Prayer Letter from the Mitchells in Thailand

July 2004

Hello everyone. Thank you to everyone for praying ­ we’ve seen a lot of answers to prayer this last month.

First of all Air and I visited Bua Yai Church at the beginning of the month. Bua Yai is a daughter Church of Khon Kaen Assemblies of God. Tik, their pastor, is away doing Bible College, so Air went to preach in Church and teach the youth afterwards. They have about 30 people in the Church.

Secondly, Air’s children’s club (on Friday afternoons) ­ Dolphin Club ­ in the slum area has been going very well every week and two weeks ago all the kids came to Church and sang as part of the worship band. These are generally kids whose families live in tin shacks and although they have big televisions and stereos the children don’t get much of an education. Every week when Air and I go to Church we pick up about 8 kids and Mae (mother) Saeng (who lives in the slum). We also usually pick up three other children whose parents are not Christians but whose Aunt is. The aunt lives in another city but she asked us to try to get the kids to come to Church each week.

Please pray that the slum kids will still be able to come to Church two months from now because we are going to be moving. I have accepted an offer to teach fulltime at Rajamonkon College (where I already teach parttime) from October. This is a real answer to prayer because Air and I knew that we had to have a more certain income source or we would not be able to get a loan to build our house. I thought that I was not eligible to apply for the job because I also teach at the University but in a chance conversation (Holy Spirit chance that is) with my boss she said that it was okay for me to have two jobs. So pray for the kids’ transport and pray that I will be able to cope with a slightly increased workload. I forgot to say that we get a free apartment with the job in the Rajamonkon Campus. This is very exciting because we want to really make the presence of God felt in this Campus ­ Air and I will run Understanding Christian Culture classes for all of the English major students and we will bring teams of Christian young people to do conversation outreach. But that is in the future.

Last week Khon Kaen Assemblies of God youth hosted the youth from the Chinese Church in Khon Kaen for a session from Air and myself talking about the Holy Spirit. This came about through visiting the couple who have still not been able to pay us back our money (74000 baht / AUD2500). We prayed with them and shared testimonies (which I will get to in a moment). We told them how God wants us to forgive anyone who has done us wrong. We prayed for them and later they prayed, forgiving the men who had gambled away our and their money. They just contacted us saying that a building that they had wanted to rent had just become available for them to start a new business in. Please pray for this family and for the success of their business.

Anyway their son brought his youth group to our Church to hear about the Holy Spirit because it was not a subject that they heard a lot about in their Church. I gave my testimony from the last month. This is a massive praise point because I have been experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit in a very new way (for me). I have wanted to get closer to the Holy Spirit for many years but never really did anything about it. To cut a long story short, I had Kevin pray for me to be filled with the Holy Spirit and later Air and I prayed about areas in my life ­ asking the Holy Spirit to cleanse them of Satan's influence in the Name of Jesus Christ. I felt tingling in my legs for about 20 seconds and then the next day I just felt amazing. I think I received miraculous healing of some sort from God because my fatigue was gone. It has since come back but nowhere near as serious as before. And now when I feel tired I spend time praying and seeking to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Often I am feeling the same thing ­ tingling waves rippling through my body. The greatest miracle that has happened is in my will and mind. Where my thoughts used to go into areas that they shouldn’t ­ now something stops them. This is not my doing ­ it is from the Holy Spirit.

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for Dia. She was very moved when she heard how many people were praying for her around the world. Please keep it up because she is still facing the prospect of an arranged marriage with a non Christian or the breakdown of her relationship with her parents. Her fiancé had told her that he wanted to break off the engagement but then he changed his mind.

Please also pray for the Cell Group that Air and Kevin run outside of Khon Kaen. The oldest daughter of the Mother whose house the group meets in has run away from home. Her mum is quite distraught and the daughter is unrepentant at this stage. Pray that the whole Cell Group will grow in knowledge and for freedom from the attacks of the devil. One of the other girls has been banned by her parents from attending because it runs too late. Each week, however, there are new people to hear the stories that Kevin and Air tell.

Air’s translation work for Kevin is progressing well. She is translating a training manual on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit at the moment. Sometimes it is very hard work but she is very persistent. Air is also preparing to host a mission team from the Agape Church in Singapore. They will arrive in September and will help in Church planting work out in the country side and will also be the first team of many (we hope) to visit Rajamonkon Institute.

That’s all but thanks for the prayer and please keep it up.

James and Air.