Sawat Dee!! from Thailand once again :)

It's Jason here and on behalf of my wife, I would like to thank you again for your continued support. Our last update was in October so it's been a while, lets get everyone up to date..

The November highlight was our "International Day" at the church plant. It was our Thanksgiving celebration, but apparently Thanksgiving is only celebrated in the U.S., so instead we had everyone dress up in their national garb. It was loads of fun! I was an American cowboy, and Kez represented her Filipina roots, here's a pic:  

December was busy, as I'm sure yours was also. The highlight for me was watching Kezia dance a tambourine dance with Len Len Sipat, Roslen and Phylla's daughter. They performed it at a street Christmas concert that the Sipats put together in Ao Nang, check it out!: 

Our January highlight was our visitor. We LOVE visitors!! Rhonda Glasscock from Rolling Hills Covenant Church spent a few days with us. She was such an encouragement! My wife and I got to show her the ministry here and just had some great fellowship. Thanks for coming Rhonda! And come back soon!

February's highlight was a surprise. A couple of people at our church expressed interest in learning Spanish. Knowing Spanish, I volunteered to teach them a 2 week crash course. I was expecting four people to show up but I was delighted to see 14! The class included Ukranians, Russians, Thai, and Filipinos. We ended the class with a home made chicken taco feast! Good times :)

Spanish Class

Plus, every Friday the women's group meets at our house, Kezia is taking them through a series on the book of Esther.. 

And every Sunday I'm either preaching or leading worship at the church...

So the last few months have been fun! Lots going on...

Please keep us in prayer, we need it...

And come for a visit! We miss all of you.

Thanks and God bless!

Jason and Kezia

On Persistence

My God is persistent.  He is persistent on loving me, persistent on burning in me, persistent on keeping me wholly for Him. 

This is what He revealed to me about Himself in the last few weeks. 

October 19, 2012 was the expiration date of my Thai non-immigrant visa.  This visa is the hinge of all our documents here --- my work permit, Jason’s visa --- thus allowing us to legally stay in Krabi.  In February of this year, I acquired my U.S. citizenship in Hawaii where I was granted my US passport.  This event marked the end of a long process of making sure that it’s okay for me to stay out of the States for a very long time.  Thinking that since I am no longer a Filipino citizen both Jason and I agreed that I should use my US passport in entering Thailand.  And our first agenda on the first day of our arrival here was to go to the immigration office to figure out how I can transfer all of my visa stuff from my Philippine passport to my US passport.  After explaining our situation with what we thought was enough information to the immigration officers, the advice we got was to wait for October --- the month of my visa renewal.  Needless to say, we took it as raw and as simple as the advice came from the authority we believed understood where we are. 

Our naïveté brought us eight months later to a huge immigration bureaucratic mess that could have ended up with us leaving the country.  Learning of our mistake, our hearts were crushed and, I must admit, I was very angry.  It is never as simple as that.  Not with immigration.  Now we have this exorbitant amount to pay at the border with money we don’t have, and I have to leave the country immediately.  For me to go back, I have to re-apply at the Thai Embassy in Penang, Malaysia hoping to be granted, despite being branded as overstaying for 208 days in Thailand, with a new visa on my new passport. 

We prayed. We spoke to fellow Christians, and they prayed.  We shared with our supporters, and asked for prayer and help.  And we prayed more.  And in 3 days or so, not only did we raise more than enough money to pay the fine and for the trip to the border but our hearts were filled with extreme peace and comfort with the assurance that all will be well. 

We felt your prayer.

We felt God.

The incident that happened turned out to be a reminder for us that God is persistent in keeping His love, in keeping His promises, in keeping us wholly for Him.  He wanted to show His strength when we are totally weak and desperately in need losing any control over the situation.  The confusion at the immigration and the anger that resulted out of it was definitely the enemy’s handiwork, but the glory that came out of the mess because God’s people gathered together in strength for Him was definitely our Lord’s handiwork.  

