Newsletter from Thailand

Hi
Sorry for taking so long to write my newsletter, but a lot has happened since I came back to Thailand in January. It’s difficult to write it all down, but I’ll try to give you a brief overview and some recent stories.

Just a short note on what I am doing for those who are new to my newsletters: I work with a ministry that reaches out and helps an un-reached people group called the Shan. They are from Burma/Myanmar, and a lot of them are refugees in North Thailand , which is the area where I work.

Great to be back
It was really great to come back to North Thailand again and be with my Shan friends. They were very happy that I came back, and some of them told me that they had been praying for me every day since I left in May, last year. A lot happened while I was gone and most of it was not very good news. We started a house church at the end of 2003, and it increased during the first half of 2004. But after I left, they decreased again (not because of me though). One reason is that the Shan people are often in Thailand illegally and if there is no work at the place where they cross the border, they have to find another job someplace else, or go back. We also experienced some backsliding and a few even died. A little girl was one of those that died, which was very sad. However, the father actually repented from his sinful way of living

Picture: My shan friend Lung Thi

and became a Christian as a result, so that is good news.
I could sense that Ching, our local evangelist and Shan worker, was very discouraged and timid when I came, which I understand. I think my presence here has helped. He said sometimes he felt very alone and that it helps to have two, even though we don’t have a common language. I still can’t speak very much Shan, and he can’t speak English, but somehow it works.

Many Shan girls end up as prostitutes
There are a lot of refugees that come over from Burma/Myanmar because of difficult situations in their country. A civil war is happening right now that no one hears about. We heard a lot about the tsunami that hit Asia at the end of last year, and about the victims. But, there are people that suffer tsunamis every day, maybe not a physical tsunami, but the suffering is the same, and the Shan people are some of those who suffer.
One day a Shan friend of mine came to me quite depressed. He had just received two Shan people that had made it over the border to Thailand during the night. They were a brother and sister of another Shan friend that lives in Chiang Mai. They were 17 and 18 years old. Ching told me that they had walked for many days, maybe even weeks through a jungle area and high mountains. It is very hot in the daytime (36ºC) and very cold at night (10ºC). I went to his house and met them. I could see that they were very exhausted and they slept for almost two days. We helped them by providing some clothes and food.
Even though they came safely over the border, their problems were not over. They are in Thailand illegally, because the Shan people have no refugee status. If the police caught them they would be sent back to Burma . Furthermore, if the police caught them with my Shan friend, he and his family would be sent back, too. I could see that he was a bit afraid.
The only solution for them was to get a job, because then they could get a paper called a work permit.
In the border area where I work, there are no jobs right now, so they needed to go to Chiang Mai. It is three hours and two police check points away. However, they found another illegal way of going to Chiang Mai. They paid a lot of money, almost two months salary, to a person that smuggled them through the checkpoints. A recurring problem is that Shan girls like this 18-year-old, often end up as prostitutes, to be able to pay back the debt. I had heard about this dilemma before, but never had it been so close to me as this time. I was made acutely aware of this problem. Fortunately, I don’t think this girl will end up as a prostitute. She is with her older brother that works in Chiang Mai, and he is a Christian and is also one of the people that we are following up on in our Shan ministry in Chiang Mai. So, they will be taken care of. However, there are a lot of girls that are not so fortunate.

Another Shan friend of mine also was able to get her 17-year-old sister over. She too is one of the lucky ones, by the way. It was actually quite funny because this girl had lived her whole life in a bamboo hut with no electricity and lived a very simple life. She did not know how to use the tap for water, how to use the bathroom, how to put on fans, how to sweep and wash the floor, how to put on a gas stove and had never seen a computer or a TV, etc. So, her sister had to teach her all these basic things. She was very exhausted, dehydrated and a bit sick, maybe even in a bit of shock. Please remember to pray for these people that I have mentioned.
Picture: The shan girl who got
her sister over from Burma

Help to refugees
Another Shan friend of mine has a farm in the mountains by the border of Burma . It’s right on the path where many Shan people come over the border. We have recently started a ministry there and have started giving clothes and medicine to help these refugees. This Shan friend is living in a village with almost no Christians. My friend became a Christian some years ago, but he is married to a Buddhist and the rest of his family is Buddhist, so I’m not sure if he is still a Christian. Usually in this culture you don’t get a clear answer to a clear question. Please pray that God will give me wisdom in approaching him and his family; it is not easy.

