We were blessed beyond belief to see 12 people baptized Sunday, November 14th. All 12 people, along with Pastor Somboon are pictured above. It was a beautiful day at the Mekong River. The following girls from the girls house were baptized: Kung, Mone and Nee. The following boys at the boys house were baptized: Mai, Kowit, Tong, Wee, Nai and Wang. Nai and Wang are the sons of Hmong church leaders, but neither one of them were believers when they first came to live at the boys house this year. Praise God that they have accepted the Lord and have decided to follow Him in baptism. Tong and Wee had said they weren't sure if they were ready to be baptized, but at the last minute, both boys decided to get baptized. Wee practically ran into the water and gave Pastor Somboon a big hug after getting baptized. It was so precious to see! Mai, the cook for the boys house, and her daughter Pu were also baptized. Both of these women had accepted the Lord a few years ago, and have waited a long time to be baptized. Ran, a church member, was also baptized. He is growing in the Lord by leaps and bounds.

The previous Sunday, 7 people here at the foundation accpeted the Lord:

The girls include: Newt, Creme and Mone. This is Creme's first year here with us and we are excited about what God is doing in her life. Newt and Mone are sisters and this is the 2nd year they have been here. The boys include: Nai, Wang, Kowit and Joe.

Thank you for your prayers. Your prayers are bearing much fruit!

Stress Reliever

We took the boys to a waterfall in Chiang Rai. Everyone had a lot of fun. It gave everyone a chance to relax and relieve the stress of studying and doing homework. Everyone got to change gears and get a change of environment for a while. It was also an opportunity to get to know each other better surrounded by the beautiful scenery that God created.

Planting trees, trees and more trees!

The trees that the students are planting here are Eucalyptus trees Teakwood trees. We are planting these trees for use in building houses and dorms for the students in the future. It rained the day we planted the trees, but everyone still had a great time planting the trees. No one complained about how tired they were because they knew they were planting the trees for the work of God in the future.

Planting the One Thousand Rubber Trees

Through a donation of a believer in the United States, we were able to purchase 1,000 trees, that can later be used to make rubber items, as an investment for the future. If God's willing, we hope that one day the profits from the rubber trees can help the Hmong Developing Quality of Life Foundation so that we can continue our ministry in furthering God's Kingdom. Below are some of the pictures of the planting of the rubber trees as well as the making of the little rest shelter. Praises be to our God! Thank you for being a part of our ministry through prayers and financial support.

God bless,
Somboon


Two truck loads of Rubber Trees...ready to be planted.
 












 

Praises and Prayer Request: Former Witchdoctor and Family accepted Christ

Today, a Hmong Laotian came to the hospital here in Chiang Khong. The sick person is a witch doctor from a village close to the Laos/China border. The sick person has been demon possessed and the demons are making him sick. His children did the prescribed ceremonies and sacrificed many pigs and cows like the demons requested. But the witchdoctor didn’t get any better. The demons wanted even more sacrifices. The man almost died. He and members of his family decided to become Christians. Today I took Kia and the girls at the girls’ house to visit him and his family at the hospital here in Chiang Khong. They told me and the girls that they have no recourse left except to accept Jesus as their Savior! We prayed with them and they prayed to receive Christ! Five people, including the (former) witchdoctor accepted the Lord! Praise God! I would like to ask you to pray for the former witchdoctor, that God would heal him while he’s at the hospital. Pray also that they would stand firm and steadfast in their faith. The son of the sick man used to be a teacher in Laos and now he works for the Laotian government. When he decided to accept Christ, he will have to leave his work, all of it, because the government officials in the district where he lives don’t like Christians. Please pray for all of them.

Thank you and God bless you.

Pastor Somboon

Visit to Luang Prabang Province, Laos - March 24-27, 2010

These are photos of the brothers and sisters we visited in Laos March 24-27. We went to Luang Prabang Province. Travel was difficult because the village we went to was deep in the forest. The trail was very steep and the village was the last village on that road. It was actually the highest peak in Luang Prabang. But when we got there, we felt very คุ้ม because the Christians there love God and we really felt the presence of God there.

