For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom and Krinny Gaudet

Dear Intercessors:
We trust you are enjoying the blessings of the Lord in this new year. His return is nearer now than ever before. Keep looking up!

All of the literature we have been awaiting is on the gym floor at our sponsoring Church in Fort Worth. We unloaded the last of it this morning. Of the several smaller shipments and two semi tractor trailer shipments, we will only be paying shipping costs for one! Brethren have taken care of all the rest. That is amazing! The Lord has provided in so many ways for this effort that the individual stories could fill a book. Suffice it to say that we are truly amazed, humbled and grateful for all that has transpired.

There is approximately 75,000# of literature on the floor now. The first container is due to arrive here this Wednesday. You can imagine what the folks of Metropolitan Baptist Church will be doing after prayer meeting on Wednesday night! We plan to fill it with 44,000# of that material.

Our coworkers here have thrilled to see the tracts, Gospels, and other materials that came across our computer screens before going to press now sitting on the gym floor by the multiplied thousands ready to ship to Thailand.

Please pray as this shipment goes out on Thursday, January 28th. The next one is slated to follow in about 60 days. This missionary family, along with our coworkers will depart for Thailand in just about one week, February 1. We all have much to do before leaving. In addition to packing our personal items, we are making sure that all of the office materials needed are packed also. This includes computers, components, books, duplicated data disks, etc…

We are so grateful to brethren in our Church who are handling many aspects of our personal and ministry affairs as we go.

Krinny and I said "Good-by" to our Daughter and family last Saturday. They headed north for a series of meetings which will take them up until the time they return to Lithuania and of course we depart for Thailand. We figured it out and realized the blessings of the Lord that we were able to see them for a LOT longer than we had figured on while they were in the USA. We enjoyed the time getting reacquainted with the grandkids for sure.

Forgive my rambling please. I just wanted you to know that all is well and getting real busy in these last days before we depart. Please pray for God's sustaining hand on us. Several needs remain unmet, but we have marveled in the manner He has chosen to meet the others. We are so grateful for each one of you that pray, give and care.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom and Krinny Gaudet

Greetings from Thailand!
We arrived safely in Thailand on Wednesday afternoon USA time. Around 26 hours of travel time does wear on a person, but we made it without incident. All of our baggage arrived safely also. That is really amazing since 5 of us were traveling together and each one was loaded down with the maximum luggage; personal items, computers, and office related items. All made it through customs without incident.

We allotted two days in a guesthouse in Bangkok to get caught up on rest from the trip and begin looking into costs of housing, etc. Let me freely admit that Krinny and I have been the ones doing the resting, the young ladies with us have been running all over the city with Theresa Lange. They have already seen sights that I have not seen in nearly a dozen trips to Thailand!

We had also planned a trip to Chiang Mai to visit with the Lange family to make some plans about future ministry here in Thailand. We leave today and plan to spend the next 5 days or so there in the northern part of Thailand with them.

Please pray for these days. We have much to discuss and pray over. The effective use of the literature that has been entrusted to us depends in great part upon these next days as we develop a plan together. Jeff has just passed a language proficiency test that allows him to have a missionary visa. He is at an important crossroad in his language studies and is trying to decide upon the best way to proceed.

The container of literature is due to ship from Los Angeles on the 9th of February and is scheduled to arrive on March 2nd. I wish you all could have seen the loading of the container at Metropolitan Baptist Church. The brethren there loaded 44,000#; some 1,200 boxes in 45 minutes BY HAND! A forklift would have been in the way if we had it. Afterwards, somewhere around 150 people gathered around the container and committed it to the Lord. A dear Cambodian pastor from Fort Worth was there and prayed in Khmer, his native language. It was a very moving experience to say the least.

We are excited about what the Lord will do with all of this. Please continue to pray. Your intercession makes all the difference.

• Pray for our housing needs as well a literature distribution facility.
  
• Safe arrival of the container of literature. Also that it can be processed through customs without undue expense.
  
• Pray for our health as we adjust to Thailand.
  
• Pray for the times of prayer and strategy over these next days with the Lange family.
  
• Pray for the Lord to pave the way for us to move the literature into the surrounding countries.
  

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom and Krinny Gaudet

Dear Intercessors:
It has been a very rapid three weeks since arriving in Thailand. We have now moved into a house in the extreme north end of the Bangkok metro area about 15 minutes north of the Airport. This area is ideal in many ways for our purpose as it is very accessible.

Finding a suitable house proved to be somewhat of a challenge. In fact, we ended up taking the first one we looked at but only after having the landlord agree to some modifications. A couple of walls were built creating an additional room where the carport was. We also had to purchase a couple of air-conditioners as well. Thanks to several of you who helped with the moving costs, we are settled even though it was more expensive than originally projected.

We are awaiting the first container shipment of literature as this is written. The ship is due in port on March 2. It will take two or three days before the container is released so we are looking at the end of next week if all goes well. Please pray for these matters. Much has to be worked out in the mean while.

1. We have found a suitable storage facility but it will not fully be vacated until around the middle or end of March. Meanwhile we are able to use portions of it for storage. Depending on the way things work out, this will be temporary or permanent. Of course we wish it not to be temporary, since there will be 44,000# of literature in this first container and it will all have to be unloaded by hand. The storage facility is 4 floors, all stairs! It really is ideal unless the literature has to be moved again.
   
2. The import of the literature is supposed to be duty free since we shipped it in through a Nonprofit organization. Please pray that this works out and the costs of clearing the container through customs will be held to a minimum. We plan to work with brethren to form such an organization for future shipments.
   

Again all this happens next week, Lord willing. Please pray.

The Jeff Langes have rented a house in the same subdivision as we are in, just a 5 minute walk away. The storage facility mentioned above is a 10 minute walk away from us. The Lord was faithful in these arrangements and certainly all the effort it took to find these facilities will be worth it. The Langes had to leave the country to renew visas so will be returning on the 2nd of March. They then start the process of moving into their new place.

We are just about finished setting up our offices in the house we rented. Our computer network is functional and we now have a good Internet connection, except in the evenings when every Thai with a computer is online at the same time. The connection really crawls then.

We are setting up a guestroom this week as we will be having a number of folks visiting this year. Wanna come? We'll find somewhere to put you!

We have all experienced some sickness or the other since arriving. Mostly it has been related to the heat, colds, or other minor maladies. Please pray for our health as we fully adjust to the climate and conditions.

One more prayer request; please pray that we could find suitable transportation. We had originally figured on using taxis and public transportation. That is really not an option at this point. With 5 of us here now we must get two taxis when going just about anywhere. If we have anyone else with us a car would not work, so we will begin looking into purchasing a van. Everyone warns of getting ripped off but the Lord is able to give us exactly what we need at a price that can be dealt with. Already we have been put in touch with a national pastor who is a mechanic/used car dealer.

Thank you for standing behind us as we undertake ministry in this needy area. Millions of souls are in bondage. Thailand is less than 1% "Christian." Thai Buddhists (almost all 72 million of them are!) casually refer to spirits and demons, and images of them are everywhere. Please pray! We are dependent upon the Lord's power to make a difference here.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom Gaudet

Dear Praying Friends,
I wish to bring you up to date on a situation and ask specific prayer. There was quite a bit of confusion on the part of the customs brokers earlier this week as we began the process of clearing the container of literature. Due to some lack of information, we had to change customs brokers at the last minute and that was the start of the confusion. Then there was an abnormality with the paperwork from our shipper in the USA which caused farther questions.

We were concerned because when things get mixed up this much it usually ends up costing a LOT. However, it seems like most of it has been worked out and we actually have tentative dates. The container is due to clear customs on Monday 7 March and delivery of the container at our rented storage facility on March 8.

We would humbly ask your intercession for these matters. Many things could cause delay and increased cost. Several brethren are awaiting the literature and the days following the delivery will be busy as well because of that.

It will be necessary for me (Tom) to travel quite a bit to the regional countries as well as throughout Thailand dealing with distribution of the literature. We will also be continuing development of additional needed literature in these places.

We covet your prayers for these efforts. "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." Only the Lord can foresee what will happen in days to come. We would be presumptuous to assume His hand on this work without many praying. When you intercede, you are as big a part of this work as anyone. Thank you for praying and for many of you who have also given.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom Gaudet

Dear Intercessors;
The shipping container arrived safely today at our storage facility in Bangkok and all the literature is packed safely away! There were a couple of last minute things to deal with including the customs officers' charging duty on the Thai language material! We rejoice because the duty they charged was only around $130. They opened the 40' container and saw Thai but also a couple of other languages in boxes near the door but did not bother to dig deep enough to realize that over 2/3 of the shipment was in Thai. At any rate, the decision was theirs but I just have to believe it was the Lord that superintended the whole affair. Many of you were interceding and we certainly were aware of it. We do not have a final bill for the customs clearance, port charges, and duty as of yet, but it should come in under $750 unless there was something that was missed in estimates.

Some of the Thai literature should be delivered to missionaries and pastors yet this week. Bro. Jeff Lange is taking some of it to Chiang Mai in his truck later this week also, then we will begin on a small scale distributing some of it next week. We already have a running list of other items that MUST be developed and published for Thailand to meet needs. I am already talking with printers about some of it now.

In the next three weeks we will have three sets of visitors; two men from printing ministries in the USA, one from a printing ministry in Australia, as well as the parents of one of the young ladies working with us from our home church. Please pray that every one of them could leave here with a greater vision for the Buddhists of this region.

Also, I will be traveling to Myanmar (Burma) and Cambodia with some of these brethren to delve into the literature needs in the region in a greater way. Shipment of Khmer language (Cambodia) material needs to be worked out also.

While the arrival of this container represents the end of a lot of work by a lot of people, it is indeed just the beginning of a lot more work on this end. We have nearly 3 years into it so far. We are already making plans for a second container, most of the contents of which are already at our sponsoring Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

I cannot express to you how grateful we are for your intercession for this work. You are as surely a part of it as anyone as you pray.

• Please pray for safety as we travel.
  
• Pray for these traveling to Bangkok from the USA and Australia.
  
• Pray that we would have wisdom to know what to put our hands to concerning additional literature in the region. We want what we do to be effective in communicating the Gospel.
  
• Pray as we look into purchasing a vehicle. It has become a necessity even though we did not plan on it. Pray that we can find the right vehicle and have the necessary funds to secure it.
  

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom and Krinny Gaudet

Dear Praying Friends,
We are weary but rejoicing as this day grows to a close. Several things have occurred in the past few days since I wrote to you last. Distribution: As reported to you in the last Update, the first container of literature has arrived and we have begun to distribute the materials.

Toward that end, Jeff Lange just made a trip to Chiang Mai and he hauled a pickup load of the Gospels, Tracts, correspondence courses, etc., there to give to men who had asked for it. Plans are to duplicate on a smaller scale the distribution center we are setting up here in a rented house that Jeff and his wife lived in while in Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is around 7 hours north of Bangkok, so it will be beneficial to have literature there.

We are hosting two men visiting from the USA at present. One is Steve Zienner, director of Bearing Precious Seed in Milford, OH, and Pastor Bob Hughes of Souls Harbor Baptist Church, Marietta, OH. These mens' ministries invested heavily in the literature shipment to the region. They wanted to see for themselves the needs. We were able to distribute tracts as well as Gospels of John/Romans, all with a response card inclosed. It was a joy for sure to see some of the men that made this shipment a reality get to put out the Word of God.

Travel: On Thursday of this week 5 of us flew up to Udon Thani, about 1 hour from the Lao border where we met with some pastors as well as missionaries and gave them sample boxes of literature. They were able to share their burden concerning literature with us and these men from OH.

One special blessing was to show a pastor in Udon Thani the tract that he wrote some years ago but had never been printed in volume. I wish you could have seen his face when we showed it to him. When we told him there was 750,000 of them he simply could not believe it! What a blessing.

Before that day was over, I met with a pastor from near the Lao border who is also a car dealer and mechanic. He brought a station wagon that we had talked about via telephone for me to look over. I paid him for it and we drove it back to Bangkok, arriving late in the evening.

The men from OH and I just returned from a whirlwind trip to Yangon, Myanmar. We met with several brethren there concerning literature needs. I don't have space to tell you the blessings of this meeting, but suffice it to say the Lord directed in it and we now have specific direction about work that needs to be done in the Burmese language. I will be returning to Myanmar soon to work with these men on verifying the integrity of the Burmese Bible that they have which was originally translated by Adnoriam Judson. It has been printed and revised many times so we want to make sure which one we have. Much more needs to be done.

Please pray as these guys leave early Tuesday morning and April Wilson's parents arrive from our sponsoring Church that evening. They will be here one week and during that time, I plan to visit some brethren in Cambodia along with April's Dad. We must begin to make preparations to move the materials into Cambodia so this trip is very important.

Storage facility: While we rejoice in having the literature on hand, there is a complication with the place we have it stored. It is a long story, but the organization that had planned to turn the building over to us is unable to do that and a new contract must be made with the landowner. That of course could be very complicated and expensive. We really don't want to move the materials, so please pray that we can get it worked out.

The shipment ended up costing us around $1,300 to clear customs. There was a problem with the paperwork and that had to be dealt with. It turned out that the way to deal with it was to pay more. Hopefully we can avoid these probems the next shipment but the last one we shipped to Bangkok in 1998 cost $1,400 so we are not too far off. That makes the total cost of shipping this container at $4,200.

One final note: We began two weeks ago to have evening services in our home in English to meet the needs of our "family." Others have been invited along the way. Most of the Thai churches have only morning services so this was a practical approach to our situation. Well, we just arrived back to Bangkok at 2pm today from Myanmar so we had the evening service as scheduled. In attendance tonight were 28, in addition to two plumbers and our landlady! They chose tonight to do a repair job on plumbing so the Landlady (a Chinese/Thai) sat in on the service. A young Thai man also attended with some Americans and he was interested enough to ask many questions after the service. In addition to the Thai people, 9 from Laos were there who had to have the message interpreted for them. I don't know what is happening but we certainly did not have any idea that these numbers would attend when we started these evening services. Visitors from Laos and America account for several so it is maybe a rare thing. Pray for these services please. Several missionaries were in attendance also. A small number of English speaking Thai have expressed interest in these services.

Sorry for the long e-mail. I felt it necessary to communicate these things so you would know how to pray. Please hold up our finances to the Lord in these days. The move in expenses were much more than we planned on as was the purchase price of a car. It has not taken the Lord by surprise however. We will just trust Him as always. So many have been faithful in giving. So many of you pray also. We recognize the hand of the Lord in it all.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom Gaudet

Brethren,
Greetings from Thailand! I felt a need to update you on several matters and ask your continued prayer. What an encouragement to know that so many of you pray faithfully for us. No missionary family has ever been as blessed as we are in having so many faithful co-laborers that intercede. You are making a difference, I assure you.

Several around here have been sick including both of the men who visited with us from Ohio, the Jeff Lange family, and some of the ladies who work with us. Krinny and I seem to have gotten the worst of it. (Must be our age!!) We were diagnosed with a Bronchial infection and put on strong antibiotics as well as other medications. In fact, one of those drugs caused some really curious symptoms which prompted us to cease taking it. I began to have "tremors," shaking like someone who was really nervous. I am glad for the help provided by medicines of various sorts, but really glad I don't have to take any of them regularly! Anyway, we are most of the way over all that now, and for that we are very thankful.

When I was in Myanmar with the two men from Ohio two weeks ago, we learned that the old Judson translation of the Burmese Bible was still being used by Christians there. However, the Bible society has limited the number of them available and at the same time pushed a more modern text. Most of the Christians prefer to use the Judson translation but it is becoming hard to obtain. As a result, we are in the process of resetting the type on it now and a need has arisen to meet with some people in Northern Thailand concerning it. I will be flying to Chiang Mai tomorrow morning and returning tomorrow evening after the meeting. Please pray that the needed information and help could be obtained then. Brethren in the USA desire to print this Bible as well as portions for distribution to Myanmar. Pray that we can facilitate this work.

We hosted the parents of one of the gals that work with us. April Wilsons' parents were here for 6 days last week and it was a blessing except for Krinny and me being sick most of the time they were here. We have hosted a brother from a printing ministry in Australia for the past couple of days also. He left this morning to travel to Myanmar and will be back through on Wednesday. It has been a blessing sharing a vision with all these folks.

Krinny and I leave on Saturday of this week, April 9th, to go to Singapore where I will speak in a couple of churches on Sunday. Then we travel on to Melbourne Australia to speak in a missions conference in a church there.

We are due to return from Australia on the 19th, and will be stopping over in Singapore again where we will meet the 3 young ladies who work with us here in Thailand. It is necessary for all of us to renew our Thai visas every three months and theirs will be due. We will all fly back to Thailand on the 21st. Busy days ahead! We would appreciate you remembering all these travels as you pray. Pray for our coworkers as we are gone from Thailand these days. Fortunately we know a number of people in the immediate area who can help them if there is a need.

Please pray concerning the storage facility where the literature is stored. As mentioned earlier there is a complication and it will have to be resolved or the literature moved and another place secured. The Lord can do what we cannot so we trust Him to work this out. However, it is imperative that it is worked out before we call for the second shipment from the USA. Funds for that shipment must be secured before then also. Please pray.

Most of the Thai churches have only Sunday morning services so we started Sunday afternoon services in English in our home to meet the needs of a number of people in the area as well as our "team." We have had a high of 32 in these services and it has been necessary for them to be translated into two other languages on occasion! Please pray that these services will continue to be blessed of the Lord. We have already seen a few situations where Thai and Lao people who have been prayed for have attended. Pray also for Jeff Lange as he handles these English services for the two weeks that we are in Singapore and Australia. Pray for the Gaudet and Lange families as we work together on many aspects of ministry here in Thailand.

I always hesitate to write these long missives but every time I do, I get e-mail from someone who thanks me for it. It is just a tremendous blessing to us to know that you pray. How grateful we are for you.

Greetings from Thailand!
How we thank the Lord for each one of you who are involved with us in intercession, finances or both! We cannot tell you how much it means to this missionary family knowing that many are standing in the gap with us.

