FOLLOWING GOD'S LEADERSHIP IN NORTHERN THAILAND - An Update June 9, 2021

Dear Family, Friends, Partners in Ministry,

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:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=www.gontim.org&set=a.4622674727748308

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.

Again, let me say that this multi-purpose building will speak clearly to the darkness that God's Work of redemption in Northern Thailand is here to stay. It will be the home for NTIM Thailand (Channel of Blessings Foundation). It will be the home for Grace Language School. It will be the home of Baan Athitaan Church.

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

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Financial support can be given through NTIM....

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.