The Byers Family in Thailand: June 2014 update - we visited Sa-haht-sa-khan !


overlooking Sa-haht-sa-khan

Dear Partners in Ministry,

We pray that you are doing well and are encouraged in the Lord. Next month we will celebrate 1 year of living in Asia. Please let us know how you are doing and how we can be praying for you.

Field Trip Update to Kalasin Province

The end of May we went on our field trip to check out Sahatsakhan district in the province of Kalasin in Isaan/Northeast Thailand. Sahasakhan (Sa-haht-sa-khan) is a rural community surrounded by little farming villages. Kalasin team leaders, Rolf and Elfie Gerber (Swiss missionaries with OMF), have been serving here for maybe over a year now. Tuu, a Christian Isaan woman, has returned to her village after Bible school with the vision of reaching her village for Christ. There are a few believers in Sahatsakhan and Rolf, Elfie, and Tuu meet with them for worship and teaching. We are happy to report that we will be joining the Kalasin team and we will move to Sahatsakhan sometime in the beginning of October!

The Kalasin Province is a province with many districts without a church, it requires a lot of pioneer work. The people are bound by merit making and do not know that their Creator has already made merit for them once and for all. This is why we press on here in Thailand and in language studies, so that people may know that by His wounds we are healed and that we no longer have to work for righteousness; instead we receive the free gift of God’s righteousness provided in Christ and because of that get to enjoy their Creator forever.

Exploring Kalasin

While on our field trip, we were able to do outreaches with the team in 2 different villages. Opportunities opened up for Rolf to preach the gospel, which was a neat experience. We were able to visit the Haechton family (American friends from language school) and observe their life/ministry in Kham Muang, Kalasin. Moriah loves their 3 boys! We also had the privilege of witnessing one of the new believers from their church get baptized. Overall our field trip went really well, we are very excited for the things to come.

More “preparation” for Ministry in Kalasin (ie, plans are constantly changing)

We planned to spend five days in Kalasin for our field trip and then take a little vacation! We planned to head to Sisaket, a province about 5 hours south to spend some time with a Thai/Isaan family we know and attend Jenn’s old church. On the first day of our “vacation” post field trip, our car broke down. But…it broke down in the perfect spot. We were staying overnight in the town of our Dutch missionary friends, the Van Heiningens. They took good care of us and we were able to observe their life and church in Mahasarakham province. This is the same family that rushed us to the hospital in Bangkok during Jenn’s miscarriage. We are very grateful for them! 3 days later…we went on to Sisaket and had a wonderful reunion with old friends in Ban Tum village. We spent a day and a half with Jenn’s old host family, the Lukboons. Moriah had a blast but was terrified when Taa (the host dad/grandpa) tried to get her to eat a fried grasshopper. Jason ate them, no problem! After time with them, we headed to a mountainous area called Khao Yai for 3 days for some R&R. After all the travel, we are very grateful to be home and back in routine.

Prayer Points:

*To find a suitable home in Sahatsakhan

*Endurance in language study

*Safety while we live in Thailand (especially on the road!)

*The hearts of the Thai/Isaan people in Kalasin would be open to the gospel

With much love,

Jason and Jenn Byers

“A dead Christ I must do everything for; a living Christ does everything for me.” (Andrew Murray)