HORIZONS/MISSION SERVICES

P.O. BOX 2427

Published by
Westlane Christian Church

KNOXVILLE,

TN 37901

Non-profit erg. I
U.S. Postage Paid Indianapolis,IN
Permit No.4927

NEWS ROM
DWAIN & BECKY ANDERSON
CHRISTIAN AMBASSADORS TO THAILAND
Field Address:

Mr. & Mrs. Dwain Anderson P.O. Box 169

Chiang Mai 50000 Thailand Forwarding Address:

Christian Ambassadors to Thailand

P.O. Box 53733

Indianapolis, IN 46253-0733

Beefy, Sara, Mark and Dwain Anderson

Make checks payable to: Christian Ambassadors to Thailand January, February, March, 1989

Christmas
It may seem strange to talk about Christmas in have through Him was the theme of the lessons. After servicescame,whatwasfor the people in March - in fact most people usually take down the decorations and forget about Christmas on Baaklang, a feast. We all ate together from the December 26th. In Thailand, however, Christmas bowls of sticky rice and three kinds of geng, the can be celebratedanytime from the first of December vegetable and meat dishes you eat with rice. After up until mid-January and no one thinks anything the meal came an afternoon of games, prizes, and about it. This year our main Christmas celebration gifts. This time was special, too, because there are in Pua was held on New Years Day in the villageof very few days in the year that these folks can give Baaklang. It was a good day over to play and they don't

This years gift bagscontained

Christians pitching in to help prepare the food for the noon
meal. Then we all came

notebook, an orange, and a

together for our Bible school

and morning worship time,

^
I

perhaps wouldn't think much

This was aspecial opportunity

because there were a lot of .'

->,1, 3
'

of that kind of gift but for the folks at Baaklang - children and adults alike-it was pretty "

non-Christians in the meeting

" '

that morning. We divided the

children and the adults so that

T
^

and especially that the seed

Please pray for these folks

each group could be taught

more on their own level Jesus birth and the salvation we can

sown on that day will bear

Cooking thefood for Christmas dinner, any takers ladies?

The Old and the New

In our last newsletter we mentioned some of

the changes we had noticed in our time awayfrom Thailand. If you were to go to the villageof Baaklang today you would really notice one change. The old bamboo church building is giving way to a new concrete and wood building! The first church building in Baaklang was constructed of bamboo, sticks and
a thatched roof. It has served well for almost four

7"--^ -d. /

yearsbut, because it isbamboo, has needed constant attention. In fact, probably the only posts - they are too hard for the bugs to eat - and the wire and nails it is put together with - they are used over and over again. Bamboo buildings have to be almost completely rebuilt every year or they will literally fall apart on you. During their last furlough, David and Deloris Filbeck received several special offerings toward a new church building for Baaklang. That building is now taking shape. The concrete foundation and support poles are up. The brick walls are partly up as are the wood supports for the roof. The building should be completed byJune. The total cost of the building will be in the neighborhood of $7,000. This isn't much when we compare it to Stateside church buildings, but for the people of Thailand it
is a small fortune. We have been able to help a little

.lliJj!'! iiilt .ll' IW??

Baaklang's old bamboo church building.

with the cost of the building but, frankly, would

like to be able to do more.

Please pray, with us, that funds will come to completely pay the costs of the building as it is built. Even more importantly,though, please pray that this new permanent building willbe used as a center for the Gospel in the Pua/Baaklang area for
many years to come. Pray that those who meet for

worship there will remain strong in the Lord and continue to grow in Him each day.

...Were thankful that ail of us have remained he

tr

first change climates there is a lot of illness so we s...Becky has again picked up her study of Thai, making a lot of progress. ...Sara and Mark have finished up their third qu to hot season break. April is the hottest month of t mid-April. The kids sure like that! ...During the hot season break we are going to boarding high school. Sending Sara and Mark to bo
alternative. Even so, its a tough decision to make. Pk ...In the past couple of months we have receive

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are thankful for these. Please continue to pray concerning work funds as well. ...Aswe look at Thailand, the work, and the peop

to be done and so many other things that could be to feel that there isn't enough money for the work supply offunds! Its being good stewards ofwhat Gc Please pray for us in these matters that we can alway

Afternoongame time- don'tpop my balloon!

