Home for the Holidays

We are at home in Lincoln for the holiday season... of course home doesn't mean we don't do any of the Lord's work. We certainly enjoy spending time with family and friends, but we also enjoyed spending time this weekend working in the Karen ministry in  our church.

This weekend my wife and I met Hla Tway who came to church on Sunday. He has been a Buddhist and still seemed to be holding to a works salvation. After long discussions with him, I discovered that he had been previously baptized in order to become a "Christian" in order that he may get married to his wife. After I fully explained to him that this is not what makes one a Christian and that one must place their complete faith in Christ to save them from a sinners Hell. He made a decision to trust Christ, stating that he doesn't want to go to Hell. After he accepted Christ as His Saviour he followed the Lord in believer's baptism this morning!

Praise God. People like Hla, this is exactly why I am going to Thailand, to reach many just like him. Please pray for us while we will be getting back on the road January 5th. Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Good Time in Colorado

Preaching Wednesday Evening at Ellicott Baptist Church

Pastor Casey Ballard

Our family had a good time in Colorado this past week while at the Ellicott Baptist Church. I really enjoyed the folks there and I thank Pastor Mckenzie for allowing me to come. I enjoyed preaching to a good group in their school Wednesday morning. Then I got to present our ministry to the Wednesday night crowd and enjoyed preaching to them as they were very attentive.

Then I had the opportunity to go to a new church plant in Pueblo. I got together with Pastor Casey Ballard and we pounded doors for about 5 1/2 hours on Saturday with him. It was a little rough going at times, but we did see 13 people trust Christ as their Saviour with many commitments to come and visit the church. Please pray for Grace Baptist Church of Pueblo as they strive to reach this needy town for Christ!

We had the opportunity to visit Faith Baptist Church in Colorado Springs last Sunday night. We really enjoyed the services there and getting a chance to meet Pastor Rainey. It was a blessing and I hope to get a chance to visit with them again next Summer.

I want to give a special thanks to the Johnson's for allowing us to stay with them while we were helping Pastor Ballard. We are looking forward to enjoying Christmas with our family and to the New Year which will bring on a very busy travel schedule for us. Please pray for our support to be raised by 2019!
 

A Weekend to Be Thankful For...

We had the opportunity to spend the Thanksgiving holiday and weekend with our sending church since we didn't have any scheduled meetings anywhere else. On Saturday we worked in the Karen ministry and went soul winning. While out my wife was able to meet Poo Loo who has only been here for three months. Poo Loo had been studying for several weeks with some Jehovah's "False" Witnesses. However, my wife was able to win her to Christ with Paw Ku Moo (from our Karen ministry) translating for her. Poo Loo does actually speak some English, but the translation is very helpful in making sure that these folks are fully understanding the Gospel. Poo Loo came to church on Sunday with her three children and made a public profession of faith in Christ during the invitation time. She was unable to get baptized today because of a medical issue, but will be returning next Sunday to follow the Lord in believer's baptism.

This weekend was a good opportunity for my wife and I to see how our church is doing. My son is doing an excellent job. I am very proud of him and our church workers. Many thought our Karen ministry might drop off because my wife and I were so heavily involved with it. There are always people in any church that drop out from time to time, but the Karen ministry has actually grown overall. In fact there have been many new faces this past week that I didn't know because they are fairly new attenders. God is blessing and the church is doing great! Praise God! Please pray for us as we will be heading to Colorado soon for more meetings!   

Great Meeting with Pastor Noonan

Pastor Don Noonan

We spent this past weekend at the Rochester Baptist Church in Rochester, MN with Pastor Don Noonan. My wife and I went soul winning with the church folks on Saturday morning. It was very cold! My wife led a dental hygienist and her husband to the Lord. Unfortunately they were just visiting from out of town and had to leave that afternoon.

