This post from Suzanne:

Last month Wayne had to go to America for about 10 days.  He had the honour of preaching at Pastor Chappell’s Spiritual Leadership Conference in Lancaster, then went on to Lighthouse Baptist Church in San Diego where he preached a couple of times, including by interpretation to the Spanish ministry.  The church folk there had a service where they honoured Pastor & Mrs Fisher for their 25 years of service at the church there.  My husband was both touched and encouraged. 

The Sunday Wayne was away, the rest of us here at Nakhon Sawan went to a very small church at Chai Nut - about 65 kms south of here.  They meet in the lower level of the shop house where the pastor and his family live.  As you enter the building, you go through the dining / kitchen area into the room they hold their services.   The floor is just bare cement.  They don’t have much, but praise the Lord they are willing to use what they do have for the glory of the Lord!  Our presence almost doubled their numbers – we just wanted to be a blessing and encourage them any way we could.  I was put on the spot when the pastor asked me to give a testimony.  Then at the conclusion of the service, he said he heard some singing in English … he just had to stop and listen.  He then asked Sarah and I to come up and sing [ like right then ], so Sarah and I did an impromptu duet!!

Last week Wayne was the speaker for “special meetings” at Lamphun (about 40 kms of Chiang Mai – right in the mountains).  There were more than 150 people there, representing the mountain people, some folk from up country, etc.  An American missionary, married to a very Godly Thai lady, started a great work there around 17 years ago.  They own a lot of property, run an orphanage, school them, and also have a Bible Institute.  It was really a joy to be there.  God touched the hearts of many people through the preaching.  There were about 30 people who surrendered to full-time Christian service.  Then after the last service, many people came to the altar to dedicate themselves to the Lord. 

These are all the orphans they've taken in and are schooling - they sang "with all their heart" 

 This boy is just seven or eight years old - he got up and quoted Proverbs chapter 18, then sang a solo.  All the students do scripture memory, but this child has memorized the entire book of Proverbs!!

After the first morning service, this young man got baptised ... in the baptismal tank outside

 These are the families that dedicated themselves to full-time service

These are the older students, most of whom are in the orchestra - 10 of the above young ladies play violin, and 6 of the above men play guitar

At the conclusion of the last meeting, the altar was full - God's presence was very evident!

A work is starting up in Roi Et (Amnuay’s home village – around 8 hours from us), but doesn’t have a pastor yet.  The family in the picture below are going to be involved in this work.   Wayne has a real burden to help in any way we can.  They have asked Wayne to come on Sunday and preach.  Amnuay is going to invite his mother to come, and we will also take Khun Doi with us.  Please pray that we will be a blessing and encouragement to the folk there!

A brief update on our children:

Sarah is doing much better this week – last weekend she was in hospital with suspected acute appendicitis.  We were in Nakhon Sawan and there is no international hospital here.  I was going to take her through to Bangkok but the doctor was worried that the appendix would burst (and we do have a history of that in my family)!!  However the surgeon was reluctant to operate because it is major surgery (they don’t do key hole surgery here).  The pain did eventually subside some, and they kept her in hospital a couple of days for observation, before discharging her.  I’m not quite sure this is the end of it – but if anything happens again, I will take her straight to the international hospital in Bangkok.

Justin is in his fourth week of training at the Navy Base, and is loving it!  It is very hard, but he seems to be thriving on the schedule, the comradeship – and I’m sure the meals are a bonus, especially after fending for himself for so long!!!  He has many things to learn, but he is keen.  He has had a few testing times, but has kept a strong testimony and witness.  Please continue to pray that God would protect him, and strengthen and enable him to be a good witness for Him.

VOLUNTEER WANTED

Due to our scheduling - it looks like we will be studying Thai in Chiang Mai for four days, then coming back to Nakhon Sawan for three.  Wayne’s burden for Nakhon Sawan just keeps growing, and whilst it would certainly be a lot easier just to re-locate to Chiang Mai for 6-12 months, we don’t want to loose our focus here.  

Consequently, it is not going to work for Curtis to be enrolled in a school at Chiang Mai – it would be too disruptive.  So we believe at this time that he needs to be home schooled.  I won’t be able to do that – it wouldn’t be good for me or him.  So we are praying that God would put it on someone’s heart to come and give us 12 months to work with Curtis.   That person would have to pay for their ticket and be able to sustain themselves, but we will provide food and accommodation.

If you are interested, then please email me on this website email address.

It is your continued support, encouragement, prayers, letters and emails that helps sustain and encourage us – thank you.    “For we are labourers together with God: …” – I Cor 3:9a