Update from Ken Ochieng in Garissa, Kenya

Scott
Greetings in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I trust that it is well with your soul. we thank God for you and pullman foursquare church because of keeping us in the mission field through your faithful giving and prayers.

As you are aware, this has been the month of ramadhan when muslim pray and fast--this is one of the five pillars of islam. About fifty christians joined in fourty days of prayer and fasting asking God to save the descendants of Ishmael. Eunice has been the one giving leadership to this group. Many chose to survive on breakfast only or lunch only and only eternity will reveal what has been happeneing in the spiritual raealms.

We have been praying that people will become disatisfied with what Islam has to offer and that they will meet with Jesus who only can satisfy the thirst of our souls as he did to the samaritan woman. We have seen the answer to this prayer as many young muslim people have not been faithfull in the fasting. They also prefer to watch English premiership matches in the television than go to Mosque.

Last sunday evening, a sheikh(equivalent to a pastor) came into the church where our team was screening "jesus film" and actually stayed there for quite sometime--we believe that God will convict him to come to the way, the truth, the life.

We are at the moment very busy preparing our standard eight students for National exams that will be taking place early november--please pray that we will glorify God with good results.

I ministered at the teachers training college last week. After the meeting,a young man who was a muslim until last month was brought to me so i can disciple him--please pray that i will have time to help establish this man in the faith.

In early November,I will be speaking at the only Medical training college in the province. Pray for God to use me.

Pray for God to send more missionaries as the number that is here isnt enough although i also know that God doesn't depend on numbers
Lots of Love from us

Kaarin Swanson in Australia

Whoa.
So, here I am, in Australia. The flight went well, so much better than i expected. On the LAX - Sydney flight, in the morning, they handed me a hot washcloth with tweezers... I pretended I knew what to do with it, but not before laughing at the confusion. It's not hot, just warm, like an early summer day and the geckos are pretty cool and make this chirping sound. There are some stowed away in this computer room whom were chirping last night and we thought it was a bat and even identified a peice of wood as that bat. But we were corrected and told that the bats won't come around until about april and they have a wing span of about two feet. HA.

There are two schools going on at the base right now, a Frontier's DTS and my MAD DTS. The Frontiers focus on underdeveloped countries and reaching those who havn't heard the gospel, so while my school is practicing music/art/dance they will be learning about medicine and stuff. They're leaving for the weekend to stay at a cabin but my school is staying here and we have some classes and are going to go into the city. My school (the Art part) leader was talking to me this morning about some photographers she's been looking into and art events around the city that we'll go to... there are only 4-5 of us art students which is AMAZING. I'm so glad there arn't many of us.

We have breakfast and morning tea, lunch and dinner and there's always a bin full of bread if we get hungry inbetween. So that's good, I'm glad it's bread and not something unsatisfying and lame! :)

I just wanted to drop a note and let you all know what's going on and that I REALLY appriciate your prayers!

Where the money goes - Myanmar

Brother Bruce Heimbigner

Praisethelord !

Thank you very much for your letter and I receive all the money safely today. This is our difficult time. I will buy Rice, oil, Exercises book {for school}, Pencil, slipper, ....Ect. God will give Many blessing to you and all the brothers and sisters in your church. Every mornning and Evenning we are strongly pray for your team will coming safely in our church. I am so joyful in my heart. Today I arrive form Mainsat mission field today.

In christ
Rev.P

Church building update in Fang - and recent events

Just a short note to let you know that we have received the funds. Thank you very much and we greatly appriciate it.

The church building is up and we are still waiting for any one who want to help us complete the building. Its has now wall stage rooms but the roof and ths drop ceiling is not up yet. They are the most expensive. As of now we have to stop working as we are waiting for more donations.

Attach are some of the latest picture of what happens last week. Rivival are taking place in the North Thailand KEEP PRAYING FOR US. You might want to share the picture around.

Thank you so much again .

I God Blessings
Timothy

From Bruce:

Here are photos one of the Largest Churches in North Thailand. We broke ground on it in March 2006, and with the help of other churches it continues to be built.



















Orphanage, revival meetings, and our friends:

Update from Fang, Thailand

From Pastor Timothy, Fang, Thailand.
Hi Bruce,Laurie.

Greeting to you in the Mighty name of Jesus.

Just a short note.
We will be praying for you all.

This week have been very busy as the team from Georgia is here since early this week and we have been doind Pastor conference and night crisade as well. Some how did not expect is that we have so murch rain and yet people still come to the rally.

This afternoon we will be heading to Mae-sai to do another Pastor confrernce with Pastor P for two days and than to Chiangrai Pastor confrernce/Revival at the YMCA.
We will be very busy till the end of the month. i WILL NEED YOUR PRAYER.
By the Grace of God , we might see 600 soul added to His Kingdom and one new church planted.

Update from Myanmar

{Since the pastor in Myanmar has been arrested and beaten and had his bible college closed for a year we don't list his name or town on our web page.]

Brother Bruce Heimbigner:

Thank you very much for your letter and you love in our ministary. By the grace of God, all the kids is have a good healths but eatting is very poor. This time is very difficult all in T {his town}. The rain is very havey and some part of T is many water and stop school one week already. Please pray for our orphanage Kids in this difficult time. All the goods is very high {expensive} then Thailand. Because all the goods is form {from} Thailand. Many water and rainning everyday then all the way of T and M {a neighboring town} can not cross.

I am very welcome you and all your team. How many days all the team can use their time in our church? We are free time when they coming in T. What I need to preparation for the team? We are ready for Leadership trainning, bible seminor, Childern ministary and teaching orphanage kids.

When your team coming I will call in bible college and see 740 books over I receive form Timothy and put already in our libarary. All this books is form you and all the team bring when they coming early{er} this year. All the staff and me, we need to say heartlity Thanks to you and all the team. God will give many blessing to you and all the team. This is our prayer. We are still hope bring more books for our libarary. All the christian books is very useful in our land. Christian books is very very few books in {this area}. So please bring more books , When the team is coming in T.

I need to write long letter but my poor English is not enough write letter. Please read slowly my letter.

Pastor P.

