Boondeekhun's Bulletin

It's been two years now since we moved to live in the village of Tao Hai and up until recently, despite much prayer and building good relationships with local people, no-one had shown any interest in the Christian faith. However, this has begun to change now with one lady accepting Jesus, another doing a seekers Bible study and others willing to be prayed for and being open to hearing the gospel message. Please continue to pray for a spiritual breakthrough.

During the last week of July, the church in Wang Daeng moved into the new building and held the very first worship service on Sunday 28th July. The Ban Dara congregation came to join in, as well as many local children and teenagers. We also had Jonny (a former action-teamer) and his wife Katie visiting with us, and they shared in the service as well as helping with the Sunday school. It was a wonderful and joyous occasion, and we are so grateful to God for His provision.

Aside from Sunday services, the building is also great for the many youth activities that the church runs, such as the School of Life*, English classes, music lessons and football training. Please pray for good relationships with all the neighbours who live around the church, especially for Uncle Murn, who lives opposite and has been so patient with all the disruption caused by the building process.

We have regular online chats with our son and daughter and their spouses, as well as with our 9-month old granddaughter. However, nothing beats meeting in person, so we are delighted that next month our daughter and her husband are coming on holiday to Thailand and we will be able to spend some quality time with them.

Back in 1992 we made the move from Australia to Thailand to begin our very first church plant in one of the southern suburbs of Bangkok. It became an official church in 1994, and now - 30 years later - it is still going strong. We were invited back to be part of the celebrations and had a great time catching up with friends, old and new.

Thanks to the provision of Samaritan's Purse boxes and materials, we were able to do children's outreach both at the Maesan church in Sukhothai and at the local primary school in Tao Hai. The children, as well as the parents and teachers, were very attentive as the gospel message was presented using a storytelling approach. For some it was the very first time they had ever heard of Jesus and about His love for them. Needless to say they were thrilled and delighted with their gifts!

The Ban Dara congregation is growing and our current building can feel very cramped at times, particularly when we put on special events, so as a church we are praying towards finding a larger property to rent in the future - please pray. We have just appointed a leadership team and are excited to see several members showing great potential in this area. The church runs several care groups - we have found that studying God's word is vital for strengthening the faith of new believers. Please pray for a new group just started in Ban Geng at the home of Best and Amnart.

Pray for continued healing for Best, and also pray for Amnart who is due to have a heart operation soon.

Pray that the Wang Daeng, Ban Dara and Maesan church members would reach out to their friends, neighbours and families with the gospel. Pray for members who have slipped away and no longer attend church to come back into fellowship.

Continue to pray for the church in Maesan to find a full-time pastor. Pray for their building project - creating a room for children's activities as well as a place for the pastor to stay.

Pray for the visit of a mission team from Bushey Baptist Church in the UK in September. Pray that many lives would be touched by their ministry.

Blessings in Christ

Wit & Helen

*The School of Life Project is a safe learning area for children and teens in communities that are at risk of social issues. It is sponsored by CBN Thailand Ministries.