Jump Start on Carpentry Class

Today was Thursday, March 8th. We had another good day of Bible teaching from Simon and David (following a wonderful breakfast)! The students really enjoy their teaching styles which tend to be on the humorous side of things. This is especially helpful when the classroom temperature goes past 90 degrees fahrenheit in the afternoons!

Today we were able to get a jump start on the Carpentry Class which is scheduled for Saturday the 10th. We started early because the church family has a wedding on Saturday afternoon, so we are going to cut the Carpentry Class short that day. Jon will also spend some time with them Friday night because they have a special carpentry project they are going to make for the Barefoot Doctors building.

We taught them some very basic things this afternoon and evening, after their Bible courses. We showed them how carpentry takes into consideration some of the dynamics and principles of the world God made. This includes the law of gravity which pushes everything downward. We learned how to keep things "on the level" and how to use a plumb line, too.

We taught them how to measure boards to get accurate measurements, and then we taught them how to cut on the line to get the board the desired length. Measure twice, cut once! You can see how much they enjoyed the class.

I'm including a picture of this cute little boy which keeps popping up everywhere. Actually, he is the son of one of our Barefoot Doctor students. Since his mother is pregnant, he and his grandmother came along. He has obviously bonded with the other students, and I'm sure they enjoy having time with him since many of them are away from their spouses and children for at least three months.

We finished the day with devotions in the lobby of Rennert Residence Hall. Simon shared a devotional message about worry from Philippians 4:6-7, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. {7} And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Drama and Dance Team

Wednesday afternoon we had the privilege of being a big part of the audience for a local drama and dance team called The Lamb of God. This team is made up of young people from a local village that started doing drama and dance on their own as a way to bring glory to God and to tell the story of Jesus.
They are very talented, and their enthusiasm for Jesus is contagious. We were first blessed by them on Sunday during the morning worship, but on Wednesday afternoon they performed almost an hour's worth of drama skits and music for us and some of the children from the Abundant Life Center. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the performance and it was obvious that God will use their ministry to open many hearts to Jesus. Here's a picture of our Barefoot Doctors watching the show.
This week the team has been blessed to receive special instruction and encouragement from Kevin Monahan (pictured above with Thinbey) who teaches this kind of thing to groups anywhere he can find them. He is a friend of J.P. Ferraro in Colorado and knows some other folks in Thailand, so he came to KLC to work with the Lamb of God troupe during their summer break from school. His ministry is called Dynamic Directions.

Enjoy the pictures. FLC will be making another DVD of their work soon, so you may see it on YouTube or somewhere else.
Once we got back to our classroom, the Barefoot Doctors took some time to pray for these young people to have a huge ministry for Christ. We have very similar ministries, as we try to open doors through medicine and they try to do the same through music and drama.
Here's one final shot of the drama team working with the children afterwards.

Bible Teaching is Going Well!

This week has seen some great Bible teaching from Simon Percy and David Tucker, both from the UK. We are blessed to have both of them back. They are not only good teachers and preachers of the Word, but they already know our students and the students love their teaching.
Simon is teaching our Barefoot Doctors how to correctly study the Bible to get it's intended meaning, and while he is teaching that he is also teaching those that are preachers and teachers how to preach through the Gospel of Mark. In the above picture you see him with Amin Dieter, one of our skilled translators. The students are learning some valuable principles of Bible study they will be able to use the rest of their lives AND pass along to people in the communities they serve. They are also having fun, as they were in this picture when Simon was having two students act out the story of David and Goliath.
David Tucker has been continuing his study of II Timothy with the students. They have been exploring this amazing letter to a young preacher in short sections, so that David didn't get to finish the letter the first two times he was here! Again in this study, they are being encouraged to become strong preachers and teachers of the Word of God.
It has amazed all of us Bible teachers how the lessons we prepared individually are being dovetailed together by the Holy Spirit. From the messages Jon preached at graduation and Sunday morning to the lessons this week by Simon and David, to the devotionals Jon and Simon have been sharing with the students in the evening - God has been getting a consistent message to our Barefoot Doctors. The message is: while their medical skills are the good works God is doing through them to open doors and build bridges to the lost, their priority must be to get the Good News of Jesus Christ to those same people so they can be saved. If they only do good medical works and help people physically, they have failed as Barefoot Doctors.
Again, we thank you for your prayers as we teach and share with the students for the better part of 8 hours each day.

A Foot Race in Church???

On Sunday, March 4, the Barefoot Doctors and teachers participated in the Beulah Church services which were held at KLC because of the special weekend. Several church groups brought a special song or two, and the Barefoot Doctors once again sang a beautiful song.

Jon Ulm, one of the Bible instructors for the next two weeks, gave the message of the day. It came from II Timothy 2:2 in which the Apostle Paul encouraged Timothy to select reliable men with whom he could entrust God’s Word and God’s work in the world. Jon likened this to a four-man relay race where the runners must carefully PASS THE BATON if they are to finish and win the race.

