Newsletter from Thailand

It has been a while since I wrote my last newsletter, and a lot has happened since then. It’s difficult to write it all down, but I will give you some highlights. I am in Norway now on a partly-vacation and working on our website for the Shan ministry, but at the beginning of October, I will return to Thailand .

Bush missionary
Sometimes I feel like a bush missionary. Some of the roads to the places where we have house churches can be quite treacherous, especially now during the rainy season.
We were on our way to visit with some Christians, who had become believers just three weeks earlier, so we could bring them food, teach them and say good-bye to them before I went back to Norway . I live about 20 minutes from the place we were visiting and most of the road is muddy and quite disastrous. We started our trip late in the afternoon, but just as I was leaving my home, I saw some heavy clouds moving our way. I prayed to God: Please keep these clouds away! But the moment I started to drive my motorbike on the already dangerous road, the heavy rain came pouring down. When it rains the muddy roads get quite interesting to drive on. We struggled through the rain and in some places the mud was about 10-20 centimetres deep. I tried to get off of the bike and walk some, but that was also very difficult. One time the motorbike slipped and we had a hard time getting it back onto the road. Finally, we reached the target, but it had taken over one hour to get there and it was already dark. We came to a bamboo hut without electricity and the only light we saw was a small diesel lamp. The new Christians received us very well. I was very happy that we made it, so we could give this poor family some food and the word of God. These Christians were also very eager to learn more about God. My Shan friend and co-worker, Ching, did most of the teaching but I was also able to teach some about the Lord’s Prayer.
It was definitely worth the effort to get there this day, and God blessed us with a great time.
It is exciting to work for God! He is faithful and stands behind his word.

Many Shan hear the Gospel for the first time!
Some visitors from a Church in Norway came, so I brought them to a Shan friend of mine. He teaches Shan and Thai to some poor Shan refugees that live and work on an orange farm. We had an appointment with him and the children, and he asked if we would bring some food, writing books for the teaching and some candies. We said that we would like to share the gospel with them.
I was excited about how the team and the message would be received, because I had never done this at this place before. My Shan friend said 15-20 kids might come, so we brought items for this amount of people. But when we came, suddenly there were many people, and more and more kept coming, both children and adults. In the end, I counted over 70 people.
So, over 70 Shan people heard the gospel for the first time that day, and they were very excited too. They also wanted to see the Jesus film, and we will do that one-day.

Hard times for the Shan
This spring has probably been the worst time for the Shan in a long time. There is a civil war going on (it has actually been going on for more than 40 years) and in the spring there were hard battles in the border area by Thailand, so many Shan fled over to Thailand. A friend of mine went up to a border area to view the situation, and one day he saw a whole village, more then 100 people, coming down the hill. They had walked for many days in a mountainous region. They were dirty and hungry, and many children were crying as they were walking down the slippery mountains facing an uncertain future in Thailand . My Shan friend that lives near the border told me that for a long period of time over 100 people came through this pass everyday.

*Picture copyrigt Chris Sinclare

Remember to pray for this forgotten people group.

Persecution for a new believer
One Shan girl, who is a new believer, experienced a hard time. First, a man tricked her into believing he had work for her, and then he stole all of her money, 9000 bat (about 200 USD), which is 3 months salary for them.

On one of my last days there, I had a farewell meeting for the new Christians at her place. I had just prayed and started to talk about angels and that God is our protector, out of Psalm 91. This girl is an eager Christian, and she ran and got her Bible. When she came back she enthusiastically read the Psalm. Some minutes later, her husband called for her. Right after that, we all heard someone being hit and then a girl started to cry. Her husband had hit her because she went to our meeting. He doesn’t want her to be a Christian. Afterward, I heard that this was not the first time this had happened. Later, she came back, but cried all the time. In a situation like this I wish that I was a girl and could speak Shan very well, so I could have comforted her. But, I know that some of my Shan friends did so later.

Please remember to pray for this girl and the new believers in this house church!! They have experienced a lot of resistance form the enemy, Satan. On another day some people had an accident with a motorbike. Because of this and the stealing of money from the Shan girl, the owner of the farm where they live and work wouldn’t allow us to hold meetings there anymore. What happened had nothing to do with us, but they are often very superstitious in this country. The last night I had to go there very quietly, because I wanted to say good-bye to them and to encourage them.

Starting up a new school
Next month the Shan Ministry will be starting up a new school for the Shan kids. We have been able to rent a property and have built a small hut there where we can teach the children.
We have been praying about this for a while so we are really happy that we are able to start it up. We also recruited some new local co-workers, and one of them is educated as a teacher and he is Shan. In the beginning we will only have about 15-20 students, but hope for the numbers to increase. We have started up on Saturdays and Sundays and already have over 30 kids in attendance. We will probably continue to have this big amount on the weekends.

The Shan Ministry
The ministry I’m writing about is not done be myself. We are a team of five missionaries and three local workers. The leaders for the ministry, Mario and Mariann, live in Chiang Mai, and in a city in North Thailand we have another Norwegian, named Målfrid, an Indian man, plus myself. For a long time I have been working in Fang alone, but now we are starting to form a team, and I am very happy about that. At the moment, the ministry is running three house churches and three Sunday schools. We also disciple and train Shan leaders. In August we will also start up a school.

Renting a house
I really want to settle down in the City I work in in North Thailand. Until now I have either lived in a guesthouse or at friends’ houses, but I really want to find a place of my own. Just before I went back to Norway , I found a house. It’s nice, with 3 rooms and a kitchen, and the place can also be used some for the ministry. The only problem is that the house does not contain anything and it needs some painting. I don’t have a big budget for this, so if you wish to help me with this house I will be very grateful.
First of all, I wish to cover the rent for the house. It’s about 100 USD a month. But I also need furniture, etc. (need about 3000 USD). Right now I don’t have any of this.

If you wish to support me go to this site: http://www.btww.net/donation.shtml
Or just use this one:

You can use your Visa or MasterCard and pay via my account at Pay Pal.

Prayer subjects

Pray for the Shan girl that experiences persecution.
Pray for protection over the new Shan believers.
Pray for the school we are starting up in August.
Pray for the Shan ministry and for protection for us that work with the ministry.
Pray that I will get the money for the house I have rented.
Please remember to pray for my health and me as I still struggle a lot.

If you wish to support me financially see this link: http://www.btww.net/donation.shtml

See more pictures on my Norwegian site:
http://www.bibelundervisning.com/tore/thailand/05/slides_feb.html