Hey everyone, thanks for your support and prayers. We want to give a summary of what we have been doing in Thailand and share with you that we are planning a ministry transition in the near future.
• What have you been doing in Thailand? We moved to Thailand in 2013 and focused on language learning for the first two years. That makes it eight years now we have been working to help start North Bangkok Church (NBC) with Jo and Jessie Yaebeang. During those eight years, we have also been helping publish books, videos and other things Thai people can find and benefit from. It’s been a joy to be a part of those resources, and we hope to keep helping produce more.
It’s bittersweet because we are going to miss the people there so much, but NBC is getting to the point where they don’t really need us. It’s the goal of missionaries to work themselves out of a job, so, in the next year or so we plan to start making sure everything is ready for us to move on to the next work.
One of the main things is to install more elders and deacons. Please pray for the future elders and deacons of NBC. We also hope to help find a place for the church to meet (right now they are still worshiping in a conference room in the hotel). Pray for us as we contact the owner of a property near us where we can see NBC meeting. I hope everything works out and this is where we/they can gather. We may also have NBC registered with the government if the church is ready.
There are lots of things to do, so please pray for us and the church. Also, pray for me as I start to preach through the book of James on March 19.
• Where are we going next? From the beginning, we have prayed while serving at NBC that God would raise up people in the church that would want to go back to their hometown and start a work. So far, we have two people like that, Rot and Jay. We shared about them in our last report. We are not exactly sure where we will be going, but last month we went to Buriram, a province five hours east of Bangkok, to visit Rot in his hometown.
We had a great time with Rot in his village. Our kids didn’t want to leave and, just in that one day, some of the kids there made our kids promise they would come back. It was a very short trip. But thankfully, we got to see some of what life there would be like and the needs there. Brittney asked some of the children there if they had ever heard of Jesus. They said “no.” Rot is the only Christian in his village. Even if we don’t move to Buriram, we definitely want to make trips there and help Rot as he shares the gospel and plans to start a church. Buriram is one option and place we have in mind to begin serving.
The other place that is a possibility is in a province called Ubon, which is eight hours east of Bangkok. We plan to visit that village March 27-31. We will be going with Jay and his family. His wife is from there, and they do not have a church anywhere in that area. People from that village often ask her about what NBC is like, what they teach and what we believe. It’s like they are curious and waiting for someone to go share more. I don’t know what God has planned for Jay’s family and ours, but I hope this upcoming trip helps us know more.
So that’s where we find ourselves. There are actually a few other places we have been invited to go and serve in, but we are not sure yet. To be honest, it can feel a little uneasy not knowing what province/house/village we will be in someday. I like to plan, but times like these make us slow down, pray and seek wisdom and guidance. Please pray for us as we try to exit NBC well and start serving somewhere else someday. Pray that God will give us clarity on where and when to go.
• Fern and her baby — Something happened recently that we didn’t expect. We signed papers to help foster. A lady named Fern recently started visiting our church. She has a two-month-old and doesn’t have much support. She ended up having to go to a government place for assisted living. She can’t go to church from there and wanted to get out. These kind government workers came to inspect our house and ask us questions. We told them we are ready to help her find a place near us and help her as much as we can. As I was typing this report, I received a call from them, and they said we are approved and can pick Fern and her baby up on March 15.
We are praising God because Rot will be completing his six-month internship this month. He plans to move from Buriram back to Bangkok to continue his internship in person at NBC before starting a ministry in Buriram. We are thankful to God for your ongoing financial support so we can be here and do what we do. (brandon.thaimissions@gmail.com)
