The picture above is of our eleven graduates. Denise and I were blessed to be able attend their recent graduation along with preaching in three different churches, teaching our Bible college students, doing a two-day Marriage Seminar, and fellowshipping with so many of our dear friends in our recent ten-day trip back “home” to the country of Laos.

Denise and I spent 4½ years living in this country, serving with Koumaly and Darath Thongdy, and the rest of our team there. We still consider it “home.” We absolutely love the country, and we love the people. It was such a blessed (and busy) ten days. We hated to leave.

Our Trip Back “Home” – Preaching in TDD

It was such a blessing to be with Pastor Kong, his wife, Lily, and their church family. Kong and Lily are like a son and daughter to us.  I have had the privilege to preach for them many times over the years, and it has always been a treat. More than seven years ago, I preached there for the first time and there were only 8-10 in attendance and four of them were from our ministry in the capital city. On this day, there were more than 130 in attendance. UNBELIEVABLE!

PLEASE PRAY FOR KONG, LILY, AND THE CHURCH FAMILY!

Our Trip Back “Home” – Teaching one set of College Students

It was a blessing to be able to spend two days teaching our college students from the city on Biblical Leadership Principles from the Book of Nehemiah and we had a couple of good meals together too. As always, we had such a great time. These are a great group of young people. Pastor Kampai is doing a great job leading them to be soul-winners. In just the past two weeks, he and the students have led 20 people to Christ – including a village chief and a shaman priest (witch doctor).

PLEASE PRAY FOR PASTOR KAMPAI, HIS FAMILY, THE CHURCH FAMILY, AND THE COLLEGE STUDENTS!

Our Trip Back “Home” – Marriage Seminar

It was also a tremendous privilege and pleasure to teach our other set of Bible College students and MANY others on A Christ-Centered Marriage and Family. We had so much great food, fun (and lots of it), fellowship, and a boatload of feasting on God’s word and what it has to say about marriage and the family. It was nice to have folks from at least four different churches in attendance. This is such a needy topic in this part of the world. Many wonderful decisions were made.

PLEASE PRAY THAT THE SEEDS THAT WERE SOWN WOULD GROW TO FRUITION!
 
Our Trip Back “Home” – Preaching for our “adopted daughter,” her husband, and their church family!

It was also a joy to preach for one of our graduates Pastor Souphan, his wife (Sen), and their church family.  Sen lived with us for 18 months and I can’t think of more than two or three people in the past almost twelve years here in Asia that have been more of a help and blessing to us. They helped to get this new church plant started about a year and a half ago. We had a great time with them. Jui has been assisting with this new work since returning back to Laos after serving with us in Thailand for two years. He led four adults and teens to Christ the Sunday that I was with them. Oh, by the way, did I mention that Sen is a tremendous cook?

PLEASE PRAY FOR PASTOR SOUPHAN, SEN, THEIR SON, AND THE CHURCH FAMILY!
 
Our Trip Back “Home” – College Graduation

It was a tremendous honor and blessing to be able to make it to the graduation service. Not only did I help start the college six years ago, but I have been teaching these young people on a weekly basis for the past six years, both in person and online, and two of our “adopted daughters,” (or granddaughters depending upon who you ask) graduated and one got engaged. It was a very emotional time for both my wife and me.

PLEASE PRAY FOR ALL ELEVEN OF OUR GRADUATES AS THEY BEGIN A NEW PHASE IN THEIR JOURNEY WITH JESUS!

Team Retreat in Bangkok

Just before making the trek to Laos, it was a blessing to get together with our team in Bangkok for a few days of preaching, teaching, and fellowship. We normally try to get together every two years, but COVID sort of messed that up. We had not met since January or February of 2020. We had a wonderful time. I had a chance to teach two different sessions at the retreat (“The Priority of a Godly Marriage” and “The Priority of Prayer”), as well as preach for a church in Bangkok on the Sunday before the Retreat.

PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR GOD’S CONTINUAL BLESSING UPON OUR THREE TEAMS IN THAILAND, LAOS, AND CAMBODIA!

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL

While I was unable to be a part of our Vacation Bible School, our team did a wonderful job in all four villages. It was so good to hear how well everyone did, especially our nationals. Between the four villages, we had over 300 children attending. Over a two-week period, our team met in each village for three hours a day for three days each. The children and teens had a blast and were taught God’s word, many of them for the very first time. A few of our teenagers taught too. Big blessing right there.

PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY THAT GOD WILL BRING AN INCREASE TO THE SEEDS THAT WERE PLANTED!

As always, my wife and I are grateful for family, friends, fellow-laborers, and our many other faithful supporters that pray for us and/or support us financially. We couldn’t be here, stay here, and do what God has led us to do if it wasn’t for God’s grace, your prayers and your sacrificial giving!

Your Missionaries in Southeast Asia,

Johnny and Denise Esposito

ADDITIONAL PRAYER REQUESTS:

* Please pray for our upcoming Pastors’ and Church Leaders’ Conference here in Chiang Khong, Thailand. It starts tomorrow!

* Please pray for our upcoming Singles Retreat in Nong Khai, Thailand that I will be preaching for in two weeks.

* Please pray for the upcoming Marriage Seminar in Cambodia that I will be preaching and teaching for in three weeks.

* Please pray for my back issue, especially considering all the travelling.