May has overcome great difficulties that would have crushed most people.  One of the first ones to take notice of the great potential in May was a short-term missionary who served with us at Blessing Home Pattaya named Katie Bredesen.  Katie chose May (and a few others) to receive a college scholarship for one year.  (Thank you, Katie!)

Since then, May has continued her education and has now completed her B.A. degree in Information Science.  What is incredible is that she accomplished this while raising her own three children as well as being the guardian of her nephew and taking in her sister-in-law and her son.  In May's household eight people live in a small townhouse, and the only time she has to study is in the middle of the night.  All this while working full-time too.  It is very rare in Thailand for a mother to graduate from college with a B.A. degree, but to have a mother with 4 children in her household to accomplish this is incredible.  

Construction of the Church building at the Abundant Life Training Center begins.

Above is the picture of Sherri, May, Khun Ai (the general contractor), and Teddy (May's husband and full-time Thailand NOW team member) signing the contract to begin construction on the church building for the Abundant Life Financial Training Program.  May and Teddy will sign a separate contract to build their home on a corner of the training center land.

The day after signing the contract, construction began.  Below are some pictures of piledriving reinforced concrete columns into the ground.  These columns will prevent keep the foundation from sinking, shifting, and cracking.

We have now received over $106,000 of the $140,000 needed for this phase of construction.  We have enough funds to build a house for May and Teddy (the Directors of the Abundant Life Training Center) as well as the Church Building.  We still need $34,000 more so we can build a kitchen/restroom building and a small office.  Our request is that every church and each individual supporter will consider special Christmas offerings and donations to this project.  Our hope is that we will have all of the needed funds raised in 2022.

When you give to this project, please designate your gifts to the BUILDING FUND.

Donations can be given online at https://thailandnow.org/donate/

or send a check by mail to:

Thailand NOW

P.O. Box 56

Mannsville, KY 42758

Donations of Stocks and Estate Donations 

Giving stock is a great way to make an eternal difference in the lives of Thai people. Stock shares can be transferred directly to Thailand Now and can have more tax benefits for the giver and the recipient.  Please contact our treasurer via email at terrigabe@windstream.net if you are interested in giving this way.

Estate Donations  - By including Thailand Now as an additional beneficiary in your estate plan, you can have a huge impact on the mission of reaching Thai people for Jesus Christ. Thailand NOW's tax ID number is 27-2388347.  Your financial advisor or tax attorney can best assist you in making these arrangements.

Two Wonderful Answers to the Prayers of God’s People and an Update

Our hearts have been bursting to tell you about two wonderful answers to your prayers, but we had to wait until now.

Wonderful Answer to Prayer #1 – Allie and David Houle are now parents!

You have been praying for Allie and David Houle during the past few years as they sought to adopt a special needs Thai child.  We thank you for your continued prayers, because many people tire of praying for the same need for a long time.

So, we would like to share with you the blog article that David and Allie just published.

We have wonderful news to share!

We finally brought our daughter home! Hallelujah! God is good!

Thank you all so much for praying with us! It has been a very long process but we are overjoyed to have our little girl home. About a week ago we got news that our case had been approved by the adoption board and the orphanage began working to put together a final meeting with us. It was an all-day affair where we got to meet with the caretakers, the nurse, the social workers, and even the director of the orphanage. They showed us around the orphanage and gave us more detail into her care before having lunch with us and taking pictures. We are just so thankful that we have brought her home. It truly is an answered prayer. Moving forward, there are still a few things we have to do to finish the adoption process. Next week we have an interview with the adoption board in Bangkok and that’ll kick off the start of the 6-month probationary care period. During which, we will have a social worker periodically come out to our house to check on how things are going. The orphanage has asked us to not yet share photos of her or post any online at this time.

We are so happy and we look forward to sharing with you all how she learns and grows. Please continue to pray for us and our family as we get to know each other and bond. Also, please be praying that our interview and the final stages of the adoption will go smoothly as well. Thank you all so much for your love and support. We are very happy parents!

David and Allie

 

Wonderful Answer to Prayer #2 – Pastor W receives justice at court from those who want to persecute Christians

Four months ago, we met Pastor W (we cannot use his name or reveal his location for safety concerns) who is an experienced church planter.  Pastor W has planted three churches in our region, and he is now planting his fourth church.  Hardcore COVID lockdowns in Thailand devastated his church and his business.  For almost two years, his church could not meet in person and could only worship online.  Church donations plummeted at the same time Pastor W’s business was tanking.  The church could no longer afford the rent on the building they were renting, so they moved worship to Pastor W’s home, which is very small.  There was not enough room for everyone to come worship, so many had to worship online.  Even those who came to worship in-person could usually not sit inside (which only could seat about 12 people, and most had to sit or stand outside.

This past year, they began construction of a simple church building on the plot next to Pastor W’s house.  Because they did not have much money, they used free or discounted scrap materials from other nearby construction projects.  By the time we met Pastor W, church construction was 75% complete.  Because of your generosity, we were able to give funds to Pastor W that will be enough to complete the construction, so that all of the members can worship together.  This church is in a strategic location, near the new local university.  Many apartment buildings for students and faculty are being constructed around the church.

