8/9/2019 Bemo Alan Janet 1988 Thailand

1/4

CHfANGMAI

TJIte Memoes Soj.ounting.3 in TJItaiLand

Alan a nd J an et

Bemo

Rt. 3, Box 94

Jop lin, MO 64801

Tel: (417) 782-7426

Dear

Fellow Sojourners,

By fai th they

sojourned

in the

l and . . . .

looking forward to a city which has

foundations,

whose

bu i lde r

and

make r is

God .

HEB . 1 1:8 -1 0

Forwarding Agent:

Linda Goerke

R.R. 1,

King City, Missouri

64463

Janet

has

been after

me

for

months (has

it really

been

that

long?)

to

write this letter.

I thank

God

for th e

busy

work He s given me to

do,

bu t I realize It shouldn t be

the

neglect of our

dear

friends In the Lord and I

apologize. Much has

happened s ince I last

wrote.

I

n eed t o

start

back

with

November of

1987.

Many o f

you

know

t ha t t he

Overlake Christ ian Church

In

Seattle gave me

the

privilege of visiting

the Chinese

churches In northern Thailand

again

at that time.

Many of you, too, helped with Janet and the family's

expenses

while I was gone and we

so

appreciated

that .

During

the

month that Iwas

there

I spent

most

of my time with Tom Love,

our

dear friend

and

co-worker,

visiting the churches and individuals we have worked with. The churches of Ping Luang, Mlpho, Mae

Naam Khong and Kae Noi (the latter two being mainly Tom's work), seem to be thriving and strong. Iwas

so

glad

to be able to be

back a round Christmas

because

this Is convention time

fo r the

mountain

chur

ches. This y ea r

t he chu rche s

d eci ded to c el eb ra te Chri stma s in turn so that one could attend

th e

festivities in all the villages

they so desired (and had the energy). These occasions last three days with

meetings, dramas,

singing, praying, eating

and

not much sleep. Iwas able to

participate

In

the

whole of

Mlpho's and Mae Naam Khong's. What a blessing Just a few years ago these meetings were organized,

funded, and carried out by missionaries. Now they are done completely by the local Christ ians and we

were invited to attend

and speak.

Our spiritual children are growing up Praise God

Iwas not permitted by the Thai government to enter the village of Ping Luangwhere our whole

family

had lived and worked forthe last three years wewere there. ItIs nowconsidered a militaryzone. Iwas per

mitted to go just outside to the checkpoint, though, and Isent word ahead that Iwould be there at 1

p.m.,

Sunday. Whenwegot there there wereabout one hundred of the brethren waiting. Iwas overwhelmed and

thrilled as they all gathered around, reaching out to shake hands in greeting. The children sang us a

few

songs , then one brother gave a

speech

and I was allowed to

speak

for a few minutes. Later we all sa t

down on

the

ground and visited to

catch

up with

each

other s lessons we've learned from

the

Lord.

What a blessing it was The Christians are holding fast in spite of much political turmoil there and have

even purchased the adjacent piece of land to the present church area to build a bigger meeting place.

There were many new Christian faces there. What fun Heaven wiil be. If this is just a taste of it.

The onlyChurch which is not doing too

well

is the Chiangmai CityChurch which really

NEEDS

to be the

strongest.

It

seems

that greed

and

power have

caused

a lot of

problems and

it looks like all we can do Is

admonish and let them to their own devises and let God direct. Thatwas a really sad note to the

trip.

Tom

and I also spent a lot of time surveying the whole Chinese situation and seeing where we should

go

from

here.

In

visiting two areas we had thought were as yet unevangelized we found that Chinese

Christians were going

in

there now and evangelizing.

What

a joy Pioneer Evangelism

in

Chiangmai

Pro

vince among the Chineseseems to be at an end for us.There is stili a lot ofshepherding to bedone, but

the Chinese are evangelizing their own. It is evident, then, that if God indeed leads us back to Thailand it

will

only be in an advisory capacity to the Chinese and the pioneer evangelism will need to be

with

the

Thai. There are still literally hundreds ofThai viilages which do not have a singleChristian witness.That

would mean

really learning

the Thai language.

Also,

since Thailand may be closing to missionaries, Tom

and Ihave

really

felt a needto

develop

skillsand schooling

in

other areas so thatwecouldperhaps

return

in another capacity such as agriculture or water development. This seems to be the trend in a lot of mis

sionary thinking nowdays and perhaps God has us back in the States for this time to prepare toward this

I ve been encouraging our children who are thinkingof college and perhaps

8/9/2019 Bemo Alan Janet 1988 Thailand

2/4

8/9/2019 Bemo Alan Janet 1988 Thailand

3/4

CHfANGMAI

TJhe Hemo^A

SoJ.ourning.3

in T ltaUand

By fai th they sojourned

In th e

l a n d . . . .

looking forward to a city

which has

foundations,

w h o s e b u i l d e r

a n d

m a k e r

Is

G o d .

HEB . 1 1: 8- 10

l n

B e m o

R t 3 Box

9 4

J o p l i n

Mo.

54801

T e l : 417) 782-7426

Forwarding Agent:

L i n d a G o e r k e

R^R. 1

King City, Missouri 64463

August

27,1988

Dear

Fellow

So-journers,

In our last n ew sl et te r our son Jon was g ra du at in g and our eldest, t-

daughter, Beth, was getting married on May 30th.