Ken in Garissa, Kenya - Sept. 19th

Hi Scott,

God is helping us do exploit for his Kingdom. Yesterday, 6 military officers who took several months going through training on evangelism and discipleship graduated at the Garissa military camp. It is good to have this people equiped because thay can take the gospel even in dangerous places---they have been helping us show Jesus film even in hostile places. Once in a while we make use of their helicopter in taking the film to remote places of the province . We were blessed to have the seniormost officers in the region grace the graduation. The 1st attached photo are the graduates and myself, the 2nd attachment are the graduates, officers (including military chaplain) and myself.

On another note, Yesterday,I was privillaged to have Attended a wedding of muslim couple. I had recieved an invitaion by an influencial local leader to attend the wedding of his son---this was a purely muslim affair but Eunice and I were there. Attached photo is the bridegroom, myself, the father and best man.It is amazing what God can do

Update from Ken in Garissa, Kenya - Sept. 19th

Hi Scott,

God is helping us do exploit for his Kingdom. Yesterday, 6 military officers who took several months going through training on evangelism and discipleship graduated at the Garissa military camp. It is good to have this people equiped because thay can take the gospel even in dangerous places---they have been helping us show Jesus film even in hostile places. Once in a while we make use of their helicopter in taking the film to remote places of the province . We were blessed to have the seniormost officers in the region grace the graduation. The 1st attached photo are the graduates and myself, the 2nd attachment are the graduates, officers (including military chaplain) and myself.

On another note, Yesterday,I was privillaged to have Attended a wedding of muslim couple. I had recieved an invitaion by an influencial local leader to attend the wedding of his son---this was a purely muslim affair but Eunice and I were there. Attached photo is the bridegroom, myself, the father and best man.It is amazing what God can do

Update from Ken in Dadaab / Garissa, Kenya

Greetings in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hope you are fine. God is moving in unprecedented manner here.

The graduation of the evangelism and discipleship class on saturday at dadaab refugee camp was great. 113 people graduated from a course that we took them through.Through their efforts, 101 people came to the Lord and are in discipleship groups. Before the graduation ,i had told them to bear fruit by investing their time in evangelism and discipleship. This result is amazing.

There are certain somalis( from Mogadishu) who have been won to the Lord by the same people that we trained---one of them is standing next to me giving testimony when i was preaching in the attached photo.

The story of Ogut (refugee from Gambela--Etrhiopia) is a moving story.I had been given one of the refugee rooms to sleep in next to his room and he was attending the training. He developed some problems that Doctors could not tell since tests had to be done in Nairobi ( i suspected kidney problem because of the swelling legs). While the issue of tests was still being pursued, he died. When his pocket was being checked after his death, the witnessing material we gave him was found in his pocket---he was ready to witness even at the point of death--he died a soldier in the army of the Lord.

Quite a number of people who have given their lives to Christ had opportunity to share about their new found faith during the graduation. God bless you for being apart of what is happening here. We thank God for pullman foursquare church
Attached are pictures that were taken at the camp

Update from Ken in Dadaab, Kenya

These are photos from a recent evangelism training at United Nations refugee camps in Dadaab, Kenya. It's truly incredible that Ken has access to these camps and is able to teach nearly 100 refugees about evangelism!

Ken also taught about water supply safety and agricultural techniques.

DADDAB REFUGEE CAMP UPDATE (Ken in Garissa, Kenya)

DADDAB REFUGEE CAMP UPDATE
I did training on evangelism and discipleship last year at Ifo camp and over fifty refugees graduated at that time. Since that time the refugees have been making Telephone calls asking to be taken on Training of trainer level. They also mobilized other members that had not taken the training to do so. This kind of training is a very expensive venture and as you might know I am a Man of faith who doesn’t have material endowment and have to trust God on everything. The good thing is that My God doesn’t disappoint. So on 7th August, I set out to Daddab together with other six trainers to go and run the evangelism and discipleship programme. These programme is normally suppose to take three to six months depending on the amount of time you take daily. The refugees decided that they wanted to do the training in about ten days and that meant we had to start our lesson from morning to evening—thank God we had carried a generator. It was a tight programme but the refugees have gone through so much and they can cope with anything.

I decided to divide us in three groups---I was handling training of trainer. Three trainers (Cheres, Keith, Ambija) were taking new class in IFO camp while three others (Peter, Lawrence and Cecilia) were taking new class in DAGAHALE camp. The two camps are about ten kilometers apart. We were almost overwhelmed by the number that came for the training----33 for TOT and 80 in the new class. We however made sure that Quality was not compromised—this meant we had to spend extra ours coaching some that needed help.

One great thing about this training is that it was a training for the trainers I went with. I had insisted that we were going to eat the same food the refugees were taking and sleep in their houses. They were initially scared but later confessed to have liked it. Now, in refugee camp we just have beds made of mud---raised like a half a meter from the ground. Those are wonderful beds that kept our back straight—I guess it is a good thing for those with back problems. Many trainers I went with tasted some of the foods the refugees provided for the first time. It was strange hearing foodstuffs like Injera, shirowat, alichawat.

I am so excited that from the previous training, 19 refugees were won to the Lord and are actively involved in small group bible study. This time round, I am expecting much more. The “Jesus film’ was also screened at Dagahaale camp on Friday and two refugees received the Lord!

The generosity of the refugees is something that amazed all of us—it is a classic example reminding us of the church in Macedonia that gave so much out of its poverty. These people took care of all the meals we took while there.

The refugees kept giving me even a higher challenge—to take the training to their brothers and sisters back at home. We had a representation of different countries in the training: Sudan, Ethiopia, Congo (formerly Zaire), and Eritrea. By the way, according to a friend of mine who works with organization that help persecuted believers, they say that Eritrea has one of the highest persecution index and things are becoming worse with time.

One disappointment was that A (Somali believer) never attended TOT (training of trainer). He was one of the best students in the previous class—in fact during the last graduation he brought in another Somali he had won to the Lord during the training. This time round, he is changing camps because he is concerned about his security—Pease pray for him.

We will be having graduation ceremony on 9th September 2006. I hope to send lots of pictures then. Blessings

UPDATE THAILAND from the Hilderbrand's

NEEDED:
Native English speakers willing to be trained as language teachers.
Website address: http://www.worldbasethailand.org/

SET BACKS AND PRAISE REPORTS

We also have been hit with a large number of illnesses. Almost half of our staff has been in the hospital for various illnesses this past month, including pastor Dton who fainted. The staff has been working so hard, night and day doing outreaches and has not been getting enough rest.