Krinny and I traveled to Singapore where I spoke in Maranatha Baptist Church on the 10th of April, then we traveled on to Melbourne, Australia to be in a missions conference from the 13th-16th. I spoke in two other churches in the Melbourne area on the 17th. We were blessed to be back in both Australia and Singapore where we enjoyed fellowship with friends and made new ones. Krinny and I love both places and the people.

Many of you know that Krinny has had problems with her knees for around 3 years now. There are number of superb hospitals in Bangkok, so long before we arrived here we had planned to have her knee problem diagnosed once we settled in. She went in for that diagnoses last week. The orthopedic specialist took one look at her x-rays and told her that she needed Total Knee Replacement surgery on both knees. He said that he was surprised that she was able to function with the left knee at all. She is really too young for that kind of surgery but there is no choice at this point. He said she could go without it as long as she could stand the pain. We had a second opinion and the option was to do some exercises and take mega doses of pain killers. Not much of an option.

We are praying about when to do the surgery at this point. It looks like the best place to do that would be right here in Bangkok. People come here from around the globe to have surgery such as this done here due to the quality of care and low cost. It is MUCH lower than in the USA. We are assessing the costs now and will be telling you more about it in the near future. We have used one of the Christian sharing networks instead of insurance and while they should be able to help with the cost, the surgery will require immediate payment. Please pray as we try to get all this worked out. Need I say that she is somewhat apprehensive? Please pray for her as we consider all this.

I just made a whirlwind trip to Cambodia to look into additional needs for literature and routes for moving the materials we now have in Bangkok. Many new contacts were made and should prove to be useful. I have a better understanding of the needs in-country and the men who are committed to developing and using literature. Keep on praying as we undertake moving the tracts we have now in Khmer, the Cambodian language. Pray for a Cambodian man who is making plans to bring his family to Bangkok for surgery for his wife. While here, we plan to work on some needs for the country together. That should happen in June. Please keep it all in prayer.

For most of the last three weeks my main e-mail address -TomGaudet@xc.org, has been on and off the Internet. The company that hosted the address shut down suddenly and it was passed onto another company that is having trouble getting things working right. If you have sent e-mail to me in that period of time and I have not responded, please send it again. If you ever send mail to me and do not get a response within 48 hours, please send it again. I often use public access Internet cafes when traveling and things happen.

I need to ask specific prayer for one other situation that I have mentioned before. When the first shipment of literature arrived we had an offer from some brethren who were disbanding a Thai registered foundation to use a portion of a building that they were planning to vacate in the near future. It was generally agreed that we could just take over the rent. The building is just what I had envisioned over three years ago as we first designed the whole literature effort. It is only a 10 minute walk from our house and a few minutes farther from the Lange's house. It has literally everything that we need, extra living quarters for groups, a meeting room for training, kitchen, restrooms, and plenty of storage area for several shipments' worth of literature.

However as soon as we unloaded the container into the building, we begin having problems. The Thai counterpart of this nearly defunct foundation announced that she planned to keep the building and the foundation. She has no way financially to do so, but it has really put a damper on our plans. Bro. Lange speaks Thai so he has been in touch with the landlord of the building. He has told her that we would like to take over the rent as soon as the current contract expires. She said to call back at the end of this week and she would talk more about it.

Please pray about this situation. This is one of the many situations that money cannot change. We are depending on the Lord changing hearts. We really don't want to move the literature and there is not a building of this sort in the immediate area for rent anyway. Bro. Lange and I both feel that it is ideal. The rent on it is around $200 per month presently. That is certainly within budget. Please pray that the matter could be resolved quickly. We are ready to order the next container of literature once two things happen:

1. We know that we have a place to store the literature without having to move it. Please pray!
   
2. Provision for the shipping costs of around $4,200.00. $500 has already come in and I am aware of another Church sending an offering. Pray that we can have the funds on hand when the matter of the building is settled.
   

After a delivery of 500,000 Thai response cards to our sponsoring Church for the next shipment, the membership there has started stuffing the cards into tracts. How we thank the Lord for these efforts. Pray for the printing of an additional 1,000,000 cards to be ready before the second container is shipped. We need them!

Bro. Lange is setting up a foundation that should be able to be used in many ways for long term ministry in the region. Pray for wisdom for him as he undertakes this effort. He was surprised by an immediate need for over $6,000 to accomplish this and when he put forth an e-mail, someone in the USA stepped to the plate with over one half of it! Praise the Lord!

Thank you once again for your important part in this ministry as you intercede. This side of Heaven you will never know what an impact you are making.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom Gaudet

Dear Praying Friends,
Krinny and I are very grateful for your faithful intercession. Things are progressing on several fronts as this is written. Please continue to labor in prayer for the people of Southeast Asia.

The situation with the storage facility for the literature is still not resolved. Bro. Lange has a meeting lined up next week with the owner of a similar unit in the same area that has just come available. Please continue to pray concerning this situation. We now have nearly two full containers' worth of literature in the USA awaiting shipment as soon as this is resolved.

A couple of Churches in the USA have contacted us concerning offerings they are sending to help with the upcoming shipments. It is amazing watching how the Lord provides. Thank you!

Many of you have expressed your prayers for Krinny as she faces surgery on her knees. The first surgery on her left knee is scheduled for this Saturday, May 21. When we met with the senior surgeon on the surgery team he said that he thought that her knee could be "realigned" rather than replaced. It is still a complex surgery but not as drastic. When she is on the table, the Surgeon will make that decision after he looks at the extent of the damage to her knee with a scope. If he feels he can rebuild it in this manner he will proceed, if the deterioration is too extensive, he will do the knee replacement.

She will be in the hospital around 7 days depending on the type of operation and how she recovers. In the USA the hospitalization is much more expensive so the stay is shorter, but here a good portion of the therapy is done while in the hospital. A real nice single-bed hospital room is around $150 per day including food and nursing care. The cost of the surgery inclusive of everything is estimated to be $6,500 - $7,500 depending on the surgery done. This is in the facility that foreigners refer to as Thailand's 5 star hospital.

We have been subscribed to Christian Brotherhood Newsletter for several years. It is the ministry in which Christians share each other's medical costs. The plan should cover all but $1,000 of the cost of this surgery, but two factors face us as we deal with this in Thailand. One factor is that the surgery must be paid for in it's entirety before the surgery is performed. The other is that the Christian Brotherhood organization is sort of in trouble now and they are running behind by 6 months in meeting these needs. Please pray as we deal with this situation. Metropolitan Baptist Church, our sponsor, is helping us make arrangements to meet this immediate need until Brotherhood is able to help. Of course, this is the first of two surgeries for her. The other should follow within two months.

We have a number of other situations that are affected by Krinny's surgery for which we would ask intercession.

1. During Krinny's hospital stay, I will be staying in a hotel which is actually part of the hospital in downtown Bangkok. I need to be as near Krinny as possible during her stay and in traffic the hospital is nearly one hour away from our house. Additionally, two of the young ladies working with us will be in our house by themselves during that time. Please pray for them and as we deal with the logistics of all this.
   
2. Two young men from the USA arrive on the 24th of May. These guys are Andrew Coats from Fredrick, MD, and our Pastor's Son, Brian Adkisson from Fort Worth. They will be staying in the building where we have the literature stored. For part of the time that Krinny and I are at the hospital these fellas will travel back and forth to the city to meet with me. It will help them learn how to get around the city. Please pray for these guys as we labor together for the summer.
   
3. A Cambodian pastor, his wife, and child are coming to Bangkok during the first couple of days of June. His wife has a couple of health issues including needing a surgery and we offered to host them while here. It will be a blessing to minister to them in this fashion. I am looking forward as well to working with this pastor on some issues concerning the Khmer Bible while they are here. Krinny will be convalescing during the same time so we will be depending heavily on Myra Noel and Susie Domangue during that time. No problem, they love to serve.
   

April Wilson is leaving Bangkok tomorrow heading back to Fort Worth. She has been a blessing to have with us. She has been here nearly 4 months. We are praying that she will be able to share a vision for the people of Thailand everywhere she goes.

Thank you for being such an important part of the work going on here. Prayer is work and it is an essential part of what needs to be done in this region.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom Gaudet

Dear Praying Friends,
We asked you to pray for Krinny as she was scheduled to have knee surgery. That surgery was performed last Saturday here in Bangkok. Once she was under anesthesia the surgeon used an orthoscope to look into the knee joint and then it was decided to go ahead with the reconstruction and realignment surgery rather than the total knee replacement.

She was in the hospital for almost five days during which she had physical therapy for three of them. Of course she has been pain but has done very well with it all. So well in fact that and as of about three hours ago, we are back at our house north of Bangkok. She will be walking assisted with a walker for the next 2-3 weeks then use a cane until she no longer needs it.

It was necessary to purchase some home healthcare type items such as a walker, etc., and now I have a few things to do to the interior of the house we are renting to make it more friendly to her until she recovers. She has literally suffered with this for almost 4 years and it will be a tremendous help for her to have full use of that knee. Please continue to pray for her full recovery.

We could not imagine a better hospital, or Dr. than we had here in Bangkok for this surgery. It rivals anything we have seen anywhere in the world, including the USA. We thank the Lord for leading us here during this time. I felt compelled to bring you up to date on this situation since so many of you pray faithfully. Thank you! Please pray now as we deal with the financial part of the surgery.

I was able to meet and talk with several folks from "Closed" countries who were being treated or were relatives of patients at this same facility. Please pray for one in particular, Saleh, a Muslim from Oman. He was very open and friendly. We plan to stay in touch via e-mail. Also pray for a young man from the USA who is a practicing Buddhist. Laying in his hospital bed he listened intently to me as I told him that Jesus was the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Andrew Coats from MD and Brian Adkission from TX arrived safely yesterday and are dealing with jetlag and setting up housekeeping in a room above the literature in the building we are using. The situation with the storage building is still not settled so now there is another motive for praying about the building; these two men are staying in it and they will be here for the summer!

Thank you again for your intercession. Please don't stop. We just got word of interest in helping us in significant way with shipping. I don't know all the details yet, but since we have two shipments lined up now and others in planning stage, this could be tremendous news. I will let you know more later.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom and Krinny Gaudet

Dear Praying Friends,
We wanted to update you on Krinny's recovery from knee surgery. Many have prayed for her and several have written notes of encouragement and we are so very thankful for that. I will let her speak for herself...

"I am doing better each day but there is still quite a bit of pain involved. I am walking with a walker and will be doing this for another week, then hopefully, I will graduate to a cane for about 6 weeks. If all goes well, I should be ready for the next surgery on the other knee in about 3 months.

Right now the hardest part is not being able to do any physical work. Sitting around is not something I am dealing with well. Pray that I can tolerate the boredom of not being able to do anything physical, except the physical therapy that has been prescribed.

I haven't left the house since arriving back from the hospital 6 days ago. That in itself is a crazy-maker for me; and I don't need any more help in that direction! I go back to the doctor on Saturday to have the stitches removed and I will update you about my progress when I hear what the doctor says. Once again, thank you for praying. - Krinny"
----

In addition to the many who have prayed and written, we can report to you that the bill for the surgery is now paid! Our home church, which handles our finances just contacted us to say a check arrived that covered the whole bill! We are astounded at the way the Lord provides through His people! No missionary family has ever had a greater group of intercessors. We are humbled and encouraged by your faithfulness in prayer and giving. We certainly would not want to try to minister without it. Thank you.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom and Krinny Gaudet

Many of you have faithfully prayed concerning the situation with the facility we are using for storage of the literature. As soon as we put the first shipment of literature in the building earlier this year, we had an immediate reaction from the lady who had been in charge of the now-defunct foundation that leased the building. That left us uncertain of the future of staying in the same location and it thus kept us from shipping any more literature from the USA. We really did not want to move so we asked the Lord to intervene and asked you to pray.

We can report to you today that the matter is settled! This afternoon sitting around a table with the landlord, his wife, a husband and wife who own a small shop close to the building, Jeff Lange and myself, and a few other folks, a one year contract was signed that starts in August. Until then we will continue to utilize the building but will be dealing with the landlord instead of the "problem Lady!"

We are all more or less stunned over how easy it was when we finally met with the landlord. I have dealt with many situations in Asia, but this one has been about the most bewildering of all of them. The meeting today was preceded by numerous meetings and phone calls by a number of people over the past three months. I must admit to being somewhat short of patience on occasion. In fact I remember well the occasion! Shame on me!

Someone familiar with the situation commented how amazing it was that in the end, the Lord used two Thai Buddhist families to solve a problem for us that could not be solved while dealing with a professing Christian lady! He is able to do what we cannot.

It did not however go without a hitch or two, and of course the deposit and misc. cost more than we had planned, but the rent will be just $25 more than the old contract. At current exchange rates it should be $225 per month.

Now we will look into the shipment of two more 40,000# containers full of literature which are waiting in the USA! Please pray for the necessary funds and arrangements to ship these.

Also, we took Krinny to the Dr. today. It has been one month since the surgery on her knee. She has been doing well with the recovery and he was pleased with her progress. She is to spend two more weeks using a walker to get around, then graduate to a cane. He suggested waiting two more months until doing the same surgery on her other knee.

She is pretty tough and has a high pain tolerance. Other than stiffness, soreness and occasional pain she is doing well. The biggest problem is she is not able to get around as much as she would like and what she does takes longer on a walker. We praise the Lord for Myra and Susie stepping in and taking care of things for us during this time. We bought her a wheelchair so she could get out of the house some. The infrastructure of Thailand is not very friendly to the handicapped. Ramps exist but they are usually blocked with vehicles or clutter. Stairs abound everywhere. At any rate the wheelchair makes it possible for her to get out when I can take her. That is a great blessing.

Brian Adkisson, Andrew Coats, a young pastor from Cambodia and I drove to the Thailand/Cambodian border on Tuesday of this week to renew some visas and look into the shipment of Khmer literature across the border. Information gathered there will be used in a follow up trip in the near future. We learned a lot. Please pray that we can find an expedited means of getting the materials across the border.

We will be working most of this coming week on planning and preparation for a group of 24 coming from our home church. It is a logistical challenge I assure you. I am grateful to have these two young men here for the summer to help me with this and many other things. Please pray for these preparations. We want to make the most of the time the group is here.

Sorry for the long e-mail but we had a lot of news. That is not all of it I assure you, but enough to let you know that the Lord is moving. Thank you again for your intercession.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom Gaudet

I feel compelled to bring you up to date on some happenings here in Thailand and beg intercession.

Growing older in the Lord is not what I thought it might be like. For me, there is a peace and confidence that there will be nothing that the Lord cannot help us through. I heard this message from preachers and of course read it in His Word, but this confidence comes from many years of watching Him faithfully handle life and ministry situations. Not that problems sometimes are not perplexing, rather knowledge that He is in charge. Maybe I am a late learner.

The other thing that has been a surprise to me is my lack of independence. I thought the more "Mature" Krinny and I grew in the Lord the less we would need others. Looking back I am not real sure why we thought that, but of course the lesson here has been that the years has taught us utter dependence on Him and on others. In our American society, individualism is prized and the goal seems to be achieving independence. May I say that as our lives and ministry has matured, second to depending on the Lord, we are now dependent upon more people than at any time in our past.

At any rate, here are some updates and prayer requests. So many of you faithfully hold this work and family up before the Throne; we want you to know what needs attention in prayer.

Krinny's recovery from surgery is not as fast as she had hoped, but she is doing well. This next week she gradually moves from using a walker to using a cane for support. The Dr. is well pleased with her progress and has suggested that she wait until she can bear full weight on the knee before she has the second surgery. That will probably be in August or September. She is pain free most of the time unless she over does it walking.

Now that the storage situation for the literature has been worked out we are ready on this end for a couple of shipments from America. One is at our sponsoring Church in Fort Worth. It consists of around 38,000# of literature in several languages that will be used in the region. We are short around $2,500 for shipment of this container at this time. Please pray.

Work continues in the area of developing materials for the region. We were able to take a couple of days recently with a Cambodian pastor to determine the condition of the Bible used there. We just got a disk from a missionary there which contains a correspondence course that we had asked to be translated around 3 1/2 years ago.

Next week, Brian Adkisson, Andrew Coats, and myself will be traveling to Myanmar to meet with some pastors concerning the Burmese Bible as well as other helpful materials that need to be produced for that needy land.

Sporadically working with small team of translators, we are typesetting and preparing for print portions of the Old Testament, Psalms, the Gospel of John and the book of Romans, as well as a hymnbook in the Lao language.

Work continues on Thai materials also. Working closely with the Jeff Lange family we are looking into several areas for effective literature. All of the abovementioned material will be sent back to the USA for printing by several ministries there and shipped in future shipments. So many are laboring with their hands, praying, and paying. How can all this fail to make a difference? As I said earlier in this e-mail, this is the work of many and we often feel like we are on the sidelines watching it all happen!

The two young ladies with us and the two young men also have been tremendous help especially over these past weeks as Krinny convalesced from her surgery. Of course, that has set me aside a good deal also as I helped her. The young ladies have taken up all the household duties during this time as well as continuing the ongoing computer work.

The young men have been learning the city and how to get around and communicate. They have taken the responsibility of preparing the literature storage facility for more literature. We really could not start on this until we knew we were to stay there. That of course was settled a couple of weeks ago. Many things have to be done there as the building is also to be used for housing for them as well as a group we have coming from our home church this month.

Please pray for the endless details that have to be worked out before we can house and work the 26 people that are coming from Fort Worth on July 20-28. We plan to have three days' outreach in Bangkok and three days up country toward the Lao border. The two young men have made it possible for us to prepare for this group. I will be depending on them heavily during the outreach. We have relied heavily on the young ladies for years. Please pray for all these co-laborers in their ministry with us.

Before the group arrives, it will be necessary for us to escort Krinny and the young ladies out of the country to renew their visas. The Lange family had a great opportunity to be part of a family reunion in the USA. They will be returning on the 13th. Please pray for them during this time.

