Tam Sue's First Sunday

Tam Sue and her family

Little Tam Sue made it to church this Sunday for the first time. As I mentioned recently one of our Karen families had a baby and named it "Tam Sue" after my wife. It was a great honor for us and everyone was to glad to see her come to church today. There had been some sickness and her mother had been having back trouble since the birth and they had not been able to bring her. However, today the entire family was able to come.

Overall we had a fair Sunday with 117 in Sunday school. Considering the fact that many were out sick with the flu and one family even had me take them to the hospital the night before because of sickness it was a good day. God blessed the nursing home services today as well with 3 trusting Christ as their Saviour.

My daughter witnessing to some children on Saturday

A New Grandson

My wife with Nathan at Hospital

This past Thursday night I had a new grandson born. His name is Nathan Allen Painter. It was exciting to see his parents have him in church this morning for his very first Sunday outside of the womb. God blessed our Lord's day with solid attendance in Sunday school of 128. That was good since as many as 24 regulars were missing that normally never miss. We also saw a convert from early in the week named Manny follow the Lord in believer's baptism.

Manny getting baptized

 This past Friday night we had a Valentine party for the adult Sunday schools here at the church. The attendance was good and the participation in the games was excellent. Many people said this was the best party/banquet they have ever attended at our church. God is blessing in a mighty way at our church and the spirit has never been better. Please pray for continual spiritual growth in our people as we continue to win many to Christ...

Looper bowling

Ta and Thao trying to feed teammates blindfolded

Good Folks!

Ivan and Inna

Ivan and his family have been coming to our church since 2012 after my wife met them out soul winning. They are from the Ukraine and just very good folks! Friday he and his boys came out and helped Brother Looper change a tire on the church bus. I am thankful to have good families like this coming to our church. Overall we had a pretty good Sunday with a couple of visitors. Attendance was solid, but no baptisms today. Feel free to look at a few other pictures from our Sunday.

Playing game on bus

They made matching skirts

Another Convert Down the Aisle

This is Hsa Bweh who I led to Christ a week ago. He came to church as my visitor today. He also attended my adult Sunday school class which had very good attendance of nineteen. My class is one of two adult classes and almost always has much less than the auditorium class. I was happy to have Hsa here today and to see him come down the aisle and make a public profession of faith in Christ during the invitation time. God is blessing our Karen ministry as well as our entire church. We had a young married couple come again that came last week and has attended several times over the past several months. Please pray for Hsa to grow in the Lord and for his wife to come to church next week.

Our Interpreter Gets Saved!

Ta Ma Ner and my wife

Ta Ma Ner is one of our interpreters that we use in our Karen ministry. Many years ago I met her out soul winning and led her to Christ. However, later she said she was previously saved in Thailand. Yesterday, however, my wife started doing a "Grow in Grace" discipleship study with her. The first lesson is on salvation and Ta Ma Ner made a decision to trust Christ as her Saviour. Ta Ma Ner has helped my wife and I led dozens of her people to Christ over the past several years. Yesterday, she told my wife that every time she was interpreting the plan of salvation for us that she was learning more and thinking about it. Now she knows for sure without a doubt she has a home in Heaven. Praise God!
Today we had 120 in Sunday school and two make public professions of faith in Christ with one following the Lord in baptism!

Nicole getting baptized.

Wanting Us to Go to Thailand

Maw Ker

Many of the people of our church want us to go to Thailand with them when they go. This is the case for Maw Ker who I visited today. He is heading to Thailand next month and wants me to go with him and witness to his family. I told him I cannot go right now, but will be going this Summer sometime. My wife and I were in Thailand last Summer and had a chance to lead some of our church people's relatives to Christ. Such was the case with Hsa Sue's family. (Pictured with my wife.) We met her Aunt and Uncle and led them to Christ. We will soon be launching a new missions ministry out of our church. Part of this ministry will allow us to team with our people and go visit their relatives to lead them to Christ and help them find a church. In some cases we will eventually be working to help establish churches in their area if there is no church. This is the heart beat of our church people and I believe the time is right to begin such an endeavor.

Tam Sue and Hsa Sue

Bouncing Back

Son and Daughter-in-law with Kurdish couple

After a five week stretch of low attendance because of -11 degrees, Christmas, New Year's Day, the Karen New Year, and then the Ice Storm last week, we finally had a bounce back. We had 130 attendance in Sunday school which is almost back up to our 2016 weekly average of 135 a week. God truly blessed us with many visitors and a lot of renewed excitement surrounding a solid day from top to bottom. My son and daughter-in-law had a Kurdish couple come that they met out soul winning. Please pray for their salvation. Our Karen route had a solid day and my Sunday school class had very good attendance. In fact both adult classes had solid numbers...

Karen route having a good day

My wife and a new attender