We had a little fun with this illustration when Jon asked for four volunteers to come up and then had them run an actual foot race around part of the congregation. Sarwang Pung, one of our Barefoot Doctors started off the race as you can see! (We found out later he was actually a track star who won many races in college!) You can tell everyone had a lot of fun with this and will hopefully remember the lesson for a long time.

Tomorrow we start the Bible training which will last for two weeks. The teachers will be Simon Percy, Jon Ulm, David Tucker, and Jung Dangshing. After this, the Barefoot Doctors will prepare to leave for Burma on March 22^nd.

Thanks for your continuing prayers.

Building Dedication Day

On Saturday, we were very happy to join in the Dedication of the new Rennert Building on the KLC campus. This dormitory can house about 100 people and includes a large classroom, a beautiful foyer, a large sitting room and library upstairs, and additional office space for FLC staff.

Paul Ferraro, chairman of the FLC board in the USA, exerted a lot of energy over the past three years to get this building built and furnished. In the past few months, there has been a flurry of activity to get furnishings and decorations in place. On Saturday, we dedicated this new building to God's service, with the help of the Lt. Governor of Chiang Mai who came for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

After the building dedication, the celebration continued with the ordinations of both Beverley Kalnin and Jung Dangshing, who are the director and associate director of FLC. Many of the local churches provided special music and told the gospel story through dance. Don Prince preached the message from God's Word, and two seminary professors and Sayan Kusawadee gave the "charge" to Beverley and Jung for their respective ministries. In addition, Don Prince, Jon Ulm, and Simon Percy prayed prayers of dedication for the entire FLC staff.

Ryan and Rebecca Stowell have recently been hired by the mission to be the directors for the KLC property. They are Christian entrepreneurs from Colorado who will be coming this summer to oversee everything that goes on at KLC. The mission is looking to expand the use of the KLC property for educational purposes and to partner with other Christian organizations that would use KLC for their training events.
After the services of the morning and early afternoon, everyone enjoyed mountains of food together in Christian fellowship. It was a grand and glorious day!

Barefoot Doctors Graduation!

We are excited to announce that our 26 Barefoot Doctor students all graduated last night. It was a glorious occasion with hundreds of smiles to go around! There were a number of supporters of the school from many different countries present, and everyone joined together in giving the students our warmest congratulations!


The stage was set for a nice graduation service, and the students were all getting dressed in their new Barefoot Doctor vests made by the ladies of the Fresno, CA church. They looked so sharp, and a lot of pictures were taken before and after the service of the students with each other and with their instructors.

The program included:
A History of the Barefoot Doctors School by Beverley Kalnin
Words of Congratulation from Rick Astone and Dr. Bjorn Nilson
A Special Song by the Barefoot Doctor Students
Words of Thanks by Kin Saw, one of the Graduates
The Graduation Message by Jon Ulm
Graduation of the Students
Congratulations from Paul Ferraro on behalf of FLC

We will have some more pictures of graduation to share with you later, but for now we will share just two more.

Here are the students singing their special number.



Here are some of the students with their Barefoot Doctors Certificates and Hoods.


Today (Saturday) is the Dedication Day for the new dormitory at the Kalnin Learning Center. Many have worked very hard to complete this project, and we are looking forward to another celebration.

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Graduation is Tonight!

It's Friday, March 2nd, and the Graduation Ceremony for our 2012 Class of Barefoot Doctors is tonight! The festivities will begin at 5 p.m. and run throughout the evening.

It will be a long day because the students are receiving their final day of dentistry training ALL DAY today. The mPower team has to leave for home this weekend, so this is the final dental training they will get until the next time.
The students and everyone else are very excited about their graduation, and they are anxious to go back home to start helping their fellow citizens in Burma. Also participating in the final day of dental training is Dr. Robert Gardiner from Colorado. He and his wife, Sharon, have been here all week.

On top of graduation, this weekend will include a building dedication service for the new dormitory at the Kalnin Learning Center. That will be tomorrow morning with the Governor of Chiang Mai cutting the ribbon. The afternoon activities will include tribal dancing done by area church groups and girls from the Home of Blessing, as well as others. Two groups of supporters from Denver, Colorado and Fresno, California have been helping to get the dormitory finished up and decorated.

Our Pastors and Bible teachers are arriving. Jon Ulm arrived late last night, and Simon Percy will arrive this morning. David and Mary Tucker will arrive on Tuesday. Jon, Simon, and David will be doing most of the Bible teaching for the next two weeks, and they will be assisted by Jung Dangshing, Associate Director for FLC.



Here is a picture of Jon and Rick at breakfast this morning at Pangviman Place, the hotel where most of our instructors stay. There are some other workers here from America, but we'll have to introduce you to them later.

We thank all of you for praying for us while we are here, and we know our students are counting on your prayers for them as they graduate and head back home to serve as Barefoot Doctors.