Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel's hand." –Zechariah 4:10

     Baan Po, a place that has never had a church and where almost no one knows God. With an effort to change that we have been going out on Thursdays for the past few months  to knock on the doors and hearts of the people in Baan Po. We soon discovered, not surprisingly, that hardened hearts and blinded souls made up the people who populated this city. Week after week, door after door, no one has even shown a glimmer of interest. The same awkward laughs, crooked smiles, and annoyed greetings possessed everyone we met and talked with. Until today. Winding our way through the back roads and rice fields we stopped at a small cluster of houses. A man stood at his drink stand ready for us to order. We asked for some milk teas and told him why we were here. We came to tell him who the Creator of the universe was and how He could cleanse him of his sin. His expression was different from the dozens of blank faces we are usually met with. He told us how he tried to wash his sins away at the temple and he went every week to make merit but knew it was not enough. After a long conversation with Ratana he agreed to have us come back and teach him more every week. Ratana’s brother who was being shared with by our wonderful x-ray tech came over and joined our conversation. He agreed he wanted to know more and that he and his brother would meet with us to learn more.

            Oh how wonderful, how marvelous, how great the Lord is. It would be silly of us to not be elated in this small beginning. The Bible tells us the Lord rejoices in these small things. If our massively powerful God can take delight in these small beginnings, shouldn’t we too?

     Ratana and his brother live just down the road from the high school that is hosting a week of English camps led by our son Gary and 2 churches from Arizona.  Please pray for these two men and the students that we will be teaching from July 20-24^th.  Pray that the Lord will bless these small beginnings.