New Ta-Oi Believers
Also there are 54 brand new Ta-Oi Christians in S province. The Tao-Oi who are brand-new Christians are wonderful people. They are lovely people with tender hearts. They are so happy and full of joy as Christians and for being able to attend the training sessions. They are very poor and throughout the 3 days at the seminar they were wearing the same clothes. They are poorer than other groups, and they also are the most new Christians.

 

The immigration officials in Thailand did not let them enter Thailand at first, but kept them at the checkpoint for 3 hours.  They suspected them because they were so poor and couldn’t answer them in the Thai language. One of our leaders who led them called me and asked me to ask the director of the training centre to write all of their names down and verify that there was somebody who would take care of them and when the 3 days were finished, would take them back to Laos . They were then allowed to enter into the kingdom of Thailand .

 

We taught our Ta-Oi brothers separately from the Khmu as they do not understand the Khmu language. These people are really hungry for God’s Word and they love to study and try to get everything that we taught. I also spend some time talking to the people privately, and in the dining room I often sat with the new people who are quite poor. I talked to them and asked about their families, and the ministry, and they love to share about their problems. Some of them aggressively approached me but others were very shy. They are all lovely people who needed encouragement and a loving touch by a gentle hand, especially those who have been hurt by the persecution. For instance, those whom came from KP village who have been evicted from their village needed encouragement and help financially.

 

There are also 2 people who came from H province who never came to our seminar before. We have been planning to have them come for many times but it did not work out. Thank God that they were able to come. They gave a report that there are 3 house churches in their province: KD village 10 families, 58 people; ND village 6 families, 30 people; and NS village 4 families, 25 people.  This is a total of 114 people. 

 

We thank God that we have been able to penetrate all of the 12 provinces where there are Khmu living, plus reach the Ta-Oi in S province in the south. When we started the Khmu radio broadcast in 1987 it was reported to me that there were about 6000 Khmu Christians, but now there are about 48,000 Khmu Christians despite severe persecution ongoing. This has proved that our God is greater than our enemy, and He is at work.  Many times the Khmu feel that they are inferior people but now we start to think that we are important people in the sight of God.