February 2026 Newsletter

Dear Brethren,

This year started very busily. For the people who know me well, the next part will be a bit of a surprise. Like usual, we have been traveling a lot and doing a lot, and I have been very tired… that is not the surprising part… the surprising part is I have started drinking coffee. I have drunk more coffee in the last month than I have in the last 20 years.

The second Saturday in January every year is Children’s Day. Children’s Day is a day when children get gifts and get to do things that they normally cannot afford to do. Such as, they can go see a movie for free. They are given toys, school supplies, snacks, and get to play lots of games. We help the San Pong School in Phrao. The local government usually sets up games and gives out gifts on the school’s property. This year, because of a local election, they were unable to do it.  So, we did.  We made games, we bought gifts, we bought snacks, we made food. We went one day and set everything up. The next day was full of gifts, food, and fun. We were thanked by the government, the school, the students, and their parents. Everyone had a great time. They asked me to give a talk to open the events of the day. I talked about why Children’s Day was started, I talked about personal responsibility, I talked about using the opportunity they have to study to gain a brighter future. Then I talked about all God has done for us and how we need to be thankful.

One of our young men, Wantanai Thipprai “Eff”, graduated from university. As I stood with him, taking pictures, I became reflective. I met Eff when he was in 2^nd grade. I was his second-grade English teacher. I taught him through sixth grade. We have helped him get an education through Jr. High, High School, and now through university. He is a very intelligent young man. The best part of all of this is that he is a Christian. We never know how much of an effect we will have on other people’s lives.

Wantanai Thipprai “Eff”, graduated from university.

In addition to our normal travel, we visited many of our students who live far off the beaten path. That was two extra trips and extra-long trips this month… Thus, the beginning of my new coffee habit at the age of 61!! These students are not Christians yet, so while we do not see them every week, we try to see them as often as possible. Our focus this year is to visit the parents of all our young people regularly. While this will entail more driving and more work… we feel it is important to do more outreach with the families of the students that we help.

We have a Bible School that will be starting tomorrow, February 1^st. Justin Bretherick arrived safely at 11:30 a.m. this morning. He will be teaching several lessons next week. Greg Polluck and his son Benjamin will be arriving at 11:15 p.m. tonight. It was planned for Perry Bretherick to come. However, he had some arm pain, went to the doctor, and in the end having triple-by-pass surgery. We are thankful that our prayers are being answered. The surgery went well and he is doing great!! We ask for your continued prayers on his behalf. We want him to get well as soon as possible because he is a great worker for the Lord. He is a very important part of our work here in Thailand. We hope to see him here again as soon as possible.

Before Perry had his health problem, my computer had a glitch, and I lost all of the already translated lessons for our upcoming school. So, this month I spent a lot of time redoing, and then reorganizing, and then redoing lessons again. All is ready now, though. I am just waiting for Greg to get here and tomorrow we can begin.

God bless,
Michael