There is a select group within the village who are very much opposed to what we and the church are doing in the village. Just a few days ago during the night the signs which pointed to the church throught the village were destroyed. A group within the community has also complained to their local leaders about our work as they are afraid we will brainwash the children to become Christians. The local leaders (who are Buddhist) see our work as helping the community but they are growing tired of the complaints. They’ve requested through the local pastor that we move the nursery to the church. I plan to meet with the local leaders and share about what we are doing and why we hope to keep the nursery at our home. However, we also want to be good witnesses and we will submit ourselves to their authority as we desire to be servants to the community. Please pray for these meetings and also for peace within our village as this is a challenging time.

Nursery Children

While Sinte teaches children in the village I teach bible at a nearby refugee camp and also am visiting churches and other small groups of believers in further away villages. We live in probably one of the most remote parts of Thailand and so I hope after the rainy season I will be able to do a survey of more outlying areas and see how we might share God’s love to them. I’m definitely looking forward to the adventure!

As for Rakchat, he recently returned from Northern Karen State and checked on some of our projects there. He has completely taken over our development, relief and education projects in Northern Karen State and is doing an outstanding job. He’s also looking towards the future and developing plans alongside community and local leaders on how Farthest Corners can serve in these areas even better. He would like to thank all of you for your support and prayers and has asked me to inform you all about what is happening inside Northern Karen State at present.

Our projects have made great strides this year as you will see in the below pictures.

New Happy's Home Girls

New Happy's Home Boys

At Happy’s Home we have forty five children that we are supporting this year (about 10 of these children are new students as some of last years students had to leave for educational or family reasons). The children appear to have a lot of encouragement in their hearts to do their studies this year.

Happy's Home Kids at Work

We now have three pieces of land which are supporting the rice needs of Happy’s Home.

New Farm Plow

Our farm has been able to plant about 3 acres of rice for the first time this year. We now have a motorized plow there and have used it to work up the land. The irrigation has been a problem but God is working and so are the farm hands as well. The rice continues to grow and we are looking forward to a bountiful harvest this year.

Happy's Home Farm

While there is much more to talk about, I will share about those things in next months mission update. Please be in prayer for our work as there are always challenges spiritually, emotionally and physically. A special prayer should be made for peace inside Burma. Lately, there have been some divisions within many of the ethnic armies. Some have joined the Burma Army while others have now agreed to fight against the Burma Army. This could mean more fighting in the near future in the area where we live. While we are safe, the Karen people whom we love and serve are in greater danger. So please lift them up in your prayers. As always, thank you for your love, prayers and support. May God bless you!

Since we married our family has been serving God and the people with different needs in sometimes very difficult places. We are so thankful for our son who is involved in this ministry alongside us. He is not only a great blessing to us but also those we minister to. Constantly he shows his love by giving a smile and being with the people wherever we go.

God has always been good to us and given us plenty of opportunities to serve. Now we are blessed with an up coming opportunity to minister which requires us to move and live in a village along the border. At first, it was difficult for me as a wife and mother to think about moving to this village where there are no good hospitals and not the assortment of foods that we have readily available in the city. But as a follower of Jesus Christ and after praying to God and listening to Him, my heart is moved for the people in this village who do not know our Lord. I really believe this move is because we are following God’s call for us to be there with the people. The good news and God’s love should be shared with all. God is already opening the way for us, and so we go with faith knowing He will continue to guide us.

Our new home

Please continue to pray for our family to be effective servants of God, to seek the will of God first in the midst of physical comforts and temptations. We truly need to be able to follow the path of our Lord Jesus Christ and be faithful to Him in our service as well as in our daily life. Moreover, we need to be good examples for the people so that they may see the glory of God and know His great love for them.

In the coming weeks and months we look forward to sharing with you in more detail about how God is using us in this new work. I hope you will join us in prayer and continue to be a part of our ministry, so we may glorify Jesus Christ and play a part in extending His kingdom.

