June/July 2011 Prayer Letter/Update

Dear Pastors and Praying Friends,                                                                                                     

We are still awaiting the birth of Emily Faith in Bangkok, Thailand. We visited the doctor today, and he said the birth could take place literally any time. He has had Linda on some medication that has prevented her from having contractions; but now that she has reached 36 weeks in the pregnancy, he has taken her off the medication.  So it is literally just a matter of days until we get to meet Emily Faith!

We are certainly eager to get back to our home, Cambodia, and pick up where we left off. Although God has temporarily placed us out of our normal place of ministry, we have seen His providential hand at work during our time in Bangkok. Here are some ways that God has allowed us to spread His Word in Thailand:

·       We were able to locate a Christian literature distribution company here in Bangkok, where we purchased several hundred Gospel tracts in Thai. Since we cannot speak Thai, we have had to depend on these tracts to speak for us; and we trust that the people who have received these tracts will be drawn to the Savior.

·       God has providentially allowed us to stay in an apartment complex in which three of the maintenance workers speak a dialect of Khmer. God laid it on our hearts to purchase and have a meal with the entire maintenance staff- three of them Khmer speakers, nine that speak only Thai. After the meal, we gave them each a Gospel tract and invited them to the church we have been attending, Bangjak Baptist Church.

·       I had a chance to talk with one of the Khmer-speaking ladies about the Gospel while she was on her break. It was very difficult, because the dialect of Khmer she speaks does not have a lot of the words we use while soul winning in Cambodia.  However, God enabled me to get the basic message across to her- that we all have sinned; that one day we will either go to Heaven or Hell; that we will not be reincarnated; that God loves us so much that He died for us and rose again. In the end, although she listened politely, she said that she has followed Buddhism since she was born, and she gave no indication that she is ready to turn to Christ. Please pray that she will open her heart to Christ.

Being in Thailand for the past six weeks has taken me out of my normal work schedule, which usually involves language study with my teacher every day for several hours, making visits, soul winning in nearby neighborhoods, and working in our children’s Bible clubs on Saturdays and Sundays. Although I have not been able to be involved in these activities, the Lord has given me time to accomplish some other important tasks. I have been able to study and prepare sermons that will be translated into Khmer when we get back to Cambodia and preached while Bro. Benefield is on furlough. God also allowed me to write a tract that will be translated into Khmer when we get back to Cambodia. Needless to say, when we return to Cambodia in a few weeks, most of my language study will involve translation, which is actually a wonderful way to learn a lot of important, useful words in a short period of time.

We will most likely be back in Cambodia by early to mid August, hopefully no later than August 15^th. We are so excited about having another little girl in our family, and we are looking forward to introducing her to our church family in Cambodia. Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.

In Christ,

Chad Phillips