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Even though most of you reading this letter are on the other side of the world, you are a participant in the gospel with us to the Thai people through your prayers and support, and we are so thankful for your partnership!
Grace Baptist Church - Doi Saket
Between Thanksgiving services, Buddhist holidays, as well as New Year celebrations (American, Thai, hill tribe and Chinese) this is a very busy time of the year here in Thailand! We have officially been in our new village for almost a year and the church here desired to get to know everyone so we spent some time going door-to-door to invite them to an end of year gathering. While handing out invitations we were also able to distribute gospel tracts and talk with several about the Lord. Praise God over 200 people came! Without a doubt, 90% of those who attended were either Buddhist or Animist. During the time they were with us, they heard the Gospel preached and some of our members gave their testimony of God’s saving grace. Long, who was an animist and whose father is the village shaman, gave his testimony of how God not only frees from the slavery of evil spirts but also from the slavery of sin. Keng and Levi, who were once both Buddhists, gave testimonies declaring that God does not accept personal merit. The good news however, is that Jesus Christ did all the works of righteousness needed to be made right with God. After their testimonies, we had a Q&A session where we answered common questions in Thailand like: Who is Jesus? Did Christianity start in the West? Is Christianity really any different than other religions? Do spirits have power over a true believer in Christ? Etc. It was truly a blessing to be a part of these conversations and see the Lord working through each and every question and answer that was discussed.
Additionally, I am overjoyed to report to you that we have already seen some fruit of this labor! Just a few days ago our next door neighbor came over and wanted to know more about Christ. Please pray for Pon, she desires to come to church so she can learn more but she has opposition from her husband and son who do not want her come. May the Lord open her heart to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior!
Grace Baptist Bible Institute
Please be in prayer for the upcoming couple of months as we give a significant amount of our time to recruiting students. Lord willing, we will be visiting several villages over the next several weeks to share about the Bible School and the opportunity to study God’s word. Something you can be in prayer about specifically is our truck. It’s been in the shop for the last two weeks to take care of several different issues. Additionally, we’ve needed new tires for several months now but each time we save enough to put towards tires, we have had to allocate those funds to fixing other issues on the truck. The Lord knows the need and we trust His timing so we are especially praying that the truck will be ready for all the traveling which will begin in a couple of weeks and that we won’t have any additional issues as we drive it up the steep and windy roads into the villages.
Another specific prayer request is in regards to an orphanage we visited a couple weeks ago. They have 14 young hill tribe men who are Seniors and all professed to be believers and were unsure of their future after graduation. I first preached the Gospel to them and then challenged them to follow Christ in every aspect of life. In order to do this, they must know what Christ taught and how He lived, which is found only in God’s word. After speaking with these young men, we found out that the church at the orphanage has hundreds of children attending each week but no pastor. Since COVID, all the missionary groups have left them to fend for themselves. Our church is praying about how we can help with the preaching each week. We also may try to have a basic bible class during the week. Please pray with us concerning this open door. Also, please earnestly pray for the Lord to raise up men hungry to study God’s word with us here at GBBI.
While we wait on the Lord to provide additional students for the Bible school, I am privileged to be teaching and working along side these three Thai men who are all currently serving in the church. Each week we meet together for preachers training. I have seen a lot of growth and now they are beginning to help preach. Please pray the Lord will continue to use these men for His glory!
For HIS Glory,
Matthew Villandry