Over the past sixty years
there's been a massive decline
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in foreign missions.
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I'm sharing the gospel
through Church Planting.
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In the 1930's if somebody gave
$10.00 in tithe, they'd give an
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additional $6.00
in foreign missions.
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Today just 28 cents!
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We're doing the best
we can with what we have,
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but I'm still not satisfied.
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God's crazy in love
with the Thai people,
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and I sense His Spirit
hovering over the city.
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I've come to Bangkok,
Thailand to discover the truth
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about foreign missions.
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Come with me as I follow my
good friend, Pastor Doug Venn,
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in his everyday life
as a frontline missionary.
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I prayed for God's
biggest dream and He gave me
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this city of 12 million.
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Welcome to my world.
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Let's go and
talk with Jun Taotao.
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He's the pastor in charge of the
literature evangelists for our
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Thailand Adventist Mission.
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And so I wanted to talk to him
to see how it's going with the
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publishing work, and so find
out, get an update from him.
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How are you today? How long
have you been here in Thailand?
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Okay, four years and six months.
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So I remember that Pastor
Jun and I actually went into
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Thai class together.
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And when I was like
maybe in module 3 or 4,
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and then Pastor Jun and his
family arrived, and so we went
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back and forth every day.
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And so that's where it
kind of bonded us together.
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So tell me, what do we have
available to offer to the public
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in the Thai language?
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And how many people
are there in Thailand?
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Yes, 65 million. So we were
able to print only a thousand.
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That's not okay. Alright.
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It's because our budget. Okay.
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Alright. So that was from that
one convention of the literature
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evangelists who came.
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They collected an offering of
about $3,000.00, and that's what
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you were able to use
to print the 1,000 copies.
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And in this last couple
of years how has that book...
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What's been the
reception among the Thai people?
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Are they interested in it?
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So what's the price on it?
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And the average person
in Bangkok would make around
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$10.00 US dollars a day.
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And so that would be around...
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If you had more budget
you, instead of printing 1,000
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you'd print 10,000
copies of the book.
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Then you could bring
down your price, then that way
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it would be more affordable
as well. That's right.
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Tell me about
your other book here.
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We've been here now
what, four years and six
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months you've been here.
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And you have two new books.
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What did you have before then?
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Because I know that you have a
team of dedicated people who are
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out visiting the Thai
people around the city,
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and around the country.
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But what else do they
have? Is this all? Yes.
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What about... Do you
have anything for kids?
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Four and a half years ago
when we arrived here to Thailand
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I know what it was like for me
to access what's going on here.
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You know, you and I were given
jobs here at the mission level.
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Pastor Jun arrived here as a
missionary from the Philippines,
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and we landed here
about the same time.
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And what was it like
for you when you saw...
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You were used to doing
ministry in the Philippines,
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and you had many books.
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And then you come to Thailand
and you had limited resources.
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So what was that like?
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How does that make you feel?
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Here's a suggested list
of translating and printing.
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So you've got kids books,
health books and magazines,
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young people and young adults,
and then spiritual books.
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And then, so why
did you choose these?
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Yeah, because Buddhists, they
don't understand, they have no
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context for understanding
Christian concepts,
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like salvation, or
grace, or forgiveness.
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So do we have any Thai authors?
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I mean, because here's _.
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You know, she's an author,
and then here's her brother,
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Dr. _.
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So we have no Thai authors.
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So do we have any books that
actually can take a Buddhist and
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explain what the Christian world
view is; some of these concepts
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in a bigger
picture rather than...
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Isn't it a Buddhist picks up
a Bible usually they don't even
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understand what
it's saying. Yeah.
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To verify this point I
took some friends out to dinner.
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And after our meal I asked, Pho,
who is brand new Seventh-day
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Adventist to read a
passage of the Bible.
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So then I asked her friend
Charlie, who is a Buddhist,
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to read something
from the gospel of Luke,
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which was the first time in
his life to ever read the Bible.
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I don't know.
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It's the story of Jesus.
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I mean I know the story
of Jesus. What's the book?
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Why is it in this translation?
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It was translated,
I think we have it.
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Also Loren Wade. Loren Wade.
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Okay, so and then The
End Time Countdown in English
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is by Alajandro Bullon.
