This is not technically an NTIM Prayer Newsletter
or Update but we see this as a wide-open door for Christian Educators to come
to Thailand and at the same time join us in our work to reach Northern Thailand
with the greatest message we could ever tell.
Most of you know that God opened a door for Hope
to lead one of the international schools here in Chiangrai as Head of School. She
had previously served in other capacities but last August she assumed this new
role. Chiang Rai International School has completed their school year and Hope and
the rest of the administration at CRIS are busy recruiting and preparing for
the upcoming school year that begins in August 2021. They have almost all of
their positions filled at this time but are still in need of hiring 2 secondary
science teachers.
If you know someone who has science teaching
degrees and experience or even someone fresh out of college and has an interest
in teaching science here in Northern Thailand, please have them contact Human Resources at crishr@cris.ac.th
Let me
begin by saying that even though our world may seem to be falling apart, BUT God’s
work of redemption, reconciliation and restoration is continuing to flourish
here in Northern Thailand. Even during one of the most horrific pandemics our
world has ever seen, God continues His work of transformation. God is actively
at work transforming the lives of people all over the world. I cannot attest
very clearly about what God is doing in other parts of the world but what I can
tell you today is that God is moving mightily changing lives here in Northern
Thailand.
For well over 20 years, we have seen God
reaching deep into families in this part of God’s world where there has never
even been one person who was a follower of Jesus and then through the context
of relationships and teaching English and sharing our lives with people, God begins
to draw that young person – normally a senior high school or university student
– to our Lord Jesus. What a great joy it has been for us to continue to see God
working like this and allowing ordinary people like you and me to join God and see
an amazing God do extra ordinary things. I could go on and on telling of the
great things our God has done but today I really simply just want to give you
an update on things and ask for a fresh commitment to keep us in your hearts
and in your prayers.
UPDATE ON GRACE LANGUAGE SCHOOL & VOLUNTEER
TEAMS
As most of you know, because of the pandemic we
have had to stop all one-on-one teaching at Grace Language School for many,
many months now but things are getting back to a “new normal” and we are now
allowed to resume teaching English again next week. This is our main GLS English program aimed at
reaching the youth, college age, and young adults. We are pleased to say that
we will resume teaching in this program beginning June 15 and will have 3 more
classes to teach after that to finish out our term and the next new term will
begin in July.
Our second
ESL program is a partnership between GLS and Baan Athitaan Church where we
target children grades 1-6 and teach them for a couple of hours every Saturday
morning. We are now planning to restart this program on June 19.
Please also pray for us as we begin to plan and
map out when we would like to request teams from the USA and really from all over
the world to come out and help us again. We still are under some pretty strict
guidelines with the pandemic and as of today, most people coming in still have
to undergo a 14-day quarantine once they arrive in Thailand before they can
travel on to their next destination so it still does not make sense for us to
plan any teams to come out until this restriction is removed. Please join us in
prayer about that.
UPDATE ON CHRISTMAS OUTREACHES
YES it is JUNE but Christmas will be here soon.
Please pray for us and for the possibility to have teams during the Christmas
Season. Last year we were able to do some very small Christmas outreaches but
we are hoping that the doors will be open much wider for us this year and maybe
even have some teams come out and help us with the outreach time.
UPDATE ON BAAN ATHITAAN CHURCH
As most of you know, we have not been able to
meet in person as a church for many, many, months as well. This have been so
very hard for all of us because we need our church family and the fellowship
that only a local church family can provide. We have been having Sunday morning
services online and we have learned to have greater quality with them but it
still is not the same as our being able to meet together. We are still under a
less than “50” rule where we cannot have meetings in larger numbers than 50. So,
we have a small group of singers, musicians, and technicians, as well as, the Preacher
and Translator who come together on Sunday mornings for the online service.
As a way of helping stay connected with our
flock, I have started to do short daily devotional talks both in English and in
Thai that I send to anyone who wants to hear them. We just finished up a couple
of weeks of talks on what it means to walk in the Spirit and be led by the Spirit.
We have now started to look at some of the “words of Jesus” that are pretty important
for us to consider. Here is an example of one of these devotions. If you would
like to receive these each day, please send me an email and say “yes I want to
receive the English version” or “I would like to receive the Thai version.”
UPDATE ON LIGHTHOUSE BUILDING PROGRESS
It doesn’t really seem like it but, in May we passed
the 2-year mark of construction. Even in this horrible pandemic, God has
continued to provide us with the funding and workers to bring our main building
project closer to being finished. Some of you have already begun to write me
and ask:
When are you moving in?
We are targeting the middle to the end of July.
We hope to have our first service in the new building the last Sunday of July but
still not sure if it will be in the form of “online” or not. We still have to wait
for the approvals on that. However, we are on the last phase of construction
for the main two buildings. We will still have a few “projects” to work on
after this but building A and building B have to be completed first. After the
rainy season and the land settles, we will be working on a few projects like “Thai
style Outside Kitchen,” “a Sala and eating area,” “an extra restroom and shower
facility,” “an extra guest Housing quarters,” “Landscaping” and some small
projects that can be done after our initial move in time frame.
Here are a few pictures taken recently.
Here is
our Facebook link to all the pictures taken just today:
Please
keep us in your prayers. These are very busy days and things in Thailand are getting
back to normal so to speak. We still are not vaccinated yet and do not have
access to any of the vaccines but they will be here soon as I understand it.
Please
also pray for us and our normal operating expenses. We are doing fine with all
the building expenses but we have gotten really tight with our everyday operating
expenses and would just ask for you to keep us in your prayers.
May God
richly bless you. Thank you for your generosity and for sending us to Thailand.
Any gift you would like to make to our normal, everyday ministry, no matter how
small or how large, helps us reach people who are the first persons in their
entire families to know Jesus.
Until the
People in and around Northern Thailand know Him,
Michael for the team
“For we
do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants
for Jesus’ sake.” 2 Corinthians 4:5
Northern
Thailand Impact Ministry (NTIM), P.O. Box 26115, Birmingham,
AL 35260 USA Main Website: www.gontim.org
NTIM is a
non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization based in the USA. We are committed
to connecting people in need with people who care and are focused in the heart
of Southeast Asia where poverty is high, education is low, needs are great,
unreached people groups (UPGs) are all around us, and the love and message of
Jesus is needed to transform lives.
