This is just one of the many success stories IJM has achieved since it was started by attorney Gary Haugen. Although I praise God for miracles like this there is still much work to be done. If you are like me the temptation is to look away; it’s ugly and it’s hard to face and yet it’s not what Jesus would do and not what God is doing all over the world in churches and in His people’s hearts. God is mobilizing the troops to defend the defenseless. A few weeks ago, I was praying for direction and wondering if God still wants me involved in this area of ministry. My husband John and I were having dinner and across the room was a boy wearing a black shirt with

SEEK JUSTICE in white written across the front. I immediately recognized it as IJM’s slogan and went to speak with the boy’s arents. It turns out his mother and a few other Christians at Crosswinds have come together to combat this battle and feel called to unite other churches in Rochester who are on the same track. I saw this as more than an encouragement; it was an answer from God. Yes, He wants me to continue bringing IJM to Calvary. So here God is as He always is, working in hearts all over the world within people who are strangers to each other, and bringing them together for His work. We plan to partner with this Crosswinds group in the future and I have been in steady contact with them. There are other examples of how God is mobilizing and calling us up, and this brings me to my question for you,

Are you being called to help?

FREEDOM! Get your orange beaded bracelet or keychain ($2.00) from Patty Brown to show your support to end human trafficking and get the word out. All proceeds go to IJM.

We are planning to start a four week IJM study this fall and would love to have you join us. Contact Patty Brown at (507)269-0335 for more information.

For more information about International Justice Missions go to www.ijm.org

He said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” Luke 5:24

Vehicle accidents take a heavy toll on the population in Africa, caused by the dismal state of the roads on one hand, and the extreme overloading of vehicles on the other. One such accident occurred not far from Kikongo, a mission station that we fly to regularly. In this accident an overloaded truck overturned, killing 7, and injuring more than a dozen others. We heard about the accident on the radio after some of the injured had arrived at Kikongo for treatment. Dr. Patrick and his staff were quickly overwhelmed by the severity of the injuries and asked for help. At Vanga, Dr. David Brinkert, a French missionary doctor/orthopedic surgeon agreed to help. He and an assistant collected their supplies and caught our flight that connects the two mission stations.

Future Plans

We came to the Dominican Republic in the middle of May, 2007 and we made a commitment to Iglesia Nueva Vida until the fall of 2009. This past September, we started praying and asked you to join us in praying for clear direction regarding whether we should return to the US or continue in ministry here. Our desire is to be in the place God would have us, doing what He desires. Today we share with you that we feel God is leading us to stay and continue in ministry here. While we have not had the easiest transition here, we have survived! And we see that God is using us to equip men and women. There has been a lot of growth but there is much to be done. If you have followed our blogs, you have read about our highs and our lows. We continue to have these but we also know that we will have those anywhere. It is just life. Going from a 2 year/short term mindset to one that is "open ended" was challenging. In some ways, we roughed it for 2 years and now we are talking more about what is necessary to make a home.

In order to explore possible future Calvary missions ministry opportunities among the Lahu people of Northern Thailand, Senior Pastor Todd Olson, Bart Clarke, Sing See, Dorkham See, and Caleb Olson traveled to Chiang Mai, Thailand to meet with Lahu pastors on November 23-26, 2008. The approximately 35,000 Lahu of northern Thailand represent one of several ethnic minority groups living in mountain villages along the Thai, Burmese, and Laotian borders. The Lahu living in Thailand migrated there from southern China beginning about 100 years ago, displaced because of war, persecution, famine, or better economic opportunities elsewhere. Four main Lahu groups are recognized, including Lahu Yellow, Red, Black, and White, living today mostly in mountain villages extending from southern China through northern Thailand, eastern Burma, and southern Laos.

The Lahu people today continue to be mostly subsistence farmers living in close-knit villages of 40-100 families. They typically live on the margins of society in their various home countries. Historically they have been largely animist, and they have remained generally resistant to the Buddhist way of life dominant in their part of the world.

