This spring our team had several promotional Sundays: Valentine’s Sunday, Family Day, Blessings Sunday, Pictures With Grandma and Grandpa Shook Day, and Baby Dedication Day. This year we are starting a new series on the home in our adult Sunday school classes, and these special Sundays were a wonderful way to kick off this new theme. We have seen the Lord increase the church membership, and we are seeing spiritual growth and maturity in our faithful members also. Along with church growth comes new babies, weddings, and even funerals. We have had two weddings and three funerals in the last two months, but we praise the Lord for the hope of the Gospel and rejoice that we will see these departed ones again in Heaven one day.
The Junior Church Department, led by Miss Shari House, has been growing in the Lord also, as they have just finished learning about the armor of God. Miss Shari took a week to teach on each piece of the armor. She created a soldier and individual pieces of armor for each child in the class. Every week the new piece which they studied about would be added to their soldier until he was complete. What a blessing it is for these little members of our church to be taught by Miss Shari. We pray that these young children will follow what they are being taught and grow up to be soldiers for Christ.
Brother Chad and Sarah Inman are creating an exciting and spiritual atmosphere with the Youth Department and teen Sunday school class. We have seen the teens making decisions for the Lord and taking steps of faith in their Christian lives. At one of the most recent teen activities, Brother Chad encouraged the teens to guard their lives and protect their lives like they would a plant in their garden. He gave examples of how their lives are like a plant and warned them of thorns (danger, sin, snares of the Devil), of drying up, and of staying spiritually watered. He gave each teen a potted plant to take home and challenged them to care for the plant as though it were their own spiritual lives. Please pray for these young people, as they are the hope of the Gospel for this country.
One of the most difficult things for our team this year was saying “Goodbye” to Pastor Randy and Carmen Shook. They faithfully served with Team Thailand for over seven years. They personally saw hundreds of salvations, baptisms, and visitors in church; and they started and pastored our second church plant here in Hua Hin. As foreign missionaries, they did just what they have always done in their past ministries in America; they poured their lives into loving, serving, soul winning, and encouraging folks. Their last Sunday in church, the members had a time of honoring “Grandma and Grandpa,” and personal testimonies were given. One faithful lady said this, “We are sad that Grandma and Grandpa are leaving, but the way we can honor them is by following their example and doing what they taught us from God’s Word.” Their ministry here can be summed up as just that: they pointed others to Jesus by their pure Christianity, faithfulness to give the Gospel, and boldness in teaching and training the people to serve Him. What a privilege it was for all of us to serve alongside these two humble heroes of the faith.
Tim Shook & Team Thailand
