the last day =(

Hi all,

Tomorrow we'll be back in Singapore! We have enjoyed our last day here as we gave our all and "chionged" ahead. This morning we visited Noi at her mushroom farm in Tachang. We were able to see how our Covenant seed fund bore fruit and provided a livelihood for her. We found out that Noi had still had lingering pain in her knees. We prayed fervently for God to restore strength in her legs, that she would be able to squat totally without any pain. After we prayed once, Noi said that she felt 50% better. But we were not satisfied! We persevered and prayed many, many more rounds; feeling encouraged at the progress made after each round of prayer.
Now she's 90% healed and we will continue keeping her in prayer.

After lunch, we made a short visit to the 'pride of Singburi' which is this HUGE buddha statue that is a few storeys high. It really just reminds us how HUGE a barrier we have to conquer in order to reach out to the Thais. Just think about how such a HUGE barrier exists in this small province and how much greater a wall we have to overcome in the world - Pray!

Our next stop was Khai Bangrachan High School. Though we were not allowed to share the gospel openly, we still held our evangelistic concert. It was slightly awkward in the beginning, but the students quickly warmed up to us as we led them in a time of songs and dance. After Deborah shared about the meaning of Christmas, we had the opportunity to reach out to some of the students and we celebrate 21 people added to God's family! We pray that their faith will be sealed and strengthened.

Dinner was at Somsee's, and it was awesome CHAR SIEW RICE! We enjoyed the cell group entirely because we were able to hear about the experiences of the Thais. Their thankgivings and prayer needs were different in that their concerns about basic needs such as the condition of their padi fields and their families' well-being.

Goodbye was hard because we spent so much time with the church workers and we will dearly miss all of them ): WE HOPE TO COME BACK SOON (*hint hint ps edwin)

We'll be back in a few hours time, so see you then!
love,
Audrey and Kenneth

-----------------------------------------
Here's a poem by our home-grown poet prodigy!
Kinda sums up our feelings for tonight.

Rushing.
It was the wind that
blew past our faces-
riding.

Its skies were soft
yet unyielding
heat in the morning
and rainbow coloured evenings

We cried and we sang songs-
praying.
21 feasts in heaven tonight,
21 souls saved.

Two more days left for us
one tomorrow
and another in our hearts forever
a memory for eternity.

-Reuben

Hi y'all!
It's 28th now and there's only 2 more days to Singapore, and many are reluctant to leave. "I don't want to go home..." says Sara. Thank you for all your prayers and continuous support anyways.

Today God allowed us to witness other brothers and sisters in Christ doing God's work in Thailand :>

We started off today with visitations. The first one was to Singburi city church whereby we met Eal who owned a papaya salad stall beside the church. This faithful church member used to have uterus cancer, but now glory to God, the cancer cells are no longer active. Please do pray for total miraculous recovery for this sister in Christ. Every Saturday, she goes around evangelising to the "ulu" parts of that area of Singburi. Her business will then be left in the hands of her other workers, please do pray for smooth and prosperous business so as to allow her to go spread the Gospel and love of God without any worries. The Singburi city church also does a Christian radio broadcasts and Eal's friend Mu got to know of Christ through it. Do pray for Mu to have a stronger faith and closer walk with God for this new believer and that this radio broadcast can continue to touch many other Thais.

Next we went for some shopping at the morning Pasar Malam and feasted at a delicious beef noodles and wanton mee stall of a thai lady from Singburi Church. We even got to taste thai milk tea, chendol and bo bo cha cha for dessert. However due to the hot weather, two of our tmt troopers Pei Xuan and Audrey fell sick, feeling giddy and nauseous. Currently Pei Xuan is at the pink of health *Hallelujah* and Audrey is sleeping soundly. So please continue to pray for good health and strong bodies of the tmt troopers.

After that we headed to Thanpraporn Church to visit brothers in Christ, Air and Sayang. These two loyal servants of the Lord lived in an extremely small room in the church, smaller than the size of a classroom in Sunday School. There weren't many chairs in the church as the tribal thais prefer sitting on the floor instead. We prayed for Air and Sayang that they will be able to have suitable partners chosen by the Lord to serve alongside them in the church. Pray that Air will remain strong as his family relies on him for advice and decisions, knowing that he is the "wise man" in the family. Also for his brother and sister-in-law who are facing a rough patch, pray that there will be peace and love in the family. As for Sayang, pray for total healing upon his mental health that he does not have to rely on medication at all and that he will be able to be released from his financial burdens - he still has to repay his outstanding university loans from the government.

