Dear Partners in Ministry

Same, same…

In many ways our lives are similar to a lot of yours.  There is often a sameness about the days and weeks.  Each week we do the same things on the same days.  As I write this, Larry is tackling a day in schools. He teaches at two schools today—four classes—and on the way home this afternoon he will stop off to visit Lung Yot and share a Bible study with him.  Lung Yot is adjusting to life living on his own following his wife’s death a month or so ago.  He was ill earlier this month and invited us to go to a local ceremony for his health.  We decided to go later and do a Christian ceremony based on James 5 for him.

…but different

At the beginning of the month we went to a workshop on story telling.  You would think that by now we would have enough tools in our bag and tricks up our sleeves, but this workshop challenged us to look at both the way we teach and the way we train others to teach.  It also confirmed us in a lot of what we have been doing in the house churches here but gave us some new ideas, especially in the area of working with people who aren’t functionally literate.

Besides getting all enthused about story telling and inductive Bible studies, we were able to get a Bible overview in DVD form that we have been able to use in segments with the Friday group and the Ban Sra leaders group.  This helps put things in perspective for new believers and seekers, helping them to understand God’s care and concern for his creation and the way Jesus’ death covers our sin.

Christmas is coming,

and while it isn’t a Thai holiday, the hype in the shops and on TV make an opportunity for us to share more openly and specifically.  We are encouraging the house churches to look for individuals that may be interested and bring them to an event.  We have also been asked to do Christmas programs in schools, which gives us an opportunity to share Jesus with our students.

It’s all about Jesus.

At the recent Loi Kratong festival we were able to share with the house church how we can honor Jesus and be part of the festival.  We made our floats with crosses on them and thanked Jesus for his forgiveness.  As we all join in the fun of the festival that Christmas has become, let us all remember Jesus and his life and death of sacrifice for us.

As always,

Larry and Jan

 Prayer and Praise

Praise God for the story telling workshop.  Pray that we will be able to use the knowledge to teach and train others.

Praise God for Pat and Mimi, who are spending a few days with us, helping and learning.

Praise God for local festivals that can be used to teach truths about Jesus.

Pray that we will all use Christmas well as we share God’s love in our communities.  

Pray for a teacher to home school Grace and Daniel starting in April next year.   

This month

• Dec.  1   Sharing at Payameng Rai
• Dec. 11              Leadership Training
• Dec. 14-16 Meetings in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai
• Dec. 18 Meeting in Bangkok
• Dec. 20 House church Christmas,  Ban Luang
• Dec. 21              Combined house churches Christmas, Ban Sra
• Dec. 23–27    Christmas in schools

House churches meet every

Monday, Friday, & Saturday evenings