On a positive note, Good News Church is growing! In July we had over 200 college freshman attend our annual “Freshy Camp.” Teams from New Hope Montana and Florence Avenue Foursquare in California came to help. They were a big blessing. Several made a commitment to Christ and we will be baptizing seven of these new believers in a couple of weeks.

We are also looking at starting another Burmese church by the end of the year. Pastor Tommy has started a group across town in an industrial area. The factories in that area employ around 50,000 Burmese workers under harsh conditions and for a very low wage. At present there is no Burmese language church any where near this area. We are still looking for funding to make this happen.

BUILDING
We still have not broken ground for the building. There has been one problem after another to work out, zoning problems, access to electricity and water. But all indications are that we should be granted permission to build very soon. We are still short about $200,000 needed to finish the project.

THE SOUTH
The whole family traveled to the south of Thailand the first weekend in August to celebrate the second anniversary of one of the largest Foursquare churches in Thailand. Pastor Borvorn is a strong pastor raised in the south and the southern people love him. That Sunday we witnessed 26 people being baptized. We traveled by overnight train to arrive early Sunday morning in the city of Had Yai, a southern city with a strong Chinese influence. Just to the south of Had Yai, Muslim separatists have been fighting to form their own country apart from Thailand. There have been many terrorist attacks and a neighbor of ours was injured in a bomb blast there about one year ago, but generally Had Yai is quiet.

One of the girls being baptized was recently healed during a Friday night prayer service. She had pain on the right side of her body for many years. But one day, members of the church went to her neighborhood to talk about Jesus. They talked about how Jesus has the power to save and heal us. So the young girl traveled to the church on a Friday night. She sat in the church from 4:00 p.m. until the service started at 7:00 p.m., but nobody asked her why she came so early. Finally, someone asked her if she needed prayer. She explained her condition and the whole church prayed for her. She is now completely healed and out of pain. Because of her healing many of her family are also now coming to church.

TEACHERS
New teachers are coming to help, but we are still short. Pray about joining us.

PRAYER REQUESTS

Please pray for several new English teachers to come soon. The school has grown to serve over 800 students in two locations.

Please pray that the government will approve our application for a Foursquare Foundation very, very, very soon. We need to foundation to legally own property and to carry out our various charity activities (orphanages, schools, tsunami relief) under the Foursquare name.

We have applied for a building permit to begin construction on our new facility. Please pray that the application will be approved. We still need to raise $550,000 to build a seven story facility that will house two churches, WorldBase, Language school and several social ministries and offices.

Please pray for our language teachers by name: Anna, Evan, Gary, Josh, Michel-lyn, Norma, Paula, Ty, Kelly, and Angie. Pray that our teachers would develop friendships quickly and be effective in sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray that these “seekers” and new believers can be discipled in the Thai church.

Please pray for the upcoming Eastern Conference of Foursquare Churches Convention held in Bangkok this November, 2006. Our church is helping the ECFC Committee in organizing this international conference which is open to everyone. The cost is $150, which includes hotel, food, and seminars. Dr. Jack Hayford is the main speaker. Please pray that God would give us wisdom and discernment in all matters. For more information, please see our website.

Pray for the Ram 2 church.

Continue to pray for everyone’s health. Also pray for our continued protection, especially as we travel.

Let us know how we can pray for you.

Update from Evangelism Training in Dadaab, Kenya

Greetings in that great and mighty name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are doing fine as a family and ministry and experiencing the love of our God.

I came from daddab refugee camp to Garissa to get more training materials. The training is great---we are having about a hundred refugees attending in three different venues. The third venue is actually training of trainers (about thirty five of them). They are already applying the principles of the training and are winning fellow refugees to the Lord.

Pray for the remaining topics and that this explosion will be sustained untill all refugees have had opportunity to say Yes to Jesus. I will be going back on sunday--pray for safety and protection. Hope to update you once i am back. Blessings

[Ken Ochieng]

Update from Ken in Garissa, Kenya at a refugee evangelism training

Just left daddab today briefly to come and collect materials needed for training. It is already wonderfull--over a hundred refugees are attending the training and they are busy evangelising as part of their practicals. I will be back on sunday. Many of them still remember you and Tyler.
Blessings

Update from Ken in Garissa, Kenya

Scott
I have been in Mombasa (second biggest city in Kenya after Nairobi) speaking in a church that invited me.I have spoken in four services within the three days i have been around. It has been nice only that The journey from Garissa to Mombasa took more than twelve hours and that was exhaustive. Starting next week , i will be running three trainings on Evangelism and discipleship at the different camps of
Daddab refugee camp--Pray for fruitfullnes.I will basaically be passing the same principles that you taught here on bringing people to the Lord, discipling, mentoring and sending them to be spiritual multipliers. I am following the modell of pullman foursquare church. There are about a hundred refugees that want to attend the training that will be running from morning to evening for ten days. I will be accompanied by others that i have taken through the training--Pray that they will adapt to the live of staying in the houses of the refugees and eating the same food for those days. I am hoping that after the training, the refugees will be on fire reaching out to their colleagues with the
gospel. Thank you for praying.

Blessings

July update from Ken Ochieng in Garissa, Kenya

We hope that you are safe in the hands of the master. It is unusually cold in this place. It is amazing that people can use blankets here—under normal circumstances we don’t cover ourselves.

We had a successful time on sunday as I taught at Garissa Teachers College. My subject was on obedience and I am thankful to God that many confessed they were blessed by the message. It is time to submit fully to the will of the master. It is time to cross the line---no more waffling and wavering.

We intend to distribute fifty-four water pumps this week. We will also distribute seeds—maize, beans. We desire to inculcate in the people a culture of working hard with their hands rather than waiting for handout.

I am looking forward this week to taking people through appropriate agricultural practices this week. I used to wonder why God took me to the University to learn about Agriculture only for me to be called as a missionary—now I know that he is a God of purpose. He doesn’t let anything go to waste (twelve baskets of bread from a miracle was never thrown away}.
Pray for the mission to Daddaab refugee camp this August—I will be going there to train the refugees on how they can become spiritual multipliers everywhere they go—I need seventy two hours for classes and a few days of practical if the training is to be succeful.

We thank God that you have accepted him to use you to be a blessing in this part of the world. May the Lord continue to increase pullman four square church as they reach out to people they may never meet this side of eternity.