Picture: Refugees from Burma/Myanmar

Children’s work a key
In the Shan ministry I’m a part of, we have been focusing more and more on children’s work recently. Right now we are probably supporting and helping around 80 children both in Thailand and Myanmar . I believe working with the children is a key to reach the Shans.
In the house church, at a place called Mea Mau, we have a group of 15-20 children that we give food to and minister to every Sunday morning. We do not have very many workers who can help us, so for next Sunday I will try to have some songs and games for them, without any translator. Please pray for me. My primary calling is not working as a Sunday school teacher, but I know this is important, so I will try. My Shan friend and our evangelist Ching might come after a while (he is going to learn to write Thai on Sunday mornings), I hope, and he is much better with Shan children. At least he can communicate with them.
We also wish to start a school in Mea Mau because the children attend a Buddhist school. We want to influence them more than just one day a week, but we need workers. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few, so pray with us for more workers. We really need a Shan Christian that could teach them Shan and Thai.
We also wish to have a nurse or doctor here, or someone that can stay for a while. We have a lady in the house church that has a big tumour on her left cheek/neck. The problem is that she can’t go to a doctor because she doesn’t have any papers and it will cost her a lot of money. Shan people have no rights in this country and are usually very poor.

We have also started working with children in another village on Saturdays, teaching them Christian songs, Bible stories and giving them food. Ching will be with me here and do most of the ministry.

This has become a long letter, but I will end with a story and some personal notes.

The whole village heard the Gospel
There is another place where we have been working for awhile. Some years ago we wanted to help them dig a well, because the water they used was poisoned. We prayed about where the well should be and were led to a certain place to dig it. However, the villagers also asked the Buddhist monks where to dig and they suggested a different place. The people chose to dig the well at the site the monks suggested. Here, they dug and dug, but never found any water. When I came back to them this year they had dug another well that had water, and this was the exact place that we had prayed it would be!
It’s quite funny, but in their bamboo huts, they usually have a TV and a VCD (Video CD) player. If they have electric power, this is the first thing they get.
So, in the same village I gave them a Video CD that explained the gospel from beginning to end. When we came back a week later the whole village (about 100 people) had seen the film, and they really liked it! Remember that this is a very Buddhist village, and the Shans have a saying that being a Shan is the same as being a Buddhist (and Christianity is for white people.)
So, please pray for this village too, I know God is about to do something there.

A personal struggle
I still struggle with my health, so please pray for grace in my battle against it. It’s an intense battle and I feel that it is very spiritual. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night with a strange fear, and I know this is not a normal fear; it’s demonic. Often I renounce it, and it goes away. I have an enemy that doesn’t like me to be here, that’s for sure. So, remember also to pray for protection over me.

Prayer subject
Pray for the Shan people and their situation, especially for the young Shan girls that come over the border to Thailand .
Pray for protection for the new believers and the workers amongst the Shans
Pray for the missionaries amongst the Shans
Pray for me and my battle against the sickness.
Pray also for my economical situation.

If you wish to support me financially see this link:

http://www.btww.net/donation.shtml

Or, wire money to my Norwegian account.

Union Bank of Norway (DnB NOR)
Postboks 1172 Sentrum
0107 Oslo
Norway
Swift kode UBNONOKK

Receiver
Tore Johannessen
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City: Ottestad
Zip: 2312
Norway
Bank: Skandiabanken,
Bank account nr: 97102746787

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http://www.bibelundervisning.com/tore/thailand/05/slides_feb.html