God
is really blessing the work here in the south. We had our first church
service in the Community Center Sunday the 17th, we had 52 in attendance,
and 12 made public professions of faith. Then 25 attended the new
believers/baptism class later that afternoon. It is a thrill and
honor to pastor this church, Calvary Chapel at the Bridge. I call it
that because our village is right at the Sarasin Bridge that connects the
provinces of Phang Nga and Phuket. The Lord Jesus is the bridge between
God and man. Noom, a professional advertiser and son of Som and Nit, made some highway
banner signs that we'll put up soon. We bought some wiring to connect
existing microphones, a speaker, an amplifier and two guitars. Last
Sunday we had 33 in attendance and one lady accepted Christ. I am
preaching through the book of Luke starting in the 12th chapter. We have
two young men helping to lead our worship. Services are in English and
Thai with translation and a Power Point gives Scripture and songs in both
languages.
More Church News
We have 4 cell group Bible studies in neighboring villages and things are
happening there too . A large piece of property has been donated to build a
church, and a center for children and the elderly. One boy accepted Christ,
whose Mom has been demon possessed but who is now saved. Two women accepted
Christ at the Friday night meeting. We need the Lord to send us a children’s
worker or translator for Cindy to work with all the children in a separate program
we have for the children on Saturdays.
The weekly teaching schedule is: Wednesday morning staff meeting and prayer,
then cell
groups on Thursday in Khok Khloy in the afternoon, followed by one in Bo Don
about 30 minutes north of Thachatchai, and then another cell group Bible study
in a Buddhist shop back in Khok Kloy, and one cell group on Friday at the church house
with a meal, in Thachatchai, and then Saturday afternoon there is a children's meeting
1:00 p.m. -3:00 p.m., followed by a youth meeting 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.,
followed by worship practice 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. and then a prayer meeting from
7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Sunday service is at 10:00 a.m. with lunch and
fellowship at 12:00 p.m. then one more week of baptism class 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. on
the 9th we will be baptizing 15 people at the beach in Bo Don.
Monday is a day off and Tuesday a study and preparation day. Thai language
study with a tutor will be scheduled in soon.
It is a delight serving the Lord together
with Jum, the Lord is helping her both in translation and administration.
We also really appreciate our neighbors across the street, Som and Nit who share
food with us nearly every day, frequently loan us their car, plus Som attends
most of the cell groups, transports people and is a good handy man. The
two of them also took us to a large evangelistic rally a few weeks ago. It
was well attended, had lots of great worship music, and a powerful evangelistic
message by one of the Phuket pastors. Many responded to the invitation,
including three older adults who were in front of us. Praise the Lord, for
what He is doing!
Community Center
We've added fans. We added
blocks for stairs on both sides of the building to make the Community Center
more accessible, donated by one of our members. We added two shower
fixtures in the bathroom upstairs, we need to add four more in the downstairs
bathroom. We would like to build a stage/ platform, add acoustic ceiling
tile to reduce the echo, and some air conditioners. We would also like to
add some computers, a TV, some books, and games. We hope to survey the
community so that every resident can have a voice about their Community Center.
Perhaps you know of corporations that would be willing to donate toward these
improvements.
Evangelistic rally in Phuket town
Som in the Community Center
Church Sunday morning
Church Sunday morning
Church Sunday morning
Church Sunday Morning
Pastor Dana teaching and Jum translating
The altar call
Lunch and fellowship after church
Family at one of the Khok Kloy cell groups
Buy a song tao truck project
Alistair and M have a 2001 Nissan Frontier pickup
with only 25,000 miles they want to sell to us for $8,000 U.S., and they will deliver
it from Bangkok. We will then add the song tao, which means two
benches; there is a frame with an aluminum or canvas roof, like a camper
shell but with open walls and two benches. That part costs $800. So we
need $8,800. The truck will be our personal car as well as the church van. Can you help us with this project?
Update: As of March 7 we have received $2,000.
Praise the Lord, only $6,800 left to go.
Prayer Requests
We need the Lord's wisdom in leading and overseeing this ministry
which will probably also involve many new programs in the community center.
Pray for Southern Thailand and
especially for Calvary Chapel at the Bridge, the church plant in Thachatchai, Phuket.
Pray for Cindy as she starts
English classes in the Community Center
Pray that the stewards of the
Community Center which is Food for the Hungry in Bangkok, and leaders in the
village will labor together to develop programs for the Community Center and
continue to allow our church to meet in the building long term.
Pray
that God will enlighten the minds and understanding of Buddhists, to recognize
God as the only true God.
Pray that the Lord will send more
laborers for the harvest here. We especially need a new children's worker
who also speaks English, so she can work with Cindy in children's ministry.
We need some additional monthly support
Support may be sent to YWAM Montana 501 Blacktail
Road Lakeside, Montana 59922 U.S.A. Project number
3454.
Pray the Lord will help us to become fluent in Thai
so that we can be most effective in sharing the
Gospel and training and discipling.
We will begin lessons soon with a
teacher from the Thachatchai school.
Pray for the song tao truck
project
Pray for unity in the church and
for God to raise up servant leaders
Pray for the baptism service
March 9 at Bo Don beach
Our sons and their wives have
determined they cannot afford the monthly mortgage on our old home in Riverside.