We then left for a children club with a total of 7 kids. We sang songs, played many games and did some Art and Craft. The kids enjoyed the programmes. At the same time Ben, Ryan and Arunee were trying to share the Gospel to a teenager at the club. He was receptive of the sharing at first, saying that he will walk the bridge with the Lord. However when they wanted him to follow in saying the sinner's prayer, he refused to. This might be due to his Taoist family background. Therefore please pray for an open heart for him and his family.

We ended the day with oishii Pad thai dinner and another shopping session. Everyone had a great time especially jasmine who carried home a huge bag of goodies :>


Now for the prayer pointers for tomorrow:

-good weather
-proper rest, spiritually, physically and mentally
-free from mosquitoes and quick healing for those who were bitten badly by them
-smooth sailing of concert at a high school
-wisdom, courage and faith upon all who are sharing; Deborah who is sharing the meaning of Christmas, Josiah who is sharing his testimony and Ben who will be leading the Bible devotion.
-open hearts for highschoolers and no distractions during activities
-for tmt troopers to be focused and daring to step up and share the Gospel to the high schoolers.


signing off,
tmt troopers Private Jasmine and Zhiqi

Day 7

3 more days to go and we're still going strong!
Hello everyone, thank you for all your encouraging tags and prayers. Today's update will be typed by Sara and Jingsen.

In the morning, we went for service at Inburi church! Reuben started off with his bible study about "Faith". Praise God that it went well and the thais received blessings. Auntie Veron was next to preach the sermon on 2 Tim 2:1-7. Lastly, Deborah was asked to share her testimony. On the spot, she was prompted to scrap her written testimony and share directly from her heart. God still gave her the right words to say to minister to the Thais. Thank you for keeping these people in prayers!

Two of the girls who attended the English Camp yesterday came back today. Their names are Rung and Kook. We would like to ask that you keep them in prayer, that they will come back for follow-ups. A few of us were in charge of the sunday school. The sunday school here in Thailand is really different, unlike in our church, where we have the whole of the second floor just for the children. Here, it was only a small room, maybe even smaller than our bedrooms back home. But the kids were very pleasant and happy as Jolene and Cheryl lead them in songs and games, followed by a bible story about the prodigal son lead by Ivyna, Josiah and Jingsen. Lastly, the craft lead by Zhiqi was very successful and the kids really enjoyed themselves. We had a very good time interacting with them as well.

So, we left Inburi church and went to Tachang church for the christmas service. It was very heartwarming to see the whole congregation, including those from Inburi church and Bangrachan church, present at the service. The service started off with some christmas carols (songs played by the TMT troopers! Woooo!), followed by the very well-prepared skit and dance items by the members of Tachang church. Everyone had fun and dinner was awesomezxzxzxz!

Finally, we ended off our day with carolling around the area. We had very nice home-made hats and candles to go along with it. It was a very nice experience for us as it's really been awhile since we went carolling. We started off with singing to the neighbour. It was really nice to see their happy faces as we sung. We went to a very ulu house where we had to walk along the river and stand on ant-infested grounds as we sang but we still had fun! We ended off the night with supper at the last stop. We were blessed with what Jingsen says, " The best porridge I've ever eaten in my life!" Sara agrees too. It was a good time of talking with the thais, but we also had to say goodbye to some of them :(

Some prayer pointers for tomorrow:
- Good weather!
- Breakthrough at the Children's Club in Pakathan.
- Tammie, as she is having a flu and bad sorethroat.
- Ben Chan, as his nose bled arising from dust and smoke from candles used in carolling.
- MOST IMPORTANTLY, for the mosquitoes to go away and stop biting our whole body.
- For Jolene, Jingsen, Daniel, Sara, for our feet to be healed of all the mosquito bites.

That's all for today! Goodnight and God bless.

Love,
Jingsen and Sara.

Day 6

40 SAVED TODAY!

Hello faithful covenantors! This is Keith and Mui Fong Lai's son & Ivan and Ivy Tan's daughter typing today. Firstly, we want to thank you guys for keeping us in prayer as today was the climax of our trip up till now.

