Dear Family and Friends,

Let's start with a quote from Jesus. "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old." (Matthew 13:25)

Some of the details of this little verse are obscure, but the central point is not. Jesus had just finished several parables about the Kingdom of God (called the Kingdom of Heaven in Matthew's Gospel). He asked the disciples if they understood what he had thought. After they affirmed that they did, he declared to them the verse I quoted.

Jesus expected his disciples who had had the privilege of learning about the Kingdom to share that good news with others. 2000 years later, that expectation is still present. Jesus continues to call his disciples to share what we have learned about God's will.

For Pat and me, that has meant years of service in Thailand where by God's grace we have been able to disciple others into mature faith. We are grateful for the sacrifices of our family, friends, and many others who may know of us only as a name on a roll of missionaries. Without that support we would have been hard pressed to minister in Thailand. Thank you again.

As I have proposed in our last newsletter, I want to share with you about some of our students at McGilvary. Two for today are Nongnut (the 'nut' part is pronouced more like newt) and Tawisak.

Nongnut is a Thai young lady who is in our Christian Studies program. Like all of the students I mention in these letters, she is in her final year at McGilvary. Literally every time I have met with Nongnut and asked her about prayer concerns, she has always mentioned her parents. She obviously has a great love for her parents who are farmers. The last time I met with her she asked me (and you) to pray for her parents as they look for new land to farm. As precarious as farming is in America, it is much more so in Thailand where the social safety nets are not as firmly in place. The other item that Nongnut asked us to pray about was a vision for the future. She would like to work with children, but is not sure exactly what the future holds. Nongnut is a good student who has been blessed by God. I pray that she will in turn be a blessing to others.

Tawisak is also ethnically Thai. He is one of our fine male students. This year he is the president of the McGilvary Theology Society. This is an enormous responsibility. MTS is the student organization that all 100+ students in our programs belong to. It is responsible for planning all the extra activities like weekly student led worship, the annual new student retreat, the annual work camp, etc. Tawisak plans to serve God as a pastor. He asked us to pray that he would receive wisdom and help from God to serve God in that vocation. He also wants to start a program in his home area that will benefit many of the poor. Pray for that as well. And finally, he asks us to pray for his family. He has a younger brother and sister who need our prayers as they grow up. His father, who is a local pastor, has recently remarried and needs prayer as he continues to pastor a church and teach ethics in the local school system.

Pat and I are doing well though we miss Thailand and our students a lot. Pray for us as we share about missions in churches, work on medical matters, and visit with our stateside family.

Yours in Christ,

LaMon and Pat