Dear Friends in Christ,

April in Chiang Mai is awesome. The streets are lined with trees bursting in the brightest yellow, orange, and purple flowers and for five days everyone is awash in the world’s only city-wide water fight, which celebrates the Thai New Year festival, Songkran. Highlights for Esther include opportunities to meet with small groups of lay leaders to assist them in understanding counseling ministry more deeply. Regular opportunities to preach in Thai and English, to large groups and small, are also lots of fun. The two-year-old pastors’ wives group is gaining strength and a sense of identity. Nine new officers were inaugurated as a part of the closing worship of this year’s annual pastors’ conference in March. They hope to be able to travel to Korea in October to observe and learn from the lively churches there. Pray that the time there will encourage them deeply and bless the church here in Thailand as a result.

During the pastors’ conference Esther worked with a wonderful team to lead the young people (all pastors’ kids) in sessions on our true identity. What does it mean that I am a pastor’s child and a child of God? There are some fairly weighty expectations placed on them by their parents and congregations, and by themselves. We practiced giving these burdens to Jesus to carry, since he said he wanted them. Some of the pastors and their families have serious difficulties and Esther will be able to follow up with ongoing counseling for a few of them.

Esther has been praying for several years for an effective means of pastoral care for pastors and their families. At Christmas she learned of a pastoral counseling method and training program that looks to have great potential for the church here. She is using this method in her own counseling work and finding that God is able to do deep freeing and healing work. People experience Jesus revealing his compassionate heart and presence to them in their most painful wounds. She is working with a group of church leaders to test this method and develop a training course. Pray that a good translation group will be able to put the materials in a form useful to the whole church in Thailand.

"Teacher" Piangtaa works with children rescued from prostitution, and God has used this method for deep healing in her heart. Her father’s death left some deep hurts that Jesus has spoken to, bringing great joy and freedom. We know God wants to use her to heal the broken hearts of these precious ones who’ve known nothing but abuse. Please pray that God will make a way for the church here to experience the healing love of Jesus powerfully.

Rob hangs in there with his Bible revision project and teaching. At the end of March he participated in a week-long workshop on translating the Old Testament. The revision of the Thai New Testament is now almost complete. Pray that Rob will be able to make the rendition of the epistle to the Romans more intelligible. Quite a bit of his time has been spent corresponding with colleges where the twins have applied. This process is not yet finalized, but it looks as if they may be going to school in Ohio, not so far from their grandparents and other relatives. Rob also chaired a search committee for the new youth pastor at the Community Church (English-speaking) of Chiang Mai. That search is now finished, and a very fine and highly-qualified young couple has been chosen. Pray that they will have a blessed ministry with the English-speaking youth of Chiang Mai, including our daughter Anna.

Family highlights included a Christmas visit with Rob’s son Andy, his wife Ellen, and their son Christopher. Then Esther’s parents visited for nearly a month, and we enjoyed a trip to the bridge over the river Kwai and visiting World War II memorials. Shortly after they left, Nathan and Paul starred in "The Importance of Being Earnest," which their senior class put on as a fundraiser for their class trip to Samui Island. The play was a smashing success and the boys were brilliant. Both hope to do some acting in college. Their senior trip was great fun, and we’re pleased that they seem to have a lot of wisdom for their years, as well as knowing how to enjoy God’s gorgeous creation to the fullest.

The main news about seventh-grader Anna (beside ice-skating and skateboarding injuries) is that she’s growing like a weed. She and Esther will travel with the boys to the United States this June. Anna’s looking forward to time alone with her big sister, Kris, who is teaching with her husband in California. Rob will stay in Thailand to teach a full load of courses and work on Bible translation. The rest of us will spend most of our time with Esther’s family in Ohio, where the kids hope to work on a farm again. We may have a chance to see a few of you during this brief visit.

May God richly bless you,

Esther Wakeman and Rob Collins

The 2000 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, page 158