Since we have been in Thailand, two churches in the USA have begun to support us, and two of our supporters have increased our support! Other special offerings have made it possible for us to handle the expenses of what we have undertaken here. We are constantly amazed at the way the Lord leads his children.

Much more could be said, but I will close here. Opportunities abound on every hand. Please pray that we could follow His leading for effective ministry in the region. Pray as we try to communicate this to those who could do what we cannot.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom and Krinny Gaudet

Dear Intercessors,
Just a few lines to catch you up on some things and of course ask your continued prayer... The big news around here is the arrival of a group of 26 people, most all of whom are members of Metropolitan Baptist Church in Fort Worth, our sponsors. They will be arriving in just about 26 hours from now and will be here for 8 days. Each person is bringing one bag full of literature and a few other needed items.

All of us have been "Flat out" getting ready as our Australian friends say. Housing, vehicles, food, the list of details have been mind bending. We are so very thankful for our coworkers and their tireless labor. A lot has gone into the planning and details.

Please pray for the group while they are here. It has been very expensive for each one of them. I know they want to be mightily used of the Lord while here. We want each of them to leave with a vision for what the Lord can do in their lives and for a people such as the Thai. A vision will result in a burden. Many will be praying about future ministry in this needy land.

We plan to make an overnight foray into an adjoining country which will remain nameless at this time. If the Lord allows, believers in that place will have more copies of His precious Word. Please pray concerning this. There have been meticulous details and much more than I could ever hope to write about this situation. Please intercede for us.

We plan to return to Bangkok on Sunday evening in time for the English services held here. Last week we had 33 in attendance. We of course expect more this week with our group coming. We plan to take the next days until they depart for the USA to be involved in outreach around Bangkok. Please pray for the team members' eyes to be opened to the needs in this place.

Pray also as we work out the details for two more shipments of literature from the USA. Our Lord is so gracious to provide where needed. It appears that both shipments are funded as this is written. PTL!

I will cut this short so you will know more thoroughly how to help. PRAY!!!!

For Still Waiting,
Tom Gaudet

Dear Praying Friends,
How very thankful we are for your faithful intercession. You really do make the difference in this work. The group from our sponsoring Church has returned to the USA and we are trying to get organized once again. What a blessed time. I will let missionary Jeff Lange tell you about it from an e-mail he sent to his supporters. (I know many of you are also on his list, but I am tired and he said it well!)

I must say that without the faithful, sacrificial help that Bro. Lange and several of our co-workers here provided, this effort would simply not have been possible. They all put forth many hours willingly helping me prepare for the team to arrive from the USA. God used that and moved in a mighty way. We are looking forward to the long-term results from it now. Here is Bro. Lange's view of it, followed by some short comments from me.

------------------------------------
We feel that the team members got a vision and a burden for Thailand. I would like to share one of many testimonies of God working. Bro. Gaudet intended to bring the group to Laos for one day. However, we found out at the last minute the border was closed for one week due to the ASEAN meetings being held in Laos. He changed plans and decided to go to Khon Kaen in the North Eastern region of Thailand. We know of no fundamental church in the whole province. The team arrived late in the afternoon and God led us to a hotel which was to have 500 people from one area of the city come for a one day seminar on agriculture the next day. On that day, we had set aside 3 hours in the morning to sow down different areas of the city, then return to the hotel, pack up and head back to Bangkok.

It was pouring rain at the time we met the next day to split up and pass out tracts. Bro. Gaudet basically said hail or high water we going out. Well, at the same time we all saw what happened, it stopped raining and didn't rain the rest of the time we were out. After that was over we returned to the hotel, cleaned up and checked out. The vehicles were brought around to the front and people started loading into the vans and that is when it happened. Suddenly, people started coming out of nowhere in small groups. Group after group entered the hotel lobby. Someone from the group started passing out tracts and that continued for the next hour. These 500 people arrived and the atmosphere was in a relaxed environment. I'm not sure how many tracts were passed out but we received over 20 response cards filled out on the spot, 17 of them all came from one specific section of town. We were able to establish, however brief, a relationship with the people who responded. Overall, we have received over 60 responses from the outreach. Please pray as we follow up with these people and especially for the city of Khon Kaen. As a team, we prayed for God to raise up a church in this city.

Shortly before the team arrived, Bro. Gaudet learned of an unsettling situation in Thailand. Human traffickers charged some Laotian Hmong to come to Thailand with the promise of receiving Thai I.D. cards and even in some situations promising visas to the USA Roughly 4-5,000 Laotian Hmong entered into Thailand illegally and set up camp in another Hmong village in North Central Thailand. At the same time, a refugee camp in Saraburi (about ½ hr drive from here) closed down and ordered about another 2,000 Laotian Hmong who did not qualify to go to America or to leave. They went to join the 4,000 in a place called Khek Noi. The Thai government did not want another refugee camp so they ordered the existing Hmong village (those who are in Thailand legally) not to allow the refugees to live on their property. If caught the gov't would seize their land. They also ordered the local food vendors not to sell to them. The Thai gov't doesn't want them here and the Lao gov't won't allow them back in their land. If you understood the history of the Hmong in Laos and how they helped the Americans in the Vietnam War you would understand why they are a hated and discriminated people in Laos. The gov't has considered forcing the Lao Hmong over the border. Right now, these people are literally living on the side of the road. Bro. Gaudet organized a trip we took yesterday to find this group of people and see what can be done as far as ministry. We learned quite a lot. There is one NGO - aid organization helping these people physically, but more can be done. There is one church in the village which has about 100 members. They currently have no pastor and the deacon said that about 700 of the Lao Hmong come to worship on Sundays. We met two young Laotian Hmong men who came over a year ago to be trained and learn the Bible. As it turns out, they haven't learned anything. They asked right away if we could teach them the Bible. The Lao Hmong refugees don't speak Thai or Lao. Any ministry among them must be done in Hmong. We of course don't speak Hmong, but these two men do and they seem to speak Thai adequately. I'm sure this will become a communication problem in the future, but we seem to have an open door to teach some men who can in turn teach these refugees. Time is really of the essence. We don't know how much more time we have to minister to the Hmong refugees. They could be shipped out before we get back. We are planning another survey trip and later this week. The refugees came to Thailand because they had hope. Now that is taken away and they have no hope. Please pray as we hastily organize some way to bring the hope of the glorious gospel of Christ to these people. These refugees are a people not wanted by their own country (Laos), by Thailand and by the US However, Jesus Christ died for them and He wants them to be His children. God wants them. Please pray for God to give us wisdom and understanding how to proceed.
--------end of Lange report -----------

Please pray as we try to get some Hmong materials into print rapidly and return to the refugee camp. This 12 hour round-trip to the refugee camp occurred less than 36 hours after our group left for the USA. Already we have a tract reformatted and ready to take to the printer on Monday. It will be a short run as we are not certain that many of the refugees can even read their own language. To have a quantity of these tracts shipped from the USA would simply take too long. We do not know if these folks will be in the same place if we try to visit them again next week. Time is of the essence! We have just learned that there is some materials in storage on the Thai/Lao border and if we can make the right contacts, we may fly there and pick the materials up personally early next week. Please pray.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom Gaudet

Dear Intercessors,
If you remember in our last Gaudet Family Update we reported to you that a group from our sponsoring Church had just left for the USA after 7 days here. As of this writing, over 100 response cards have come into a post office box that Bro. Lange has used for the Correspondence School just from this weeks' work of literature distribution. Actually we did not put out that many tracts as we traveled a lot and other activities. But we are delighted with the response so far! Each of these responses represent a soul and we are keenly aware of the awesome responsibility.

We also mentioned the Hmong refugees we met on a survey trip 5 hours north of Bangkok last week in a rural area of Phetchabun province. These people are Hmong from Laos who fled their country, traveled into Thailand illegally, and gathered around an established Hmong village whose residents are Thai citizens.

Armed with the information gathered in that trip, we set to work immediately and found some Hmong Bibles as well as an illustrated Bible Story book that had been printed here in Thailand and offered to some Christian agencies. We also formatted and printed a tract at a commercial printshop here in Bangkok. Six of us rented a van and made a trip back to the area on Thursday with the intention of meeting with the village leaders and distributing these items. We wanted to get the blessing of the village leader on what we intended to do. That was an amazing meeting. Bro. Lange started talking to the man and within a few minutes over 100 of the Hmong refugee men were standing around us while he explained why we were there.

The leaders willingly gave us permission to give the Hmong materials we brought. They also asked us to consider a short list of items that the refugees needed to make life easier while they live on the side of the road. Among the items on that list was food, clothing, cookware and farming implements. We also met with the leaders of the church in the village. The church normally has 17 families but since the refugees have arrived, the services have had as many as 800 in attendance! Many of the Hmong Christians do not have Bibles so we offered the 80 or so Bibles that we brought along to them. We piled the Bibles, tracts, Illustrated booklets, and correspondence courses on the floor and one of the Hmong men began to carefully take notes as to which family got which materials.

It became evident soon that much more was needed. While we talked to the Christians there a Hmong Hymnbook was presented to us and they asked if we could obtain 200 copies for them as well. That book will have to be reprinted. We also left with a couple of letters; one from the Hmong Christians written in the Lao language to Churches in the USA. The other is a letter from some Vietnamese Refugees who are Christians also addressed to Churches in the USA. We are trying to get these letters translated now so that we can share them with you.

Meanwhile we have these two lists to consider; one for the spiritual needs of the Hmong and Vietnamese Christians as well as the unsaved among them, and also one list for the physical needs of the people. The first one is easy. It is what we do. We already have already obtained a few items of literature locally and of course have already put other items into print.

Meanwhile, we got word from our sponsoring Church that they had voted to give $4,000 for us to purchase a digital duplicator for the work here. That call came after the group of 26 people got back home and began to give testimony on last Sunday. We have already purchased the duplicator and starting this coming Monday it will be used to print more of the items we need in Hmong, Thai, Lao and Vietnamese for this situation.

Please pray with us about all this. We are already overwhelmed with the need for effective literature in the languages thoughout the region. We are working closely with Bro. Lange and he is plenty busy already with the needs here in Thailand handling a correspondence ministry as well as discipleship of some men with a view to raise up leaders. Whatever is done with the Hmong refugees will require someone who speaks Hmong or a real good translator that Bro. Lange can work with. The goal is to see a Hmong man equipped to minister to his own people.

Pray as we address the needs we know how to meet and ask the Lord for wisdom to know what to do about those we do not. Many opportunities like this await those who would undertake ministry in the region. We need the Lord to direct and provide. Your intercession makes the difference. Thank you.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom Gaudet

Dear Intercessors,
Exciting days here in Thailand. I will not have room to give everything that is happening in this one mail, but will send another in a few days.

For now let me say that we have just gotten the text back from a handwritten letter given to us by some of the Hmong men in the refugee camp in Petchabun Province. It was written in the Lao language so we sent it to a translator and we just got it back. It is a letter to American Churches from the Hmong refugees who are Christian. Please read it. I think you will be challenged as you hear of the plight of these people.

Jeff Lange and a coworker, Jerry Balding are in the Hmong village as this is written. This is the 4th trip to the refugee camp and the first one I did not make. Jeff is beginning to teach the Bible to a group of 6 Lao Hmong men who also speak Thai. They came forward and asked to be taught. What an opportunity! We have provided Hmong Bibles, an illustrated booklet, hymnbooks, tracts and other items in Thai, Lao and Vietnamese. While that is the focus of ministry, can we stop there after reading this letter? You tell me...

------------text of letter follows----------
Hmong Letter to American Churches

Request:

To: Organizations of the Christian Religion in America

Concerning: Request for food and medicine, clothing and shelter.

We are a group of Christians that are political refugees now residing in Thailand. Presently we are living in Huay Nam Khao Village, Khao Khaw District, Petchabun Province, THAILAND.

The purpose of this letter is to request food, medicine, clothing and shelter.

We would like to tell of the history and background of the Hmong People in the country of Laos.

The Cause: Because we are the children, nephews and grandchildren of the old C.I.A. army of General Vang Pao and the Americans during the Vietnam War era in Laos between 1963-1975. After the war was over, the Red Lao Government seized power over the nation of Laos, and Vang Pao and the Americans retreated and returned home. The Red Lao Government had a plan to peacefully, yet treacherously, arrest the Royalists of King Sisavang Vatthana along with 46,000 leaders to be put into concentration (re-education) camps and/or executed in Vieng Sai. After this they continued to arrest, deceive and execute the former C.I.A. soldiers of Vang Pao and the Americans in different areas inside Laos, primarily us Hmong Lao nationals.

Therefore, when our parents saw this violent and barbaric betrayal against Human Rights which nobody desires, our parents fled to new locations to wait for news of any change or improvement in the situation. But the Red Lao Government only demonstrated injustice towards Human Rights, and gathered themselves together with strength and weapons of war from the North all the way to the South, and joined with the Army of North Vietnam to cleanse, surround, and strike us by means of airpower such as: Mig 21 aircraft and APC aircraft, used to drop chemical weapons on us to exterminate and eliminate our parents, causing many thousands of people to die.

We've had no backing from any organization or country concerning weapons. We have received no money nor leadership. We have only been able to seek out old and discarded war scrap and fix and piece items together to protect ourselves, and have scavenged in the jungle for food. Meanwhile, the Red Lao Government accuses us of being a resistance group, and they keep massing arms and troops and choking us out. People are dying on a daily basis at the hands and by the guns of the Red Lao Government. When we found ourselves without a place to live, with no food or belongings, some decided to follow General Vang Pao across the Mekong River with the Americans, some decided to turn themselves over to the Red Lao Government, others have fled and have been in hiding until the present. Others of us have given ourselves over to the Red Lao Government only to be whisked away quietly and killed. Many of our leaders were murdered this way: Mr. Yong Neng Vang in Dec. of 1992 was murdered in Had Xieng Thong Village, Bolikhan District, Bolikhamxay Province. The father of Mr. Yong Neng Vang was also arrested in Thong Naa Mii, Pakkading district, Bolikhamxay Province and was later killed. Mr. Vang Kuu and Mr. Yua Yeng were arrested in Mok District of Xieng Khuang and later taken to Paek District and killed on 5/3/92. Mr. Va Xao Vang was lured away and killed on 16/1/2000 at Vieng Thong District, Bolikhamxay Province, and (the Red Lao Government) have killed many people in every province in Laos. The Red Lao Government has issued laws concerning equal rights in the ways of social culture, traditions, and belief systems. The religions of Christianity, Buddhism, and Animism, are the three main religions throughout the country of Laos. We Hmong people see Christianity as the religion that is most just towards humanity in this world and in the way of psychology deals with the spirit within those men. We had held to the Christian faith for many decades already until 2001-2002 when the Lao Government set up military and police officials from every district to the central government to conduct a census counting families and individuals holding to the Christian faith. Since then the military and police officials have pressured and persecuted us Christian people to return to Animism and ancestor worship as before. They also arrested pastors and church leaders and given mandatory sentences for absolutely no reason, and as an excuse claimed that the Hmong Christians were continuing to meet and deal with the Hmong that were still in refuge in the jungles, and were secretly aiding them in the way of weapons and equipment that they may secretly gather together and train and organize to overthrow the government and serve America. Therefore, the Christians (they say) have brought in deceptions, namely, bringing in the Christian religion to use as a cover for subversive activity. The real issue of the Christians (they say) is that they have been deceived by the Americans into secretly furthering the American agenda by training and organizing the people of Laos into a counter-revolution and returning power of the free state and Democracy of the Red Lao Government and the whole land back to General Vang Pao and under the rule of the Americans.

The Red Lao Government has appointed Military and Police officials to arrest Christian peoples and accuse and slander the Christian people from the North throughout to the South and have destroyed church buildings belonging to us Christians in almost every village, district and province, along with defaming and accusing the Christians, especially us Ethnic Hmong, saying we have been contacting and aiding the Hmong refugees hiding in the forest the whole time from 1975 until the present, the Hmong who have endured 30 years in the jungle refusing to surrender to the Red Lao Government.

I. Places Military and Police officials have destroyed and torn down:

1. On 15/5/2001 Lao officials arrested 4 church leaders: Mr. Xia Ye Vang, Mr. Phay Phong, Mr. Tong Kheu Veu, and Mr. Yia Bia Veu, in Kok Hai Village were imprisoned in Kham Keud District in Bolikhamxay province. After 8 months they were released and the Lao officials forced us Christians off of our land and out of our houses and confiscated our good and our means of sustenance, then tore down our church building with vehicles. Then they forced us onto another village far removed from any roads.

2. In Tha Kok Hai Village, Pak Ngum District, Red Lao Government officials arrested two church staff.

3. On 2/5/2001 Lao officials destroyed a Christian Church in Phon Ngam Village, Feung District, Vientiane province, by use of vehicle for no apparent reason. The property was confiscated and became property of the State, other items and property were also confiscated.

4. In Vang Vieng District, Vientiane Province, Lao officials tore down and destroyed a Christian Church in the name of the Mayor, who gave the direct orders to destroy, and also tore down several other local churches throughout Laos and restricted activities such as prayer meetings.

At Kham Keud District on 15/3/04 the Mayor of Kham Keud sent a letter of invitation to us and church staff to go to a meeting but we didn't go because on 15/3/2001 the Mayor invited us to a meeting but after we attended we were arrested and put in jail. Those arrested were: Mr. Xia Ye, Mr. Yia Ye, Mr. Tong TongKeu, and Mr. Fai Phong. Then on 9/1/2004 the Mayor of Kham Keud ordered the village leader of Kok Hai Village and officials to run all the Christians completely out of the village and relocate in Phu Lome Village, and if they (the Christians) don't comply, then they were to be prosecuted at the provincial level on charges of being separatists and resisting local rule.

