Jesus for Asia: Thailand

We want to extend a note of thanks to all of you who have kept us in prayer over the past few weeks. Now it’s time for an update on life in Thailand and the journey that brought us here.

Our Experiences and Culture Changes

In looking back over the past 4 years, we can see so many ways that God has led and directed us. In September of 2005, we were convinced that it was time to move out of the big metro area of Portland, OR, and be debt free. That was a challenging prospect, but in just shy of a year we were moved, debt free and loving the peace and quiet of our new home on Lake Roosevelt. There we enjoyed, deer, wild turkeys, snow, eagles, moose, bear, (and did I mention snow), and warm wonderful summers.

Just after our first year, God placed in our hands a ministry called North America Bible Correspondence School. This was just what Bill was needing. He quickly built a Website, and soon was enrolling many students each week. In less than two years the school ministered to over 1500 searching people.

We regularly hosted Bible studies and DVD presentations at our home on Sabbath afternoons. It was there that we met the Daughtrey’s. Larry and Wendy soon became close friends. They had found a perfect mountainous retreat, with rich, dark soil for gardening. Their intent was to build an “ark,” which was to be a refuge during end-time events. We were impressed to partner with them on this project.

Plans were made, wells were enlarged, solar panels were added, and we were underway with the construction of our cabin-size house nestled next to the Daughtrey’s cabin. We anticipated taking occupancy before winter, 2009.

God had a different plan in mind for us. Wendy and Larry had attended “Faith Camp – Idaho,” in late June. There they were impressed to respond to a mission call to Thailand, from the organization, Jesus for Asia. They were soon sharing this new prospect of being missionaries with us. This took us completely by surprise! However, their enthusiasm was contagious, and so within 2 weeks, we were on the grounds of Jesus for Asia in Idaho, speaking with Jon and Natalie Wood, the directors of JFA.

God confirmed this decision by selling our home. He sold not only the house, but all of our furnishings, to include towels, bedding, silverware and dishes. That was perfect! Now there was no packing and storage problems.

God also provided the perfect couple to care take of the “ark”. They had the skills to finish the project, to include our cabin. God is amazing!

So here we are in Thailand feeling very overwhelmed by the project at hand, and feeling completely inadequate for the job. But we trust in the saying, “God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called”.

God provided us a wonderful dwelling place in a small village near the studio. It is located at the opposite end of the village. At night the temperatures can dip down to “chilly” but it is never “cold”. We are in the dry/cooler months until about March, when the rainy/hot season begins. (I try not to think about that too much.)

This past week we have been training with Jon Wood. He gave us a crash course on how to shoot and edit video. This was all very technical, but quite fun. There is a link below to our first video.

We enjoyed Jon’s visit very much, and we are able to get a clearer picture of his vision for the mission sight here. The “All Asia TV Studio” is not finished yet. A portion of the building will be done in a couple of months, but it will be a year before the rest of the construction is complete. Jon has helped with ideas of what we can get started on short term, and what his vision is for long term production. Funding for this project is the biggest need right now. God could rain down money from heaven, but that is not His plan. He knows that His people will not be truly happy unless they are involved . I encourage you to be involved, if not in person, then through investing. People are our inheritance, our treasures in heaven. “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”.

The potential viewing audience for the programming is nearly 4 billion people, including the majority of the world’s unreached people groups. This is often referred to as the 10/40 window. Even though the people are often poverty stricken, they somehow manage to have a television. This is the mechanism we will use to reach their hearts with the gospel.

View Our Video

May the joy and peace of the Christmas season be in your hearts. We look forward to bringing more info next month of how God is leading.

Thank you for your continued prayers, thoughts and investments. Remember to click the link to our video update.

God Bless,

Venie Osborn