The work of the Lord marches on. Praise the Lord! Bible Baptist Church of Chiang Mai is doing well. We have now turned the leadership of the church over to Pastor Uc. He has been with us from the beginning and is near fluent in Thai. He is a good man and is leading the church on to greater works.
We are moving on to plant another church. We have been praying and have had some areas in mind for some time. We began to search for a place in the area where we thought it would be good to plant a church because there was none; however, the Holy Spirit prevented us. After six weeks of diligent searching, praying, and doors closing one after another, we prayed and decided to step back.
The very next day, we decided to just take a drive up to Mt. Inthonan to visit Sumet and his family. They live two hours from BBC and would come to church from time to time. My wife and I set out without setting the GPS, as we were really just taking a drive to relax and spend some time together, but in the general direction of where they lived. We had traveled about an hour and a half from our house and came into the city of Chom Thong. We had never been this way before because we live on the opposite side of Chiang Mai. As we drove through the city, we realized that it was a good-sized city. We began to look around and could not find a Gospel voice in it. We began to pray about Chom Thong and came back the next day to look around again. God giving us peace in our hearts that this was of Him, we began to call on some properties. That afternoon God gave us a place to start the new work. What we had tried to do for six weeks in the other place and could not do, God did within hours of seeing the city where He wanted us. Please keep us in your prayers as Denise and I begin this new work.
Gideon our youngest son, with our blessing, has decided to go back to our home church for Bible college. He wants to get a music degree. He will be leaving soon, and we will miss him very much. He was a big part of the music program at Bible Baptist. Please pray for him as he travels, searches out a job, and follows God down this new pathway of life.
Joseph, Soso, and our grandson will be leaving soon after to go back to India. Please pray, because Joseph will have to leave them there to finish the U.S. requirements to get Soso the proper documents to be able to be with him in the U.S. Her application was approved, and now he is required to be a U.S. resident and be able to show the government that he can support them. We will greatly miss them also, as it was a tremendous blessing having them here with us helping in the work.
From India, AJ reports several new salvations, and his home is packed for church every Sunday, with no more room. God also caused the man who was causing the most trouble to move away, and now they have peace. Pastor and I had to cancel our trip to ordain him and charter the church due to the turmoil over the elections there. Please pray for more souls to be saved and that we will be able to get there soon for the ordination and charter.
Yours for His harvest,
Andrew Long
Romans 19:14