International Ministries

A House for God’s Spirit

September 27, 2004 Journal by Larry Martin
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Dear Partners in the Gospel:

Bang! Bang! Whirr! Zzzz! Bang! What is that? Is it a funeral procession coming down the street with firecrackers to ward off evil spirits, a wedding procession with music as it walks along, someone building a pig sty? If it were any one of those we could join in or just wait and it would soon be gone. Unfortunately it is neighbors working on our house and we can only escape to the front porch. We have been walking gingerly on some boards on the second floor as there are termites in them and we can feel them getting softer and softer as time goes on. When a hole opens up we spray for them but it only kills the ones in the area of the hole. Now the landlord and a neighbor are taking up several boards and will totally replace anything that is found to have termites in it.

Actually we are lucky to have a landlord that takes an interest in our house. He has done several things to improve the house both because we ask him and because he has an interest in maintaining his house in good condition for future use. If we are a house for God's spirit then God will take an interest in maintaining us both because we ask him and to keep us in good condition for future use. We know that God has many plans for us here in Ban Luang and is both using us and preparing us for future service.

A while ago we had a youth team through that related to our senior high school class, giving us oldies a break. I was surprised that on our next lesson the students wanted to sing :"I Love You With the Love of the Lord" as the group had taught it to them. Love is a very popular subject with 17 year olds and it was a great opportunity to do a Bible study on what the "Love of the Lord" is not all the ouey goey stuff but the selflessness and forgiveness. The study went down well. Recently this same group of students went into the local city for two weeks to prepare for the university entrance exams. We were able to make them a meal and take it in and share it with them, sharing in a practical way the "Love of the Lord." We had a young Thai friend with us who very naturally was able to share a little of his faith with them.

August was very busy and slipped by without us sending out a journal. Now it is October and we will get a slight break. It is the term break here and we will not be teaching in the local schools for about 3 weeks. Just to make sure we don't get lazy we have had two volunteers show up to stay with us for 2 months. Jen and Jenny will stay in the house behind us and join in the events of the community.

In our churches we encourage members to give. Their incomes are small. Thailand is a growing economy but the average person we work with earns from $50 to $250 a month. Every year we depend on the World Mission Offering for our support and continued work. Thank you for faithfulness. This year is special. Our leaders in IM expanded during the stock market climb and now it has caught up with us. Missionaries are career appointments. We don't want to just lay off workers like many companies had to. IM has lain off staff in the head office but we are trying to avoid missionary layoffs. New missionaries have just gone through language learning and culture adaptation. They are just starting to work well and new ministries are taking off. We need an extra special push with the World Mission Offering this year to get us through this trouble spot. New management and the IM Board are putting in new policy that will keep us steady in the future but we need some short term extra help now. IM figures that we will need a 36 percent increase in the 2004 World Mission Offering to avoid layoffs of missionaries.

ABC mission is exciting, growing and developing.
Please pray for, support generously and feel encouraged about how you, as part of the ABC family are being used by God to bless the world and expand the Kingdom of God.

Prayer Points

Larry and Jan Martin