2002 is not yet over. We have trips in the next month that we will be making with two different student groups; Pat's Christian Tribal Youth Fellowship and the 2nd year students at McGilvary. You may find updates on those in December at the International Ministries website.

So, what has been going on in 2002?

First, Pat has continued to work with the Christian Tribal Youth Fellowship. CTYF hired a new part time director this year. Her name is Nok and she has made Pat's job as advisor much easier and more pleasant. She is a hard worker who loves Christ and young people. Pray for Nok that funding will come through to maintain her salary.

Pat has also increased her teaching load at the McGilvary Faculty of Theology, Payap University. She is teaching four English classes per term. The students are thrilled with her willingness to help them get over these required hurdles in English. She is also tutoring one of our professors who will be coming to America to take a short-term intensive English course.

In addition, Pat is serving as the Language and Orientation Advisor for new missionaries and as a member of the Board of Union Language School. Both of these activities require some travel, usually to Bangkok.

LaMon gets tired watching Pat work! Of course, he does some himself. He has been serving as the advisor for the second year students at McGilvary. This includes responsibilities in helping them to fulfill their academic requirements. It also involves regular meetings with each of the 19 students to talk about spiritual matters as well.

LaMon is teaching three courses this term and serving on the equivalent of seven (yes, 7) committees at the seminary. Nevertheless he finds time to preach in local churches and to write some material for use in Bible study groups.And every Monday morning at 7AM he leads a short Communion service in the student hostel for any one who is interested.It is normally attended by between 40 to 50 students, faculty and staff.

One Short Story From Lamon's Class On The Book Of Psalms
In addition to the academic aspect of the course, I am interested in helping the students to use the Psalms in their everyday lives. To that end almost every class period begins with music inspired by the Psalms. Sometimes it is a chorus, sometimes a hymn. The songs may be written by Thais or translated from English into Thai. Sometimes they are English songs. This past week, I passed out the words to a song by Third Day inspired by Psalm 36. We were simply listening to the singing on a CD, but before the CD was finished, some of the students were joining the music and singing "Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens." I pray that the students may feed on the Psalms and grow in love and praise of God.

One Short Story From Pat's Theological English Class
One of my four English classes is especially for Theological English.This is the first term to teach this class so I have had to "develop" the curriculum as I go along.One of the things I have added to this class is teaching the students to sing songs in English.It is amazing to me to listen to them as they sing praises to God in a language they hardly know or understand.Today as we were studying the story of Abraham and the sacrifice of Isaac we learned the song, "Give Thanks."As I looked out at the faces of the students I could sense the worship and praise as they sang their thanks to God.Pray for these students as they prepare themselves to become the future leaders of the church in Thailand.Please pray for LaMon and I as we strive to be examples of Christ love to the lost and seeking of this beautiful country.