As many of you know, we were gone all of the month of March and into early April visiting Happy Home. To say the least it was action packed. Sinte and Ewing handled the trip very well. The kids adored Ewing and I’m afraid its gone to his head. Rakchat did an amazing job too. At one point I sent Rakchat to go to an area recently attacked, Sinte and Ewing remained behind at Happy Home teaching the kids while I went to the farm. We are becoming quite a team which is multiplying our ministry efforts. Below are just a few snippets of what is happening in our work. Praise God!

Pigs: The Karen pigs at Happy’s Home are doing well and they have a new litter of 8 pigs.  We also brought in 3 new pigs of a different breed to Happy Home. This type in 4 months is about the same size as a 2 year old Karen pig so they are happy to say the least. While there we think we convinced the people there to keep the pigs locked up and the pens clean. We also explained that we didn’t think having the pigs walk around the kitchen is a very good is a very good idea.

Rabbits: When I went to Happy Home I found that there weren’t as many baby rabbits as I expected. I mean they are rabbits and so I expected… well lets just say I expected more effort on their part. So while there I was able to breed some of the females who are old enough. We had one litter born but the Board master’s cat got into the old cage and ate 7 of them.  Afterwards, we built a new cage and I explained that the cat had to go. I think that is the main reason we have not had an increase in rabbits. That cat has been sneaking in and eating them.

Fish: We were able to transport 85 large catfish into Karen state with only 5 dying after we got there. Those five quickly became dinner by the kids. We also were able to breed the fish there and get around 2,000-3,000 small catfish. Rakchat stayed behind for about another week to teach the people there on how to breed the fish one or two more times in April and how to care for the fish better.

Farm Land: As mentioned before, I was able to survey the land and the irrigation to it. The farm has been developed nicely with the paddy field burms well built and with a lot of room in the land to expand. However, the irrigation is our primary concern. There is a great deal of work needing to be done on fixing the ditch and also hopefully widening and extending it. We also have a plan to hire two more temporary workers to work on the irrigation during the rainy season (4 months) if we get the water flowing into the land.  That is my number one concern on our development work right now. If we can’t get water into the land through the irrigation ditch, I might have two other options next year. But my hope is that they can get it working this year. If this happens, then next year we can improve the ditch to flood the land even more, then Happy’s Home budget needs will greatly decrease.

Karen Internally Displaced People (IDP) Relief

I was going to go visit the IDP areas which have recently been attacked but because of many factors, the time just was not right. I sent Rakchat instead for his first relief mission and he did a great job documenting what happened and getting support to those in need.  We have a plan to make a video in the Karen language with the footage he shot to inform Thai-Karen churches and Christians on what is happening in Karen State, Burma. Unfortunately, many have little understanding of the suffering that is occurring to their own people. This past month we provided about $800 in rice relief to areas that have been attacked. We hope to provide more support for rice relief or a medical unit in May.

While all of these things are happening here, God continues to bless our work in the US as well. Recently, we had our 4th Annual Thai Dinner and from what I hear, it was a great success. For those who were able to attend thank you so much for coming. For those of you who didn’t. We hope to be around for it next year. Your encouragement means a great deal to us as we continue to follow where the Lord lead us!!!

With all the trips we have been doing, I am a little behind on blog posts so please forgive the delay.  We plan to post another blog post shortly which has exciting news. Stay tuned for that. Thank you again for all of your prayers and support. To God be all the glory.

When we arrived in the village I was invited to preach the following day at the church which was planted there almost 15 years ago. The message I shared came from Psalm 137 about how the pain and anger that the people of Israel had against their Babylon oppressor was much like the Karen had against many of their own enemies (i.e. Burma Army).  I also shared how when Jesus is the Lord and Savior in our lives we must reach out to our enemy in love, as Christ himself did on the cross.

We then moved on from the main village into a smaller village where in just one year 40 of the villagers have become Christian. We stayed for three days teaching the adult believers about who Jesus Christ is and what salvation means during the mornings and afternoons. In the evenings, we played games and taught the children about God and Jesus Christ. After the day was over we would have worship together. On our last night we were invited into a non believers home so they too could hear the gospel message. God is now doing so much in this village and we are blessed to have a chance to witness in His great work there.

