March 17, 1998 Tuesday Evening

Dear Family, The call came about 11 o'clock this morning. Phonsawan took John (Bounlerth's name for his son) and David (Phonsawan's name for her son) with her in a tuk-tuk to the telephone location and Jean and I talked with her forever. John David, or David John, ate and cried all the time we talked so he is doing fine. If some of the following names and folks we discussed don't mean anything to you, just wipe away one of our tears and keep reading.

Chane sent a note from jail Sunday. He wrote that they played takraw (kick ball with a rattan ball) all day and were fine. Phonsawan said Khammieng and Khamsaweang are still in solitary confinement but doesn't think they are in chains or handcuffs. They had been allowed to send a note to their families. Khamsaweang wrote his to his eight month old daughter Marie. Chansaw, Khammieng's daughter, did get to come to Vientiane, helped feed her dad, but never got to see him. She had to leave on the 5th to return to her upcountry job. The Vientiane police investigated her home village of Naborn when she left so the spies are still at work.

Last Sunday, instead of Phonsawan's house being full of sixty folks singing and praising God, there was just a very quiet remembrance of the Lord's death on the cross in a very personal Lord's Supper. Nging, one of the teens that was baptized during the meeting, came to visit later that morning. She stayed all day, cried over the pictures we had sent back, and didn't want to leave that evening. Dalavee, Kongmany's wife, visits often and will soon be taking care of Jerry Canfield's house while she waits for her husband to be released. She was jailed the first two weeks and their children were left with relatives. Phonsawan has not see many of the other families.

Absolutely no information is being given out about the prisoners. Phonsawan asked the officials again today, and one policeman snarled as she was leaving, "another one of those Christians that got away". We asked her if she was in danger of being arrested now that John David had arrived. She was confident there was no danger. We passed on the news that hopefully the Allisons would soon be in Vientiane, that hundreds of people have written, and thousands are praying for them. With her usual super sweet attitude, she was delighted to hear about all of you.

Word from the American Embassy today was that no action has been taken by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tommy Allison. The Embassy requested our assistance and by 3 p.m. there was a fax at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from Bill McDonough who is in Yangon, Myanmar. Bill, the International Director of Partners in Progress, volunteered to immediately fly to Vientiane if that would expedite the Allison's approval.

The twenty or so emails we are receiving each day are amazing. Folks we have not heard from in years are alive and well and praying for 13 Laotians in a jail 10,000 miles from America. One brother sent his message written in Portuguese. We've made many new friends while God has allowed the whole free world to know that there is a struggling Laotian Church of Christ in the little landlocked nation of Lao PDR. We finally discovered what that PDR stands for. Officially it means Lao People's Democratic Republic, but practically it translates Laotian People Denied Rights. Until they are freed, please continue to beseech the Lord, and pressure the American and Laotian governments, to let His people go! How many plagues did it take to get Pharaoh's attention?

God bless,
Ken & Jean Fox