Tyler and Hannah in Thailand: January UpDate.

After enjoying a bit of a break from the regular routine and having a few "fun days" we started or second semester (or term) on January 5. The first class for the students was "Motivational Giftings" with Pastor Ken Haase. Pastor Ken and his wife Donna have been working here in Thailand for the last 10 years. At one time he was the bible college dean, but now he is more of an assistant dean and advisor. He also offers oversight and advice to some of our graduates who have also started schools; and he travels to teach in their schools often. This is his last year in Asia, he is retiring after this year; he will be missed; he is a great teacher, and has been a great member of this team.

In class the students uncovered what their natural gifting were, what the strengths are of each gifting, and how those gifting fit together into the body of Christ.

After motivational gifts the students took a course on "Rescue Ministry" taught by Julie Kissick. Pastor Julie has been working with the poor and homeless of Lethbridge for about 20 years. Her missional church, StreetsAlive, works to bring Hope to the Hopeless, and show love and care to those that society tends to ignore.She has come to Thailand several times to be a speaker at our Women's conferences, but this was her first time teaching at VABC.

"Rescue Ministry" sought to impart into our students the need for love and compassion for everyone in the world and to give them practical advice and tools that they could use when ministering to people who are in need, especially those being ignored by society (addicts, homeless, mentally ill, poor, victims, etc.)

About the middle of January a large group of us went down to Malaysia to see PLANETSHAKERS. They are a Christian praise band from Australia. Many of the songs we sing here at the college were written by them. Every year they put on a conference in Malaysia. It is part concert, and part training: It runs for three days, and they have a service every evening and during the days they have breakout session where they impart lessons on song writing, production, leadership, and vocals to name a few. The team had a great time on the trip, and what I saw of Malaysia I quite enjoyed. We also visited one of our victory churches there, bing their worship team and Pastor Julie preached.

Finally, at the end of January, we hosted the first of our two Women's conferences with Pastor Julie. This one was held here in Sri Racha. (The second one will be held in Chang Mai at the end of February.) We had almost 100 women in attendance and in addition to Pastor Julie we had Pastor Ning Conte, from our churches in The Philippines, Pastor Anna Enos, a missionary in Chang Mai, and Pastor Mary-Jo, from the UK all imparting into the women in attendance.

In the After School Program we began to see an increase in attendance. On January 10th the mall in town had their annual "Kid's Day" a special day where they bring in T.V. stars and have activities for the kids; they also have tables for local schools, nurseries and daycares to set up activity centers. It is a lot of fun, and we always get some more children coming to our school and nursery as a result. We have had a great response this year and our After School English class has grown to the point where we had to divide the children up into 3 classes. In my February update I will have to tell you about all the new kids we have.

Finally, I wanted to take a moment to thank all my monthly supporters, I so appreciate each and everyone of you. Through your generosity you are enabling me to serve the ministries and students here in Thailand. I am extremely grateful for you ongoing and continued support.