Dear Faithful Friends and Praying Supporters,
I am humbled when I read that so many of you have been praying for our family. Thank you. I am absolutely convinced that it has made all the difference. We seek to be Christ’s ambassadors and may sometimes play a small part in some amazing events and developments that only God could have brought about. Let me tell you about one:
Ten years ago last month, I had a revelation. [ One Pentecostal national missionary friend of mine was astounded. Probably, not by the revelation as much as that God gave it to a Baptist. Well, the Lord must have wanted to shake things up a bit if He gave a Baptist a word of revelation. ] I was doing my devotions early one morning and came across the phrase, “And they will know that the Lord is in that city” The reading was about Jerusalem, but it really struck me as relevant for the present. I felt prompted to ask God, what city are you talking about, Lord? I heard an almost audible “Chiang Rai” . This city. The nation of Thailand will know, maybe, even the world will know that the Lord is in this place. I was so excited and wanted to tell the world of my great revelation. But when I asked God what to do next, I felt the very strong reply: “just pray and ready yourself”. I was a little disappointed. I wanted to organize something; a big prayer meeting, make an announcement, tell the world. But immediately afterward, I got dengue, and by the time I had recovered from that our family had a crisis that took the wind out of our sails. But as I reflected and prayed, I realised, that God was serious. “ Just pray and get ready” So for 10 years, I have been serving God in the ways I think God has called me. And I have been praying. We have continued to enable, mentor, and encourage local national ministries, particularly with a focus on Eastern Shan State(Burma), as that was another very clear calling in 2013. So that has been where we have focused our encouragement and energy until Covid and the military coup has kept us away from Burma, though we are still working there – from a distance, from here in Chiang Rai.
Chiang Rai, our home base, has had a small but established core of Christians for a century. The early missionaries did leave some landmarks in the city: a school, a church, and a hospital, to name three. Slowly and steadily, the Christian Faith has taken root and grown, particularly among the ethnic minority people, who have had a growing presence here.
One week ago, this Pentecostal friend I mentioned above, called me. He has been gripped with a desire to organize a massive worship service of as many believers as the local soccer stadium