God Always Begins a Good Work and Always Completes It!

By Missionaries to Thailand, Mike and Dara Rasavanh

“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 1:6, NIV

It was August 30, 2017, when my wife, Dara, and I arrived in Chiangmai, Thailand—just a little over four years ago. We each had our backpack, a carry-on filled with our clothes, and four containers full of ministry supplies, ready to become missionaries to Thailand as we had planned. That day, the calling in our lives to come back to this region as missionaries and bring the Good News to the people was being fulfilled.

Before our journey began, we had prayed, took short mission trips, studied current issues, attended trainings, and done everything to prepare ourselves. We had heard of a few missionaries who had come to Southeast Asia and returned home feeling like they had failed, like they had not accomplished much.

We spent the first two years learning, trying to see who we should partner with, where we should be, and how we should start the ministry. There were people who crossed our path that helped us, and there were some who hurt us. The thought of giving up and going back home empty-handed had crossed our minds a few times.

The longer we have remained in Thailand the more we’ve learned about this country and the people. Thailand has around 70 million in population. Buddhism has been declared as the national religion. It has been here since the third century; about 95 percent of Thai people are Buddhist. Christianity, however, was brought to Thailand around the 15th century by European missionaries. Currently around 1.2 percent of the population is Christian. The Thai government no longer allows foreigners to come in and start new religious sects, so ministries must affiliate under the umbrella of already approved national organizations.

For the past two years, we’ve been partnering with a Christian school (Sahabumrung Wittaya School) and two churches (Samyak and Lemkachao in Nakhon Pathom province) just northwest of Bangkok. The school and these two churches allowed us to minister to their teachers, and students, and their congregations, even though our background is Pentecostal. (Pentecostal belief is not well accepted in Thailand.)  

The Lemkachao church in particular had been special to us because the church sits in between two Taidam villages. The church was started by a missionary couple from America with many converts from ancestor worshipers, but sadly, many soon went back to their old beliefs due to fears of letting go of their traditions. For the past ten years the church had been left with two couples and one lady whose husband is not a believer. Although faithful, the group was weary. Pahsao, the elder lady had been miraculously healed from a body ailment and had come to believe. Part of the church’s original congregation, Pahsao told us that she had been praying, and that God promised her that He would send help. When we told the Lemkachao congregation that God had given us a vision to partner with them and start ministry there, everyone rejoiced. Pahsao said, “Now I can praise God and rejoice for His promise is being fulfilled!”  We don’t know what the future holds, but we know Who holds the future.

Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged.

Deuteronomy 1:21 (KJV)

Thailand is scheduled for the winter project of 2024.  

When we first arrived there, we never dreamed of receiving the blessing of land. On this land MOVE will be building a church; and eventually we will build a school. Asia is a special place because of the desperate need for people to spread the Gospel message. We are blessed to be able to have MOVE come work alongside with us and provide us with resources we need to minister to our local community. We are located about 1.5 hours northeast of Bangkok. 

As we learn to adjust to global inflation, the cost to build a church has increased. MOVE anticipates that building a church in Thailand will cost as much as $65,000. We ask that you prayerfully consider partnering with us to see this church built in a nation that desperately needs churches.