Annual Mother/Daughter Banquet
Every year around Mother’s Day, we have a Mother/Daughter Banquet. This was our second year to hold it for our church in Hua Hin. Our theme was “Finding Rainbows in the Rain,” and the lessons focused on how to handle the trials of life. This ended up being a perfect theme since just two days before the banquet, our beautiful town was the site of terrorist bombs. It was definitely a scary and uncertain time for all of us. We thought we might have to cancel the meeting, but we were able to carry on with our plans, and over 150 ladies and girls showed up. What a great opportunity it was to share with them the peace that comes from knowing God.
Gaining an Influence in the Community
Over the past few months, the Lord has granted us several opportunities to gain influence in our community. Missy Shook and I were asked to join the Deputy Mayor and other dignitaries in celebrating the Queen’s birthday at one of our local schools. It was an honor to represent our church and its ministries at a school that has close ties with the local Buddhist temple. Several weeks later, our team was asked to sing and make a speech at a special retirement dinner for the school’s principal. Our Thai pastor took the opportunity to give the Gospel to all the guests. On another occasion, I was asked to teach for one of their special school days. It has been a blessing to gain the trust of the children and their parents. Please pray that the Lord will continue to help us strengthen our relationships with the community so as to reach them for Christ.
Your Sacrifice Makes a Difference!
For years now our ministry has been blessed to receive boxes of BEAMS Bibles through the efforts of Bro. Bob Bowen and individual churches in the States. Our ministry would not be what it is if our people didn’t have the opportunity to have a copy of God’s Word and be able to read it for themselves.
In this picture, Naam is holding a Bible she received when she got saved. She is the oldest of five children, and her family has been faithfully attending our church for over three years now. Her parents work at a concrete factory and are very poor. She carries a heavy load trying to help her mother care for her siblings and keep up with her schoolwork, but she still makes time to read her Bible. Over the past few months, she has completed several of our Junior Church Bible challenges—memorizing Psalm 1, reading Proverbs and writing out a truth learned from each chapter, and reading the book of Matthew. I am so thankful to each person who has given their time to assemble Bibles or their money to send them to the mission field. Your sacrifice is such a blessing!
It was my privilege to help host Bro. Bowen recently, along with a group of pastors who have a real heart to see every person in Thailand have a copy of their own Bible. Please pray that the Lord will continue to bless this endeavor.
Serving the Master joyfully,
Shari House
