Serious Structure Fire
in Thachatchai
Less
than five years after it was damaged by the 2004 tsunami, the Ban Hin Look
Diow sea gypsy community has suffered another disaster – this time by fire.
This community is located just south of the Thachatchai check point, about 1
1/2 miles from our house.
At about 1:30pm on Monday a fire broke out
in one of the homes and quickly spread to sixteen others, destroying more
than half of the homes and leaving 85 out of the community’s 215 residents
homeless, according to the Phuket Gazette.
The poor homes of wood and corrugated tin get very hot at midday and most
residents leave them to work or seek shade outside. Thankfully only one
adult and one child were home at the time of the fire, and no one was
injured.
The fire was caused by an electric short
circuit. We went to the scene on Tuesday morning to see what we could do to
help. Government officials and others donated rice, other food, and
clothing. Tents were set up for temporary housing and to store donated
goods. We found that 16 school age children had lost their school
uniforms in the blaze. On Wednesday we gave the school principal 5,000
baht ($150) so new uniforms could be purchased. We also donated
clothes, including U-Turn for Christ T shirts, shoes, tracts in Thai, and
some plastic ware. On, from our church raised donations of 1,400 baht
($42) to help the victims.
Ministry to Children
Our children’s ministry is expanding. Usually we
have about 12 kids on Thursday after school, 15-20 on Saturday Kid’s Club,
and 15 for Children’s Church on Sunday. Our two Bible Students – Joe and
Tan, are teaching on Sunday and Gahn on the other days. Four children
accepted Christ in June and two more in Wednesday night Bible study..
We ordered a large amount of Child Evangelism Fellowship curriculum from CEF
in Bangkok. We had given out all of our supply of Jesus videos, so
I had another 100 of those made and I had 15 copies of Calvary Chapel Bible
software made for the Phuket pastors.
New Ministry
Opportunities
We have a new care
group/ mini Friday night Bible Study
in the home of Khun Pinah. She
is related to Ta Ton. She has
suffered a stroke and so Gahn goes
several times a week to visit her
and give her some physical therapy.
She accepted Christ a few weeks ago.
Ta Tohn ( a regular attender in his
80’s) had what appeared to be a
stroke in Wednesday night Bible
study. Ghan, another lady who
is his daughter, and I took him to
the hospital. They kept him a
few days and transferred him to
another hospital. He is back
with us now in church and Bible
study and doing fine, praise the
Lord. We are hoping more
members of his family will come to
faith. Ta Tohn’s daughter was
at Pinah’s Bible study this week.
The first Wednesday afternoon of
July we started another home group
in the home Phi Garn, she, her
husband, and daughter accepted
Christ a few months ago and were
baptized on Easter. They live
about a 30 minute drive away from
us, and so they often can't attend
on Sundays.
Joe and Tan are helping me each morning cutting weeds and
we just about have our side of the village done, plus the preschool
courtyard on the other side. I am training Joe, Tan, and Gahn
Tuesday through Friday from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. taking them through the Child
Evangelism Handbook, covering subjects such as the Bible teacher, the child
– growth and development, the message of salvation, and why we need to
evangelize, story telling, and Bible lesson preparation. I am using a
dictionary to translate some of my notes into Thai and put all the Scripture
into Thai for them.
I requested a change of assignment in Tourist Police
Volunteer duty. Rather than going to Patong each Thursday night, I now
go to the Phuket airport 3:00 – 6:00 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The first day I spent about an hour with a Thai man named M and a Thai woman
named Mai, M was Moslem and Mai Buddhist, who represent local hotels. They
had many questions about the Bible and Christianity. I may have
opportunity also to teach English to some of the security and police staff.
The following week M and Mai wanted to talk more. Other police and
security personnel are asking questions about Christianity too.
U.S. Navy and Marines Come
to Visit
For about four
days the last part of June, there
were five U.S. Navy ships in port in
Phuket on R&R. Chaplain Reeves
on one of the ships saw our church
website and contacted me. He
and three other men came to help us
on Friday in the market with
evangelism and then he and four
others came on Sunday morning
church, they participated in the
service and were generous in their
giving. We also had three
Christian men from Australia join us
this past Sunday too. I
picked up and returned the Navy men
(plus some were Marines) and Sana,
from Central Festival Mall.
