Flipped upside down! That’s how our lives felt 22 years ago as we accepted God’s call through AFM to serve the Northern Khmer people in the Surin province of Thailand.
Many of you joined us in that mission, becoming our financial and prayer partners. Over those first 10 years or so, we saw a beautiful and vibrant SDA Church congregation and New Life Radio ministry established by God’s grace and our close partnership with other missionaries and our local SDA mission-employed pastor. The radio ministry continues today.
In 2012, we answered a Macedonian call like that in Acts 16:6-10 to “come over and help” establish the work in another provincial capital city: Khon Kaen. By God’s grace, a small rental house church grew into a large and beautiful congregation with its own property, church and music school ministry now owned and managed by the local SDA mission. Over the last 11 years, a team of top-notch career and student missionaries through AFM and IYMC (Institute of Young Musicians for Christ) have greatly assisted by lending their musical, medical, practical and witnessing skills to the work and helped to disciple youth and adults into musicians and church members.
Though the work of evangelizing Khon Kaen is ongoing, and we could spend the rest of our lives serving in this city, we see that the church and school have matured to the point that they will continue growing and expanding. So we now feel free and ready to answer another Macedonian call to help evangelize the Southern Thai province of Surat Thani.
A few years ago, the Thailand Adventist Mission asked AFM to send missionaries to that provincial capital city. Through your help, AFM sent Brian and Duang Wilson, who are there translating many of Sister White’s books and nurturing different small groups. Because of the size of the work and the limits of their time and energy, they have requested partners. We have served without partners in the past and can appreciate what they are feeling. Over the last couple of years, we have prayerfully considered joining them. We and the Thailand Adventist Mission feel the time has come to make this transition.
We feel insufficient for this work. We know the new sub-culture and dialect will stretch us. Many SDA pastors have told us that reaching Southern Thais is not easy compared with other people groups in Thailand. But we have never been sufficient in and of ourselves to do anything for God’s work in Thailand. It has been God’s sufficiency. We trust Him to continue being our sufficiency in Surat Thani.
Would you please consider joining us on this next mission assignment? With God’s help and the continued partnership and prayers of God’s people, we expect to see another miracle of evangelism and church planting in the province of Surat Thani beginning in February 2025.