Yesterday we infiltrated the Wat Tum Hu School and managed to invite them to our english camp in church today. Although we targeted 120 (total sch population is 125) students to turn up for the camp only 65 turned up BUT 40 accepted Jesus Christ :):):):):):):):)

Firstly we set off early in the morning to Inburi church to prepare for the English camp. The kids started flooding in at around 9:30 and we were ready to begin our conquest :):) We sang a few songs including Every Move I Make - our church camp dance. The children were very hyper, jumping all around. Then we sang some Christmas carols too! Oh did we mention too that we used the newly almost completed floor of the Inburi Church for the camp? It's certainly history in the making there.

Actually right, our day didn't go according to plan, like we totally changed our whole plan for the camp. For example, we planned a telematch and scavenger hunt for the P4-Sec 3 but we did away with it. We had to come up with new activities on the spot with no pre-prepared materials. All our prepared materials were thrown out of the window.

So anyway after our ice breakers we grouped the students up into age groups and taught them english through impromptu activities that came to mind when we were in our groups. Then we had lunch and art and craft making christmas cards! Followed by some games.

After that it was time for our main event of the whole camp: our evangelistic concert! We had intensive prayers yesterday and this morning, and also during the concert some of us were praying backstage. In our past concerts at 2 other places, during our clincher, we faced much opposition like dogs coming to distract the kids and mosquitoes coming to attack us. But this time, by God's grace there weren't any distractions and the kids were paying attention during the evangelistic clincher given by benchan.

At the end of the concert, the kids were ready to go home and were running about waiting for their "song tiao". Then the Holy Spirit began working around us. We handed out some booklets about Christianity to the kids. Some Inburi Church workers began explaining the bookets to just a small group of children while the rest were running around. Soon the rest became more interested in what the Inburi church workers were sharing and sat down with them in small groups. They were all really interested.

However there were clear signs of spititual attack for example during the dance, Tammie felt giddy and was abit unable to dance. Also, when one of the Inburi church workers, Dawrung, was sharing with some Thai girls about Jesus Christ and when she reached a crucial point, her phone will start ringing. This happened about 3 times.

But nevertheless the whole camp was still a great success! Now we will like to draw your attention to this particular girl called Ket(pronounced as 'gate'; GET THE PUN?? HAHAHAH SO COOL RIGHT!!) from the Wat Tum Hu School. She is the only christian in the school that we went to, with it being a temple school. With her steadfast faith, she used this opportunity to bring her school friends to this camp. She will be opening up her house on the 14th January for christian fellowship, on every alternate Thursday of the month so let's keep her in prayer as she is the 'Ket'way to bringing more of her friends to Christ.

Today was a day of GOD's victory. Let's continue to uphold the 40 new believers in prayer. This is only the beginning of greater things to come for Thailand.

Some prayer requests for tomorrow:
-Aunty Veron - giving a sermon tomorrow.
-Reuben - leading in Bible study.
-Tammie and Ivyna - children's sunday school.
-Audrey and Chiara - arts and craft.
-Deborah - sharing testimony.
-Cheryl and Jolene - songs and games.


In His Love,
Ivyna and Josiah.

Day 5

Hello everybody!

MERRY CHRISTMAS (:

We had an extremely eventful christmas today - we were going to be TEACHERS today. The entire team arrived at Wat Tum Hu School (in direct translation, it means buddha-earring school). As you all can see from its name, it's tough ground that we're penetrating. But with God's help, all the lessons went really well despite none of us being professional teachers. Everyone had the best time of our lives interacting with the kids and we know the kids also enjoyed their time learning English. Praise the Lord (or as you say in Thai, san sen Pra Jao).

Prayer pointers for tomorrow:
- English camp at Inburi Church
Pray for a good and overwhelming response of 120 students to turn up for the camp; that they will come with open hearts and be receptive to the lessons and evangelistic concert. Pray that all kinds of distractions will be removed, and that the enitre camp will go on smoothly and without disruptions. Pray that the students will understand us despite the language barrier.
- BenChan who is delivering the clincher at the end of the evangelistic concert
There was a lot of resistance and distractions during the previous two evangelistic concert clincher segments so please pray that none of it happens tomorrow, and that Ben will be confident enough to challenge the students to receive Christ.
- Pray that those among us who are currently feeling unwell will quickly regain their health. Also, for good rest tonight so that the team will be energized for tomorrow's work!
Till then, Goodnight!

In His love,
Reuben and Cheryl

Day 4

Hello everyone!

