Be Strong and of Good Courage!

Be strong and of a good courage, fear not nor be afraid of them; for the Lord thy God, He it is that doth go with thee; He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.  Deuteronomy 31:6

I constantly feel the need of my Saviour’s presence.  He tells me that I am loved with an everlasting love! Jeremiah 31:3

And underneath are the everlasting arms! Deuteronomy 33:27

At times I can almost feel His arms around me!  How comforting and secure is that?!

Elephants are sticking around our area now.  In fact, the government felt it necessary to put up signs all around the areas of danger.  The first sign was put up right next to the BYT sign!  December 12 we again met a wild elephant while driving home with seven people in our truck.   Two of them were small children.   Even the smallest child who was almost 2 years old could sense the danger!  His eyes were big as saucers and big tears rolled down his cheeks.

 I started to sing them a song and the mother began to show him cartoons on her phone.  We waited and watched that gigantic beast.  It did not charge us, but oil was  running down his face indicating that his testosterone level was 60 times higher than normal making him extremely dangerous.  As we watched we heard two trucks approaching from the far side.  They didn’t notice him until they were right upon him.  Quickly they backed up.  The elephant was still coming toward them but not running.  The guys in the first truck panicked, ran into the jungle and climbed a tree.  We were all waiting for him to get off the road so we could drive through.   Finally he went towards the two trucks and they backed up quite a way.  BletJhaw walked ahead to watch the elephant until he got off the road.  We had cell service up there, so the plan was that BletJhaw would call me when the road was clear, and I would drive past and pick him up.  It took a long time because that beast was walking a long way down the road.  Finally I got the call to come very quickly because he was barely off the road.  I raced that truck down the hill and around the corners.  I stopped, just enough for BletJhaw to jump in the back, and we flew safely away with the Saviour’s everlasting arms around us!  The entire ordeal took 70 minutes!

Not long after that BletJhaw went behind our house to fix the water pipe and almost stepped on a deadly yellow banded Krait in the tall weeds!  The neurotoxic venom from this snake rapidly shuts down the heart and lungs!  You can easily guess what happens shortly thereafter. I am still thanking and praising God for saving his life.

I did not take this picture. I came out of a book. This is exactly what he came upon-so close right next to his foot (only flip flops on)

Now for the good news!   BYT Evangelism December 2022!   This is our 5th one.  We are so happy that Harvey Steck consented to leave his busy demanding job, managing the studio in Chiang Mai, to come with his wife for one week!  Two other groups were planning to come from America to do it, but  they had complications.  We are so thankful to Harvey Steck for agreeing at the last minute!!

We started the week out by visiting every home in BYT and WST to invite them to the meetings.  What a lovely time we had going house to house.  Here’s what we found people doing:  spreading their rice out in the sun, sorting out their harvest of red kidney beans, weaving Karen skirts, repairing a motorbike, preparing betelnut, working in the garden, sadly one person was found smoking opium, which they quickly hid.

Visiting

Visiting

Motorbike repair

Sorting the betel nut

She was caught smoking opium. Look closely and you’ll see the opium pipe. She hid it quickly

So cute!

The meetings were very well attended.  I was so happy as I shook hands at the entrance.

Trio

The little church filled up.  Our long and earnest prayers for these meetings were rewarded!  Our job is to faithfully sow the seed!

Sabbath attendance!! …and to think that 12 years ago when we began only about 4-5 people came to church here! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Nobody knows the results of all these efforts, but God is in charge of the harvest!

“In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that.”  Ecclesiastes 11:6

May we be faithful till Jesus comes, not grow weary in well doing, and may our longing for reaching the lost exceed every other desire in our hearts!

 

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