Bemo Alan Janet 1990 Thailand

8/9/2019 Bemo Alan Janet 1990 Thailand

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Dear Friends

1^1

Z te

Mento^d SoJ.ourning.A in OltaUand

Alan

&

Jane t Bemo

FOOD FOR

TH HUNGRY

GPO

BOX 2830

Bangkok, 10501, Thailand

(Tel. 66-02-585-2022)

By faith they sojourned in the land

looking forward to a city which ha s foundations

whose builder and

maker is

God.

HEB.

11:8-10

Yokefellow:

Linda Goerke

3106

Summit

Ave.

St . Joseph MO 64506

(816) 279-7783

January 22, 1990

HappyNew

Year

What doyoumean, NewYears is alreadypast Chinese NewYear is onJanuary

28ththis year andyou

would

besurprised

how

manypeople celebrateit here in the capitol ofThailand.

You get the impression that all of the

merchants are

Chinese as most of

the

stores and businesses

close down for a couple of days

at

this time. This is the year of the horse. We are reminded of what

the scriptures say about the horse: The king must not acquire great numbers of horses for

himself. (Deu.l7:16) and His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs

of a man; the Lorddelights in thosewho fear

him,

whoput their hope in his unfailing love. (Ps.l47:10)

Today weoften are tempted to trust in intellegence, money, technology, personalities,

politics,

peo

ple, and powerofall sorts to accomplish spiritual goals but wemustnever forget that 'Not bymight

nor by power, but by my Spirit, ' says the Lord Almighty. (Zech.4:6)

We havehad a very eventful time this last month. Nathan was backfrom

school

in Malaysia from

December 15th to January 21st. Two days after he arrived we all went on a trip to the northeast

bybus to see the work FoodFood for the Hungry)is doingand where wewill be workingcome June.

We were in the provinces of Surin and Buriram very close to the Cambodian border. We were in

abouteight villages and sawprojectswithagriculture, aqua-culture, water improvement, and school

lunch programs.

We

were impressed

with

the contacts Food hasinmany villages andthe

access

they

have even in politically sensitiveareas. Weheard artillary shooting everydaywewere there and this

was a constant reminder of the terrible things which have gone on in Cambodia and their need for

the

gospel.

We came back home

and exchanged Christmas gifts the morning of the

23rd.

That

evening

weleft

ona night train for Chiangmai. While there wewere ableto visit four villages where either the Loves

or weused to liveand work. I almost was talking constantly every wakinghour I was there and main

ly

about

thework oftheChurch. Numbers

have

grown andthey

have

hadtowork out

some

problems

ontheir

own. One

ofthem

had

hadto

discipline

a

member

for immorality.

We

were

even able

to stay

inPiangLuang.

We

had

lived

there for three years but were

forced

to

leave

and all foreigeners had

beenkept out these last four years. In the

village

of

Kaenoi,

where

Tom

and Kathy Love

lived.

The

preacher there toldus, Thingsare so different than they usedto be. Now the

Church

really loves


2/10

us. The Christians ar e always bringing us meat and vegetables and taking care '

of us. The church is growing rapidly and bearing fruit. All of these churches

are supporting their own preachers either partially or completely, taking care

of their own problems, and being evangelistic. Their main need, as they express

ed it to me, was fellowship. Other needs were:

Miphoa

full-timeLisu preacher, .

as most of th e members ar e now Lisus, and printed materials; Maenaamkhuna ?

P.A. system; Piang Luanga preacher, as the one they have is going back to

school, and a new Church building. I told them

that

Tom and I would continue

to do what we could to help them. We especially want to have a convention

of these churches oncea year so they can receive the fellowship, teaching, and

encouragement they need. It was

also

good to see the water systems and the I

agricultural projects going o They have maintained and expanded the water

*

systems, and I was told that the Mipho area is now number one in vegetable

production

among the hill-tribes. When I

think

ofwhat little we did there it

really

is

God's mighty power and love.

Rache l

proof to

m e

of

Soour Christmasvacationwas actuallyspent in the hills of northern Thailandwithvery dear friends.

