Baptism, Bible Distribution & Battles

Warm greetings to you from Chiang Rai, Thailand. Our family is doing well at this time. In this season we’re celebrating some milestones:
– Elias turned 6 years old (Oct. 2)
– Elias officially learned how to read; he’s excited about being able to read the Bible for himself now…and so are we! He keeps asking us when we’re going to teach him to highlight the Bible like Mami and Papi. “Soon, son, soon.”
– We celebrate our 10 year anniversary soon (Dec. 6)

BAPTISM

When we started off doing Bible distribution in Thailand, we were never aiming at just getting a book onto some bookshelf in every home. Our goal has always been Bible engagement because when people engage with the Bible their lives are transformed.

Fang is a girl who received a Bible when we distributed it at her school in January 2016. Within 1 month she had read through the Thai SourceView Bible (Matthew-Acts). Upon finishing it she believed that Jesus was the Son of God. Of her own initiative she went out in the neighbourhood looking for Christians and when she found some, she asked them to take her to church. Her first time at church was a powerful experience. She says, “I immediately felt that I belonged there.” She joined the local youth group and attended Bible studies and soon got involved in serving in the church by handing out bulletins every morning. In September this year she got baptized publicly in the Sunday morning service.

 

It’s an amazing treasure for us to personally know this young woman and have a living testimony of the fruits of Bible distribution. Most of the time we hand out Bibles and we never know what happens afterward. This testimony builds our faith to continue to sow the seeds of God’s word in Thailand.

 

SHARE BIBLES – BIBLE DISTRIBUTION

Since our last update we have been able to engage in 4 more villages, distributing Bibles door to door and in the schools.

The Discipleship Training School in our base “adopted” 2 villages and go to distribute Bibles there every week (here’s a short video of them actually doing Bible distribution). A local ministry partnered with us to distribute Bibles in another one. We also had a few teachers from Elias’ school, including his first grade teacher, join us to do the distribution. And this week we’re hosting a team who is taking on another village. CLICK HERE FOR MORE PICTURES

 

TESTIMONIES:

• One week we gave a man a Bible and the next week he happily told us that he had read the entire thing (Matthew-Acts) and gave it to his brother to read. We obviously supplied him with another Bible.
• One lady had received a Thai SourceView Bible 1 year ago. When the DTS team arrived at her house to distribute the Bible to her door she told them that she already had one and that she has been reading it to her sister, who is dying of cancer, in the hospital. A non-Christian is reading the Bible in the hospital to another non-Christian.
• As we approached his house with the Bible in our hands, the man told us that he is already reading one. He shared about how he works at a science training facility and the Bible is there. He reads it at work. We still offered a Bible for his home and he happily gave it to his son who was standing beside him.
• As the DTS team was walking down the street they met a man selling ice-cream. As they were buying ice-cream they decided to share the gospel and give a Bible. It turned out that the man had been Christian 20 years ago, but had decided to leave God behind. They went home with the man and in his living, in front of his whole family, he re-dedicated his life to the Lord.

  

EXPANSION

One of our goals is to multiply the ability to distribute Bibles around the nation. We have seen increased interest among the Christian community in Chiang Rai, but we’ve been praying and preparing for the body of Christ in other provinces to rise up and take on the role of facilitator for their part of this land.

Over the past 2 weeks we’ve received news that 3 new areas in other provinces are taking the responsibility to facilitate Bible distribution where they are. We are calling these people/teams: Partners. There are other teams praying and considering if they too want to become partners with us in their provinces.

BATTLES

With all the great things happening in our lives we don’t want to forget that sometimes it gets hard. The advance of the kingdom of God does not come without struggles and battles. We’ve been battling on one front over the past couple years: health. The reality is each one of us has had different battles with health, with Cy taking the brunt of it. Since 2015 she had had issues with her nervous system, her stomach, and the muscles in her back, legs and feet. Recently she was on crutches for an unknown pain in her foot.
We want to ask for prayer for this battle front of our lives. We would like to see a season of victory over the health struggles. Please stand with us in prayer.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

• Health: see “Battles”
• Personal Prayer Warriors: We’re recognizing the need for increased prayer over our lives and ministries. We’d like to invite individuals who have a heart to intercede for us to connect with us. We want to have a special prayer covering over our lives and ministry as we walk into this new season of growth, multiplication, fruitfulness, and the subsequent battles that come with all those great things. If you would like to be a part of this unique group, please respond to this email and let us know. Those on this team of prayer warriors will receive specific prayer requests in live time as we send out emails for specific prayer requests.
• Protection: We’re already battling health struggles and we want to ask God to put a hedge of protection around us so that no accidents hinder us from his purposes and plans.
• Wisdom: The pace of change and growth surrounding our lives is quick. While we are excited about the great opportunities and relationships that God is creating, we want to walk by His Spirit and humility as we what lies ahead.
• Love: as we celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary we want to look forward to 10 more years of even greater love.

We’re so privileged to have friends and family around the world who care about what’s happening in our lives and what God is doing. Your prayers and thoughts are welcome and appreciated so much! Blessings!