It is rainy season in Southeast Asia where Dave and Fran serve, but temperatures are still in the hot season range some of the time. They, along with the farmers, hope for a wet rainy season after the last two years of much drier weather.
With the Covid surge in April, and increased restrictions, life has seemed a bit slower. It is wonderful to see how God uses changes for new opportunities. Although the Christians in Dave and Fran’s village cannot go to Knife Creek for Sunday worship as before, they have had good times meeting together in a small group of about fifteen to twenty next door at the coffee roasting facility’s roofed-over outdoor space. Due to delays in education and training, a couple more young adults have joined the weekly Bible study on Romans. It has been a delight for Dave and Fran to have six to eight studying together and having fellowship.
Sandy Creek has been functioning more independently. A believer from Knife Creek continues to take on some leadership after moving there once he married.
Dave teaches through Ephesians in their village on Sundays; and continues to meet with the church elders each week. This will be changing to every other week. One of his projects is writing a parenting course that can be taught in the churches. Converting older files and editing files of teaching curriculum, songbooks, and literacy materials is ongoing. They are working towards the goal of leaving all the church resources in the hands of the believers.
Fran has continued to help with home schooling two days a week. Now that the two girls have begun going to a Thai school, this may be reduced. Keeping up with their house, visitors, and doing some visiting in the village are also part of her schedule. On Sundays, she helps younger ladies prepare for teaching Sunday School. When no one is available Fran teaches.
Their greatest resource, God’s Word, has become more available than ever. The Prai New Testament is now available on the Youversion app. The organisation, ‘Faith Comes by Hearing’, has added the Prai New Testament to their Bible.is app. This can be downloaded from the web and has two helpful features: there is video accompanying the audio version of Mark, and all the New Testament audio hopefully will able to be downloaded before long so internet is not needed to listen to audio. What a blessing! The body of Christ is amazing!
A pressing need is to have their Old Testament portions put on the three apps that have Prai scripture with audio The original app Dave built only has the written Old Testament, but not the audio. The other two apps, Youversion and Bible.is have no Old Testament.
PRAY FOR
- Prai believers facing difficult persecution.
- Leaders to continue to take responsibility for shepherding and equipping the church.
- Outreach to unreached Prai villages; focusing on God’s purpose for the church – proclaiming Christ!
- Ongoing process of preparing and equipping Prai believers for more independence.
- Prai Old Testament audio on phone apps.
What a privilege to be united with believers world-wide through prayer! Ephesians 6:18 reminds us that along with God’s Word, prayer is our weapon against our enemy. Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere.