Mother’s Day
Thailand celebrates Mother’s Day in August on the Queen’s birthday, and our church always takes that opportunity to honor the mothers and all the ladies in our church. The ladies come forward and sit in the chairs set up in the front of the auditorium. The “children” are given a flower to pin on their mom or any other lady they want to show respect to. The “mothers” then, in return, pray a prayer of blessing over the “child.” It is such a sweet Sunday every year.
Spirit Houses
These three sisters—Watsana (front left), Malee (back), and Pielyn (front right)—all attend our church. Malee was the first to get saved and has been attending faithfully for over two years. Watsana was saved this year, and although she has terrible arthritis and back pain, she rides in a van 40 minutes one way to come faithfully to the services. Pielyn recently got saved after seeing how the Lord has blessed the lives of her two sisters. After her baptism several weeks ago, Pielyn asked if we would be willing to help her take her spirit house down. Our staff and other church members went to her home, had a time of singing and prayer, and then dismantled her spirit house. This is not a light thing for her to do. With her meager income, it would have made sense for her to sell it, since they are very expensive, but instead, she wanted it destroyed. She wanted it and everything Buddhist-related out of her home. It is always a blessed event when you can witness someone being freed from Satan’s fear and bondage.
New Church Property
After years and years of praying, we believe the Lord has finally given us a beautiful piece of land to purchase located about 20 minutes from our current location. It is 5.5 acres in size, has main-road access, and 3-phase electricity already. Our people have been sacrificially giving for the past two years and, with the help of donations from friends and church overseas, have half the money already needed to pay for the property. We put a down payment on the land at the beginning of October and are trusting the Lord to help us raise the rest by the end of November. We are excited to have a space big enough to build a large church, staff housing, an educational building, an orphanage, and a Bible college. Praise the Lord! Please be in pray for the $100,000+ still needed, and take a moment to watch the video we made that gives you further details about the land and tells how you can give a donation (https://www.fbmi.org/mgp/thailand-land).
Visitation & Soul Winning
I love being able to visit our church members in their homes. This grandma, her daughter, and her grandson were living in a small tin shack on stilts in an aloe vera field where they were working. The young boy had recently been sick and in the hospital. What a privilege it was to pray over him for complete healing and for the Lord to bless their little family. Our church’s regularly scheduled soul-winning time is on Thursday nights, but I try to take every opportunity the Lord gives me to witness for Him. Several weeks ago while I was at the hospital with a lady who had just given birth, I had the pleasure of leading her son and his two friends to Christ. Praise the Lord! As always, thank you for your faithful prayers and support.
Shari House