Country Outreach

In November, we joined a team of 17 young people from the Phrasiri assembly in a week-long outreach to the surrounding country area of Singburi district, Central Thailand.

Locally based OMF missionaries, Engkiat Ng from Singapore and his Thai wife, Anong, organized the camp and outreach program.

We were so encouraged to see first hand the talent and enthusiasm of the  young people  as they   shared

the Gospel in song and drama, and with preaching, testimonies, and personal witnessing.

Besides the annual “church camp”, Phrasiri organize  at least one or two outreach camps each year.

“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things.”  Rom 10:15

Personal Notes

After a white “Keanalley family Christmas”  in the UK at the end of last year, we settled in to a rather routine but hectic schedule of teaching at the Mahaphon church at Rangsit, the cell group, and the usual meetings associated with the church.

A Brethren missionary visa slot was to become available at the end of March, so we prepared and submitted the personal material required for the issue of our missionary visas in February. As at the time of writing, we still haven’t been issued with those visas but we understand they are approved and we anticipate being issued with the visas in the first week of January 2003. This will save us having to leave Thailand every three months.

We were presented with two more grandchildren during the year, in March and November (see Family News), and  we  had  a  record  number  of  overseas  visitors,  in

addition to the usual local Thai visitors who stay overnight.

At the end of July, we visited our young families in the UK for a little over a month and became acquainted with our grandson for the first time.

In early September we had the annual Mahaphon Rangsit church camp at which ten new believers were baptized.

We commenced our major involvement with the Phrasiri assembly at the beginning of October.

In November we went on the up-country outreach camp with the team from Phrasiri church (see Country Outreach), and in December we had the privilege of having our young families spend time with us while enroute back to Australia, including an early Christmas celebration together. We will spend Christmas day in Thailand this year where it is not even a public holiday.

We trust your Christmas is a happy and spiritually reflective time, and that God will richly bless in the new year.

Ministry

Russ has had a particularly busy year of ministry, including a four month series on a Panoramic View of the Old Testament.

This series involved the preparation of notes in the Thai language which eventually compiled into a 60 page booklet. This has been invaluable experience in developing his ability to type, spell and express himself in written Thai.

Besides this Sunday morning series, and teaching at the cell group and prayer meetings, Russ has also started preaching more often this year, and is now committed to preaching at least once a month.

Russ’s main challenge for the next year is to improve his colloquial Thai language ability. His main focus until now has been “Bible Thai” and the language of “church”.

Ruth’s  Thai  language study  has been  disrupted a lot this

Preaching at Rangsit

year and we have to look to the Lord for the answer to this time problem. Our aim is that she should be starting to converse by the end of 2003.

Within the constraints of time, we have also been visiting a prisoner this year.

Phrasiri Church

Most of the Australian assembly effort in Thailand has been in the south and the Lord has blessed with two thriving assemblies in Phuket, and with small groups of believers in other southern areas.

A Korean group of churches commenced a work in Thailand about 10 years ago and after meeting with the Phuket assembly, and discussions with Arnold Clarke and Peter Ferry, decided they would change their meeting and church structure along assembly lines, and join the assembly “group” in Thailand.  They have established assemblies in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and some other smaller northern areas.

The two Korean couples involved in the Bangkok assembly, called the Phrasiri Church, had to leave Thailand last year leaving a Thai businessman, as the only remaining elder. In June, we had a call from this dear brother asking us to prayerfully consider how we could help fill the leadership gap. 

Until recently, the main focus of our work for the Lord had been in the Mahaphon Rangsit Church, a warm, spiritually keen, and active fellowship. Furthermore, the Lord has blessed us with a ministry in this part of His church over the past three years which has been a mutual blessing, not the least of which is the valuable experience Russ has gained in developing his ability to minister in the Thai language.

Ruth and Peter Ferry in front of the Phrasiri church

Even though it is situated a long distance from where we live, we felt that the Lord would have us make the move, after completing the teaching series at the Rangsit church at the end of September. We shared our convictions with the board of the Rangsit church, assuring them of our commitment to the oneness of the Body of Christ, and of our ongoing love for our dear brothers and sisters at Mahaphon Rangsit.

Most in this assembly are young university age men and women, who are very keen for the Lord. They include many gifted young men who are capable teachers of the Bible. We are excited at the potential, not only for this assembly, but for possible future assemblies as the Lord uses these young people to His glory.

Emmaus

At a recent meeting of the leaders from all the “Christian Brethren Missionary Group” in Thailand, a committee was formed to take responsibility for the Emmaus Bible Correspondence Courses. Russ was elected as chairman and Ruth was also elected to be treasurer.

Emmaus in Thailand was once a thriving ministry under the direction of Reg Vines, an Australian commended missionary. In recent years, however, it has somewhat lapsed into a state of inactivity.

The plan is to revive and promote Emmaus as a Bible study program that can be a blessing to Thais, Christians and non-Christians alike.

Points for Prayer

For those in email contact, we can keep you up-to-date with prayer points and information throughout the year. If you are not already in email contact with us, please email us we will give you more details.

One matter for prayer is that we now travel significant distances through Bangkok traffic because the Phrasiri church is quite a distance from where we live. Our normal weekend routine is to drive over to the Phrasiri church on Friday afternoon and stay overnight for two nights in a dormitory. This enables us to attend the prayer meeting on Friday nights, and spend time with the young people on Saturdays prior to a very full Sunday program that starts at 9 am on Sunday mornings and finishes at around 5.

As we come to the end of 2002, we would commend the following general prayer points for the new year:

·    that there will be no further problems with the issue of our visas;

·    for the Lord's continued inspiration and guidance for Russ as he preaches and teaches;

·    for the spiritual development of the young people as future leaders and "missionaries" in their own right;

·    for safety on the Bangkok roads as we travel; and

·    that Ruth will continue to progress with her ability with the Thai language, in spite of the many demands on her time in domestic areas.

Family News

This year has been a momentous year for our young families.    Each  family  have  presented  us  with another

grandchild—Jake Leonard Fawssett (left photo) was born on 14th March and Katelyn Joy McHugh (right photo) on 21st November. We now have three grandchildren.

After working in Birmingham, UK for the past year, both families returned to Australia via Thailand this December.