When we returned to the main village, Sinte was invited to preach at the church. She preached in Burmese with an elder translating into Karen. Her message was based off of 1 Kings 16,17.  There is a great deal of development going on throughout Thailand and while this is a good thing Sinte shared that during King Omri’s reign there was a lot of physical development but little spiritual development. She warned the people to be like Elijah and see how God provides when one is focused on Him alone.

The next day, Pastor Samuel and I visited a Karen Evangelist friend and then moved onto another village to share the message of Jesus Christ and to encourage thirteen new believers there. It is so amazing that this village for years had been right next to so many Christians but only now is it starting to accept the gospel. Pastor Samuel and I returned back to his home late that night and the next day our family started to head back to Chiang Mai.

We will be leaving on another trip soon to visit Happy’s Home and our Farm project. We will also see if this trip can be coordinated to provide some relief to over 2,000 villagers who were recently attacked by the Burma Army. They continue to remain in hiding while the Burma Army pillage their homes, destroy their schools and clinics and leave landmines behind in their wake. Please continue to pray for our brothers and sisters who are suffering so greatly.

When we return from this next trip we hope to have a better idea on where God is leading us next. We’re not sure if a move closer to or along the border is in our future or not but we are praying a great deal about that now. Please pray for God to show us His will on how He wants to use us best for the building of the Kingdom. We thank you all for your love, prayers and support. God bless you.

Mangte Pa, Sinte and Mangte

Typically our blog is used for presenting Farthest Corners news and updates. But I have also found blogs to be somewhat therapeutic so please allow this little vent. I have a pink wall. It is not something I am proud of, nor did I choose this pink wall out of my own volition. Instead, I see this pink wall as one who has chosen me.

Now many of you might be concerned by my coming out and sharing with you about my pink wall. Please do not be overly concerned, we are hoping it will be covered back up (we pray) by tomorrow. I digress, I am getting ahead of this saga that deserves a telling.

A few days ago our landlord came to our home bearing joyful news. He saw how our wall, which had a puke green look for the past 4 years needed a paint job. We were thrilled until he balanced this news with an increase in our rent. Drat you greeng jai! For those who speak Thai you understand greeng jai. For those who don’t, well let me just translate as saying “I got hosed”. Still, the rent is well below all of our friends and we are happy where we are, so of course we took the news in a balanced way thinking, well at least our wall will get a paint job.

This morning the landlord calls. All is well! The painters are coming in haste, open thy gate and welcome them with gifts. Actually, he just said make sure I open the gate for the painters to come that morning, but a story teller must be allowed to embellish a tad. I leave watching our painters sanding the wall, a good sign these men might actually do a half decent job. I return home seeing our painters resting drinking some cold cokes and water my wife provided (following the proper Asian hospitality customs of course). Now it was time for a chat and of course I ask the question “So what color will our wall be?” They responded “Oh it will be three colors.” Hmmmm….. “Three colors you say, and what colors would they be.” They hit me with a doozy at first saying pink. Of course for those who know me, it was like getting sucker punched in the gut. However, I grimmaced only (thanks to prior Thai culture training) and continued to listen that the other two colors would be brownish orange and white.

Now I want you all to take that all in. Three colors brownish orange, white and pink. On the wall that surrounds our house. Perhaps my lovely wife Sinte said it best “you know a little pink is ok in somethings, but not on the wall.”

Ok, got it? Good, lets move onto the horror story. I’ve lived in Thailand a long time. So how do I proceed. I first talk with Saw Eh Kah Lah Moo (Farthest Corners Pastor/Evangelist/Whatever else I can wrangle him in doing) who said our wall being painted now looked like the color for a Thai dance show. Unfortunately, he is right but we just don’t have many Thai dancers at our house right now. Tis a sad tale that only goes deeper. I then began to talk with the painters who informed me that it would only look better when the brown was put on tomorrow. Instantly, I recognized the problem. Our painters must be color blind…we are in deep trouble. I then called our landlord who is great, we even invited him and his family to our wedding. So we love him, but this man is no Martha Stewart. He informed me to wait until the painters had finished and then if I wanted to repaint it, to feel free. Ok, ding ding ding! Good answer. I’m willing to spend another 25$ and about 5 hours to cover up this monstrosity. Unfortunately, we then dove further into the abyss. For reasons completely out of my control I then had to spend pretty much the entire afternoon sitting in a Thai Market speaking/screaming over the crowd with the landlord and painters on the phone, trying to get this one point across in Thai. I will pay the $25 and I will choose the paint color I like. My Thai ain’t great mind you. But I know that part should have been clearly understood. Yet, at the end of the day it was decided by our landlord that maybe neon pink wasn’t the way to go. So tomorrow we start anew! With a new paint color (yet again of the landlord’s choosing) that I have been assured will be nicer. Anyone want to take any bets on this?

