It only takes one Sovereign touch

I felt compelled to write this blog while recovering from Dengue Fever - a debilitating fever that requires rest for as long as it takes to recover. I'm only up to one week's rest so far, only God knows how long He wants me to rest. I never get bitten by mosquitoes, while Jen always gets lots of bites. But the one Sovereign bite I got must have been by a Dengue mosquito.

This reminds me of the Sovereign touch from the Spirit of God ... it only takes one powerful touch and then someone is infected by the Almighty Living God. We have seen that one powerful Sovereign touch in lives already. Have a look at the photo below and then I'll talk you through only a few stories of the touch from God ....

This was taken last week as we led some members of our small community church in Klong Da Nu slum community through a game putting together events from the Bible into chronological order. The 2 guys on the right (squatting) are Bom and Lung Bratheung (Bom's father). Lung Bratheung was touched from God around 13 months ago and is developing as a leader in this new church plant. His son Bom and some of his household have since been touched from God and also are now believers. The guy on the left in the white singlet is Lung Tui. Every week for almost 2 years I visited Lung Tui's little shack to collect his grandson who he cares for and bring him to the kids activities we were holding in a different part of the community only 2 minutes walk away. Lung Tui was always happy for his grandson to go with us because he liked us. Lung Tui was also touched by the Sovereign hand of God and has since decided to follow Jesus. Lung Tui has a hunger to 'eat God's Word'. Every week he has questions and is desiring to learn ... he loved this game because he wants to know how everything in the Bible fits together.

I was pondering on this during one of my many rests in bed this week. Let me introduce to another who had one Sovereign touch from God. He is in the picture below.

This is Pedro - a young Thai man who has been discipled by Noom (our son-in-law) and our daughter Karis as he lives with them in Ubon Ratchathani. Pedro is pictured here leading worship for us in the same slum community last week. God has sovereignly provided Pedro for us and brought him to live with Jen & I for the next 3 months to help us in the ministry. All this at a time when I need to rest and recover from my sickness. To have someone on our team who obviously knows the language and culture (especially at this time when God sovereignly knew I would not be able to do much) is an amazing Sovereign touch from God!

Please pray with us for more Sovereign touches from God.

Yaa Peung!!

What do you do when you see people in need all around you, you have the means to help some of them but you don’t want to breed dependence?

What do you do when you want to help someone financially to get a better start but you know any income will be taken by her psychotic demon-possessed husband so he can visit the temple yet again and pay the monks to drive out the demon, yet again?

What do you do when your friend, the sister of that man, has lost all her hard earned savings to him and lives in fear of him to the point that she has lost heart in her walk with God?

What do you do when you want to help a friend rebuild their home that is falling down around them but when a jealous neighbour sees the house being rebuilt they tell the land owner and suggest he ups the rent on the land, causing your frightened friend to put a halt to the work before it has been made liveable?

What do you do when heaps of neighbours are asking you to give their kids private English lessons when it’s not really the focus of your ministry?

‘Yaa Peung’ is a term in Thai that means ‘just a sec’, ‘not just yet’, ‘wait a bit’. This, God has been teaching me, is to be my first response in such situations, followed of course by prayer.

I am the type of person who, when I see people living in great difficulty, wants to step in and help as much as I can to make their life better. This sounds very noble but I have actually been learning lately that it stems from unbelief! It often seems that God is so slow to answer prayers and sometimes I just can’t see Him helping, so I feel I have to take over His job and do it right, if it’s within my power to do so, as if I know better than God! Why is God always so slow to bring about His purposes?

As I was chatting with God about this the other morning, He reminded me of Joseph languishing in prison through no fault of his own. I’m sure if I was there and had any power whatsoever I would have done all I could to get him out of prison. After all God, what are you doing letting an innocent man suffer in prison for so long? But then Joseph wouldn’t have been there to interpret the dreams of the cupbearer and the baker. The cupbearer wouldn’t have mentioned Joseph when Pharaoh had his dreams. No one would have saved up food for the famine during the years of plenty. And Joseph’s family, the beginnings of the Israelite nation through whom God was going to bless all the nations, would have died. Or God would have brought all things together for good as He does, and would have made sure that I learnt my lesson.

Then there was Moses who, on seeing the suffering of his people, killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew and consequently had to flee to Midian where he lived out the next 40 years of his life until God finally called him to save His people at the age of 80! When he tried to help in his own way and his own time, it didn’t help at all. But another 40 years of suffering for the people God?! Why does God allow such suffering to go on for so long?

