Sunday Evening March 29, 1998

Dear Family,

Great Lord's Day in Udorn, Thailand. Thomas Kweekul from Fort Smith, Arkansas preached this morning in the Lao language to a Thai congregation and then baptized one of his brothers in a nearby pond. We faxed letters and instructions for the appeal meeting tomorrow between Phonsawan and the Lao attorney. We then traveled to Khonkaen to visit Kim & Rebecca Voraritskul and completed preparations to begin teaching the book of Philippians to students from the Khonkaen Bible School. An attempt to meet with Lao Christians in Vientiane failed, and the police were openly watching the relatives of another family.

The only reason we are still able to report on the Laos 10 is God's continued blessing on the Laos, you, and us, plus your fantastic efforts to continuously appeal to both God and man. I believe the following email message from Jerry Canfield will touch you like it did us:

To: laosfox@ksc.th.com. laoscan@ksc.th.com
From: Jerry & Meg Canfield (Fort Smith, Arkansas)
Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 21:36:39 EST

Ken and Thomas, hope each of you and Jean and Kindy have had a good night's sleep and, about now, are enjoying a great worship time.

We just came in from a supper of families involved in missions with an Ethopian brother, Behilu Abebe, as our quest. Three of the Lao men, Nekon, Kamla, and Vangankhan, joined us.

Brother Abebe shared the history of the last thirty years of the church in Ethopia. In the late 60's the church was about the size of the church on Laos. After a few years of Bible training, the Communists took over the cournty in the early 70's, all the Americans had to leave, but the church grew with the persecution, and by the end of the 70's there were thirty plus congregations, and now there are 625 congregations. Our brother had several stories of the imprisonments, beatings and even death the Ethopian Christians suffered in those Communist years. I will get some on tape and in the next few days put them in a message we can attempt to share with the brethren in Laos.

The Ethopians are great believers in prayer and that, in God's time, he will bring relief from persecution. They have seen it happen although their patience was sorely tested as God worked his purpose. In the midst of persecution, the church grew.

Here is the punchline I had to share before I went to bed. Jim Wilson emailed Behilu in Ethopia with the news of the arrests of the Lao by Saturday night of the initial arrest on January 30th. On that Sunday morning, while we were still in detention not knowing if anyone knew of our situation, the congregation in Addias Abba, from the oldest to the youngest of the children, kneeled and prayed to God for us. Is that not amazing?

Now for the rest of the story. Because the church in Ethopia so well understands the persecution of the Christians in Vientiane, each week since the arrests, all 625 congregations in Ethopia have been fasting one day each week due to their concern for their Lao brothers and sisters. To God be the glory.

Other news from the Tulsa Workshop. Tommy and Mary Alice Allison, together with 10 others from El Paso, Texas produced the new appeal letter to the Lao Embassy, prepared envelopes with postage, and obtained signatures at the Tulsa workshop. They had 2000 envelopes with postage, and ran out by mid-afternoon Saturday. So they gathered more (perhaps 500) letters which will be sent in a Fed Ex package to the Lao Embassy. Many took letters with them back to their congregations so the stream of letters will continue to flow over the next days and weeks. Someone will have a busy time at the Lao embassy early next week.