April 2023 Update
As you likely know, our mission in Thailand is almost exclusively among the Burmese from the war-torn country of Myanmar.
I’m not going to lie; the needs are overwhelming, sometimes unbearably so.
Women and children scramble for food, shelter, and safety, terrified of being caught, arrested, and sent back. But it’s far better than over-the-border conditions amid the battling factions. Displaced families there plead to send their kids across to stay with someone, anyone, anywhere, anyhow…anything so they are not wandering in the jungles, prey to soldiers. A warehouse with tents? Fine. Concrete floors and tarp roofs? OK. Large numbers of kids housed together without schooling? Better than in the jungle with the bombs. They know what they’re running from, what they must escape.
For me, it's like jumping into a pond and discovering it’s deeper and darker than imagined, with horrible things slithering around in its depths.
We’ve seen evidence of atrocities committed against women and children…horrific, evil, heinous acts…that are seared into our subconscious minds, images we can never un-see. With one call WE could leave; there is no rescue for THEM except through the hands and feet of Jesus, no hope except in Him. But where there is great darkness there is also Light. There ARE warriors here rescuing women and children from the sex trade, rehabbing and relocating them: there ARE believers housing kids whose parents are in the jungles; there ARE Christians collecting, teaching, feeding, and raising leaders: there ARE people braving the lion’s den to defend villages and rescue torture victims. As for us, we focus on the story of the Starfish; we cannot make a difference to all, but we can make all the difference for some.
And God IS moving! There are many Praises to celebrate.
1) 81 Burmese pastors and 14 foreign missionaries attended our initial Discipleship Training program, far and away more than we expected from word-of-mouth advertising. We were packed in like sardines, but no one seemed to mind, and we were thrilled so many leaders are looking for ways to equip their people to reach the lost and establish house churches where there are none. We’ve already started training those who signed up for an intensive six-week course on practical discipleship.
2) Our over-the-border Children’s Rescue Home pastor suffering from SLE is now out of the hospital and recovering with friends. While she has a way to go, the worst is over, and she’s positive about her future, her plans, and her children.
3) In the DR, one new Haitian pastor held the first service in his partially completed chapel (roof up but no walls yet) and so many attended they had to go around the village borrowing chairs to seat them all! Six baptisms this week in this church alone! Hallelujah!
4) Also in the DR, Pastor Jaime has started up Discipleship Training again among the Haitians, again limiting the attendance to 30, and again being overwhelmed with the response and unable to turn them away. Here’s to producing laborers for the ripe harvest!
5) The Kingdom Mission Children’s Home received 6 new children whose parents are unable to provide for them and our support helped get things ready for the new arrivals.
6) Our partners in undisclosed areas are providing safehouses for vulnerable individuals secreted out of the war zone and protected until they can be relocated.
7) Our Brazilian pastors, whose servant hearts both humble and inspire us, continue their amazing work among the Burmese refugees, teaching their children, providing them joyful opportunities and safe spaces in which to learn, and discipling their parents in the most unpromising of locations with great success. Their location, too, must be kept under wraps, so regrettably there are no photos.
8) We have moved to our semi-permanent home with an air conditioner, a borrowed refrigerator, and loaned gas stovetop, as well as access to a washing machine up on the roof! It was nice to unpack our suitcases and shake out some wrinkles. I'm getting all the stair climbing I need in this five-story building!
9) I always order a wheelchair at airports to spare wear and tear on Peter’s knee and was tickled when, on a recent domestic flight, the attendant wheeled him out onto the tarmac and across the runway to the bottom of a (steep) plane-side staircase. There was a look of horror on the faces of the receiving (diminutive) attendants, who I expect were wondering how they were going to haul this giant of a man up the stairs in a cross-arm lift…which they had just done with another passenger who weighed about 80 pounds. Thankfully, Peter’s knee is quite capable of stairs…thank you, Jesus!
As always, we SO appreciate your encouragement, prayers, and support. I can’t tell you how many notes I got last month from people telling me they’d prayed through our prayer requests…and you can see God has answered! So, for this month, here are our requests.
1) Pray for funding for more water filters; the whole country over the border needs clean water. Additionally, if evangelizing and/or rescue teams have water filters with them and are stopped by the military, they have a justifiable humanitarian reason for being there and can pass unmolested. Remember, Christians are being beheaded for their faith in that country.
2) Pray for protection for our friends on rescue teams that are working under cover of night, that God would blind the eyes of the enemies and give them safe passage.
3) Pray for funding for safehouses where those people our friends successfully extract can be temporarily housed, fed, and protected.
4) Pray for wisdom as we decide which of thousands of needs are the BEST to meet to advance the Kingdom.
As Easter approaches, and we remember with wonder and amazement the ultimate sacrifice of our LORD while we still despised and rejected Him, we thank Him every day for the opportunity to be here, to labor with others whom we admire deeply, and to play a small part in the Great Plan that is nearest and dearest to His heart…the rescue of those who are Lost.
Much love always,
Joan and Peter
"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" Psalm 27:1