From Jim Gustafson:
I am on Koh Yaow island just off of Phuket working at the MRI
where the SDRF has set up a spiny lobster and grouper production
system. A couple of weeks ago 3 mother lobsters gave birth to literally
hundreds of thousands eggs. These eggs have now hatched and we have
baby lobsters swimming in our hatchery tanks ( see below one of them
that I photographed yesterday). We are busy setting up the system for
feeding "rotifers" (small zoo plankton we grow in tanks) to the small
lobsters. It is a mind blowing experience to work with the production
and growth of spiny lobsters - I once again marvel at the fantastic way
God has created this world.
God continues to amaze me as he moves, always ahead of us, to find at
risk people and meet their needs. On January 20th we met with a group
of new believers in Hat Yai, south Thailand. They had invited us to
visit and celebrate the birth of Christ with them. After Nujon asked
the group why they had beleived in Christ, we sat and listened as they
spoke, many with tears, from their hearts. "I believed because God gave
me a new family - all of the other AIDS infected believers in this
group"; " I believed because I saw the change in Narong ( in whose
house we were meeting) and wanted to experience what he has"'; "I
believed because God touched my body - even though I know that I still
have AIDS, my body has been transformed from weakness to strenth"; "God
is good and has blessed me beyond anything I ever dreamed was possible
- I now have a house ( really a small shack) and I just got married by
God's grace". As I sat there listening to them I wept as the goodness
of God came flowing over me from these AIDS impacted people who were
being moved by his grace.
We continue to move forward in God's strenth in Nan province, north
Thailand. The new high school that we are building there at Baw Yuak
school in the mountains of Nan is in the initial construction phase. We
are targeting the middle of the year as the completion date - the Thai
school year starts in May and we hope to have the school completed in
time for that. We are also building a Development Center (DC) about 10
kilometers from the school. The DC will provide a prep school for high
school graduates in the area as well as doing work in the area of
agricultural research and vocational training for the marginalized
people in villages of this isolated area. We are currently building an
access road up a mountain the SDRF has obtained - the DC will be built
on the top of this mountain.
God is good and he is doing great things. As I stop and look around
myself from time to time I am, once again, moved to praise God for his
goodness. I trust that you are experiencing his goodness and moving
with him.
Blessings,
Jim
Baby spiny lobster at the MRI, Kho Yao island.
New Development Center mountain in Nan province.
AIDS impacted group in Hat Yai, south Thailand.
Baby spiny lobster at the MRI, Kho Yao island.
New Development Center mountain in Nan province.
AIDS impacted group in Hat Yai, south Thailand.
Comments (3)
hi dave. it was great to meet you today (i'm the edge intern...). thanks for your constant encouragement to my wife and i via blogs, sermons, etc.! we are challenged, excited, and fearful to see the manifestation of cwow within our community.
hi pastor dave! our thailand NOC team had the privilege of going to Nan last July to help build the fence for the development center and teach at Baw Yauk school for 5 days! WE LOVED IT!
it wasn't easy building that fence, to be honest. the girls on our team were kinda helpless and scared b/c the mountains were slippery and dangerous! our good men on our team did a great deal of work for us! :)
It was a lot of fun, and we probably learned as much or more than we taught the students in Nan Province.
It was pretty amazing!! I would love to go back if an opportunity arises.