This morning we had a nice breakfast of porridge with sanyu (fish), duck eggs and kangkong. After getting our energy boost, we visited Inburi Church. Inburi Church is really a testimony as it started off as a shop house. Two years ago, the second story only had pillars. And now the second story has a roof and its nearly completed. The second story is a spacious hall with a big stage. Right now the church has around 50 members. It is our prayer that they'll become fishers of men and God will open the hearts of many others. Here is a shot taken at the church.

Next we went to do visitation at Thong En. We distributed tracts to the villagers and prayed for Pa Tuun, a new believer. She sells Goreng Pisang and baked yam cake in different seasons. We prayed that her business will do well so that she has enough income to pay off her rent and for her family. She has been hoping that her daughter, who has left with another man, to come back to her grandchildren and son in law.

Another believer that we visited was an elderly woman named Pa Thit. She sells sour fish(fish marinated in chili and sauce) for a living. Previously before she was a believer, she gave alms to monks. She wasn't aware that now she was a Christian she should not give alms anymore. Our prayer for her was to stand firm in her faith in Christ.

Both Pa Tuun and Pa Thit are the only believers in their village. Pray for them that they will put their trust in God, shine for Christ and allow God to use them for His kingdom purposes.

Children's Club at Sawaeng Ha. It was a memorable event. We had Ben Chan,Zhiqi and Ivyna to lead games and had a lot of fun just by dancing singing with the kids. They felt like many of the kids had not experienced love and attention from their parents. It was a really heart breaking scene as we tried to be their "makeshift" parents and showered them with love, some of the children became jealous as they were yearning for the same attention and love.

Evangelistic Concert. The event went pretty well for our first time evangelising in the area of Sawaeng Ha. That area is pretty new to us and there weren't many believers. Thus, we had the opportunity to invite some of the neighbours to our mini concert where we presented our items. The responses were rather apprehensive as this was quite new to them. Pray for a breakthrough in their community.


Prayer for the only 3 believers in their village

An elderly lady had weak lungs and need to make frequent visits to the hospital. She asked for God to give her strength and for God to restore her health. We prayed that they will not fear persecution from others and continue to stay close to God.


Prayer Pointers for tomorrow 25 Dec 09

-Pray for God's covering and protection as we enter the school. It is a spiritual warfare indeed. Today during the evangelistic concert, we were attacked by mosquitoes during the song signing above all and while emelyne was delivering the clincher, the villages were very distracted by other things.

-Pray for the team members that God will give us the wisdom and words to speak as we teach in Wat Toom Hoo School tomorrow. But more importantly to be able to connect and build relationships with them so as to attract them to join the English Camp to be held next day at Inburi Church.

-Pray for us that God will go before us to prepare hearts of the children and youth when we invite them for the English camp at the end of the day. And also that the harvest will be plentiful and many would be open and motivated to come for English camp.

-We noticed everytime we delivered an evangelistic clincher, there would always be distractions from other places at this cruical period of time. Pray that the distractions would be gone and we can deliver the clincher smoothly.

Thank you and a blessed Merry Christmas to all of you!
God's love and blessings,
Daniel and Tammie=)

Hello all!

Thank you for checking the blog and also remembering us in prayers! We had a great time today, as usual. The weather was glorious and we had safe travel.

Firstly, we went visiting to one of the church member's grandma's house. She owns a hammered pork factory and they were very gracious hosts offering us delicious hammered pork to eat. We helped pray for them and their family.

Afterwhich, we had a nice time by the Chao Phraya River. It was peaceful and we had a good time of sharing and reflection during our quiet time with God. After that, we had a fun time of shopping at the nearby town and had alot of food including fried ice cream!!

Then we went to the Tachang church to help out cutting stars. What was great, was that it was also a good time of bonding for all of us, as there were 900 over stars to cut!! We got to REALLY know one another better! We had a good time teaching the kids at the English club, and then later having a sumptuous dinner cooked by the church worker.

Thank you all for keeping us in your prayers, once again!

A few prayer items for tomorrow include:
-Good visitation at Inburi and Thong En, that we will interact with the ppl well
-Good weather (again! :>)
-We will have an even better concert at children's club!
-Emelyne will deliver a convicting clincher by God's grace. So pray for her to have courage and strength
-God will touch lives through our concert and dance!

Thank you! God bless, Deborah and Emelyne.