Ahh, amazing Thailand.

Prayers for another day would be appreciated.

Editor’s Note: The next day the pink wall was finished without a change in colors after all and we look as if we are stuck with it for the time being. If you are flying by Chiang Mai, Thailand sometime just look down…you’ll easily spot our house.

We greet you this season from Thailand – one member stronger. On November 8, 2009 we welcomed our son, a bouncing bundle of energy who is growing by leaps and bounds. Sinte had some complications following his birth requiring additional hospitalization but she is well now and we are thankful. We were especially blessed that members of Sinte’s family (sister Suite, brother Lalte and wife Dite) and Mangte Pa’s family (mother Lisa and brother Travis and wife Jamie) were able to visit to help out. We are so very blessed with the churches and community members who support our work in Thailand and Burma. We especially thank everyone for your prayers for us and Farthest Corners.

What is being accomplished in Thailand and Burma? As our ministry has increased, so has the need for help. In early 2009, we added to the Farthest Corners team when we hired Saw Eh Ka La Moo, a Karen-Thai pastor. He has been a valuable asset working along with us. Recently, he went on a mission trip to northern Karen State to check on a few of our projects. He also preached at a training session for relief workers.

While in Burma, Rakchat stayed at Happy’s Home which has grown considerably with 51 children now living there. We have added a teacher to assist the Board Master and his wife. He comes in the evenings and week-ends to tutor the children. He is a great addition as the children at the home are making improvements in their grades. We also recently put in a water-powered generator to power lights so the children now have a chance to study in the evening. Before this the children had to study by candlelight. Quite a few developed eye problems. The children continue to work diligently in their garden that is producing quite well. They are proud of the food they have grown which includes beans, melons and many other vegetables that have become a staple in their diet. We have also started a few new projects around the home. The rabbit project is going nicely and they are breeding as quickly as well…rabbits. We have also started to breed catfish and another kind of fish. As both of these projects grow we plan to pass on the knowledge and the resources for outlying villages to help sustain themselves.

One of our biggest projects is Happy’s Home Farm which was started about 2 years ago. This farm is about a 6 hour walk from the home. We were unable to get enough water this year for rice paddy fields to be developed. Instead, we started planting beans. In 2010, we are hoping to be able to complete the irrigation ditch and also be able to have enough water to develop the rice paddies.

We recently received from Australia over 10,000 books to be delivered to Burma and along the border. Teachers have already begun to come to our home to select the books for teaching children.

This year we began financial support for two seminary students in Yangon. We will continue to support these students and others as our budget allows. Providing educational assistance forges a partnership with these students that when they graduate they will complete a one year mission, preferably in Chin State, an area Austin would be unable to visit because of Visa restrictions. We would like to offer the same financial assistance opportunity to Farthest Corners supporters who would be willing to contribute $25 per month for this mission.

Most recently we partnered with the Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People, a good trustworthy group, to deliver nearly $1,000 in rice relief to Burma. Being able to partner with groups like this one allows us a wider reach with our relief money.

The upcoming year looks promising and challenging. We are praying about a few ministry opportunities and we will most likely know in the coming months if this will require us moving closer to the border area or if we will remain in our current home and focus on building a stronger national team. Our family is also hoping to send spend some time together at Happy’s Home in Karen State and the farm in the coming months. That is, of course, if our new son Ewing is up to the challenge. We won’t do anything unsafe. We covet your prayers. Please know that we are also praying for you. We love you and hope you have a healthy and happy new year. God bless you and thank you.