What an encouragement it

wasespecially

aswe are getting ready to venture out intoa totally new

and unevangelised

areato know

that what is

done

in

God s kingdom

is something

which

is absolute

ly permanent. The gates of hell will not prevail against it

We heard that our married kids and parents got together for Christmas, and oh, how we longed to

be with them all at this gathering. As the years go by our family gets bigger and more wide-spread

and

harder

to get

together

all at once.

Now weare backin Bangkok studyingThaias hard aswecan. Janet has to teach Sarah and Rachel

so is not able to study as

much

as I do. Rachel is also going to Thai kindergarten. We are going to

Thai Church services all the time, realizing that before long we may be leading Church services

o u r s e l v e s .

Wehaveheard frommanyofyouand are soencouragedbyyourletters and yourprayers. We

believe

that your prayers accomplish tremendous things as we strive to depend on His

power

in all

things.

In

Jesus

L in da G o erk e

3 1 0 6 Summi t A v e .

St . Joseph MO 64506

Address

Correction

Requested

A la n B em o

an d

Family

Miss ion

Se rv i c e s

A s s o c

B ox 7

Knoxv i l l e Tn 3 7 9 0 1 - 2 4 2 7

No n -Pro i t Org an izat i on

U.S. P O S T A G E

PAID

King City. MO 64463

P ER M IT N O . 4


3/10

Zjlte Memo^i

So^ourning 3

in OhaiLand

Drew and

Jane t

By faith they

sojourned

in

the

l and

looking forward to a city which

has

foundations

whose bu il de r and maker

is

God.

HE8 . 11:8-10

Alan

Jane t

Bemo

FOOD

FOR THE HUNGRY

GPO BOX 2830

Bangkok, 10501, Thailand

Tel.

66-02-585-2022

February May 1990

Yokefellow:

Linda Goerke

3106 Summit Ave.

St. Joseph, MO 64506

Well

a t

aan

Don Wai


4/10

Dear Friends,

Page 2

DAIipr

LIFE continues to be

the

same over the

last

four months with me almost

doing

nothing

but

full-time language study and Janet having a very hectic schedule of teaching the girls, managing the

household,

doing

mission

business, and studying Thai.

A

FEW

INFIRMITIES have

come

our way

lately.

Janet

fell

(I

said Fd never

put this in

my

newsletter)

while ice skating and broke her left

wrist. es even

though it is in

the

tropics,

this

city of 6

million

has practically everything. Nathan stepped on a poison sea catfish on the beach near his school. He was

in a lot of pain and his foot swelled upfor several days but he is okay. I had a little skin cancer removed

from

my

shoulder

but the

doctor said

it is 100 cured with

removal.

Sarah has started getting

some

orthodontic work and will

probably

be wearing braces for the rest ofthe year. In general

we have

been

in very good health.

ACONSTANT FLOWOFPEOPLE havebeen through our house during the last three months, which

has brought us great

joy.

Drew Fountain, a fellow FOODworker, rents one room in our housa Wehave

hadother

FOOD

membersstayhere offand onas theyhave beenpassingthrough. Former fellow workers,

Paul and Cathy Lang, Joel Lilly and his mother, and Rich Sheeleyhave stayed hera Wehave evenhad

some Chinese brethren from a village up north stay with us.

Wehavemade A FEW TRIPS during schoolbreaks to do a little work for FOOD. I delivered two walk

ing plowsto typhoon victims in the south in February. In April I went to Prasat to survey a short irriga

tion canal and learned more

than

I taught. The first of May our whole family went on a four day trip

with our neighbors to see his home village, with the hope of being able to help them by drilling some

wells there. We were really touched by the need of Baan Don

Wai,

a village of 80 families. They only

have two wells from which drinking water can be drawn. People are lined up with little car ts to get

water 24 hours of every day, waiting for their turn to get water. Food is planning on helping them by

drilling two more wells.There is a small Church there and itwas my privilege to preach my first sermon

in Thai thera

That

God is growing

the

fruits of

the

spiri t in their lives was evident in many ways, pa

tience not being the least ofthem, as they had to listen to this foreigner talk in poor Thai for thirty minutes.

