April 28, 2012, was a special day for all of us, but especially for those being baptized. Thara Joh Koh (Harvey Steck) had spent at least 5 months preparing the candidates for baptism. Subjects like Bible prophecy, Bible doctrines and life style were all covered. He also explained what baptism is all about. Burying self and the world in the water and coming up to a new life in Christ, to serve Him forever. God is so good.  This is the main reason why we are here. To plant the seeds of Bible Truth in these Buddhist students and pray and pray that they will someday soon accept Him as their Savior. Here are some pictures of our first fruits:

Sabbath, April 28, was the day. Pastor Shem gave the sermon, and then he gave an appeal to the soon-to-be baptized students.

Here, on the beautiful shore of the Moei River, all the staff and students gather to celebrate the baptisms.

Before the students were baptized, Harvey and his translator read their favorite text from the Bible. Texts like Ps. 27:10, Ps, 27:1, Is. 38:17, Rom. 6:6, Ps, 119:25, Ps, 119:127, Rom. 6:4, Rom. 6:12, Ps, 119:112, Ps, 85:8, Rev. 3:10, Ps. 27:1.

Three boys were baptized...

...and nine girls were baptized. Praise the Lord!

We each gave them a hug and congratulations for entering into the family of God! May each one of these students become workers for God and bring more souls into His Kingdom! May God be praised!

It’s 2:45am, and I’m stuck in the house, missing out on the excitement, while Brenda, Sharon, and Hannah are outside with Gayle Haberkam, assisting Tharamu Ehdohsay after the fast delivery of her second baby–another girl. Tharamu Ehdohsay is the wife of Thara Ehganyaw, one of our Bible teachers and my right-hand translator.

I’m told Ehdohsay’s water broke, and Ehganyaw got Gayle, who was in her hut less than a hundred yards away, to take them to the hospital about a half hour away. The walk to the truck and the bumpy ride in the truck to the end of the driveway (near our house) was about all it took, and they realized that there was no point in going to the hospital–the baby is here! My family was awakened by the sound of Gayle’s truck and her voice calling out to Brenda for a sterile knife, a pan, and a few other items. Now they’re just waiting for the delivery for the placenta.

This April began with the close of our second term of school. So with what few students remained and what staff wanted to go, we left for camp meeting. The theme was, “The Great Controversy”. We had two guest speakers from Malaysia, David Fam and Andy, both of Chinese ancestery. Both gave great appeals on how very close the end of the world is and how we need to be ready now for His soon return. There were also appeals given for the great need of translating EGW books into the Karen language. They only have “Steps to Christ”. The desire is to get the Conflict Series translated. Please pray for these people and the translation work so they can understand more of the gospel and get the messages out far and wide into “no mans land” so Jesus can come soon. Now I will share with you the sights and sounds of camp meeting–Karen style.

Here is the big building where the campmeeting was held. It is a SDA boarding place for Karen students who attend public Thai school.

Inside this big building, somewhere between 300-400 people gathered to hear God's Word spoken to them through sermons, music and scripture recitations. And to make it more bearable in the humid weather, large fans were placed around so that we can feel refreshed and stay awake!

Thank the Lord for David Fam's presentations on the Great Controversy to help us get ready for Christ soon return and for Pastor Phamor translating the sermons into Karen.

 

Andy was our other speaker. His presentations were practical lessons from the first half of the book of Daniel. Some of the topics were "Redeeming the Time," "Being a Shining Light," and "Lessons Repeated".

At campmeeting there were many musical selections. Each were singing forth their praises to God. Here is a sample of one of the choirs wearing their lovely Karen outfits.

 Not only are they good at singing, but they are very good and fast at playing their folk guitars and ukeleles.

 Scripture recitation was a part of the program as well. Some groups added a little flare to their recitation. Here is a sample.

 The scripture memorization was Proverbs chapter 3. Thank God for these Karen who were dedicated in putting forth efforts to memorize scripture. What an encouragement they were.

After some spiritual food, it was sure nice to have some physical food. Three times a day we had long lines of people waiting their turn to get some tasty Karen curry. (Not the same as Indian curry.)

Karen curries are very much like stews and stir fries. This is a cucumber and onion curry with a spicy side curry--sometimes too spicy. Other variations of curry can be potato and yellow split peas or stir fried greens and onions and so on.Very delicious.

 

May God bless these Karen people as they go back to their homes in Thailand and Burma. And may they put the messages they have heard into practice personally and be a shining light in their villages.

Every culture has their unique ways and customs, and the Karen are no exception. I would like you all to see what a Karen wedding is like. However, this wedding wasn’t quite the usual since it was the wedding of two Seventh-day Adventists–two of our current/past teachers. I hope you enjoy a glimpse of this beautiful wedding in the following pictures.

The wedding begins with the grooms party singing as they approach the church.

Next the bride's party is singing as they approach the church.

The parties enter into the church.

Here comes the bride!

Some of our students sang a special song.

And of course our family sang a special song as well.

The pastor gave a beautiful sermon in English which was then translated into Karen.

May God richly bless them in their marriage and as they serve Him.

A lot has been happening around here, and I haven’t had much of a chance to write and share. However, there are certain things most of us can hardly imagine being without–and one of those is a vehicle. (In fact, most families I know have at least two cars in the garage.) Please take a look at our Vehicle Needs page.

Also, we have shared in brief the urgent need for new dorms for our students.

Please prayerfully consider how you might help with either or both of these needs.