Then Saturday afternoon my wife and I went to Wal-mart to pick up a few things and saw a man around the corner walking his dog, so I decided to stop and give him a tract from the church. He was already saved, but a mail man came walking by and I gave him a tract. He allowed me to witness to him, but didn't choose to accept Christ even though he knows he is lost. This got me excited about witnessing some more so my wife and I went looking for someone else to talk to. We saw two men sitting in a car and I pulled up along side of them. They were from Cambodia. I asked them if they knew they would go to Heaven, but they didn't know for sure. So I began to give them the Gospel and they bowed their heads and decided to accept Christ as their Saviour. God can use us to win somebody if we will just be willing to be used. Praise God! 

Johnny Noi

On Sunday I taught an adult Sunday school class and then preached the morning service. After the morning service I spoke with Johnny Noi. I asked him if he knew for sure that he would go to Heaven when he dies? He said no, so I witnessed to him going through the Romans road. Johnny decided to bow his head and trust Christ as his Saviour. Johnny is from Laos. He was excited to hear about my mission to the Indochina area.

Then Sunday night I preached the evening service. It went very well that evening. God was good to us and I am thankful for the hospitality from the Noonan family and the Rochester Baptist Church.

Visiting Great Spanish Churches

Pastor Campos and his wife

My wife's soul winning partner Karen

Pastor Mario Orellana

Speaking at Iglesia Bautista Libertad

Pastor Roy Carrizales

We have had the great pleasure of being in some wonderful Spanish churches this past week. First we were at Iglesia Bautista Misionero in Balch Springs, Texas. Pastor Eduardo Campos is doing a wonderful job. We went soul winning with them on Saturday. I led two to Christ and my wife also led two. Then Sunday morning the pastor had me teach Sunday school and preach the morning service. This church took me on for support! 

Then Sunday night we went to Iglesia Bautista Monte Sinai in Tenaha, Texas. Pastor Mario Orellana is doing a great work there. I was able to present the work there and preach the Sunday night message. The special music was fantastic. There was almost 300 people there. This incredible in such a rural area. Tenaha only has a population of around 1100. 

Then we traveled to Houston to a missions conference at Iglesia Bautista Libertad. Pastor Roy Carrizales also has a great work. He has been here since 1974, and it is obvious that God is really using him. I was able to present the ministry Tuesday night. There must have been more than 30 pastors there. I was told by the pastor that I would be taken on for support as soon as I arrive on the field. Please be praying for us as we continue to raise our support to reach Thailand for Christ. 

ReUnion in Tennessee

Pastor John Johnson and the River Lake Baptist Church had a great missions conference this past week. While there it was great to see Preacher (Dr. Gray Sr.). He was the guest speaker for the conference. I haven't seen him for a couple of years and it was like old times again. I was ordained by him through the authority of the Longview Baptist Temple on July 4th, 2001. We enjoyed getting to hear him preach and having fellowship with him during the conference. 

On Sunday his cell phone went off while he was preaching, so my wife said, "You owe us a pizza." (It is an old joke from years ago that if someone's phone went off during preaching they owed him a pizza.) He was a great sport about it and bought pizza for everybody on Tuesday night after the service, even though nobody was really thinking that he needed to do that. 

This is Data Patel who my wife led to Christ on Thursday morning while we were checking out of the hotel. She is from India and her and her husband own the hotel. I called Pastor Johnson and gave him her information. By that afternoon the pastor called me back and said he and his wife went by the hotel to follow up. Pastor Johnson told me that when they went by the husband was there and said that his wife had told him that she had trust Christ as her Saviour that morning. Praise God she is not ashamed! Pastor Johnson told me that the husband has an interest to learn more about Christianity. They also have an 18 year daughter who is supposed to ride the bus to church this coming Sunday! Please pray for the husband and the daughter to trust Christ as their Saviour as well. We had 7 saved total for the conference while we were there. 

