This time of year we are especially grateful for you, your support to us of our ministry in Thailand and your words of encouragement. Two weeks from today, we leave to return to Thailand. We had decided to spend the time during the girls Christmas break from college in Florida so that we could be with Jon and Marisa also. After growing up in Asia’s tropical climate for Christmas—this feels a bit more like home to the girls anyway. Mike is missing the Iowa snow—and Judy is deciding if all the hype about a “White Christmas” is all that great anymore! We are just happy to have this time together before our return.
We also appreciate your prayers for a difficult family situation that has just come up. Judy’s dad has been having heart problems and 5 days ago went into the hospital. When they found out he had 99% blockage in one artery and 80% in two others, he’s been in ICU ever since. Tomorrow (Monday, Dec. 24) at 7:15am he will have his second open heart surgery to do a double bypass on his heart. Needless to say this has been very difficult on us and we have agonized a lot over Judy leaving the family to go back up to Iowa. The plan now is to say our good-byes down here and get back up to him when he is released from the hospital to help with the recovery. We appreciate your prayers for him as he is in the open heart surgery and for a good recovery. Please pray also for us to know how we can best be here for our girls and help with Dad also.
We are so ready to get back to Thailand and return to our ministry, Thai staff and students, and home. The reports from our Vision CM 2007 conference were incredible. 600 students and staff gathered together, and many new Christians are in the campus ministries around the country as a result.
Our family situation makes us feel torn between leaving our girls and dad in his fragile state and yet getting back to our life and work in Thailand. We really do need your prayers for us right now. Pray for Dad’s surgery and recovery, these last days with the girls, and all the logistics for our return on Jan. 7 to Thailand. God is always good and faithful and we need to reflect on that right now.
Enjoy this family holiday and celebration of Jesus’ birth!
December 25, 2007
December 14, 2007
Christmas Letter- 2007
December, 2007
Dear friends,
November was definitely a month of reflecting on God’s goodness and faithfulness in our lives. It was a month for us to be in Iowa, and gave us the opportunity to share with 7 different churches an update of our ministry. We have really enjoyed the small Iowa rural churches and have been encouraged by the community and family commitment evidenced by their fellowships. We were also blessed to have all four girls come to Iowa for Thanksgiving, play together on sleds in the first snowfall they had seen in many years on the day before Thanksgiving, and then host a meal for both of our families on Thanksgiving Day. We are truly blessed and the girls said it was their best Thanksgiving ever.
December will involve another month of travel. First stop is Lori’s college graduation on December 6 from North Greenville University, in South Carolina. CONGRATULATIONS LORI! We are so proud of her and her determination to complete her college education! Then our travels will take us through: Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and Missouri --for a wedding, visit with team members, Christmas with all four girls, and leaving Jenny at college in Missouri before our return to Thailand on January 7.
In all honesty, juggling our girl’s schedules of travels in different states is difficult. The packing and sorting is a lot of work, sometimes exhausting and emotionally draining. But with God’s strength, we always seem to make it through (striving for joyfulness) and we are eager to get back to our home and work in Thailand.
Many people have told us that they want an updated family photo, so this was our best attempt and probably our first time ever to share a family photo taken in snow. We so appreciate your prayers for us and value them more than you’ll ever know.
When you see this photo- please pray for:
1) Our good-byes with each of the girls as we leave them after the holidays to fly back to Asia. Pray that each of them will walk closely with God and He will be their Father and they will turn to Him- when we, their parents can not be there for them.
2) That God will prepare our hearts as we adjust back into our home and ministry in Thailand. There are so many ministry needs and we want God to show us how to best use our time and talents in ministry there.
3) December 5 is the King of Thailand’s 80th birthday. This will be a significant celebration for the whole country. Thailand Campus Crusade for Christ is using the holiday for one of our largest student gatherings ever- with a conference Dec. 7-11 in Chiang Mai at our center. They are expecting 800 students from all over the country. By the time you get this the conference may be over, but please pray for the follow-up of the students who attend and make decisions to follow Jesus with their lives.
May this Christmas season be one of true meaning for you and your family,
Mike and Judy Christian
mikejudy@ji-net.com
Dear friends,
November was definitely a month of reflecting on God’s goodness and faithfulness in our lives. It was a month for us to be in Iowa, and gave us the opportunity to share with 7 different churches an update of our ministry. We have really enjoyed the small Iowa rural churches and have been encouraged by the community and family commitment evidenced by their fellowships. We were also blessed to have all four girls come to Iowa for Thanksgiving, play together on sleds in the first snowfall they had seen in many years on the day before Thanksgiving, and then host a meal for both of our families on Thanksgiving Day. We are truly blessed and the girls said it was their best Thanksgiving ever.
December will involve another month of travel. First stop is Lori’s college graduation on December 6 from North Greenville University, in South Carolina. CONGRATULATIONS LORI! We are so proud of her and her determination to complete her college education! Then our travels will take us through: Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and Missouri --for a wedding, visit with team members, Christmas with all four girls, and leaving Jenny at college in Missouri before our return to Thailand on January 7.
In all honesty, juggling our girl’s schedules of travels in different states is difficult. The packing and sorting is a lot of work, sometimes exhausting and emotionally draining. But with God’s strength, we always seem to make it through (striving for joyfulness) and we are eager to get back to our home and work in Thailand.
Many people have told us that they want an updated family photo, so this was our best attempt and probably our first time ever to share a family photo taken in snow. We so appreciate your prayers for us and value them more than you’ll ever know.
When you see this photo- please pray for:
1) Our good-byes with each of the girls as we leave them after the holidays to fly back to Asia. Pray that each of them will walk closely with God and He will be their Father and they will turn to Him- when we, their parents can not be there for them.
2) That God will prepare our hearts as we adjust back into our home and ministry in Thailand. There are so many ministry needs and we want God to show us how to best use our time and talents in ministry there.
3) December 5 is the King of Thailand’s 80th birthday. This will be a significant celebration for the whole country. Thailand Campus Crusade for Christ is using the holiday for one of our largest student gatherings ever- with a conference Dec. 7-11 in Chiang Mai at our center. They are expecting 800 students from all over the country. By the time you get this the conference may be over, but please pray for the follow-up of the students who attend and make decisions to follow Jesus with their lives.
May this Christmas season be one of true meaning for you and your family,
Mike and Judy Christian
mikejudy@ji-net.com
December 08, 2007
Gatlinburg, Tennesee- Still Celebrating...
Since Grandpa Leonard and Uncle Dick and Aunt Joy came all the way out to Lori's graduation, we decided to take a fun day to do something adventuresome in the area before their return to Iowa tomorrow. We drove a scenic route through the Smokey Mountains and ended up in Gatlinburg, Tennessee in time to walk along main street, checking out their fun shops and enjoy a great meal. We decided on Bubba Gump Shrimp and found Forrest Gump there to be very entertaining. After resting at our cabin up in the hills, we went to our first nighttime parade and found their annual Christmas parade to be a lot of fun.
December 07, 2007
Lori's College Graduation
Today was a very special day in the life of us as parents. After 5 1/2 years of college- we got to celebrate Lori Lynn's graduation from North Greenville University. Yep, it took her a bit longer than some college students and that is why we are so extra proud of Lori. Academics are hard for her and yet she is incredibly gifted in her field of study and we have no doubt that "God is going to use her to make a huge splash in the world", as some of her professors communicated with us today. We are so proud of her the way she perservered, and stuck with it to complete her goal. Of course, anyone who studies at three different universities and changes their majors, needs to expect it will take them longer. But her experiences have enriched her life in the process and we are so excited to watch and see where God leads her next! Lori- we need to tell you again that we are so very proud of you! Way to go girl!!!
November 16, 2007
Quotes for Mom's
I've been reading a book that has quotes for Mom's in it. Some of them are quite cheesy-- but others really resonate with me. My heart has been so wrapped up in the honor of being a mother for so many years. I will just pick a few favorites to share today.....
"Where we love is home----
home that our feet may leave,
but not our hearts."
