Brian Weller and I with Thai Village Pastor.
I have been very busy for the past couple of months. I have been in Cambodia three times, in Laos and Myanmar once, northern and western Thailand twice each. I have spent little time in Chiang Mai.
I had to leave the country before the first of the year to re-enter Thailand so that I could apply for a new Retirement Visa. After two days of red tape, I received a three-month visa. I will need to re-apply next month and will be given a one-year visa. I will also need to buy another multiple re-entry permit. The visa and re-entry permit cost around $300. It’s all part of the cost of doing the Lord’s work.
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Teaching at the Free To Serve
Discipleship Training School.
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I was in Cambodia and northern Thailand doing pastor training for national pastors. They have no time for formal Bible School so this is the best way for them to learn the Bible and become more effective for the Kingdom of God. In Thailand, they come mostly from Myanmar and Laos. It takes time when you have multiple interpreters. In Cambodia, some of the pastors are illiterate so they have to listen carefully. It is interesting to watch them listen. Pol Pot killed all the educated people in Cambodia in the mid to late 1970’s so for a generation after that, there were almost no teachers.
I will return to Vietnam to do more pastor training for a week beginning on 14 March. I will meet with the pastor who has translated my leadership booklets and arrange for printing. A missionary has already committed to buy 500 of each title. These booklets will help to multiply the lessons I teach and raise up more effective leaders. I will either sell the booklets at cost, to help pay for the next printing, or just give them away. If you would like to help with the printing cost, please let me know.
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Teaching at a Burmese Church.
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I was in Western Thailand twice in the past few weeks at Life Impact International. They have a ministry that rescues children from prostitution and slavery along the border with Myanmar. Tribal children are often sold because their parents can’t care for them. Some are drug addicts and sell their kids for a few dollars for more drugs. I went to take Brian Weller to minister to the kids there and they got me to do some staff training while I was there. The leader immediately asked me to come back for a week. I was with them all last week and will go again soon to develop a leadership training program. They have a staff of 54 people,
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| At the Life Impact Children’s Home in Mae Sot, Thailand |
from Burma and Thailand. God has given the leader, Lana Vasquez, great favor with the government. She has the same authority as the police to go into any place on the Thai side of the border to rescue children who are being sold and used. She is the only non-Thai person with that kind of authority. The kids at her facility are full of life as the healing power of God transforms their lives through the ministry received there. I have seen LOTS of children’s homes in this part of the world and life Impact has a program worth imitating. Lana’s work is so successful that she has been asked to go to Brazil to set up some homes there. She wants her staff well trained before she thinks about going.
I will return to the US in May for the birth of Stephanie’s second child, a boy this time. I fill the role that a mom usually fills because her mother died in 1999. I will look after her and the family for a couple of weeks till she is up to it herself. I will go to Texas and Alabama to visit family and friends there. I have been asked to go to Colorado Springs meet people at a Missions Conference. It would be really beneficial in making connections for BAM Nigeria. We just had a conference call yesterday with people from Asia, Africa and the US planning for projects in Nigeria and a BAM Conference in October.
Thanks for praying for me and for supporting me so that I can expand the Kingdom of God through training and mentoring leaders in Asia and Africa. Honestly, If I had had this kind of training 20 years ago, I would have been much more effective. One person says it is like the difference between a hammer and a nail gun. I do lots of training here in Thailand as well as coaching and mentoring leaders locally as well as via Skype. Thanks for supporting me financially so that I can help them do what God has asked them to do. Every bit helps because I am doing LOTS more travel. Having been a missionary most of my life, my SSI check is small but it covers my living expenses. Missions donations are all used for travel expenses, training materials and ministry expenses. Also, please pray for continued good health.