We flew back from California last Wednesday just in time to catch the Bible study and got to be home for one day before heading to Tennessee. We attended soul winning night at our church and I went soul winning with Say Nay Moo. While we were out we met Sai Lwin and his wife Neng Mon. They are Shan from Burma. They have lived here two years. They are Buddhist but had been schooled in Catholic schools. They said they were looking for a sign to show them the right way to God. I told them God sent them a sign. They wanted to know the sign.... I told them that God sent an America to come knock on their door to show them the Scriptures so they might know how to be saved! They listened to the presentation very carefully as my partner translated into Burmese. In the end they made a decision to accept Christ as their Saviour acknowledging that Buddha can't do anything for them. Praise God for His wonderful grace!

Till the Whole World Knows

Dr. Trieber

 "Till the Whole World Knows" was the theme of the missions conference at North Valley Baptist Church in Santa Clara, California this past weekend. My wife and I were honored to attend this great church for the first time ever in our life. It is truly one of the great churches in the world today. Dr. Trieber was the most gracious host along with their missions director Brother Apusen.

Mrs. Giovanelli

I was privileged enough to able to teach the Filipino Sunday school class in the college chapel auditorium on Sunday morning. It was combined with another class. There was a great crowd in there as I gave some of my testimony and taught a lesson on 1 Kings chapter 7. Then Sunday night I was able to present the Indochina Missions ministry before the church. We were also blessed by the sermon brought forth by Dr. Joe Arthur on passing the mantle.

Bro. Apusen

On Tuesday, I was able to teach a college class on missions. Then we attended the elementary chapel where Dr. Trieber was ministering to their children in grades Kindergarten through 6th. We then attended the High school chapel where Dr. Arthur and Bro. Alvin Martinez were singing "Never Grow Old" when revival began to breakout with the altars filling up. I've never seen a sweeter spirit among the high school age kids than I saw at this church. Then we moved to college chapel for another great service. After that my wife taught the "Ministry Wives" class for Mrs. Giovanelli. My wife felt very honored to do so.

Filipino Sunday Class

For the week I only had one saved. I met Sai who happened to be from Shan state in Burma and spoke Shan, Burmese, and English. It was sweet to see him trust Christ as his Saviour. I also am grateful that North Valley Baptist will be supporting the Indochina Missions. We are thankful for that. I also want to say thanks one more time to Dr. Trieber and his wife, Bro. Apusen and his wife, Bro. Alvin Martinez, and the Giovanelli's plus the rest of the staff for everything they did for us while we were there. May we carry forward with the Gospel "Till the Whole World Knows."

An Amazing Time at Amazing Grace

We spent this past weekend at the Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Wichita, KS with Pastor Richie Haley. It was truly an amazing weekend. We went soul winning on Saturday and I was able to lead a Vietnamese man to Christ named Shon. Then I ran across Sudi who was from Congo. He spoke only a little English, so I called a man from my church back in Lincoln, named Blaise and had him speak to Sudi in Swahili. Blaise witnessed to him, but Sudi told him he had previously trusted Christ. I was thankful to have access to Blaise so he could help me make sure Sudi was saved!

Then on Sunday morning I was able to teach a home and family lesson to the men while my wife taught the ladies on prayer. I preached during the morning service to a great crowd of 89 folks. This is good since Pastor Haley has only been there a year and half. The church had about 20 folks in it when he took it. Then in the afternoon we went soul winning and I was able to lead a Spanish man and a Vietnamese lady to Christ. After soul winning I preached in the evening service to another solid crowd of 86 people. That is excellent attendance, especially with no bus ministry. I felt like Pastor Haley is doing an amazing job! Please pray for them as this church continues to go forward!!!

Adventurous Trip to Grand Junction

The trip from Delta to Grand Junction ended up being an adventurous one, I will tell more about that in a moment. I wanted to say what a great meeting we had Wednesday night at the Gospel Way Baptist Church with Pastor Chris Hanks. I was able to present the Indochina Ministry to their church that night and then I went to speak to the Master Club group. Very good group of young people. I also enjoyed listening to Pastor Hanks preach an excellent message out of 1 Samuel 17. A special thanks to the church for the all the wonderful things they provided us while we were there.