On 10/4/04 the Mayor of Kham Keud announced to all of the village leaders and higher-ups in the district, that if anyone sees any Christians, especially the group of Mr. Xia Ye, Mr. Tong Keu, Mr. Yia Bia, going about with their activities, they are to arrest them, and if they cannot be arrested are to be killed in order to silence and extinguish the division and lies of the enemy trying to bring about peaceful revolution. In actuality, we are just holding a different religion, are not involved in any politics, but these are charges held against us by the Lao officials who are trying to pressure, defame, torture, and accuse us Christians. These churches being destroyed, these defamations, these intimidations, beatings, and tortures that are excessively violent that we have spoken of are all true. We aren't just accusing for some reason or gain. We were born as fellow humans, only different in language. We were born without freedom, without democracy, with no moral human rights. We were born with our faces to the ground, our backs to the sun, moving every three days, relocated every three months, being only killed, tortured, and beaten. We've received only poverty, destitution, and hunger.

We Hmong tribal from Laos do not just see Thailand as a prosperous and advancing country, or see America as a wealthy place, as if we want to join together and relocate to Thailand or America to live and eat at ease. We were born in Laos. Our ancestors are from Laos. We don't want to leave our land, but it is most necessary. We can no longer endure the torturing, poverties, destitutions and famine. We see Thailand as free with democracy, human rights that are just and moral, where we can think and breath freely. It is better for us to be in Thailand with just our lives left. Dying tomorrow is better than dying today. Therefore we decided to try to seek political refuge in your country. We ask you to help us not perish, and for International organizations to recognize us.

We Hmong Tribals that have fled for political refuge here in Thailand include (many) families and (around 8,000) people. Us Hmong that are Christians include 138 families consisting of 702 members. At present we are famished and destitute in many ways. For example, we've no money for food or medicine, no clothing. This is partly because the Thai officials don't want us out and about looking for food or work.

Therefore, we have written this plea asking any aid organizations to consider helping us and saving our lives.

With hope that you will consider and find a way to solve these problems.

Requesting with utmost respect and high regards.

Thailand 25/6/05
The Elders and church general at Khed Noi Village

Signatures of the Christians seeking political refuge:
1 Vang Cheng Vang
2 Xai Heu Veu
3 Lee Seng Song
4 Phia Lee
5 Seng Mua
*Translators Note*: In this letter, "Red Lao Government" is an unofficial and slightly demeaning term for the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, the current name for Laos.
-------------end of translated letter, comments follow----------------

What can be done? Actually a lot. We have no wish to go into humanitarian aid work and forget preaching the Gospel. However with a situation like this, and believers asking for help, what can we do other than help in some way in temporal needs? No, they are not Baptists. With the limited exposure to the outside world, they know nothing of such matters. But they are professing Christians and are in need.

We also want to help those who are not believers. Anything we do will be appreciated and will go far in giving us credibility in the existing Hmong community.

Jeff Lange is directly involved in Bible teaching with some young men who understand Thai. We have seen to it that a significant quantity of literature has been made available to this point but now comes this matter. As the village leader of the established Thai Hmong village near the refugee camp commented, "You can teach religion, you can teach English, you can give literature, but what are you going to do to help these people?" I think you understand what he means by that.

At this writing, our sponsoring Church is formulating a plan that will allow us the freedom to undertake an initial humanitarian based approach to this refugee crisis in addition to the evangelism that is already underway. I am unable to say at this writing exactly what that approach will entail, but I assure you we have no intention of doing this halfway. We are fully aware of the fact that what we do will cost but we also know God is able and will provide. For now please pray and if you have specific questions about how you can help, please write. I should be able to report specifics to you after this Sunday.

Pray for safety as Jeff Lange and Jerry Balding return from Petchabun on Saturday. Uphold all of us in this matter please. It lays heavy on our hearts.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom Gaudet

Dear Intercessors,
Most of you were stirred as we were when you read the letter from the Hmong people who fled Laos and moved illegally into Northern Thailand, ending up in a refugee situation in Petchabun province. Some of the Christians among them wrote a heart-rending letter to American Churches and appealed for help. As we explained, we had already been involved in ministry with them, not knowing what else we could do. In our first assessment trip into the refugee area we did not see signs of hunger. Now however, it is distressing to note that there are definitely people doing without.

This was explained by a Thai nurse who said that many of the people left Laos with money that is now used up. Those are unable to buy food. As we consider what can be done it is very timely indeed.

On Sunday, my sponsoring Church gave $4,000 to a relief agency earmarked for the Hmong. This agency was recently started by our Church so that situations like this could be addressed adequately. It has been frustrating over the years not having a viable option for where to send aid in other humanitarian disasters.

Those funds are now being moved to an account to which we have access. It is felt that food, medicine, and supplies of various sort could be purchased with those funds and taken into the refugee camp. There is not a program in place now to deal with most of these things among the refugees. We are also unaware of any group focusing efforts in ministry on them.

We have already taken in a quantity of Hmong Bibles as well as tracts and other materials. Jeff Lange and a visiting Thai Hmong pastor have taught the Word of God to some Hmong men. An evangelistic film has been shown as well. Now as hunger sets in, we turn to the physical needs as well.

We are due to leave Bangkok on Thursday and drive to Petchabun. We should be able to have a shipment of rice brought into the refugee camp the next day. The plan in part is to present most of this shipment of rice to the leader of the existing Thai Hmong village and be there during the distribution of it to needy families. Everyone will know that the aid is provided by Churches in the USA.

It is felt that this approach will allow us to help meet the physical needs without turning the attention of the people off of that for which we are primarily there; the preaching of the Gospel.

In our next update we hope to be able to report to you the exact cost of this first effort. This is all happening to fast that we have been unable to get specific information on cost of bulk shipments of rice. We have been told that it is cheaper at a mill around 50 miles from where the refugees are. So, we plan to go there and negotiate a shipment with the funds we have available now.

Jeff Lange and Jerry Balding will be involved in teaching some men in the camp on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I will primarily serve as a local representative of the relief agency for this time.

Several have written and asked how to get involved. If you wish to help with the cost of food, supplies and medicine for these people, you can do so at the following address. If you wish to have more information, please write.

Let me say that this is not the only manner in which you can help. All of the men involved are missionaries and ministry with these people is also costly to each one of them since it requires a lot of travel. On other occasions including this trip, it was necessary to rent appropriate vehicles to travel as well as the cost of food and housing. Any one of the men could also personally handle gifts for humanitarian purposes. Contact information is included for them below.

Each one of us have specific ministry in mind with the Hmong. However, because the task is beyond any of our ability to fulfill, we have chosen to labor alongside each other at this point. There is safety in numbers and in this case, nothing could be said that is any truer.

We are trying to keep each other on track and avoid the pitfalls that surely await if we do not keep focused on ministry while trying to meet these physical needs. Above all else, please pray for the Hmong people and for us as we try to have effective ministry with them.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom Gaudet

-----------------
To help with temporal needs of the Hmong refugees, send a check to:

Relief Logistics International
PO Box 136010
Fort Worth, TX 76136
USA
Fax: 817 237 4692

Contact info for the other men involved:
Jeff Lange: jntlange@msn.com, langes@vfmsea.com
Jerry Balding: baldingbunch@yahoo.com

As many of you already have heard, Tom and Jerry Balding, were involved in a roll-over pick-up truck accident yesterday around Noon, Thailand time. Another driver changed lanes directly in front of them and when they hit the brakes they skidded and went off the road and flipped down into about a 15 foot ditch, They were taken to the local provincial hospital and then, at the insistence of Jerry and Jeff, Tom was transported back to Bangkok via 4 hour ambulance ride.

Jerry said he was fine, but did not have an extensive checkup. We really do not know for sure if he is "fine" or not, so please continue to pray for him. Men are very stubborn and Jerry, Tom and Jeff decided that the two other men continue on up to the Hmong refugees and do what they went there to do. The trip was twofold, Bible teaching and arranging for a delivery of rice to the needy among the refugees. Please pray for their efforts there over the next few days.

After about 3 hours in the emergency room, in Bangkok, the doctors said that they thought it was safe for us to go home for the night. They took many X-rays and could see no bone fractures. They think that all of the trauma is ligament and muscular. We are going back to the hospital today for a CT Scan and possibly an MRI. We will send another update just as soon as we return from the hospital today.

Thank you for all of your prayers. We know that the men could easily have been killed in such a high-speed highway accident like this. Neither man had even a cut anywhere. All the glass was blown outward and not inside the truck. We are so thankful for the Lord's provision and for the fact that the matters of life and death are in His hands.

Dear Praying Friends,
How grateful I am to be sitting at the keyboard and typing this note. I am very stiff and sore but thankful to the Lord for the opportunity. As you know I was sent by ambulance 4 hours from Phetchabun province back to Bangkok after being involved in a rollover accident. Jerry Balding and I were in a rented pickup truck and Jeff Lange was following us in his truck when we were cut off by a driver who never even looked in his mirror before changing lanes. We were traveling at highway speed and as soon as the brakes were applied we went into a spin that put us heading toward a ditch sideways. The truck rolled over and landed on the wheels in the mud. A few feet either direction and it could have been much more serious for sure.

I guess I took a pretty good hit on the head and it sort of drove my head into my shoulders. Jerry was also banged about but I guess not as severe. We were both taken to a provincial hospital and released after pretty crude examinations. It was decided that Jerry and Jeff would continue on the journey and I would head back to Bangkok to get checked out properly. They found an ambulance crew that took me the 4 hours back to Bangkok and arrived at the emergency room at around 9pm. Several x-rays and tests later the Dr. said he was certain that I only had ligamental and muscle trauma. Another trip back to the hospital the next day confirmed that and I am now at home in a soft neck brace moving about very slowly. How thankful I am for many of you who pray for us and several who have sent e-mails and phoned to check up on me. God delivered us for certain.

The guys went on to Phetchabun and got a hotel for the evening, thus giving Jerry some time to see if he was indeed OK before heading into the refugee area. The next morning they found a rice mill that we were told was there. They got prices and called me to talk about how much could be bought. Once we had the necessary information, these guys negotiated a 4.4 ton shipment of rice to be delivered to the refugees that afternoon. You remember that we reported to you that RLI had made $4,000 available for relief for the refugees. This shipment consisted of 280 - 33 pound sacks of rice. The total cost including delivery was $1,350 or just over $300 per ton.

This rice is now in two areas in the village and will have mostly been distributed by the time you read this. As soon as the rice was in place, the two men began teaching and at the first Bible lesson, 20 showed up. Classes will continue until Sunday evening, and on Monday they will be at a prison in Phitsanulok for a time of evangelism. Jeff will continue to Chiang Mai to continue discipleship of a man he has been working with and Jerry will return to Bangkok on Monday. I was scheduled to be with them until Monday evening. I surely do miss being there but I am blessed at the same time that this accident did not stop the work going forward. Please pray for them. God is blessing and of course we have faced opposition along the way.

As far as we know there is not anyone else in the Hmong refugee area in Phetchabun that is teaching the Word of God. One refugee actually was looking forward to coming to Thailand because he thought he could learn the Bible. However until Bro. Jeff showed up he had no one to teach him.

Also as far as we know there is no other NGO than RLI that has addressed the needs for food in this manner. The UN has a small presence there but has not addressed that need yet. We know the large NGO's and the UN will step in at some point in the near future but for now, we are it. We are delighted with this shipment of rice but when it is considered, it only amounts to about 3 days worth of sustenance food for the number of refugees in the camp. Please pray that we will have the wisdom to know how and when to help and the funds to do what is needed. Funds that have been given to date will be wiped out with another good sized shipment of rice.

I cannot tell you how much of a blessing it is to know that many of you are interceding on our behalf. Be it auto accidents or opportunities such as the Hmong refugees that stretch us to the limit, we are aware of your intercession.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom and Krinny Gaudet

Dear Praying Friends,
What horrible tragedy as a result of hurricane Katrina. Our hearts cry out for the victims as we read about it on the Internet.

Health Update: Thank you for praying for my recovery from a recent rollover accident. Most of the pain in my neck and back has subsided after just over one week. I was able to get some relief from a couple of visits to a Chiropractor. I am not 100%, but so much better than this time last week! Thank you for praying and for the notes and calls.

Jerry Balding who was also in the accident is doing well. He is still sore and stiff but being younger, he sprang back faster.

Krinny's Health: She is recovering well from the knee operation. It is not as fast as she would like but doing well. She goes in for hydrotherapy a couple of times a week and that has helped. We are looking at maybe mid to late October for surgery on her other knee. Please keep on praying for her.

Hmong refugees: Bro. Jeff Lange and family will be arriving back in the Hmong refugee area on Sunday afternoon for three days of Bible teaching and discipleship. He will also be able to reassess the humanitarian situation as soon as he arrives. Depending on that information, we are prepared to head there to meet him with the necessary supplies. A large truckload will be organized from a nearby city.

As of this writing, a total of $9,200 has been earmarked by churches in the USA for humanitarian help for these refugees! $5,200 of that has come in since the last e-mail update I sent out. We are amazed at the response. Our plan is to continue to help the refugees in the most needed manner and in the process try to make sure that the door to give the Gospel is not compromised in any fashion. We will continue to work the humanitarian aspect of it as long as funds are available or until it is no longer needed.

Depending on the assessment we plan to do a rather comprehensive shipment of foodstuffs as well as helping with some medical expenses for the refugees. Please pray for us to have wisdom in this matter. We do not have many examples of how to handle this sort of operation among independent Baptists. That leaves us in the situation of simply following the Lord and trusting Him to lead the way.

Pray much for the discipleship and teaching ministry of Jeff Lange and Jerry Balding. This is the primary ministry with the Hmong refugees. The humanitarian work is not only secondary, but it started a month after evangelism and discipleship started. These men are taking advantage of tremendous opportunities presented by several young people who want to learn the Word of God. Pray that disciples could be made for the Lord as a result of it.

Printing: Since the purchase of the duplicator a month ago, we have already printed over 75,000 pages on the machine. This includes Hmong tracts, a 260+page Hmong songbook, and 3 discipleship booklets in Thai. We are very grateful to the Lord and His people that we have this machine available to use in this fashion. Much more needs to be done as we await a couple of 40' containers of literature due to ship soon from the USA.

Work continues in preparing materials for print in several languages in the region. It will be necessary to bring a pastor from Myanmar to Bangkok in the near future to work together on some things in Burmese.

We have plans to move into a different housing situation nearer the Resource Center in the near future. The duplicator will be housed there as well as publishing offices and living within 100 yards of the facility will be helpful. There are a lot of things that will need to happen before that is possible. Please pray about this also.

For your information, we have a VoIP phone line. That sounds daunting but it means that the number is local in Fort Worth, but rings in Thailand having traveled over the Internet at no cost. We would love to hear from you.

817 550-5088
(Please remember that we are 12 hours AHEAD of Central time in the USA; 1p.m. in Central time is 1a.m. here the next day!!!)

If you do not get our snail-mailed newsletter and would like to view it, you may download a copy at the following URL. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader (most common format, probably already installed on your computer)

http://www.metrobc.org/Gaudet/pdf/August2005prayerletter.pdf

I have written a book instead of a letter again. Sorry about that but I also know that many of you pray and you want to know specifically how to pray. Specific prayer gets specific results. This is the best way we have ever come up with to communicate these things. Thank you for your intercession and for finances that many of you send. You will never know this side of Heaven how much of a difference you make in our lives and ministry. I know you will never know because I am at a loss as to how to communicate it. Thank you.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom and Krinny Gaudet

Dear Intercessors,
Please bear with me for a moment while I try to focus you on some immediate prayer needs. Your involvement in intercession is crucial to work here. We are all in awe of the way that the Lord has led and feel very much dependent on Him. Please don't stop praying!

Jerry Balding, his wife Marilyn and two sons are in the Hmong refugee area now. He is teaching English to a couple of groups of the refugees. Jeff Lange, his wife Theresa, and his son just returned to Bangkok yesterday and are planning to return to the Hmong village maybe as early as Saturday. He has been teaching the Bible to a group of around 25.

On Tuesday with the help of RLI (Relief Logistics International) we were able to put in a shipment of around 6 tons of rice to help with the physical needs of the refugees. This help has been very much appreciated by the refugees as well as the local village leaders.

On Tuesday while the above mentioned men were in the village they heard a rumor that the Thai government was going to be forcibly moving the refugees back across the Thai/Lao border early next week. No one knows if the rumor is true or not, but it reminds us again of the seriousness of the situation. It has been an established fact that the refugee camp was temporary, but this gave new vigor to the efforts. Several of these Lao Hmong refugees have told us that they would be killed if they were sent back to Laos.

Bro. Lange feels compelled to give these men as much of the Word of God as possible before anything happens to them. Our prayer is that the Lord would raise up leaders from this group of men studying the Bible. Bro. Lange is focusing his efforts on that very thing and the teaching is pretty intense. What would you teach someone who wants to learn the Bible but might be forced back across a communist border tomorrow?

I visited the local UN offices today in Bangkok to speak to the officials about the Hmong refugees. There was not much out of the meeting other than to find out that the humanitarian help that RLI is providing to these refugees is right on target. Of course no UN official thinks much of giving people the Gospel. Praise the Lord, we get our marching orders from higher up than the UN! However we should be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.

Let me ask you to consider some specific prayer requests:

Pray that we could avoid the potential pitfalls that await anyone who might undertake ministering in a situation such as with refugees. Independent Baptists usually leave humanitarian work to others because of the fact that so many humanitarian organizations started out to give the Gospel and ended up just doing humanitarian work. The way it is working so far, the Gospel is going out freely and the way that temporal needs have been met has not taken away from the giving of the Good News. We all need wisdom to keep it that way even if hard choices are made. Please pray!

Please pray that we will continue to have access to these refugees as the Word of God is taught. God is able to overrule governments. Please pray!

Pray for a Hmong speaking man who can help in the teaching of the Word of God. Of course this is risky to mention since it may mean someone flies here to help and the refugees are moved already by the time they arrive. We literally have no idea when, where, or if they are going to be relocated, only that the Government of Thailand said they would not allow them to stay here.

Pray that the Strongman would be bound as ministry is undertaken with the unsaved Hmong. It is possible that an evangelistic film will be able to be shown to the refugees next week.

