Second Moberg Update Thailand 2023

Dear Family and Friends,

 

The time has been flying by quickly since our initial update back in January with much of our time since then spent either teaching or visiting with various people here in Bangkok. Initially we had planned to return home on March 30, but now we have extended our stay until May 3. This will require us to leave the country for a short time and then return with a new 30-day tourist visa. Therefore, we have planned a trip to Hanoi, Vietnam during which we will also be meeting with some long-term missionaries. Our hope is to learn more of what they have been doing and to encourage them with prayer and fellowship.

 

One Friday in February we joined volunteers from all the other branches of Santisuk English School to spend the entire day to teach English at a local grade school. This has been an ongoing event each year to expose students and their parents to opportunities that Santisuk offers for those interested in improving their English if they would be interested to sign up for classes in the future. The event was a fun time for everyone.

 

We’ve also had activities outside of our regular teaching time at Santisuk to help develop relationships with the students. Some of those include eating meals together after class time, an overnight trip to a beach town, a full day trip to an elephant/crocodile zoo and gathering at our condo for potluck dinner and games. We’d like to initiate a weekly event at our place to eat, play games and watch select episodes of “The Chosen” video series with follow-up discussion if students are interested. Please pray that they would be.

 

It’s been a joy for Lyndell to continue BSF (Bible study fellowship) once again with a group of women here representing many nations. Some of the women she has met before and studied with in the past. The class is still on zoom but hopes to meet back in person for next year’s study in the book of John. She was thankful to meet once in person for a lunch fellowship.

 

Doing life in a foreign country like doing life back home does not always provide exciting news to post, but we have seen evidence that God is working in people’s hearts to draw them to Himself through faith in Jesus Christ. We are currently doing a weekly Bible study with one teen student’s mother to learn more about the loving relationship that God is offering everyone who is willing to receive the free gift of eternal life by having their sins forgiven because of what Jesus has done for them. She said that since she was a little girl, she knew she was not made for this world and needed to find the way back to heaven. She has not yet fully believed in Jesus to be the only way for anyone to be granted entrance into God’s heaven after they die. She claims she has been taught in her culture that there are many gods. Pray that she will come to believe in Jesus who said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

 

We have become friends with a young man Gary met last year who helps his father manage an organic coffee farm in northern Thailand and returns monthly to the city to sell his coffee. During those times we have met with him to share the gospel and pray with him. He too is bound strongly to tradition so as not to offend his parents, however, he has still shown some interest to know what Christianity is all about and has appreciated our prayers for him and his family.

 

Gary was asked to give a PowerPoint presentation about true love at the school during the time of Valentine’s Day. The emphasis was that true love is God’s love, which is not only the best love but also the greatest love. The first week of March Gary preached at the Santisuk Silom church. The main point of the sermon stressed that if we truly know the love of God, nothing will prevent us from obeying His commands, especially that to share the gospel with those who don’t know Christ.

 

We again are working with the church we regularly attend to make home visitations to pray and bring food supplies to refugee families who have had to flee their home country due to religious persecution. Again, like last year we shared in the joy of witnessing an answer to prayer when we met the father of one of the families who had been recently released from the detention center. He had been unable to see his wife and two children for 5 years. He shared that he had been beaten severely by Muslim terrorists from Turkey who were being held in the detention center because they had been involved in a bombing in Bangkok. He was beaten because he would not renounce his faith in Christ. His wife shared how both she and her husband had become born again believers after they been forced to leave Pakistan and heard the true gospel while in Bangkok. She said she was able to keep up a spirit of hope while her husband was away because she knew that God would always care for them since He has proved His love for them by sending Jesus to save them from their sins.

 

We have learned much about faith from these dear followers of Jesus who have suffered so much these past 10 years or so as they patiently wait upon the Lord to relocate them to a country where they can begin a new life for their families. Please pray for new sponsorships to open up for these dear families with young children. There are still about 48 families that the church is supporting who are waiting.