And what about impetuous Peter, cutting off the ear of the high priest’s servant in an effort to save Jesus from being arrested? Maybe it’s a good thing he then denied Jesus and didn’t hang around to see the crucifixion or he might have tried to rescue Jesus from the suffering He was destined to go through for our salvation.

I’m so thankful than even when we make mistakes, even when we stuff things up through our sinfulness, our unbelief, our impetuousness, God still promises to bring all things together for good, for His glory. And in the process He teaches us some good lessons.

I’m so thankful that even though I stepped in ahead of God’s timing in my eagerness for someone to have a home that would keep them dry in the coming wet season, God enabled the job to finish well in the end. All this despite the horrible fear that we’d destroyed two years of work in that community in one day when it looked like the budget would blow out above what we had set aside, and leave us with not enough to pay the workers in the community.

I’m so thankful that God promises to guide us and to give us His wisdom, and that so long as I am focussing on Him and not my own petty needs and fears, so long as I am seeking His will and not jumping in to do things according to my own puny wisdom, I can trust that He will help me to make the right decisions about what to do in all those situations above and in any others that come my way. After all, God has placed me here to be His instrument, to join in what He is doing. It’s not as if I’m asking Him to help me and join in what I’m doing!

And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power. (1 Cor 2 1-5)

Escaping the poverty trap

Over the last two years we have been praying about helping those living in poverty to begin a new occupation that will provide sustainable income. We've been asking God to lead us to the right people who He has prepared and have been waiting for His guidance.

At the same time, over the last two years, Khun Jaa has had a dream to help her community by learning a new trade. She hopes this will provide a sustainable income to support her family and enable her to give more money to help her community church. Many of you have visited or read about or financially helped this slum community church led by a blind pastor, Ajarn Charlie. Besides supporting her family and church, Khun Jaa also has a burden to teach others in her community so they too can have an income to support their families.

On a recent visit to Ajarn Charlie's church we were chatting with Khun Jaa on the way out. She happened to mention her dream to us and asked that we would pray for her, that God would provide the money needed to make her dream a reality. As we listened more to Khun Jaa's desire to help her community and church, and as we talked to God about her we were excited to realise that God had brought us together. God had placed us there in order to play a small part in bringing about His plan for Khun Jaa and her community.

This is a photo of Khun Jaa with the items she was able to buy with the funds provided by our Foundation and some of the flowers she has learnt to make to sell at the market. There are already many others who are keen to learn when Khun Jaa opens a class at the church and passes on to others what she has learnt.

May God use this enterprise to help many escape the trap of poverty, to help grow this small church and to bring glory to His Name.

One Family's Story

In one of the communities we spend time in there is a young lady called Nong Wan, about 13 years old, who comes to hang around with me at every opportunity. She loves to play card games with me and just sit and chat, but most of all she loves to read all the Thai books we have about Jesus. She has been going to our local Thai church ever since she started to receive sponsorship from a Christian foundation to go to school, so she already has a beautiful relationship with Jesus. Last Thursday when we arrived to spend the day in the community, Nong Wan spent her own 5 baht (about 16 cents) to buy me a bottle of water and was then sharing with me her dream of becoming a doctor. I of course encouraged her to keep going for that dream and God will help her to reach it.

Later that day as Phil went to buy some lunch for us, I had the opportunity to go to Wan's home with her grandmother, who has the care of both Wan and her 2 year old brother since their mother abandoned them. As I gently asked questions to determine why Wan sometimes had to miss school she explained that she earned money to live on by selling goods that she buys cheap from a market in Bangkok and that she needs Wan to mind the little one while she goes out to sell them as she can't take him with her. She went on to explain that she used to be a housemaid but can't do that anymore since she has to care for her grandchildren, and that at times she doesn't even have enough money to buy the cheap goods in order to sell them, and is reduced to begging. She was crying by this stage. As I looked at her home around me, the mud we had walked through to get there, the gaping space where the roof was missing (remembering rainy season is on its way), the bits of tin and wood that looked like they'd fall down any minute, and remembered Wan's dream to become a doctor, and the money she had spent on me that morning, I too began to cry, and to desperately ask God for wisdom to know how best to help this family.

For starters, I rang Phil and told him to get two extra lunches. (The photo above is of them eating lunch in our rented space.)

