Greetings from ChiangMai.
I wanted to update you on the tsunami in the south of Thailand. Since this has happened, I've been contacted by churches and others in the States about making our mission available to channel relief funds to southern Thailand. even though I haven't worked in the south for over 17 years, I still know people there. As always, my prayer is that the funds that God's people give will be channeled through the churches in the south. That way the assistance will be more spiritually directed. I've been a member of the EFT for many years. (Evangelical Fellowship of Thailand) It is one of the 2 largest coverings for protestant missions in Thailand. They are a non-profit foundation recognized by the government of Thailand. Their southern association of churches has now started a relief fund to assist the tsunami victims in the 6 main effected areas. I spoke to them yesterday by phone and arranged to send funds received through our 501-C in Lubbock to them. They will distribute these funds to the churches in each area empowering them to do the local work directly as they see fit. I feel very good about local Christians doing the up front work there.
Anyway, John will be responsible for our mission on that side. He can be reached at 806-795-8042. If Trinity has any need to send funds here to the affected areas, I would like to invite you all to use us as a vehicle. To date, there are still 6,000 unaccounted for people in the south of Thailand. Our boys know kids from school here in ChiangMai who vacationed there with their families during the tsunami. We still are waiting for news about those from here. Pray that the news is not too serious. We actually had a very strong aftershock here in ChiangMai the morning of the tsunami. It shook the house for about 30 seconds. (We are 1600 kilometers north of Phuket island)
On the family front, Micah our oldest was run off the road by a drunk driver while driving home on a motorcycle. He took a pretty good tumble. The car fled the scene. Micah broke his collarbone, took some stitches in his hip and has a lot of road rash to heal up. Thankfully, he was able to take all of his finals at Payap University the next week. We're just glad to have him with us in the new year. Everyone else is doing fine. Also, Pirod's wife (one of our team members) and some students took a pretty good scare at the bible school 2 weeks ago. While Pirod and Pracha were gone preaching, a drunk man came in to the school and starting beating up on some of the students. Pirod's wife stepped in to stop it and got knocked around herself before the man finally left. No one was seriously hurt. Just a few bangs and bruises. They were all pretty shook up when Pirod got home. Pray for the teams and their families as they continue to minister in the mountains.
I look forward to hearing from you soon. In closing, we continue to update the website for new happenings here in ChiangMai at www.therideouts.com .