 

Last week we spent 5 days in Phuket in southern Thailand with the missionary couple we ministered with in north Thailand early in January. This trip was to provide all of us some R&R. Our times of fellowship around the Word of God were sweet and the food and incredibly beautiful surroundings were so enjoyable. They will also be living in our house back home in Minneapolis for three months towards the end of this summer, while on home assignment. We had time to share the gospel with an elderly man from Japan we had come to know while we were lounging around the pool. After he had heard about God’s love for him, he began to weep and said he didn’t understand why he was becoming so emotional. Please pray for Kunio to embrace the truth about what Jesus has done for him on the cross.

 

May God bless you all with an ever-increasing understanding of His marvelous love for all of us as we approach the time of year to remember and celebrate the life, suffering, death, and resurrection of our precious Lord Jesus Christ. A Blessed Easter to you all.

 

For His glory among the nations,

Gary and Lyndell

Sunrise over Bangkok through the poor air quality

Glad we don't have to use this for transportation

Specialty dessert- Bamboo stuffed with tasty sticky rise

A clear sign that it's getting really hot here in Thailand

English students hard at work composing a conversation

Daily offerings with a hope to bring about good luck

Women's Bible Study Fellowship group

Advanced conversation class

Spectacular view crossing river on ferry after teaching night class

Home visitation to bring food and encouragement

Regular weekly purchase of fresh fruit from street vendor

No, we haven't tried these and probably never will

Tasty green curry, but it can be really spicy hot, watch out!

Teaching future tense verbs to grade school children

Pizza night out after English class

Entire floor of mall devoted to cactus and succulent plants

Some very unique succulents

Students at our condo for food and games

Another item we surely will not be sampling

Another example of something else not on our try it list

Cashew chicken, mixed veggies, and pineapple fried rice
is one of our favorites for lunch

How fast is "too fast" at fast food restaurants?

A Belgian chocolatey sweet taste treat of home

Guess what this restaurant's specialty is advertising?

 

Bible study for interested students

Learning English at Santisuk is a bargain at only $90
for 15 two hour lessons because of volunteer teachers

Maybe a clue why teaching English is helpful?

Beautiful and relaxing beach on Phuket Island

Friendly lizard stopped by to say hello while lounging

t

A welcome sight to have blue sky in Phuket 
after breathing so much pollution in the city

Reminder of what tremendous death and devastation
occurred here due to the 2004 tsunami 

I can almost imagine what the Garden of Eden
must have been like

Cannon ball tree is an appropriate name

Yes, I think this is my better profile side

Well, this is my better side thank you very much

Has someone been doing genetic engineering on these lobsters?

At 6 bags per family, almost 300 bags of food will be delivered
to needy families this month

However, what the families also appreciate
 is the extended time spent with them

The wait has been so long to be relocated and can bring weariness

A dear family who expressed great joy in the Lord even
though they have experienced so many trials 

Sunset over the Andaman Sea

Initial Moberg Update From Thailand 2023

 

Dear Family and Friends,

 

We arrived in Bangkok just a couple hours before the start of the New Year and spent the first few days looking for a condo to rent for the three months we are planning to be here. By the grace of God, we did find one in the same building as last year. This was an answer to prayer since we were first told that this building only rents on a one-year lease agreement. We desired to be in the same area because we are familiar with certain places to eat and the ease of travel to where we will be teaching. There were several individuals who work at the building who seemed happy to see us again. One is a woman security guard Lyndell befriended last year and has been in correspondence with her since we left last April.

 

We stayed in our hotel for 6 nights but were able to at least get our luggage into the condo before meeting another couple at the airport who had arrived from our church early on Friday Jan. 6. We had planned to join up with them for 10 days on a prayer ministry with Todd and Karen Indehar, Bethlehem Church missionaries in northern Thailand. So, after a 7-hour car ride the four of us met with the Indehars in Uttaradit and found lodging in a guest apartment of a Christian school where they are residing as well. The church there runs two schools, one pre-k through kindergarten and the other first through 6^th grade. We had dinner that night at one of the three pastor’s home and met some of the church and school staff at that time.

