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"As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country."
-- Proverbs 25:25
I asked the Thai leaders of our 2 works to write to you this report period.
They are Brother Sombaht who is leading the work on the Laotian boarder,
and Brother Oothai who is our preacher in training here in Chaiyaphum.
Oothai has been saved for 3 years and has been in training for 2 years now.
I trained Brother Sombaht for about 4 years, and now he has been leading
the work on the Laotian boarder for a full 2 years. He still comes to
Chaiyaphum for our monthly Bible seminar, and I go up to the church on
the boarder once a month. We hope to ordain Sombaht in mid-July.
Here are their reports:
From Brother Sombaht: "I am a servant of God here in Thailand which is
supposedly a Buddhist country, but is actually more animist (spirit
worshipers). We must be very careful in our evangelism here, because there
are laws that limit us. We are not allowed to expose some specific works of
darkness in public. There are many in bondage to the spirits of darkness
here. Sometimes they pull new believers back into darkness. We have one
member that has been affected like this: Mrs. Tunon has been forced by her
husband and adult daughter to make offerings to spirits again, and abandon
the Lord Jesus Christ. They even forbid her to think of Him. Her husband
has threatened divorce if she does not do that. She has shed many tears
over this. She told me she can't go to church, but she will hold to Christ all
her life. Please pray much for Tunon. On another issue: If you are able,
please help me repair my pick-up truck that I use in the Lord's work. It needs
a lot of work on the undercarriage. If the Lord burdens you about this, please
help us."
Sombaht talked about how families forbid believers to serve the Lord.
I cannot over stress the need for your prayers for believers like this. We
have at least 13 like this. Concerning his truck, he uses it mostly for the
ministry: to pick up people for church, and for radio ministry leg work, etc.
It has 2 rows of seats and a top in the back for the people that he picks up
for church. He needs about $1000.00 for truck maintenance. Sombaht
passed the first test for radio program production. He will take the second
test in May. Please keep the radio ministry in your prayers: the testing, and
funds for it. Sombaht and his wife, Oie, are real servants of God.
From Brother Oothai: "I am a minister of God in Chaiyaphum. I realized the
grace of God that He sacrificed Himself on the cross for me so I surrendered
to serve the Lord about 2 years ago. I am writing to request your prayers for
the work here in Chaiyaphum. I have 5 items: 1) Our Correspondence
School: We now have 55 students (20 faithful). 2) Our prison ministry.
We have requested permission to preach in the Chaiyaphum Prison (2nd
time), and another prison about an hour and a half from us. We now have 8
prisoners from four different prisons studying by correspondence with us.
3) A radio ministry that we would like to start. 4) Our new church members
4) who have been saved recently, but still have many problems in their lives.
5) My health. Finally, even though we are half a world away we are near,
because we love the same Lord. May the love of the Lord be with you for
ever."
Oothai is very soul conscious, a hard worker, and he is an outstanding
preacher. He has a problem retaining calcium in his system. Please keep
him in your prayers.
The Ministry During March and April 1999: Salvations: Mr. Somcouin (34),
Miss Somjit (29), Mr. Nott (12), Miss Oom (8), Mr. Fem (8) Word Baptist
Church Sunday attendance was 16 (adults: 10, teens: 3, kids: 3).
Chaiyaphum Baptist Church Sunday attendance was 13 (adults: 8, teens:
1, kids: 4). Sue's weekly Bible Club averaged of 11 kids. In the
correspondence school a total of 58 lessons were processed, and 4
certificates were issued for completing courses. The 3 day seminar for
April was on the Resurrection. We had 8 study with us this time. The
March seminar was canceled so everyone could attend 2 of our
Chaiyaphum members wedding. Police Sergeant Piilom, and a long
time member, Sister Khack were married on the 27th of March.
Sombaht did the ceremony and included the Gospel.
Blessings in the Lamb,
John Henry
Links to my web pages
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E-mail me at: JohnBaptistHenry@hotmail.com
