December 2011

Merry Christmas to everyone!

It’s always a season of mixed feelings in Thailand during the month of December. Thailand is a nation without Christmas. The banks, schools and post office are running like any other day of the year. However, on the YWAM base in Chiang Rai Christmas is a wonderful celebration of Christ’s birth with a flavor from many different nations. We pray that everyone who reads this would be blessed this Christmas season.

We’ve been doing some special things here over the last month. One of those is doing outreaches to the Akha (one of the hill tribes) villages. One day I asked one of the YWAM staff if she knew of a village that really needed our help. She asked around and heard about a wooden house that burned right to the ground one night. The woman and the 4 kids who were in the building woke up in time to save their lives, but were left with nothing. So we immediately went out to the village to see what we could do. We didn’t go empty-handed, but we all took donations among ourselves for used clothing, blankets, pots and pans and other things so that we could arrive with a blessing for the family. After sharing with the woman for a little while she said that it was Jesus who woke her up that night and if God wasn’t with her she wouldn’t be alive today. We were more impacted by the hope and faith that she expressed than she was with the gifts that we brought. I think Paul calls it “mutual blessing.” We’ve continued to go up into the mountains to visit the hill tribes and share the gospel and pray for people. It’s been a highlight of every week so far.

The School of Biblical Studies, which Cy leads here, is about to begin (January 16th). The staff that are here have been studying, praying and preparing for the school over the last month. We’ve been really grateful to God for answering our prayers for good quality staff who can really help this school prosper under the grace of the Holy Spirit. They have hearts to serve and love and disciple the people here. Thank you for those who have been praying for us.

We have yet another praise item concerning the building project. We are pleased to call South Abbotsford Church our home church and they have been so encouraging to us as they took up an offering for us to continue with the building project. One Sunday morning they raised more than $7,500 towards this project. Praise God for His blessing upon us through them and the blessing that He will pour out upon the church and individuals who gave. We want to send out a special thanks to you who gave.

We as a family are doing great. We are looking forward to this Christmas time as we enjoy it very much. We will miss both of our families and friends, but we know they love us from afar. It truly is a blessing for us to follow God in Thailand and watch as He does what only He can do.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Rob, Cy & Elias