Dear Praying Friends and Faithful Supporters,
Our trip to Thailand and Burma in March was an amazing success! After a weekend in Bangkok, where I preached at First Baptist Church Nawang, Bro. Bolton, Dr. Bob Bowen, Dr. Mark Bosje, and I headed to Yangoon, Myanmar (Burma) for A.W.B.M.’s 2nd Burmese Pastors’ Conference. This year there were 45 pastors who attended; they also brought many of their church workers. We were able to have three solid days of teaching and preaching, and God worked in a wonderful way, as the pastors were challenged to go back and train other workers.
We were also able to give each attendee a new Burmese Bible and had others available for pastors to take back to their churches. During this conference we met two direct descendants of converts of Adoniram Judson. It was exciting to hear stories of the great missionary that they related. A big thanks goes out to Pastor Thaung Lian for coordinating the meeting.
At the end of the meeting, it was determined that we need to build a Bible college for Pastor Thaung to continue training the pastors at a cost of $21,000 and also three churches for our church planters at a cost of $2,000, $4,000, and $4,500. We also have three more church planters who need support for up to $100 a month. Please pray about what you might do to help us help these men. Before leaving Burma, I was able to preach in two churches and visit two other house churches. As you can see from the photo below, Pastor T.L. Piang’s house is packed out. He baptized 70 converts last year.
In Thailand we were able to meet a 72-year-old pastor named Shadtu, who also has an orphanage near the Burma border. We found out the church and orphans both needed Bibles, so we purchased Karen bibles for them before we left. I was also able to visit a group of Karen workers who have begun attending International Baptist Church in Hua Hin.
Between now and the end of May, we will have traveled to Indiana, Kentucky, Montana, Oklahoma, Texas, and here in Michigan trying to raise our personal support and funds for the many A.W.B.M. projects. Please pray for our safety and that churches and individuals will partner with us as we try to help the Asian pastors.
The Vests
