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DWAIN & BECJOf

ANDERSON
Christian Ambassadors to Thailand
Field Address:

Mr. & Mrs. Dwain Anderson

P.O. Box 169

Chiang Mai 50000 Thailand

Forwarding Address:
Christian Ambassadors to Thailand

P.O. Box 53733

Indianapolis, IN 46253-0733

Becky, Sara, Mark and Dwain Anderson

Make checks payable to: Christian Ambassadors to Thailand

March, 1990
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

It has been a long time since we have sent out a newsletter and for this we apologize. These past several months have been busy and we just haven't gotten around to producing one, though we have corresponded
directly with our supporting churches.

In thisnewsletterwewant to bringyou up-to-date on our workand askyou to prayabout severalthings and about severalpeople. Wepraise the Lord for Hishelp and for His strength. We praise Himbecauseof allof you.

Ban Saeng Satjatham

The biggest and most important development regarding our work has been the opening of the
new Christian center in I 4 concemed about the need for Christian work in the cities of Thailand.

Thailand is a newly developing country and

that means that more and

Chiang Mai called "Ban Saeng Satjatham". In Thai that translates roughly to "the House of the Rays
of Truth" and that is

more people are moving

to the cities in search of

jobs, education, and a better life. Chiang Mai

has gone from about

exactly what we want and hope it will be. Let me begin at the beginning.
Since we returned to

90,000 people five years

ago to around 150,000

today.Bangkok has gone

Our cenier is located in this row ofshop spaces.
from 5 million to over 7

Thailand in September of
1988 we have been

million in the sameperiod

Christian Ambassadors to Thailand

is that He provided some Thai Christian young people to help us who have a vision for this kind of work. They have been a great help in the planning
of the center's program. In fact, they were the ones who came up with the name. They guaranteed us that "Ban Saeng Satjatham" would "stick to the

ears" of the Thai people. In April one of the young

men, Pradit, will begin to serve a nine month internship with us as part of his studies at the Chiang Mai Bible Institute. We believe that his participation in the ministry will be an asset. On February 20th of this year Ban Saeng Satjatham opened its doors to the public for the
In the beginningour building wasjust a shell.

of time. Becky and I became convinced that more needs to be done to reach the ethnic Thai people in
these fast growing cities.

first time. Our program includes several types of outreach such as English Bible lessons and a lending library in both Thai and English. Already we are pleased with the way the work is going. We have been able to meet many people that we would have never been able
to meet if there was no center. We have also been able

In September of last year we began to plan and search for a building to house a Christian center in Chiang Mai. Our planwas to rent abuilding thatwould serve both as an apartment for our family and a neighborhood center, aswell. It took several months to locate a suitable place because buildings currently
are expensiveand inshort supply.In late Novemberwe rented and took possession of a three and a halfstory, store front building in the oldsectionof ChiangMai.It
is in the center of town and is easily accessible by
several bus routes. It is also in a district of town that is

to share with them, help them in various ways, and be a witness to them of the love of Jesus and the forgiveness of sins He gives. To us, even though the center is attractive and comfortable, it is the people who are important. We'd like to introduce you to some of them and ask you to pray for them.
Jakrit

heavily populated and that has many schools for the

upper grades. It took a lot of work to get the building ready to move in to. For this we had some good help. Tom Coon and Tom Silkwood, both missionaries, helped us with

Jakrit is the person who stands out to me as the most unusual person we have met in the center. He is a transvestite. On the first night that he come in one of
his "friends" came with him. Jakrit came in because he

putting walls into what was, in the beginning, just an empty shell. We also had to run some electrical wiring and water lines. We had to put in a whole kitchen including the proverbial "kitchen sink". On
the 15th of December we moved into the apartment

wanted to study English. That night as he filled in the application form he remarked that he had lots of friends and that perhaps many of them would like to come study English. When I heard that I really had to do a lot

part of the buildingon the second and third floors. Once we moved in we began to work on getting the center opened. We wanted the center to be attractive to the eye and comfortable, too. Chairs, tables, bookshelves, some pictures, and a front for
the building was needed. Both the work on the

apartment and on the center required more funds

than we had on hand. We were able to arrange a loan for the additional funds. We'd like to ask you to pray

about getting this loan paid off as soon as possible. One of the things we have to praise the Lord for

The temple right across the street from our center.

Qu-lstiaa Ambassadors to Thailand

Wouldn't it be great if she could also be among "God's chosen people", as well? Lets pray that she
will be.

m-mrnm
James

ili
!. .