 

On Saturday we visited a pastor and his wife for prayer, specifically praying for a large outreach event they are planning a year from now to share the good news of salvation in Jesus while asking the Lord to reveal His healing power for many that will come with various problems. He was brought to tears many times as he expressed what he felt would be a fulfillment of a vision he had received 5 years ago. He said he was so thankful that we had come from such a long distance to pray for this event to become a reality so that many would eventually come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

 

We then drove over an hour to a village near the border of Laos where 20 people from this area had begun to attend the church where we had just visited, because they had no place they thought big enough to have new villagers come to hear the gospel. They believed they needed a building for people to be interested in attending a worship service (“Build it and they will come”). Apparently, many of the villagers equated having a building to be a sign of power and would be a place worthy to worship, since the Buddhist faith has so many large beautiful temples (wats). We were taken to two potential building sites and prayed for the Spirit to guide them on which area would best serve the needs of the people.

 

Sunday morning, I was invited to preach at the church that owns the school and a short walk away. I spoke on the topic of obedience as evidence of God’s saving work through faith in Jesus Christ, contrasting the different responses of Jonah who was commanded to go to the Ninevites and the Apostle Peter who was called to go to Cornelius a Gentile. Karen did a great work of interpreting what I had to say. Here is a link to the service if anyone is curious: https://www.facebook.com/TheFullGospelChurchOfUtttaradit/videos/689390856013216/

 

After the service we visited a man who works for the church and was bed ridden because of a heart condition. We prayed that he would regain enough strength so he could have an operation to implant a pacemaker. We found out now as I am writing this that he has improved enough for that operation to take place. Praise the Lord!

 

The following day we spent most of it helping around 100 children in the two schools learn some English while teaching them two songs with hand motions: “Jesus Love Me” and “Hallelujah, Praise the LORD”. We also performed a short skit that involved teaching them about how much Jesus loves little children. They really seemed to enjoy participating in the singing and motions.

 

The next day on Tuesday morning we hired a driver and van to begin driving us around for 5 days to visit 5 different provinces (like our counties) where we planned to meet with pastors and other church members to pray for specific needs they had personally and for the ministry. The entire country of Thailand has less than 1% that are Christian and in these provinces it is even much less than that and very difficult to share the truth in the Bible on how to find everlasting peace and joy through belief in Jesus Christ.

 

In one area we stopped and met an elderly man, actually the same age as me (ha, ha), whom Todd and Karen had met before. He was from a people group of around 1,500 that has no church nor anyone trying to engage them with the gospel. The Indehars are seeking the Lord’s guidance on how to effectively begin to work towards planting a church among these people.

 

During our travels we encountered some of the extraordinary beauty of God’s creation in this part of Thailand. The roads are often narrow and very windy up and down the mountainous region which can help to make for some motion sickness. God spared us from that. The temperatures are much cooler in these areas as well especially during the evening, one morning was even down to 55 degrees. It was gloriously peaceful and quiet with usually only the sounds of birds during the day, roosters at the crack of dawn and frogs at night breaking the silence.

 

We were able to arrange a meeting with a sweet young man we’ve known since before he became a believer in Jesus. Lyndell had him as a student on one of our earlier teaching trips. He had recently moved back to his hometown area near the Laotian border to build a small house and do his work remotely. He is the only Christian in this town. We dedicated his home to the Lord and our prayer was for his protection and continued growth in faith so that the love of Christ would spread from this lighthouse for God’s glory.

We traveled over 4 hours to visit Trevor Schwarze, a new missionary from Bethlehem. We enjoyed learning about what he will be doing which involves a broadcasting ministry to help people of this area who suffer the largest suicide rate in the country. The local pastor and his wife were gracious in their hospitality and prepared a delicious meal for our dinner. We spent time in prayer for the needs that Trevor has at this time and for the pastor and his family also.

 

As we began our drive back to Uttaradit on Saturday Jan. 14 we were invited to be on stage at the auditorium in the village where we had spent the night. There was a huge celebration of what was designated as “National Children’s Day” and we stood in front of a large crowd and sang “Jesus Loves Me” after taking turns introducing ourselves. Trevor was also introduced to the crowd which was a great opportunity for the community to meet him for the first time.

