Chiangmai trip & Class update

NOVEMBER. was a great month for us. As part of the training of our STL‘s (Substitute teaching leaders) we schedule them to teach a few weeks during the year.  And so, Claudia & I had our STL’s take over our classes for the week of  12/13 November. They led the leaders meeting and did the teaching as well.  In meantime, Claudia & I went to Chiangmai for a little rest & relaxation. It was our first time to visit Chiangmai, which is a northern city in Thailanad - about an hour flight from Bangkok. Generally when we have  some free time we usually opt to go south to the beach, but we finally broke out of our rut or normal routine.

The best day we had in Chiangmai was traveling about an hour north of Chiangmai by car to Maetaman Elephant reserve.  We started the day floating down the swift current of the river on a rather flimsy  bamboo raft (our feet did get a little wet). Then on to an elephant show with elephants doing tricks and actually painting on canvases like artists. If that was not enough, we rode on an ox driven cart to a small village and then hitched a ride back on an elephant. But, before we returned to the main camp, the elephant we were riding on took a cool & leisurely stroll in the river itself.  That was awesome! Oh, and there was lunch time in between all that fun. It was a great day.  I am posting a picture of Claudia & I on the elephant and our bamboo rafting trip.

meandering down the river on a bamboo raft

An elephant strolling in the river with her baby

our first night in Chiangmai we went to an outdoor Dinner & Cultural dance 

(they did the all the dancing, not us!)

Back to business...

However, it’s not all play and no work.  We are so pleased with what God is doing in our BSF classes here in Bangkok.

The Bangkok Day Women’s class, it is a vibrant group of almost 100 registered women. Although life in Bangkok can be unpredictable, the average weekly attendance of 60-70 women is remarkably consistent. God continues to draw women from all parts of the world to attend this class…giving it an international flare. God proves His faithfulness every week as He helps prayerful, committed class members overcome language issues, cultural differences, age and denominational diversity as we study the Word of God together.

God has recently answered our prayers for a new Children’s Supervisor and one new Children’s Leader. Please pray with us that God will provide three additional children’s leaders and an Assistant Children’s Supervisor… enabling us to reopen our Preschool Program in January 2013.

As to the evening men’s class, God has been bringing more new men our way.  In just the month of November, we have added 10 new men!  We continue to pray the Lord will add to our numbers so that we can grow the class for a long term future. Currently, the men’s class has about 60+ men registered class members. Please help us pray that God will continue to draw new men to us & for 1 more Group leader. Also, we must also give praise to God who has recently brought us 2 new leaders; a new group leader and a new Assistant Class Administrator.

What can I say, but God is good to us to grant us the blessing to live in this beautiful land of Thailand and also to give us the privilege of serving & teaching his word to the men and women of Bangkok. God is good indeed!

BSF Men's Luncheon

The BSF men's class is well underway in the study of Genesis. We are already in week 14 of 32 total weeks.  Genesis is definitely my favorite study that BSF offers. 

The men's class has 3 discussion groups & we have about 40 men attending each week. However, in an effort to boost our numbers we decided to host a luncheon for our class members to bring a friend. The event was Nov. 24 (Saturday) at the Sheraton Grande Hotel. One of our class members (who has been truly transformed since coming to BSF over 2 1/2 years ago) graciously proposed & generously sponsored the whole luncheon at his expense. I love how God provides and uses special people like this class member to do His work.

 

We had almost 20 class members bring 20 new men to our luncheon.  The response was better than we had expected. Praise God!  Now, that they've had the free lunch, the hard part will be to get them to actually come to class on Monday night.  We are praying that all of these men will come & SEE what Bible study is like with BSF.

Just thought you'd want to know what's happening in Bangkok. God is Good...All the time!

Genesis 15:1 ".... I am your shield, your very great reward"

Happy Chinese (Lunar) News Years!

Happy Chinese (Lunar) new year!
In this part of the world, Chinese news year is a big deal. While, in Thailand, it is not a national holiday, the holiday is still celebrated with great fan fare. Since moving to Thailand, I am amazed at the Chinese influence in, not only Thailand, but in all of Southeast Asia. Whether they are from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand or other nearby countries, most will say they have Chinese ancestry. And, even if you are not part Chinese, most will celebrate the festive Chinese New Year. Apparently, this is the year of the dragon which one of the 12 yearly symbols.

 We just wanted to share with you some pictures from Monday (23 January) as we celebrated the Chinese New Year with some of our dear friends (most of whom are BSF'ers).

The above picture is of the ladies that attended the Chinese luncheon at the Shangrala Hotel in Bangkok (from left to left to right)

Doreen (BKK Day Women's class Class Admin), Jessica (not in BSF but is our landlord and good friend), Candi (BKK Day Women's class Substitute TL, Claudia (BKK Day Women TL), Charlene (Dehli, India Evening Women's class serving as Assistant Class Admin) & Dorothy (BKK Evening women's class member)

And, here are the men that attended the Chinese luncheon (from left to right)

Mark (BKK Evening men's class Class Admin), Lay Tee (not currently in BSF, but is our landlord and just so fun to be around), Gary (BKK Evening Men's class TL), Mike (use to be by STL in BKK, but is now in Dehli, India serving as Substitute TL) & Howard (BKK EM STL & host for our luncheon)

We are thankful the Lord has brought us to Thailand & we are enjoying serving the Lord here!
thank you for your interest & your prayers

Gary & Claudia Walthall
Serving in Bangkok, Thailand with Bible Study Fellowship (BSF)

Bangkok Evening men class; Good news, Bad news

Good news: I wanted to show 2 pictures of our discussion groups right before the Christmas break. One group is rather large with 17 men going over their daily questions. Each group is led by a discussion group leader which facilitates the group discussion. I just love this picture because it shows men who are interested enough to pull away from their busy lives and come on Monday night to study God's word.