Update Phil & Family in Antwerp, Belgium

Hello friends and supporters,

Well July has finally arrived. Besides some very hot days here we have people crazy about the World Cup Football being kicked out in Germany and the Tour de France beginning today. I'm considering catching some of the Tour along the way but not sure I can keep up!!!
Angela and the children have been in the States for 2 weeks now and its very quiet around here without them. I been involved in teaching as a chaplain at a Belgian Airbase every week and I enjoy this. I also have had opportunities to preach at local churches recently which is awesome.

Thanks for your prayers for Luc. He is scheduled for another surgury in the week ahead. Please pray that he would be open to learn more about Christ and living for him from the Word. His hope level has been low because of this health battle. I want him to let the body of Christ come alongside him to battle on the spiritual front (those unseen elements) and to show him he's not alone. I have also met a neighbor who is practicing Dutch/Vlaams with me every week. He's a really friendly guy who is also a dad and needs the Lord. His name is Ludwig.

Please pray for our Hoop Kerk group. This week we will have Pastor David from the mother church in Holland coming down to share. We are seeking to establish some leadership roles that everyone from the Antwerp church can both work with and come behind. This requires wisdom and sensitivity to the Lord's leading, as well as faith to move forward in this leading. Please pray for this Tuesday night and the road ahead.

Those of us internationals are feeling good about what were seeing with the group. It seems this time is the closest we have ever gotten to standing on our own feet and seeing each other not simply as a group but a body- a church! Pray that we keep going forward in our trust and love for both Christ and for each other.

Thanks so much for standing with us in pray and support. Please keep us in mind even as vacation time hits.
We need and appreciate you!!!

Rest in Him,
Phil

Update Thailand from Kelly Hilderbrand

Just added 6/28/06 Update Myanmar from George Butron http://seareport.blogspot.com/
Update Thailand June 2006 Newsletter from the Hilderbrand's

NEEDED:
Native English speakers willing to be trained as language teachers.
Website address: http://www.worldbasethailand.org/

TEACHERS: Many wonderful things are happening in Thailand, but before we get to the good news…. We are still critically short of English teachers. We have had lots of people contact us and say they are interested in coming, but we need teachers by August or September to keep our students at the current level.

TEN YEARS IN MYANMAR
In December 1997, Kelly led a team from Hope Chapel Honolulu to the G*ld*n Triangle region of Burma. There he met a young man named Pastor P. He had just arrived from Yangon the year before to begin planting churches in the region. Permission was obtained from the local drug lords and Pastor P. began his first church in the town of T along the border with Thailand. Kelly attended one of the early services there. The service was in the house of a man from the Shan tribe.

This month, Kelly attended the 10th anniversary of our church planting movement there. Fifty one churches have been started along with an orphanage and a Bible School. However, the Bible School was closed recently by the Burmese government and Pastor P. was arrested and beaten for two weeks. The government was afraid of his growing influence in the region and wanted to make sure that he never used his influence to oppose the government. Fortunately, that situation is over for now and Pastor P. is again able to preach and plant churches.

After Kelly crossed the border and arrived at the celebration, the Shan man from Pastor P.'s first church approached Kelly. The Shan people are racially related to the Thai and their language is similar. This particular man also speaks Thai. He took Kelly to meet two people. One young man had been mute for a long time. Pastor P. had approached the family and asked for permission to pray for the man. A demon was cast out and now he appears to be perfectly healthy. Another young woman was afflicted with a spirit that caused her to run around town like the demoniac in the bible. She was prayed for and delivered. They were both at the celebration.

THE FANG DISTRICT OF CHURCHES
After the two day celebration was over. Kelly traveled to the district of Fang to visit Pastor Timothy. Pastor Timothy and his wife were awarded a grant from the Foursquare Foundation to plant churches among the Hill tribe’s people of the north. In one year, 14 churches and 16 meeting places have been started. Before that, we only had four churches in the area. All we needed were the funds to get things going.

In addition to all the churches, Pastor Timothy has begun taking care of orphans. He now provides for 15 orphans. Many more have applied to come, but there are no funds to take care of all of them. People have given funds to help build an orphan home, but the Pastor and his wife feed and provide for the orphans out of their own resources.

Two young girls recently joined the group. They were found sleeping in a chicken coop covered with sores and rashes. Several of the children have been abandoned. No one knows if they have parents or where they might be. Some have been brutally abused by relatives. But now the children look happy and healthy. They have a one hour worship service every evening and help in the church and have their chores at the orphanage. These will be the next generation of pastors and leaders in the north.

MISSIONS ENCOUNTER 2006
Every year we host a two week training course for people considering missions in Thailand. This year we had 22 people come for the training in Bangkok.

BUILDING
Please continue to pray for our building. All the paper work is done, but the government has not yet given us permission to start. We are only waiting for the paperwork to go through the bureaucracy. We now have a $350,000 loan to begin building, but we still need to raise about $200,000 more to complete the building.

PRAYER REQUESTS

Please pray for several new English teachers to come soon. The school has grown to serve almost 800 students and our second Bangkok branch is also growing and in need of more teachers.

Please pray that the government will approve our application for a Foursquare Foundation very, very, very soon.

We have applied for a building permit to begin construction on our new facility. Please pray that the application will be approved. We still need to raise $550,000 to build a seven story facility that will house two churches, WorldBase, Language school and several social ministries and offices.

Please pray for our language teachers by name: Anna, Evan, Gary, Josh, Michel-lyn, Paula, Ty, Kelly, and Angie. Pray that our teachers would develop friendships quickly and be effective in sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray that these “seekers” and new believers can be discipled in the Thai church.

Please pray for the upcoming Eastern Conference of Foursquare Churches Convention held in Bangkok this November, 2006. Our church is organizing this international conference which is open to everyone. The cost is $150, which includes hotel, food, and seminars. Dr. Jack Hayford is the main speaker. Please pray that God would give us wisdom and discernment in all matters. For more information, please see our website.

Pray for the new Ram 2 church and its pastor, Max.

Continue to pray for our health and continued protection, especially as we travel.

Let us know how we can pray for you.

Update from Ken in Garissa, Kenya

There is nothing as great as being in Love with the Lord. He loved us first even while we yet sinners. Our prayer is that you will experience more of Jesus. May we seek to decrease as he increases in our lives.

