Dear praying friends,
As I write this prayer update, I am sitting in the auditorium
of one of the largest and best schools in the city of Chiangrai, Thailand where
we have lived and served for the last 18 years after we had spent our first 2
years in Bangkok in full-time language study of Central Thai.
This is a time of the year where we see God working in
some amazing ways. Those of you who know us well, have heard me say many times
that God is at work in mighty ways here in Northern Thailand. You also know
that we believe in prayer and we are asking you to pray for us in a special way
from now until the end of the year. We currently have a great partner team from
Australia that is with us including the Pastor and his wife and two of their
children as well as some great friends from their church in Glouster,
Australia.
This past Sunday night, these awesome volunteers
helped us with our Christmas Soccer Outreach to about 80+ university students. We
not only had fun playing soccer with these young men, but also had the opportunity
to share with them the greatest message the world could ever hear and
challenged them to consider how they should respond to the love of God displayed
through Jesus Christ.
If you have Facebook and want to
see all of our pictures of this Christmas Soccer Outreach, please click the
following link: https://web.facebook.com/groups/1497387907237512/photos/
Yesterday and today these volunteer partners from
Australia helped our English language platform called Grace Language School
reach out into our community with what we call an English Fun Day in one of the
schools here in Northern Thailand. Yesterday we lead over 100 children grades 1-3 in an
all-day activity we call “An English Fun Day” which is basically a mini camp.
We used the American holiday of “Thanksgiving” as our theme for the outreach.
Here is a picture from yesterday.
We also had the chance to lead another 100 children
grades 4-6 today in an all-day activity we call “an English Fun Day.” We used
the same material and simply did the same kind of thing we did yesterday with the
children at CVK School in grades 4-6. Here is picture of the camp today.
Here is a short video clip of one of our awesome Thai
Staff doing a dance with one of the children at CVK. Who said you can't have
fun while you are working hard?
If you have Facebook and want to see all of our
pictures of these two English Fun Day Outreaches, please click the following
link:
EFD Day 1, Grades 1-3: https://web.facebook.com/pg/GraceLanguageSchool/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2650940564981867
EFD Day 2, Grades 4-6:
We are just getting started with our outreaches during
this awesome time of the year and we want our friends and partners to keep us
before the throne of grace as we seek to light up the darkness in our communities
with deep intentionality. Would you please take a moment now and pray for us? Then,
please keep us in your prayers each day until the end of the year as we reach out
to some of the least reached people groups in our world today.
Please also continue to pray for us and for the funds
needed to complete our first ever building project we are calling "The
Lighthouse Learning Center," and for the continuing outreach and
discipleship ministries that go on every single day here in Chiangrai,
Thailand.
We
will update you very soon on our building construction process with a video clip.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING
As we shared with you, we have been using the theme of
“Thanksgiving” as our theme for our English Camps the last couple of days and
are reminded of how thankful we are for our relationships with all of you. Some
of you reading this are family members wanting to keep up with us and what God
is doing in and through us. Most of you reading this are friends who know us
personally and support us as we seek to do all that God wants us to do as we
continue to serve God on your behalf in the country where over 99 out of every
100 people do not know Jesus nor have their names written in the Lamb’s Book of
Life.
We are also so very thankful for those of you who realize
that we could not live and serve here in Thailand without your financial
support. Thank you for loving us enough to give. Thank you for loving the Lord
enough to give to missions because you want to see the precious Thai people have
a chance to be blessed by the one true God we serve.
Here is a reminder of just a few of the ways in which
NTIM reaches out into this part of God’s world with the love and message of our
great Savior. Remember these as you bring us before the throne of grace in your
prayers.
"Therefore,
my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of
the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord."
1
Corinthians 15:58
Michael for the team.