(Do you suppose I relate to this so well, because - home to our family is not always a place--, but just being together???)
And for everymother who is pregnant with her second child, wondering how she will ever love a second like the first... this explains it...
"Maternal love, a miraculous substance which God multiplies as He divides it."
"Making the decision to have a child ---it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."
I know this sounds crazy-- but it is really true of me...
"I actually remember feeling delight, at two o'clock in the morning, when the baby woke for his feed, because I so longed to have another look at him". Because my girls were such good sleepers, I loved having that little time alone with them in the middle of the night!
"The mother love is like God's love;
He loves us not because we are lovable,
but because it is His nature to love,
and because we are his children."
"Children need love, especially when they don't deserve it"
" A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on."
These are coming back clearer again-- now that I'm a Grandma......
"A mother's arms are made of tenderness, and children sleep soundly in them."
"Who is getting more pleasure from this rocking, the baby or me?"
"A baby is something you carry inside you for nine months, in your arms for three years, and in your heart till the day you die."
OK-- enough for now-- but more to come...
"Where we love is home----
home that our feet may leave,
but not our hearts."
(Do you suppose I relate to this so well, because - home to our family is not always a place--, but just being together???)
And for everymother who is pregnant with her second child, wondering how she will ever love a second like the first... this explains it...
"Maternal love, a miraculous substance which God multiplies as He divides it."
"Making the decision to have a child ---it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."
I know this sounds crazy-- but it is really true of me...
"I actually remember feeling delight, at two o'clock in the morning, when the baby woke for his feed, because I so longed to have another look at him". Because my girls were such good sleepers, I loved having that little time alone with them in the middle of the night!
"The mother love is like God's love;
He loves us not because we are lovable,
but because it is His nature to love,
and because we are his children."
"Children need love, especially when they don't deserve it"
" A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on."
These are coming back clearer again-- now that I'm a Grandma......
"A mother's arms are made of tenderness, and children sleep soundly in them."
"Who is getting more pleasure from this rocking, the baby or me?"
"A baby is something you carry inside you for nine months, in your arms for three years, and in your heart till the day you die."
OK-- enough for now-- but more to come...
November 03, 2007
Remember the days when?????
OK, so I've been really bad at blogging. It all started about 6 months ago- when I had some problems with creating a blog and I got frustrated and I haven't added any since. I have just found my Facebook page an easier way to add and share photos. But since we are returning to Thailand again soon, I want to get back into blogging, so I can share photos and updates of our lives there. Anyway, I was looking through some old files and found this one of the girls and I totally adore it and had to post it. Those days of having a newborn, and ages 3,5,7 are some of my most precious memories. For those of you with little ones at those ages-- enjoy every moment. I know they are so physically demanding and you feel like you have no time for your self-- but it all changes so fast. Those days I remember as some of my most fulfilling and fun. Everyday of building into their minds and lives is so meaningful. Don't you just want to squeeze those cheeks? I guess that's what Collin and Summers are for now.
November 02, 2007
Dear friends,
After sleeping in 12 different beds during the past 19 days, our little cabin in Cedar Falls, felt real good to come home to last night. We continue to be blessed by God’s goodness to us as we’ve traveled many miles by car and plane during that last few months. Our Thailand national director, Nok, met us in California and we were able to meet with several ministry partners during the past few weeks in California and Texas. It’s exciting for us to share stories with people who have given much to help us reach college students in Thailand with God’s love, and to see their enthusiasm to share their resources to make a difference in Asian students lives for all eternity. We continue to notice the American value of accumulating bigger and better “things” in contrast to the content simple lifestyle of the majority of Thai people that we work with, but it is very refreshing to spend time with people who have a desire to share their abundance of resources to help us reach Asians in the ministry that he has drawn us to.
A highlight of our time in Texas was last weekend when we joined the students from Baylor University for a fall retreat at a campground. They are one of 4 partnership campuses with us and send their students to Thailand to help us on projects. We usually spend time with them in Thailand in ministry there- but it was encouraging to see them interacting in their home country and to spend the weekend interacting with them.
We love getting updates from our staff back in Thailand while we are here, and want to share this short one that we recently received. It is from one of our full time staff telling us about a student camp from a campus in Chiang Rai, the new campus we have just begun working on. Keep in mind that English is the 3rd or 4th language for them, but we think you can still read their hearts.
Dear lung mike and pa Judy
How are you ? we are happy now we finish L.T.I camp CRU at Chiangsaen last week,
I thank God this year we has 72 student came to L.T.I and we shear gospel with 228 people pray receive Chrits 28 people. and i think of all you in my prayer,
I miss you
God bless you
Check
The church that is being built back on Elephant Island is nearing completion. Here is the most recent picture that we received last month. This is the village that we have built from start (30 huts) from volunteers who have come to work with us. We’re anxious to get back to the island in January to visit it and the villagers using it for worship.
The two main prayer requests that we have for you this month are:
1) It seems that vehicles have been our biggest challenge this time in the USA. We’ve been borrowing different ones all fall, and now each of our girls is getting to the point that they need one of their own to live here in the USA alone. The only one that we did have, Lori was driving in South Carolina, and the engine totally went out on it this month. Please pray for wisdom for Mike as he researches and makes decisions in this area of purchasing.
2) Many church groups and individuals have expressed an interest to come and help us with our ministry in Thailand next year. In fact, at this time, we have 15 different groups preparing to come in 2008 to work together with us in one way or another. The logistics and planning for these groups can be very time consuming, but usually worth the effort because of the new contacts they give us and the encouragement they are to our Thai national staff. Pray for our efforts to administrate and coordinate all these groups.
Thank-you again for your partnership with us,
Mike and Judy Christian
319-277-3571- (cabin phone)
September 26, 2007
Dear Teammate,
“We thank God in all our remembrance of you……..”, from Philippians 1:3- expresses so well how we feel about you. We often find it difficult to find ways to thank you for sending us to Thailand to share God’s love. We also find it difficult to get time with each of you when we come back to the USA for visits. Instead of us coming to you this time—we are inviting you to come our way to hear an update of your ministry and see some pictures of your ministry in Thailand.
You are invited to come by our area of residency on Monday, October 8 at 7:00p.m.to hear our update and so that we can have some time with you. Please come to the PIONEER HALL at the Cedar Falls Riverview Conference Center, at 439 N. Division St.
Refreshments and prizes from Thailand will be included!
With Gratefulness for you,
Mike and Judy Christian
319-277-3571
319-493-8559
***So that we can have a rough count- please send us an e-mail reply if you think you might come and tell us how many people you’ll bring.
“We thank God in all our remembrance of you……..”, from Philippians 1:3- expresses so well how we feel about you. We often find it difficult to find ways to thank you for sending us to Thailand to share God’s love. We also find it difficult to get time with each of you when we come back to the USA for visits. Instead of us coming to you this time—we are inviting you to come our way to hear an update of your ministry and see some pictures of your ministry in Thailand.
You are invited to come by our area of residency on Monday, October 8 at 7:00p.m.to hear our update and so that we can have some time with you. Please come to the PIONEER HALL at the Cedar Falls Riverview Conference Center, at 439 N. Division St.
Refreshments and prizes from Thailand will be included!
With Gratefulness for you,
Mike and Judy Christian
319-277-3571
319-493-8559
***So that we can have a rough count- please send us an e-mail reply if you think you might come and tell us how many people you’ll bring.
August 29, 2007
Dear Team,
What a refreshing week this has been for us! For quite awhile, we have both sensed the need to get away and have some focused time with the Lord and each other at this phase in our lives. Some generous friends graciously offered us their place of retreat to get away in the Branson area after dropping Jennifer off at her new school – “College of the Ozarks”. We’ve spent the week together, talking, praying and reading more than we have for years. God has encouraged us in many ways and we are so grateful for this time. Together we have read the book “Love and Respect” by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs- which has ministered to us in our relationship and we highly recommend it to married couples.
