Thailand March Prayer Requests

March 16, 2010

We request prayers for Nong, one of our first members here.

Satan has won the battle for the moment in her life. Her family and relatives are all spirit worshipers and have had problems over the last several months, including the death of her father. Her mother is one of the spirit leaders in this group. Nong has moved away from Christ for a year or so now. Today she came to withdraw her membership at the Christian Mission. Her family and relatives have blamed her and her attending church as the cause of all of their problems. It seems as though a fortune teller told the family the father would die within 3 days and he did. Since that time Nong has been carrying a load of guilt for her father’s death. The relatives, family and particularly mother have convinced her the only solution is to renounce God and Christ and she has chosen that route. She was also told that the spirits would kill her mother if she did not renounce God.
Please pray that God will intervene it this situation and give Nong strength, peace and light to return to God.

This is typical of the kinds of problems our children face when they go home to talk about Christ. If an adult has the kind of problems Nong has, you can imagine the effect it has on the children and teens.

Please keep all of us in your prayers.

March 13, 2010

Greetings and praise God from Nakhon Phanom.

It would appear that God continues to challenge us here at the Christian Mission. Last April I visited one of our elementary schools, and stated that, “If any 6th grade student could pass the entrance exam for the English Program at Nakhon Phanom High School, I would find a way to provide financial support to help pay their tuition”. This school had one person pass the test two years ago and the Thai Lao Cambodia Brotherhood has provided support for her for the last two years, as well as several other students. Last year no one even tried to take the exam, so I thought maybe one student would test this year. God has provided the challenge for me this year because five students took the test and 4 passed.

Statistics per student:
Yearly tuition – 30,000 baht (about NZ$1300US$900)
Transportation to and from school – about NZ$14/US$10
Additional school expenses – about NZ$140/US$100 per month

The village is located about 30 miles from the city of Nakhon Phanom, so to assist the families, the Christian Mission (Maeo and I) will be providing room and board for all four students; Monday-Friday and probably some weekends. As a 7/8 grade school teacher for several years, I will be providing tutoring assistance. Thanks and praise God this program teaches all subjects in English – except Thai

Children:
Nootjila – Father works as a day laborer, mother works at home and in the rice fields. She has one younger brother.
Chawdiga – Father works as a day laborer, mother works at home and in the rice fields. She has 1 brother, and sister.
Wipada – Father works as a day laborer, mother works at home and in the rice fields. She has 1 younger sibling.
Natiga – Mother and father separated whereabouts unknown. Natiga lives with grandmother.

TLCB will be providing some support but the amount to be provided at this time is unknown.

My Prayer is:
May God in his mercy provide the funds necessary to assist these students (and me through God) to be successful in obtaining the necessary support so that they may attend this special English program. That he will provide Maeo and I with wisdom, strength, patience and love to demonstrate the love of Christ to these children.

Thank you for your prayers in advance, and praise God knowing he will answer our prayers for these children.