Praise the Lord; praise God our Savior. For each day he carries us in His arms. Our God is a God who saves! The sovereign LORD rescues us from death.
Psalm 68:19,20
We are so grateful to those who stood with us in prayer during the funeral in our village (Midville) last Saturday through Monday. It was definitely a stretching time for the Prai believers, a time of facing strong opposition from one influential leader in the village, and receiving support from the village headman. There was a strong testimony to the village and multiple times of sharing truths from God’s Word and a message of hope to those at the funeral and cremation. Christians from several villages came to encourage at all the funeral meetings.
After receiving permission from the head monk to cremate in the village crematory, which is in the Buddhist temple grounds, the village Buddhism leader forbid it. He feared a Christian funeral (especially for a suicide) contaminating the grounds and causing sickness and disaster. This precipitated a meeting with the supportive village headman and others Sunday noon and a village meeting Sunday evening. The village Buddhist leader pretty much raged against the Christians at the village meeting, trying to stir up opposition. It was a stressful meeting and many villagers walked out before a vote. There was almost no one to vote against the Christians. However, this is not the end of the issue. There will be a larger village meeting next week. Thai law does allow all religions to be cremated at any crematory, but communities will deviate. Fear of spirits of the dead pervades thinking. Funerals are hugely important here. A barrier to many in Thailand becoming Christians is the threat of few attending their funeral, or uncertainly of how the funeral or burial will be done. There is no burial ground near our village and there are many restrictions on using land for one. We value your prayers for God’s continued working out His plans in all our lives through this issue. Our hope is that hearts will become open to the gospel, and God will be glorified.
Please continue to pray.
In Christ we live, Dave and Fran
Funeral at the home – meetings were held two evenings and the morning of the cremation
(mother of the young man who committed suicide is front right)
Procession to the crematory
Co-worker Lian speaking, attendance at the cremation.
Nute (Prai Christian school teacher)
handing out gospel literature to those at the cremation