Pray for Maisie

The lovely family you see is the Tanchanapongs. They are Thai and have recently added another member to their family...Meno. Natee is a huge encouragement and support to the church plant the MTW Thailand team has begun here in Ram 2 and it was actually thru his friendship with Natee at Covenant Seminary that our team leader, Dave, came to Thailand as a missionary. This past week Maisie (shown in picture at her first birthday last year, April 4) was diagnosed with a form of leukemia. Please keep this precious family in your prayers as they see their baby girl go thru chemo and as they trust in God to do His work in them and thru them. Meno, Maisie's baby brother is just six weeks old. Pray for us as a team to know how to encourage them during this time. We know we can trust God and we know He is good. May He prove Himself faithful, once again. Thank you for praying.

promised pics from Paul's trip north

Hi everyone,

here are a few pics of Paul's time up north among the Karen people. These particular villages and people are not refugees in Thailand but are actually Thai citizens...I believe Paul said they've been here about two generations. They moved to Thailand due to persecution they face(d) in Burma. These villages are in a quite remote part of Thailand up steep and windy mountains with electricity and water sporadic.

Paul enjoyed, very much, sharing from God's Word with the believers in these villages.

This is Boonchu and Paul. Boonchu translated for Paul into the Karen language.

A view from the road of one of the villages and the surrounding mountains.

Paul and one of the Karen pastors. The Karen people wear a hand-woven style dress and as you can see, they graciously gave Paul a shirt and gave him two bags as well. And, they sent a shirt home for me as well!

Paul's time up north was amazing, but Sunday was day of most excitement there as he witnessed God's providential hand at work. The worship service was just closing when a young man ran into the church to tell the pastor that his 2 year old son was not doing well at all. He had been sick all day with diahhrea but now the little boy was unconscious. They prayed, loaded into Boonchu's truck and drove as fast as possible to the nearest hospital. Paul was scared. He said he had never been so scared in all his life. Not only for his own life (Boonchu was driving really fast on very narrow and steep mountain roads) but also for the life of the little boy. Paul really didn't think the boy would make it. They arrived at a dilapidated old hospital and immediately hooked the baby up to IV. The doctor told them that if they had gone onto Chiang Mai the boy would have died. (They drove about 1 1/2 hours to the hospital and Chiang Mai, second largest city in Thailand is about four hours from the village where Paul was preaching.) Well, the good news is that the boy started to regain strength from the IV and praise be to God, didn't die.

If you want to hear more about Paul's trip up north, just ask him when we return! I know he'd love to recount the ways God showed himself faithful during his time up north. If you would be so kind, please pray for some other teammates who are heading up to the hilltribes this Saturday. Dave (team leader) will be teaching from the Bible and three of our single women (Tang, Ying and Melanie) are going up to help with children's ministry. Please pray for safety and for God to use them mightily to encourage our Karen brothers and sisters.

just to let you know...

As of today...the six week countdown to our departure date has begun. Sad? yes. Happy? yes. Bitter-sweet is the best word to describe an experience such as leaving one place and heading to another. (In one of my favorite children's books there is a quote that I love that pertains to this coming and going that seems to dictate our lives on so many levels, "a little bit sad about the place you are leaving, a little bit glad about the place you are going. It is a time of quiet wonder..." from McCloskey's "Time of Wonder"). Please be in prayer for us. We have some throwing out of things to do (always hard for me, especially when it comes to art work of PJ or Calvin) and some organizing of things and, of course, packing. Now, in case you didn't know, I am a procrastinator. Always have been, probably always will be and I've been thinking..."we've got lots of time...no need to rush into it." Well, today I was strongly encouraged by my friend and teammate to get on the ball with it...like YESTERDAY! And, then I started thinking about our other dear friends and teammates, the Mills, who return in about three weeks time. So, that has gotten me in gear and today I started to clean and pack away pictures and knick-knacks. My goal is to have everything packed and distributed and to it's new owner or in it's rightful place before the Mills arrive on April 9. =) I want to be able to spend every possible minute with the Mills family as well as spending those last couple weeks with our dear friends here. It really seems impossible that nearly four years have gone by. I know there will be many tears in the coming weeks...mainly tears of leaving and also seeing so many growing and trusting in Christ, but I am sure there will be tears of frustration and tiredness of just getting all the stuff where it needs to be. Working here it has been beautiful to see God building His kingdom. It's impressive to see the Holy Spirit at work in lives and changing them for Christ's glory....knowing that I had very little to do with it and yet somehow, someway, God has called each of us here to live out our lives among the Thai people.

I will try to post some pics of Paul's trip up north. And, we had a team retreat this past weekend which was a lot of fun and another reminder of God's faithfulness to our team. I laughed so hard I cried one night (with Jan...I always laugh really hard with her!) and we had a blast swimming in the ocean with the boys. Adele enjoyed stuffing her face with sand...yeah, I thought one mouthful of that and that would be the end of it but Adele being Adele she had to prove me wrong! I will try to get pics of all this on here soon! Until then, please pray for us. Please pray for open doors to share Christ with those who we haven't yet had many opportunities. Oh, and also pray for a campus dinner we are having here on Thursday evening. Pray for good conversations about the Lord. Thanks for your prayers. They sustain us and God hears...
pressing on,.
crystal

Swimming Season

I read online that there are snowfalls and -10 degree weather in parts of the east and northeast of America...but here, it's swimming season! =) That's right folks...no more cold weather for our bodies, it's HOT season...and I do believe it's fierce this year! We've enjoyed several trips to the swimming pool already and we even, for the first time ever, made it to Leo Land (a swim park on the top of a local mall. PJ and his friend, Ethan, had a GREAT time going down slides. Calvin enjoyed splashing about and so did Adele. It was great to go with friends...outings are always more fun with friends! (sorry I have no pics due to forgetting my camera each time!)
Tomorrow, we are going swimming again with the mom's group ladies and their children. Please pray for this time to be lots of fun and for God to use it to build those relationships even more.

And, since I am asking for prayer requests, I would ask for you to pray for my dear hubby as he heads up to northern Thailand to visit some Karen hilltribe churches. He will be sharing from God's Word on several occassions so please pray for strength for him. We are VERY excited about this opportunity he has to go and encourage the churches there (we wish we all could go but it's not meant to be...this time!). There is a lot to share in regards to this ministry but for now, I will just ask for prayer and maybe over the course of the next few weeks I can give you all more info regarding what God is doing among the Karen people. Paul leaves tomorrow (saturday) and returns wednesday.

There's been so much happening in this part of the world that it seems impossible to catch you all up...and I won't even try. Just know that God is at work...both in us and in our Thai friends. Pray for stamina and strength for our team as we undergo much transition in the next few weeks and months. We will be celebrating two years of Thai worship this Sunday!!! Can you believe it? Well, it's true. Please praise God with us for the ways He is growing His church here in Ram 2. You, who faithfully pray for us, play a major role in what we see God doing here...and we hope you all know how much we love you and appreciate every encouraging word and every prayer offered for us and the church here in Thailand.
Have a great weekend...you might hear from me again soon, but I can't promise you anything!!!