Secondly, we are able to use donated money set aside for situations like this to help improve their house and make it safe to live in, with the help of people from our local church and also from within the community, giving us an opportunity to provide some work for unemployed men.

Thirdly, we'd like to encourage, enable and empower Wan's grandmother to do some kind of handiwork that she can do in her home or in the community without having to take Wan out of school to care for the little one.

And finally, as the donations already given are gradually used up in helping families like this, we'd ask people to consider donating more to our Foundation so that we can continue to make a difference in people's lives by being God's hands and feet. This can be done by contacting Suzanne North or Glenda Allred at Pioneers of Australia on 1800 787889 or by donating online at pioneers.org.au and specifying the gift is for "Phil & Jenny Malone Special Project - Foundation for the Urban Poor" (The online giving is only new and we haven't seen it work yet so please let us know if you donate online so we can follow it up if necessary.)

House Hunting - A Cultural Lesson in this Oral Society

Who needs a real estate agent when you have friends, old nieghbours, acquaintances, and even strangers to show you around? We've been blown away by the kindness and generosity of the Thais around us as they've helped us in our search for a home to live in for this next stage of our journey. All we have to do is mention that we're looking for a house to rent and they're already offering to help us, whether it's our closest friend walking around the streets with us, an old neighbour taking me on the back of her motorbike, the father of one of the boys in the slum where we taught English riding around on his motobike with us sitting in his little Thai-style side-car, or the assistant pastor at our Thai church taking us around his old car.

Everything happens by 'word of mouth' so they'll take us to where they've heard of something available, and ask people on the street, who then will often join the search with us and take us on to another location. In one slum community a man with a bottle of whiskey in his pocket heard of our search and led us down a path to a house he knew of. In another, a street vendor drew a map for us and called ahead to his fellow coffee vendor to take us to see a landlord he knew of. In our old neighbourhood the mother of one of our previous English students who would have loved to have us rent her place that wouldn't be ready for another two months, instead took us to another neighbour who has a townhouse for rent. This one we are hoping will be the end of our search, funnily enough in the same street as last time.

We had been praying about living in one of the slum communities alongside the people we are working with and knew of several homes there that would be suitable for us to live in, but as none are available to rent at this time, it seems that God has other plans, perhaps because our vision is to reach into many communities not just one. We only pray that we'll still be able to share not only the Gospel, but our very lives with the poor in the communities around us. (1 Thess 2:8) Even though they may be poor materially, they are certainly very generous in giving of their time and the resources they do have. We have much to learn from them.

The plan from here

The central business district of our city

In a few weeks, God willing, we'll be back in Samut Prakan after spending around 7 months in Australia. For the first 2 weeks we are staying at a friend's condo while we look for suitable accommodation in Samut Prakan in the same district we were living last year.

Communication will be a challenge for the entire month of February (and maybe into March) as we'll be restricted only to Internet cafes until we find a place to live and then get Internet connected there ..... so only email ... no blogs ... no VOIP phone ... no Skype!

Please pray for us in February that God will provide a suitable place in or near to our local slum community. We start by praying and walking the streets (that we know so well after living there from 2008 to 2010) and asking people and looking for lease signs. No real estate agents in our 'neck of the woods' !!

Some typical housing in our district

Please pray for us in March that God will provide a smooth process for our visa. We enter the country on a 90-day visa, but then need to convert it to our annual work permit associated with our new Foundation. If this is is not processed within 90 days of our entry (around 1 May) we will have leave the country and re-apply in Singapore for another 90 days. The work permit can only be applied for in-country.

Please pray for us in February to April that we will adjust to the oppressively hot weather (not uncommon for it to be 40+ degrees by April with high humidity - it's the build-up to the wet season). Also please pray in February to April that we adjust quickly back to ministry to the urban poor, that we give our very lives (".... we were delighted to share with you not only the Gospel of God but our very lives as well ..." I Thess. 2:8) as we build relationships and plant new fellowships that glorify God.

Also in February to April we have a few visitors who are 'checking out the work' in Samut Prakan with a view to where they may serve in the future. Please pray for clear direction for us and them.

Well .... that's the plan from here. But we are always mindful of the fact that "in his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps" (Prov. 16:9). Bless you our readers, friends and prayer partners that you would continue to feel a vital part of bringing in the harvest of the unreached urban poor.

