NEWS

Rainy Season Blessings

We are now in the midst of the rainy season. That means such heavy torrential rains that we must run to get undercover quickly. After the scorching dry season, when the earth turns brown, withered and dusty, it is so refreshing to see once again the lush green of the jungle, fresh and cool for the moment. Then the hot sun glares down once more to soak us in heat and humidity. The rains are both a blessing and a curse. They replenish the earth and water the newly planted corn and rice fields. They also bring sickness; malaria and haemoratic fever along with annoying bugs (to me anyway - the Thais like to eat them!) flying ants, red ants, termites, leeches and more. This all became evident to me as I travelled up the mountains of northern Thailand to visit two areas of our ministry this past month.
	First, I visited FLC evangelist Yingmuay, both her home village and the church she has planted along the Thailand -Laos border. Chairot, Yingmuay's son and friends Rita and Miriam went with me. It was a truly wonderful time for all of us. I was so impressed with what Yingmuay has been able to do on her own. Her husband passed away a few years back. It was a very difficult time for her. The villagers, steeped in superstitions, felt a curse had fallen on their church. They would not step inside the building.
However, Yingmuay is not one to give up and she bravely carried on the ministry with resourcefulness and determination. We had gone there before to encourage and pray with the church members. Now, we could see the fruit of all her labours as the church is once again alive and doing well. Rubber trees were planted a few years back on our FLC property and they are growing straight and tall. In a few more years, they will provide a much needed income for evangelism among the Mien and Hmong tribes in the area and into Laos as well. Yingmuay's whole family is involved in the ministry. Her mother and aunt are avid evangelists in their own right and able to speak the ancient dialect that the elderly Mien understand. Her son Chairot has taken up the call to serve in his father's place and is very effective with the young people and innovative ways of doing the ministry. Daughter Anang is an excellent Sunday school teacher to the village children and son Yotin teaches guitar and sports to the kids too. Yingmuay now has two assistants who help in all areas. As the ministry grows, we envision a Bible training center on FLC's rubber plantation for the Mien and Hmong leaders coming out of Laos as well as from the surrounding villages in Thailand. Please pray for Yingmuay, her family and this vital ministry. Just last weekend, I visited another area of the mission. This time, north and west of Chiangmai towards the Burma border, a truly Karen tribal area. The Karens are renown for protecting the environment, limiting hunting and fishing to specific occasions, so the Thai government has granted them the authority to patrol their own regions. This is not the case in other tribal areas. Consequently, the mountains and fields are rich in natural resources and well forested. We drove up Doi Inthathon, the highest mountain in Thailand and stopped to visit a magnificient waterfalls on the way. Saliga, our FLC center manager accompanied me along with Karen tribal driver Beepor, his wife Da and their adorable baby named Guitar (after the musical instrument!).
We first stopped to visit Abundant Grace Home in Mae Chaem and the 30 children living there so they could go to school. A rented store on the main road near the primary school serves as their home. Every corner of it is being used by the children ranging in age from 8 to 18. The dorm parents are a loving and humble couple who teach them Bible and Christian songs and help them with their chores and homework. What most impressed me is that the dorm parents and children go on evangelism trips to the neighbouring evil spirit villages, witnessing through song and scripture.They also lead worship in four different churches every month. Several of the children are not yet Christians themselves but they are studying Bible and will soon know Jesus as their personal Saviour. Their singing is very special, heartfelt and sincere. These children come from very poor families and would not be able to go to school otherwise. We encouraged them from the Bible and shared small gifts with the children.
From there, we travelled on to Hui Bon village to visit the Christian school established by FLC and the church ministry. They have been asking me to come and visit since Daniel passed away in December. Only now did I feel ready. The villagers looked sad, seeing me without Daniel but were encouraged by my visit and sharing with them. The school has grown from 30 to 60 children. The exciting aspect of it is that half the children are now coming from a neighbouring village that has been very resistent to the gospel. The parents send their children to the school to learn music and now two families have accepted the Lord as a result. We taught the children Bible and songs and when we asked them if they loved Jesus all the children raised their hands - even those from the resistent village, spirit strings still tied tightly around their wrists. Please pray for this wonderful outreach and ministry. We stayed overnight, sleeping on the floor under mosquito nets and eating the rice, village chicken and greens that the villagers prepared for us on bamboo mats. No tables or chairs needed in the villages! I really enjoyed visiting the villages and sharing with the people. It was very encouraging to see the growth of the ministry despite all the suffering we went through last year. The villagers along with our FLC staff and evangelists have shown their love and concern for me and have stayed steadfast with the mission despite temptations to join elsewhere. I was very touched and encouraged. Thank all of you for praying too. It means more than words can express to know that you are praying and supporting the mission and me personally.
May God continue to guide, bless and encourage you also! - Beverley