It has been long enough without an update from us. I often feel like we are flooding your inbox with e-mail updates. Just about the time we cut back on the frequency of them, someone writes and says “Where are the updates?” Oftentimes I am told that we are prayed for more often than just about anyone else simply because we keep people informed. So, with those gentle rebukes, here goes… a very long post.

Actually this one concerns an answered prayer. It did not seem prudent to ask prayer for the following when it was still a request. However it is now a Praise! Please allow me to give a bit of background: Many of you have met, prayed for, or seen in a video, Pookie, one of our co-workers. Her parents live in a small village in a rural area some 8 hours south of here. On a trip here to visit their daughter 2 years ago, they attended church for the first time and trusted Christ!

The area in which they live has no church anywhere that we can find. There has been little opportunity for them to attend a church or receive Bible teaching. Of course, we have been concerned about their spiritual life. There are no other Christians that they know of in the village where they live.

Last month, we learned that their son who lives in Bangkok decided that he needed to become a monk for a while to “make merit” for the family, which includes all the family, extended and close. Normally a Thai man will be ordained when they are around 20 years old for that purpose. He was nearly 30 years old when he made that decision. We immediately started praying about it since we knew it would really be a trial for Pookie’s parents. Normally parents would play a central role in the ceremonies on behalf of the whole family.

Longer story short… the ordination to the monkhood was last Sunday. Pookie traveled there to be with her parents (the only 3 believers in the family!) and before the event they talked about what they would do. They decided to face it together rather than leave during the ceremonies. Nearly 800 people were gathered together for the event. The MC asked her Dad to say a few words to the crowd of family, friends and villagers.

He said “I am a Christian and my wife is a Christian. We really have no part in these proceedings, but we wanted to greet you.” He introduced his other children and when he came to Pookie, he told the crowd that she is a Christian, lives in another city, works with a Christian ministry and likewise has no part in the ceremony. He was bold but respectful. When he finished, the people applauded him. Pookie said that she was shaking because she did not know what he was going to say. To say the least, it was not the normal thing expected of the parents of a son going into the Buddhist monkhood!

Afterwards, both her parents seemed very relaxed where before they were quite concerned. She saw the Lord’s hand upon her father and the whole situation. You would have to know more about family relationships and obligations here to fully understand this, but it took a lot of courage to do that publically. After all, how many of us have made a public declaration of our faith in Christ in front of 800 people? Add to it the fact that quite possibly they were the only 3 Christians in that crowd. As I said, it took a lot of courage.

Please pray for these folks as we are pretty sure the trial is not over. In fact, her mother became violently ill that evening after she drank something which was supposed to be water. Turns out it had something else in the glass.

It is such a blessing to see the Lord work in their lives. This worked out so much better than if I or another missionary had tutored them in how to handle it. I am sure it was the biggest trial of their Christian lives and God showed Himself mighty in it.

Now I must apologize for such a long post, but it is not often that we can report something like this. Come to think of it, I’ll withdraw that apology! Thank you for reading it patiently and for your continued intercession on our behalf.

Tom and Krinny Gaudet