Tomorrow we say good-bye to Jen and move on to South Carolina to help Lori as she is settling into her first apartment. We are very thankful for Jen’s acceptance into College of the Ozarks – especially after finding out that they accepted 359 new students this year out of 3514 applicants. That 10% acceptance rate is the lowest one for colleges in the Midwest. The school was also rated #1 in the nation for “least amount of student debt at graduation”. We’re praying for good adjustments and friends for her. Her new address –(since she loves mail) is:
Jennifer Christian
College of the Ozarks
PO Box 187
Point Lookout, MO 65726
We originally intended to return to Thailand in a few weeks, but our director has asked us to extend our time here in the USA. We will join him for some appointments with investors in our Asian ministries, and meet with some of our partnership campuses in the south. We are not sure yet of our return date- but appreciate your prayers for us during these next few months that will involve a lot of traveling.
Thank you for your partnership with us in reaching Thailand with God’s love,
Mike and Judy Christian
What a refreshing week this has been for us! For quite awhile, we have both sensed the need to get away and have some focused time with the Lord and each other at this phase in our lives. Some generous friends graciously offered us their place of retreat to get away in the Branson area after dropping Jennifer off at her new school – “College of the Ozarks”. We’ve spent the week together, talking, praying and reading more than we have for years. God has encouraged us in many ways and we are so grateful for this time. Together we have read the book “Love and Respect” by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs- which has ministered to us in our relationship and we highly recommend it to married couples.
Tomorrow we say good-bye to Jen and move on to South Carolina to help Lori as she is settling into her first apartment. We are very thankful for Jen’s acceptance into College of the Ozarks – especially after finding out that they accepted 359 new students this year out of 3514 applicants. That 10% acceptance rate is the lowest one for colleges in the Midwest. The school was also rated #1 in the nation for “least amount of student debt at graduation”. We’re praying for good adjustments and friends for her. Her new address –(since she loves mail) is:
Jennifer Christian
College of the Ozarks
PO Box 187
Point Lookout, MO 65726
We originally intended to return to Thailand in a few weeks, but our director has asked us to extend our time here in the USA. We will join him for some appointments with investors in our Asian ministries, and meet with some of our partnership campuses in the south. We are not sure yet of our return date- but appreciate your prayers for us during these next few months that will involve a lot of traveling.
Thank you for your partnership with us in reaching Thailand with God’s love,
Mike and Judy Christian
August 16, 2007
Dear Team,
It’s hard to believe that we left our home in Thailand one month ago today. So much has happened since then. Arriving in the USA- we felt pretty exhausted from all the busyness of getting our home and ministry responsibilities ready to leave for a few months, helping Jon and Marisa and family with their move from Thailand back to the USA, and the 36 hour trip. However, the first day back as we sat down in a meeting at our Campus Crusade staff conference in Ft. Collins, Colorado- God used speakers and old friends to encourage our hearts and remind us what a privilege it is to serve God with this organization. We thank God again for his goodness to us in allowing us to be a part of this conference with 5000 other staff and the way he used it to minister to our weary bodies.
Back in Iowa, we’ve been able to unpack for a few weeks in our Cedar Falls cabin, and have a few days with two of our college age girls. Yesterday we sent Lori off and we leave tomorrow to take Jenny to college and then help them both settle in. Each of the girls have had great summers of growth in different ways in Georgia, Hawaii, Korea, and Thailand and are getting ready for their new responsibilities this fall in their four different states. We’ll be traveling in and out of Iowa to help them and for a few speaking opportunities, too.
We’ve heard some reports from the campus ministry in Thailand since we got here. One of our newer campuses up in Chiang Rai—seems to be having a great month with a summer project from Guam that we set up before we left. Last Friday, they took 30 students down to Chiang Mai for a regional student meeting. We are thrilled to hear of the growth in this new ministry. We’ve also heard that the church on Elephant Island is continuing in construction and ask you to pray for that team as they are experiencing some difficulties with the village people. This group of villagers are so young in their Christian faith, that they really need someone to teach and disciple them- and there are just not enough Christian workers available. This is a picture of the church being built right now. .
We appreciate your prayers for us during our travels this month and times of good-byes. We are thankful to God for His faithfulness in each of our girls lives as we watch them grow into adulthood and continue on with their education and jobs.
Our phone at the cabin is – 319-277-3571 and our cell is 319-493-8559. You can also reach us at both e-mail addresses:
mikejudy@ji-net.com and
mike4@ji-net.com
In His Love,
Mike and Judy Christian
June 28, 2007
Dear Team,
I know that I told you that we would write and tell how our time in Chiang Rai went after we got back to Chiang Mai-- but we are so excited-- we have to tell you now. We are hoping to find a place here in this city to send an e-mail.
First thing that we learned is that we need to send our prayer requests like this more often. We heard back from many of you that you would be praying and that was such an encouragement to us as we anticipated the appointment. You are great prayer warriors for our ministry here.
We can probably best describe the appointment with Ephesians 3:20 " Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen!" From the time we walked in the door till we left the campus we were overwhelmed with more than we could have imagined. We arrived and were greeted promptly in a room set up formally with plates of snacks served to each of us and gifts presented to each of us. Immediately we had great rapport with the Vice President and Dean of the university. Somehow the conversation kept turning back to their and Mike's enjoyment of golf and we had fun laughing about that.
At one point during the appointment, I got teary-eyed from God's incredible goodness to us. Instead of us meekly asking them for permission to work on their campus-- it turned out just the opposite and they were asking us to work on their campus. They asked us if they could house our project students in their international dorms ( great strategy for building relationships with fellow students)- they asked us if we could plan activities for their students to come to and have fun ( that is already our plan on each campus.. to seek permission to have theme parties and get to know students), and they asked us to form small groups to teach conversational English to students. ( that is one of our other most used activities for getting to know students). We were even able to tell them up front that we are Christians and as we work with college students and see that students all over the world have similar problems, that we share with them that we believe Jesus Christ can help them with life issues. They gave us permission to share these personal experiences with students.
The whole appointment turned out to be them asking us to do - what we had gone in and intended to ask them permission for. When we left they thanked us over and over for coming. We could hardly contain our feelings of appreciation to them-- but mostly to God and to you who prayed for us.
Today we will spend more time with the full time staff team up here in planning, and Mike will be the speaker tonight at a "Welcome Back to School" social on the other campus that we work at, Chiang Rai Rajabhat University. Each of the 3 Thai staff members on this Chiang Rai team are low on their financial support and only able to go on campus two days a week, until they can finish raising their monthly support. Please pray that God will lead them to people (remember Thailand is 1% Christian) to complete their financial team so that they can continue meeting with students.
Overwhelmed with God's goodness,
Mike and Judy
I know that I told you that we would write and tell how our time in Chiang Rai went after we got back to Chiang Mai-- but we are so excited-- we have to tell you now. We are hoping to find a place here in this city to send an e-mail.
First thing that we learned is that we need to send our prayer requests like this more often. We heard back from many of you that you would be praying and that was such an encouragement to us as we anticipated the appointment. You are great prayer warriors for our ministry here.
We can probably best describe the appointment with Ephesians 3:20 " Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen!" From the time we walked in the door till we left the campus we were overwhelmed with more than we could have imagined. We arrived and were greeted promptly in a room set up formally with plates of snacks served to each of us and gifts presented to each of us. Immediately we had great rapport with the Vice President and Dean of the university. Somehow the conversation kept turning back to their and Mike's enjoyment of golf and we had fun laughing about that.
At one point during the appointment, I got teary-eyed from God's incredible goodness to us. Instead of us meekly asking them for permission to work on their campus-- it turned out just the opposite and they were asking us to work on their campus. They asked us if they could house our project students in their international dorms ( great strategy for building relationships with fellow students)- they asked us if we could plan activities for their students to come to and have fun ( that is already our plan on each campus.. to seek permission to have theme parties and get to know students), and they asked us to form small groups to teach conversational English to students. ( that is one of our other most used activities for getting to know students). We were even able to tell them up front that we are Christians and as we work with college students and see that students all over the world have similar problems, that we share with them that we believe Jesus Christ can help them with life issues. They gave us permission to share these personal experiences with students.