COMING UP is a trip to Malaysia. Nathan has a leading part in the school play My Fair Lady (he

is Dr. Doolittle)

at the

end of this semester. We will arrive in time to see the play and then bring Nathan

she has been accepted to

start

school at Dalat too, beginning in August. Language study is coming to

a close for us and probably our next newsletter will be written from up-country.

This has been the driest year in a long time here in Thailand. On this recent trip to the Northeast we

saw dried up wells, reservoirs, and dry landscape Villagers and government officials begged us to come

help them. People are having to move from their homes to the city to

try

to find relief. We see their

desperation and know they also are in a spiritual drought. As we told the government official, What

we are able to do would only be a drop in the bucket. We believe God can help this whole area of drought

and we will pray

that

He

does.

We are anxious to be out working in

the

Northeast full time and want

to share the message of God.

It

is the power of God unto salvation. Please pray for us as we begin to

work in this area of great physical and spiritual dryness.

Love in Jesus ,

Alan Jane t

Bemo


5/10

ZJIte ^êmo^3 Sojôurning.3 in Onailana

By faith they sojourned in the

land.. . .

looking forward to a city which has foundations,

whose bu ilde r

and maker

is God.

HEB. 1 1; 8- 10

Alan

net Bemo

FOOD FOR THE HUNGRY

GPO BOX 2830

Bangkok,

10501,

Thailand

Tfel. 66-02-585-2022

June

- July, 1990

Yokefellow:

Linda

Goerke

3106 Summit

Ave


(816) 279-7783

Dear Co-Workers

Since we wrote last, Nathan

has

come home for the summer, Sarah has finished her

seventh

grade

schooling,

Janet

and

I are

taking

our last

month of Thai studies,

Nathan

and

Sarah

have started

studying

Chinese for

the

summer

a

final

decision

has^beei^jnad^^bou^wher^^v|^^/U]^^vo^mg,

and most important of

all, Rachel was

baptised.

I

was

privileged to baptise

Rachel

on June

10th.

Her baptism, along with seven others, was held

at an English service with about 200 people at

tending. When she was asked if there was

anything she would like to tell the congregation,

she got up, and with tears in her

eyes,

said, I

want to be baptised because I just

want

to do

what Jesus tells me to do. I believe that

Jesus

is

God's son and I want him to be my Savior. I

want to have my sins washed away and want to _

go

to heaven. Mommy and

Daddy were

tearyeyed too.

We were really

surprised.

She was by far

the voungest to be

baptised

but did

not

have the

shortest

testimony. Praise

God

for her bright lit

tle light.

Yes we are now certain we will be working in Surin

Province

for the rest of our time

here

We

have not had a chance to look for a house yet but hope to find one is a small town near Prasat,

where

FOOD S Surin office is located.

This province

is

located

in Eastern Thailand, right next to

Cambodia. The people

there

are

Thai,

of

course, but

of

Khmer

and Lao background and those

languages

are

still the mother tongue of many of them.

We

will be doing mostly

water

projects

^

and

some agricultura.1 projects in that province Our main reason for

being

there is to share God s

love

and

message There

are

many villages with

no

Christians

and

no one

telling them

about

Christ.

We will not be actually moving up there until the last of August so

we

will

still

be

receiv

ing

mail

at

the Bangkok address for

a

couple of months. Our address

up-country

will be Food for

the Hungry P.O. Box 16 Prasat

Distûrin

32140.

Thailand as

of September.

Working

in the

Surin

is

exactly what we

were

hoping for. There

is

a little Church in Prasat

led

by

a

gmduate of

Chiangmai Bible

Institute. Also

one of the Thai Food staff workers in Prasat and

his wife are graduated of

C.B.I, and

they were

my

students when I taught there one semester

years ago. Could God have had

things planned

years ago? What a question We also share

the

same

goals and ideals with the director in

Surin Province, Jenny

Bellamy.


6/10

A real exciting thing for me in June was to study the Bible in Thai some more I had two

teachers, one of them not even a Christian. As a matter of fact she is the teacher of Buddism at

the language school. I got much more out of the study with her because she really got excited

about studying

God's word.

We studied Matt. 5,6, 7.She said, I'll teach you what the Thai

says,

and you teach me what the passage

means.

