​

Dear Brethren,

First, I want to thank all of you who prayed for Lu and our family for the 2 ½ years we were separated by Covid. She made it back to Thailand safely. She came in on Sunday afternoon. After the evening service, we had a meal together with the church. The ladies all presented Lu with roses to welcome her back to Thailand. It was all very nice.

Mom and Dad were able to stay for the first part of June. We went to the mountains so that they could meet two of the students that they sponsor. It was a great trip. It was long and hard on them, but I am so thankful that they were able to come to Thailand and make this trip so that they could meet the students they sponsor and for the young people that they sponsor to be able to meet them. It was wonderful being able to spend time with mom and dad, but the time came to an end too swiftly.

While we were in the mountains on that trip, some land in the village of Maelati came up for sale. It is land that I have been trying to buy for several years. The owner has talked about selling the land for several years. The reason I wanted to buy it was because it will protect the water system and church building that we built there. We were given permission to build on that land by the previous owner. We were afraid that with a new owner, we might have a problem. They actually sold the land to someone on the Sunday before we went into the mountains. We contacted the new owner and offered him a little more than he paid. He sold the land to me on Wednesday. It has opened the door to even more possibilities in that village. The congregation there has been in existence for just over three years. The congregation started with 3 members and about 10 in attendance. Now there are over 20 members and nearly 50 in attendance. We really need to build a larger building there. We would like to build a building that would seat around 100. People are coming from other villages to worship and learn the truth. There is great potential for growth, that we are just beginning to tap, from the surrounding villages. It will cost $15,000 USD to build the building. We will renovate the old building into another dormitory for students. Then we will have one in Chiang Mai and one in the mountains. If you would like to help with this work, we would be extremely grateful.

We actually made two more trips to the mountains during the month. One reason we went was to talk about a clean water system for the village of Mae La. We talked with the head man of the village and with the men of the village. They pleaded with us to help them get clean water. They really need two water systems for the amount of people who they have in the village. We agreed to give them one to start with. Some people will have to go a longer distance to get water to take to their houses. In the future we hope to put another water system there. The third trip we made to the mountains we installed the water system. The people of the village were very thankful. We also installed another water system on the main road that runs through two provinces. It is between three villages. It will have a sign on it that says we provided this clean water system. We also announced in the villages that anyone can stop and get water from there for free. These type works give us many many opportunities to teach the gospel.

We also went and talked to the school at Mae Ngow about how we can help them. We took them 20 chickens. We want them to be able to raise chickens for eggs and meat. We trained them how to take care of them. We also showed them how to care for them when they were sick. Many of the trees and plants that grow at the school can be used to supplement the diet of the chickens. We also gave them four bags of chicken feed (300 pounds of feed) and vitamins for the chickens.

On the second trip we also drove to Mae Hong Son to see one of the students we help support. Her name is Ratchanok. She wants to be a teacher and go back to the village that she came from and teach. In that village there are 100 students from kindergarten to 6th grade. They only have two teachers and they are only there two weeks every month. Each student only gets taught one week out of each month. The easiest way to her village is a 3 ½ hour boat ride. I am really impressed with her attitude and her goals.

Our goats are doing really well. In fact, we had our first baby goat born this month. He is really cute. The young people in our dormitory named him Llama. The four young men who are staying here have really mothered Llama. The first two nights after Llama was born, the boys all stayed in the animal pen with him because they were worried about him.

Thank you all for all your love, prayers, and help. God bless,

Michael