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News from Northern Thailand  December 2018
Baptism, Team and a Visa Miracle 

It starts to get cold and foggy in the morning here, it kind of remind us of snow, so we have some Christmas feeling even out here in the north of Thailand.

There has been a lot of exciting things happening the past month, and I could probably have written several pages about it, but I just want to mention a few highlights.

Some of the highlights are: Baptism of two young people, we gathered around 60 Shan where several wanted to receive the Good News, a encouraging visit by a Canada team and a small miracle in connection with my wife's visa.

A Visa Miracle 

For over three years now, the visa situation of my wife and children has been a concern that has been in our mind a lot. We had to renew visa every three months, and at least once a year we had to leave the country. We got a better visa in May, but we still had to go back to immigration in Chiang Mai to renew it six times during the first year.

In addition to this it has been a political situation here for a while where they would not give or only give Work Permit for Volenteer’s for three months at a time. This has been a concern for us too, as we can not renew or get visa without it. 

But the situation has become better now and my wife got a one year Work Permit as one of the first in several months.

In addition to this, we also received the good news that my wife and children could get a full year visa from November, which means that it is now one year until we need to go down to immigration in Chiang Mai to renew it again. This was simply a small miracle!

My Visa

When we received the visa for my wife and children in May we had a ten day summer holiday. One day I received an e-mail saying that the organization that gave me my visa for ten years wanted it back, because they had many new missionaries coming to Thailand (I have been sent out with Youth With a Mission).

Then a new concern began with my own visa. I did not quite enjoy the holiday week that we had together as a family in Myanmar at that time.

But now, last week, I was in Laos (alone, see the picture above) and got a new visa to Thailand under the same organization as my wife.

We will also try to get it under my wife's visa, but we need a miracle here. If we do, it would have helped us a lot, including financially, as visa expenses would be half (we have spent over $ 1,200 only on visa this year)
Anyway, I will have a visa under this organization in the future.

Baptism of  Two Youths 

Two Shan youths, that we have known since they were born, (it starts to down on me that I've been here for almost 15 years) said one day to us that they wanted to get baptized.

One came from a Christian family, the other not.

It's a big step for those who are raised with a Buddhist background to get baptize. It's a bit like renouncing his or hers family's religion and culture, but this young girl named Nong Mon nevertheless chose to do it.

Please remember to pray for her especially, and that we will be able follow her up well!

Her grandfather died the week after, so we were in his funeral and we also encouraged her in this situation.


 

Encouraging Visit From a Team

We had a Canadian DTS team visiting for twelve days. It is always encouraging with team, although it is also a lot of work for us, but we saw many good results.

They had program for our Saturday and Sunday school and they had both English program, drama and games that engaged the kids.
There were tears from both the kids and the team when they left.

They also attended a meeting we had on our land, and we gathered over 60 people. The Good News was shared and several responded to it, and the team prayed for many with diseases as well.

Light in the darkness

The most special thing that happened was a night where we were visiting parents and a friend of a deaf young Shan girl who tragically took her own life.

First, the team had been in the funeral and had encouraged the family with worship songs and testimonies.
A few days later, we visited the parents again, and they were very encouraged by our visit.

The girl that was 17 years old, who took her own life (I have also known since she was little and I know her family well), she also had a friend who is deaf, and as I have known for a long time. We have not been in touch with her for a while, and we were a little worried about how it was with her and how she took it. We were a little afraid that such an event could have a negative domino effect.

When we found out where she lived, and we went to visit her, it was not just her family who greeted us, but almost everyone who lived there. They live in a factory where many Shan and immigrant workers live together.

We shared the Good News there. The DTS team had drama, testimonies, worship songs and they prayed for many who were sick. There were over 40 people who listened to the team and us. Some of them were very interested and 13 people came to the meeting we had two days later.

We will also try to have a Christmas party at this factory (pray that we will get permission from the owner), and many from this factory also want to come to our big Christmas party.

We also encouraged and prayed for the friend of the girl who died and she was very happy and encouraged to see us and to be prayed for.

These were some brief updates. If you want to see pictures, video and a some more details, feel free to like our Facebook page: 
https://www.facebook.com/goodnewsshanministry/


 

Christmas Parties

Christmas is a great and good opportunity to tell about the Good News, especially to the Shan people who love festivities and holidays. Therefore, it is relatively easy to gather many Shan people on such occasions.

We will have a big party on the property where we have our Saturday and Sunday school on December the 22nd.  We can and will probably gather over 100 people.

We will also arrange some smaller parties, as at this factory as mentioned above, and to help with some others.

We still need some financial resources for the parties and Christmas presents for the Shan people, so you are welcome to give a gift for this. Please contact us if you want to help us!

Otherwise, there is still have a big need for a car that we can use to for the ministry. Then we will not have to borrow one or be dependent on our private car to pick up children and adults for the school and other gatherings that we have. And to use when team comes. 

We use our private car a lot, and I had a major repair recently, and we have not able to have school, for example if I have go to Chiang Mai, which I have to do this weekend, and at least once a month. 

Pray for funding for this and we also need more sponsors for the ministry.

Again: If you wish to support us, pleas feel free to contact me! 

Not everyone can help with money, so we are also open for other ways you can help us, such as Like our Facebook page: Good News for the Shan - Ministry  https://m.facebook.com/goodnewsshanministry and share on the information on this page. 

We also have a website you can visit and share on social media  www.goodnewsforshan.com/en


 

Elisabeth



All is well with our new daughter Elisabeth who is two months old this week.

It has been some more sleep now, especially for my wife, but she still keeps us awake some nights. She has had a cold lately, and we were at a check up and vaccinated her recently.

I have tried to apply for parental benefits for Elisabeth (because I'm still a member of the Norwegian welfare system), but unfortunately we were denied it due to mother's work (and it is a bigger challenge when my wife is not Norwegian too). Now, my wife, as I have mentioned, has a work permit and a voluntary visa (voluntary work) through a local Thai organisation, something I did not write in the first application so I will try to make a complaint about it and try again.

Please pray for us in this, as it would have been very important money for us!

Feel free to remember us as a family, and feel free to give us a gift for Christmas too if you wish. 

You can use PayPal or we also have a Thai bank account (contact me for details)

 

 

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Prayer Subjects
 
  • Pray for the Christmas parties we will have! Also, pray that all the funds we need for this comes in.
  • Pray for the two young youths who got baptized, that we should also be able to follow them up well, especially the girl named Nong Mon.
  • Pray that when we share the Good News at Christmas, many will hear and receive it.
  • Pray for us to receive the support from the Norwegian welfare system, and for us financially
  • Pray for money for a car we can buy and use in the ministry (Good News for the Shan)
  • Pray for more sponsors for the ministry (Good News for the Shan)
 
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We Wish You a Blessed Christmas Holiday and a Happy New Year!


Blessings,
 Tore, Mawkkham, Anna, Sarah og Elisabeth
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