COLLEGE GRADUATES

The pictures above are of our 2024 Graduating Class and this year’s student body.  It is exciting that we have eleven more students graduating from the Bible school that the Lord allowed me to help to start six years ago. That makes a total of 15 graduates over the past six years. This is a tremendous group of young people that love the Lord, love people, and are committed to Christ and the cause of Christ. These 11 graduates will spend the Spring months interning in different churches in the countries of Laos and Thailand.

PLEASE PRAY FOR THE GRADUATES TO LEARN MUCH DURING THEIR UPCOMING INTERNSHIPS!

BACK IN NORTHERN THAILAND

My wife and I are glad to be back in Southeast Asia. We have been back now for a month. It’s a blessing to be back “home” in Thailand and it’s a blessing to be “back in the saddle.” Between our in-person Discipleship/Accountability Group here in Northern Thailand, teaching and preaching on Sundays, teaching our two sets of Bible students, some online discipleship, a few Christmas Celebrations, and helping to sponsor many more Christmas Celebrations, needless to say, we have been busy.

It’s hard to believe that we have been living and serving in Northern Thailand now for more than two years (28 months to be exact). It is a real joy to serve with Tom and Sue Sutrick and the rest of our team here. As I have mentioned many times in my preaching in the States and in previous updates, Tom and Sue are the real deal. They have a heart for souls, a heart for the Hmong people, and they live about the simplest lives of any missionaries that I know. Denise and I love them dearly.

Tom and Sue never went to Bible College, and they never served in full-time ministry prior to coming to Southeast Asia. They arrived in Thailand as elderly saints. They were both in their late 50’s when they arrived. Over the past twelve years, they have faithfully plodded away for Christ and the cause of Christ. They are a wonderful example of how a married couple in their senior years can make an impact for Christ and the cause of Christ.

PLEASE PRAY FOR OF OUR TEAM AND CHURCH FAMILY IN CHAING KHONG, THAILAND!

HMONG CHURCH LEADERS’ CONFERENCE 

What a blessing it was for so many of our dear friends and fellow laborers to be able to gather for a three-day conference. it was a great time of preaching, teaching, and fellowship. I was originally scheduled to preach twice in the conference, but some of the good men felt it might not be safe at this time to have me. I would have been the only non-Asian in attendance and it might have caused some suspicions. There were 150 people in attendance, including all our Hmong Bible students and 15 pastors/church leaders. Our students provided much of the special music, Kong and Cherchou (men that we have hi lighted on here before) both preached two times for the conference. Two of our graduates (Vangpao and Varmee) also got engaged at the conference.

PLEASE PRAY THAT GOD WILL CONTINUE TO BLESS THESE MEN AND WOMEN AS THEY ENDEAVOR TO BRING THE GOOD NEWS OF CHRIST THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY OF LAOS!

JUI IS HEADING BACK TO LAOS

It has been a tremendous blessing to have Jui serving with us here in Northern Thailand the past two years. At the end of this month, he will be heading back home (Laos) to assist another one of our graduates, Souphan, and his wife Sen and the work they planted a little bit over a year ago. We are going to miss Jui so much. He has been a tremendous blessing to the ministry here, not to mention to Denise and me personally.

PLEASE PRAY FOR JUI, SOUPHAN, SEN, AND THE CHURCH FAMILY!

CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS

By the time this month is over, we will have been able to help host about twenty Christmas Celebrations in five different countries [Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Myanmar]. While we have not seen as many come to Christ as we did last year, we have had dozens make professions of faith, and for this we are grateful. It has been such a blessing to receive good reports of people trusting Christ and so many young people being blessed in these various Celebrations.

Our 10th Annual Christmas Program in Muang Kan Village was a tremendous success. We had more than 200 in attendance, Tom, Sue, our team, and our young people did a tremendous job planning, singing, and performing. Everyone had plenty of food, fun, and fellowship. Best of all, the gospel was preached to all 200 plus people (many of them unbelievers).

While not exactly a Christmas Celebration, Christmas Program, and/or Christmas Outreach, it was a blessing for us to assist another ministry by purchasing blankets to give out in a refugee camp. More than 13,000 people had the gospel preached to them over a three-day period. According to the report that I was given, more than a 1,000 made a profession of faith.

It was also a blessing to have quite a few of our church members join us as we did some Christmas caroling, passed out care packages, and preached the gospel at our local hospital. If you notice the picture below, I didn’t get the memo that EVERYONE was dressing in Hmong attire. 🙂 

PLEASE PRAY FOR FRUIT TO CONTINUE TO ABOUND FROM THE SEEDS OF GOD’S WORD AND SEEDS OF LOVE AND COMPASSION THAT WAS SOWN!
 
THANKFUL FOR THE JOURNEY

Not only did my wife and I celebrate Christmas together this month, but we also celebrated our 42nd anniversary as a married couple, and my 67th birthday. We celebrated all three in a matter of one week. God has been so very good to us over the years. In the middle of January, I will celebrate 47 years as a believer, and in June, my wife and I will celebrate 42 years in full-time ministry. God has been good to both of us, our five children, and our 32 grandchildren, and for this we are grateful. I am so grateful for a good wife. Denise and I are very grateful for the many of you that have played an integral part in our lives and ministries over the years, and for this we say, “Thank you!”

PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR DENISE AND ME AS WE CONTINUE TO WALK AND WORK TOGETHER IN OUR JOURNEY WITH JESUS!

SPOTLIGHT – SOMCHIT AND MAI

Somchit and Mai are two of our graduates from the Bible school in the capitol city. I have had the honor of teaching the two of them for almost five years now, either in person or online. They graduated about eight months ago, but they still often join with me and the other students online. They were married last June and in September, a few months after graduating, they went back to Somchit’s village to assist his father in his ministry there. In the last few months, they have had 35 come to Christ and 6 baptized. They are a wonderful couple, they love the Lord and their people, they are tremendous soul winners, and they covet your prayers!

PLEASE PRAY FOR SOMCHIT AND MAI

ADDITIONAL PRAYER REQUESTS:

* Couples Banquet January 19

* Pastors’/Church Leaders’ Conference January 29-February 2

* Puchi Fa Evangelistic Outreach February 13-15

As always, my wife and I are so very grateful to all our family, friends, fellow-laborers, financial supporters, and faithful prayer warriors. We are thankful for your love, your prayers, and your financial support. Thank you for sowing into our lives and ministries and into this part of the world.

Your Missionaries in Southeast Asia,

Johnny and Denise