 

We then drove 2 hours to a remote 80 acre organic coffee farm, Pang Ma O, to meet a young man I had met last year in Bangkok. His father and mother had bought the farm 40 years ago from a previous owner who was Japanese. They said they had only 5 other foreigners visit their farm in the past four years and were happy to show us around and learn about their operation. We prayed for them before we left and I’m sure that was the first time this dear Buddhist family had ever had Christians pray for them. We hope to meet up with them again soon as the son and mother will be making periodic trips to Bangkok before we head back to the states the end of March. https://pangmaocoffee.com

 

Today we worshipped at the church where I preached last Sunday. This church was founded by to sisters who served as missionaries from Finland. Tonight we were invited to birthday party and treated to a delicious seafood dinner. On Tuesday we will be driving back to Bangkok to get settled into our condo and begin teaching on Wednesday at Santisuk English School. 

Please pray that we can have good interaction with our students and help them learn more about the Christian faith. We dearly and humbly appreciate your partnership through your prayers and finances as we seek to make Jesus known among these dear people of Thailand.

 

For His glory among all the nations,

 

Gary and Lyndell

Arrived in Bangkok after 27 hours of travel

We remembered what we were missing in Minnesota

Now what should we have for breakfast? Maybe for lunch!

We went for a traditional Thai breakfast and one of our favorites

Lyndell's condo security guard friend Sky

An attempt to try and keep corruption down- No bribes allowed!

Our guard dog in Uttaradit with a gentle disposition named Sisu 

Guest apartment sleeping arrangements

Dinner at Pastor/School Director's home

Pet pythons- dark one found behind the school house

Some members and three pastors of Full Gospel Church Uttaradit

Pastor with vision for a large gospel outreach next Christmas

Workers hard at work under the blazing heat of the sun

Believers near border with Laos praying for a church building

Farm field near the border

Stopped to pray for a Bangkok friend's elderly mother 

Warning what not to do in this town when on a walk- $60 fine!

Church where we worshipped for two Sundays

Preaching sermon with Karen

Two founders and current leaders of the church

102 year-old member came forward for prayer after the service

Lunch at the church. It was delicious (Aroy mak- อร่อยมาก)

Praying for man with heart condition resting at home

Thai tea fancy presentation

Exotic and serene setting to enjoy coffee and tea

Silk loom used to weave intricate and colorful patterns

Northern Thai food option for dinner

Teaching motions for "Jesus Loves Me"

Children's eyes glued on the foreigners teaching them the songs

This meal was outstanding, especially the shrimp durian curry
and tamarind shrimp. The fish was moist and seasoned to perfection.

Unusual view while using the urinal. 

Village leader from unreached/unengaged people group
and his sister photo bombing

Strange animals they have around here in northern Thailand

Pastor Manus and wife Jee laboring without salary

Their beautiful new church where we joined a prayer meeting

Lunch afterwards. Seems like we get to eat a lot around here. Traditional fried chicken, papaya salad, and sticky rice.

God's creative work in the natural surroundings was astounding.

Difficult to put the camera down as we traveled around

Praise the Lord for allowing us such magnificent scenes to see

Look at our alarm clock hiding in the tree

God's reminder to us that it is still winter

Pastor Paisan Pratumrut from Chiang Rai 
His father was led to the Lord by missionaries

Team photo with Paisan, his wife Sompit, and grandson Jabez

Our friend Nu's new home

A view from his workstation in the house

We had a time of dedication of Nu's home to the Lord

Sap being collected from rubber tree

Portion of rubber tree plantation

Yes, one more photo of the surrounding area

Hotel owner's definition of the family bed

Unique use of old used tires

Okay, okay I'm going to add just a few more scenic photos

This is what they call Magic Mountain- reason unknown

Sunrise with formation of the "ocean of fog"

Tasty breakfast before hitting the road again provided by hotel

Hotel owner and friend who needed prayer for eyesight problem

Time for a Thai tea coffee break while traveling

Coffee shop also favorite photo op for travelers

Time for lunch at a roadside diner

Dinner with Trevor and his host pastor at their restaurant

National Children's Day event

Todd's impersonation of the new Rush Limbaugh

Enjoying coffee at the Pang Ma O coffee farm

Touring the coffee farm with the owner

 Birthday celebration for a friend named Ice Cream

 

Placing a Bible in the cornerstone as a symbol of building our lives
 on the certain and true one foundation, Jesus Christ.

Dedication of a pastor's new home