Pray for protection for all of those involved in this effort. Safety while driving!! (I can say, AMEN, please pray!) Safety for the families of the missionaries while in the village, protection from sickness, provision for the expenses incurred.

Pray that we can get other Hmong literature into the hands of the refugees quickly. When we learned of this situation, we began looking locally for materials. We also printed a few items such as tracts and songbooks locally. Now, we want to secure a good selection of materials to give to them. If we can find quality materials we will print here if necessary.

I plan to follow the Langes back to the village on Monday. This will be my first time back there since before our rollover accident a couple of weeks ago. I am doing much better and think I can handle it now. I would however appreciate your prayers.

We have helped RLI put together a short video concerning their efforts to help the Hmong refugees. You can view this by clicking on the following link or going to <www.RLIngo.org> and click on Asia. That will take you to a page that has the video linked at the bottom of the page. The direct link to the video is:
http://www.rlingo.org/images/RLI-HmongRelief.wmv

Please pray concerning our housing situation here in Bangkok. We are considering and have to make a decision tomorrow about another place to house my family and the single young ladies who have been working with us. There are many things to consider but if we make the move we think it would solve many problems we are having with housing now. We need wisdom. If you were ever responsible for three single ladies you would understand. Pray for Krinny and me as we consider these things.

May the Lord bless you today for your concern. Please do not stop praying for efforts here. You make a difference.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom and Krinny Gaudet

Immediate Prayer Need!!
I have just returned from a two day stay in the Hmong refugee area in Phetchabun province. Two-thirds of the way back to Bangkok in a driving rain Jeff Lange called me and told me that the leader of the Lao Hmong took him aside and told him he had news that the Thai government troops are coming in tomorrow with trucks to take them back to the Lao border. The leader has not told this to the general population (nearly 6,000) of the Hmong as he figures it would cause a panic.

These people have lived under this threat for the past three months or more but many still cling to hope that they could remain in Thailand or be sent on to another country to get away from Laos. Their worst fears may be coming to pass tomorrow. At this point this is still a rumor, but it is the most solid information yet.

Last week we heard a rumor that the Thai government was coming on Tuesday of this week. Indeed around 30 policemen entered the village on Tuesday and arrested some of the Thai Hmong for helping the Lao refugees. Today they came back and instructed the merchants not to sell to the refugees.

If the refugees are resigned to going back to Laos this could occur very smoothly and organized. However, we have already been told by several that they knew if they were sent back to Laos they would be killed so they had no intention of leaving Thailand alive.

We would like to ask you specific prayer in the following areas:

1. That this confrontation would be avoided.
   
2. If they do move these people tomorrow it would be done humanely In a situation last year with Muslim extremists, 78 of them died of suffocation while being moved by the military.
   
3. Pray for the students that have been studying the Bible. This was actually the first day under a new plan that Bro. Jeff developed to make it possible for the Bible to be taught to larger numbers AND leaders to be trained at the same time. This morning, Bro. Jeff had several hours with four key men, teaching them to teach the Bible lessons. He surely would like to have more time with these guys before they are relocated.
   
4. Jerry Balding has been teaching English in two separate classes. One of them got to be so large (300+) that he simply was overwhelmed. There is literally nothing for the people do to day by day and the Thai school system prohibits them from attending school. We were asked by the leader of the Lao refugees last night to see about getting a couple of teachers there to teach the children.
   
5. The last two evenings several hundred of these refugees attended a film showing and heard the Gospel in their language. Several made professions of faith. Pray for these especially if they are torn from these that are being trained to teach the Bible.
   
6. RLI (Relief Logistics International) has just purchased a 6 ton shipment of rice as well as canned fish, and some blackboards for teaching. That shipment was to be delivered tomorrow. The shipment of rice had just been paid for about two hours before we learned this news. Pray that we can get the rice into the village and the refugees end up with it.
   
7. Pray for the Langes; Jeff, Theresa and John (2) as well as the Balding family; Jerry, Marilyn, Golan (6), and Shane (2). If this relocation happens tomorrow these two families will be there. Pray for protection for them and that they will be in a position to minister and encourage the refugees that they have built relationships with. It will be hard on them watching this happen.
   
8. Pray that if the refugees are taken back to Laos they will be allowed to live peacefully Pray that the new teachers could stay in touch with us, wherever they end up.
   
9. As of this writing, two Hmong/American preachers are standing by waiting to hear how this goes tomorrow before they come to see what they can do to teach the Word of God to these folks. Funds for airline tickets have already been set aside. Pray for these opportunities.
   

We have been on the phone continually since arriving back in Bangkok this evening. The Lao leadership asked that we contact the UN as well as any western news agency that may have correspondents in the area. Of course we have been making calls back to the USA asking for prayer.

It is hard to see an opportunity like this open up and get into the lives of people then see them have to face this kind of disappointment. Our hope is that somehow God could use the time that has been spent teaching them the Word of God, the literature that they have been given, and the relationships that have been built to build leaders who can give the Word of God to their people.

We should know if this relocation will happen by 9pm Central Time on Wednesday in the USA. Please pray and ask others to do the same. Only the Lord can change this situation.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom Gaudet

----following is a rough translation of a letter faxed to us this afternoon from the Lao Hmong leader ----
We, the Hmong Lao, more than 5,700 people, who evacuated from Laos and have sought refuge in Thailand at the Huey Nam Khaw Village, want to report the following: on 13 September, 2005, at 1:30 AM, certain officials of Petchabun province, Amphur Khaw Koo and officials of Lum Sak, came and arrested some of our brothers with Thai citizenship that had allowed the Hmong Lao to temporarily live on their land. We had been living on the land since 11 December 2004 at the direction of the commander of section 3 who told us, the Hmong Lao, to live at the Huey Nam Khaw Village while waiting for a decision on our status.

He then lists the names of 7 people arrested.

The officials are keeping these 7 people in the Lum Sak jail. I have heard that they have arrested 80 of the Hmong Lao with Thai citizenship at the Huey Nam Khaw Village, even arresting the village headmen. After that, they will arrest the leaders of the Hmong Lao and send all the Hmong Lao back to Laos.

Regarding this, the leaders of the Hmong Lao feel this is an unworthy action because it is inconsistent according to the humanitarian standards of the UN, because the Hmong Lao are refugees in Thailand at the Huey Nam Khaw Village according to the directions of the commander of section 3. It was not the Hmong with Thai citizenship who directed us to come live here. And it is an unworthy action for the officials to create a bad situation for the Hmong with Thai citizenship at the Huey Nam Khaw Village. If they were going to arrest the Hmong with Thai citizenship, why didn't they arrest them when the Hmong Lao first came? But now the Hmong Lao have moved to live on the side of the highway. Why have the officials now arrested the Hmong with Thai citizenship?

On 14 September 2005, the officials refused to let merchants sell to the Hmong Lao. If they sell to the Hmong Lao, they will be jailed and fined.
------------end------------------

Daylight came and no government troops were seen anywhere in the area. When that was realized the trucking company was called and a 6 ton shipment of rice was delivered around noon. The people were very glad to see that as the vendors had been instructed not to sell food to them. This action by the government immediately moved us from providing additional food to sustenance food.

Jeff Lange taught Bible lessons again this morning to the men he is training. They in turn taught the same lessons to their trainees. This process will surely produce leaders, but the time appears to be real short at this point. Our prayer is for more time to see these men discipled and equipped for ministry with their own people.

Just thinking that these people will be forced across the border is heartbreaking for everyone here but especially for Jeff and Jerry Balding and their families as they have spent the past couple of weeks in the village dealing face to face with these people. Relationships have been built that will be hard to walk away from. The missionary wives and children are leaving the village in the morning to travel back to Bangkok. It was felt that it would be best if they were not in the village if anything happened. Pray for their 5 hour travel and for the time the families will be apart over the next days.

I could recount several bits of information that have come to us in the past 24 hours that all point to a matter of days before these people are moved back to Laos. One thing that was said was that the government has a large-scale operation planned that literally involves thousands of troops. Thai media people have been in and out of the village today. Again it does not look good.

However, all of this comes from what we see and are told. It does not take into consideration the handiwork of the Lord. Many are praying and I for one believe in the power of prayer! God can do what government officials, military leaders, or even dedicated Christians cannot do. We have seen Him do that very thing before. Pray that the Lord would do just that; open doors for these people and in the process, give opportunity to continue to minister to them.

Another larger shipment of rice was ordered this afternoon since the people now are not able to purchase food. Of course this cannot continue and the government knows that. What was done today by RLI shipping in the rice was on target as it met an immediate need. By the way, RLI is the only agency providing food.

Since the government stopped the selling of food to the refugees we sort of expect them to do the same with the giving of it, and at the same time we have funds on hand to provide only one more shipment after the one just ordered. As of the delivery of the next shipment brethren in America will have provided through RLI, 30.8 tons of rice as well as canned fish and a few other needed items. Many of the people as well as the leaders have expressed their gratitude.

As mentioned in an earlier mail, two Hmong/American pastors are heading to Thailand within days. Their tickets are being purchased by a Lehigh Valley Baptist Church in PA. The Church has a vision of what can be done and they are putting their money where their vision is. As soon as they arrive in Thailand, I will be taking them upcountry to the refugee area. Pray that these Hmong men could make a difference with their people here.

I cannot tell you how much it means to know that you are praying. Some things simply cannot be fixed by money. I am afraid this is one of those situations. Only the Lord can help these people.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom Gaudet

Dear Intercessors,
I give as always the subject to this e-mail, Gaudet Family Update, followed by a subtitle of some sort. The reason I do that is many people who get these messages take prayer seriously and they want the information so they know better how to pray. It is a consistent method of titling the messages but so woefully inadequate as I consider those that this message speaks about. The Hmong people are so much in need of the Lord's help and of course there are the missionaries that have chosen to labor alongside each other in this matter. Just about the farthest thing from reality is that this e-mail is about the Gaudet Family, but here goes...

Bro. Jeff was able to teach the Bible to the men again today. Things are still quiet but tense in the village. We have learned more about what is going on but nothing has been confirmed by the government yet except that funds were allocated to "Repatriate" the refugees to Laos. It is thought that the plan is to load them in trucks and hand them over to the Lao government who has already stated that they did not want the refugees. It is commonly agreed that threat of this action is imminent and the people are pretty traumatized by it.

A 12 ton shipment of rice ordered by RLI was delivered today. After the government pressured the local vendors to stop selling to the refugees RLI (Relief Logistics International) stepped up shipments and in the last three days have delivered 18 tons of rice. Two things are significant about this shipment. One is that as the rice was being unloaded a soldier stationed in the next village appeared out of uniform and took pictures of the rice, the RLI banner and the distribution going on. We had sort of expected the government to stop this shipment since they prohibited local vendors from selling to the refugees. The second significant factor is both the frequency and quantity of rice shipped in had to be increased. There are funds in RLI coffers now to do one more shipment just smaller than this one. The amount sent in today will feed the people for roughly 2-3 days. Please pray that the Lord's will be done concerning continuing the humanitarian effort after the next shipment.

I am heading to the airport here in Bangkok in about one hour to pick up a Hmong/American pastor from Calif. He and I will get a few hours sleep then head 5 hours up country to the refugee area tomorrow morning. Another Hmong/American pastor arrives on Tuesday evening. Please pray for these men that they could have effective ministry with their people. I plan to ferry them back and forth as well as try to continue to deal with logistics for the effort in the refugee area. Not knowing any of the languages used in an environment like that makes one sort of ineffective. Please pray for all of these things.

Pray that the hand of the government would be stayed in moving these people until a proper appeal process could be handled. Pray for the many Hmong who feel that their lives are in danger if they go back to Laos. Pray for us as we try to help them. It is possible that our involvement with the Hmong refugees puts us in an uncomfortable position with the government. We are trying to get clarification on that issue now.

As you know this approach is not normal for us. However, the Lord put it before us and has provided and led to this point and just because it is not something that we have done before we will not run from it because of that. Please pray! He is able to do what we could never do for the refugees. Thank the Lord for those who have been saved and encouraged, but so much more needs to be done. All hands of our co-workers here have been busy the last two days printing Hmong tracts, and other literature. Pray that the Lord would use this portion of the effort also.

Following this is a couple of quotes from Marilyn Balding taken from an e-mail she wrote after returning from the refugee camp with her children, leaving her husband there.

For background on the problems that the Hmong face in Laos, please read this article:
http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/article/0,13673,501040920-695913-1,00.html

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom Gaudet

----------quotes from Marilyn Balding follow----------
Teresa and John Lange, Golan, Shane and I just got back from the Hmong refugee camp yesterday, Friday. We left Jerry and Jeff up there working with the Hmong refugees. There have been quite a few things that happened while we were there that I will try and briefly share with you while needing your continued prayer support.

These people are living in quite desperate accommodation, very basic in every way. They are surviving and just. What has been going on is many fold between Jerry, Jeff and Tom. From trying to help their case get a hearing, teaching the Bible to young men, teaching English to anyone interested, organizing rice deliveries, showing a Creation to Christ DVD and many other things. It looked like things were really starting to progress when news came that the Thai government plans to ship all these people back to Laos.

For some of these people this will mean death. They look on themselves as dead men if they go back to Laos. Some have gone as far as saying they will kill themselves rather than go back and this is not said for effect, they mean it. They are desperate. They need your prayers. These people are in a state of hopelessness. Some have recently trusted in Jesus as their Savior, but they are still very afraid for themselves and their families.

To us these are not just people on a mountain. Some of them have become our friends. They all have touched our hearts. We see their situation and we are heavy with their sorrow. We realize that for many of these people the true hopelessness is not death, it is not living in bad conditions, it is the fact that they don't know Jesus, the only true giver of hope whether in life or death. It is God and Him alone that can do something here. We believe there are some people here who if they heard the gospel plainly would receive it. We need more time to tell them.
Marilyn

Dear Intercessors,
How grateful we are for your continued prayer support. In the midst of these days we are keenly aware of a certain calmness that can only come when one knows that Someone else is in charge of things! This update goes well past the subject line as it deals with work by at least 3 other men at this point. They are in a rural area where internet is not possible so I hope this message will get you focused in prayer for the entire effort and everyone involved.

I spent today in downtown Bangkok visiting governmental and Nongovernmental offices concerning the continued work with the refugees, er, illegal migrants… I was reminded once again that these people do not qualify for status as "Refugees," rather are considered to be illegal in Thailand. I bounced back and forth between several offices by phone and personal visits. I do not have time or space to tell you the many dead ends that this produced but suffice it to say that nothing definitive has been stated about when the Hmong people will be relocated. Helpful information was gained as to our status as US citizens in dealing with the situation.

A Hmong/American pastor from California arrived on Saturday evening and the next morning early I took him to the refugee camp where he was introduced to the leadership. They gave him a warm welcome and the next morning he started teaching a group of adults using the Hmong language. This has tremendously complimented the work already being done by Bro. Lange in Thai with some of the younger men.

Another Hmong/American pastor was to arrive this evening in Bangkok but he is delayed by weather in the USA and will instead arrive tomorrow (Wednesday) evening. The plan is to get him to the village the next morning as soon as possible. Of course that is a 5 hour drive so we appreciate your prayer for safety. As I well know (rollover accident on the 23rd Aug!!!) driving here is not all that safe and this will make my third round trip in just over one week.

A new development late this afternoon gives a glimpse of what the Lord is doing among the refugees. A couple of the young men who are being trained in the Word came and asked to speak to Bro. Jeff. They said that a group of 60 of the refugees had signed a letter stating that they wanted to become Christians! They plan to come to the men tomorrow to talk about it!

Now, we know that many in the USA and other places are praying and that the Lord moves mightily when that happens. We also know that these people may be thinking that their lives may improve or their status may change if they "Become Christians." Their motives may not be all that pure. However, here is our take on it; If they come to talk about becoming Christians, both Jeff Lange, speaking Thai, and Pastor Yang, speaking Hmong will have an opportunity to thoroughly give them the Gospel. The Bible students said that the 60 would have never heard the Gospel the way these men are teaching it. It may be the first time that they will hear a clear presentation of the Gospel.

Please pray for the situation with these 60 people. Pray for wisdom for the men as they deal with them. I personally can't wait to hear what happens. And to think I was due in the village tomorrow but will be in Bangkok until the second Hmong pastor arrives...

This is exactly what we were hoping for as we asked you to pray. Last week when we heard that the government's actions were imminent we saw the time with the Hmong was short. We desired more time so the Bible could be taught and leaders trained. The young men who are now spreading throughout the village and teaching the lessons being taught to them will be there to see how these preachers deal with this situation. Even that will be a learning experience. Please pray!

Please keep on praying for the humane treatment of these refugees (I don't care what the government calls them, they are refugees from their homeland and don't feel safe returning!) There are many factors working against them at this time but pray that many of them would turn to the Lord during these days. Pray that we can continue to ease their lives somewhat with enough physical food also. We are reassessing now the need of more rice and the possibility of shipping it in.

We had a real interesting conversation with one of the leaders concerning this matter on Monday. He asked how long we would be able to help them with food. We told him frankly that with the shipment just made the funds would allow us to ship one more load if were permitted to get it into the village. He assumed that the churches who provided the funds were Hmong churches. When he learned that the funds came from churches that really had not heard much about Hmong people before we told them he was amazed. It will be a sad day if we have to tell him that there are not funds to help anymore. Please pray. It will be even sadder if the government comes to ship these folks back to Laos. At this point only the Lord could change the situation. Please pray!

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom Gaudet
(written on behalf of Jeff Lange and Jerry Balding, with Pastor Yang from California.)

Greetings from Thailand.
I trust you will not mind this e-mail being sent in this fashion, with the subject line reflecting reports from both the Gaudet Family and the Jeff Lange Family. I just returned to Bangkok from rural Phetchabun province where the Hmong refugees are. The Lange Family, as well as the Jerry Balding Family are all in the village now along with two Hmong/American pastors who flew in to help in this situation.

