BUDDHISM PERMEATES EVERY ASPECT OF THE THAI SOCIETY AND THE DAILY LIFE OF ITS PEOPLE

There have been tremendous evangelistic breakthroughs among animistic tribals, Chinese, nominal Christians, Hindus, and now even Muslims, but there have been very few breakthroughs among the 350 million Buddhists of the world. Surely the Buddhists are one of the few remaining giants in global evangelization. Thailand has 58 million Buddhists. Only 1,1% are Christians, and 0,5% evangelicals. Thailand has never experienced a revival.

This is why the Lord brought us here: To make the light of Jesus shine.

CRIS & EMY LOBOS//JULY 2015

THAILAND

TAKING THE OPPORTUNITIES

Teaching english to student of the Chiang Mai University was certainly a Challenge for a non-native English speaker like me. Moreover, I got the biggest class. But I did it! The Lord gave me the confidence I needed, and overall it was a rich experience. I was exposed right away to the culture. And best of all, it gave me few opportunities to share the Gospel, and even pray for some students.

LEARNING, LEARNING AND …MORE LEARNING

Everything is new. Language, characters, religion (It is impossible to understand Thai society separate from Buddhism), behavior, unspoken cross-cultural communication, worldview, etc. Even driving on the left side of the road! I have visited Thailand few times in the past. The first time was in 2003 with an outreach trae from Christ For The Nations. But all I knew was just the surface. Digging deeper into the heart of the culture seems to be much more complex than what we’d experienced in China.

Red-light district ministry The Lord opened doors to help in an anti sex trafficking ministry focus on the local Thai red district. One of the stream of this ministry is to provide a place and an after school english class for the kids living in this particular district. The kids are not aware of their environment, but they are growing there where the risk is at each corner. So, I (Emy) coordinated some craft classes at their english camp. Such amazing kids! They were captivated and inspired to create something from scratch. I pray that one day Jesus will be their life inspiration. I enjoyed so much and I felt so much motivated and passionated about how art is a great way to express deeply what you cannot sometimes expressed aloud. Those kids are considered at risk. It is all around them. Some will be safe some others not. It is all the challenge to be a great light and a good salt for their life. In the next month, I will coordinate their second evening after-school by providing craft. Right in that red light district, there is a house of prayer were Cris is leading worship weekly at an intercession meeting.

FAMILY NEWS Birthdays Nina turned 6 years old on 1st of July. Jolaine will turn 3rd on the 24th. And Emy will turn 37 on the 26th of this month also. Cris turned 39 last May.

Vehicle We are deeply thankful for all of you who generously gave so that we could have a vehicle. Having our own transport is making life much easier for our family.

Trip to Laos For 2nd time in 7 months, we drove 12 hours to the boarder with Laos. Crossed to Laos. Went to the Thai consulate in Vientiane next day. Got our new Thai visas. Crossed the boarder back to Thailand and drove the 12 hours back to Chiang Mai. We are thankful that all went well and that we were back home safety.

Home Right at the time we were renewing our visas, we received the unexpected news that our landlord lost his house and the bank was re-selling it. A couple of weeks ago, the house was purchased by a company and some representatives came to offer to us to renew the contract at the same price with the only condition of paying a 2 months deposit. Now, we’ve learn that we are actually paying rent 40% less than what most of our neighbors pay! We consider it a miracle!

Prayer can make a difference! Would you pray for… • Our rent: We have to sign a new contract and pay 2 months deposit, in 3

days! We still need 550 USD.

• Work Permit: The voluntary Work Permit is what allow us to stay in Thailand. The visa without the work permit doesn’t any validity. In the next few days we MUST pay the annual extension of it which cost 650 USD. We need your prayer!

• Learning Thai: We are praying for a church or a friend who could sponsor us for one year paying are language school. The cost is 200 USD per month. Not being able to communicate it’s being a handicap in our ministry.

• Homeschooling: We need to buy a homeschool curriculum from US and have it shipped to Thailand. https://www.aop.com/curriculum/shop-horizons.

CONTACTO:

crisemy@sfreserves.org go.crisemy@gmail.com

“Thank you for praying and supporting us” Cris & Emy, Nina & Jolaine