Dear Friends, Family, Supporters, Partners, and Prayer Warriors,
Please take a moment and look at this picture that was taken sometime in January 2015.
When I look at this picture I am reminded of several very important things that I want to tell you about today.
The first thing that I want to say is that when this picture was taken 4 years ago, I was the only follower of Jesus in that room on that day.
We live in a place in God’s world where only 1 out of every 100 people know Jesus as their personal Savior.
I didn’t really know it on the day that pictures was taken, but God was at work in a mighty way in the lives of at least two of the four students in that classroom. God was using many different people, some through our language school and others not related to our language school, but all to play a part in helping two of these four students take steps closer to Christ.
Little did I know that 5 months after this picture was taken, that the young man on my right – Nong Ball – would give his heart to Jesus and become the first person in his entire family to become a follower of Jesus.
Not only that, out of the 100+ people groups that make up the people of Thailand, Nong Ball is from the 3 largest Unreached People Group (UPG) – The Khon Muang or Northern Thai. This UPG is made up of about 7 million people mostly living in Northern Thailand but some also in Laos and in Burma and possibly in Southern China.
Since Ball graduated from Rajabhat University over a year ago, he has been serving on my staff and is growing deeply in his walk with our great Savior and is learning how to serve the Lord with all his heart and we are very glad to have him as part of our team.
Not only was God at work in Nong Ball’s life when this picture was taken, but God was at work in the life of another university student that was sitting on my left.
About 7 months after this picture was taken, the young lady on my left – Nong Nok – would give her heart to Jesus and become the first person in her entire family to become a follower of Jesus. Similar to Nong Ball, out of the 100+ people groups that make up the people of Thailand, Nong Nok is from another unreached people group called the Lu Mien or the Yao. This UPG is made up of about 1.6 million people primarily located in China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand.
Nong Nok has since graduated from Rajabhat University and became a teacher and last year spent her first year after graduation teaching at the school she went to as a child in her home village. She is continuing to grow in her relationship with the Lord and is active in sharing her faith with her family and with those around her.
God is using Grace Language School in a very powerful way to truly reach into some of the least reached people groups in our world today and to make an impact in the lives of young people especially those studying at one of the two universities that are near our work.
Please remember to pray for us and for our team as we seek to be used by God in greater ways in the days ahead and pray for all the Thai and international students that we come in contact with that their hearts will be open to hear the greatest message which is “good news for all the people.”
Until the People in and around Northern Thailand know Him,
Michael for the Team
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