First we just want to say a huge thank you to all of you who are so faithful in your prayer for us. We feel so incredibly blessed to know that we have such a wonderful prayer covering! We are blessed!
PRAISE:
These last 6 weeks have been the highlight of our missionary career here in Thailand as we were able to host our first missions team from the United States. As a family we made a fun video of all the dos and don’ts in Thailand, prepared a scavenger hunt – “Amazing Race” style, and took care of all the ministry, construction, housing, food and job material prep. It was a TON of work, but SO much fun at the same time.
The team that came to work with us is from our home church, Maranatha (we call them the “A Team”) , from Forest Lake MN. They were here for only 10 days, but God did miraculous things through their hands – It was amazing to watch.
The first ministry we took them to was a construction project at the church we attend (the TLC) here in Chiangmai. We spent 4 ½ days on this project. Here is what they did:
· Built from the ground up, 2 dorm rooms with a small bathroom attached to each for the Bible school that will begin in a week. This was not an easy task – as they had to start with the framing and roof which had to be welded together. The Bible students used to sleep in the Sunday School classrooms which meant there was no place for the church kids to be during the 4 months the Bible School is taking place.
· Painted just about every room in the building; the Sanctuary, Sunday School rooms, coffee bar, entry way and offices. It doesn’t sound like much – but believe me – it was a LOT!
· Formed steps and walls, poured concrete and tiled the entire front entry and an area around the back entrance, to make places for scooters to park as well as making it easier to enter the building.
· Installed cupboards in the kitchen.
· Built a coffee bar in the main entry area of the church. Built the walls, installed cupboards, tiled the counters, and built a soffit around the entire area. This is going to create a HUGE ministry opportunity for this church. The TLC is built right next to Chiangmai University. In Thailand, it takes a long time to build a relationship with someone before you are able to witness and share the gospel. Having a coffee shop will allow the students to come into the church, sit down, have a coffee, do their homework, study and build some relationships with the staff at TLC. Many also love to learn English and talk to English speakers, so the TLC is going to begin to teach an ESL (English as a Second Language) class – which will also draw people in. Pastor Apple was brought to the Lord through an ESL, so she has a huge burden to get this going.
Many on the team and TLC church members helped with cutting tile, mixing mud, moving dirt, transporting materials, sweeping, cleaning, running to the store and helping do whatever was asked.
The next ministry the the “A Team” did, was at the Hope House Orphanage. This is the same orphanage that our family began ministry to with the TLC, last summer. The team tore down some previous walls that were falling apart, and put up new walls and roof, bought some plants and played with the kids. (This portion of the ministry was mostly funded by a lovely couple in the US – the Martins.)
The final ministry, we took the team to was the Karen Village near the top of Doi Inthanon (the tallest Mountain in Thailand) where our family also had done previous ministry last summer. The main purpose of this ministry was to just entertain and have fun with the kids. Relationships are everything to Asians, so building a bond with these villagers is extremely important to us! The team provided a bowling game, ring toss, soccer, and football toss. They played relay games, and tag, face painted, made balloon hats, and gave lots of candy as prizes! The kids had a FANTASTIC day – and the parents as well. The day ended with lunch at the village and a trip to the center of the village where the team was able to purchase hand crafted items as well as coffee grown and roasted right there. Also, at the last minute, we were asked if we could paint a preschool classroom that had been built in the village – and without complaint the team jumped right in and did it! In their dress clothes!! What amazing servants!
I’m sure I missed a few things, but as you can tell, a LOT went on in those 10 day. We were so blessed to have such a tremendous group of people. They worked SO hard during their time here and always had a great attitude. Many of them struggled with sickness and one man was involved in an accident where a LARGE piece of concrete fell on his head, sending him to the emergency room. (Which by the way he only received 10 stitches and didn’t feel pain the next day.) Through all of it, we NEVER heard one word of complaint. Not only were they incredible servants, they raised ALL of the funds (except the Hope House project) to do the projects that they worked on, AND left almost half of the funds necessary for us to purchase the equipment and supplies needed to open the coffee shop. They were an amazing blessing to our ministry here.
We were also blessed to have our friends, Mark and Janie Durene here to help guide us to many of the right material stores, interpreting, bringing goodies and just being there on the jobs to help do whatever we needed. They were a tremendous help and we feel incredibly blessed that God has such great people here in Thailand to be around.
PRAYER:
· Health – Troy and I (sick while team was here and still trying to recover)
· Naomi – 2nd fever in 2 weeks – healing and that it would stay away.
· Recovery for our friend Mark (head injury from Concrete) that he would continue to feel no pain, and NO other issues would arise.
· The hanging of plumbing, ceiling, painting, A/C install and electrical for Dorm rooms to be complete at TLC before Bible students move in Saturday.
· Finances – Our support has dropped significantly because of the economy. Please pray that our supporters will have their needs met and be able to give.
Thank you again for all your prayers! God is SO good!
Much love,
The Scott Family
TEAM POSSIBLE –