The whole appointment turned out to be them asking us to do - what we had gone in and intended to ask them permission for. When we left they thanked us over and over for coming. We could hardly contain our feelings of appreciation to them-- but mostly to God and to you who prayed for us.
Today we will spend more time with the full time staff team up here in planning, and Mike will be the speaker tonight at a "Welcome Back to School" social on the other campus that we work at, Chiang Rai Rajabhat University. Each of the 3 Thai staff members on this Chiang Rai team are low on their financial support and only able to go on campus two days a week, until they can finish raising their monthly support. Please pray that God will lead them to people (remember Thailand is 1% Christian) to complete their financial team so that they can continue meeting with students.
Overwhelmed with God's goodness,
Mike and Judy
June 26, 2007
Dear Team,
Today we just sent off 7 friends of Bethany's who have been here working with us for the past 3 weeks. Keeping up with college students who want to see and do everything that Thailand has to offer within 3 weeks makes us feel a bit drained and yet we are so very encouraged by all they accomplished. In their short amount of time of going to campus everyday at Mae Jo University, they were able to build so many new friendships and help their friends to understand what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Last Thursday night on campus- they had a "Thai/American Friendship" party with about 50 students and 12 new students indicated a decision to become Christians. Please pray for these new Christians and our Thai staff on that campus: (Juum, K, Fawn, and Noot) who will continue meeting with these students and teach them the Bible. 15 students from the other American summer project have seen similar fruit on both Payap and Chiang Mai University. Tonight is their Friendship Goodbye Party where many of their new friends will also hear the good news of Jesus for the first time.
If you get this in time- we have a special prayer request for us of something that will happen at 2:00pm our Tuesday afternoon- which is about 2:00am your Tuesday morn. Mike and I along with two of our Thai staff have an appointment with the Vice President of an influential International university in Chiang Rai. We will be asking for permission from the administration to work on that campus with our Thai team who is already working in that city along with some new Americans coming over. Please pray that if it is God's will that we will build a good relationship and that the administration will welcome us to work on that campus. We'll let you know how it goes when we return back to Chiang Mai.
As always we value each of you and your prayers for our ministry here in Thailand,
Mike and Judy
Today we just sent off 7 friends of Bethany's who have been here working with us for the past 3 weeks. Keeping up with college students who want to see and do everything that Thailand has to offer within 3 weeks makes us feel a bit drained and yet we are so very encouraged by all they accomplished. In their short amount of time of going to campus everyday at Mae Jo University, they were able to build so many new friendships and help their friends to understand what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Last Thursday night on campus- they had a "Thai/American Friendship" party with about 50 students and 12 new students indicated a decision to become Christians. Please pray for these new Christians and our Thai staff on that campus: (Juum, K, Fawn, and Noot) who will continue meeting with these students and teach them the Bible. 15 students from the other American summer project have seen similar fruit on both Payap and Chiang Mai University. Tonight is their Friendship Goodbye Party where many of their new friends will also hear the good news of Jesus for the first time.
If you get this in time- we have a special prayer request for us of something that will happen at 2:00pm our Tuesday afternoon- which is about 2:00am your Tuesday morn. Mike and I along with two of our Thai staff have an appointment with the Vice President of an influential International university in Chiang Rai. We will be asking for permission from the administration to work on that campus with our Thai team who is already working in that city along with some new Americans coming over. Please pray that if it is God's will that we will build a good relationship and that the administration will welcome us to work on that campus. We'll let you know how it goes when we return back to Chiang Mai.
As always we value each of you and your prayers for our ministry here in Thailand,
Mike and Judy
June 19, 2007
Decorating Project
A few months ago, I spent abit of time on a decorating project that was a huge relief to get done. Thailand Campus Crusade for Christ has a very nice facility that we use several times everyweek for meetings with staff, students, and on Sundays an English speaking church meets there. A friend of mine, Reatha Aronson, from Waterloo who we call our "Thailand interior decorator" helped Marisa and I pick out colors for painting. We also carpeted one whole wall with different colors to help with the "echoing" acoustics, and had valances made to frame the windows. Please enjoy our before and after pictures..........
Picking out fabric and trying to communicate designs
to non- english speaking workers was interesting!
The before scenario!
The "after" picture only shows two walls,but it looks amazingly better now! 
June 15, 2007
E-mail Update- June, 2007-
Dear Teammates,
Thank you for praying for our trip to another country a few weeks ago. We were able to accomplish a lot with our brothers and sisters in the Lord there and feel more thankful than ever for the freedom that we have here in Thailand.
Bethany's trip to Korea with her choir went well and she was so impressed with the Korean Christian's passion for God. Now she has been here in Thailand with us for two weeks along with 7 friends that she brought from her university to work with us. We have 4 different groups who have come to work with us this summer on different campuses- but we have to say that our greatest joy it is to work together with our own daughter and her friends in ministry together. Their first week, we slept on the island of Koh Chang (Elephant Island) right in the village with the villagers. No electricity, no running water, and no market on the island created a real time of bonding for all of us as we built another home - this time on stilts on top of water. These next two weeks they are working on Mae Jo University. They have already built some new friendships with students and begun to talk with them about what Jesus has done for them and why they have come to Thailand. Yesterday, I challenged them all to pray that they would be able to share God's plan of salvation with at least one student and to leave a disciple behind for our Thai staff who will continue meeting with students on that campus the rest of the year. We also have 15 students from America with Campus Crusade working at Payap and Chiang Mai University. Pray for them also as they meet with students each day- that God will lead them to those students who are spiritually hungry. Please pray also for a team here from Grace College helping with our ministry on a Bangkok university, and a team soon to arrive from Guam to help on our campuses in Chiang Rai.
We'd also like to ask you to pray for our ministry team up in Chiang Rai. A small group of us will go up to meet with the administration on a strategic campus up there and ask permission to work with students. Our current team has had some opposition to working there - so we will appreciate your prayers as we strive to make favor with the administration and seek their permission.
Mike will be on Koh Chang next week, along with some Thai construction workers, hoping to finish up the last of 30 homes for that new village. Their last project will be to build a church for all the new Christians to meet in. Around 120 people have moved to this new village, most of them have professed Christianity, but now they need to be taught about how to live the Christian life. Since they don't read- it is a challenge to teach them without Bibles.
Jen is having a great summer as a camp counselor in Georgia and Lori with her internship in Hawaii. Jon and Marisa are ending their two years of ministry in Chiang Mai and beginning the transition back to the USA this summer. We appreciate your prayers for all of us!
Mike and Judy
Thank you for praying for our trip to another country a few weeks ago. We were able to accomplish a lot with our brothers and sisters in the Lord there and feel more thankful than ever for the freedom that we have here in Thailand.
Bethany's trip to Korea with her choir went well and she was so impressed with the Korean Christian's passion for God. Now she has been here in Thailand with us for two weeks along with 7 friends that she brought from her university to work with us. We have 4 different groups who have come to work with us this summer on different campuses- but we have to say that our greatest joy it is to work together with our own daughter and her friends in ministry together. Their first week, we slept on the island of Koh Chang (Elephant Island) right in the village with the villagers. No electricity, no running water, and no market on the island created a real time of bonding for all of us as we built another home - this time on stilts on top of water. These next two weeks they are working on Mae Jo University. They have already built some new friendships with students and begun to talk with them about what Jesus has done for them and why they have come to Thailand. Yesterday, I challenged them all to pray that they would be able to share God's plan of salvation with at least one student and to leave a disciple behind for our Thai staff who will continue meeting with students on that campus the rest of the year. We also have 15 students from America with Campus Crusade working at Payap and Chiang Mai University. Pray for them also as they meet with students each day- that God will lead them to those students who are spiritually hungry. Please pray also for a team here from Grace College helping with our ministry on a Bangkok university, and a team soon to arrive from Guam to help on our campuses in Chiang Rai.