For some, what happened was mere bad luck.  For us, what happened was a God moment.  One that would make you look to Him and say, “You are indeed amazing and persistent!”

PBA Thailand Team (May 2012)

Palm Beach Atlantic University (PBA) sent us a missions team of 9 amazing people of the faith last month.  They spent about 3 weeks helping us with teaching English, praying, and ministering at Ao Nang International Fellowship and Santisuk Krabi Church.

They did prayer walks around Krabi at mosques and temples --- praying for strongholds to be broken, and for the Thai people to be set free.  They also helped in preaching and leading worship at the Ao Nang fellowship as well as preaching at the Thai church in Krabi.  They taught English everyday at Prakhun Language School (a Sowers school) and had opportunities to share the Gospel with some of the kids.  They also taught English at Sarapachang Technical College in Krabi for a few days and led two English camps where they spent the night with some of the kids. 

The team has helped us a lot not only in our daily tasks here but also in making connections to further spread the Word.  We pray for the Lord to continue the work He has begun in this area and, in His time, complete it. 

We want to take this opportunity to thank the team for the time they spent here, for the love and kindness they have shown us, and for their generosity.  We also want to thank Mark Kaprive of PBA who has made this trip possible.  Thank you for continuing to send teams through Sowers.  We also would like to thank the Sipat family who has taken care of the team as well as the volunteer teachers of Prakhun and our Thai brothers and sisters of the faith.

Below is a short video that was made for the team highlighting some of the memories made during the trip. 

Abba, Father

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." - Romans 8:15 

What an encouragement to know that we can call Him, "Abba, Father"; that we are His sons and daughters; that there is no need for us to be in bondage and to fear for we are children of the Most High King!

Our Father loves to embrace us through other people.  Jason and I are continually in awe of Him as He not only daily provides us of our needs but even goes above and beyond to make our hearts smile and overflow with gratefulness and love.  Last December, Sue Fairless and the Whitleys sent us a care package to make our first Christmas here in Thailand extra special with hot chocolate and sweet messages.  And about a few weeks ago, the Copelands sent us another care package so we can have some of the stuff we miss from the West (like, Doritos cheese flavor...haha!)  This just reminds us that our Father cares for us and wants to give us even little treats like hot chocolate and Doritos, and we praise Him more and more!

Our Father hears and answers our prayers.  About a few months ago, I prayed for a door to open so I can meet and make friends with the local Thais.  He did not only answer that prayer but even provided for me an opportunity to be in daily contact with them when I was invited to teach for 3 months (January to March) at a local school.  Even though my teaching stint at this school is over, I made lasting friendships with some of the Thai teachers which I pray would become the bridge for the gospel to be shared and to be heard!

Our Father is faithful.  Prakhun Language School (a Sowers school) recently finished the summer term for English learners with about 20 students.  Prakhun is Thai for grace, and it is, indeed, only by the grace of the Lord that we are able to continue to open our doors and offer English to Thai students as He brings more of them on our steps.  Prakhun provides us our legal presence here and allows us to connect with the locals.  It also provides us a lot of opportunities to share the gospel to the kids and to their parents.  Below is a recent picture we took from our English Day Activity for the summer term.

English Day 2012 with our Prakhun Language School students for the summer term

Our Father loves people from all tribes and tongues.  Now, we are in the midst of preparing for a short term missions team from Palm Beach Atlantic University of West Palm Beach, Florida who will be arriving here next week.  While Jason is also preparing to lead a team in China from the same school.  He leaves for China this Sunday.  The Lord called them to go and share His love to His people in Asia, and here they are answering that call!  We are very excited for what the Lord will do through these teams as they connect and minister unto the hearts of the people they meet.  We know that He is going to do something great through these teams, and we are looking forward to be a part of that!

Our Father holds the future.  We are super excited for what our Father has in store for us!  We may not know the details, but we are confident that He is going to take care of us.  As His Word says, For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." (Romans 8:15)

There is no need to fear the future for He is our Abba, Father!

We love you!

Jason and Kezia

The Old Rugged Cross