SPOTLIGHT ON MISSIONS: Jessie & Siripong Yaebeang • Thailand

Update (5/18): Jessie's Father Passed Away — We woke up yesterday morning on May 17 (May 16 in America) with shocking news that Jessie’s beloved father, John Wayne Kocourek (Mr. Wayne), passed away at age 70 in Conway. It’s a very sudden and unexpected one. After having a minor procedure to place some stents in two of his arteries, he started to feel dizzy and then passed out. The doctors said that his stents and arteries collapsed, and he wasn't getting blood flow to his heart. They tried for about an hour to revive him.

Jessie has travelled to Arkansas to attend her dad’s funeral. As much as the boys and I would love to have gone with her, we made a difficult decision to remain in Thailand so she could spend this time with her family, especially with her mom. Please pray for her while she's there. This is going to be an extremely difficult visit.

The crazy thing is that the day he passed away marked exactly one year since my father passed away (even less than two hours apart). So, yesterday was a very hard day for both Jessie and me.

Mr. Wayne was a godly man who loved the Lord, his family and the people around him. We are thankful for all the great examples/lessons we learned from him and for the many precious memories we had together. He's loved by all of us, and he will be greatly missed.

If you would like to reach out to Jessie to encourage her, you can reach her at jessiek07@hotmail.com. Please remember Jessie, her mom, her two sisters and the rest of the family in your prayers during this difficult time. Thank you.

April Update

We thought April was going to be a little slow for us due to several holidays, but it turned out to be a busy but blessed month for us here. We wanted to share some of the highlights:

• Preaching Opportunity — Since my priority is North Bangkok Church, I rarely accept invitations to preach elsewhere, especially if they fall on Sunday. However, I recently agreed to help preach at a friend’s church in the southeastern part of Bangkok. The church is about the same size as ours, with around 30+ people attending each Sunday. I preached during the Sunday service. After lunch, I taught another short lesson, and then the pastor allowed some time for people to ask questions. We had a blessed time. Some of the members were familiar with me and our church through the sermons and books available. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be there and pray that the Lord will continue to bless their church.

• First Deacons Recommendation — After much prayer, we presented two brothers as deacon candidates at our April members’ meeting. This is the first time our church will officially appoint deacons. We recommend two brothers who have been faithfully serving our church for some time. All the members will have about three months, from April through June, to help examine these two brothers and talk to them to see if there are any concerns. This will also allow me time to meet with the candidates and their wives to discuss the meaning, role, importance and qualifications of deacons according to the Bible. Lord willing, our church will appoint them as deacons by the end of July. Please pray for these brothers, for the church, and for me as we go through this process. We are all excited!

• Good Friday and Easter Service — Our Easter celebration this year was different. Every year, we usually celebrate only on Sunday. However, now that we have our own space, we had a good Friday service for the very first time. Since it was Friday and the traffic was worse than normal, we weren’t sure how many people would show up. This was our first time offering this type of service on Good Friday. But surprisingly, everyone showed up! We sang songs and read Scripture relating to the cross. I preached about the cross, and then we wrapped up the service by partaking in communion to remember what happened on the cross. What a night to remember! On Easter Sunday, we also rented a noodle shop and fed everyone after the service was over!

• Submitting “Parable” Manuscript — Finally, I submitted my manuscript for the book on the parables of Jesus, Volume 1! The final decision hasn’t been made yet, but the title I suggested for this book is (equivalent translation) Living Stories: Unfolding the Meaning and Application from Jesus’ Parables. As for the timeline, the publisher informed me that, Lord willing, this volume will be published by the end of September. Meanwhile, I will continue to work on Volume 2 of this series, and hopefully it will be finished by the time the 1st volume comes out, so they can start working on the second one right away. Please pray for the rest of the process. I will give you more updates in the future.

• Local Pastors Gathering — I was invited by a pastor to attend an association meeting. At these gatherings, there are pastors from churches in our city who come together once every two to three months for fellowship. Since each pastor comes from a different denomination, our beliefs and practices on some issues are obviously different. I did not know prior to attending (yet not surprised), but there were some women pastors also. It’s good to be there mainly to know how to pray for each church that was represented. For example, a pastor I met there confided in me about all the struggles he’s been facing in his ministry. I also had the opportunity to meet the pastor of the only church in the Bangkok area that offers cremation and funeral services for Christians. I have been to the church and even preached there for funerals, but never met the pastor. I pointed out to him that his preaching could be powerful because he gets to do it in front of a crematorium every Sunday! (The crematorium is right next to the pulpit. He told me to let him know the next time we use their church for a funeral, and he might give us a discount. But I told him that hopefully we won’t need to use it anytime soon!

• Visitors at Church — This past month, the Lord brought a few new people to our church. They have all come from different backgrounds and places. They came because either someone recommended our church or they found us online. For example, Mr. Wit and Mr. Lake (pictured) have come a few Sundays in a row now. The interesting part is that a member of our church knew them from a long time ago, and they were surprised to see each other here. A couple of ladies have also started coming and seem excited to find a place they can worship and study God’s word. We are looking forward to getting to know them and seeing how the Lord is leading them. Please pray for these guests.

• “Thai New Year” — There is a big holiday in April that’s considered the “Thai New Year.” My mom and two of my sisters were able to come down for a few days. Additionally, we invited people from our church to join us in celebration. Our house was packed! Many of the ladies were cooking, and we didn’t know our small kitchen could fit that many people at once! It is always a joy to spend time with everyone.

• A Devotional Thought — In addition to the videos we post, another thing I do a couple of times a week is write a short devotional thought on different topics and have our church post it online. Here is one sample from last month about Christians and Hardship (translated from Thai):

“The Christian life is not a path strewn with roses. Thus, becoming a Christian does not mean that our career, finances and health will improve, as some people often claim. Also, being a disciple of Jesus Christ does not guarantee that our life will be free from obstacles and problems. On the contrary, the Word says that anyone who wishes to follow Jesus Christ faithfully will face hardships.

If even Jesus Christ himself, the prophets, disciples and other ministers in Christian history faced hardships, who are we to escape? Persecution and hardship in life are one of the tests to show how serious we are about following Him. That’s because the best time to prove our faith is not when everything is good, but when it’s bad.

But even though the path of discipleship is not easy, the Word promises that it is worth it. For instance, we are able to know the true God and live with Him now and forever! (Luke 14:25-33, I Pet. 4:12, II Tim. 3:12, I Pet. 5:10, Luke 18:29-30, Matt. 13:45-46).

We are grateful for each and every one of you! Thank you for remembering us and loving us. May God glorify Himself through our lives!