We'd also like to ask you to pray for our ministry team up in Chiang Rai. A small group of us will go up to meet with the administration on a strategic campus up there and ask permission to work with students. Our current team has had some opposition to working there - so we will appreciate your prayers as we strive to make favor with the administration and seek their permission.
Mike will be on Koh Chang next week, along with some Thai construction workers, hoping to finish up the last of 30 homes for that new village. Their last project will be to build a church for all the new Christians to meet in. Around 120 people have moved to this new village, most of them have professed Christianity, but now they need to be taught about how to live the Christian life. Since they don't read- it is a challenge to teach them without Bibles.
Jen is having a great summer as a camp counselor in Georgia and Lori with her internship in Hawaii. Jon and Marisa are ending their two years of ministry in Chiang Mai and beginning the transition back to the USA this summer. We appreciate your prayers for all of us!
Mike and Judy
May 16, 2007
Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, and beyond......
Dear Team,
Our International School of Leadership classes last week on "Servant Leadership", were amazingly helpful and a huge time of growth for all of our staff. Thank you for your prayers ! We enjoyed looking at God's teaching on this much needed topic and pray that God will help us all to live out the things we learned as we soon start a new year of ministry.
In a few days, the two of us will be taking a trip into a neighboring country to visit some of our staff working there. Please pray for safety for us, that we can be an encouragement in a dark country, and that God will give wisdom concerning how we can best help the work there. We will be out of our home May 17 to June 8, but will be able to keep checking our e-mails.
As soon as we get back from that trip our summer project groups from the USA and other countries will start arriving. This summer we are coordinating three different groups coming to help our campus ministries here in the north. Sometimes all of the logistics of preparing for and coordinating the groups, ( housing, transportation, cultural training, translation, etc.) on each of our campuses feels like it's a big job- but once they get here and bring so much help to our ministry- we remember how worth it- it all is. This summer will be the first time that we bring foreigners up to a city in the north called Chiang Rai, so they will be pioneering a new campus as they work together with our staff team up there. Mike will also be leading three projects that will use part of their time to do physical labor in the south with our Tsunami rebuilding projects.
In these next few weeks, we'll be doing a lot of traveling, translating, and teaching. As always we appreciate you and your prayers for us and Thailand.
Mike and Judy
Our International School of Leadership classes last week on "Servant Leadership", were amazingly helpful and a huge time of growth for all of our staff. Thank you for your prayers ! We enjoyed looking at God's teaching on this much needed topic and pray that God will help us all to live out the things we learned as we soon start a new year of ministry.
In a few days, the two of us will be taking a trip into a neighboring country to visit some of our staff working there. Please pray for safety for us, that we can be an encouragement in a dark country, and that God will give wisdom concerning how we can best help the work there. We will be out of our home May 17 to June 8, but will be able to keep checking our e-mails.
As soon as we get back from that trip our summer project groups from the USA and other countries will start arriving. This summer we are coordinating three different groups coming to help our campus ministries here in the north. Sometimes all of the logistics of preparing for and coordinating the groups, ( housing, transportation, cultural training, translation, etc.) on each of our campuses feels like it's a big job- but once they get here and bring so much help to our ministry- we remember how worth it- it all is. This summer will be the first time that we bring foreigners up to a city in the north called Chiang Rai, so they will be pioneering a new campus as they work together with our staff team up there. Mike will also be leading three projects that will use part of their time to do physical labor in the south with our Tsunami rebuilding projects.
In these next few weeks, we'll be doing a lot of traveling, translating, and teaching. As always we appreciate you and your prayers for us and Thailand.
Mike and Judy
May 10, 2007
E-mail Update / Thailand Summertime/ 5/7/07
Dear Team,
"Nina, Nina, can we make 'copcorn' after dinner?", Collin requested. Marisa, Collin (2 1/2), and Summer (1) brought much excitement and change of pace at our home last week as they were living at "Nina's" house, while Jon and Mike were out of town. The proud grandparents- want to share a favorite photo with you......
Mike has seen a lot of progress during the past three weeks of working on Tsunami projects. A few days ago he handed over the keys for 7 more of the "modular-type"homes that they built on Phyam island. Last week a group of over 25 worked on Elephant Island, (the village they only started building last month) , and now have 15 homes/huts finished. He called one afternoon as he was driving a mother to a hospital who had just delivered a baby 14 days ago in the village on the island, and the baby was quite sick. We thank God for the opportunity to help many from this village, like this new mother through her dr. visit.
Judy's Net Ministry conference in Bangkok went well and was very helpful for her to learn new ways to use the internet for ministry opportunities. She was especially motivated when she heard in the introduction that more people will soon be reached through the internet- than the ministry of the Jesus Film that has been so affective in helping us reach the world for many years. Another bit of education was finding out that the generation of college students now-doesn't use e-mail so much , but prefers communicating though avenues like blogging, face book, etc. We are motivated to develop in this ministry- but it's a process that is taking some time. Here is a picture of our delegation from Thailand that met that week with people from all around the world with Campus Crusade for Christ.
We appreciate your prayers for our family as our four daughters will be scattering here and there throughout the earth this summer. Possibly it's one of the characteristics of missionary kids growing up around the world....
---Lori is finishing up college and doing her internship this summer with a company that is flying her to Hawaii for 12 weeks and paying her to lead young people on outdoor adventures throughout the Hawaiian islands.
---Bethany is traveling with her University choir and performing concerts throughout Korea with their Korean choir director for 2 weeks, and then bringing 7 friends on over here to Thailand for 3 weeks to work with us as we open up the campus ministries in June and start the new school year.
---Jenny is working at Winshape camps in Georgia, and then transferring schools to College of the Ozarks in Missouri next fall.
---Jon, Marisa, Collin and Summer are finishing up their two year stint here in Chiang Mai and have put in their applications to join staff with Campus Crusade for Christ. They will move back to the USA this fall, and work on a US campus to get more training.
This week, we are attending our annual Institute of Biblical Studies week (IBS), with all of our Thai staff held at our center here in Chiang Mai. . It is a week that we set aside each year for them to intensely study the Bible or for self enrichment courses. May 7-12 we have a guests coming from the USA to teach, and the topic is Servant Leadership. Please pray that God uses this topic of development in all of our lives.
Mike and Judy Christian and family
"Nina, Nina, can we make 'copcorn' after dinner?", Collin requested. Marisa, Collin (2 1/2), and Summer (1) brought much excitement and change of pace at our home last week as they were living at "Nina's" house, while Jon and Mike were out of town. The proud grandparents- want to share a favorite photo with you......
Mike has seen a lot of progress during the past three weeks of working on Tsunami projects. A few days ago he handed over the keys for 7 more of the "modular-type"homes that they built on Phyam island. Last week a group of over 25 worked on Elephant Island, (the village they only started building last month) , and now have 15 homes/huts finished. He called one afternoon as he was driving a mother to a hospital who had just delivered a baby 14 days ago in the village on the island, and the baby was quite sick. We thank God for the opportunity to help many from this village, like this new mother through her dr. visit.
Judy's Net Ministry conference in Bangkok went well and was very helpful for her to learn new ways to use the internet for ministry opportunities. She was especially motivated when she heard in the introduction that more people will soon be reached through the internet- than the ministry of the Jesus Film that has been so affective in helping us reach the world for many years. Another bit of education was finding out that the generation of college students now-doesn't use e-mail so much , but prefers communicating though avenues like blogging, face book, etc. We are motivated to develop in this ministry- but it's a process that is taking some time. Here is a picture of our delegation from Thailand that met that week with people from all around the world with Campus Crusade for Christ.
We appreciate your prayers for our family as our four daughters will be scattering here and there throughout the earth this summer. Possibly it's one of the characteristics of missionary kids growing up around the world....
---Lori is finishing up college and doing her internship this summer with a company that is flying her to Hawaii for 12 weeks and paying her to lead young people on outdoor adventures throughout the Hawaiian islands.
---Bethany is traveling with her University choir and performing concerts throughout Korea with their Korean choir director for 2 weeks, and then bringing 7 friends on over here to Thailand for 3 weeks to work with us as we open up the campus ministries in June and start the new school year.