Pray, too, that the Lord willguide us in the best usi

Bible Conference
The last couple of daysof January and the first number a certain verse was found. But after the days of February held what was a first for the Tin class on the Bible and a couple of days practice people. About 40 of the Christians from several those who could read could allfind the passagesby villages were all brought together for a three day themselves - and rather quickly, too. One thing we stressed at the conference was Bibleconference. Many ofthe folkswere relatively new Christians and they had never participated in that it would only be a success if they would take
anything like this training session. Each day began with devotions at about 7:00 a.m. which was followed by breakfast. At 8:30 a.m. we all met together for a singing time which was followed by three one hour classes. David A Filbeck taught a class on using the Bible. Then came one hour of learning new songs to be used in worship. After that I taught a classon Who is Jesus. After lunch, which we all shared together, came another classtaught byone of the graduates of the Institute
for Biblical Studies on Who is God. This class

the things they learned and share them with those Christians who couldn't come (in Thailand at least one member of the familyusually has to stay home to take care of things there) and with their ndgbbors, as well.It's our prayer that they will alldo just that.

was followed bya Christian teaching video. Finally, after supper we came together for our evening worship service which was, again, followed by a
Christian video.

This conferencewas a strenuous time for people who are not at all used to sitting for hours at a time but oh what progress was made! We especially saw progress in their use of the Bible. When the conference started we had to tell them what page
Learning newson^ completewiththe actions.

;althy over the pastfew months. Often whenyou ee our good health as a direct answerto prayer.

She studies four days per week with a tutor and is

arter in schooland are right nowlookingforward -heyear here so the schoollets out for 18days in

make a trip down to Mayiasia to visit a Christian arding school for high school seems to be the best

iase keep the childrens educationinyourprayers, d several special offerings for our truck fund. We on our behalf concerning the truck payoff and
le weworkwiththere are so manythingsthat need

done. Many of these requirefunds, its really easy

. The answer to this problem is not an unlimited

>d suppliesand beingcontent withHis provisions,

Sombim teaching the class on "Whois God".

shave a proper, Christ-like attitude towards them. ; of His provisions.

Hostel
For the past several years there has been a small hostel in the village of Baaklang. This is a place where 6-8 boys from distant mountain villages can live while th^ go to the public school in Baaklang. For each of them it is their only opportunity to get an education. There are manyother children - boys and girls alike - who simply have no chance to go to school. Even in mountain villages which do have schools the schools only go through 6th grade and that is really not enough to bring a backwards people into this modern age. Pua, the county seat whichis2.5 miles awayfrom Baaklang,has the only high school in the area.
We have a dream we'd like to share with you concerning this situation. Both we and the Filbecks

change, aswe see it now, is bydeveloping a larger

hostel program. There would be so many benefits to the Tin people from a larger hostel. Many ofthese lie in the

social and economic realm. One of the greatest

benefits, however, would come to the Tin church.

Right now very few of the Christians can read. This

limits theirgrowth in Christ - howcananyone grow in the Word when he can't even read it? Young
people in the hostel get Christian education but,

even more importantly, the hostel would help to

develop strong literate adult leaders for the Tin
church.

would like to see a larger permanent hostel established in Baaklang. So far there has only been one person from the Tin tribe to graduate from high school. By far the majority of the Tin people cannot read or write. The only way this is going to

As we said, a larger permanent hostel is our dream but it can be a reality. I would estimate the cost of the building at between $6,000 and $8,000.

The regular monthly costof the program wouldbe another $500 to $600 per month. We askfor your prayers concerning the hostel and, if possible, we
ask for your support of this project as well.

''4

'Ik

There are presentlysix boys in the hostel.

The hostel boysdo much of their own work.

Praise the Lord!

Psalms 68:19 says "Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens." This is so true and we completely agree with the Psalmist when he says in Psalms 147:1 "Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praise to our God, howpleasant andfitting topraise Him.'" We have so many things to praise the Lord for. He has answered so many ofour prayersand is daily bearingour burdens. Weare thankful and we praise Him that wecan be living and working in Thailand. We also thank and praise Him for you, the people who pray for us and support our work.
There is one more Psalm Psalms 117:1 which says
We feel like this is where our work comes in. There are

many people in the world who do praise the Lord and live for Him but there are so many more people who have never even heard about Him in any real way. In Thailand, alone, there are over 50 million people and
over 49 million of them have never named Jesus as their

Savior.There isso much to be done! Please pray for the people ofThailand and those who are laboring here for
the cause of Christ. Pray, too, that the Lord will send
more laborers into the harvest all over the world. Ifwe'U

"Praise theLord,allyou nations;extol Hint allyoupeoples."

do this then one day it can be said that all nations and all peoples are praising Lord. In His Service, Dwain and Becky

