John’s Blog 30th July

After almost 5 days of rain there is some light. We will try to get the clothes dry before the next monsoon arrives. This one dropped up to a meter and a half in many places and our fishpond water has already reached the spillway level. That means that since the rainy season started in March/April, we have received over 2 ½ meters of rain. The rainy season still had another couple of months to go, so we begin to pray for the rain to slow down or stop so the rice fields can dry out and the rice mature and be harvested on time.

This newsletter is done with mixed feelings. As of July 31 our “assistant” pastor and his wife will no longer be with us. Surachai was not able to adapt to the team operation of the Christian Mission and the leadership of the mission was not able to give him free reign to do whatever he wanted to do. Further investigation – which should have been done before he was offered a job – indicated that he has a history of problems  dealing with leaders, elders, superiors in almost every position he has held back to and including his work at Bible College.

The blessings are – we have two non-Christian University students moving into the house rented for Surachai and Nipon. They will be working with Bee on all the music and English programs with the elementary students and Pan will coordinate the high school Music programs. I will continue to handle the high school English and Bible programs.

Bee and Pan will develop a program to visit high school and university students – those who have come and left, and others and we pray God will bless and use them greatly. Pray for Bee – she has also agreed to talk to the youth – in place of a sermon – one Sunday a month on topics directly related to problems of youth.

On August 1, 2013 I meet with Boonta, pastor of the Laobada Church to discuss the possibility of bringing his whole congregation – about 8-10 elderly folks – to the Christian Mission once a month. They would mix with us for worship and Boonta would preach – relieving me of another preaching day.

Prayer points:

•  Thank God that he makes good out of bad
• Thank and praise God for Bee, Pan, Lita and Beem 2 as they work and lead.
• Thank and praise God for Beem 1, Tat, Jane and Fanta as they participate in the work here and pray that they will see the light of God and accept Christ.
• Pray for parents of Pan, Lita, and Beem 2 – that they will soften their hearts and allow them to receive baptism. One parent said a while back that if her daughter wanted to be baptized then she would not be allowed to live here.
• Pray that as we continue to seek assistance, that God will provide as he is doing now.

God Bless and lots of love, John, Maeo and the girls.