Exciting developments today demand that I write this update on behalf of these men who are out of e-mail contact. Intense prayer is needed. Please excuse the length but I must communicate what is happening.

Earlier in the week, nearly 100 families signed a letter of intent to become Christians. It was rather difficult to understand what was going on with this at first but when the Hmong culture was explained, it made more sense that they did it in that fashion. However the fact that this large number (it increased yesterday!!) wanted to become Christians can still only be explained by a moving of the Lord.

Today these people were to be gathered 20 families at a time and the Gospel plainly preached to them. Bro. Lange preached and one of the Hmong/American pastors, Bro. Yang interpreted in Hmong. As it turned out, most of the people who attended these meetings were the heads of households, not the huge crowds we expected. The overwhelming majority of them were men. By the end of the day, 84 of these people professed their faith in Christ and proclaimed that they wanted to remove items of spirit worship from their homes!! In some of the sessions, virtually all of the people who came to the meetings were dealt with concerning salvation.

There are two other groups that have been dealt with. Both of these are professing Christians from Laos. You realize that these Hmong people fled from many parts of Laos and ended up in this refugee area. The Christians naturally gathered together in this environment. Many of these people are Christian in name only, some are genuinely saved but virtually none of them have ever been taught much from the Word of God. Doctrinal errors abound; tongues, signs and wonders, and many other blaring errors. Even here in Thailand no group, including the one who evangelized most of them, has done much with or for them while here. They truly feel abandoned by the governments of Laos, Thailand and the USA, and by the people who evangelized them years ago.

On our first trip to the village, two young men (20-25 years old) asked if they could be taught the Bible. That encounter led to several young men who wanted to study. As Bro. Lange knows Thai and not Hmong he was able to communicate only with these younger people who had been exposed to the Thai language more. The teaching started with around 25 of these over the weeks. Then as you know just under two weeks ago it became apparent that the government intended to move these people back to Laos. This news created an urgency that in turn led to a revision of the plan for teaching. I will not take the time here to describe in detail but it involved Bro. Jeff teaching 4 men who in turn taught others. This prepared them for ministry at the same time as they learned.

Again sensing the urgency of the matter, and fielding several questions about the difference between churches, it was thought best to go ahead and teach on the New Testament Church. To a person these students accepted the teaching and expressed their intent to follow the Lord in scriptural Baptism. They expressed how liberated they felt knowing that God has not forgotten them. Indeed He has not, He is preparing leaders for His Church!

However, at the same time there are also a number of older Christians from Laos who wanted to study the Word of God. They only spoke Hmong and that prevented us from being able to communicate with them. We were aware of the need to include them in the teaching because in their culture, the young do what the elders do. However, until the Hmong/American pastors came it was not possible to deal with these.

For the past four days one of these men, Bro. Yang has been teaching these older Hmong Christians. Today the other Hmong Pastor, Bro. Chang taught them and the session lasted literally all day long. The plans called for Bro. Lange to speak to them using one of the Hmong pastors as interpreter on Monday where he could teach them about the Church. Just after my arrival in Bangkok this evening, I got a call from Bro. Lange in which he said that three of the leaders followed Bro. Chang back from today's teaching to ask more questions about this matter. All of them expressed their acceptance of the scriptures and desire to submit to being Baptized under the authority of a New Testament Church! They said after the upcoming session on Monday many others would also follow. They see the lost being reached and they want to be part of what the Lord is doing!

Bro. Lange's Pastor will arrive in Bangkok on Tuesday evening and I will drive him to the village. The plans currently call for the first service for this new Church that the Lord has raised up to be on Wednesday evening. I can't wait to see how that goes. We are all very excited and also very weary. Jerry Balding has been teaching English as well as the Bible and closely working with the relief effort. A shipment of rice is ordered for Monday morning. Please pray that this shipment could be delivered without difficulty.

Please pray that the hand of the government will continue to be stayed from moving these people at this time. We all know it will happen at some point. We so desire to have the time to see God save souls and raise up leaders. However if it is His will for them to be relocated, we know some will be killed in Laos and many will suffer in other ways. We want to see them prepared to go on for the Lord in a harsh environment such as that. This may become a Church that disbands rather quickly. Unique problems indeed! We are already talking among ourselves about how to minister to them when they are relocated wherever that might be.

Pray about the matter of the Hmong/American men going back to the USA. Both of them will leave this coming week. We are so grateful for their help and for Lehigh Valley Baptist Church paying their way. However when they leave, language will once again be a problem UNLESS the believers accept some of the young men whom Bro. Lange has been training. He can work through them because they know both Hmong and Thai.

What a blessing to know that the Lord is in control. I have been around long enough to realize that these things occur due to the faithful intercession of many. Thank you for your labor of love. You are Co-laborers indeed!

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom Gaudet (also written on behalf of Jeff Lange and Jerry Balding)

Dear Praying Friends,
Again I write this on behalf of my family, the Lange and Balding families. They are both still in the Hmong refugee area and out of e-mail contact. They would both do a better job of communicating and will as soon as they return. However, this will have to do for now. Please accept this imperfect method of communication and pray concerning the work at hand.

"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us," Ephesians 3:20

At the last week of July when we first drove through the Hmong refugee area outside of the village of Huay Nam Khao, Phetchabun province, there is no way we could have envisioned what the Lord is doing now. We give Him all the Glory! In fact...

"Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." Eph 3:21

Since the last update a number of the new believers' homes were visited by the two Hmong/American pastors and some of the students that Bro. Lange has been teaching. At each home a short ceremony was held in which items of spirit worship were destroyed. I met Pastor Tony Scheving at the airport on Tuesday evening in Bangkok and we left Wednesday morning to drive the 5 hour trip to the refugee area.

I took Krinny and the young ladies that work with us on this trip. They have already invested much but had not had opportunity to meet the Hmong people yet. We just returned a couple of hours ago.

A service was held on Wednesday evening and then on Thursday a number of the Lao Hmong Christians wanted to meet. At that meeting they said that they sensed the need to organize a church separate from the one that the Thai Hmong had. It is very ecumenical and these Lao Hmong Christians had heard that Bro. Jeff was teaching the Bible.

The long and short of it was that they were taught specifically what the Bible says about several subjects including the qualifications for leaders, the Church, baptism, the Holy Spirit, and etc. They embraced all that was taught and they asked for help in organizing. Many of these leaders know if they return to Laos they will be killed but at a baptism service today 15 of them stood on the shore of the river and sang "I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back." They did follow Him and Jeff Lange and his Pastor baptized them. Now plans are being made that will involve a baptism service for the new believers as well as some of the Christians who wish to join this new Church.

It was discussed what would happen if or when the refugees are returned to Laos. They were taught about the subject of persecution and suffering. Specific teaching followed on what believers have done in other countries where totalitarian governments make life difficult for Christians.

Please pray over these next days. It is a crucial time in ministry with these people. As many of you know, the Evil One oftentimes is silent when soul-winning is being done, however he roars when discipleship is undertaken.

Pray that the hand of the government would continue to be stayed from moving these refugees. Many of them have never had audience with the UNHCR, the only international body that is mandated with dealing with refugees. The government has blocked that so far.

Pray for the new believers over these next days. A couple of them have already bowed under pressure of peers. Pray that the Christians could be taught quickly how to minister to these new believers.

As ministry with these people goes forward, it is with the understanding that they could be moved any day. With that kind of urgency, you just do things differently than if you had all the time needed. We are trying to fit ministry into that situation and make sure these people are prepared.

Please pray for Bro. Jeff Lange and his family as they carry the spiritual burden of the newly formed Church. A Church in a refugee camp is very different indeed.

Please continue to pray for the relief effort undertaken by RLI. Funds have continued to come in and we are now looking at what else needs to be done for these people. This relief effort has of course met physical needs for the people but also helped them realize that the people involved, Jeff Lange, Jerry Balding and myself care for them. That has made it very easy to deal with spiritual matters.

The Hmong/American pastors have both returned to America. What a blessing to have them laboring with these refugees. We have all noticed a new dimension to ministry while they were here.

Again, please pray for God's protection on this infant congregation. Problems between the local Thai Hmong community and the Lao Hmong refugees began to surface a few weeks ago. This can and has run over into the Church.

It has been evident that God's people have been praying. On every hand these people have spiritual needs and are coming and asking for help. It would be nearly impossible to know how many have sought out help from Bro. Jeff, the two Hmong/American pastors, Jerry Balding, and the young men Jeff has been training. I have even dealt with a number through translators in my short visits to the area.

The teaching of the Word of God, the literature taken in (500 Bibles, 300 songbooks, around 10,000 tracts, as well as other materials) the public services, private visits, and more than any one other thing - the prayers of God's people have all worked to make all this possible. We give Him Glory for it. We will update you again as soon as possible.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom Gaudet

Dear Intercessors,
It seems like ages since I last updated you on the work here. Part of that is because so much is going on.

Everyone is in Bangkok now for a few days. Jeff Lange is sending his Pastor back to the USA early tomorrow morning and then plans to head back to the Hmong village on Friday. Jerry Balding is here also getting ready for a "visa run" on Friday. Both the Balding and Gaudet families and coworkers all need to leave the country to renew visas. We will drive to the Cambodian border for that.

I have made several back to back trips between Bangkok and the Hmong refugee area over the past weeks. Most of the past trips have been to ferry people back and forth; 2 Hmong/American pastors who arrived at different times, Jeff's pastor, Tony Scheving, and Chuck Wilson, a member of our Church in Fort Worth who was visiting for a few days.

The Hmong culture is very much built on community and they highly value being all together. The Hmong men who now make up the core of the newly formed Church are having to deal with some problems with others due to their being baptized. A small service was planned on Sunday while they sorted out how to handle this issue. It did not exactly work out that way with almost 200 showing up and several turned away! I was driving up to the village while that service was going on. I surely hated to miss it.

Please pray for the young Church as they are taught to stand on their own. Pray that an effective job can be done teaching the new converts. At the forefront of everything done with these people is the question, "What can we give them that prepares them in event that they are relocated?"

Another man who speaks Lao arrives tonight from the USA and will travel with Bro. Lange when he leaves on Friday. He will spend two weeks helping with interpreting into the Lao language widely spoken by the Hmong.

We just got a phone call from one of the Hmong/American pastors who is now back in the USA and he expressed interest in returning with his family as soon as possible to continue to minister with these refugees. Please pray for the Lord's will concerning this matter. If that happens, they will have huge expenses to deal with. Bro. Lange and I agree he could be used greatly of the Lord while here.

Another shipment of rice was delivered on Monday morning. RLI has now delivered 44 tons of rice to the Hmong refugees. We thought that the funds would be dried up by now, but as this is being written deposits are being made in the USA that would allow us to nearly double what has been given so far! We are all amazed, not only with what has been given to work with but what the Lord has done with it all!

Please continue to hold up these Hmong refugees before the Lord. Pray that the government will allow them to stay or relocate them to a place where ministry with them could continue. We feel that God has protected them thus far from the plans to move them back to Laos. Part of this reason could be just to give time for ministry with them. Who could have possibly known that a New Testament Church could have been started with Hmong refugees from Laos? At any rate, God answers prayer. We should not be surprised at what He does.

Our small team is very busy right now with a number of things. We are reprinting 300 copies of a songbook in Hmong at this time, trying to finish it before Bro. Jeff departs Bangkok on Friday morning. We also all must leave the country on Friday to renew visas. AND, if that was not enough, we must vacate our house by Monday afternoon. We are moving into two smaller houses next door to each other near the Resource Center, the building where the literature is stored. It has been a real challenge to deal with getting the new places ready in time to meet the deadline on moving out of the old one. Please pray with us about all this. In many ways we are still trying to get "set up" here in Thailand.

Another bit of great news for us is that Krinny's Orthopedic Dr. told her today that she did not need the surgery on her other knee! He said that much of the misalignment that was seen on the original ex-rays has now been corrected by the surgery on the other knee which took the strain off of it. He only said to do a surgery of this sort if she begins to experience pain with it some time in the future. We are rejoicing in this news. Krinny has been more or less out of commission nearly the entire time here in Thailand. She is literally improving every day with the original surgery. Thank you for praying!

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom Gaudet

Dear Intercessors,
Please pardon this short prayer request and update. The Hmong refugees are still in the same area and ministry with them continues. Jeff Lange and a Lao speaking American have been with them for the past 10 days, teaching and encouraging them.

As you have seen in other updates, a Church has been organized under the authority of Jeff's sponsoring Church. God is blessing and we are simply amazed at what He has done. All of us feel that prayer is what has made the difference so far. Please don't stop interceding for these refugees.

Brethren in Singapore bought a small generator for the work here and Jerry Balding and his family flew there to renew their visas and pick up the generator. The first time to use it in the refugee camp was last Sunday morning and Jeff Lange reports that it was a tremendous blessing. It gives the freedom to have services night or day and not be concerned about electricity being available. God is faithful to provide through His Churches.

Krinny and I and the young ladies who work with us have spent the better part of the past 2 weeks getting moved into new housing. During that time, our Internet access has been limited and very slow. It has also affected our VoIP telephone line that makes calls from the USA possible very cheaply. It is all supposed to be set back up at the first of next week. Our new address and landline phone number is at the end of this message. The new housing solves several problems we had. We now live nearly across the street from the Resource Center.

We just returned from the airport where we picked up another young lady who will stay with us for a while. These gals are a great blessing and help in ministry. Please pray for Myra Noel, Susie Domangue, Sarah Wilson, and Andrea King as they work together and with us.

Please pray for traveling mercies for Jeff Lange, Jerry Balding and myself. Jerry and I leave early in the morning for a 3 day trip to the refugee camp. When we return on Sunday afternoon Jeff Lange will return to Bangkok with us. He arrived in the village today from Chiang Mai. Theresa Lange will be traveling back to Bangkok with her sister tomorrow also. These roads are not all that safe and we are keenly aware of God's protection as we travel. Please pray.

We have another shipment of rice scheduled for tomorrow as well as some canned fish for the needy refugees. The needs of the refugees differ as some of them have funds from their families who live in the USA and other places. Please pray that we can help those who are the most in need. God has already done a great work in the hearts of so many of these refugees. They know we care and that has opened the door to ministry with them. May His will be done.

Thank you again for praying. I assure you, we would not want to attempt ministry without your labor in prayer. We have done it both ways over the years and will take folks praying for us any day.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom and Krinny Gaudet

Dear Praying Friends,
We sense a need to update you on the things that have been before us these days. Prayer is so crucial and we are so aware of our weakness in the flesh. Please continue to pray.

The Hmong Refugees are still in the camp. We have asked you to pray that the government allows them to stay. We feel that prayer has made the difference so far and this has allowed time with them to see a Church established. Jeff Lange's and Jerry Balding's families are in the village now. Of course, services will be held tomorrow. Many of the functions of a local church are now being done by the members themselves. Bro. Lange continues to teach the leaders and they in turn teach others. Many of the refugee families ask prayer and the leaders themselves are going into the homes to pray with families over a sick child or other request. Baptism services are now being organized by the leadership. Our prayer is that if they are sent back to Laos they will be able to multiply themselves many times over. Who could have imagined that all this could have developed in a few short months. Only the Lord could do that.

Please keep praying for them. Governments hold the key to resolving the issue about what to do with these refugees. Pray that these people could be protected from their own government. Pray for additional time with them. Pray most of all for the Will of God to be done concerning them.

RLI, a small relief agency started by our Sponsoring Church has shipped on the average of 6 tons of rice per week. That has totaled some 65 tons of rice to date! However, this only amounts to around two days per person per week. Shipments consisting of 400-33# bags of rice cost around $2,015. A shipment is scheduled into the village on Monday and after that, funds are just short of enough to pay for two more weeks' worth of rice for them. At this point there is still no other NGO (Non Governmental Organization) helping them with food on a regular basis. We have put this in the Lord's hands and trust Him to provide if he wants RLI to continue. Certainly feeding the people has contributed to tender their hearts to us and to the Gospel. We have told them of the Lord's churches in the USA who cared enough to give. Someone has rightly said, "No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care." This case has proven that saying to me.

If you wish to help, RLI's contact information follows:
Relief Logistics International
PO Box 136010
Fort Worth, TX 76136
817 781 3738

Many of you remember us reporting about work in East Timor a number of years ago. One of the missionaries that is there now is Ferdie Flores and family from the Philippines. He started the first independent Baptist Church in East Timor a couple of years ago and has continued to reach out. He started working in Laclo and has a good ministry there with somewhere around 30 baptized. This has aroused the ire of the Catholics in the district who have brought many threats and in fact, he was surrounded by a large, unruly crowd of around 250 who threatened him and his family as well as the believers. Shouts such as "Smash the car, Kill that pastor" were heard.

I have spoken to his Pastor in the Philippines this evening and he says that Ferdie is doing well but is concerned. He has been threatened before but this time it was a very tense situation. Please pray for Ferdie, his wife Jeanne and children and the believers in Laclo.

We are making arrangements here in Bangkok to accommodate two 40' container shipments full of literature. We must make room to warehouse nearly 75,000# more literature. The other factor is that Thailand does not permit duty free shipments of literature printed in the Thai language even if the literature is "religious" or for free distribution. It is unknown at this time how much duty will be demanded. Please pray.

We are starting Monday on a couple of print projects that are for the Hmong refugees. Recently we were sent some Scripture portions in both Lao and Hmong that would be a great blessing for the new Church in Phetchabun. We do not feel it would be wise to wait until these could be printed in the USA and shipped. The people could be moved any day. Praise the Lord for the ability to print here.

A Church in Australia has offered to purchase a paper cutter for us. This will be an incredible blessing as everything that needs to be trimmed now has to be hauled to a local printshop for that purpose. We are grateful that even churches in Australia and Singapore see the need and stand ready to help!

Please pray for Art and Doris Davison as they leave Metropolitan Baptist Church and travel to Thailand on the 8th of November. They are coming to help in the work here for several months. We are thankful for the Lord raising up laborers, even if they have already served 25 years on the foreign field!