HORIZONS/MISSION SERVICES
P.O. BOX 2427

/^53r
Non-profit org. U.S. Postage Paid Indianapolis,IN
Permit No.4927

Published by
Wesilane Christian Church

KNOXVILLE, TN 37901

NEWS FROM
DWAIN & BECKY
ANDERSON
CHRISTIAN AMBASSADORS

TO THAILAND
Field Address: Mr. & Mrs. Dwain Anderson P.O. Box 169

m
Becky, Sara, Mark and Dwain Anderson

Chiang Mai 50000 Thailand Forwarding Address:

Christian Ambassadors to Thailand P.O. Box 53733

Indianapolis, IN 46253-0733 Make checks payable to: Qiristian Ambassadors to Thailand

April, May, June, July, 1989

We praise the Lord and thank Him for YOU! Without your prayers and giving we could not be here. We are comforted by His care. Asyou pray for us and the Thai people, God in turn works in our hearts and their hearts,to His glory. We share this newsletterwithyou so that you can praywith more knowledge and understanding.We often write in our newslettersabout things, placesand events. When allissaidand done, however, it is not these things that really matter. What really matters is people! In this issue we will introduce you to several folks. They are your brothers and sisters in Christ. Please include them in your prayers.

Nuan and Tong

Nuan and Tong are two men who have a few things in common. They both live in Nan Province, they are both relatively new Christians and they are both ex-opium addicts. Nuan, from the village of Ban Nam Maw is
married and the father of several children. When

haslimitedstrength and usefulness. Tong receives

a small compensation check from the Thai

government of about $40 to $50 per month. This check did not go very far to meet the needs of his family, however, when he spent mostor all of it to

we first met him, he appeared to be 50 or 60 years old. He was thin and unhealthy. Then we found out why. He was addicted to opium. Most of the money he earned went to buy opium and it left his large family very poor. Tong, from the village of Ban Wen, is also a married man with a large family. Several years ago, during the Viet Nam conflict era, Tong stepped on a landmine while working in his rice fields and lost one leg. His other leg, also injured in the explosion.

satisfy hisdaily opiumaddiction. We suspectthat Tong became hooked on morphine while under
treatment for his injuries. When he returned home

he justswitched over toopium. WhenTongbecame a Christian he had been using opium for several years. He, too, lookedveryoldandverythin.Tong

didn't smoke opium, he ate it and so all the drug

we^^irectfy into his system. This type ofaddiction

is v&iy painful during the rehabilitation process.
Both Nuan and Tong knew that if their lives

wouldever be what God wanted them to be, they

Continued on page 2

Mother Pat
MotherPat, awidow, isthe oldestliving female member of her family. Until her recent conversion to Christ, the properworship andappeasement of the evil spirits by her

family was herresponsibility. She was theone who kept all the charms andother items used inspirit worship.
Mother Pat lives in a small village near Ban Wen. She
was won to the Lord by the witness of two other widow

women from yet another small village nearby. On one of our trips to Ban Wen, David and I stopped to visit these
two ladies and they told us that Mother Pat wanted to
m-. ' j *.

accept Christ. We went to seeher andwas sheevereager

to be baptized! She had even gotten out into the stream

near her house and dammed up a spot to make it deep

enough for her baptism. After her baptismwe took allher

spirit items out of the house andburned them as a symbol

of her break with spirit worship.
We have visited Mother Pat several times since then.

She isthe onlyChristianin her village but she continues in

thefaith. She is happy andnolonger fears thespirits. Pray

that Mother Pat can remain strong in Christ and that she can share her faith with her family and friends.
Burning Mother Pat's spirit charm basket.

Nuan and Tong

Continuedfrom page 1

needed to break their opium habits. They both spent

about a month in a de-toxification center which uses the

"cold turkey" method of withdrawal. This center supports the addicts in their withdrawal through a lot of prayer and brotherly love. They also teach the men to face facts and difficulties head on. When Tong told the director that he ate the opium instead of smoking it, the director just looked at him and said "Man, you're going to hurt!"

>

When Tong and Nuan came out of the center they

looked like new men. I didn't even recognize Nuan the

^
^

first time I saw him after he came home. They each

looked 10-15 years younger. Both are stronger spiritually, as well. But neither ofthem are out ofdanger. Please
pray that God will bless these two men and keep them strong. Pray that the fruit of His Holy Spirit will be clearlyseen in their lives and that they will grow to be all that He wants them to be in His Kingdom.

