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"
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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 wh