Now I want to mention about our trip there. My daughters asked several times if we could go out of our way a little bit and drive over the Grand Mesa on our way to Grand Junction. So I decided to do it and figured I would just take highway 65 over. Only problem is I got distracted with a phone call and made a wrong turn off of the highway on another nice paved road. The only problem is the road didn't stay paved and eventually didn't stay nice either. I have posted a picture of the road while it was still considered a road and not a cattle path. We got to a point when there was no turning around anymore and it became apparent that I would be in trouble if we got stuck or slide off, both of which almost happened. We continued to go higher and higher and there was little road and much melting snow and a lot of mud. I was driving a Mercury Milan that is low to the ground and the vehicle almost got high centered several times. As we continued to go we encountered large steep hills that were muddy and snow packed. If we slide to one side it is a ditch that will severely damage our car and if I slide off the other side it is a cliff going into a lake. Our phone service went out and at one point while going up I began to ask the Lord for a push. Praise God he gave me one and we finally made it over. We prayed and my wife and daughters were no longer having fun, we just wanted off of this mountain now. We did make it to Road 121 and then eventually back to highway 65. We were thankful for the safety the road gave us and were glad to be in Grand Junction. Thank you for your continued prayers for our safety, especially when the danger comes of our own stupidity. Ha,ha, ha....

Missions Sunday in Olathe

My daughter singing

Aydett and her granddaughter

We spent the weekend at Bible Baptist Church in Olathe, Colorado. Pastor Gabe Skillo is doing a fantastic job there. He had Pastor Rossi from the Lighthouse Baptist Church of Cheyenne, Wyoming in as his guest speaker. He also had Evangelist Bob Walker in to present his ministry.

It was exciting to spend the Sunday with them. I was able to speak during the Sunday school hour about Indochina Missions and Brother Rossi preached the morning service. At the invitation there were two folks baptized.

Then in the afternoon we rode the soul winning bus and I was able to go soul winning with Brother Piotrowski and my wife with Mrs. Piotrowski. God blessed our efforts and we each had one saved. By the way, I want to thank the Piotrowski family for hosting us. They were great host.

After soul winning we had the evening service. It was a tremendous blessing and my daughter Rebekah even sang in the special with the pastors wife. I am glad the Bible Baptist Church is in Olathe trying to reach this part of the valley for Christ.

Before I arrived in Olathe, I spent a couple of days with Pastor Steve Johnson from Lighthouse Baptist Church in Aurora. We did some soul winning while I was with him and I was able to lead two people to Christ. One lady named Aydett was particularly open for the Gospel. I spent a good while explaining the Gospel to her and at the end she bowed her head and trusted Christ as her Saviour! Praise God! 

From Long Beach to Longmont

We flew back last Monday from Long Beach, California and the next morning drove from Lincoln to Longmont, Colorado to the Hopewell Baptist Church. We were able to catch the last two nights of their missions conference. Pastor Seulean and the church were great hosts and we enjoyed the preaching from their keynote speaker, Pastor Darryl Reeves. He preached some inspiring messages.

Pastor and Mrs. Seulean 

On Wednesday morning I went out soul winning in the town. It was raining and I was having a difficult time finding people to witness to in the rain. Then I received a text on my phone stopped to read it. I responded to the text and then looked up to see a man on his porch. I approached him with a Gospel tract in my hand and said good morning sir. He said, "That depends on who you are and what you want." I felt like this might go nowhere, but then I proceeded to introduce myself and hand him a Gospel tract. He responded in a favorable manner and I was able to lead him to Christ ten minutes later. His name was Dan and he thanked me many times for talking to him.

Pastor Reeves and myself

While I was doing this, my wife was witnessing to the clerk at the hotel we were staying in. Her name was Kyong Bok and she is originally from South Korea. Turns out that she had actually gotten saved at a Baptist church in Georgia before. We wife was glad that she was saved. I was glad that my wife was taking advantage of an opportunity to talk about the Saviour!