We thank God that finally we are feeling more secure after threats to burn our office. I had to release the extra guard we had because things seems to be much better and also because we can’t afford paying him. From the independent investigations we did, the cause of the threats was that there was a debate between Muslim and Christian scholars here in Garissa and the Muslims lost the argument so badly that they lost their emotions and started throwing stones. The place turned chaotic and had it not been that the Police were there in large numbers things would have been worse. Apparently Police had realized possibility of Trouble. After this Skirmishes, the fundamentalist figured out who could have been the sponsors of these event and guess What? Yes, your guess is as good as mine-we were found to be the architect of the debate. We are privileged to take all the blame on all things that go wrong for Muslims here. For the debate itself, my opinion as always been that there is no need of cutting somebody’s nose and then you give him or her rose flower to smell--aaah. I fully subscribe to 1 Peter 3:15,16:But have reverence for Christ in your hearts, and honor him as Lord. Be ready at all times to answer anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you, but do it with gentleness and respect----(Good news version). I enjoy Christian apologetics but only when I know it is likely to bear fruit.

Food distribution went well and the locals are really excited about what we are doing. We also don’t want to give them Fish all the time. Giving them fish net is better and so in July we will supply people with seeds to plant. We want them to engage in economic activities rather that wait for food relief.

About our family, it is such a joy for both Eunice and I to watch Tim able to read stories. He turned four just the other day and he is Nursery. He is one of the youngest in his class but is doing very well. Ann is making every one happy with songs that only she understands.

We thank God for what he is doing through pullman foursquare church. Blessings

Update from Ken in Garissa, Kenya

PASTOR SCOTT
Hope you are doing fine. I pray that the Lord may give you the grace to handle the many responsibilty you have

We had great time yesterday as the whole church in garissa gathered to pray. Eunice has been organising prayer events and We are happy that something is happening in the spiritual realm. Thank God for the good attendance.

We have some relief food that we need to distribute in the next one week or so--pray that God will give us wisdom so that only the needy will benefit from these efforts. Pray also for protection as we enter deep in the villages during distribution. Blessings

Update from Ken in Garissa, Kenya

Scott
Greetings!. Some people went to our office on friday and threatened our night watchman that they will come to burn our office. I am not quite sure about their intention. This case is being handled by Police. I intend to see the OCS (officer in charge of the station tommorow). We have had to boost security in our office because we dont want to take things for granted especially after what happened at hope FM(the same station where you spoke was bombed). Our watchman was too scared and so we have added another one with a gun. Pray for God's protection upon the team.
Barissa--a malakote (muslim) who works with us lost the dad yesterday and the people accepted our people to participate in things like getting him out of the mortuary and even the digging of the grave!--they addly allow 'kafir' in this.
Pray as i speak to the MTC (medical training college) students tommorow.
Pray for the vision conference that will take place next week here--we are trusting that over thirty leaders (pastors and elders) will come to be equiped.
Pray that we will continue to impact the people

Update and prayer request from Ken in Garissa, Kenya

Some muslim fundamentalist came and threatened our watchman last night that they will come and burn our office--he is now too afraid. We have taken the matter to the police--Please pray

Thailand needs native English speakers

UPDATE THAILAND April 2006 Newsletter from the Hilderbrand's
NEEDED BY SUMMER:

Please pray about coming to help us. We really need native English speakers willing to be trained as language teachers. Next term we will be short teachers.

Website address: www.worldbasethailand.org

HAWAII

At the end of March, Kelly traveled to Hawaii to recruit teachers and raise money for our new building. It was great to see old friends and make new ones. Every day was filled with meetings, lunches and dinners. Kelly gained 3 pounds. Kelly also preached at Hope Chapel West Oahu one Sunday, was interviews by Ralph Moore at a Friday night service at Hope Chapel Kaneohe Bay and then preached at Hope Central the next Sunday. Many thanks to all the people who have given so generously to the ministry here in Thailand.

Support can still be sent to:
Foursquare Missions International
P.O. Box 26902
Los Angeles, CA 90026-0176
Designate checks to WorldBase Thailand ministries.

EASTER SUNDAY

Most people go to church on Easter Sunday, eat lunch with family and friends and enjoy the warming spring weather. Easter in Thailand this year was a little different. At church most members of Good News Church were dressed in black and then after a quick lunch we gathered in cars to travel 1 ½ hours outside of Bangkok to a temple deep in the midst of the rice fields of central Thailand.

Poppy’s father had died. Poppy is the daughter of a second wife and throughout her life she was beaten by her father. The beatings were often and vicious. Sometimes Poppy’s father would use large wooden boards to beat Poppy until she was almost unconscious. She finally left home to go to college and live with a friend. Her friend brought her to Good News Foursquare Church. There Poppy found Jesus and the healing that He brings. Poppy began bringing her mother to church and Poppy’s mother became a Christian.

Poppy then began to pray for her father. While most of us might hate a father like Poppy’s, Poppy wanted so much for her father to come to church and be saved. She prayed for him and kept inviting him to church. One day, he walked in and sat in the back. He left early, but he came. Off and on, Poppy’s dad would come to church. Poppy and others sat down with him to explain to him about repentance, forgiveness and the love of Jesus.

Shortly, before Kelly left for Hawaii, Poppy’s dad prayed to receive Jesus. Then shortly before Kelly returned from Hawaii, Poppy’s father died of a heart attack. God’s timing is perfect.

Thai funerals are seven days long. The last day is the cremation. While Poppy’s father prayed to receive Jesus, the rest of the family set up a traditional Buddhist funeral in the home village of Poppy’s mom. Easter Sunday was the last day of the funeral and the cremation was set for 3:00 p.m. Half the people present were from Good News Church. We had prepared a small pamphlet to hand out at the funeral. We included a biography of Poppy’s father, and a message about how he had received Jesus and how others could also.

The monks chanted. The family carried the casket three times around the crematorium. Once the casket was placed in the crematorium, people passed-by placing paper flowers near the casket. Then the casket was opened and coconut milk was poured over the face. The casket was again sealed and placed in the fire.

PRAYER REQUESTS

Please pray for four new English teachers by May 1. The school has grown to serve almost 800 students and our second Bangkok branch is also growing and in need of more teachers.

Please pray that the government will approve our application for a Foursquare Foundation.

