THE CHRISTMAS STORY FROM LUKE

Zacharias was a priest of the People of God
To him the angel Gabriel came
To announce that a prophet whose name would be John
Would be born, the Saviour’s way to proclaim.

Mary, of Israel, was a virgin of worth,
A descendant from David of old.
Gabriel said that she too would give birth;
“Name him Jesus”, the virgin was told.

Christmas has come once again and we all
Should remember the Saviour who came
To rescue mankind lost in sin at the fall;
Peace with God and goodwill to proclaim.

Furlough

Six years ago last August, we left Australia to serve the Lord full time in Thailand.

Our eldest daughter, Melody, was married in January 1998, and Joy was married the following December. Both had graduated from uni and lived at home until they were married. Russ also retired from flying in October of that year. We sold our Chermside home in January 1999, and then after taking another six months to arrange our affairs, we left for Bangkok.

In consultation with the elders of our commending assembly, we commenced a one year furlough in July. Thankfully, the Lord has provided the means for us to buy a small unit in Nundah, Brisbane, so we now have an Australian base to come home to.

We have been blessed with many opportunities to visit our young families during the past six years, and to spend time with our six grandchildren, for which we thank the Lord. But we have found that we needed to take a longer break, and we are very grateful to the Lord for our furlough.

The routine of preaching and teaching kept us busy during the first six months of this year. The Tsunami took some of our time, we had weddings, camps and other meetings that Russ was involved with. At one such meeting, Russ was asked to speak at the “Christian Military and Police Group”. Upon arrival, he was ushered into the office of the military base commander, to meet this fine Christian man, who is a very high ranking officer in the Thai military. (Russ was an officer in the Australian air force.)

Since the commencement of our furlough, we had a couple of months off, and then began speaking at assemblies, and missionary conferences. We return to Bangkok on 2nd January for two and a half weeks to renew our missionary visas, and then plan to travel to Tasmania, Victoria and Sydney for meetings and missionary conferences. We plan to return to Brisbane at the end of March for meetings in Queensland, before returning to Thailand at the end of April in time for the biennial combined assemblies young people’s camp in May.

We hope to make up our lost furlough time with some time at home at the end of 2006.

Tsunami

News of the Tsunami took the world by storm at the end of last year. Relief was quickly organised including generous financial support from the assemblies in Australia. We flew to Phuket early January to report back via AMT, and to pass on some of the funds made available to the Phuket assemblies.

The amount of funds made available for disaster relief from all over the world was amazing. But there were just not enough tradesmen to do the work required. It was Christians who came to give of their time to translate relief into building and restoration.

Young men from Phrasiri “at work”

Sharing with young Tsunami victims

In April, a team of young people from the Phrasiri assembly, Bangkok travelled down to the south of Thailand to assist for a week in the rebuilding effort. While the young men worked on house construction, many of the young women entertained and shared with many of the victims, particularly children many of whom lost parents and family members in the disaster.

Campus Crusade for Christ in Thailand mounted a huge effort over many months with staff and Christian university student volunteers numbering in the hundreds. They have seen many accept the Lord, including Muslims, and many more express interest in the Gospel as a result of the love demonstrated to those whose lives have been devastated by the Tsunami.

Power for Living

The Lord is doing exciting things in Thailand at the moment.

For over 100 years, missionaries have been proclaiming the Gospel, and praying over Thailand, with some success, mainly around Chiang Mai and amongst the hill tribes of the North and North West. The predominantly Buddhist population of greater Thailand, however, was

 “Power for Living” which describes the way of salvation.

The timing of this campaign seemed just ripe for the moment and the response has been overwhelming.  Over a million have phoned in for the booklet, and hundreds of thousands have responded to the invitation to make contact for further help.  Many of these have actually indicated that they have accepted the Lord.

At Phrasiri we have been blessed to see a number of young people baptised after accepting the Lord. One

largely unmoved.

In the last decade and a half, there has been a growing movement, which can only be described as the work of God. It is manifest in small and humanly speaking, unrelated ways. One example was the conversion of a pop star, Anchalee, who was perhaps one of the most famous and popular singers of her day. Her change of direction and lifestyle can only be described as spectacular. She now conducts concerts and appears on TV singing Christian songs and witnessing about what the Lord means to her.

Campus Crusade for Christ experienced a growth spurt and now has over a 100 full time staff in university campuses throughout Thailand.

Most recently, a Christian businessman in the USA payed for an ambitious TV advertising campaign which featured Anchalee and three or four other well known celebrities who are outstanding Christians, and offered a book

young lass, Jair, came from the south of Thailand where the Muslim minority live. Her father was a Muslim and her mother a Buddhist. She was desperate to have victory over her personal problems. Jair then accepted Christ as her Saviour in January. She has since grown so rapidly in her faith and knowledge of the Bible. She was baptised with others in early June.

Jair is baptised

Family

Our family news this year includes the arrival of our sixth grandchild, Holly Abigail Fawssett on 6th December. Simon and Melody now have three children, Jake 4 yrs next March, Rebekah 2 yrs next month, and Holly. They

live in Port Macquarie.

Ben and Joy have just sold their Warwick house and moved to Toowoomba. Natalie, who is 5 yrs at the end of December, starts preschool next year. Katelyn has just turned 3 yrs and Susan had her first birthday in July.
Needless to say, we have enjoyed spending quality time with our two young families.

Melody and Simon with their 3 children

Holly - the latest family member

                                               Ben and Joy enjoying a family game

Below - Katelyn, Susan and Natalie