News - November 2003

Evans Family on Mission in Thailand

Greetings in Jesus name. I trust that you are continuing in the grace of God and relying upon His mercies each day. At a recent youth camp the Lord quickened this scripture to me. “And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God”(Acts14:21,22). For me, this word reminded me of two fundamental truths. The first is that living as a disciple of Christ is hard. The second is that we all need encouragement to continue in the faith. The peril of any Christian is to ignore either one of these truths. Sadly, the independent spirit that is so popular in the world (especially the West), has also impacted the lives of many believers, causing many to turn back from following Christ, often times through discouragement. I firmly believe that if we criticized less for failure and encouraged one another more, then we would fail less. The one sign that Jesus identified would distinguish His followers, was that of love for one another (John 13:35). Lets encourage each other in word and deed for the Glory of God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The family is going pretty well and is appreciating the slightly cooler weather here at the moment (I’ve heard it’s quite hot in Brissie now). As I have previously mentioned, during our language studies and time here in Chiang Mai, we have been keen to serve in whatever capacity we feel able. Apart from our trips to Mae Hong Son, most of our ‘ministry’ involvement has been with the international church. About 2 weeks ago, a team from the U.S. came out to run a 10-day camp for High Schoolers. Over 200 teenagers attended (including Christina and Rachel), and I was able to help out for the second half of the camp which was for the senior high students. It was a powerful time of ministry, and many young people made commitments to fully follow Christ, some for the first time. On November 14th I will be preaching at a youth rally, where many that attended camp will be, so please pray that God would continue His work in the lives of these many young people.

We believe our time here in Chiang Mai is coming to a close as we prepare to move to Mae Hong Son in January. Our initial focus will be to “settle in” to the community, continue language study, and begin to build relationships with the Shan and Thai people. Mae Hong Son has a population of about 10,000, and is surrounded by mountains and scores of villages including large refugee camps. Our mission focus as part of a mission organisation Shan team is to plant churches (through preaching the gospel and setting up house churches) amongst the Shan people and assist them in reaching their own people with the gospel. To find out more about this people group, I encourage you to go to the website, www.surehope.net

Re Namgat village, O and Meela have felt to move out of the village to Mae Hong Son (about 35 km away). They have begun to teach in the bible college (Korean) from which they both graduated. Our friends, Bobby and his wife are continuing to minister in the village on a bi-weekly basis. Please pray that the Lord would raise up others who can continue the good work of planting, watering, and harvesting of souls in Namgat. Meanwhile, in Huay Salop (the village of the last youth mission trip), five new disciples are being taught the word of God on a weekly basis. As these folk are unable to read, they are being taught chronological teachings using pictures, specially designed for these types of situations. Two other families in this village are also showing great interest in the teachings of Christ. Praise God as He reveals himself to those who live in darkness.

Friends, I want to again thank you for your prayers, support, and correspondence. We especially are very grateful for the fundraising efforts of Westside Christian Church and pray the blessing of the Lord on both individuals and the body alike. Please pray with us as we are in a position of need at this time. I don’t have much difficulty in trusting God for my needs when I have money in the bank, but now is the time for us to walk by faith and not by sight. I am not asking our regular supporters for more funds, but sincerely ask for your prayers in having others join with us in our service for Christ. We praise God for His faithfulness, and for the faithfulness of those who live as pilgrims in this world. Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I say rejoice! Please pray for a small team that is coming to visit us for a few days at the end of this month. They are from River City Family Church at The Gap and already support a mission work here. They saw our mission video and are interested in our ministry to the Shan. Pray that God will minister to their hearts on this trip.

Your brother and friend in Christ,

David (for the tribe)

Email: info@evanstribe.org

Email: dlinfo@evanstribe.org (my personal email)

David and Sarah Evans
61 Suthep. Soi 4
T. Suthep A. Muang
Chiang Mai
Thailand 50200.

Phone: 0011 66 53 810 446 (from Australia)

http://www.evanstribe.org/