We have applied for a building permit to begin construction on our new facility. Please pray that the application will be approved. We still need to raise $500,000 to build a seven story facility that will house two churches, WorldBase, Language school and several social ministries and offices.

Please pray for our language teachers by name: Anna, Evan, Gary, Josh, Maureen, Mui, Michelle, Nave, Paula, Simon, Sucharn, Kelly, and Angie. Pray that our teachers would develop friendships quickly and be effective in sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Pray for the new Ram 2 church and its pastor, Max.
Continue to pray for our health and continued protection, especially as we travel.

Latest update from Fong, Thailand

Here is latest update from Timothy in Fong, Thailand:

Hi Bruce, Laurie,and all the Pullman team.
Enclose are some of the photos of ths New Church Building as of this morning.
It will be able to accommodate 4 to 5 hundreds people with room for future expansions on both side of the building. Especially if we need more class room. We are so thankful to for all your prayers, we know that God is behind putting it all together.
The whole building will cost @$20,000 and $5000 for workmanship .All total which is about 1.2 million baht.@ $25,0000.

Thank you Pullman Foursquare Church youth has donated $3000.to help us with the Church foundation. Beside that we have not heard from any body. By 11 April we need to pay 20,000 to the builder, Please pray with us. We are putting our faith forward believing that God will keep bringing in the finances to help us finished the projects.

Thank you again Bruce and the Pullman youth team.
Please keep praying for us.
Thank you all again.Peace be with you all.
Thailand for Jesus.
Timothy & Fong Fung.

Donors from Pullman offered to buy landscaping now so that plants could grow and be the same as the plants at the childrens center"

Kenya Update for April '06

We greet you in Jesus name. The words in 1 Corinthians 15:58: So then, my dear brothers and sisters stand firm and steady. Keep busy always in your work for the Lord, since you know that nothing you do in the Lord’s service is ever useless. We always thank God for your partneship. Life has been busy, exciting and many times challenging. We have had to learn to wait for along time to see results and this is not easy. We were privileged to distribute relief to thousands of people in this place. The whole exercise was successful as we gave them maize, rice, beans and cooking oil. Many locals have come to appreciate the role we are playing.

It is now one month since I took over leadership of Life ministry garissa. Jaco and Helleen are now in South Africa raising support and will come back to concentrate on school and farming. We enjoy great working relationship with them.

Life ministry garissa has four missionaries and about fifty workers and this needs the grace of God to lead. We also have about four hundred children in our school. We believe that it is easy to reach out to people when they are still in their formative stages and that is why this is a great priority to us. Pray that our teachers (about twenty of them) will be fruitful in taking care of this young people Our Jesus film has been working tireless to screen the film in some very unsafe places—thank God for the protection he has granted and continue praying for them. As a family we are doing fine. Tim became four years three days ago and is doing very well in nursery school. Anna is two and a half and is talking a lot. We are happy that they make the house warm.




The picture below is not a true representation of us now because it was taken about one and a half years ago—I have since lost lots of hair on my head—aah aah and every one of us has added weight! We cherish you and are praying that you may experience more of God in your life. Blessings!

Prayer point for eastern Kenya

(from Ken Ochieng in Garissa, Kenya)

Great revival has broken loose in wajir (second biggest town after garissa in north eastern kenya). Many young somali youth have recieved christ in the recent past weeks. They had to be taken far away to be baptised ( to muslims, baptism is very significant to confirm salvation). I was there sometime last year doing feasibility study to alert the church the door that the lord has opened. This interesting story is also accompanied by persecution. Missionaries were ordered to get out of wajir and the local believers are being looked for so they can behead them--the situation is not good even though the government is trying to calm it.

Update from Ken Ochieng in Garissa Kenya

Hi Pastor Scott!
Greetings my friend. Hope you are experiencing G and family.od's power in your ministry
We wanted to show God's love to people in this region by way of providing relief food. As you might be aware, we have had drought and famine here for quite sometime and many livestock have died.Many locals who were rich are suddenly poor because they have lost their cattles, carmels, donkeys, goats. We wrote a proposal and God worked a miracle that an agency has accepted our propossal--this means that in the next two days or so, we will have >1500 bags of maize (90kgs each), >1500 bags of rice (50 kgs each), >1500 bags of beans (90 kgs each), and 1600 litres of cooking oil. Jaco (missionary we work with) and I met with government leaders to plan for the distribution.
Out target groups are the women and the children who are extremely poor.
We always discourage relief food because it is not a long term solution--but now we have to intervene because the situation is disperate
As a long term solution, the agency has approved our proposal of 30 small water pumps for irrigation (they call them money maker pumps). We will liase with agricultural officers here to make sure that the people are actively involved in farming. I will offer my self as a plant pathologist to help with disease and pest control. Pray for the exercise of distribution asking the lord that this foodstuffs and pumps will reach only those that are in great need. Blessings

New Thailand Pictures

New Thailand Pictures #2

Bruce's Blog

What a fantastic week. People’s lives changed, salvation, water baptisms, Holy Spirit baptisms, prophecies, healings, teaching, preaching, sharing, giving, meeting new friends, growing, traveling, eating, digging, stringing, praying, singing, meeting, greeting, bandaging, sweating, playing (with children), but not a lot of sleeping. Sleep is optional.

What can I say?

Saturday we rounded up our trip with a tour of a large tangerine farm (the owner built the hotel we were staying in.) Our tour guide is the Hotel manager. We were kind of expecting to trudge around in muddy orchard but we had a nice duck/truck that drove us to various viewpoints. It was in a huge valley, incredibly meticulously landscaped, a beautiful place.

In the afternoon we had a 3 hour service and pig roast to dedicate the church in the Akha hilltribe we built last year. Laurie did the main preaching but several others also spoke, the ribbon cutting was supposed to be Laurie and Bruce but we had Tom the Lahu pastor who lives with and is the pastor of the Akha tribe, and one old person and one young person who help last year. We all put our hands on the scissors and cut it – that was cool. There were dances and songs, and talks, and prayers, and laying on of hands. Since this building was built (the first for Grace Church) they have built 5 other hilltribe churches. Timothy and Fong have also built an orphanage (they call it a children’s center) that can handle up to 40 children. And this year our team started the 7th church building and the largest.