Exciting Opportunities in Samut Prakan

We are increasingly focusing on our next term in Thailand (2011-14) and in which direction the Work is heading. Recently, there has been some exciting developments regarding longer-term visas, work with the Foundation, and future partnerships on the ground in Thailand, which we will write about soon to those who regularly receive our prayer letters. Our Home Assignment time in Australia over these last 6 months has been enjoyable catching up with many friends and seeing so much of our beautiful home country again. But, now it is preparation time for another term of service overseas.

We were blessed in the previous term (2007-10) with many short-termers visiting and this looks set to continue over the next year at least. But, one of our priorities over 2011-14 is to build longer-term team - given the enormous amount of work to be done in planting new cell churches in every slum community in the 1.2 million urban-industrial province of Samut Prakan. Yet, at this stage, it is only Jen & I working among this group on this task. So, here goes a little plug for the many job opportunities on the Samut Prakan team followed by 3 pictures depicting some life there ....

Our focus is on the urban poor. Our strategy is firstly to share Jesus holistically (as meeting spiritual, physical, emotional and mental needs). Secondly, to disciple new believers, in a church planting context, so they are equipped to reach out to their own people. This strategy is mindful of the need to adopt a learning approach and to offer ourselves as servants of the people – as shown by the examples of Jesus and the Apostle Paul. To this end, we need people who love Jesus and want to make Him known, have a desire to serve the urban poor and have skills, or experience and/or training in any of the following areas ...

- TESOL teaching
- Starting up micro-enterprises with the poor
- Youth and/or children’s ministry
- Sports ministry(soccer, basketball etc.)
- Community / health development with the poor
- Health professionals (esp. doctors, dentists)
- Musicians
- Artistic / craft design
- Providing addiction recovery
- Environmental management
- Training leaders and/or discipling new believers

If any of this speaks to your heart, then please contact us. Then we can journey in discovering together whether working in this exciting ministry is for you. If God is prompting you, PLEASE listen to Him :-)

Some of our kids in our local slum community on our last day with them in June this year

Our cell church in our local slum community

Living conditions for many are very poor - this guy's name is Phil :-)

Feel free to comment or discuss further and to pray and partner with us in Samut Prakan for God's Glory. Until we see Him face to face, Phil

Thailand Ministry Images

Check out our new video "Thailand Ministry Images". Some of you may have seen this video already as we have used it to present to groups over the last month. The video was made by a friend who visited us for a week in April 2010, so contains some excellent live images of bits of our work there. Why not have a look and leave feedback or a comment :-)



We continue to be on furlough in Australia and it is our plan to return to the work in Thailand with the urban poor in January 2011.

Our first 3 years in Thailand

We are enjoying our Home Assignment in Australia, experiencing an Aussie winter again after 3 years of intensely hot weather in Thailand. I have compiled a very amateur video of our first 3 years in slum ministry in Thailand. Please have a look, feel free to drop a comment and enjoy :-)

Also, use this to stimulate you to partner with us in prayer. The needs are great, only God can adequately meet all the needs through His riches in Glory in Christ Jesus (Phil.4:19). What a privilege it is to serve the Living God - made possible only through His sovereign Grace :-)

STOP PRESS - we will shortly have 2 more videos put up made more professionally by a friend with videoing skills .... watch this space.

Settling back into Australia

We have now been back in Australia for 3 weeks. Leaving Thailand seems like a blur, but before we know it we'll be back again to the ministry in Thailand in mid January 2011. Some things have been strange back in Australia such as:

- cars stopping for you at zebra crossings,

- relative absence of people in the streets (maybe because of the cold in Canberra),

- the rough Aussie accent (especially that of our new Prime Minister), which we appreciate would be hard for new learners of English to understand,

- the huge choice in the shops in varieties of Tim Tams and Easy Mac ...... and the list goes on!

But now we are back we are fully into re-connecting with people. It has been our priority to understand where many of our friends are at after 3 years and to appreciate their vastly different journeys to ours. We have also spent considerable time lately sharing with organised groups about the needs in Samut Prakan and the unfinished job at hand.

Our sendoff from our friends in Samut Prakan in early June seems sooooo long ago now, but below are a few images of this occasion .........

Some of our stuff is carried off by a friend to storage for the 7 months

I'm Saying goodbye to one of our key ministry partners - Ajarn Chaiyut

Two friends saying goodbye at Bangkok airport with Jen

Some of Matt's friends giving him a final hug

So, we have left Thailand for now. We ask you to pray that we remain faithful as we continue in ministry for these months in our own culture. :-)