Mangte Pa, Sinte and Mangte

A few week ago I completed my Masters of Divinity. With my classes coming to an end I look forward to doing more mission work inside Thailand and along the border area with a Master of Divinity under my belt. Also, the last couple weeks I attended a training to receive a TEFL degree teaching english. It has been great having experienced teachers critique my teaching style in Thai classrooms and they helped me to see some new techniques to educate children here.

In August, we started to provide full support for two Bachelor of Theology students at a seminary in Yangon. We learned about these two students through a professor friend in Yangon who was concerned they would not be able to complete their studies, because they came from poor families.  To pay for their tuition, books, food as well as providing some pocket money is about $300 a year for each student. In exchange for this support the students at the end of their studies will serve for at least one year in a ministry with their home church, do mission work or possibly have an option to work alongside Farthest Corners in some form of mission. We are also hoping next year to add more students, but we will do so as God provides.

Sinte recently received word from her friends in Burma who live close to the Bangladesh border. Its difficult to get news from there because of it being so remote. They shared with us about how the aid we provided a few months back has really encouraged many of the people to see God’s love.  The churches are growing in those areas and we praise God for that growth. Real suffering is happening there and we’re hoping to respond in the coming weeks to provide relief. When we give a little, God tends to do a lot!

Saw Eh Ka La Moo, the Thai-Karen pastor who works with Farthest Corners is now on a one month mission relief trip. He called me yesterday and informed me how the trip is going well. He has been teaching the bible at a training, linking up with leaders to provide some rice relief and also visited Happy’s Home and the Farm. He brought with him 12 rabbits and some fish for Happy’s Home too.  We’ve been working with breeding fish and rabbits for over 6 months here and so we think we got the hang of it. A few great escapes were made by some of our rabbits in the past with a suspicion that our neighbor was involved. I say suspicion because there was no hole in the cage and our neighbors now just happens to have the same color rabbits as we use to have.

That covers a little bit about what is happening here. The next couple of days are going to be exciting ones for us and we look forward to sharing more news and pics with you soon. Thank you all for your love and support. We could not be serving in the way we are without you. Please keep praying for us, the Farthest Corners team here and the work we are involved in.

To God be all the glory!

It is difficult sometimes when I think about the meaning of home. Sinte and I were able to return to our home here in Thailand about a month ago after being in my home in the US since April. For us both Thailand is not our home country, but where we are called by God and it has become home to us. Still, while my heart is here in Thailand/Burma it was great being home in the US having my wife alongside me. Meeting family and friends whom not only I love but now she loves too.

Its incredible to be able to talk and share with each other now about how blessed we are by God, to be loved by so many. When our time came to leave we were sad while at the same time we felt it was time to go home. I believe this last trip confirmed with many of you that it is God’s will for us to be here and we are so glad to be in His call.But being in God’s call doesn’t mean our lives will be perfect.

When we returned to Thailand our roof had a large hole in it and we found in one of our rooms about an inch of water (its monsoom season here now).  We also lost our home telephone line and Internet because we did not pay the bill while we were away. Worst of all on our return home a couple of items were missing, and while we know who the thief was, we ask for prayers on how best to handle it.

Happier news in our lives is that our expected baby is doing well with Sinte being four months pregnant. We visited the doctor and did our sonogram and everything looks great. Sinte feels the baby moving and with this being our first, we are excited for this wonderful gift God has given us.

Also, my seminary studies are going well and I won’t bore you with all the details of that.  But oddly enough I am getting Greek so far, which I equate to a miracle.We’re getting into the routine of things here at home with all its strangeness. Sinte’s sister last week came to visit us and she was ironing some clothes when a snake came out of a pair of my jeans she was ironing. She screamed and I ran into the room laughing asking what it was. Then I realized there was a snake in the room. Thank God, Sinte was not there in the room or ironing because that would have meant our immediate move to another home.  After killing the snake (which turned out to be a very small cobra) I kept telling Sinte’s sister, “Don’t tell Sinte, don’t tell Sinte, don’t tell Sinte!!!” What is worst though is that those clothes had been in a chair in our house for a couple days, who knows how long that had been there, or if we have any more guests. So this is home for us.  A strange picture with strange stories for maybe many of you in the US. But for us its normal, except for that cobra popping out of a pair of my jeans, that was sort of crazy.