James isour "reader". Almost from the first day we were open he has been coming in several times a week to borrow books from our lending library. I
have had several chances to talk and share with

him. He is very knowledgeable about the Bible. As it turns out, he has been a member of one of the
local Thai churches. He has also been a member of
the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses at one

An important part of the center is the lendinglibrary.

of praying. My first reaction was to get rid of him and his"friends" assoon as possiblebut God loveshim,too.
As it turned out, Jakrit did come back to study the Bible

time or another. As we talked the other night he began to tell me of some of the things that some "Western Christian" friends of his have taught him. As I listened and then questioned him it became apparent
that he has become involved with the "Children of

in English but he didn't bring anyof his friends. That seemed like a good compromise to me! My prayer for
him is that he can come to know the love and the

healing of God.
Somkit and Narong

God", a group which is not only illegal in Thailand but has some of the most unchristian teachings around. James is a sincere by sincerely mbced-up young man. Please pray that we can help him to see and understand the true, simple Gospel message.
Roger Roger is one of our newer contacts. He is a ThaiChinese. Roger is very intelligent and is fluent in Thai, Mandarin Chinese and English. He told me that one of
his Chinese teachers is a Christian and that he has been

" Somkit and Narong are both older fellows. Both of them are taxidrivers. They are what most people would think of as "average guys". They have been out of school for several years, have families, and arc working hard to make a living. Both are enrolled in one of our English Bible classes. Originally they came in because they wanted to learn more English so that they could possibly get a better job somewhere. I hope this will be possible but I also hope and pray that they canfind something
their relationship with us. I hope that they and
their families can come to know Jesus, too.
Noot

evenmoreimportantthanabetterjobthrough ' |H

212/3

Noot is a young ladywho is in her last year of high school. She is a very diligent student and wants very badly to get into the university here in Chiang Mai. She came the other day and asked me if I would be willing to coach her with her English. She isalready enrolled in our English Bible classes but she knows that if she is to get into the university, her English must

be very good. Ibelieve that Noot is the kind of ^

person who will one day be considered among "the cream of the crop" for her generation.
The front ofBan Saeng Saijathani with the Buddhist temple in the reflection ofthe window.

Qidstian Ambassadors to Thailacd

to church with him before. He also told me that he likes

Mark turned lOyears old in October, Sara became

to go to church. As we were talkingabout the Chinese a teenager (13) in March. School has gone well this language, I asked him if he had ever seen a bilingual year for both Sara and Mark. We thank the Lord for English-Chinese Bible. He hadn't butwasvery interested. answered prayers regarding the children's education. I had one on our bookshelves which we had gotten Their teachers and the new principal are outstanding. several year ago when we worked in Hong Kong and so Sara will be remaining in Chiang Mai to complete her gave it to him as a gift. We read some verses together in 8th grade education. This makes her very happy and is English and Chinese. He was very pleased to have the a relief to us as well. In the midst of all this, every day life goes on. Bible. I pray that through it he maylearn more and that Pollution is increasing here in Chiang Mai, inflation is his present interest in the Lord may increase.
running about 20 percent, and new construction can be

These are just a few of the people we have gotten

to know through Ban Saeng Satjalham. We are excited with the work and with the possibilities we see ahead.

Other News
While the Christian Center is our biggest news for thisissueof the newsletter, we do haveother "happening? and events" to share with you.

found everywhere you turn as the city continues to expand. Chiang Mai hosted the 23rd National Games earlier in March. Part of the pregame publicity included an anti-AIDS campaign, with the public health officials announcing that 2,200 prostitutes in Chiang Mai had tested HIV positive. Large sections of Thailand are

sufferingfrom drought and publicofficials are hoping

the annual rains willcome early to refill the reservoirs. We are wellinto the HOT season with daily highsnear the 100 degree mark.

Dwain taught a course in Christian Leadership to

Junior and Senior students at Chiang Mai Bible Institute this past fall. He enjoyed the experience and the opportunity to get to know some of the CBI students better. Dwain also studied for and passed his Sixth Grade Thai Language Equivalency Exam in December. It is an important milestonein his languagedevelopment and we are proud of his accomplishment.
Becky's father, Clayton Kinsey, underwent open heart surgery tor blocked arteries and valve replacement in September in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. This was the second time he has had open heart surgery. He is recovering well and we thank all who prayed for him and for us as we were separated from him at that time.

One more thingthat wewouldliketo askyou to be in prayer about is asituation in the mission community here in Thailand. We are not free at this time to give any details except to say that a situation has come up
which has distressed all of us here. It is one of those cases when a trained Christian counselor would be a

great help. Alas, there are none available. Please pray that the Lord will give wisdom and grace over the next several months so that we may all deal with the problem in a way that pleases Him. Finally, Thailand is full of rumors of government decisions that may affect missionaries and their work. It is rumored that soon no missionarywillbe allowed to

go into the countryside to teach religion. One rumor says that in the future no one except Thais will be allowed to teach religion at all anywhere. We do not trust in rumors but in the Lord. Please pray about
this with us.

We are thankful that we can be here in Thailand

and we are thankful to you for your part inour work.

Very often we are reminded of the fact that without your financial help we could not be here. There is

one other thing that we feel we absolutely must have, as well. This isyour prayers. We need your
prayers on a daily basis! Thanks for them in advance.
In His Service,

Thefrom room ofthe center with movable dividers separating the classroom.

Dwain & Becky