---Jenny is working at Winshape camps in Georgia, and then transferring schools to College of the Ozarks in Missouri next fall.
---Jon, Marisa, Collin and Summer are finishing up their two year stint here in Chiang Mai and have put in their applications to join staff with Campus Crusade for Christ. They will move back to the USA this fall, and work on a US campus to get more training.
This week, we are attending our annual Institute of Biblical Studies week (IBS), with all of our Thai staff held at our center here in Chiang Mai. . It is a week that we set aside each year for them to intensely study the Bible or for self enrichment courses. May 7-12 we have a guests coming from the USA to teach, and the topic is Servant Leadership. Please pray that God uses this topic of development in all of our lives.
Mike and Judy Christian and family
May 07, 2007
Jennifer is Back Home in Chiang Mai
Jenny just finished her first year at Bryan College at Dayton, Tennessee. Next fall she will be transferring to College of the Ozarks at Point Lookout, Missouri. This was a difficult decision for us and her, and we felt the need to spend sometime with her, during this time of transition. Since she had around 3 weeks until her summer job starts at Winshape Camps, we decided to share a free airline ticket with her and bring her home. She had no idea when she'd be home again- so it's been fun for her to surprise friends here in Thailand. Collin and Summer are loving having her here- and it's her daily highlight to get hugs from them. Other highlights her first 3 days have been: eating sticky rice and mango, a luxurious Thai manicure and pedicure, and meeting her Daddy at the airport. 
May 04, 2007
Another week at "Nina's" house.
Jon and Mike are down in southern Thailand's "Tsunami Land" as we call it. Since Marisa's apartment is so small....- she, Collin and Summer have moved in for the week at our house. The kids are sort of at full-time stages, so we've had lots of fun doing things with them. Here's a few photos from the last few days...
Ice cream cones in the front yard...
Nina pulled out her old tramp......
and Nina made a tent in her dining room to play in.
April 14, 2007
E-mail Update- E-mail Update from Chiang Mai, Thailand- 4/14/07
Dear Team,
Happy Thai New Year! This weekend is one of the biggest Thai holidays of the year. We are in the midst of our hot season and to celebrate the New Year, our whole city turns into a giant water throwing festival. To be honest, the holiday was a lot more fun when we had four girls in the house and our family would go out and celebrate with all their friends riding in the back of our pick-up truck, throwing water. This year, we’re staying inside and staying dry.
Our Thailand Campus Crusade for Christ annual staff conference this week was a big encouragement to us. In a room full of national Thai staff, we couldn’t help but reflect back to when we first came to Thailand and worked with just a handful of national staff. God has done amazing things through the ministry of TCCC, and the passion of our staff to reach their country is such an encouragement to us, as the numbers continue to multiply every year.
Several of you commented from our last letter that the pictures helped you to better visualize our life and ministry here in Thailand—so we will try to share photos more often. Please let us know if the photos are difficult for you to receive in our messages.
A few photo highlights of last weeks conference………………..……….
It has been a special added blessing to have Jon and Marisa working together with us these past two years. What fun to get to see our grandchildren, Collin (2 ½) and Summer (1) weekly as they grow in personality and are so loved by our Thai staff family. This was taken during our conference “fun day” on a Thai style afternoon cruise ship!We will miss them so much when they return to the USA next August.
Each year at staff conference, we have a graduation ceremony for the new staff who have completed their training at our 9 month Great Commission Training Center. This year we had 8 new staff join our ministry full-time. You might remember that when we first came to Thailand in 1986, it was to open and direct this training center. Mike was asked to lead us all in prayer for them as they began their first year of ministry with TCCC.
This week, April 15-19, Judy will be participating in a CCC international conference in Bangkok to receive training in how to help our TCCC ministry reach out to students through use of the internet. Mike will return to the south building more homes for Tsunami victims for the next three weeks, working with a stop-out team from the USA and the local villagers. We hope to share more pictures of the village as it grows from the 5 homes that you saw last week to an eventual 30 homes.
We are grateful to God for his blessings in our lives and your partnership with us,
Mike and Judy Christian
Happy Thai New Year! This weekend is one of the biggest Thai holidays of the year. We are in the midst of our hot season and to celebrate the New Year, our whole city turns into a giant water throwing festival. To be honest, the holiday was a lot more fun when we had four girls in the house and our family would go out and celebrate with all their friends riding in the back of our pick-up truck, throwing water. This year, we’re staying inside and staying dry.
Our Thailand Campus Crusade for Christ annual staff conference this week was a big encouragement to us. In a room full of national Thai staff, we couldn’t help but reflect back to when we first came to Thailand and worked with just a handful of national staff. God has done amazing things through the ministry of TCCC, and the passion of our staff to reach their country is such an encouragement to us, as the numbers continue to multiply every year.
Several of you commented from our last letter that the pictures helped you to better visualize our life and ministry here in Thailand—so we will try to share photos more often. Please let us know if the photos are difficult for you to receive in our messages.
A few photo highlights of last weeks conference………………..……….
It has been a special added blessing to have Jon and Marisa working together with us these past two years. What fun to get to see our grandchildren, Collin (2 ½) and Summer (1) weekly as they grow in personality and are so loved by our Thai staff family. This was taken during our conference “fun day” on a Thai style afternoon cruise ship!We will miss them so much when they return to the USA next August.
Each year at staff conference, we have a graduation ceremony for the new staff who have completed their training at our 9 month Great Commission Training Center. This year we had 8 new staff join our ministry full-time. You might remember that when we first came to Thailand in 1986, it was to open and direct this training center. Mike was asked to lead us all in prayer for them as they began their first year of ministry with TCCC.
This week, April 15-19, Judy will be participating in a CCC international conference in Bangkok to receive training in how to help our TCCC ministry reach out to students through use of the internet. Mike will return to the south building more homes for Tsunami victims for the next three weeks, working with a stop-out team from the USA and the local villagers. We hope to share more pictures of the village as it grows from the 5 homes that you saw last week to an eventual 30 homes.
We are grateful to God for his blessings in our lives and your partnership with us,
Mike and Judy Christian
Mike receiving an award at our Staff Conference
We just got back from our annual Thailand Campus Crusade for Christ conference. We were very surprised the last day at an award ceremony to receive an accolade from the CCC President's office in Orlando in recognition for all the work that Mike has done toward Tsunami relief work. Here we are recieiving it from our National director, Yuttasak Sirikul. 
April 03, 2007
E-mail Update- Tsunami Project Pictures and Update From Last Week- 4-3-07
Dear Team,
It’s good to be back home again and we thank God for all He helped us to accomplish on the Tsunami project last week. Specific answers to prayer are:
1) Good health and protection from accidents. Other than some scrapes and cuts, our group was kept amazingly safe.
2) We were able to break ground for the new village and get a foundation in for 7 huts.
3) God answered our prayers in giving us unity as three different people groups worked together in three different languages. We had about 23 Americans, 30+ Thai’s, and many Moken people in an out doing various jobs.
Mike decided to return this week again with a smaller team to get more building done, while Judy’s stays in Chiang Mai to get some other projects accomplished. Next week is our annual all Thai staff conference. Please pray for:
1) Safety for Mike and the team again this week, and that they could make a lot of progress in training the villagers how to build their own homes.
2) Our staff conference next week, to be a great time of encouragement and motivation for all our staff as we finish out the Thai summer and move into a new year of ministry on our campuses.
We are enclosing a few photos- to help you better visualize our work project last week.
Thank you for praying,
Mike and Judy
First day of work, clearing the land
Last day on the island – after 5 days of work.
The daily 1½ hour boat trip back and forth.
Thank-you to the Waterloo team for coming
all the way over and for working so hard!
Prayer of dedication before leaving
It’s good to be back home again and we thank God for all He helped us to accomplish on the Tsunami project last week. Specific answers to prayer are:
1) Good health and protection from accidents. Other than some scrapes and cuts, our group was kept amazingly safe.
2) We were able to break ground for the new village and get a foundation in for 7 huts.