We’d like to ask for you all to continue to pray for our friends and family in Burma. Last month about 4,000 new refugees fled into Thailand due to attacks by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) whom are supported and aligned with the Burma Army on the border. There are many organizations trying to assist now and do so because they have crossed into Thailand and the Thai Army is allowing these refugees in. Unfortunately, there are many thousands inside Karen State who are under attack and getting nothing at all. We scrounged up some used clothes and also purchased 300 plastic buckets so people can keep clean water and also use it for other needs. But the people in Burma need our prayers the most, please pray for them.

We want to thank all of you for all of your love, prayers and support that you have given us. We praise God for all of you and while we are separated from each other now, we know this is only temporary for we have a great deal of time in heaven together to be with each other. May our gracious Lord continue to guide us all as we seek to glorify Him!

Our last trip to visit Happy’s Home went very well. My wife and I made this jungle trip our quasi-honeymoon. I had no problem considering this walk in the jungle our honeymoon, she thought otherwise. Hence, my carefully chosen terminology of quasi-honeymoon. Happy’s Home has faced some challenges in the last couple of years but each one has been overcome through God’s grace and wisdom. In the next two years Happy’s Home will be undergoing a transition, becoming more self-sufficient as the farm and garden projects they have developed continue to grow. This will allow us to focus mission money in a new direction and expand our focus.

In January, a Thai-Karen couple was hired to join with us in our work. Saw Eh Ka La Moo and his wife Sen Tien worked in a Karen church along the border for many years and have a great deal of ministry experience. They are a first step in our vision for Farthest Corners to be more national based. Currently, they are doing work for us on the border working alongside friends there. When their children have completed classes in March they plan to move to Chiang Mai. Then a great amount of training and new opportunities for ministry will begin.

The seminary education that I have been blessed to receive these past few years should be completed this year. My classmates and I finished our comprehensive examinations last week which tested us on everything we have learned the past three years.  The next couple of weeks are filled with writing papers and final examinations for this semester.

My wife and I plan to be in the US from mid-April – mid-June. I look forward to introducing her to many of you. We also plan to be officially married. (Unfortunately, her country does not allow their citizens to marry foreigners and so we cannot get the paperwork needed from her embassy.) We plan to have a marriage blessing ceremony and reception on April 18. For more information about this or if you would like for us to visit you, your church or an organization feel free to contact the Board at info@farthestcorners.org

As praises in our lives and those we serve abound, so do our prayer needs. Sinte and I are considering a couple of opportunities to take some relief and ministry work trips either separately or together in the coming weeks. Prayers for safety and doors to be opened would be appreciated. While our lives are busy here we will need to slow down on March 8, 2009 for a time of prayer for Burma. We ask you to please share with your church, family and friends prayer concerns for our brothers and sisters in this country.  Please pray for:

• Victims of the Cyclone that killed over 150,000 people last year and traumatized over a million more in the delta region of Burma.
• The oppression against those who resist among the ethnic minority groups as well as those like Aung San Suu Kyi and many others who are in prison or under house arrest for their stance on freedom.
• The famine that exists in western Burma due to a rat plague that has destroyed many crops.
• Please pray for us and our many friends here too, who continue to reach out to serve those in need of hope and love.

Thank you for your prayers and love for us. We look forward to seeing many of you soon!!!

The people in Burma face hardships that few of us could ever imagine, but they also have hope. God is truly in Burma in a powerful way because there is so much evil that must be faced there.  This past year you have read in the news about protests being stopped, a cyclone killing hundreds of thousands, famine raging in western Burma and a bogus voting process for the constitution. You read how the military dictatorship holds onto power and how the people of Burma suffer. Yet, you hardly ever hear anything good about Burma. You don’t learn about the teachers serving in hiding places, giving children an education for their future. Nor do you see the medic who runs from one village to another giving what little medicine she has to help the people; or the resistance soldier who serves for no money, but protects family and friends from those who wish to do them harm.  These men and women are great messengers of hope in this country.

So Sinte and I and join alongside you and our brothers and sisters in Burma to proclaim the good news full of hope. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:14) May we never forget the great message of Christmas.  God is with us, and because of this we have hope.