Greetings From Florida!
Last month we headed south and were able to escape from the north prior to encountering any snow- fall ☺. Since that time, we’ve been enjoying our time in Florida. It has truly been a blessing to have a concentrated amount of time to connect (as much as we can in light of covid) with the folks at our home church.
Presently Thailand remains closed to normal tourism. So in the meantime, we will be assisting the church with a couple different projects as we wait for Thailand to reopen. The news has reported that Thailand is sup-posed to open up to tourists around mid-March. Then there will probably be some additional time for it to be open to people such as ourselves. So presently we are hoping that we can return around April/May of 2021. Thank you so much for your understanding and your gifts and prayers during this most unusual time. To put it simply, we are eagerly awaiting our return to Thailand but also are enjoying our extended time here with you as well.
A Christmas Note
Christmas songs, Christmas trees and candy canes: these are some of the many sights, sounds and scents of Christmas that we have missed over the many years living overseas. We are so thankful to be a part of our Christmas heritage here in the good ol’ US of A this year, even in the midst of missing our friends and neighbors in Thailand. Though the traditions of this season look different than from what we are used to in Thailand, the reason for our joy remains the same – the celebration of the birth of our Savior.
This is the narrative that began “in the beginning”; the fulfillment of the promised redeemer. But it did not end there. This is the truth that we hope to share with our friends in Thailand: That Jesus Christ left his heavenly home to be born as a baby in Bethlehem, grew to adulthood and lived an incarnate life among us. He lived a sinless life and gave His life for the sins of the world. He died for you, He died for me, He died for the Phu Thai people. But the grave could not hold Him. Jesus arose from the dead and ascended into heaven to prepare a place for all who admit their sinfulness and turn from that life to a life as a Christ follower. This is the truth that we hope to have the opportunity to share in Thailand. But until the time comes for us to return to there, it is with a thankful heart that we are able to remember our Lord’s birth, and to worship Him alongside our fellow believers in our heart language and also to experience their love and fellowship as well. We praise the Lord for the hope that we have in Him and we eagerly look forward to the day when Jesus will come again to this earth! We pray that you have a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!
Audio Players
On a different note, one of our supporting churches in NJ has graciously purchased 20 audio players. We have loaded these players with the Phu Thai foundational teaching bible lessons for those that have never heard about God. These players can be recharged by the built-in solar panel or by using a charging cable from a cell phone. We are hoping to take about 100 of these audio players back to Thailand with us. We are excited about the prospects of these players being used to take the Word of God to areas that we may never go.
Praise & Prayer
• Praises for the provision of housing for us in Tampa.
• Please pray for transportation for us. The van that we have been leasing will need to be returned in January so we are looking into purchasing a used car that we will use until our return to Thailand.
• Please continue to pray for wisdom for us as we try to find a balance between flexibility and making plans in light of the pandemic that the world is facing.
• Pray for Bae & Noi; Baeng, Nute & Kabung, and our other friends and neighbors that they would respond to God’s invitation to them. That the Lord would guide Phu Thai people to listen to the audio bible lessons that we have posted to YouTube and Facebook and that they would respond to these truths.
• Praise for the opportunities to visit with family and friends.
• Praise for a church’s generosity for supplying 20 audio players that contain His Word and His Truths in the Phu Thai language.
Mike & Sandy Lynch ◊ PO Box 2 ◊ Hang Dong ◊ Chiang Mai 50230 ◊ Thailand
E-mail: [email protected]