I could go on with many other things. Suffice it to say that we are in need of prayer. Thank you for being co-laborers in this work. Prayer is work and your part is crucial.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom and Krinny Gaudet

This is the driving reason for me writing the update sent within the past 12 hours, but in the late night writing of the last update, I failed to mention it.

Krinny has a reoccurrence of an eye condition that first manifest itself in Australia a number of years ago. Then the Drs. could not tell her what could be done about it and within a week or so it disappeared. Her vision has become impaired in the right eye again and we had it checked out here in Thailand. After extensive testing including injecting dye into the bloodstream and watching it as it traveled thru the eye, the Dr. told us that she has a bleeding and thus swelling of the retina.

He is attempting to stop this bleeding with drugs first. If that does not work a laser treatment is the only other way of dealing with it. However, the laser is not a very good option due to the location of the bleeding (in the middle of her vision) and her age.

At any rate, we would appreciate your intercession for her at this time. If the bleeding can be stopped using some drugs it would certainly be best. The long term affects of this if not stopped either by drugs or laser is macular degeneration, of course with impaired vision.

We have excellent medical care here in Thailand, and praise the Lord for that. However as you know, that is not enough, the Lord can do what medical science cannot.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom and Krinny Gaudet

Dear Praying Friends,
The Hmong refugees are still in relative peace where they are in rural Phetchabun province. The fledgling Church that has sprung up over these past weeks has grown spiritually and numerically. We know many of you literally prayed this situation into existence during an intense focus on intercession that spanned over about one month. Since many of you are so intimate with the details of the work with the Hmong, I felt it needful to outline a few things at this time:

Many of you are also on the e-mail update list of missionary Jeff Lange. He and his wife Theresa are young missionaries out of the Fargo Baptist Church, Fargo, ND. We chose to enter into a working relationship with them long before we came to Thailand. They will be here long after we have departed. If you are not already on their Lange's Latest e-mail update, I suggest you write to him and he will add you to their list; <langes@vfmsea.com>

Over these past weeks Jeff and Theresa have resided in the refugee village and thus e-mail from them has been somewhat limited. Therefore we primarily reported and focused you in prayer on this situation via e-mail. Let me say that Jeff and I are both humbled before the Lord with what He has done on our behalf in all this. Who could have imagined that a Church could have sprung up in this manner?

We (the Gaudet Family and young lady coworkers) are only in a support role concerning the Hmong work. I continue to travel back to the refugee camp as needed but by necessity have had to deal with matters throughout the region while in our office here in Bangkok. It has been necessary and natural for Bro. Jeff to focus on the Hmong work for the long haul (as long as the Lord allows) and us to turn to other matters since we came to work throughout the region. I mention the ongoing work with the refugees, but the details primarily come from Jeff, thus I suggest you get on his list so as not to miss anything essential. He will be sending out an e-mail update tomorrow evening and we may pass it on to update you.

I do know that a baptism service occurred today in the Hmong Church. The Hmong leaders were to teach a class on Baptism to some candidates and then baptize them. We have talked about how difficult is it as a missionary NOT to step in and do all these things for the Church. Since the Nam Khao Baptist Church sprung up, it has been under a shadow of threat that the government would be moving the refugees back to Laos at any time. We are convinced that your intercession has contributed to keep that from happening. At any rate, it was felt that even though the Church is in it's infancy, it must be able to function on it's own. While watching them take the leadership is with a great amount of joy, it is not easy for a missionary. The easy thing would be to just do all the teaching and baptizing himself. We know however, they must be prepared to go on without a missionary so this approach is best. Please continue to pray for the Church and for Bro. Lange as he works with the leaders.

As I said we are in a support role. Our fledgling printshop here in Bangkok was pressed into service and somewhere around 700 Hymn books, Bible lessons, and nearly 10,000 tracts were printed for the Hmong. We are publishing and printing the following books now;

1. Lao book of Proverbs
   
2. Hmong Genesis 1-10, Gospel of John, and Romans in one book
   
3. Lao John and Romans.
   

We did not think it wise to wait till these items could be printed in the USA and shipped here. Time is of the essence with the Hmong. This sort of thing was exactly what we had in mind when we prayed for printing equipment for Thailand. While printing ministries in the USA stand by ready to help, some of these things are of such immediacy or of short run, that printing here is the only real option. However funds have not been allocated for most of these things. Please pray as we publish. We must not fail them.

One of the things that has really opened up the work with the Hmong refugees has been three visitors from the USA. Two Hmong/American pastors spent two weeks here then a Lao-speaking American missionary spent two weeks. This has complimented the work Bro. Jeff has done in the Thai language. We just got word that the Lao-speaking American missionary is heading back to Thailand. His purpose is to stay and teach the Word of God but there is a complication. While preparing to return, his Lao wife got word that her mother who still lives in Laos is near death. So they are heading to Thailand long enough to drop off some luggage and head to Laos to be with her. Please pray for them and future ministry in Thailand with the Hmong and in Laos. (I trust you understand not giving names as Laos is communist)

So far the Lord's churches have given thru RLI, 71 tons of rice to the Hmong refugees. This relief agency was started by our sponsoring Church for just such a situation. Many have given. This sounds like a lot of rice and it is, but in reality it would only feed these 6,000 people for just over 3 weeks if we gave them a full ration of rice. What we have done is to give them around 2-3 days worth of rice every 7 days. Now that has stretched out to around 10 days between shipments. This is due to several factors but primarily the funds on hand have just about been depleted. We rest in the Lord's direction in this matter. If He wants us to continue with this humanitarian work, the funds will be provided. We do know this, the humanitarian work has helped pave the way for mission work. The people know we care about them and unsaved have listened as the Gospel was presented to them as a result. For more information on RLI, contact: 1-817-781-3738, <travis@rlingo.org> or my address above.

We are also dealing with preparation for a couple of container shipments of literature. It was necessary for us to rent additional storage space to accommodate the upcoming shipments. Of course we are not shipping literature to Thailand to store. Pray that we can get it out to the Thai people and into the hands of other missionaries and pastors quickly. It looks like there may be an answer to the dilemma that has held us up with the Cambodian literature also. Please pray about these things.

Next week, we should be able to report to you about the bleeding in Krinny's eye that we asked you to pray about. Her vision is greatly improved but we won't know until a Dr's visit next week if the drugs have stopped the bleeding. Please keep praying concerning that and our general health.

This week Art and Doris Davison arrive from the USA to work alongside us for a time. They are veteran missionaries of 25 years. We are looking forward to working with them. Please pray as they travel and we labor together in this needy region of the world.

Please indulge me one more item: Bro. Lange's home church is bringing a group here January 7-21. The group will be involved in several facets of outreach including tract distribution. All of us will be involved with that outreach for those days as well as preparing for them. Please pray for the team, the work, and if you wish to be subscribed to an e-mail update designed to raise up intercession, please contact: <awartner@hotmail.com>

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom and Krinny Gaudet

Greetings from Thailand!
Just a few words of update and prayer requests follow.

Health: We got good news about an eye problem Krinny had developed. She took medication for the problem and it appears that the bleeding in the back of her retina has stopped. This is a real answer to prayer as if it had not stopped bleeding, she would have had to undergo a laser treatment. Thank you for praying for her. We praise the Lord for this. Untreated it would have led to Macular Degeneration.

Hmong: Over these last few months we have asked you for specific intercession on behalf of the Hmong refugees. We asked you to pray that the Lord would stay the hand of the government from moving these people back to Laos. That time has been given and not only was the Gospel preached and taught to them but a Church has been established. Last Saturday the newly formed Church baptized 53! Much more needs to be done in the area of teaching, evangelism, etc., but we rejoice in what the Lord has done so far.

The people are not officially recognized as refugees, thus they are not recipients of protection from their own government. Since they are not officially recognized as refugees they are also essentially considered to be illegal aliens by the Thai government. This keeps them from earning a living or having their children educated by government schools. They just want to raise their families in a safe place but this hope has been dashed. They simply cannot go on living like this long term. To care for their families some of them have begun to scrounge the hills around the impromptu refugee camp. Since they are not considered refugees it is actually illegal for a Thai or foreigner to help them. The Lord has raised up RLI and churches who have given to help them but we are actually walking a thin line with what we are doing in the humanitarian area.

The ultimate resolution to this matter is for the governments to decide what to do with these people. We wish to ask you to pray specifically for the Lord to work in officials' hearts to find a way for these refugees to live peacefully. In some ways, the political situation that exists with them has allowed access to them, but by the same token a political solution to their plight could allow much more ministry. Please pray that they are allowed to live and function in peace.

To watch an updated video of the work that RLI has been doing in caring for the temporal needs of the Hmong Refugees, please go to:

http://www.rlingo.org/HmongRLI.wmv or:
http://www.rlingo.org/Asia.html and follow the link on the page.

Our newly arrived coworkers, Art and Doris Davison are beginning to acclimate to Asia. They have been in temporary housing for the 4 days they have been here but should be moving into a house tomorrow. Please pray for them and that we will quickly formulate a plan for how to minister together here in Thailand.

No missionary family ever has had more faithful co-laborers in intercession than we have. Thank you for all of your labor with us. Prayer is work indeed and it is so necessary. It is comforting to know that you stand with us in this manner.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom and Krinny Gaudet

In CNN Presents, "Undercover in the Secret State," scheduled to premiere Sunday, Nov. 13, at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. (ET), award-winning Korean journalist Jung-Eun Kim tracks down dissidents doing the dangerous work of making these secret films and smuggling them out of the country. In furtive meetings on the Chinese border and safe houses in Bangkok, Thailand, she learns firsthand how these images are captured and at what risk. The program is scheduled to re-air on Saturday, Nov. 19 at, 8 p.m. and 11 p.m.

"Undercover in the Secret State," was produced by Hardcash Productions for CNN and Channel 4 in the United Kingdom. Hardcash Productions also produced CNN's award-winning documentaries "Beneath the Veil," "Unholy War" and "Easy Prey: Inside the child Sex Trade."

"Undercover in the Secret State" features some of the most dramatic footage to ever come out of North Korea, including the cursory trials and public executions in two different border towns. Also captured on hidden camera: emaciated, dirty, homeless children steal and scrounge for scraps in the markets. In the bleak, frigid North Korean countryside, political prisoners labor in a concentration camp the government says doesn't exist. And, under a bridge in a factory town, a dissident defaces a poster of "The Dear Leader," films his anti-government protest and runs for his life. His act of protest has cost him everything: his home, his country, a life with his wife and daughter.

Kim Jong Il's North Korea is one of the world's last Stalinist societies, a tightly closed state that strictly controls its people. There is no freedom to travel, to speak openly, to question or oppose the regime. The government of North Korea describes the nation as a paradise, but refugees speak of famine, prison, torture, lack of food, safety and even the most basic freedoms. The images now being captured by dissidents are some of the first to show what life is really like there.

"Undercover in the Secret State" also shows how information threatens North Korea's rigid isolation and seeps into North Korean culture as never before. Smuggled DVDs of South Korean soap operas and movies from the West are showing citizens that North Korea may not be the paradise the government indicates. An Internet radio station in Seoul, South Korea, run by North Korean defectors broadcasts news to those on the border. A smuggled cell phone allows Jung-Eun to speak personally with a young man she met years ago at the border, and who now struggles to survive in North Korea.

Dear Intercessors,
We would like to ask you to be in prayer about a couple of situations that have arisen within the past couple of days:

The first one is the Ferdie Flores family (Filipino missionaries to East Timor) Many of you will remember this family from earlier updates from us. They came to East Timor as missionaries before we left. Later we shipped a pallet of Bibles to them from Jakarta, Indonesia. Ferdie started the first independent Baptist Church in East Timor and has encountered persecution several times. He was threatened by a large crowd of people last month and he just sent this e-mail to update us on a pretty severe beating that he received at the hands of those who are enemies of the Gospel. I will enclose it in it's entirety.

----------Flores update follows---------
Christian Asian Missions International
( A ministry of Lapasan Baptist Church)
La paz II, Lapasan Cagayan de oro city, Philippines
Tel. (8822)725197 e mail:lbccdo@mozcom.com
Manatuto, East Timor ; mobile:+670 7270063
email:ffflores2000@yahoo.com

Dear Prayer Partners,
This letter is the sequel of my testimony related to the incident transpired in Laclo on October 08, 2005 and October 15, 2005 respectively.

Being tired of the very slow progress of the investigation, I decided myself to go back to Laclo to know the real name of the leaders of those who barge in the church member's house and chase us out of Laclo.

November 9, 2005 I went back to Laclo, as I ask some people about the names of those involved, I told them that my intention is for them to show up and settle the problem amicably and I don't want them the world to know that Militia is still living in Laclo in the context of the violence that happened.

While I was sitting inside the house of the church member Deolinda and Manuel Soares, around 1:00 o'clock PM a mob led by the Village chief of Laku Mesak came and beat me. There are more or less 200 people surrounded the house but only more or less ten men were able to get inside and I don't know how many people did beat me. One of those young people rescued me covering my head but leaving my back exposed to punching and kicking. They held me hostage in that house for maybe one hour until one of the members slip out to call the Police.

While in agony and half conscious I still manage to drive the motorbike back to Manatuto. I went straight to the Police station and tell the Police Chief (Faria) about the incident. I ask him not to tell the problem to their Head in Dili as I still would like to settle the problem amicably and he told me that there is an order for them to report any incident implicating foreigners. After a brief talk to the phone (maybe a cohort in Dili) the chief proceeded to Dili while one of the police ferried me to the hospital. In the Hospital the nurses treated me well and give me a shot to ease my pain and control my blood pressure. My blood pressure rose to 170/110. I called my friend Jose Soares and he ferried me back to my house. Before I sleep, I pass water and in severe pain I noticed urine flows mixed with blood. A sedative (pill) help me sleep well that night.

The following day, November 10, 2005 police officer came to my house twice asking me to appear to the police chief's office. The third time police officer came back with a police car force me to come to the police office, feeling very heavy I asked my wife to change my clothes as I ca even hardly get up. When I reach there the Police chief (Faria) told me I was a liar screaming at me without giving time to bring my witness. He condemned me and charges me guilty of inventing a story but I vehemently and consistently tell him that I was beaten. I was surprised because as a victim he did not even give me time so I could present my witnesses and deprived of my right to due process. The police chief (Faria) charged me guilty, when he is not a judge.

From the police office the Police chief brings me to Laclo told me that we will investigate the incident. I was very weak, have not drink medicine yet, and haven't eaten anything. Late when I know the Police chief deceived me because he bring inside the Roman Catholic campus. There the RC priest and lots of people there sitting already. I know I was set up. There I was belittled, mocked, insulted, defamed, jeered, accuse falsely as a thief. The crowd shouted several times that they are willing to go to jail after killing me. The priest told me never to come to that place because if the populace will kill me it is not their fault. The police also warned not to go out from my house as he is not accountable for my safety.

Fernando L. Flores
Pastor, Igreja Baptista Kristaun de Manatuto
13 November 2005
--------end of Flores update---------

Please pray for Ferdie and his wife Jeanne and their children. I called his pastor in the Philippines and offered to go to East Timor to see if I could be of any help to Ferdie. Pastor Andales said it would be an encouragement to them at this time so I am looking into traveling there as soon as possible, maybe even before the weekend. We have a LOT going on right now and I can think of more reasons not to go than to do it, but if there is any way to help or encourage this Brother we want to. Please pray for him and pray for wisdom for me. In the beginning of ministry in East Timor in 1999, we made the assessment that there would be relative freedom for ministry for at least two years while the UN was basically running the country. We figured that whatever kind of government was formed it would be friendly to the Roman Catholics and then the problems would start. The Lord has given much more time than that for ministry. Please pray.

The other matter of prayer involves two missionary families who are here in Bangkok:

Art Davison and his wife Doris arrived here last week and we put them in temporary quarters until a house was ready for them to occupy. They are moved in now and are settling in. The house they moved into was occupied by the Jerry Balding family for the past two years. The Lord allowed us to minister with these folks for the past several months and they have been a tremendous blessing to us and to the Lange family especially in the work with RLI in the Hmong refugee situation. Jerry and family were to return to the USA next week just after obtaining a visa for his wife Marilyn. Marilyn is Irish and it was necessary for them to go through a 3-4 month long process to get the paperwork filled out and have an interview with an immigration officer at the US Embassy yesterday. At that interview the officer asked for an additional form that derailed their plans to return to the USA. Acquiring this form may take the better part of two months.

Of course this is with mixed feelings for everyone concerned. Jerry and his family were looking forward to spending the holidays in the USA with his parents. Also his parents are disappointed over it. At the same time they had to literally tear themselves away from ministry here. They loved working with the Hmong and everyone valued them handling the portion of ministry that they were doing. From our perspective their departure was going to leave a large vacuum in the work. However once everyone got over the shock of this delay it became obvious that the Lord was in control.

You surely know where this is going now. The Baldings are staying at a guesthouse now in Bangkok in preparation for a departure flight that they will not be taking. It so happens that we have recently rented the bottom floor of a shop house. Facilities like that do not come available very often so when we saw it for rent we grabbed it for only $113 per month. We have a use for it but sometime in the future not right now. With modifications that we planned to make anyway, it will accommodate the Balding family easily for the remainder of the time they will be here. The only factor is that we are making these modifications now instead of later. Actually we are trying to do it within the next two days or so. Even though the costs are not something that anyone is prepared for at the moment it is cheaper than anything else that could be done to accommodate them and the work needs to be done anyway.

Prayer changes things. If I did not believe that I surely would not spend two hours trying to compose an e-mail to tell you about these things. We do indeed value your intercession. More than anything else we need wisdom.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom Gaudet

Dear Praying Friends,
In our last update I told you about the potential of me making a trip to East Timor to encourage missionary Ferdie Flores. He was severely beaten last week in a village where he had already baptized around 30 people. Indeed I am leaving in the morning bound first for Bali, Indonesia. The trip is sort of starting out messed up due to a scheduling change by the airlines that puts me into Bali late. I am somewhat concerned about getting a ticket purchased in time to make the last leg of the journey by the time it leaves the next day. This portion of the travel could not be purchased here in Thailand.

