International Ministries

Having Faith In Jesus

September 30, 2003 Journal by Larry Martin
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Dear Partners in Ministry,

Another month has passed and we have now been joined by a young couple, Jon and Michelle, who will be with us until February. Helping us to build relationships through teaching English. Almost immediately they provided us with a chance to witness to the power of Jesus. A neighbor of theirs Ba Bian noticed that they didn't close their windows at night and asked Larry about it. "Aren't they afraid of the spirits?" Larry was able to tell her that they had the protection of Jesus and that He was more powerful than the spirits. Ba Bian found this quite interesting and wanted to know where she could get a Jesus amulet. Larry explained about having faith in Jesus and then acting on it. Please pray that we will have more opportunities to share with her and her husband Lung Cha.

Understanding the Thai belief system is hard
Most Thai will claim to be Buddhist but the teachings of Buddha are rarely adhered to. In our area on holy days they have started to assign days that a village must attend the temple. Attendance has picked up. Why? Because they are fined a days wages for in-attendance. The daily lives of people are more affected by the fear of spirits. Spirits are feared and need to be appeased but no moral standards are taught. The Thai have managed to combine these two belief systems, by claiming one and allowing the other to control their lives. Our prayer is that Jesus would release them from both.

More English
This month Thai schools are on vacation and we are running some special English courses during the month. With Jon and Michelle to help us, we are able to expand our programme and have asked if we can use the village hall as an extra venue for teaching. People seem to be accepting of us now and see us as teachers. When the new semester starts we will be going into at least 3 schools on a regular basis as well as the classes we run from our home. Please pray that from this position, of teacher, we can effectively share our faith in a way that our friends and neighbors can understand.

Good news from the past
A few weeks ago we received a phone call from Bang Plee, a friend was excitedly telling us that his son was to be baptized that week. A nostalgic moment for Jan as she remembers the parents making commitments to Christ, their baptisms and also the son's birth over 15 years ago. Later in the month Larry was able to fellowship at Bang Plee and was excited to see the church good and full and to hear that there had actually been 6 baptisms. We Praise God, that he is growing his church in that area. This weekend we are going to fellowship at Payamengrai and there will be two Baptisms then too God is working in the lives of the Thai.

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