3) God answered our prayers in giving us unity as three different people groups worked together in three different languages. We had about 23 Americans, 30+ Thai’s, and many Moken people in an out doing various jobs.
Mike decided to return this week again with a smaller team to get more building done, while Judy’s stays in Chiang Mai to get some other projects accomplished. Next week is our annual all Thai staff conference. Please pray for:
1) Safety for Mike and the team again this week, and that they could make a lot of progress in training the villagers how to build their own homes.
2) Our staff conference next week, to be a great time of encouragement and motivation for all our staff as we finish out the Thai summer and move into a new year of ministry on our campuses.
We are enclosing a few photos- to help you better visualize our work project last week.
Thank you for praying,
Mike and Judy
First day of work, clearing the land
Last day on the island – after 5 days of work.
The daily 1½ hour boat trip back and forth.
Thank-you to the Waterloo team for coming
all the way over and for working so hard!
Prayer of dedication before leaving
March 21, 2007
E-mail Update- Christian's Update from Thailand - 3/21/07
Dear Team,
It’s hard to believe over a month has already passed since we last wrote. We can’t seem to make life into a routine anymore. We’ve had several guests, dealt with some illnesses, and completed a week of Tsunami relief work. Mike was pleased that during that week, they were able to get all five homes wired with electricity and officially handed the keys over to three proud new home owners. Thank you for your prayers concerning that project 2 weeks ago.
We are now into our Thai summer season. During this time, our staff and students are working on summer projects in different locations. We sent of a group of ? to a closed neighboring country. Sunday night, Mike gave the final challenge at our center to about 50 staff and students going to the province of Phayao for a week. The group was divided up into four teams, who are working with four different village churches. This week, they are living with church members and making themselves available to help that particular church however they can. One group is building a church bathroom. Another church has a lot of children so they are doing a VBS program with all the village kids. Pray that they will be a blessing and encouragement to these small village churches and bring lasting fruit.
This week, Mike is in the south doing the prep work for several different projects in rebuilding for the Tsunami victims. He actually has 9 projects in his plans, which include: building many homes, two piers, a bridge, wells, and wiring some homes that have never had electricity.
This coming week he will be directing a project of 45 to begin building a whole new village. It is for a group of Mogen people who became Christians through the Tsunami disaster, but to this day have still not been given homes and are sleeping in a church. They have no money and no one is helping them. There are 25 families on a list asking to move to an area that has never been developed. This is one of our biggest projects as we are starting from scratch. The home (or should I say “hut”) owners will actually build together with us and we will get them started, hoping to complete at least 6 homes next week. This group will consist of 6 men coming from Waterloo, Iowa to help us and then our staff and students from Rajaphat University. Some of the students are new baby Christians, and there are a few non Christians. We will eat, sleep and work together all week, mixed in with times of discipleship and praise and worship each day. Please pray for three things in particular:
1- Safety for all the workers. We will be taking a 1 ½ boat ride out to the island each day from the main land. There are not medical facilities in this area, and we have no medical personnel in this group. We really need our guardian angles protecting us from injuries, sun, and bacteria’s.
2- Pray for Mike this week. He admits that sometimes his heart gets bigger than his arms, with there being so many needs down there. He needs continual discernment to know which projects are priority and the ones that God wants him to pour into. Pray that we will accomplish next week exactly what God wants us to.
3- For unity and a fun hard-working spirit among the 60+ workers from different cultures. Pray that the body of Christ would minister to each other through the cultural differences and growth would take place in every individual’s life.
As always – we could not continue on here without your support and prayers. We value you and your friendships so much.
Mike and Judy Christian
It’s hard to believe over a month has already passed since we last wrote. We can’t seem to make life into a routine anymore. We’ve had several guests, dealt with some illnesses, and completed a week of Tsunami relief work. Mike was pleased that during that week, they were able to get all five homes wired with electricity and officially handed the keys over to three proud new home owners. Thank you for your prayers concerning that project 2 weeks ago.
We are now into our Thai summer season. During this time, our staff and students are working on summer projects in different locations. We sent of a group of ? to a closed neighboring country. Sunday night, Mike gave the final challenge at our center to about 50 staff and students going to the province of Phayao for a week. The group was divided up into four teams, who are working with four different village churches. This week, they are living with church members and making themselves available to help that particular church however they can. One group is building a church bathroom. Another church has a lot of children so they are doing a VBS program with all the village kids. Pray that they will be a blessing and encouragement to these small village churches and bring lasting fruit.
This week, Mike is in the south doing the prep work for several different projects in rebuilding for the Tsunami victims. He actually has 9 projects in his plans, which include: building many homes, two piers, a bridge, wells, and wiring some homes that have never had electricity.
This coming week he will be directing a project of 45 to begin building a whole new village. It is for a group of Mogen people who became Christians through the Tsunami disaster, but to this day have still not been given homes and are sleeping in a church. They have no money and no one is helping them. There are 25 families on a list asking to move to an area that has never been developed. This is one of our biggest projects as we are starting from scratch. The home (or should I say “hut”) owners will actually build together with us and we will get them started, hoping to complete at least 6 homes next week. This group will consist of 6 men coming from Waterloo, Iowa to help us and then our staff and students from Rajaphat University. Some of the students are new baby Christians, and there are a few non Christians. We will eat, sleep and work together all week, mixed in with times of discipleship and praise and worship each day. Please pray for three things in particular:
1- Safety for all the workers. We will be taking a 1 ½ boat ride out to the island each day from the main land. There are not medical facilities in this area, and we have no medical personnel in this group. We really need our guardian angles protecting us from injuries, sun, and bacteria’s.
2- Pray for Mike this week. He admits that sometimes his heart gets bigger than his arms, with there being so many needs down there. He needs continual discernment to know which projects are priority and the ones that God wants him to pour into. Pray that we will accomplish next week exactly what God wants us to.
3- For unity and a fun hard-working spirit among the 60+ workers from different cultures. Pray that the body of Christ would minister to each other through the cultural differences and growth would take place in every individual’s life.
As always – we could not continue on here without your support and prayers. We value you and your friendships so much.
Mike and Judy Christian
February 21, 2007
E-mail Update- Back in thailand- 2/20/07
Dear Team,
It’s so good to be back home in Thailand again and a bit hard to believe that three weeks have already passed since we left the USA. Bringing Judy’s dad back with us, we have been on the go non-stop to show him as much of our life and ministry as possible. He just arrived back in snowy Iowa again and poor guy- is probably going to need a month to recuperate. We thank God that all of our connections in travel and luggage went well.
During his time here, we were able to visit a ministry project in a very rural area and help with translation between English and Thai speakers concerning the projects. It was a ministry to tribal children who have very little and who come into a rural city and live in a dorm so that they can get an education. We were encouraged by the commitment of the Christian workers there and the simplicity of their life style (especially after just coming from the affluent USA). The children sleep 6-9 in a room that is about the size of most walk-in closets in the USA and the children are so thankful for the chance to just get an education. We took Dad to another orphanage here in town twice where the children have so little materially and yet their faces beam with the joy of Jesus in their lives because of what he has done for them.
We’ve also been encouraged to see our Thailand Campus Crusade for Christ staff continuing on in faithfully meeting with students on our university campuses and having new students each week become new followers of Jesus. Our stint team of 8 Americans this year have particularly seen a lot of fruit. They opened the work on a new campus, Rajabhat, last June with just one Christian student and had a Valentine Party last week with 41 students who have gotten involved during the year.
After a trip to southern Thailand to check on our projects with the Tsunami victims, we feel that we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel in the building of homes for them. Mike would like to finish about 5 homes that didn’t quite get finished and then build about 25 simple bamboo huts on the shore of an island, for a group of people who are still sleeping in a church. He will be administrating three more teams that will work with us to get those homes done. We feel that one of the greatest needs now is for the follow-up of those who became Christians as a result of the disaster. Most relief organizations have pulled out by now and there is a great need for them to be taught basic Christianity and given a foundation as they begin to study the Bible on their own. There are a few itinerant Thai pastors traveling around from island to island meeting with villagers—but not near enough to get the area covered. We will be mailing Bibles down to these pastors to give each family, but would like to ask you to pray for more workers for this harvest field.