I would appreciate your prayers concerning this trip. I want to be an encouragement to this faithful Filipino brother and his family during this time. I was able to talk briefly to him on the phone and he sounded pretty rough.

Pray also for ongoing work here in Thailand. I also mentioned to you in our last update the building we are preparing for the Balding family to live in for the next couple of months since their paperwork to enter the USA was delayed. Work on that place is nearly complete and they should be able to move into it tomorrow. Pray for them in another matter - their airline tickets were not the kind that could be changed and they are getting a refund on them. However, the refund may take as much as three months to process! They will probably need to purchase new tickets before that refund is in unless the Lord hastens it. Please pray.

Several of our American friends celebrated Thanksgiving today with a meal. It became evident that we would not be able to be together on the traditional third Thursday of November and rather than forgo a celebration at all, we did it today. It was a blessing to one and all and a great time of fellowship and food.

Jeff and Theresa Lange head back to the Hmong village tomorrow about the time I leave for East Timor. You may remember us telling you about a Lao-speaking American missionary. He and his family had to make an emergency trip from the USA back to Laos due to her Mother having only a few days to live. Turns out she was only suffering from septic shock and is doing well now. They are here in Bangkok at the moment and will be returning to the Hmong village within a couple of days to join the Langes.

Please pray for safety for these folks as they travel and pray for wisdom for them as they minister to these refugees. Please don't forget to pray specifically for resolution of the Hmong situation in Phetchabun.

Funds are still coming in for RLI to provide rice for the refugees. Another shipment will be scheduled for early in the next week. Jerry Balding will handle all the details of that shipment since I will be in East Timor. We all covet your prayers. Without you praying we would certainly not want to undertake these things.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom Gaudet

Dear Intercessors,
As mentioned in our last Update, I made a quick trip to East Timor late last week, and returned from that trip on Thursday evening. The purpose of the trip was to encourage Filipino missionary Ferdie Flores who had been beaten for preaching the Gospel. His activities in the village of Laclo stirred the ire of the Roman Catholic priest over the area. Ferdie has baptized over 30 in that place and because of that he was threatened several weeks ago. He continued to visit and encourage the believers there and he was caught inside the home of one of them on November 9 and beaten pretty severely.

I took some video footage of Ferdie talking about the situation as well as his wife giving a testimony about it. We plan to edit that this coming week and make it available to anyone who will pray for this family.

In the early days of ministry in East Timor it was pretty evident to us that while there was freedom then, any government that would eventually be formed would be very friendly to the Catholic church. The new constitution has provision for religious freedom, but the people do not know much about democracy and such matters. This region of East Timor has had a couple of reports of persecution in the past months. We would ask you to pray for the Lord to frustrate those who would halt the Gospel from being preached there. It is hoped that this is an isolated couple of incidents in a specific area of the country and not the beginning of problems that will sweep across the county. Please pray for Ferdie and his wife Jeanne and their two children, Abigail and Jennifer. Pray for two other independent Baptist missionary families in East Timor also - Nelson Fernandez from the Philippines and Chris Smith from Australia.

Our coworkers here in Bangkok have finished the printing of a booklet in Hmong that contains Genesis 1-10, John and Romans. The first of these will be delivered in the Hmong village in Phetchabun on Monday as well as Lao book of Proverbs printed here also. Printing goes on with several other projects in other languages.

A container shipment is on the way from the USA now. It consists of around 40,000# of literature in several languages, Thai of course being the greatest amount. Please pray about the upcoming arrival and customs clearance. We have no idea what the government will charge us in duty for the shipment. There is no exemption for material printed in Thai.

RLI provided for another shipment of 6.6 tons of rice last week. That makes around 78 tons provided so far. As we have mentioned in earlier updates each shipment of this size costs just over $2,000 but only provides around 2 days worth of food for these refugees. They cannot get out and work because the Thai government considers them illegal. Help that RLI has provided has been essential.

We also asked you to pray for a resolution of the situation with the refugees. Please don't stop praying in that manner. There are some things going on quietly between the US Embassy in both Thailand and Laos, the Thai government, and the UNHCR. We have been told that they are working out a plan to resolve this issue. Please pray that it will be equitable and fair. There are indeed a number of these people that are in danger if they are shipped back to Laos. Many of them are Christians fleeing persecution. Others have become Christians while here in Thailand. Praise the Lord for the time that has been given so far so that they could hear the Gospel and respond.

We are grateful for your intercession. God can do what we cannot. Please stand in the gap with us.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom and Krinny Gaudet

Dear Praying Friends,
Just a few words to bring you up to date on the situation with the Hmong refugees...

It is Hmong New Year celebrations this week and the refugees are celebrating along with the existing Thai Hmong village nearby. We got word today that 30 young people from an SDA (Seventh Day Adventist) group within the refugee community had walked into the next village around 8 miles away to participate in some celebrations last week. They were captured by the police, detained and today they were sent back to Laos. The parents of these young people are frantic to know of their welfare.

You must remember that the Lao government is communist and has a horrible human rights record. Many "Christians" in Laos have been punished and some killed over the years. Now these young people are in custody in Laos and their parents are in a refugee area in Thailand. Please pray that some contact could be made with them and that maybe the focus on this situation could be brought to bear on the Lao government. We are not activists, but tomorrow we will be sending a list of the names of these young people to the US Embassy, the UNHCR, and other international bodies that might be able to deal with it.

We have funds on hand to make one more shipment of rice for the refugees. That shipment will be made within the next couple of days, if the Lord allows. Beyond that we are just trust that the Lord will give wisdom. The need is not any less but the funds will be gone. Frankly we are still amazed that we have been able to help with these needs for so long. This shipment will bring the total to over 84 TONS of rice that has been provided for these people. None of us are fund-raisers, the Lord burdened the hearts of those who have given. Please pray.

Ministry in the form of training leaders in the Church goes forward on a daily basis. Jeff Lange, A Lao-speaking American missionary, and Jerry Balding are laboring there in the midst of these people. Pray for them please. Everyone senses the urgency of the situation.

Pray that there would be some sort of resolution to this situation. The Hmong people have no homeland, and their own country does not want them back. Some fled for their lives and if they return to Laos they are convinced they will be punished or killed.

Publishing goes on daily in the Lao, Hmong and Thai languages. How we thank the Lord for our coworkers, and for you our supporters and intercessors.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom Gaudet

Dear Intercessors,
We wish to make a short update on activities here to fuel the fires of intercession. I assure you we depend heavily on your labor with us in prayer.

Many of you will remember we mentioned Ferdie Flores, the Filipino missionary who was beaten by an angry crowd of Catholics in East Timor. When I visited him last month I made video recordings of him and his wife talking about the situation. We have finished a 12 minute video about it. If you would like a copy of it on DVD, please let us know and we will send it to you ASAP. We are still trying to work out how to duplicate them and if we will mail them from Thailand or the USA so please be patient as it may take a few weeks. At any rate, please let us know and we will get it to you.

Last update we mentioned the fact that some 29 of the Lao Hmong youth were arrested after attending festivities in a nearby Thai Hmong village. They were dressed in traditional clothes and were on the way back to the refugee area when the arrest took place. On Monday of this week they were deported back to Laos. These were aged from 12-17 years old. It is not clear why they were arrested or deported at this point but their families are frantic to find out their condition. Please pray for them. All of them were members of an Adventist church group. What happens to them can or will happen to any of the refugees.

RLI just provided for another shipment of rice today. The 400 - 33# bags/13,200# of rice will feed the nearly 6,000 people for only 2-3 days. This was a normal shipment in every way except one - it represented the last of the funds at the disposal of RLI. 86 tons of rice has been purchased for these people so far, and we are quite willing to cease or keep on, depending on how the Lord leads and provides.

All of the ladies that work with us as well as the Davisons and the Gaudets will be leaving in the morning for a 4 - 5 day trip to Chiang Mai and the Hmong refugee area in Phetchabun. We covet your prayers as we travel. Pray also for the Lange family as they travel back to the Hmong refugees on Saturday.

Thank you in Jesus' Name for your labor of love in intercession and support. Please don't stop.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom and Krinny Gaudet

Dear Intercessors,
If you ever had an ounce of concern over North Korean souls, please make an effort to watch this special on PBS Tuesday, December 13. I have just received a copy of this DVD sent to me here in Thailand and it is the most powerful presentation I have ever seen. We know a good deal about the situation in North Korea, but this video stirred our hearts. I was in the process of ordering additional copies to loan to those interested when a pastor friend forwarded this notice on to me.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom and Krinny Gaudet

-------------------------------------
SEOUL TRAIN ON PBS!

This Tuesday, December 13th marks the U.S. television premiere of Seoul Train on PBS! Catch the film that the Wall Street Journal says is "so compelling that you can't stop watching even though you know it will haunt your dreams." (Read the full Wall Street Journal review here: http://www.seoultrain.com/news/WSJ_051209.pdf)

Seoul Train is airing on the Emmy® award-winning PBS series Independent Lens. The national broadcast time is 10:00 PM, but check your local listing (or go to http://www.seoultrain.com/screenings.html) for the exact time in your area.

See the all-new PBS Seoul Train companion website at http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/seoultrain, where you can learn more about the film, the Underground Railroad, and have a chance to voice your comments. If you were educated, entertained or "incited" by the film, after the broadcast consider casting your vote for Seoul Train for the 2006 Independent Lens Audience Award at http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/awardabout.html.

The PBS broadcast is a watershed event for the North Korean refugee crisis. More than 1 million people are expected to tune in, bringing this crisis to mainstream from obscurity in one single event. As put best by the Wall Street Journal:

"All the program can do is end our ignorance. Someday, when the full extent of North Koreans' suffering is revealed, no one who has seen 'Seoul Train' will be able to say, 'I didn't know.'"

We just returned to Bangkok from the Hmong village where the refugees are located. The Art Davison family, our young ladies, Krinny and I made a one night stopover in the village to greet brethren there and be on hand for an RLI rice shipment.

On Wednesday morning just after the rice was delivered, one of the leaders of Nam Khao Baptist Church came quickly and pulled Bro. Jeff and I with him to the main road. There we met a small crowd of Hmong and three police officers. The officers had a list of the young people that were arrested two weeks ago and reportedly sent back to Laos. What they wanted were the parents of the 29 young people. It was stated that they wanted to send the parents back to Laos to be with the young people.

A Lao Hmong spokesman told the plainclothes, unarmed policemen that the parents did not accept the decision to deport them to Laos even though they were heartbroken over their children being taken. The officers basically said they were leaving now but would be coming back. The implication was that when they came back it would be to forcibly take the parents.

Rumors fly in a situation like this, but Bro. Lange and I saw it and heard the police officers ourselves. A newspaper article yesterday in a major English-language Thai newspaper stated that the original matter of the 29 young people being taken was under investigation. Sources here in our government say that the decision to arrest the original 29 young people was a local one and it has been an embarrassment to the government.

At any rate, the Hmong people are plenty disturbed by it all and as of this morning, news is that the police plan to return to the village today.

The evening we arrived in the village, people were standing on the road greeting us when three of the mothers of the young people taken to Laos came up to our group and literally threw themselves into the arms of some of our ladies, weeping uncontrollably. There was not a dry eye among the Americans within minutes. It was as dramatic a scene as I have ever witnessed. This went on for nearly 20 minutes and only stopped as we had to tear ourselves away and go on. Some of the mothers followed us as we continued on our way. They needed and received assurance that someone in the outside world cared for them. It seemed little to offer in the face of a weeping mother holding up three fingers indicating how many of her children were taken back to the oppressive country they fled.

Please pray that this matter would be resolved in a way that takes the Lao Hmong people themselves into consideration. The original 29 teenagers that were arrested were returning from a program in an Adventist church in the nearby village. It is generally thought by the brethren in the Nam Khao Baptist Church that what happens to the Adventist today will happen to them tomorrow. The leaders of the Nam Khao Baptist Church have been in a place of ministry with some of these families. Please pray for them in it all. Please pray for the Langes as they remain in the village during all this. Pray that Bro. Jeff and Theresa would be a comfort and encouragement to the people. Pray for the Langes as they watch all this unfold and the tremendous strain it puts on people we all have come to love.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom and Krinny Gaudet

Christmas Greetings from the Gaudets!
It is actually cool here in Bangkok, making it the first time we have ever encountered anything approaching winter anywhere we have ever been in Southeast Asia. Makes it feel more like Christmas for sure. It has gotten down to the high 60s over the past few days and it is quite humorous to see the Thai people bundled up with heavy coats to fend off the harsh winter weather! Five hours north in Phetchabun it is much colder.

Plans call for us to leave in the morning to be with the Hmong refugees in Phetchabun for Christmas celebrations. All of the missionary families who have been involved with the Hmong over these past 5 months will be there. The Langes, Baldings, Gaudets and team, including the Davisons and the Lao-speaking American missionary and family. There will be 19 of us foreigners there at the invitation of the brethren in the Nam Khao Baptist Church. They want to share their meager provisions with us in a special meal after the morning service on Sunday.

By the time many of you read this, RLI will have shipped in another 6.6 tons of rice. This delivery makes over 104.6 tons of rice that have been given to these needy people since August. They are forbidden to work by the government who considers them illegal aliens. The help that RLI has provided has been strategic.

Of course the reason for our excitement over all this is that the Lord has used it to His purpose and the Nam Khao Baptist Church has been planted in the midst of these people. It will be a joy to celebrate this day with them.

Susie Domangue and Amy Green just finished the printing of 500 Lao John/Romans. A portion of these will be taken into the refugee camp when we travel there tomorrow. It is such an incredible blessing to have not only the equipment and materials to work with but the coworkers to get the job done in a situation like this. This is a first printing of the second edition of these Gospels, a revision of the Lao New Testament. A large printing will take place in the USA in the near future.

We are due to receive a 40' container of literature during the last week of this month. Please pray concerning the customs clearance. We are somewhat apprehensive about the costs involved. Most of this container is Thai literature, and we have not found a way to get the Thai customs to waive importation duty on any Thai literature.

We wish you a Merry Christmas. Rejoice in His Love for us. Christmas is about Christ, not commercialism. We will be around people who know nothing about such things, only to love the Lord and thank Him. It will be a blessing and we trust you also have a great Christmas.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom and Krinny Gaudet with
Susie Domangue, Andrea King, Myra Noel, and Amy Green

Greetings from Thailand.
We trust your Christmas holiday was blessed. Ours was uniquely different. We all traveled to the Hmong refugee camp in Phetchabun to spend the day with them. I doubt if anyone will forget it anytime soon. It was so very humbling to see these folks who have so little share what they had with us. If you were there that day only you might not understand how needy they are. The reason for it was that this Christmas was special to them. They celebrated it in relative freedom and together in a newly formed Church. Many of the families saved up the meager fare that they had for several weeks to have to celebrate that day.

In the midst of it was a rumor that the government was coming in trucks to take them away. They were concerned but they stayed focused on the day and the reason for the Day.

As many of you know we are expecting a container shipment of literature soon. In fact, that shipment arrives tomorrow, the 28th of December. We just learned that there is a BIG potential problem with the shipment that involves the duty on it. In two previous shipments we encountered problems that we tried correct with this one. Speaking to customs' brokers, it was suggested that we declare in a different manner the contents of the shipment. When the paperwork for this shipment was looked over day before yesterday, the same customs' broker pointed out that the agents would assess a rather large duty on the items. The first we heard of exactly how much would be assessed was that conversation. In earlier talks, there was many assurances of it not being much. Now however, the estimates run as high as $27,000.

All of the materials in this container have been provided free of charge by printing ministries in the USA. A LOT of extra work went into stuffing response cards into around 1.5 million tracts in this container. Of course we do not want to lose all that effort and expense with unreasonable customs' charges.

Please pray that we can get this container out of customs and thru the process quickly and reasonably. Prayer can accomplish what we cannot by "Figuring out" how to handle the problem.

We will let you know what happens with it as soon as we know. Thank you.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom and Krinny Gaudet

Dear Prayer Warriors,
It is so hard to imagine another year drawing to a close. Much has transpired here as well as in your lives. We stand amazed at God's Grace evident in ministry here. As we look to this next year I assure you we would not want to enter into it without your partnership in intercession.

As you know from our last update, a 40' container shipment is due to arrive within a couple of days from now. We are faced with two significant matters with this shipment for which we would like to ask your intercession. One of those situations is the potential for being faced with a HUGE import duty on it due to trying to do the right thing about declaring the contents. With the two previous shipments into Thailand we had significant difficulties with the paperwork even though we followed some guidelines set down by customs brokers. The paperwork on this shipment was designed to eliminate that, but now we face upwards to $27,000 in duty. The container will not be cleared by the customs agent until this time next week, so we have time to bathe that matter in prayer. There simply has been too much effort and expense by too many of God's people in putting this container of literature together to lose it now.

The other matter concerning the shipment is that due to some delays on the part of the shipping agent, the container will arrive at the start of an outreach effort involving around 25 people, mostly from Fargo Baptist Church, Jeff Lange's home Church. It should not disrupt matters too much, but then again, this is Asia. Our motto is to "expect the unexpected."

Please keep praying for the Hmong situation. Pray that there will be a suitable resolution to the problem of these people living in the conditions that they are. Our prayer is that ministry with them can continue whatever that solution is.

Also pray for the families and for 29 young people who were arrested and deported. Actually 27 of them were deported to Laos. Two of them remain in jail. Some international attention is being brought to bear on these two young people now and it could result in them not being deported. Pray please. Even though they are part of an Adventist group, the Lord has allowed some ministry with them and their parents as Bro. Lange has visited them in jail.

Please pray also for ministry as the group comes from the USA. Tracts will be distributed as well as other forms of ministry. We will be helping with that group as Bro. Lange did in July when a group came from our Church. Pray during the dates Jan 7-21.

For Souls Still Waiting,
Tom and Krinny Gaudet