August 2024 Newsletter

Dear Brethren,

August has been a rainy rainy rainy month. We are well into the rainy season and have had large amounts of rainfall. Numerous areas have been flooded and landslides have occurred during this rainy season. Along with the rain comes the “illness season”. One of our young ladies had to be hospitalized with Flu A. Many others have been to the doctor and are on medication. At times, I have felt like an ambulance driver.

We brought young people to Chiang Mai for the annual Thailand Education Expo. We had 23 young people go to the Expo. At the Expo, they learn how to prepare to enter the university and the course of study they want. The young people we brought to Chiang Mai stayed with us on the property here. After worship, we took them back home to the mountains. We left Chiang Mai at 11 a.m. We took them back to many different villages. I arrived at the hotel in Maesariang at 11:30 p.m.

The annual Thailand Education Expo at Chiang Mai.

The five young men who want to be preachers; live in several different places. Once a month, I gather them together on a Saturday and teach them for four hours. I did this on Saturday the 25^th.  We had a fantastic Bible study together. We talked about the characteristics and work of a preacher. When they finish school this year, we will bring them to Chiang Mai and teach and train them. We are having our first week-long Bible School October 14^th-18^th. During that week we will be doing a Survey of the New Testament during the day and having a gospel meeting at night. Perry, Greg, and Joey will be teaching throughout the week. I will do most of the translating. We are working on getting another brother to come and help with the translating duties.

After my Bible study with the young men on the 25^th, we went to eat lunch together. One of the young men, Chanon, got a phone call. His father passed away and his brother was asking him to come home.  His home is in the mountains. He lives and goes to school in Sopmeuy. He usually does not go home during the rainy season because the road is treacherous. I started making arrangements.  First, we gave him money to help with the funeral. In Thailand the family feeds the community each night of the funeral. A funeral usually lasts three to four days. Being a poor family, they did not have money to buy food or anything else for the funeral. The main problem was getting him and some other family members there.  To get to his home, a 4-wheel drive truck with mud chains on the tires is needed. I have a 4-wheel drive truck, but I do not have chains for the tires. The second problem was the number of people that needed to go. I drove to Maelati to see if Chaichana could take his truck and help me take the people up there. I had to drive there because there was no phone signal there. When I got there, the truck was there but Chaichana was not. In the end, I had 17 people, two 55-kilo bags of rice, and 14 backpacks in my small truck. We made the trip up the mountain road… with much praying. At times the ruts in the mud were so deep that the bottom of the truck was in the mud. We got stuck 3 times but each time we were able to get out.

In Thailand a funeral usually lasts three to four days.

I want to thank all those who have responded to our plea to help buy the land. Your love, generosity, and prayers are a great encouragement to me. We still need some help with this project. If you can help and have not helped yet, please help us however you can. Whatever you can give will be greatly appreciated and be a great blessing. This land will help our work to grow into the future. My goal is a work that can go on long after I cannot. A work that can give glory to God for generations to come. A work that will bring new people to Christ, build up the saints, help the needy, and train men to be evangelists.

May God bless us as we work together for Him,
Michael