Sana accepted Christ a few months
ago, but lives far from the church.
Meet Our Staff
Sadly Ek Wirot decided not to stay
with us, but we are very excited to have Gahn work with us in children's
ministry and translation. Gahn comes from the Isaan or NE part of
Thailand. We appreciate On, who teaches us Thai three days a week, helps
with some meals and is a good friend. Please pray for her as she fell
and hurt her head. We are so thankful to have Joe and Tan who are
originally from the hill tribes of Chiang Mai in the north with us until
October. They help with weed cutting, children's ministry, and lead
worship.
James from Myanmar has finally made it back into this area. He is
going to work as a translator in Thai Muang, about a 30 minute drive north,
and wants to assist here in worship and possibly translation on Wednesday
and Sundays. 
34 years of Marriage Celebrated
Sunday June 28th was our wedding anniversary. The
Lord has been good to us throughout the years. We are thankful for
each other, what one lacks the other supplies. We are thankful that
God has kept us together and for the wonderful family He has blessed us
with. What a treat it was on that day to have a number of guests
visiting in church. We were expecting to also have a pastor visiting
from Pakistan. He wasn't able to make it then but will hopefully come
soon. In the evening Cindy and I celebrated by going to Phuket
Fantasea, dinner and cultural show. It not only showcases the culture
and beauty of Thailand, but also but also uses cutting edge technology and
special effects. 140-acre theme park complex, packed with a multitude of
activities and entertainment: a Carnival village with games, handicrafts and
shopping; a 4,000 seat restaurant offering a grand buffet of Thai and
international cuisines. We really enjoyed it. Plus as a tourist police
volunteer we received a substantial discount. The evening also
included an opportunity to feed a baby tiger.
Thachatchai Community
Center Building Fund
We had donations
for bunk beds, 10 mattresses and three
hot water heaters. They were
bought and installed. Now we need some
additional donations for a
handicapped ramp, we hope to have made
this month. We have two regular
attendees in wheel chairs. We also
still need an acoustic
tile ceiling, ten more matresses, and to
build a partition wall separating men's
and women's sleeping quarters. Donations for the Thachatchai Community Center building project can be made to YWAM Montana
designate Thachatchai Community Center Project 501 Blacktail Road Lakeside,
Montana 59922 U.S.A Project number 3601 note: this is
for the building not for our regular support, and will not be taxable income
for us.
Our Prayer Requests
Pray for the financial needs of
the Calvary Chapels in Ban Nam
Khem and Phuket
Pray for contacts made
throughout Phuket via the
internet, that people will be
receptive to the Gospel
Pray for our village of
Thachatchai, that many
more people will come to faith in Christ.
Pray for the recovery and rebuilding of the sea gypsy community
Pray for On, healing of head injury, and for Nit with diabetes related
problems.
Pray for our staff and Bible students that God will use them, bless them,
and provide for them
Later this month the ASEAN Summit will be held in Phuket, July 13-17.
Secretary of State Hilary Clinton will be among the attendees. The
last summit was in Pattaya and had to be cancelled because of Red Shirt
Party demonstrators. Pray that all will be safe and peaceful this
time.
Thanks for partnership with us, we greatly appreciate your support through prayer and
financial giving. God bless you,
Dana and Cindy Bratton
YWAM Thailand missionary. Support may be sent to
YWAM Montana 501 Blacktail Road Lakeside, Montana
59922 U.S.A. Project number 3454. or through
PayPal
Software at Amazon
Simplysimplyyouth.com
Bibles.org
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Cell Phone:
+66-8 6267-1370
Skype U.S. voice mail (951)643-8641
E Mail:
danabratton@sbcglobal.net
Address:
93/101 Moo 5 Soi Thachatchai 9
Mai Khao, Thalang
Phuket, Thailand 83110
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