The village we went to was Khai’s village. Khai is a former Bible student at the Bible Training Center here in Chiang Khong. When he returned to his village after studying Bible, his grandparents were not believers. His grandfather was a witchdoctor in the village. Upon his return to the village, Khai stayed at his grandfather’s house, and slept close to a spirit altar. Every night Khai prayed that his grandfather would accept the Lord, but it looked like that was impossible because his grandfather was not interested in the gospel at all. After that, the spirit altar that was set up right in the middle of the house would fall over on the floor almost every night for no reason. Then Khai’s grandfather got very sick. He felt like someone or something was pinching his heart, making it very difficult to breathe. He was sick like this for many days. Khai’s grandfather then decided to accept Christ. At the exact moment that he prayed to receive Christ, he was healed instantly. Khai and his parents then burned the spirit altar and all spirit paraphernalia and the entire family has been well since then.
There are many demons in this village. Every day a demon spirit appears in the village and someone gets sick. After Khai and his family moved back to the village after Khai had finished studying Bible with us, Khai and his family prayed and battled with the demon spirits. Many non-believers in the village are recognizing that since they returned, the demon spirits don’t bother them nearly as much as they used to.

Khai is now married and his wife just gave birth about 2 months ago. And, there are many people in surrounding villages who want to accept Christ. Khai and his father are receiving phone calls from people who want to accept the Lord, but due to travel difficulties are unable to come see them.
Please pray for me as well. I really want to help the Hmong in Laos. The villages are far, really far. Children from 4th grade up need to leave their house at 5 AM in order to get to school on time. In some villages, some children are walking up to 4 kilometers without shoes. Some of the children are also afraid to walk through the forest. Please pray for Khai and his family’s ministry there. Don’t pray for things to be better, more comfortable because when we are comfortable, we tend to not be on fire for God. But pray that God will protect and take care of those in Laos who belong to Him.

God bless you.

Somboon

PISHON CHURCH

It has been 4 months since we started Pishon church. Each of us here at the foundation has a part in serving God at church. Many of the students come from families that are not believers. Those that do come from Christian families come here with the understanding that a church is the sole responsibility of one person – a pastor. The idea that the body of Christ is made up of many members, all with spiritual gifts, who are to serve God by serving each other is a foreign concept to many Hmong people here in Thailand. Therefore, from the first Sunday, we have given everyone an opportunity to take part in the church. Some serve by singing in the choir, while others serve as greeters. Some play drums and guitar while others are responsible for collecting the offering. Everyone helps clean. We want Pishon Church to be a light in the darkness. We want to see God raise up mature believers in Christ. Susan has been teaching English as an outreach of the church in an effort to expose many Thai Buddhists to what a church is. Otherwise, many would never be willing to attend. She has had many opportunities to share about the One True God who created the world and who loves us with an everlasting love. Pastor Somboon is giving private guitar lessons as an outreach of the church as well. We are also doing a lot of teaching about one-on-one sharing and evangelizing with friends, family and co-workers. We want God to bring people who are hurting and who are in need that we can minister to. Please pray for this new church plant.

TEACHING A CHILDREN CLUB IN A HMONG VILLAGE

The 7 girls who live at the girls’ house have been doing a children’s club at Baan Muankan, a Hmong village about 30 minutes from Chiang Khong. They go twice a month on Sunday afternoons. They have been doing this for almost 2 years. They sing worship songs, teach a Bible story, color a picture, teach a memory verse and play games. There are about 20 children that come on a regular basis, but there are always more children who come sporadically on any given Sunday. The children are divided up into 2 groups and each of girls at the hostel has a responsibility to prepare lessons, teach a song, lead games, etc. At first, some of the girls at the hostel were very shy and refused to do much of anything, but after a few months, they looked forward to spending time with the children. When the club time is over, many of the children refuse to go home and climb into the truck, not wanting Phee (older siblings) to leave.
At the same time that the girls are teaching the children, Kia, a staff member, goes to a Christian woman’s house in the same village and spends time encouraging her and a few other Christian women from the Word. This is a special time for these women as there is no church in this village and any Christian teaching/encouragement is few and far between. These few women are God’s light and they are sharing God’s love with those around them. Please pray for them as their lives aren’t easy. Pawn, one Christian woman, said she wants to be in a place where people don’t like her and where living a Christian life is difficult so that she can be salt and light to those around her. Please pray for her and the other Christian women in this village.