Summer of 2006 Newsletter

Hello everyone! So much has happened since our last newsletter. Our daughter Jezreel had her heart surgery on Valentine's Day, as most of you know, and after almost a month in the hospital, she came home and we headed back to Thailand two weeks after that. It has been wonderful to be back in Thailand. Back in August of 2005, God spoke clearly to us that we would be getting Jezreel during Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, because He was making all things new. We felt that He meant more than just Jezreel's life. We really believe this is a new day for Thailand as well.

RETREAT

After our return to Thailand, our small church took a retreat to seek the Lord for His next step for us as a body. After praying, worshipping and listening together, we were able to talk openly with our leadership about the Thai leaders taking over and the missionaries taking more of a back seat. It was so clearly the work of the Holy Spirit helping them to understand their role and how important it is, and the timing for them to step up. In a setting of fellowship and fun at camp at the beach, the reins quietly slipped from our hands to theirs, and it was nothing short of miraculous. Since then, our Sunday mornings have been a lot like cell groups. We seem to always have a large international group, so our interns help lead that group as a cell and the Thais lead their own cell group and Steve and Russ focus a lot on our expanding youth group, teaching and discipling. We worship and eat together, enjoying a great feeling of family and community. Since we have moved in to our campus center, we are often short on space, but we are encouraged that our church is in a place they can afford without foreign funds.

YOUTH

Steve and Russ have been freed up to focus more on the youth, which seems to be the direction God is leading. There is an exciting, growing movement here in Thailand called the "Jesus Revolution" that mobilizes youth to worship and pray and change their nation. In September there will be a nationwide meeting named "The Call" that will reach out to this generation. They are praying for 10,000 youth and plan on meeting in Bangkok. Please pray for this.

FAMILY SEMINAR

Steve is also planning a seminar for July on godly families as an outreach and service to our community. There has already been a lot of response as this is such a great felt need here, so we have great expectations of how God will use it.

Steve is also looking more toward the villages again. In this new season, there is more of an openness to the Gospel and we are often hearing testimonies now of God moving powerfully and miraculously in the villages.

Sam is into her painting and God is opening doors for Himself to be glorified in art in this Thai culture. Please continue to pray for breakthrough in this area.

The King's Diamond Jubilee

The King of Thailand celebrated his 60th year on the throne this month and the whole country has been celebrating all month long. We've never seen anything like it! The Thais adore their king and he has been a kind and caring king, always seeking ways to better the Thai way of life. We pray he would come to know King Jesus and lead his people to the truth.

During the height of the celebrations, Cindy Jacobs, a well-known teacher was invited by leading Thai Pastors to Thailand and hold a prayer conference here in Bangkok with her husband Mike. It was an incredible week of impartation over Thais and over the nation as a whole, culminating in a time of repentance and forgiveness between Thai pastors. There had been a major rift between a major denomination here and the rest of the churches and the last day after the conference, restoration was made! It involved much prayer on the behalf of us all, and it almost did not happen, but God moved in a mighty way to answer our prayers for unity for the body of Christ in this nation. We believe this unity will put the Church in position to receive more power and grace for this present move of God.

SIAM CHURCH

After the prayer conference, one of our youth named Bond began praying for some more boldness to share his faith at school. He prayed every morning for a week and then his history class at school was having a project. There was over 50 topics the kids could choose from and they just had to draw numbers to receive their topic. Bond drew number 15 and the teacher asked him if he was sure he wanted that number. He said yes. The topic was, "Who is Jesus Christ?" He is preparing to share his faith this next week! Pray for open hearts.

THE ALLEN FAMILY

The big news in our family life these days is usually Jezreel. Her last Dr. appointment she had oxygen saturations of 90%, which is great news! She is free of fluid build-up; her chest is clear. We are so thankful for this. She is adjusting to the Thai climate- not much problem with the food. She loves rice! She is walking better and better, though it has become clear that there was damage to her nervous system due to the years she went without enough oxygen. She loses her balance a lot but she is a trooper and gets right back up after a fall. We've realized her speech has been severely affected as she is still not making any words. We are on a waiting list for a speech therapist and also on God's miracle list! Please pray for her and all of us as we work through this.

The other kids are great. Michael is officially a teenager and we are officially the parents of a teenager. He keeps very busy with the youth group and band activities.

Kanaan is 11 now and tonight he gave his first devotional at our team worship. He spoke a great, though short, message on forgiveness. He also climbed our 60 foot tall pine tree this month to cut down the mistletoe at the top to save the tree. Our neighbors though we were the heroes for letting him.

Southern is 7 and doing great in school. She is especially good at her Bible memorization. She's also a sweet big sister to Jezreel, often caring for her in the mornings so Sam can have her quiet time. Isaiah is 5 and full of questions. He has a sweet spirit that seeks to please. He is a great big brother to Jezreel and loves her to pieces. He is in pre-school and thinks he's getting very big. Tonight he said, "Hey mom, I know what 2+4 is."

"Really? What?"

"2+4"

"You mean, 2+2 makes 4?"

"Well, sometimes; sometimes it's 3!"

We thank God for you and your partnership in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. His Kingdom is advancing and the King is returning! Let us be ready and waiting with great fruit for His glory!

Love,

Steve, Samantha, Michael, Kanaan, Southern, Isaiah, and Jezreel