In Acts 2, Peter quotes from the prophet Joel to explain what the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost meant. The first part of the prophecy goes like this: "In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams."

The significance of that prophecy came home anew to me as I recently listened to some of our international students talk about their reasons for coming to study at McGilvary College of Divinity. One female student's English name is Esther. She is the granddaughter of the first Karen missionary to come to Chiang Mai. (The widespread acceptance of Christ by many of the Karen people of Burma and Thailand has been one of the great stories of American Baptist missions.)

Esther was born in Burma, but later moved to Thailand. She is the wife of a Karen pastor. Their church, in the mountains of northern Thailand, has around 200 baptized members. Because of the distance involved, Esther is not able to go home every weekend. However, she does work with a daughter church in the city of Chiang Mai.

Esther has come to study in our International M.Div program because she has a great desire to be more effective in ministry in her church and the surrounding community. Esther spoke with me after class and elaborated on her vision. Because her church is so far removed from major cities with educational opportunities, she hopes that when she finishes her degree, she will be able to return to her church and teach the members what she has learned.

At this point you might be thinking that she is one of those "daughters" mentioned by Peter who "shall prophecy". However, the image does not quite fit. Esther is a 51 year old grandmother! One would never want to call a 51 year old lady ‘old', but in the context of Joel's prophecy she is an elderly woman who is dreaming Spirit-inspired dreams. Her dream is to see her people grow in their knowledge of Christ and the Christian faith.

Please pray for the following:

• The International students from Vietnam, Cambodia, Burma, USA, and Thailand who I teach at McGilvary as they prepare themselves for ministry throughout Southeast Asia.
• The Thai students in our B.A. program. On February 26th they will begin their final exams. On March 10th many of them will go to a mountain village to assist in the building of a church. Then after that week most of them will begin ‘summer' field work where they will spread out all over Thailand to do various types of ministry for 4 to 6 weeks.
• Pat, her dad whose name is Bill, and his family. Pat is currently in the States visiting her dad who is undergoing chemotherapy for liver cancer.

Yours in Christ,

LaMon and Pat