We are so thankful for your prayers, and we especially appreciated receiving some emails letting us know that someone was praying for us. They came during the same week we were facing some difficulties. It means so much to us to hear from you all. While we did have some things that slowed us down, including being sick, God wasn’t slowing down. We had our highest attendance, and our first neighbor visited our church on her own in September. She said that she had heard our singing and wanted to see what was happening. Little by little, we are starting to make a dent in our community. Our church’s landlord listened to the Gospel, but at the end, he invited us to their Buddhist festival at the temple that Sunday. He and his wife can hear our singing and the message every Sunday, for they live next door to the church. Please keep this couple in your prayers; pray that hearing our church services would soften their hearts towards the Gospel. They are so faithful to give offerings to the monks and keep all the Buddhist holidays. Although very friendly to us, they see Christianity for us as our religion and Buddhism as their religion.
In August, we had a wonderful time celebrating Mother’s Day, which is held on the Queen’s birthday to honor her. This is a very special holiday—around three to four days are taken to celebrate it. On Sunday, some of our young people practiced a special song to honor their mothers, and we had a special gift for them to give to their mothers. Sadly, not one mother came. Seeing the parents of the youth and children who attend our church come to know Christ and attend with their children is a big desire of ours. Would you join us in prayer for this to happen?
We are so excited that the Lord has blessed us with new neighbors. An older missionary couple, whom we have known for a few years now, recently arrived in MaeSot. In the past, they made short mission trips to Thailand and Myanmar, but now they have finished deputation and have settled here on the Thai border. They have been a big encouragement and help to us. We are enjoying seeing how God has been knitting our hearts together for His service. For now, they will also be helping some with our ministries.
We will soon begin preparing for our annual Christmas play. Our church hopes to have it in two locations this year. Last year over 200 people came from the Karen village neighboring the village where our church is. Please keep my wife and me in prayer, as we direct the play, do all the practices, and do most of the preparation ourselves. If anyone would like to donate towards our Christmas program, we’d greatly appreciate it. After the Christmas play and message, we have a drawing to give away many gifts to the visitors who attend. We also serve a meal for everyone.
Thank you for your prayers and support.
Teerapat and Tiffany Phaisarnpiwat
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- Hang Hang’s baptism
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- Mother’s Day
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- Last year’s Christmas program
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- Our landlord hearing the Gospel
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- Our new neighbors