TBI starts classes

This past Tuesday we began Bible School classes here in the city of Chiang Mai. We are excited to have 3 full time students. Right now I am the only teacher. I have the privilege of teaching them, Tuesday to Friday, 2 hours each day. The students are able to study for free, but they have to find work in order to support themselves as they study. Most Bible schools here in Thailand provide everything for free which attracts more students however the students are then dependant on foreign money after these finish school as well. We are trying to take small steps to make this trend. At this time, I haven't come up with a name for the school yet. Right now we are playing with the idea of Thailand Baptist Institute, but that seems very broad. If you have any suggestions, feel free to suggest. When we decide on a name, I will let you all know.
I ask that you pray for me as this adds another element to an already busy schedule.

NBA Champion 2007: WHO CARES ****

So sorry that my opinions are a little behind the times but I HAD to blog about this. I don't have internet access on weekends and therefore was unaware of what happened between Phoniex and San Antonio after game 5. All I can say is, I am disgusted!! So disgusted that I won't be watching anymore basketball this year! There will be no national champion this year as Phoneix was ousted thanks to the high powers to be of the NBA. This is the second year in a row this happened. Last year, Dallas lost in the NBA Finals because of horrible refereeing. I guess the NBA is the new WWE where the front office people decide who is gonna win the chip. Whenever we talk about the NBA champs of 2007, we need to put a little asterick beside their name because they really aren't the champions. A true champion beats every team fair and square, no help from outside. If San Antonio was a classy team, they would have asked for the 2 players to be reinstated so they could rightfully be called the national champion. In my books (not that it matters), NBA Champs 2006: Dallas Mavericks; NBA Champs 2007; nobody. Sorry, just had to get that off my chest!!

Tip, a new member of God's family

 

Praise God, Tip was saved this past Sunday. Tip has been attending our church for the past few months and this past Sunday she was saved. Tip has severe migraine headaches and a friend of hers told her that if she wanted to get better, she needed to baptized. Tip didn't understand how that could help and so after church, she asked Naang (Tawm's aunt), some questions about baptism and church membership. Naang took time to talk to her and then Tip invited some of us over to her house for lunch and so that they could talk more. Tawm, Naang, Pawn, and Jaa all played a part in leading her to the Lord. While they shared the gospel, I got to entertain the kids outside the house!

On Monday, Tawm phoned Tip and she said that she slept so good that night. She doesn't remember sleeping that good in a long time. We praise God for that.

Great Results

This past weekend we had our first revival services here in Chiang Mai. We had services Friday and Saturday night and Sunday morning. Attendance in every service was good but wish we could have had more people. The people seemed to really enjoy the conference. Lynn Rayburn preached on Increasing our Faith through Giving. At the end the church here in Chiang Mai committed about $120 dollars per month to missions above their tithe. Normally we average about $160 per month in offerings, so needless to say, I am thrilled with the result and hope that this is the beginning of some huge steps of faith in our church!

Upcoming Revival Services

This weekend we are attempting something that we haven't done before here in Thailand, have revival services. Lynn and Brenda Rayburn are here visiting us and the Teer's and we are going to have a Faith Promise Conference this Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening. Since we've never done anything like this before, we have no idea what to expect, but we ask that you'd pray for the conference.

World's Greatest Mom

Tawm and I wanted to wish Mom a very, happy Birthday!! We are so thankful for her and her servant heart. She is such a blessing to us and we wouldn't be able to survive here on the field if it weren't for her help. Everyone needs a mom like her!! We love you and want you to know we are thinking of you even though we are half way across the world. We will see you in July (Lord willing)!

Unbelievable

As the NBA basketball season closed and my Indiana Pacers having no part of the post season... I have been dreaming of a Phoneix Dallas showdown in the Western Final (the real final) but the Mavericks have gone and done the impossible and lost. Although I haven't seen a minute of playoff action, by the looks of things, Nellie, Golden State's coach got into the heads of the Dallas players and the Mavericks could never overcome that. I am very disappointed and I really hope that Phoneix can beat Dallas because the last thing I want to watch, actually read about is a San Antonio-Detroit final. Can you spell boring?

First Gift

Here is Tawm modeling her first "pregnancy gift". Thanks to the Jones' who are working in Udon. Although the clothes are still a little bit big, Tawm still makes it look good. We went to the doctor this past Monday for our first monthly check-up. The doctor said everything looks good. We both got to see the baby on the monitor for the first time, who knew that a black and white picture could be so exciting!! The baby is now 3 centimeters big. Tawm's due date is November 17th.

Schemes and Scams

Tim, our church secretary, almost took the bait of a con man yesterday. Tim received a phone call saying that her phone number was selected as the good luck phone number and as a result, she would receive 60,000 Baht (about $1700 US). However, she had to pay 5700 Baht in taxes first in order to receive the winnings.
All Tim had to do was give her bank account number and go to a bank machine to transfer the money at a set time. Tim was super excited, the only problem was that she didn't have her bank account information with her so she ran around the church building asking people for their bank info.
In all the commotion, "I asked, what is going on?" Tawm told me what had happened but didn't tell me how much she had won. I asked Tawm, "did she win 60,000 Baht?" Tawm answered, "Yes, how'd you know". I told her, tell Tim to hang up, it's a scam.
Some people would probably say it is coincidence but I think it was the hand of God working in our daily lives. Earlier in the week, after working out, I sat down to read the newspaper at the gym, something I almost never do, and the major story was a story warning people to not to take the bait with this scheme. If they did, there was nothing that could be done. The article gave the details of the scam and it was exactly what happened to Tim. The con people get people to transfer money and then they end up taking all the money out of the bank account. Praise God that nothing happened and no money was lost.