She agreed with everything we studied but said,

There are two things which we have studied that Buddism does not have -

God,

and a

Saviour.

On July 1st I had an opportunity to preach my third sermon in Thai at a little Church near our

house in Bangkok.

It

was simple with a lot of mistakes but it was God's

Word,

not mine

It

is a

beginning. I am looking forward to teaching the Word of God privately and publicly in our little

village up-country.

The plan for July is this: I am going to Buriam Province to do a fish pond project there which will

take 5 weeks. During this time two teams of ten Japanese each will be coming to work with the

local villagers. This two-acre pond has already been dug but we will be putting in inlet and spillway

structures. During that time I will be working with about 20 different members of the village a

day.

Janet and the kids will be there for

part

of the time so she should be able to use

her

Japanes^languag^skills

find a~houser

I proably won't get to write again until September with all that is going on is August. Janet will

have to come back to Bangkok to meet the Loves who are arriving on the 3rd, pack, then Nathan

and Sarah have to go off to boarding school on August 12th. I will

get

back on the 17th and then

we willmove up-country. With all this going on we certainly need your prayers for God's strength

and

direction.

Your's in Jesus

Alan

Jane t

Bemo

Centra l Chr is t ian

Church

1501 N. Leonard Road


ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED

M i s s io n

Se r v i c e Assn

Box 7

Knoxvi l le Tn

37901-2427

BULK

RATE

U.S.

Postage

PAID

St . Joseph MO

Permit No. 2223


7/10

Dear

Friends

Zjke ^emo^i

Soiourninai

in OkaiUind

By faith

they sojourned

in th e iand....

iooking forward to a

city

which has foundations

who s e b u ii d er and make r i s

God.

HEB. 11:8-10

Yokefellow:

Linda

Goerke

3106

Summit Ava


(816) 279-7783

Alan & anet Bemo

FOOD FOR THE

HUNGRY

P.

0.

BOX

16

rasa t Dist.

Surin 32140,

Thailand

August

October, 1990

In our

last letter

I mentioned that I would probably not have time to write till September, and now

I am finding it hard to make myself sit down and writer even though September has come and gona

We have been so busy during this tima

, %

During the end of July and the beginning of August a total of about 60 Japanese volunteers and almost

every man in the village took their turnsworking over a period of 6 weeks to pu t in an inlet and spillway

structure^ and 800 feet of berm for a 25,000 square feet reservoir. Several of

the Japanese and myself

came down with dengue fever during this time

but

all recovered.

What a hectic time August was Ibm and Kathy Love arrived in Thailand in August and moved into

the house in which we had been living in Bangkok while

Janet was in the process of moving out and

I was finishing up the Japanese project. Nathan and Sarah left for boarding school in Malaysia on the

16th,

Janet

and I celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary on the 17th, and we moved to Prasat on

the 18th. Then, on the 18th, we rode along in the truck we hired to move us to Prasat. The overnight

trip

took us 14 hours. Five days

later

we

attended the

annual Thailand F. H. I.

three

day retreat.

Our little house rents for 20 a month and has electricity. We depend on rain water which is collected

from the roof and stored in a large

tank

in

the

house When it does not rain for a few days we can pump

water into the

tank

from a nearbywellwhenever necessary. Prasat is from 20 minutes to an hours drive

to the villages Food is working in. We plan on living in these villages for short times whenever we

are

doing projects in them

but

use this house as a

basa

During

the

first month we were in Prasat I visited all

the

villages

and

got acquainted with

the

situation.

I wrote up several project proposals to do with water; rain water storage

at

a school, a well and pump

at another school, two village culvert projects,

and

an irrigation project. I also worked with villagers

to do a few projects like install two pumps, fix two pumps, repair some school water storage tanks, and

install a rain gutter/storage

at

another school. We

are

coming to an end of the rainy season and will

be starting a six to eight month long dry season. Wherever possible rainwater is stored for drinking.

Wells

are

dug during the dry season. All the while, I have been able to get to know people and witness

to

them.