Kyong Bok and my wife

Missions Revival in Long Beach

Bro. Pechardo and Pastor Meyers

This past week and weekend was spent at the Pacific Baptist Church in Long Beach, California for their Missions revival. They had veteran missionaries David Board and Johnny Esposito as their guest speakers and the Lord really met in a special way. We had an opportunity to present the ministry several times while there and I preached to their teens in Friday chapel and during Sunday school on Sunday. On Saturday we went soul winning and my wife and I had a chance to each win a soul to Christ.

I was truly thankful for the opportunity to visit this church and learn some very helpful things for the church side and the mission field. They have a very successful missions team in Cambodia and I was able to glean from these veteran missionaries. I also want to thank Bro. Castle, Pastor Meyers, Bro. Rall, Bro. Joseph Esposito and of course our host family the Fierro's for all the wonderful meals and fellowship. I will be praying for these folks as I travel and I know they will be praying for us to get to Thailand to help reach the land of idol worshipers! 

The Fierro's

Packed Hallways

International Dinner on the grounds

Set Sail with Missions

My home church was having their missions emphasis this past Sunday with the theme of "Set Sail with Missions." They had several special guest in with Missions Director Mark Bosje from First Baptist Church of Hammond and Missionary Tim Shook. Bro. Shook taught Sunday school while Bro. Bosje preached the morning service. Both men did an excellent job and the church had a great increase in their Faith Promise giving.

Bro. Shook and Bro. Bosje

The church had great attendance and the special music also was very good. In fact, my wife and several ladies sang a special in the Karen language. There also were five professions made at the invitation time with one following the Lord in believer's baptism. I was able to lead one to Christ myself at the invitation and had seen three trust Christ the day before while out soul winning.

Please be praying for our support to be raised as I will soon be setting sail myself for California. The next eight weeks will see me in California, Colorado, Kansas, Tennessee, and Texas. I have multiple meetings in each area. Please pray for our safety and for the souls of Southeast Asia to be saved.

Some ladies sang in the Karen language

Bro. Shook taught Sunday school

Finding Burmese Refugees in Every Nook and Cranny

Kyin and her boys

Bawi and his family

Pastor Brown and his wife

I recently had to opportunity to visit the most fantastic church in Washington, Iowa. The Marion Avenue Baptist Church led by Pastor Joseph Brown has the most wonderful missions emphasis in their church. I am not sure I have seen many like it.

While there someone in the church mentioned to me that there were a couple hundred Burmese living in a small town about 20 miles away. So I arranged through the church to find someone who could show me where these people lived. On Saturday Brother Sosa took me and my wife soul winning to them. We were able to sit down and present the Gospel to multiple households and several were saved. In fact Kyin and her two sons even came to church on Saturday night.

I want to give a special thanks to Marion Avenue for all their hospitality. Also, Pastor Brown and his wife for all their effort into this special weekend. Of course the Fear family did a tremendous job hosting us and I am also appreciative to the Sosa family for allowing us to go soul winning with them and having us to their home. So many others should be mentioned here as well, but time will not allow me to list them all. Please pray for us as we move forward with our mission for the souls of Southeast Asia.  

Brother Sosa and wife

Never Sitting Idle

2 Thessalonians 3:11 "For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies." I was always taught by my parents to stay busy. So even though I have a little stretch without meetings, I have been staying busy remodeling the home churches auditorium as well as consistently preaching the Gospel every chance I get. 

On Saturday morning I was able to win three people to Christ, including Poe Dah. He doesn't speak a ton of English and I can sometimes witness to folks like Poe Dah in the Karen language, however, he wasn't understanding much of my Karen, so Paw (from our church) helped me out by translating the Gospel for me. 

Then later on Saturday afternoon a Karen lady from our church called my wife and wanted to know if her Thara Doh (Me) could come that evening and preach at her husband's birthday party. I agreed and preached on having two births. The majority of the people there either go to our church or have been before and already gotten saved in the past. However, there were two Vietnamese co-workers of the husband that were there and ended up trusting Christ as their Saviour! Praise God! I was able to lead seven people to Christ for the week...