They just replaced the heater and air conditioner, have done some painting and
yard work and have put it up for sale. Pray that it will sell quickly
and at good price that will benefit them and us. The home is located at 6517
Avenida Mariposa Riverside. A three bedroom house, two stories, three car
garage, 2 1/2 baths, we are asking $339,000. Contact Jerry Cook at Park
Place realty in Moreno Valley.
Nathan and Denise are expecting
their first baby in May. Praise the Lord!
Cindy works with the children each
day in our home. She has one adult English student. She is the
computer operator during church and does everything to keep our house a home.
Including preparing tacos for part of the team from Ban Nam Khem. Dana
praises the Lord for such a help meet.
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
Dana worked on a new website for the Thai Evangelism Commission a coalition
of churches and ministries who have the goal of planting churches in 800 districts throughout
Thailand by 2010, with a “Christian presence” in each of the 8,000
sub-districts and a “Christian witness” in each of the 80,000 villages. This
plan unites Thailand's three different Protestant streams under the Thailand
Evangelism Commission (TEC): the Evangelical Fellowship of Thailand, the Church
of Christ of Thailand (CCT) and the Baptists Association.
The main goal of the website is to provide resources, many of which are free,
for Thai pastors. It's an honor to be involved in such a project, but
challenging since it's is mainly in Thai. The English version can be
viewed here, http://www.thaichurches.org/english.htm
We are creating a birthday calendar for our friends and family. Can you please
click on the link below and enter your birthday for us. Don't worry it is quick,
and you don't have to enter your year of birth.
What led Dana and Cindy Bratton to
become missionaries to Thailand?
I went to Thailand in January 2005 to assist with
disaster relief as a pastor following the tsunami. I ministered in the city of
Krabi and on Phi Phi Island. I also taught English in a school near Nua Klong at
Laem Kruat. I tried to purchase a Bible for my host family in Thai or English.
I went to five different stores, new and used, and found no Bibles at all. This
really tugged on my heart, "how will they hear without the Word?" There was a
Baptist church in Krabi and I was able to obtain several New Testaments there. I
lived with the public school principal for nearly two weeks. I had his
permission to share my testimony and teach Bible stories in each English class.
Two Muslim teenage girls accepted Christ. When I returned home from this short
term trip, I told Cindy we really need to prayerfully consider going to Thailand
full time. They lack Bibles, they lack preachers, and yet the field is wide
open through the teaching of English. 95% of the population is Buddhist, 4%
and increasing are Muslim, and less than 1% is Christian. Cindy and I, and a
team of three others, went to Bangkok and to Krabi in July and August. We did
prayer walking, taught English, I preached in a men’s prison and two churches,
we worked with Child Evangelism Fellowship for a few days. Several things
persuaded Cindy of our call to ministry in Thailand, one was at a private
secular school where the opening song played daily by the school band, is the
missionary hymn "Send the Light." Second was a pig head offered as a sacrifice
to the Emerald Buddha atop two black iron bulls at the Grand Palace, the palace
buildings are mostly covered with gold. This reminded her of Solomon's Temple
and the abomination of desolation in Daniel as well as an attempt to make a
heaven on earth. She saw how desperately the Thai people need the Gospel.
You can see pictures and descriptions of those mission trips at
www.wdbydana.com/thailand
Cell Phone:
+66-8-4320-2372
Skype U.S. voice mail (951)643-8641
9/101
Soi 9 Thachatchai
Thachatchai, Phuket
THAILAND
Dana and Cindy Bratton used to reside in Riverside, CA. Dana was licensed to
the Gospel ministry in 1983 and ordained in 1990. He completed his clinical
training with the Health Care Chaplains' Ministry Association and was certified
as an associate chaplain in 1991. He has served as a hospital chaplain since
1990. He was certified as a full chaplain in 1995 and a provisional teaching
chaplain in 2002. He has also done hospice chaplaincy for 3 years. He and Cindy
both graduated from California Baptist University. Dana completed an M.Div
degree at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in Brea May 2005. Dana and
Cindy were both missionaries with Child Evangelism Fellowship for 11 years.
Cindy taught middle school science in Ontario. The Bratton's are members at
Magnolia Avenue Baptist church in Riverside where they both sang in choir and
led a senior adult Sunday School class. The Bratton's have three grown children.
The Bratton's have made several short term mission trips, including Nairobi
Kenya, Campos Brazil, Bangkok and Krabi Thailand.
We completed TESOL
classes at BIOLA University in La Mirada in preparation
for career missionary service in Thailand teaching
English as a foreign language as well as any other means
to have opportunity to share the Gospel. Since Dana is
no longer serving as a hospital chaplain HCMA could not
continue to receive support on his behalf. YWAM
Thailand is active throughout Thailand in sharing the
Gospel, and in a variety of other ministries. We have
joined them as of May, but U.S. supporters can give tax
deductible donations through YWAM Montana. They
required we do a Crossroads Discipleship Training
School, we completed the lecture phase in Perth
Australia January through March 2007, and the outreach
phase in Bangkok and Chiang Mai Thailand April through
May. We began a an internship with YWAM Thailand
in May studying Thai language and culture in Bangkok.
Cindy and I went to
Nairobi Kenya three years ago, went to Campos
Brazil two years ago. Would you consider a short term mission trip? It is out
of this world!
A year ago last summer we went to
Thailand with the International Mission Board. In
August we moved to Thailand.
