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The front of our Bangkok condominium—home for 11 years

SALVATION IS FOR ALL

 

The Jews were looking for the One
Anointed by the Lord;
From David he would be a son,
By Jews to be adored.

He would be born King of the Jews
By prophesy foretold;
For Israel this would be good news
They waited, from of old.

All this was true but when He came
A babe born in a stall,
The scriptures say that by His name,
Salvation is for all.

The time will come when He will sit
On the Davidic throne,
But more than that each knee shall bow,
All tongues praise Him alone.

 

Personal Notes

The year 2008 began with a change of plans. We were booked to return to Thailand in January, but Russ had a recurrence of the symptoms of Coronary Artery Disease for only the second time since 1998.

He had an angiogram in January, and a stent inserted, but a planned insertion of two more stents in February was abandoned in favour of a triple bypass operation at the end of March.

We thank the Lord that the operation was a complete success, and after the usual 3 month recuperation, we eventually returned to Thailand in July for a very busy 2½ months of ministry.

As a result of this change of plans, we could not renew our missionary visas in January. Although we could go through the drawn out process of reapplying for the missionary visas, we felt it was the Lord’s will for us to revert to 3 month non-immigrant visas instead.

In last year’s newsletter we shared our thoughts of

 

increasing our time in Australia to around 50%. We are now even more confident that it is indeed the Lord’s plan that we should move our “centre of gravity” back towards Australia, so we intend to put our Bangkok condo on the market again next year.

We really thank you for your prayer support again over the past year, and covet your prayers for ongoing clear guidance.

 

"Exciting Thailand"

The title is a familiar theme of tourist ads, but with all the political turmoil shutting down airports, we would have to be a little sceptical. But there IS an exciting aspect – the Lord is working in Thailand, and we are seeing much blessing with many trusting the Lord, especially amongst young people!! All evangelical churches in Thailand are seeing this blessing.

The young people of Phrasiri church went on outreach camps to two country areas of Thailand again this year and saw many trust the Lord. They are committed to travelling back to these areas and to follow up and disciple these new converts.

To see a 6 minute "YouTube" video of the outreach at Tak, done by the young people themselves,  click here.  Make sure your speakers are turned on.  There is no guarantee how long this link will remain current.

This month the young people are also planning to hold the usual annual Christmas outreach program at our local church.

 

 One of the recent Bangkok protests

Two of the young couples who were married over the past two years now have  one child each,  and a third couple are expecting their first in February next year.

Please pray for these young people. Russ’s ministry in Thailand over the past six years has been teaching and discipling these young people, and we thank the Lord for the spiritual growth we have seen over that time. We may sow and we may water, but God alone gives the increase. Praise be to His name!!

 

AIT Christian Fellowship

Before returning to Thailand in July, we were contacted by the Asian Institute of Technology Christian Fellowship. Russ was privileged to be asked to take the ministry for their Annual Retreat.

The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) is a post graduate university for the Asian-Pacific region promoting higher education, research and sustainable development. It has 2,000 students from more than 40 different countries and territories.

The AIT Christian Fellowship is a strong, strategically placed, Biblically sound, independent fellowship of Christians at the AIT who have a great witness amongst the students.

Russ first became acquainted with this group many

 

years ago when he was still working in Thailand, having the privilege of joining with them for a Bible study.

It was such a joy for us to fellowship with this wonderful group of committed Christians from so many different countries over the three days of their retreat for ministry, Bible study and fellowship. Needless to say, the ministry and the fellowship was in English, a pleasant change for Ruth especially.

Russ was asked to speak on the theme of the second coming. “Behold, I am coming soon!” was the key verse for the retreat. Such was the interest that the sports period was cancelled to provide more time for the ministry.

There were a number of baptisms on the last day.
Following the retreat, Russ was asked to give the ministry at a number of their Friday night Bible studies, and to speak at their Sunday morning worship service on two occasions when he was free to do so.

 

Building Update

To update our supporters on the church property/building project, the property is still not paid off.

The cost was 3.7 million Baht and there is still 1.58 million Baht outstanding. The initial fixed low interest rate will finish at the end of this December.

We committed all personal gifts given to us over an 18 month period to this project and with other contributions, the total given from Australia has been almost $AUD20,000.

Because this was given when the AUD was much

 

stronger, it converted to 557,400 Baht (now equivalent to about $AUD24,250).

 

Family

Although we wouldn’t recommend it, the triple bypass operation did give us more time with our families this year. This was one “benefit” of Russ’s heart problems during the first six months.

As at the end of this year, our grandchildren will range from 8 down to 2 years old, with just two more birthdays in January and March to bring them all back into line—one year apart in age!!

One more starts school next year (Rebekah) and Susan will start kindergarden so each of the mothers will have just one child at home during the week.

We all gathered in Toowoomba to join most of Russ’s family for the wedding of his niece—Gina Keanalley married Cameron McConnell on the first

 

weekend in October. Cameron is a butcher in Quilpie.

Both our daughters and sons-in-law had their tenth wedding anniversaries this year—Simon and Melody in January and Ben and Joy earlier this month (December).

Both Simon and Ben are doing well in their professions. Simon has moved up the management ladder into a new job, and Ben has won an award for “best in Queensland” in his financial planning area of expertise.

Melody has taken a real interest in long distance running and talked her dad into joining her in a 5 kilometer community “fun run” in October. Melody did very well running the distance in 27 mins 32.1 seconds. Russ was happy with his 31 mins 44.2 seconds placing him 7th in the over 50s men’s category.

 

Melody and Joy at Susan's birthday celebration in July

Russ and Ruth, Melody, Rebekah, Jake, Holly, and Simon

Joy and Ben, Katelyn, Melody, Susan and Natalie

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