The first week of October was spent on an assignment back to our old stomping grounds the Chinese

village of Kae Noi in

Northern

Thailand. We had got ten word that they

had

collected money to pipe

water

into

their

village from a stream

but

need some technical assistance for

the

size

and

elevation of

storage tanks and size of pipes. We took surveying equipment up and spent

three

days hiking

and surveying in the jungle and around the village.

Just

one week prior to this the Thai government

had destroyed a heroin factory

near

this village


8/10


9/10

uhe ^emo 'j SoJourninffJ in Oliailand

By faith they sojourned in th e land....

looking forward to a

city

which

has

foundations

who se b ui ld er

and

m a ke r is

God.

HEB.

11:8-10

Yokefellow:

JNGRY

Linda

Goerke

3106 Summi t Ave


d (816) 279-7783

Alan

Jane t

Bemo

FOOD FOR THE HUNGRY

P. BOX 16

Pra sa t

Dist.

Surin 32140, Thailand

October

November

1990

Dear Co-Workers,

This is one t ime I am writing a newsletter sooner than I expected. This must be a first. I was not planning

on writing until around

Christmas

sometime but some really big news made me

want

to write earlier.

Just three

weeks ago George Fune,

the

director of F. H. L,

Southeast

Asia, called me to say

he

wanted

me to make a month-long

trip

to Laos. So, now I am leaving Thailand on November

the

4th to do an

irrigation project there

It

is a communist country and has

been

closed for years. I am

taking

some Bibles

in and am praying for some fertile hearts to share God's word with. I am very excited about this

opportunity. George said

that

we would probably be spending most of

our

remaining two years in Laos.

I will be making this first

trip

by myself but I hope the family will be able to go with me

there

for

the

res t of

the t ime

Even before this trip to Laos came up Janet and Rachel were already planning a

trip

to

America

for

the month of November.

Janet

wants to be there for the birth of our first grandchild. Sakchai and Beth

are

due to have a son

or

daughter around November 11th. Besides this main event Janet

and

Rachel

are hoping to see the rest of our family while there

For the la s t

opportunity

three weeks I have been

doing

a

project

in the village of Baan

Yisaan.

It

is an excellent

to get to know people there Then Janet, Rachel, and I stayed in the only Christian's home

in the village for two nights during this time

We were able to teach people who were

interested in hearing

about

Jesus. The

following Sunday we had

the first

Sunday

morning Bible

study

ever held in that village

five villagers in

attendance Three

adults

accepted Christ at this time The following

Sunday there were six villagers attending. Now

^

that w are going

to

spending most of

our

|j

'

time

in Laos a Thai man who works with

FOOD, will be going out to this village on

Sundays. There are many villages like this one

around he r e

We had

just

gotten set tled in good here

and

were

really into the work. We have a large

First Church serviceat Baan

Isaan

garden. The tomatoes cucumbers and

pumpkins are blooming, the corn is knee high, and the greens and beans are growing good. I guess

others will enjoy the fruits of our labors

but

we are really happy to be going. We believe

that

in a short


10/10

time God has used us here to not only start a work bu t to show others how to be a witness and start

a Church. Now

that

that is done He wants us to move on to another place. And this is the whole reason

we joined

FOOD

to be able to go into closed countries. Our preparation, your support, and our joint

prayers haveworked together to make this dream come true Let's keep praying, dreaming, and stepping

ou t

in

fai th

Please continue to pray for Nathan and Sarah who are going to school in Malaysia. We called them the

other night. They both said,

Mom

please try to stop by here and see us on the way to the States,

and

Dad, I wish I could be going with you to Laos.

Love in Jesus, Alan Bemo

P. S.

Janet

Rachel arrived in Joplin November 2 to find outthat little Praise Charis Adkins had

arrived early on October 31. She weighed 6 pounds 10 ounces and is doing great.

Since_Alan will be

in Laos Janet

will

be here

until

December

4. . _

Centra l

Chris t ian Church

1501 N Leonard Road


ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED

Mission Services

As s n

P Box 2 4 2 7

Knoxviilei TN 3 7 9 0 1 2 4 2 7

i l i i i d a

BULK RATE

U.S.

Postage

PAID

St

Joseph

MO

Permit

N a

2223

Bemo Alan Janet 1990 Thailand

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