1200 Students!

Over 1200 buddhist and m@slim students heard the gospel over past 10 days as a volunteer team from NW Florida went into the schools and taught English, led games, sang songs, and shared the love of God. What a blessing! We praise the Lord for opening the doors in each of these communities.

In addition, we spent a couple of days going from house to house sharing the gospel in both Krabi and Phang-nga villages. I stopped and spoke with one young man in a m2slim area. He allowed me to share the gospel with him. He had heard of Jesus, but had never heard that he had both died and risen from the dead. Pray for him and others like him as they are confronted with the Truth from God's Word for the first time.

Pray for Narong and Jaan

I took my friend, Larry, with me today to our new group in Bangkan village. However, I was dismayed to find that our person of peace, Narong, was not home again. His wife, Jaan, invited us to come and sit down and she told us what happened. She told us that Narong has many problems (alcoholism, drugs, gambling, and women). He told her that he can't be a follower of Jesus because he can't give us these things. He has not been at home in several days, and she doesn't know where he is.

Jaan told us that she however, has been reading the Bible and really believes. She wants to keep on following Jesus and continue in our group meetings. I was really blessed by her statement of faith.

Pray for this couple. Pray that God will draw Narong back to himself and show him that HE is the one who can free him from these sins. Pray for Jaan that she will grow in her faith and be an encouragement to the others in the group. Pray that we will have wisdom to love them to Jesus.

Maknoi Island

We woke up to blue skies and calm waters. God really used the team on the island of Maknoi. It is a muslim island. We discovered many of the school teachers there are buddhist and put there by the government. However, they gave us the freedom to share the gospel with the kids. This school alone had more than 270 students.

We rotate groups of students to four different areas: music, games, English, and the story of Jesus. Today, as I shared the gospel and translated for our team, I was again amazed when I held up a picture of Jesus on the cross and asked if anyone had ever seen this picture before. Not a one.

But they have now. The PTBC team did a great job of sharing the gospel, loving on the kids, and even blessing the teachers.

Pine Terrace Mission Trip

What a joy it is to go into the schools and share Christ. We have been in 4 schools so far. The last two days have been quite hectic. We have been leading games, singing songs, teaching English, and sharing God's Word. The last school we were at had more than 300 kids. Pray for us today (friday morning). Our plan is to board a boat and go to a M@slim island school!
More later...

The Thick Book

So I went to my 5pm meeting tonight in Bangkan village. BUT, Narong wasn't there. He had to go to Bangkok to bring someone back from the hospital. It looked like things weren't going to happen. As I talked to Jan, his wife, the lady next door came out. Her name is Lek. She had come to the very first meeting, but didn't come back. But she told me that she had been listening to our meetings from inside her house and had finished reading the book I had given her. I asked her which book? She said the thick one. She went and brought it to me. It was the New Testament. She had finished reading the New Testament in two months! I asked her what she thought of it. She said when she reads it, it makes her cry, but that it comforts her and gives her peace. I asked her if she believed it was true. She said yes. She told me that she has a 10 year old autistic son who has seizures. She told me that she has been reading how Jesus healed people. She has been praying and asking God to heal her son. WOW! So, right there, we three (Jan, Lek, and I) prayed and asked Jesus to heal her son. It is amazing what God's Word can do!

So, we didn't have a meeting, but it was a great meeting anyway!

God is always at work!

Recently, we were given a device called a Proclaimer. It is a device like a CD player that plays a recording of the New Testament. It can be used anywhere, because it can be played using electricity, batteries, sunlight, or even wound by hand.

Before we left for Chiang Mai, we gave a Burmese Proclaimer to a family in Tapliang village. We can't speak Burmese and they are not our people group, but we can still give them the Word. Today, I stopped by and talked with one of the Burmese men in the group. He said that he and his family are listening to the Proclaimer every day. In fact, many others have been coming to his house to listen. He also told me that others in the village are now requesting Bibles of their own.

It is truly amazing the impact of God's Word. Pray for this family and the other Burmese in this area that God will draw them to himself and bring many to Jesus.

Traveling Blues

Well, we had a great meeting in Chiang Mai with so many friends. On the way home, we have had a little trouble with our van, first in Chiang Mai and then when we stopped to visit friends in Korat. God is always faithful. Our alternator went out, but never once did we have trouble on the road. We were blessed to get to spend an extra day with the Mackins. The van was fixed this morning and has worked great today. We are in Bangkok tonight and heading home tomorrow to get ready for our friends from Milton Florida.
God bless you all!

Be praying for our annual meeting in northern Thailand. We will return home around the middle of July and you can expect more updates then.