Sinclair-Peters in Thailand
Only ask and I will give the nations as your inheritance.
Tuchone celebrating the arrival of his new identity card. This piece of plastic protects him from deportation if arrested by immigration police.
From Fear To Freedom
We were in a meeting when one of the Elders from the Lighthouse church called and said, “Louise, Tuchone has been arrested by the immigration police. Get to the church right now!” Tuchone is one of our Burmese interns. Our three young men and Pastor Moe Aung meet daily to pray, study the Bible and disciple new believers at our three church plant locations. Tuchone is 21 years old. He came to us two years ago after fleeing from a fishing boat off the gulf of Thailand. Forced to take drugs and work like a slave with no pay, Tuchone, had had enough. He knew that if he fled and did not get away, it could be the end of his life. He would be shot or beaten up. But the taste of freedom was greater than his fear of being hurt. One day Tuchone ran off the boat when it came to dock in Angsila. Two of his friends ran at the same time. One was shot. But Tuchone, a man with only one arm, amazingly, got away. Initially, he was taken in by P’ Chin and Esther, our Thai believers from the Bethel church, who felt compassion for him because he had nothing to eat and nowhere to live.
With the love of Christ made known to him in a very tangible way, Tuchone put his faith in Jesus Christ. At first, he only had one expression on his face: Anger. But after he spent time with us in worship and soaking in God’s glorious presence, we noticed that his face had gradually softened. Last year, after Tuchone was baptized, he asked if he could go to discipleship school. Upon his return, we were shocked to see even more transformation- Tuchone was cracking jokes and making us laugh!
On the day that we received the phone call that Tuchone had been "arrested", he had been walking up and down “Burmese street” as we call it, sharing his faith with all his Burmese friends. Out of nowhere, five Thai men who were dressed in plain clothes, grabbed Tuchone and said, “Immigration!” They twisted his arm behind his back, pounded on his chest and said something Tuchone couldn’t understand in Thai. Stricken by fear, all the Burmese people ran into their rooms and locked their doors securely. Tuchone didn’t know what to do so he took them to the Lighthouse. When they got inside, the men demanded that he give them money. When they saw that he had no money and that there was no money in the building, they pretended to take his photo and quickly left the building. Shaken up and frightened by what had just taken place, Tuchone knew immediately that the men who had "arrested" him were not the police. They were thugs looking for drug money. He sat down, worshipped and thanked God for protecting him. As he was praying, he felt a strange urge from the Holy Spirit to go back to Burmese street! Being someone who is handicapped and has been abused a lot, this was definitely not his normal response to danger! But that day, he suddenly felt angry that Satan had robbed him of the opportunity to share the Gospel. With a new vigor and courage, Tuchone jumped up, grabbed 60 evangelistic CD’s that we had in the church and ran back to “Burmese street”. When the Burmese people saw that Tuchone had returned, every one curiously came outside and asked, "how did you get away from the police so quickly?" Tuchone, saw the opportunity before him. He adeptly used all the excitement in his “arrest” to turn the focus to Jesus and his power demonstrated on the cross, to protect us from the Evil One. That day, Tuchone praised God that he wasn’t overcome by fear or anger. Instead, he was overcome by the Spirit of Elijah! That is, making God’s powerful name known and leading people to repent and by saved!
Spare (on the left) loving Jesus, our church family and celebrating three years cancer free!
Miraculous Healing
Three years ago, our Burmese friends told us that a young mom with a baby, was dying in the hospital. They asked, “could you go visit her?” They probably hoped that we might help with some of her medical expenses. However we knew that God had other plans. As we were going up the hospital stairs, Pastor Isaiah turned to me and said, “shoot! I forgot my camera!” Feeling like this wasn’t really an appropriate place for taking photos, I said politely, “why do you need your camera, Pastor?” “ I just want to have a “before and after” shot for when God does a miracle!” he said, matter-of-factly.”
When we got to Spare’s large-open, hospital room, it was crowded with sick people and relatives. Spare was on a cot in the corner, hooked up to an I.V. We learned that Spare had already been the hospital two months and had received two operations to treat her for cancer. She was now in the last stages of liver cancer. The cancer had also spread throughout her body. The doctor refused to take her money or give her further treatment. He said there was no hope. When we first saw Spare lying on the cot, we were overwhelmed with sadness at how thin and sick she looked. She gave us a faint smile as we introduced ourselves and explained why we had come. The large hospital room became very quiet as they watched a “farong” (me), a Thai women and a Burmese man share the Gospel with this very sick patient. As Pastor Isaiah bent down and whispered the Good news in her ear, she said, “Pastor, I must tell you something; When I was a little girl, I used to go to church in Burma. But then I came to Thailand and I married a Buddhist man and I turned my back on Jesus for over 10 years. Today, I want to repent for all my sins and put my faith in Christ again.” After Pastor Isaiah had led Spare in a prayer of repentance and salvation, he explained that Jesus also has the power to heal. He said, “I want you to memorize this Bible verse, "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)
Then we all laid hands on Spare and prayed for healing. With a deep sadness and joy, we left the hospital. A few days later, I was in the market when a friend of Spare's ran up to me and said, “Ajaan Louise, Spare is out of the hospital, she is feeling much better!” What?? Really? I replied with amazement. We were all filled with a holy awe and wonder at how this could be. This past Sunday, three years after Spare left the hospital, she got up during worship and told us again of her miraculous healing. She reminded us how hopeless her situation was. Then she said, “don’t forget, our God is a mighty God and he can do anything!” Amen!
Father and Son
The "Boys" from Cedar Park Church
Nothing like a meal with the Burmese Lighthouse community!
Hans! Get your feet off the table!!!
Teaching at Sandy's house
70 years "young"... Grandma Delores did a great job teaching the children. The CP team taught VBS's at both Edd and Ingrid's and Sandy's house. From the youngest (10 years old) to the oldest, (77 years old) everyone served whole heartedly! In their spare time, they also painted the Bethel church!
Thank you Cedar Park Church!
We were blessed to have Yvonne, a quilt maker on the team. She made us beautiful banners for our worship centers!
Please pray for us!
To give to the Sinclair-Peters send funds to C0113
To give to the Bethel Church project, The Lighthouse church and Bo Thong and Bang Sai churches give to project C0509
To give to the House of Hope give to C0625
you can give at http://www.mbmission.org/index.php
or send a cheque to
MB Mission
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or in the USA
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