There are a small number of Christians in the Lahu Yellow and Lahu Red groups along the Thai-Laos border, with ongoing evangelistic efforts carried out mostly by itinerant Lahu Christian pastors and evangelists and some foreign mission agencies. Sing See served as an evangelist for about 10 years among his own Lahu Yellow people before he emigrated to Rochester from one of the refugee camps along the Thai-Laos border in the early 1990s. Sing became a Christian while living in Thailand as a result of the evangelistic efforts of a Lahu pastor several years prior to this. Sing has continued to work with Khampong Anjan, another Lahu pastor and evangelist based in Chiang Mai, who has helped establish churches in over 20 mountain villages over the last 18 years.

After arriving in Bangkok early on Sunday morning, November 23, and staying overnight in the Suvarnabhumi airport, our group flew to Chiang Mai and attended a worship service and Thanksgiving celebration at a Lahu church plant in the city pastored by Khampang. The next morning we left to visit five Lahu mountain village churches over the next two days, helped dedicate a new church building in one of the villages, and witnessed the baptism of several new believers in two villages. We stayed overnight in the home of one of the local leaders in one village, sleeping on rice mats on a concrete floor, and spent a second night visiting some of Sing’s extended family members in another village. After returning to Chiang Mai on Wednesday, we visited the Lahu Bi-Vocational Training Center established by ReachGlobal (the former Evangelical Free Church Mission) on Thursday. This center trains young Lahu men center trains young Lahu men and women in the Bible and agriculture to serve as pastors and evangelists able to live in the villages among their people. We were privileged to meet some of the outstanding students and faculty there that afternoon, as well as a ReachGlobal missionary and his wife from Minneapolis. The next morning Pastor Todd taught about 20 local Lahu pastors and leaders for three hours on Biblical leadership.

While we were visiting the mountain villages early in the week, protestors against the Thai government occupied the international and domestic airports in Bangkok, cancelling all flights and making it impossible for our group to return to the U.S. on Saturday evening as expected. On Friday, we traveled nine hours by bus from Chiang Mai to Bangkok to wait for the airports to reopen, along with about 350,000 other foreigners trapped in the country. We were graciously hosted for the next five days by Surosat, a Thai army general whose wife is currently working as a nurse at Mayo Clinic, Rochester. Before we left for Thailand, this nurse contacted Pastor Todd to insist that we stay on Friday night with her husband at their house in the outskirts of Bangkok. Over the next several days, he escorted us to some of the sites around Bangkok while we waited to see whether the international airport would reopen. He was instrumental in helping us eventually obtain a flight out of the country from a small military airport southeast of Bangkok when it became evident that the airports were not going to reopen any time soon. Flights were difficult to obtain, but we eventually were able to fly first to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and then to Hong Kong, with one night in each city, before we were able to return to the U.S.

This exploratory trip gave us a vision of what God is doing among the Lahu people in Southeast Asia. The work in Thailand is physically challenging, as the villages are isolated and four-wheel drive vehicles are required to reach many of the villages. Nevertheless, committed national missionary evangelists and pastors are carrying on this difficult work, with an influence extending outside the Lahu groups in Thailand into countries currently closed to the gospel. This work continues in a Thai culture where the forces of spiritual darkness definitely hold the upper hand. Sing, Dorkham, and other Lahu members of the Calvary family remain committed to helping reach their people group both in Rochester and Thailand for Christ.

The trip also gave us an introduction to some of the work being done in Thailand by ReachGlobal missionaries. ReachGlobal missionaries also have a special burden for the Lahu people in Thailand. The missions ministry team will be reviewing the experiences and impressions from this trip in the near future, and determining what role Calvary will play in this ongoing work in Thailand.

Finally, this trip gave us the privilege of personally experiencing God’s provision for us through the many people who graciously helped us during our trip. We are grateful for your prayers for our safety and health during the trip, as we sensed God’s presence with us each day. It was a privilege to see, hear, and feel something of what God is doing in Thailand among the Lahu people. We also learned to be patient and to wait on the Lord to work out the small details in our travel plans, and He did not fail us. To Him be all praise and glory!

Bart Clarke
Todd Olson