TurmansinThailand - turmansinthailand

Even as we welcome 5 year old Moe Aye into our home, we are preparing to say Good-Bye to four of our girls. MoeMoeAye (obviously a very popular name here!) and her sister DeeDeeAye, SanWin and Salima will enroll next week into a Christian school. They will begin living there in June. It breaks our hearts to see them go, our 3 children here will miss them so much. But they have to work toward their future and learn skills that will help them to return one day to Burma. Our prayer for them is become Christian leaders in their home country in the future!

Please pray for all of us as we go through these changes!

Every Sunday we are worshipping with a growing group of people in the garbage dump community. We thank God for opening the door for us to share the Gospel in an area that is strongly Buddhist!

It all came about because of one AIDS patient who we became very close to. As we ministered to him and his family during his suffering, their hearts opened up to Jesus. When we began to come to their home for worship each week, they invited all their neighbors.

We've been teaching through the Gospel of John with them, singing, praying and sharing a meal each week. God impressed on us that we should read the book of John to them a chapter at a time. Many cannot read, have never seen a Bible, nor heard the Gospel before. 

One thing we've realized is that we cannot begin to fathom what concepts come to mind when we speak to Buddhists about "God" and "sin" and "heaven." But we do know that "the Word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than any double edged sword. It cuts all the way through, to where soul and spirit meet, to where joints and marrow come together. It is able to judge the thoughts and desires of our hearts."  

Nothing we can do or say will give faith to those who hear our message each week. But the Holy Spirit will teach them and reveal the one true God to all who come to Him. 

Please pray with us that God's kingdom will grow and flourish at the garbage dump!

I spoke too quickly. The mother of the baby deceived us, tried to get money from us, left the baby with us one night, then accused NyiNyi of 'stealing' her baby. It breaks our heart that this little baby girl, and 2 older brothers, are still being used by their mother as tools for making money. We had homes ready to receive all 3 children within a month, only to see them with their mom the very next day hungry and begging on the streets. It hurts.........its depressing.........its discouraging.

 The Truth that God is SOVEREIGN becomes our refuge and the strong tower we run to when we see hopes dashed and children still living in danger and despair despite all our efforts. God is always in control, not us nor the mother either. His will prevails, no one else's can triumph over His. Praise God for His perfect plan far beyond our designs and our understanding! Praise God for His marvelous love that encompasses all outcomes.

Last night we had 'church in the dump' again, our 6th worship service there. We are now seeing about 30 kids show up each week, and we were thrilled to have 12 adults last night. We are studying through the Gospel of John. Doug teaches while NyiNyi, Suzan and Nora translate and lead singing and prayer times. Last night the prayer requests were as follows: Jedabu (a widow) must move from her home and build a new home soon, YeYe Cho is only getting about 3 days of work a week and wants to work 6 days, and a grandmother shared that she is worried about her future since her children are unable to support her and care for her because of their own families. Please pray with us for these prayer requests, and for spiritual growth for all the people who are coming to the worship time.

We have shared several requests for trafficked babies over the last few months. We praise God that out of the 4 babies that have been in danger, all are in relatively safe places now. Today we will receive the 4th one into our own home to care for until April, when she will go to Heavenly Home orphanage. We are thrilled about helping to care for a baby again! Please pray for all of these 4 babies to be protected, to grow up learning about Jesus, and to have a hope and a future.

Family news(besides adding a baby girl!): 3 of our teenage Burmese foster kids will be moving out to attend migrant schools in June when the new year starts. Pray for these girls to be motivated to learn and to be prepared for their future. Right now we have a 12 year old Muslim girl living with us; please pray for her heart to open up to Jesus and for God to give us direction for her future plans. We love her so much and would like to keep her forever, but we need to do what is best for her! We are enjoying a visit right now with long time friends from South Africa, the Senior family. It is very refreshing to be able to have long conversations in English and cook western style foods together! We will spend several vacation days in Chiang Mai this week with them. Please pray for our rest and refreshment, and our eyes to stay focused on Jesus.

Thank you for your prayers and participation in the Gospel with us! We love you all!

Doug and Nancy

Yes, that really is the name of one of our students. Most of our kids are girls 9 to 14 who've never been to school at all, or else very little. They are eager to learn, well behaved, and grateful for this chance to improve their lives.

Then there are our boys.....most of whom are street wise and hardened, resistant to authority. Sometimes we wonder why they even show up?! But they get a lesson as long as they behave themselves and don't disrupt others. One day last week 3 of the 'worst' boys showed up all together. I didn't have high hopes, but sent up many extra prayers to God for the whole situation.

To my surprise, they all sat down when instructed, and carefully worked on their handwriting. When I commended their good work, they smiled shyly. Yesterday, one of them came back alone and worked his hardest to learn everything that we presented. It was Valentines Day, and we cut out hearts and wrote notes on them. He carefully cut his out and wrote in Burmese and English, "I love you." Little things like this give me hope for even the toughest kids we see, that they can respond to our demonstration of God's love for them.

There is hope for all the Osamas in the world, to open their hearts to Jesus and have new life in him. I have a responsibility to show love to them, even when I don't feel like it.

23 children have gone missing from Bengala in the last 2 weeks. This is the shocking body count from a new wave of aggressive trafficking rings. Even more horrible to hear was that 3 children's bodies were found, missing major organs that can be sold for medical purposes.

One family told us how they sent 2 teenage grandsons to work in Bangkok, then found out that they'd been tricked and sold by traffickers to work on shipping vessels.

We are feeling the pain of the poor Muslim community. We fear for our precious young friends who work on the streets all day and into the night. Parents remain unconcerned, and police do little to protect them.

Please pray with us that God would protect the families we are witnessing to, and use this atrocity to draw them to Himself. Our God is stronger than the traffickers, more powerful than organized crime, wiser than the shrewdest criminal mind and more loving than we can ever imagine toward these vulnerable children.

"Can prey be taken from the mighty man, or captives be rescued from the tyrant? But this is what the Lord says: Yes, captives will be taken from the mighty man, and prey rescued from the tyrant. I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save."

Isaiah 49:24-25

It's Thursday, and so far this week we've:

1) driven a comatose patient from a clinic to the General Hospital (she's still alive, but just barely)

2) tracked down a mother who disappeared with a newborn baby she intended to sell

3) delivered tarps, blankets and mosquito nets to a family in the dump whose home was partially destroyed by fire

4) helped Marla and Martha return to in Myanmar to help their family.

We thank God for each of these opportunities to show and share the Gospel! We delivered the supplies to MoeAye's family in the dump yesterday. The best part was not giving them stuff, but sitting in their charred hut laughing and talking, playing with their kids and sharing fishing stories. When we left, the men gave us 2 fish as a present! NyiNyi returned today to visit again and share the Gospel with the fathers.