We appreciate your prayers for us as we continue to settle back in again. We will have houseguests helping us with different ministry projects for the next few weeks. Judy is going to focus on getting our Chiang Mai ministry center done with some decorating projects. We have several large and small groups meeting in the center weekly, and the acoustics really need a lot of help. We’re thankful for the four cement walls, but need some ways to absorb the sounds of music, speakers, etc. Mike will be making another trip to the south this week, to help a team working on rebuilding and to set up the logistics of some more teams to come.
Thank you for your prayers for us and the country of Thailand,
Mike and Judy
It’s so good to be back home in Thailand again and a bit hard to believe that three weeks have already passed since we left the USA. Bringing Judy’s dad back with us, we have been on the go non-stop to show him as much of our life and ministry as possible. He just arrived back in snowy Iowa again and poor guy- is probably going to need a month to recuperate. We thank God that all of our connections in travel and luggage went well.
During his time here, we were able to visit a ministry project in a very rural area and help with translation between English and Thai speakers concerning the projects. It was a ministry to tribal children who have very little and who come into a rural city and live in a dorm so that they can get an education. We were encouraged by the commitment of the Christian workers there and the simplicity of their life style (especially after just coming from the affluent USA). The children sleep 6-9 in a room that is about the size of most walk-in closets in the USA and the children are so thankful for the chance to just get an education. We took Dad to another orphanage here in town twice where the children have so little materially and yet their faces beam with the joy of Jesus in their lives because of what he has done for them.
We’ve also been encouraged to see our Thailand Campus Crusade for Christ staff continuing on in faithfully meeting with students on our university campuses and having new students each week become new followers of Jesus. Our stint team of 8 Americans this year have particularly seen a lot of fruit. They opened the work on a new campus, Rajabhat, last June with just one Christian student and had a Valentine Party last week with 41 students who have gotten involved during the year.
After a trip to southern Thailand to check on our projects with the Tsunami victims, we feel that we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel in the building of homes for them. Mike would like to finish about 5 homes that didn’t quite get finished and then build about 25 simple bamboo huts on the shore of an island, for a group of people who are still sleeping in a church. He will be administrating three more teams that will work with us to get those homes done. We feel that one of the greatest needs now is for the follow-up of those who became Christians as a result of the disaster. Most relief organizations have pulled out by now and there is a great need for them to be taught basic Christianity and given a foundation as they begin to study the Bible on their own. There are a few itinerant Thai pastors traveling around from island to island meeting with villagers—but not near enough to get the area covered. We will be mailing Bibles down to these pastors to give each family, but would like to ask you to pray for more workers for this harvest field.
We appreciate your prayers for us as we continue to settle back in again. We will have houseguests helping us with different ministry projects for the next few weeks. Judy is going to focus on getting our Chiang Mai ministry center done with some decorating projects. We have several large and small groups meeting in the center weekly, and the acoustics really need a lot of help. We’re thankful for the four cement walls, but need some ways to absorb the sounds of music, speakers, etc. Mike will be making another trip to the south this week, to help a team working on rebuilding and to set up the logistics of some more teams to come.
Thank you for your prayers for us and the country of Thailand,
Mike and Judy
January 14, 2007
E-mail Update- Jan-2007 Update- 1/13/07
Happy New Year 2007!
We had a great Christmas here in Iowa with our girls; yesterday the last one just returned to college- and now we have two weeks to prepare for our return to Thailand. Our departure date is Jan. 29, and we are taking Judy’s dad along with us for 3 weeks to visit as he’s never been to Thailand before. These past 6 months in the USA have been good to reconnect with many of you that we haven’t seen for years. We’ve been on the go a lot more than we had envisioned, (for some reason – we thought our pace in Iowa would be slower) – but we’ve been so encouraged by many of you because of your interest and hearts for our ministry in Thailand. This weekend we will be sharing at a church in Ohio, and then we have appointments just in Iowa for our last two weeks. One of our most humbling comments we’ve heard while home, is from people who tell us that they pray for us everyday! It’s hard to express how much that means to us, because we know that without God’s anointing on our lives and ministry – it will all be hay and stubble. For those prayer warriors, we’d like to share these requests:
1. That our remaining 2 weeks in the USA would go smoothly, and we’d get all the sorting and packing done in between final meetings with friends and family.
2. Safe travels, connections, baggage checks for the three of us on the 24 hour trip back to Thailand.
3. We always need a special portion of patience and grace as we adjust back into our home, the weather, dirt, and our lifestyle in Thailand.
4. That we would be an encouragement to our Thai national staff as we reconnect with them and immerse back into the ministry. Typically, we have some issues to work through that may have occurred while we were gone—but it is also exciting to hear the reports of how God has worked in our absence.
5. As soon as we get back, we already have some ministry activities on the calendar, including a trip to southern Thailand to check on Tsunami projects, Feb. 7-10. As we enter this new phase of life, without any daughters at home, we are seeking God for what ministry opportunities Judy will be involved in and how God wants her to invest her time.
Thank-you again for all of your love, prayers and involvement in our ministry. We thank God for you!
Mike and Judy Christian
319-277-3571- Iowa cabin phone
PS- We didn’t get the “White Christmas” that we were dreaming of- but we got the next best thing on New Years eve. at midnight when we all went outside and had the meanest snow fight we could with the amount of snow that was falling at the time. See pix for proof…….. (We’re still hoping to see a 5 ft. snowstorm before we leave)
We had a great Christmas here in Iowa with our girls; yesterday the last one just returned to college- and now we have two weeks to prepare for our return to Thailand. Our departure date is Jan. 29, and we are taking Judy’s dad along with us for 3 weeks to visit as he’s never been to Thailand before. These past 6 months in the USA have been good to reconnect with many of you that we haven’t seen for years. We’ve been on the go a lot more than we had envisioned, (for some reason – we thought our pace in Iowa would be slower) – but we’ve been so encouraged by many of you because of your interest and hearts for our ministry in Thailand. This weekend we will be sharing at a church in Ohio, and then we have appointments just in Iowa for our last two weeks. One of our most humbling comments we’ve heard while home, is from people who tell us that they pray for us everyday! It’s hard to express how much that means to us, because we know that without God’s anointing on our lives and ministry – it will all be hay and stubble. For those prayer warriors, we’d like to share these requests:
1. That our remaining 2 weeks in the USA would go smoothly, and we’d get all the sorting and packing done in between final meetings with friends and family.
2. Safe travels, connections, baggage checks for the three of us on the 24 hour trip back to Thailand.
3. We always need a special portion of patience and grace as we adjust back into our home, the weather, dirt, and our lifestyle in Thailand.
4. That we would be an encouragement to our Thai national staff as we reconnect with them and immerse back into the ministry. Typically, we have some issues to work through that may have occurred while we were gone—but it is also exciting to hear the reports of how God has worked in our absence.
5. As soon as we get back, we already have some ministry activities on the calendar, including a trip to southern Thailand to check on Tsunami projects, Feb. 7-10. As we enter this new phase of life, without any daughters at home, we are seeking God for what ministry opportunities Judy will be involved in and how God wants her to invest her time.
Thank-you again for all of your love, prayers and involvement in our ministry. We thank God for you!
Mike and Judy Christian
319-277-3571- Iowa cabin phone
PS- We didn’t get the “White Christmas” that we were dreaming of- but we got the next best thing on New Years eve. at midnight when we all went outside and had the meanest snow fight we could with the amount of snow that was falling at the time. See pix for proof…….. (We’re still hoping to see a 5 ft. snowstorm before we leave)
January 13, 2007
A New Year!!! January 2007
How exciting!!! We finally have our own blog. We've been meaning to work on this for several years. Our intentions are to keep you updated regularly on our lives and ministry in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We're just getting started so please be patient with us. I even hope to add some archives of past letters for those who may have missed out. Let us know what you think of it!
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