April 2023 Newsletter

Dear Brethren,

March sort of flew by as we prepared for the camp, taking the students that live in our dormitory in Chiang Mai back to visit their families during the school break, interviewing students who asked for help this coming year in school, and taught Bible to many people. It was a great month, but as usual it was too busy. There were four trips made into the mountains this month. Passakorn is still there. He will be bringing some of our old students back tomorrow and some of the new students who will be living in the dormitory this year. The new students have to report to their school on Sunday.

First the best news… on March the 5^th Thirapong Nanthanaset put on Christ in baptism. He has been worshipping at the congregation where Chaichana preaches and we have been teaching him for nearly a year. His nickname is Go. We are excited about helping him grow and strengthen in Christ. He will be at the camp next month and we will use him to lead singing and to lead prayers. It is always wonderful to have new brethren in Christ. That took place during our first trip to the mountains.

The second trip into the mountains we took the young people who live in the dormitory here back home to visit their friends and relatives. They were excited to be able to go back to visit. They are fantastic young people. Two of the young men, Adirake and Montri have decided that they want to be preachers. This is kind of amazing since a year ago they were not even Christians. They will both be giving lessons at camp. They are both studying English in school. They each have two years left of High School.  I am going to teach them extra each week to improve their English. When they finish High School we will send them to the school of bible at the Jurong Church of Christ in Singapore for two years. When they come back, we will put them to work. While we were in the mountains we also took Ratchanok back home. She is one of our students. She attends Ratjaphat University in Mae Hong Son. She is not yet a Christian but I believe before long she will be. We had never been to her village before. It is remote and difficult to get to. We first thought we would ride boats up the river and then walk up to the village. However, Burmese soldiers started shooting across the river at people… so we decided to drive. It is only 32 kilometers or 19 miles. The first 8 kilometers was paved. Part of the road had just been graded… and it still took us 2 ½ hours in 4-wheel drive. We had to cross 4 rivers… there is a picture of one of the rivers we crossed. Ratchanok wanted a summer job to help with things she might need during the school year. So, we are paying her to teach the kids in the village during the summer break. She will also get credit at the university for doing this. On the way back we stopped and studied the Bible with a young lady in Mae Wa Luang. She has been attending worship with us for a long time… but her family are all 7^th Day Adventists. So, I was teaching her about the division between the Old Law and New Law.

The third trip started out in Khun Yuam.  We drove and worshipped with the brethren there. We also went through the mountains interviewing students that need help going to school this next year. We interview all old students and new students each year. We interviewed one of our returning students and were very concerned. Her name is Siriporn. Her mother passed away and she has two younger siblings. Her father grows rice… almost enough for the family to eat during the year. Most of the families in her village have a diet of rice and peppers. This young lady worries about her younger siblings because she has to go to a school in another village. She has to stay at the school. She is 18 and about to go into 10^th grade. We knew that even if she stayed in school and finished high school, she would not be able to have a job that would help her family without some kind of further study. She is so worried about helping her family that it is having an adverse effect on her health. Since she is 18 and has finished 9^th grade, we decided to have her go to nursing school to become a nurse’s assistant. We made a 4^th trip into the mountains to go talk to her father, get his permission, and to bring her back to Chiang Mai. We brought her back with us, bought her some clothes and shoes and took her to an interview at the nursing school. The picture of her is in her new clothes. She is like a different person now that she has a goal, hope, and a way to help her family with only one year of study. Together we are changing lives.

Yesterday, I drove 12 ½ hours round trip to pick up one of our new students. She will be living in the dormitory and going to school here in Chiang Mai. She wants to be a veterinarian. She is the niece of the man who built the dormitory and who is now a brother in Christ.

On the 19^th we went and worshipped with the brethren in Fang. It is a retried man, his wife, their two daughters and the daughters’ children. At this point we can only go and worship with them once a month. The rest of the time they worship alone. I sent some pictures of me having a Bible class with the children after worship.

Attention all of you who help us send the young people to school.  The new school year will begin here on May the 16^th. It is time for us to buy uniforms, school supplies, and get them all ready for the next school year. I am sorry that I have not had time to send out the end of school reports for the school year that just ended. I will do that and get it to you… but it will probably be the middle of May before I can get that all done. If you are going to continue to support the student you supported last year or new students for this year, please begin sending the money as soon as you can. In the past I could cover the cost of getting the young people ready for school and then be reimbursed when the funds came in. Because we have so many students that we help at the present time, I simply do not have enough money to help get them all ready. Thank you for your generous help. We are helping these young people have a better life now, a better future and a better eternity.

In addition to all the other things that I mentioned doing, we are getting ready for the camp that we will be having in a few weeks. We have bought clothes and bath towels for those who do not have them. We have bought pillows and blankets for everyone to use at camp. We have printed workbooks for the young people to take notes on. We are also printing song books for camp. We expect nearly 300 people. Around 230 of them will be young people. The rest will be cooks, teachers, visitors, and staff. I also have finished formatting the Bible we will begin printing. I am adding study helps, then we will check for mistakes, then we will begin printing.

Just to give you an idea of how big our work is… it spreads over 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) of paved roads. Also, about 200 kilometers (120 miles) of unpaved roads. I have also enclosed a couple of pictures of some of the houses that some of our students live in. The picture ‘House 3’ is really the outhouse for the picture ‘House 2’. Thank you all for the love, prayers, and help in doing the work here. Without you, this work would be impossible.

May God bless us and we work together for Him,

—Michael