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He's the South American
evangelist, kind of like the
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Adventist
equivalent of Billy Graham.
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He's helped baptize thousands
of people around the world.
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So that's who...
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They're from a... they're
assuming a Christian background,
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and world view, and so that...
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At least from the demographics
that I've done there are what,
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less than 1% who are Christian.
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I know our team in the field on
Mother's Day and Father's Day,
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twice a year, we will take
this book, the Thai version,
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and we'll distribute it in
honor, as a gift to the mothers
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and fathers of like our
students, or the community.
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And so that way, because there
is a chapter on honoring your
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father and your mother,
and so then that way we share
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that with the community.
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I don't see on this list
any of the books by Ellen White.
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so is that on here?
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Well, here's his
work flow right here.
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I think he needs someone like
for Newstart or these stories.
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He's a translator, an
editor, a photographer,
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layout and design,
a Graphic Designer.
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Then we go into printing, and
then we need someone in charge,
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and then it goes to secretariat.
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The fields are blank.
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I think that's for all of them.
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Why are those fields blank?
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Right. As I've seen here we have
witnessed, since you and I have
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come to Thailand,
the Thailand publishing,
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or the printing press is closed.
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This is what
happens when we stop giving
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our mission offerings.
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This place was where the
Thailand Adventist Press was,
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and I want to find out why is
it closed, and what's going on.
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Let's go find out.
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Pastor Chanchai, can you
tell us the story of this place?
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Why did this place
close here in the Thailand
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Adventist Publishing House?
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Can you tell the...
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So that way you're
outsourcing the printing rather
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than doing it in-house.
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So the printing
ministry will still continue?
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From what I understand, using
an outside press is cheaper only
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when the printing volume is low.
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But if there were sufficient
funds, funds to print the books
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they need, it may have been
more cost effective to continue
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using this press, or to
upgrade it to the latest model.
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What's happening here?
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Uh huh. Yeah.
Excellent, excellent.
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I came to Thailand to see how
the lack of giving to missions
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has affected the frontline
work, and this is what I found.
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It is collapsing. There
are no Desire of Ages or
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Steps to Christ books
available in the book store,
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yet tens of millions of
Thai's still live with no clue
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that Jesus even exists.
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To us this is just a statistic,
but to these dear committed
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leaders it's a reality they
have to live with every day.
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The real issue is, Am I
ready to let it stay this way?
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Do I care that there are so
few Adventist books in print?
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Do I care that the average Thai
cannot understand the Bible?
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Do I care enough to do
something? to give something
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more than the $21.00
a year that the average
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North American Adventist gives?
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And just a few months ago
the translation center at the
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college has closed,
and so maybe this...
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And then we just heard from
Dr. Sirchet, even again this
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morning that the Thai
Theology Program has closed,
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even though they
restarted the lay training,
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and they've restarted this
Bible Junior College, you know,
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bible college thing.
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But I just see this lack of
Thai workers across the board.
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Then how many Thai
workers now do you have?
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I have two for the nine
church plants, and then we're
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trying to expand as well.
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And we're trying to then support
the other fourteen church
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plants across the city.
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And I've got two workers now.
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And so I'm having to...
Right now one of my staff was
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just transferred down to Phuket,
down to Southern Thailand.
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And I don't have a missionary
there, a foreign missionary,
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and now I don't have a Thai.
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And so we just had to put
a sign up on the door saying,
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Closed until further notice.
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And so we've got kids coming,
and people coming for class,
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and what kind
of witness is that?
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But that's a different story.
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They're moved by God to help.
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Thank you Pastor Jun.
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What do you say?
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It's such a tragedy to see
presses closing, to see a lack
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of literature, to see
basic mission functioning's just
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stopping because
of lack of funds.
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And in the West we take
so many things for granted.
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We expect that we'll
have Bibles in the house,
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that we'll have literature
to read, and we forget that many
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people around the world are
living on less than a dollar a
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day. So I want to thank you
for your prayers, and for your
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financial support for mission,
because a little bit goes a long
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way to make a difference.
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Our work in
Bangkok is still small,
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but it is reaching hearts.
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And it exists because you gave.
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Thank you so much, especially
those in North America
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who've sacrificed for mission.
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Let's pray together
that many will see, and fear,
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and put their
trust in the Lord God.
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