So much so soon!!!

So much has been happening just at the right time, that it appears to be no coincidence!!! (not that we thought it was anyway!).

On Monday, we went to have a look at a bakery that the Filipino missionaries had started up, and its a good thing we went then because it was closing the next day for the rest of the time we're in Mae Sot and we wouldn't have been able to see it.

On Tuesday we were able to have lunch with the local pastor-Pastor John, and encourage him and pray with him, he said he could only spend an hour with us but after 1.5 hours and making his wife wait 30mins we finally convinced him to leave. He's doing an amazing work. The combined churches of Thailand have finally decided to work together (after stacks of disunity) and have a joint vision to reach every household in Thailand. They've divided Thailand up into quarters and Pastor John in organising a conference for the pastors in his quarter for March and was asking us if we knew of any speakers who could come. To which we were able to suggest one. And pray about it with him. We'll see where the Lord leads with that.

At night we were able to have dinner with Niell and Diana and have a great chat with them regarding where they are at, where they would like to go and what God is doing in their hearts and lives right now. It was a blessed time and God was able to speak to both us and them through the conversation. Thanks God!!!

Today (Wed) we were able to catch up with Philip Tin Aung, and after giving him some letters from Australian friends yesterday he was very appreciative of that. Today we had lunch with him and four of his pastors that are leading a Christmas celebration tomorrow morning. We're invited to that and dad will give a '5 min encouragment' tomorrow, before the guest speaker. He's expecting 1000-3000 Burmese factory workers so it'll be exciting to see how that goes.

The team is fairing well. Mimee's brother arrived today so she is spending some family time with him and her niece as well. She's still working long hours though. We're having daily devotions and looking at how God uses people in prayer and what kind of blessings he gives out. Thanks for your prayers and support. We couldn't be doing what we're doing without it!

Made it!!!

So, after a day of travel we were finally all able to meet up together. We left home at 8pm 26th and arrived here at 7pm on 27th. We were met at the bus station by Leonie, Chuilian and Mimee along with some Filipino missionaries. We were pretty tired so after taking them all out for dinner we had a good sleep. Dad even slept for 10hours- a new record for him!!!!
This morning we met together as a team and we're praying through what we should be doing this week for the program in Mae Sot. It looks like there a fair bit of eating that we're going to be doing, taking a number of different missionary groups out for dinner, as well as maybe going to a Burmese rally on Wednesday night. Other than that, its pretty open at the moment. Mimee's still pretty busy trying to get things done before we head off to the rest of the country. Thanks for all your support, and we'll keep you updated when we next have internet!

And we're off...

So the day has arrived when we depart so in 1.5hours Dad and I will depart and embark on 24hrs of transit to meet Leonie, Chuilian and Mimee in Mae Sot. Thanks for all your prayers already. I'm really excited about this trip and about what God's going to do while over there. I get the feeling there's going to be a lot of stuff happening. So stay tuned...

The engine room...

Here's a copy of this years prayer calendar.
Hot off the press...

The Team...

This year's team is made up of 5 people. Smaller than usual but perfect size for what God's got in mind...



Peter . Chris . Chuilian . Leonie. Mimee

Profiles:
Peter works in Australia and has been over to Thailand many times before previously assisting on Short Term trips in leadership capacities. In Melbourne, he is an engineer, married to Marilyn and father of Michael and Chris

Chris is currently on placement and studing in Wangaratta and will be on placement up there until July, however he's on a 2 month break so living back at home with his parents. He's been to Thailand many times before, and has assisted in the planning of a number of such trips. He and Peter are co-leaders on this trip

Chuilian is a valuable member of the team and resides in Thailand. She has participated in every Short Term trip since 2003 and has been a faithful translator for each of these. She can speak at least 5 languages including Thai, Ahka, Chinese, Lahu and English

Leonie is a student and involved in a number of activities at Mitcham Baptist. This will be her third trip back to Thailand. She is currently over in Thailand already and will be staying there a number of weeks after Peter and Chris have returned to Australia.

Mimee is a school teacher and pastor in Mae Sot. She works at Elpis school during the week as a teacher for Burmese Refugees and on the weekends (as well as during the week) she pastors the local Chinese church congregation. She is also a valuable member of the team and has been on many Short term trips before. She is fluent in Thai, Burmese, Chinese, English, Karen, Tagalog, and other languages which she finds interesting.

THAILAND 2009/10... is fast approaching

And so we are here again... In the preparation stages for another trip to Thailand. This year we are going out under the name of Mitcham Baptist again and are visiting a number of people all over Thailand. We'll be starting off in Mae Sot and then moving up to Chiang Rai area where we'll be heading into the hilltribes to assist with the local pastors there, probably doing some more kids ministry stuff! After this we'll be heading down to Kuala Lumpur (in Malaysia) for a few days to visit some other Christian workers down there, then finishing up by heading back up to Bangkok.
Stay tuned for more details...