Bad news: Each discussion group should not have more than 15 men in each group so that the discussion can be more meaningful and manageable. This night, I had to combine 2 different groups into one because I lack enough group leaders to lead.

Prayer request: bottom line...I need at least 1 more group leader (possibly 2). Pray with me that God will prepare the hearts of one on my class members to step up to the challenge of being a group leader.

Good news: we have a school program! Currently, we have level 5 open which includes students from 13-18 years of age. On opening day of our class for ACTS, we had 5 students come. Now, we are down to 2 students. However, both of these young men are Thai and one needs help with English. The good news is my children's leader is a Thai and can help translate. Both of the Thai students are very faithful in attending. I am so thankful for the 3 leaders we have in our school program. They are faithful and see the importance of their work in the school program.

Bad news: Back in November, my 2nd children's leader abruptly left so that I only have one children's leader. Our requirement is that we have 2 CL's per class. The the other bad news is we only have 2 students.

Prayer request: We NEED 1 more CL and we need more students. Pray the Lord will prepare the heart of another man to take on such an important role of teaching these students. Also, pray the men of the class will see the great value of bringing their school aged students to class with them on Monday nights. Also, pray for my current leaders to faithfully continue to serve and not be discouraged by such small numbers of students.

thank you for your interest in our class. We value your interest & prayers

Gary

a morning walk to the Park

A morning walk to the Park; Street vendors, exercise & lizards... (Jan 11)

One of the benefits of living where we do, there is a great nearby park; just about a 10 minute walk. Of course, ANY day in Thailand is going to be warm, but today was cooler than normal because it was cloudy. So, this morning (Wednesday) Claudia & I walked down to Lumpini Park (pronounced; "Loom-P-Nee") to walk & run. The Thai people, especially older Thai's, love to go the Park early and exercise before it gets too hot. Some will walk or run, but others like to do Tai Chi in groups (sometimes with fans, or swords; yes, I said swords!)



However, on our way to the Park, we walked through a small & crowded pathway of street "food vendors." This is a common occurrence around the city everyday. Either for breakfast, lunch or dinner, most Thai's pick up food to go or they'll eat at some small tables set up on the sidewalk. While this is a normal occurrence for the nationals, Claudia & I generally do not eat on street.




And, lastly, most times at the park it would be hard to miss the rather large lizards that occasionally come out of the water and rest on the bank. They appear to be harmless but they can get quite big (some up to 5-6') a just a little intimidating. Here's a pic of a small lizard near the water. No one seems bothered by them being around, so we just act like it's "normal" to have what appears to be man eating lizards hanging around (just kidding about 'man eating'). As for as we know... we can out run them!


Anyway, thought you might be interested in a few things that happened this morning.

Gary & Claudia Walthall
enjoying Thailand and what God has called us to do through BSF

Persecution

Persecution of Christians are generally something we only hear about happening in some far off distant land. However, over the past couple of months, several men have come to our men's class who are fleeing religious persecution in their own countries. We've had men from Iran, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and VietNam who are here seeking asylum from persecution.

On Monday (Jan 9) we had 2 new men come from a nearby country. One of the men was a pastor, who had his church demolished & he was severely beaten with lasting injuries. His wife & children are currently under house arrest in an attempt to lure this man back to his country.

Before Christmas, we had another man come to our class from Pakistan who fled to Bangkok seeking asylum. He was a Muslim who converted to Christianity. At one point, he was also beaten/stoned to the point he lost one eye. His wife is currently back in Pakistan in hiding.

It is a sad reminder of how Satan, our defeated yet dangerous foe, is still trying to destroy God's church & his people. However, each of these men who have come to our class, still praise God and remain strong in their faith.

Will you pray with me for these persecuted men to continue with us and gain strength from studying God's word?

Thank you for your interest in our work in Thailand. Thought you'd want to know.

Gary

Prison visit

Monday morning at prison (Jan 9):
On most Monday mornings, I teach in one of the central prisons for drug offenses in Bangkok. However, for the past 3 months I have not been able to go because of the floods in Thailand & then, Claudia & I went back to the USA for Christmas break. However, I wanted to share with you a wonderful story about a young man I met today.

Upon arriving & as the men began gathering together, I was introduced to a young man from Singapore named Max. He has just been in prison since October and has not yet received his sentence. Max is a tall well spoken educated young man...probably about 30. Another prisoner introduced me to Max & said, "Max had been a Buddhist but NOW has received Christ."

I couldn't help but see & be moved by the smile on his face as he began telling me that God had been pursuing him. However, with God's previous attempts to reach him, he rejected God & Christ at each point. But, then...life changed suddenly for Max. He was arrested on drug charges & placed in prison. It was in this prison that others also began to share Christ with him. And, now the rest is history. I've never seen a man so happy to be in prison because it was where God finally caught up with him & got his attention.

When all the men, who had congregated to listen to a Bible lesson (about 80 men in all), I couldn't help but notice Max's reaction when the men began singing Amazing Grace. He began wiping the tears from his face. My thoughts were...how Amazing God is & how far God will go to reach a soul. He just needed to get Max to a place where he would listen.

Prison is an ugly place to be... but it can be a place where men will finally listen. It's too bad it has to come to that, but God will go to any length to reach a soul.

thank you for listening...
pray that many more men will come to know Christ... like Max

serving a Great GOD!
Gary