Dear believers in grace,
Bible Camp This month the children we teach had a couple of weeks off of school, so we invited just the boys over for a Bible Camp. The girls still came on Saturdays, but the boys stayed for the whole two weeks. The first week we had 12 boys at our house. Four went home after the first week, being homesick, and two new boys came for the second week at Jallay's house.
This time reminded me a lot of being a camp counselor at Wonderland Camp during college summer breaks. I learned a lot from our director, Mr.D, and his family, their dedication to the Lord to bring the gospel to these children. Those were pretty challenging times, too, working with "at risk" children from the inner-cities. By comparison, our children are pretty well-behaved (we didn't need to deal with any fights during the whole two weeks).
At our house we read through Exodus 1-20 in Thai, usually a chapter before meals, learning the differences between the Old and New Testaments and the amazing history of how God redeemed Israel, which foreshadowed what Jesus accomplished for us. And we watched Superbook episodes of the Bible, sang worship songs, and also took the boys running/walking for 5K at a stadium each morning, and played soccer most evenings. These Bible Camps have been a great time for the boys to grow in the Lord. If they stayed home during these breaks, most of them would be on their cell phones, wasting away their days, instead of getting some good spiritual input from the Bible. It was a busy time for us, but really a blessed and fun time for them and us as well. Here are two pictures—one of the first week, and the second of our Saturday group.
Women's Prison This month for the Christian group I began teaching from the book of Acts. In looking at chapters 1 and 2, among other things, I talked about the meaning of baptism, that we are not born-again via baptism, but that it's a symbol of what already took place in the heart of the person who puts their faith in Jesus when they repented of their sins, died to their old life, and received new life by the power of the Holy Spirit. Then after a person is born again, they want to show outwardly via baptism, what already took place inwardly by the Holy Spirit.
Jallay and I also had a good time teaching the recently arrived prisoners. A couple of them who were there last month also, gave good testimonies, showing that they are growing in the Lord, and maybe even have become born-again, having come from a Christian background, but not strong in faith or understanding the gospel. But, their testimonies showed real steps in the right direction.
AMF Church Plant We continue to see steady attendance at the Burmese church. There are two unbelievers who are a brother and sister from Myanmar who continue to attend. And, this month one of the mother's our Saturday children came to church for the first time. She said she would like to come again. In December we're planning an outreach with dinner and small gifts, for more of the parents of the children and others to share the true meaning of Christmas.
Outreach to the Long Necked Ba-Dong Each Friday, Jallay and family continue to visit a group of folks from the Ba-Dong tribe in Myanmar. Some of the older women among them, still wear rings around their neck to make their necks longer (and more attractive apparently). Back in July a friend of ours donated some money for food and asked me where there are people in need (as a result of the covid economic downfall). This group was working with elephants and showing the traditional ways of life of the long-neck people, for tourists, but with the decrease of tourists their livelihood was suffering. We went there to hand out groceries and shared the gospel. Some of them are from a Catholic background and others from a Buddhist background.
Jallay has continued going there, teaching them in Burmese and Thai the true meaning of the gospel. None of them has come to church yet, but there's a core group of seven people and some weeks more who come to study the Bible each Friday. Please pray for them truly to be born-again. Here are some pictures—two from July and two other more recent ones.
Peace in Christ,
Scott, Khae, Micahberekiah, and Isaiah.