Dear Partners in Ministry,

Happy New Year!  We hope you had a great Christmas with family and friends, celebrating our Savior’s birth.  We had many opportunities to share with students and neighbors alike and did it with pictures and parties.

You think you are a movie star.

We kicked off Christmas early with an enactment of the Christmas story, done by a visiting team. The kids and teachers watching were very attentive.
One of the most exciting things that happened was that the Ban Sra group produced an eighteen-minute movie!  Under Muana’s directorship they told the story of God’s desire to be in relationship with His people and concluded it by giving personal testimony to God’s work in their own lives, declaring themselves to be His followers.  The movie premiered at Ban Sra on Christmas Eve, and then was used in other venues—we used it to have the story told in Northern Thai.  With a sheet and a projector we set up a home movie theater here, and our neighbors in Ban Luang watched and listened to the Gospel presented in Northern Thai by rice and corn farmers. We are praying that it touched their lives.
New Year’s here is busy, with lots of people coming home for the four-day holiday.  Our normally sleepy little town is buzzing with impromptu parties and traffic as people are catching up with family, friends and teachers.  We were blessed to have a group of our former students come around and spend some time with us one afternoon.  It was good to catch up with what they are doing.

What does 2012 hold? 

Teaching in the schools: Between us we teach in seven schools in our area, giving us a role and an opportunity to serve in the community.

Ministering to the downtrodden: through serving families who have kids with disabilities; giving economic aid to poor families through small income-generation projects; being  Jesus’ hands and feet, offering His grace and compassion.

Nurturing local fellowships:  Muana and Villy are leaving for home assignment and on their return will move to Chiang Mai, so we will have a different role in the Ban Sra fellowships—a sort of hands-on, hands-off situation where we hope to be able to guide and encourage them.  We will also try to equip them with teaching materials—both new ones and revisions of the old ones.  We will also continue to nurture Yot and Bua Gaew, teaching them and encouraging them in their walk with Jesus.

Nurturing individual believers and seekers:  Locally, in Ban Luang, there are individuals and families who have shown interest in the Gospel.  We have now been joined by Anna and Dema and Carolyn, and we are hoping to see more interest and people following Jesus and forming house churches in the area.

We thank you for walking with us in this and are very aware that we need the prayer of God’s people to see His kingdom effectively proclaimed.  We trust that the new year will bring you a renewed sense of God’s presence.

In Christ,

Jan and Larry

Prayer points:

Praise God for the way the Ban Sra believers are sharing their faith.  Pray for them as they mature and rely more on God.

Praise God for the many opportunities we have had to share God’s love with our students and neighbors over the past few weeks. Pray that interest will grow and continue and that we can help people see how much God wants them to come to Him.

Pray that we can form interest groups here in Ban Luang and that they will flourish and become house churches.

Things happening this month:

January 9-14 Larry will attend a strategy meeting in Chiang Mai

January 14  Children’s Day—It is an opportunity to share Jesus’ Love and concern for Kids.

Mid-January   Jan will travel to Bangkok for a Language School board meeting.

January 26 -27   We will attend a group meeting in Chiang Mai.

 If you would like to support this ministry you can do it through the IM web page at www.internationalministries.org/missionaries/76