Three months ago, Pastor W noticed a pile of cans of old paint on the sidewalk in front of a paint store (The paint was past it’s expiration date and could no longer be sold).  There was a sign on the pile of cans that said “Free Paint for Donation”.  Pastor W selected three cans of paint and then went back to the church and began to paint the sanctuary.  Soon after Pastor W began to paint the sanctuary, police arrived at the church and arrested Pastor W and brought him to the police station where he was charged for stealing paint. 

Pastor W explained that the paint was on the sidewalk, and there was a sign saying “free paint for donation”, and the owner of the paint store acknowledged this, but said that Pastor W should have come inside the store to receive permission to take the paint.  The paint store owner said he objected to the paint being used for a Christian church, and that he would have been OK if it had been used for a Buddhist temple or school.

Pastor W offered to pay for the paint but the paint store owner refused.  For the next three weeks, Pastor W was summoned to come to the police station on a daily basis for interrogation.  He was threatened that the penalty for theft would be reparations equal to 20 times the cost of the paint (a sum that would be equal to 6 months of his normal income) and one year imprisonment. 

Pastor W asked for us to pray and also requested anonymity, because it was a dangerous situation for his family.  So, we did not post his story on the blog, but instead just asked a smaller group of people to pray without putting Pastor W’s story in print.

This past week, Pastor W went to court and the judge determined that Pastor W was innocent of all charges and that the lawsuit by the paint store owner was frivolous.  The judge then offered Pastor W the option to immediately counter-sue the paint store owner, and said that he would be awarded the same amount of money that the paint store owner tried to extract from him.  With the humility of Christ, Pastor W declined to prosecute the paint store owner and said he wanted peace.

Below is a picture of Pastor W and his wife hugging each other outside the courtroom (For their safety, we have modified the picture to not reveal faces).

NOW an update on the Abundant Life Training Center

It looks like we have found the contractor to build the church building and the house for the Thai directors of this ministry.   We hope to begin construction in a few months when rain season ends.

We really need to raise the remaining funds needed for Phase Two of the Abundant Life Training Center, so we can build a Kitchen/Restroom building and a small office too.  So far we have $102,000 of the $140,000 needed for this project.

If you want to give to this project, please designate your donation for the Building Fund.

You can give online at https://thailandnow.org/donate/

OR

Send a check to:

Thailand NOW 

P.O. Box 56

Mannsville, KY 42758

Prayer needed for two new Pioneer Pastor Churches

1 Corinthians 3:5-9

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task.  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; you are God’s field, God’s building.

We need your prayers for two pastors who are planting new Pioneer Pastor Churches.  The Pioneer Pastors are doing their part, sacrificially working in the fields, planting and watering for the Kingdom of God.  But only God can make things grow and flourish.  Your prayers help to make the new Pioneer Pastor churches to make disciples who are strong and to also plant new churches themselves.  Thank you for being co-workers together with us in the fields of Thailand.  75% of the counties (sub-districts) in Thailand are unreached, having no Christian churches.  It is these unreached counties that are our strategic focus for planting new churches, so that people can be transformed by the love of Jesus.

When a Pioneer Pastor Church is planted, the pastor and new believers at that church always have a great burden on their hearts for reaching others with the Gospel of Jesus.  They have new life in Jesus Christ, and they want to see others have the same joy that they have experienced.  Many Pioneer Pastor Churches go on to plant other churches.  This is the case with Pastor Awee (who graduated this year, receiving a Master of Divinity degree) and the God is Good Bueng Khan Church.  For the last three years, they have been evangelizing and leading a cell group in Rattana Wapi, an unreached county in Nong Khai province (see the map below) right up on the border with Laos, on the Mekong River. 

Rattana Wapi has a population of 11,000 people, most of Pastor Awee and his members have planted the first church in this county.  They meet every week for worship and prayer, and more and more people are receiving Jesus as their Savior and Lord.

Pioneer Pastor Churches many times plant new daughter churches, because church planting, evangelism, and disciple-making are baked into their DNA.  It is just what we do as Christians who have experienced the power of the Father, love of Jesus and transformation and in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit.  We want others to have this too.  

Another new Pioneer Pastor Church that needs your prayers is Hat Kham Church, which is located just a mile or so from the border of Myanmar in Prachuap Khiri Khan province (see the map below).

Hat Kham is a county with a population of 9,000 people and Pastors Wichien and Puangtaun of Kuiburi Church have been evangelizing and leading a cell group here for several years.  They have developed leaders at Hat Kham, and one of those leaders has been called by God to train for ministry to become the pastor of this new church.

Pastor Jaeng (seen in the white shirt and the center of the picture) is a widow who returned to her home village in Hat Kham after her husband died, to care for her mother who opened her home to be the base for a new church.  Pastor Jaeng is in the midst of divinity studies at Bangkok Bible Seminary, and is also leading this new church in her hometown.  All of the members of Hat Kham Church have specifically asked for prayer because there is great resistance to the Gospel, and God's intervention is needed to open hearts.  We told them that there will be many people praying for them, that they are not alone.  This made them very happy.  

Thank you for being co-workers in the mission through your prayers and support.  You make this mission possible.

https://thailandnow.org

Thailand NOW
P.O. Box 56
Mannsville, KY 42758