A Great Week at Home

Karen family visiting church

My wife and Nan Mary

The Strilkivsky's

I have a short break for a few weeks while we are remodeling our church auditorium. I am helping do a large part of the remodeling effort along with two other men in our church. However, after spending most of July from New Mexico to Indiana, we were ready for a little break from travel. This Sunday we had several visitors at church. One family visiting was Ber Wah with his wife Desea Nar and their daughter. They are a Karen family from Burma. What a joy to have new families at church.

Also this weekend the Strilkivsky's wanted to get together with us for some Thai food. So we took them to eat at Blessings Thai Restaurant. Blessings is owned by one of our members named Nan Mary. She is a former Buddhist led to Christ by my wife a few years ago. She is a faithful member of our church who shuts down her restaurant on Sunday's for church and Wednesday nights for Bible study and Thursday night for soul winning. God has blessed her business greatly because of this. So Saturday night we spent the evening with a Ukrainian family from our church eating at a Thai restaurant owned by a lady from our church who is from Burma! God is good folks. We led five folks to Christ this week also. Please pray for Southeast Asia, they are 99% lost over there.  

Two Great Midweek Meetings

Masoka and Peter with Pastor McCurdy

This week I had a meeting rescheduled for the upcoming Wednesday, so I decided that I would stop by Cedar Rapids, IA and take a family to church with me that are from of our church in Lincoln. This family is in the process of moving to Cedar Rapids and part of the family already moved several weeks ago. I knew of the Gospel Light Baptist Church in that area and we already had a connection with a family in that church that use to be members of our church about 9 or 10 years ago. So we got the pastor's number and contacted him. After telling him what we were going to do, he decided to have me preach and present our ministry. It was tremendous blessing to us and we were glad to take Masoka and her son Peter to visit the church. They were made to feel very welcome by everyone there.  

Then we traveled to our Thursday night meeting in Berne, IN at the Faith Baptist Church. Brother Travis Combest is the pastor there and we were made to feel very welcome. I had a chance to give my presentation and preach to his people. It is a fine church. They have a new pastor coming next month as Brother Combest will be moving to Texas. God blessed our stay as we received a tour of the Popcorn Farm the next morning which is where we stayed overnight. It truly was a great week and we ended up having three saved for the week.

Myself with Pastor Combest son

Great Time with Dr. Lovelady

This past weekend I was blessed to be at the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This is a new church planted about 10 months ago by Dr. Vernon Lovelady the former President of Texas Independent Baptist Seminary. Went door knocking and soul winning for several hours on Saturday. It was a rather difficult neighborhood, but I was blessed enough to lead Tonya to Christ. She had to work this Sunday, but intends to visit the following Sunday with her husband. God blessed the services on Sunday as they were full in the morning. I was able to give my presentation in the morning service and then preached in the Sunday evening service. I want to give a special thanks to Dr. Lovelady for all of their hospitality to us and also the Hopkins family who kept us over the weekend and treated us very well. Please continue to pray for us as we travel to more churches.

Getting Into Dodge

Anthony trusting Christ

The Sober's and my two daughters

That old saying is "Get out of Dodge" referring to Dodge City. This week we were wanting to get into Dodge. We had a great time with Pastor Albert Shrock and the Bible Baptist Church in Dodge City, Kansas. It is a great church with many wonderful folks. I had a wonderful time of fellowship with the pastor and family on Tuesday night. On Wednesday my family and I were able to pass out some tracts and invite a few folks to church.

While out I ran across Anthony who was very concerned about his mother who is in the hospital with an infection. I was able to witness to Anthony and then prayed for him and and his mother. Then Anthony decided to trust Christ as his own personal Saviour. God is good!

That evening I was able to present the Indochina Mission and preached a message called "Three Options." God blessed as I had the pastor come up and run  the invitation. I also want to give a special thanks to the Sober family who took such good care of us while we were there.

Anthony thanking me