Seminar Follow-Up

February 24, 2010

This is a follow-up on our seminar.

On Sunday, four of the five churches involved in the seminar gathered at Kuseman – about an hour from our house to see what we had learned put in to action. Dr. Larry Dinkins conducted the sermon part, however all of the churches had input through singing, praises and prayers. The service ran for over two hours and then there was a fellowship meal afterwards. Following that, about 15 people gathered to travel another half hour out into the rice fields to visit the woman and three children that we talked about in our prayer request. We got back home about 7 pm; after detouring to visit an all-you-can-eat buffet. It was a very profitable day and God was glorified in many ways

Praise God and enjoy the pictures.

God Bless,

John and Maeo

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Special note – boy with 75 on his jacket is Dtua; the special little girl is his little sister – she is teaching Dtua to learn to speak again. Isn’t God amazing?!

Special, special note: The little boy in the doorway made a new friend at the seminar and thought he would be coming to church. He had prepared rice and everything so they could share lunch, but our little boy did not go; so this little tyke was very disappointed. Another example of God’s love in the eyes of children?

God Bless

Praise and Prayer Requests:

February 23, 2010

I Have two prayer requests I am sending out and one great big thank you and praise God.

First the praise: Those of you who have been around for a year or so may remember our prayer request last year for Dtua, the son of one of our church leaders who was in a motorcycle accident. They had given up hope and were already planning his funeral. I saw him n church on Sunday and he is up, walking unassisted, beginning to talk and sing and has the biggest smile you have ever seen. Yes, God does still perform miracles.

First prayer request: I met with a 27 year old mother with three children – youngest 2 months. Her husband died suddenly a short time ago and she was sent back to live with her mother and father. Her husband was a Christian and she had just converted. Pray that God will show us the way we can help her during this time and increase her faith and strength in God; that this will also be a witness to her parents. She is willing to work and there are several alternatives we are talking about. There are 2 other churches involved in this with us.

Second prayer request: One of our teens brought to our attention a 3 month old baby with heart problems whose parents have no money. Christian Mission provided funds for them to travel to Khon Kaen to see the heart specialist. Her heart problems are serious but the doctor says she has to wait until she is at least 14-15 kilograms. Pray that she will gain weight quickly and the doctor can make the necessary repairs; that God will provide the necessary support for the baby and her parents; that this again will be a witness of Christian Love.

Storying the Bible Seminar

February 13, 2010

February 17-21 was a very special time for the Christian Mission. God blessed us by allowing us to host a 5 day seminar on “Storying the Bible”. This is one of the few things that I have seen so far that is directly applicable to what we are trying to do in Northeast Thailand in spreading the word of God. I was privileged to watch people who never have spoken out before take an active part in teaching the Bible. One older woman told me that this was the first time she has not fallen asleep in Church. 🙂

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Dr Larry Dinkins from OMF – I met him 10 years ago when we were in Chaingmai – brought in a team of two Thai pastors, a pastor’s wife and an intern to the Christian Mission for 4 days of intense training in how to story the Bible. The first two days were for leaders – we had about 20 people; the second two days were for leaders to practice and others interested in learning – we had almost 40 people in attendance. Day 5 was a trip to a combined church service in Kuseman and there were about 100 people in attendance – that will be in another newsletter.

It has been a long time since I have attended such a useful, practical and to the point seminar. Everyone was anxious to get back to their home churches and try it out; we will be doing the same thing here at the Christian Mission. Please keep this in your prayers; especially that our teens will be interested and willing to go with this. Three of them attended the seminar and appear to be very enthused about it. Some pictures are attached,

God Bless,

John and Maeo