It has been an uneventful month in many ways. Go to school...come home and study...go have dinner...study some more and go to bed. That is our routine for many of our days. Spliced throughout the week, however, are some wonderful opportunities for ministry and well as some R and R every now and then.

I finished module 4 and will spend the next month with a private tutor, working primarily on my speaking and listening skills. Kay is in the middle of module 4 and will continue her work with her tutor. We study with khruu Satorn. He is a very talented young Thai with exceptional patience and understanding.

One short story to share with you. As I have mentioned before, as I was growing up, I heard from people time and time again that there are untold millions of people throughout the world who have never heard the name of Jesus. When I heard that statement, it was hard get my mind around such a statement.

However, we meet people all the time who will very honestly tell us they have never heard of Jesus and know nothing at all about Him. That statement still boggles my mind. In America, there seems to be a church on every corner, religious TV and radio shows, newspaper articles, bookstores, etc. and etc. Bottom line is this - in the states, anyone who wants to know who Jesus is has fairly easy access to the truth. However, in most places throughout the world, such opportunities are very limited.

In our city of 15,000,000 people, the largest evangelical churches would be considered tiny compared to some of the large churches in America. It is still difficult to fathom that less than 1% of the people in Thailand claim Jesus Christ as their Savior.

In our Bible study class last week, our teacher asked if everyone in our group knew who Jesus was. One 29-year old man raised his hand and said that he had never heard of Jesus - He didn't know who He was. Every single time I hear someone utter that phrase, I am again reminded why we are here and we thank the Lord for the opportunity to share the message of hope that can only be found in Jesus.

A Time of R and R

The political unrest seems to have abated, at least for a little while. The red shirts and the yellow shirts seem happy to pursue their agenda in Parliament and not through massive protests in the streets. That is good news to everyone. The latest 'comers' on the scene are the blue shirts. These Thais have a desire for all the unrest to end and hopefully will work as silent moderators between the reds and the yellows.

During our break, several of us spent some time on a day tour. We went to the floating market, the Rose Garden, the Crocodile and Elephant Show, as well as a few other stops along the way. It was a good time of R and R from the rigors of school.

Kay and I had a surprise blessing last Sunday morning during Bible Study. We attend the English speaking Bible Study class at New Vision Church. Besides the teacher, we are the only farangs (foreigners) who attend. Though it's main focus is teaching the Word, it has a secondary goal of teaching English. So, several of the participants are not believers in Jesus but come for English study.

A young man attended for the first time last week. He is in his mid-20's and is a soldier in the army. We were reading the story of the feeding of the 5000. To be honest, having heard that story numerous times in my life, I listened without paying much attention. When it was the young man's turn to read, he read it in total amazement and then posed some questions to his friend to discover if the story was actually true. You see, he had never heard it before and was in awe of the miracle. He didn't have to say anything - his wide eyes and dropped jaw said it all!

Sometimes the Lord has to hit us between the eyes with a board to get our attention. This past week, He used the simple story of the feeding of the 5000 to remind me that the truths in the scripture are never too old or simplistic to attract someone's attention.

I'll be watching this young man in the future weeks just to be reminded of beauty of simple, childlike learning. Pray with us that this young man will understand the deeper things of God and have a desire to turn to the truth found in Jesus.