The needs here are great, Breaking into the kingdom of the snake is very difficult. The gospel has been here for 190 years but not a lot to show. The Tribal people who are ethnically not Thai and not Buddhist have responded to the gospel. For the Thai’s what has started in the mountains will sweep down the valleys and spread. Hilltribe people learn ‘the way’ and English from the missionaries and the Thai government teaches them the Thai language. These second class citizens become first class pastors, teachers, and reaching the lost in Thailand. This along with orphanages (Thais don’t adopt and pretty much only Christian organizations take care of them.), God is doing powerful things here.

We also come across children who have fallen between the cracks of Thai society; parents have ‘green cards’ to work legally in Thailand but their children are illegal and so cannot go to school. Grace church is trying to work out a way to help these students with a school to allow them to get a complete education. (They get none now.) On the other hand, the orphanage is for the poorest children in the worst situations of abuse, poverty, lack of education. For now Timothy has limited the numbers to about 20 because he just doesn’t have the funding for more, but he also needs to establish the children’s center with the basics like a refrigerator, a Clothes washing machine; then teachers, cooks, groundskeepers, transportation. The dining hall still needs to be built and the list goes on.

There is also a bible training center (maybe some day a college) in the church with young and old, pastors and lay, who want to learn more of God.

Sunday, we attended church at Grace church in Fang (population 400,000) several spoke but Pastor David from Singapore preached in English and translated himself to Chinese and Fong translated to Thai. “cross over to the other side to where God is working and he has a plan for us.” Was the topic Mark 6:45 and 53 on. And acts 16:9 and 2 chron 16:9, “if you do the ridiculous he will do the impossible.”

We caravanned to Chiang Mai. Tonight (Sunday and tomorrow) we are at the www.raminglodge.com (1200 baht per room which is about $30). It is midnight and the youth and Angie are out shopping, the rest of us have wisely put our heads on pillows. We’ve invited and Timothy and his family have come along for couple days of relaxation.

We will be flying back to Bangkok on Tuesday morning and besides some shopping and maybe Thai massage, we hope to also attend English classes in Bangkok. And leave for home on Wednesday. On Tuesday, Bruce and Laurie will travel on to the south for R&R see http://www.heimbig.wsu.edu/schedule/

Michael “The Dirt Destroyer” Largent’s Blog

(Typed by Mark Reynolds and influenced by The Dirt Destroyer)

(NOTE: sometimes in this blog Michael Largent will be referred to as The Dirt Destroyer.)

The Dirt Destroyer has been crying all night making mud over his wife Audry. The whole group loves him like 3 year old children in a sand box with kitty poop. The Dirt Destroyer gave his first sermon ever in a lahu Village. No one knew what to expect from the one and only Dirt Destroyer, as he approached the stage people cheered him on in excitement. (note: the Singaporeans were more joyful of The Dirt Destroyer speaking then the Americans) From my stand point Michael gave an excellent sermon, he looked like he has been preaching all his life instead of farming. The next big event for the Dirt Destroyer was when the akha Village wanted to give us presents to show us their love for the group. Michael happened to be the lucky winner of the woman’s hat made by the hands of the village tribe. The hat was decorated with beads and other thingy ma jigs. As Michael put on the hat he found out that it was 2 sizes too small, (just like the Grinch's heart). Michael forced on the hat and everybody laughed (he seemed so proud and happy of him self). When he entered the crowd again Laurie confiscated the hat from The Dirt Destroyer and he begun to cry AGAIN!!! The DD only cries and whines about everything - first it was Audry, Then the hat, the sun, the dirt, his toe hairs, the bug in his soup, the baptism of his camera, the losing of the race against Tyler, then pulling of hamstring, yada, yada, and etc…

From Scott F.

Tuesday

We went to the school and taught the older kids about 13 they were willing to learn the songs we thought them “in times like this, head shoulders knees and toes, and Jesus loves me.” In the last class we went to we wrote up on the weight board Jesus loves me like we did en every other class but the kids wrote it down in there note books and then we song that song together. In almost all the classes we asked if they had any questions and I kept getting asked if I was single it was pretty funny. What else was funny is that people laughed when Michael said he was a farmer people laughed at him. We don’t know why but the only thing we could think of is that farmers are normally poor.

Michael says that I am the babe magnet of Thailand. (Inside joke)

After the school we went to the building project and got 10 post holes dug and the posts were just set in them.

Wednesday

I went out to the building project with Ryan, Ty, Michael, Bruce, and Lorry went out the building project we dug the holes for the posts. By the end of the of the day we had all the holes dug and part of the barb wire strung.

Thursday

I went out the building project today with Abby, Ty, Bruce, Michael, and Jan. We got all the fence posts put up and the entire fence finished.

After we finished we guys decided to go for a walk. We ended up going through someone’s rice paddy and then finding the road, when we kept by some crematorium then we walked a little further this is where Bruce, Jan And Tyler had a foot race and Ty won Bruce was about 4 yards behind and Jan dropped his water bottle and stopped to pick it up and lost by about 20 seconds and this was only a 30 yard race.

Friday

I went out to the building project we dug then took the dirt out of the holes and dug some more. The holes were for the foundation.

By Abby

So I got to hang out with the kids from the orphanage for a few days. They are very special. I can tell that they need love, but there are just not enough people to give them attention. I also really liked going to the hill tribe where the guy received his hearing after we prayed and we also prayed for a little boy who I have faith will be healed if I continue to pray for him. One other highlight for me has been spending time with Bekah, KC, and Rosie, and Bruce. They cut my hair! Also I like being with Tyler and my Daddy.

There’s a lot of other great things and this trip has been very good for me. I’ve begun to consider a longer mission trip here sometime except Pastor Timothy wants me to get married first so it could be awhile. Anyways I love you mom and Hannah and everyone else.

Mark’s Blog:

WOW, this trip has impacted my life so much! Through this whole trip I have developed increasingly more then I ever expected. This trip has prepared the group and me for a spiritual battle that waits all of us when we return home. Personally I' am excited to return home not just for the comfort and food but to teach and share my experiences with everyone, Christian and non Christian.

The word that I have been telling my self on this trip everyday is persevering! This one word is all I need to keep my self going when the talks become long; digging while the dirt is hard and the sun is hot; eating to be polite while the food is dirty and gross.