It

is now August 27th

and

the summer

is fast over. The population in our household is fast

decreasing. Beth

and Moo have a lovely trailer

home

in Rockport, Texas. ^8

Moo

commutes

to Corpus Christi in

his welding

work

and

she will beB

d||H

finishing

off

her college

studies

at

the

University there. Jon has decided |9

to

wait out

a

year

before college and

found

a job in

Florida. Becky

just jfliii

returned

yesterday

to th e University of M isso ur i to start her Sophmore

year

as an

English

major

by

the

way

this

is where the Tom Loves will be Sy SESBl

studying this year also). So it l ea ve s us wi th only three at home, Nathan

will b e in ninth grade and soccer, Sarah in sixth grade and band and little y

I

am

overdue in writing a letter, but the main reason is to tell you how | s ,

the plans are developing for our return to the mission field

next

summer ^

Originally, when we

returned

to

the States

two

years

ago we

were

hoping

not

only to

get

the

older children

through

High School and

settled,

but to add to our own education and thereby increase our abilities to h el p p eo pl e.

Also we wanted to ha ve c re de nt ia ls in some field of d ev el op me nt to be able to enter countries where missionaries

normally are

not

permitted to go. Mal ay sia has been closed to missi on ar ies for

years.

Just this

year,

Indonesia has

started implementing a ten year plan to ge t rid of all foreign missionaries. Thailand has announced

its

intention to do

the same thing for many years. The f ir st f oreigners to be permitted to enter Burma, China, Laos, Cambodia and Viet

nam will p ro ab ly be b usin ess men and d ev el op ment p er so nell . We, Tom and I, feel we n eed to ge t ready for a new era

in missionary work.

Originally, I had wanted to i nc re as e my e duc atio n in agriculture, bu t found

that

it would take more time and

money

than

I c ould a ff or d. Now, I

have

found an

excellent opportunity

to

ge t

an education

and

certification in 12 mon

ths in Water-Waste Water Management at Crowder College - 40 minutes drive from home. Actually, Tom Love and I

have done quite a bit of work in w ater management as we installled water systems in two villages and I find the books

familiar. After one year of study 3

semesters

- Fall, Spring and Summer including 4 weeks of internship), we will be

tested

and cer ti fi ed by the EPA Environmental Protection Agency) to be operators. T hi s c ou rs e has had

students

from 70 different countries with countries all over the world offering operator jobs. I am very excit ed as you can see,

and am finding the

studies extremely interesting

and s ti mu la ti ng . I am hoping to ge t this skill and certification while

Janet gets her secretarial certif ication with the goal of continuing in the L or d s work overseas with

the

Chinese in

China,

Burma

orThailand.

We hope this agreeable wit h you, o ur supporters. This past year, we ha ve supported ourselves with the Land

scaping

business

and we ho pe to continue to do so as m uc h as po ss ib le .

However, taking this

comprehensive course we

feel we

must

return

on

misssionary salary

to some

extent.

This

is five

months

earlier

than

originally

planned.

What

has been sent to Formosa Christian Mission in the past two years has b een and will con ti nu e to be f or ward ed to two

churches in Northern Thailand along with helping several Bible College students over there,

but

there is sti ll some

l ef t o v er from

t h a t .

8/9/2019 Bemo Alan Janet 1988 Thailand

4/4

Tom Love recently returned on Furlough and has brought first hand reports of God's work among the villag

where we have worked. The Ping-Luang Church has purchased an adjoining piece of property and are getting read

to build a large sanctuary since

they have

outgrown

the

first. They

are

asking for help to

hire another

preacher. Th

Mipo church also, is tearing down

their

present meeting place to build a bigger one. Praise

the

Lord, that He is givin

the increase. Actually, according to the plan, we will be sending these churches less and less mission support as the

increase more and more in their own giving. Pray for

these

Sister Churches. The Chinese are doing great work no

in Northern Thailand

and

going ou t and evangalizing

their

own villages. It looks like we

might

be ou t of a job as far

Northern Thailand Chinese

work

goes. We can only rejoice in th at. But there are many fields

white unto

harvest an

as

time draws

closer

to

return

our

heartbeat

quickens

to say

Here

are

we

Lord send

us

We feel l ike we are continuing

to

grow in Christ with less self-confidence and more God-confidence. We continu

to be

more and more thankful

to God for

your continued Faith and

Love.

We will be sending

reciepts

ou t in

January

and June for every six months giving since postage is now so high

Financial Reports will be sent to all our

supporters

in February or March. If you did not recieve one for this yea

please le t us know and we'll send you one. Thanks again for being patient with us these

last

two years . If you wou

like for us to speak with you about the work before our return

next

year, please contact us in Joplin

at

the above a

dress or

cal l

417-782-7426.

In

Him.

A la n a nd J a n e t

Formosa

Chris tian Mission

c/o

Mrs. Linda Goerke

Non Profit

Organizatio

R R I Box 115 U.S. POSTAGE

KingCity, MO 6446 PAID

King City MO 64463

PERMIT

NO.

4

ADDRESS

CORRECTION

REQUESTED

P R

jyj c:; r p i t ; ; c; p-

p p

pnv 1 i'VP