SCHEDULE OF SERVICES

Dear Brethren,

I am writing this from my Dad’s living room in Loving, Texas.  I left Thailand at 11:30 a.m. on July 28th. I arrived at my Dad’s house at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday… and only 33 hours had elapsed since I left my house. I am looking forward to seeing many of you in the upcoming weeks. I am especially excited to share with you all the work that we are doing together in Thailand. A special blessing for me is that my Dad will be traveling with me as I give my reports, and then he will be going back to Thailand with me for about a month and a half.

In the first part of July, I was busy getting ready for our upcoming school and my trip to America.  Many things had to be done.  Arranging the schedule for the work in Thailand while I am away. I also had to report to the government about the work we are doing. They have added more reports that have to be made each year, including at least 12 pictures per week of the work we are doing. Then I had to get a re-entry visa so that I will be able to return to Thailand. I also finished translating the PowerPoint lessons for our school.  

The school was fantastic. In 10 days, we studied for 60 hours and covered the books of Luke and Acts. It was a wonderful series of lessons. Greg and I taught all of the lessons.  I translated most of Greg’s lessons. Brother Sai from Laos helped by translating some lessons. Since this time of year, school is not out, during the weekdays, we had mainly preaching students and preachers. On the weekends, we had large crowds come to study with us. I will attach pictures to this report. We had a different format for this group of lessons. We gave a teacher a three-hour block of lessons and let him pick the time he wanted to take breaks. We had a morning session and an afternoon session. In the evening, the students would read the chapters that they would be studying the next day. A lot of knowledge was gained by each of the students. Our next school will be shortly after my return from Thailand.  We will be covering the prison epistles.

I would just like to tell you a bit about Brother Sai.  He is a preacher in Laos. He and his wife have two young daughters.  In Laos, it is illegal to be a Christian. If you are caught worshiping there is an eighteen-month prison sentence. His faithfulness puts himself and his family at risk. He must be careful how he goes about the Lord’s business. He is a great example to all of us. We bring him to Thailand when we have our schools to help with the translation, but even more than that, to encourage him in his work for the Lord. I would ask you to keep him, his family, and our brethren in Laos in your prayers.

I will not be writing a report next month.  My next report will be in October when I get back to Thailand. May God bless us all as we work together for Him,

Michael