I I

Nuan with one ofhis sons.

Pen
Pen accepted Christ about two months ago. He is a young, married man from Ban Nam Maw village and is the father of the fattest, cutest two month old baby boy you ever saw. Pen has one, big problem in his life, however, and that is epilepsy. The seizures have been frequent and reoccurring for the past sbc years. He is very discouraged and we are concerned
for him.

n a

Epilepsy seems as misunderstood today in Thailand as it was in Jesus' day. Many of the village people think Pen is mentally ill or possessedbyevilspirits. Some believe his disease is contagious. He has gone to see the doctors repeatedly. They, of course, can give a proper diagnosis but the treatment has been less than
Pen, in center with white shirt, after his baptism.

satisfactory. His seizures are still not under

control.

Pen is responsible to provide for his wife and their child and is also expected to contribute to his wife's parents income. Yet, he is unable to work. A seizure on the slopes of the mountain
rice fields could mean a fall to his death. He has

tried working for pay as a day laborer, but after one seizure on the job his employee send him home, often without payinghimfor the time he did work. To make matters worse, Pen's wife's family are not Christians and accuse him of simply being lazy.
We continue to seek better medical care for

Pen. Pen is impatient for a "quick cure" and so

wecontinue tocounsel him thatepileptics usually

require medication for their entire lives. We also pray and ask you to pray that Pen will find God's grace sufficient for all of his needs. We
Front row: Five ofthe folks recently baptized
Back row: Dwain with Sorasak, who assisted
don't have all the answers but we know that God does have the answers for Pen.

with the baptisms.

These are just a fewof the folks the Lord hassent into our lives these past severalmonths. We praise the Lord that between 15and 20 people from the Pua area have come to Christ and have been baptized
into Him during the past three months. We can't claim credit for these decisions. Most of them are the

result of Christians sharing their faith with their family, friends and neighbors. We praise God as we see His Spirit at work. Do keep all these people in your prayers.

Bits n' Pieces

- Sara and Mark are out of school for the summer break. They enjoy this time off but do miss their

friends and all the activities schoolbrings. We just returned from spending over twoweeks in Pua together as a family.

-Speaking ofSara and Mark's school - in April we made a trip by train down to Malaysia tovisit
Dalat boarding school. We were very pleased with what we saw there. Ourplans right now are that Sara will go to Dalat inthefall of 1990 to begin eighth grade. Then the following year Mark will go as well to begin his seventh grade year. Please keep these plans and our children's education and
growth in your prayers.

-OnAugust 1st(which isnext week asIwrite this) Rick andKathy Walden and theirtwo children.
Diane andEric,from Russiaville, Indianawill be arriving inBangkok to begintheirworkinThailand.

Our family plans to|(J down to Bangkok for oneweek to meet them andhelp them get those first things -like finding a house -done. TheWaldens will spend their first year inBangkok studying Thai. Please keep them in your prayers. We're sure they will appreciate it,
- Paul and Mary Boatman and Ann Spellman, all from Lincoln Christian College and Seminary,
visitedThailand in June and July. Paul held a seminaron "Missionary Stress and How to Deal With

It".Mary and Ann ministered tomissionarywomen andThai Christian women intwo different groups ofmeetings. All threehelped teach ina VBS for missionary kids. Their visit was valuable to allofus.
- On June 11, the dedication services were held for the new church building in Baaklang. Paul

Boatman preached thededication sermon. Well over 100 people from several areachurches attended
the morning service and shared the noon meal together.

- Clayton and Eleanor Kinsey, who areBecky andSharon's (Filbeck) parents areplanning to visit
Thailand in the near future. Please pray for them as they are making their plans. We're looking
forward to their visit.

- Wewantto askforyourspecial prayers over the nextfew months as Becky and I seek to step up our work among the Thai people here in Chiang Mai. We plan to move into a strictly Thai neighborhood and begin to establish relationships with Thaipeople in order to do two things. One thing is to be able to understand the Thaiculture and language fi:om the inside out. The other thing is to be able to share Christ with the people we become friendswith. Please pray that the Lord will
continue to lead us in this endeavor.

Thanks againfor your interest in and support of our work. Ifyou ever have any questions, please write to us. We'll be glad to answer, and besides that we like to get mail! Also, if you should happen to be planning a trip to Thailand, let us know. We'd be happy to have you visit us whileyou are here.
In His Service,

Dwain and Becky

Raul and Mary Boatman and Ann Spellman
in Che hostel at Baaklang.