I feel each place of Thailand is teaching/training me for new things. While in Bangkok dong and josh took us to go share our faith on campus. I learned from this experience a lot on how little we really need to prepare to share our faith, it just takes boldness. In Myanmar it was just great encouragement and a spiritual shock on how age really does not matter. In the Mountain tribes the faith people have was amazing. They had enough faith to believe in prayer healing, you really don’t see much of that in America. In the high school it showed me how compatible I really can be with kids younger to me and how I can minister to them. To keep things short I well end here as well as not going into any detail in the teachings/training thingy ma jigs above.

See you all on Wednesday and please pray for a safe trip for us, Thailand has been great and fun.

Friday

We split into 3 groups. The builders dug holes for the big posts that hold up the building, then they took a break, then water, then dig, break, water, dig, break, water. They got several 3 foot by 3 foot by 4 foot holes dug. Jan and Michael dug like moles.

A youth team (Ryan, KC, Abby, Beka, and Rosie) and Bruce went to a mostly Christian Lahu hill tribe and did several songs and skits. Rosie preached a description of each skit. Thum translated to Thai and Tom to Lahu. We had people come up for prayer for: knees, hearing, stomach problems. One older man let us know he couldn’t hear in one ear—it was obvious he couldn’t when we spoke to him. When we finished he had a big smile. As he was walking away he let our Thai translators know he could hear. It seemed obvious because he was able to understand them.

Angie and Laurie stayed in Fang and taught at Timothy’s leadership training at his church. Laurie taught the mountain model while Angie taught on cells. It was well received with the students taking lots of notes. David, the Singapore pastor, and Timothy were very interested in both topics. Two people received the baptism in Holy Spirit.

We had a late lunch and traveled to the Queen’s school where we all meet up with the entire Singapore team. They did a terrific large group ice breaker, but, even though we counted off ‘fair’ groups, we had some pesky HIGHLY competitive Americans who kind of threw off the game. For the last couple rounds the Americans were thrown out of the game. One of the Singapore team preached an encouraging message. We donated 5,000 Baht to the Christians in the school to pay for transportation to summer church camp in Chiang Mai for 52 students, that also was to help pay for a guitar.

In the evening we went to an Akha hilltribe and Michael preached a great sermon. Between Michael and the rest of the team I think Dan could take months off now. We prayed for healing for several people and for the pastor and his wife.

- Bruce

from mark

When we came back to the school after lunch we decided to stay in a group and did 4 more classes each about 45 minutes long. The classes ranged from 3rd to 4th grade all of which had the same English level, none. We did the exact same songs and dances and skits for all four classes. This is when the day became hard, the group started to get annoyed with each other and the songs. After noticing that our group was dieing we got together and decided to persevere and end with a bang. As we were leaving the school, the children flooded us with enough high fives to leave a pain in the hand. We took are final picture and left to go meet up with the old folks at the church.

Amazing

Laurie and Angie got to give 2 hilltribe women new 'Christian' names. What a responsibility - on the spot! "name now" said Fong (Timothy’s wife)... Ruth and Martha. Tribal people (lahu) said Root and Marta.

Laurie also commanded 2 dogs (one a few seconds later than the first) to stop barking (they were interrupting prayer) and each time they stopped instantly. EVERYONE LOOKED at her.

Myanmar Trip - Jan & Mark

Jan Busboom: On Wednesday, March 15, Mark Reynolds and Jan Busboom from the PFC Thai team traveled with Alan, Matthew and Vincent from the Singapore team by van to Mai Sae (about a 2.25 h drive) Pastor P. met us at the Wang Thong Hotel (Very nice) and we walked across the border into the Union of Myanmar. The border crossing was reasonably uneventful:

1. Made 1 copy of passport (It cost only 15 Baht for all 5 passports)
2. Go to Thai immigration point and they just ask check your passport and ask if you are just going for the day
3. Continue to Myanmar check point. You have cross from the left side to the right side of the street in no man’s land. At Myanmar immigration you go into an office and you can pay them U.S. $5 or 250 Thai Baht. They keep your passport. We continued into Myanmar.

In no man’s land and as soon as you cross into Myanmar there will be many people there to sell you things or offer you services (like telling you that you need to cross the street in no man’s land. In Myanmar we took a songthaew (taxi truck) that Pastor P. had hired for 400 baht for the day. We first went to the church and orphanage (which is officially a free boarding house for children without parents or parents who cannot support them). The older children were in school, but there were 20 younger children who sang several powerful praise songs and then prayed powerfully for us. At least one professor was weeping. It’s an awesome sight to see 20 two through five year olds with their hands raised to heaven singing and praying with all that is within them.

Then each of the visitors spoke a word of encouragement to them, Mark taught them a couple of fun kid’s songs and the Singaporeans taught them “I Love You Jesus Deep Down in My Heart”. Then we passed out small gifts like bubbles, candy, face paint and stickers. The children love the gifts but they are very thankful just to have you there. They love to shake hands with you and give great hugs. They are indeed beautiful. Pastor P. then gave us a tour of the facility. They have 44 orphans. They have an elevated pig pen that they feed leftover food and a little corn. They provide much of the protein the kids consume.

We then traveled to the Bible school that was closed down last spring. Pastor P. believes he will get government approval to reopen in June. He had 40 graduates of the school who have all gone on to plant churches and the government now believes him that his school is devoted to ministry and is not a potential political enemy. He will welcome visitors to help teach at the school and to conduct training for pastors in Myanmar.

We ate lunch at a Burmese restaurant, drove to the Buddhist temple overlooking the city and then visited the “long neck” village that has received Christ. Then we crossed back over the border.

At Myanmar Immigration they gave us back our stamped passports. At Thai immigration we had to fill out arrival cards.

On the road back to Fang at a check point they stopped us and they checked all of our bags and checked the Singaporeans passports but not the US passports. It was obvious Mark and I were not illegal immigrants from China.

New Pictures

Abby and KC really get into their work.

A Quick Update

Pastor Timothy has been keeping us pretty busy. We’ll update with more details in a couple days.

Our team and the Sigapore team have gone to Queen’s school a couple times (sometimes together sometimes separately.) They’ve also been to Lawho tribe and Angie led one girl to the Lord.

More students were saved (than when we went) when the Singapore team taught at the Queen’s school. I think that generated some competition. The Singapore team is ½ adults and half pre-teen youths.

Adults and youth have been working on the church building project. So far we have built a fence around the property (nearly done.) More soil has been brought in and leveled. Today, Thursday, is the official ground breaking.

More later.