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Ending Bible Poverty Now

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March 2012

It’s been a really busy last few weeks with teams coming and going, teaching, working on getting an official Thai work permit and leading the YWAM Chiang Rai Base, especially the SBS (School of Biblical Studies). In fact, we’ve been so busy that we completely missed the month of February (sorry!).

In January (as you can see in our post below) we hosted a DTS (Discipleship Training School) team from Pichilemu, Chile. They remained with us until the middle of February. Recently we have received another team, but this time from our home church in Canada, South Abbotsford Church (Youth Church Abbotsford), and it has been great. Both teams were involved with going to Akha (a hill tribe) villages in the Chiang Rai province. Here’s a picture of the team with the villagers taken on the church grounds:

It’s a wonderful group that has both blessed and been blessed by the village trip. We spent 4 nights together, living in the village, eating their food (dog, pig intestine & eel), and sleeping in unique places. The guys all slept in a little hut without walls. Below is a view from our sleeping bags.

People who had never come to church were there listening to our stories, watching our dramas and playing our games. From young (4 months old) to old (77 years old) they came to see and hear the message of Jesus Christ. It was truly a wonderful time.

During the trip to the village, the YWAM Chiang Rai Base was hit by a very strong storm. It was short and small, but damaging. Chairs and lose ends were flying, roofing was being ripped apart and many simple homes were destroyed. This had never happened to us in the history of our being here. One young man who grew up in the Dominican Republic said, “You know, where I come from we don’t call this a storm, we call this a hurricane!” The power lines along the major highway were all laying down at 45 degree angles for kilometres. Our base kitchen and dining area was flooded and even our own home had some problems. It was the only storm that Cy has said she was afraid of. And Elias was just loving it, saying over and over again, “WOW!”

We also hosted an international night where all the members of our Base community made food that represented their nation and then presented their nation to the group. Below Elias is representing both sides of his family:

Cy has had her hands full with leading the SBS successfully. The students and staff continue to be encouraged by the great things that they are learning and practicing. We’ve had the help of some teachers from outside the school staff and that has helped a lot. This school is truly looking to be a solid part of the establishment of this ministry for Thailand and the nations.
Rob has finally been approved to move forward with getting a work permit through the new YWAM foundation that has been established in Thailand. He has applied for this permit with the government already and on Friday, March 23rd he’ll be going to pick it up if all goes well. From there we need to go to Immigration and apply for visa extensions for all of our family. It’s a long process, but it’s much better than doing visa runs every 3 months to other countries. Thank you to all of you who have been praying for our visa situation all these years of our being in Thailand.
Next month marks our 5 year anniversary (April 12th) of coming to Thailand. It’s amazing how time has flown by so fast. Thank you for all your prayers, words of encouragement and support over these years. We’ve gone through good things and hard things, but all in all we can see how it has been God who brought us and God who sustained us. May He receive all the glory for all that He has done.
Prayer Requests:
– that the work permit process would finish well (with visas for all of us)
– that the SBS would be filled with the presence of God, gracing the students will revelation and the staff with wisdom
– that Elias would continue to grow healthy and strong and learn the 3 languages that he’s constantly bombarded with (Spanish, English & Thai)
– that God would always be the focus of our lives in all that we do and that we would grow in our walk with Jesus
– that our health would be strong and never hinder our obedience to God’s call
– that God would provide more monthly support (we really need to see another $400/month come in). If you’d like to help us in this way please click on the donate tab at the top of the screen or click here
May God bless you!
Rob, Cy & Elias