November 1^st

Hello All,

Well, our new baby boy finally arrived. He was born just after 1 AM on November 1st. Hannah did not start having labor pains until after 10:00pm Monday night. So although he was officially 9 days past his due date, when the time came to actually be born, this baby came really fast! In fact, we got to the hospital just in the nick of time! This baby has quite a story. But we are thankful that both Hannah and the new baby are doing fine.

His name is Benjamin Duane Scott. The middle name Duane is actually in honor of my Grandfather, Duane Scott (after whom I obviously am named). He was a pastor for over 20 years in Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming and South Dakota and left behind a great spiritual heritage in my extended family.

Thanks again to all of you who have prayed for this whole process. We certainly have seen your prayers answered.

I’m attaching a picture of Hannah and Benjamin with this email.

God bless,

Duane for Hannah too

October 27^th 

Hello All,

Thanks for your prayers. Many of you emailed to say you were praying. Thanks for the encouragement.

We thank the Lord we made it safe and sound to Surin – with no labor pains or contractions on the road! It is a real relief to be here. The trip was much longer than normal because flooding forced us to take a less direct route. Plus, all the people leaving Bangkok caused some pretty big traffic jams in several places on the road. So now we will just wait till the baby comes. Praise the Lord this baby is late!

Hannah called a couple of our neighbors today who are waiting out the floods at their homes. They reported about 2 feet of water in the streets of our neighborhood. I THINK our house will be safe as long as the water does not get higher than three feet. But we’ll just have to deal with that when the time comes. We were able to get most of our valuable things up to the second floor.

Thanks again for your continued prayers for the us and the situation here. We really appreciate it.

Your partners for the gospel,

Duane and Hannah

October 26^th

Dear Friends,

These are crazy times here in Bangkok and for our family. I don’t want to be too dramatic – I’ll just use the word crazy – not desperate, not life threatening, not panic time – but definitely crazy.

As you may know there is a huge mass of water moving slowly south through central Thailand that has now reached Bangkok. It appears that eventually most, if not all of the city will be under at least some water. (Current levels in affected areas range from less than one foot to 6 or 7 feet). We have tried to prepare our house for the floods as best we can. Last night (Tuesday) the water began to come into our area. So I figured it was time to find a bridge on which to park our car until the waters drain. While trying to find a place we (Nate Beckman our co-worker was following in his van) ended up driving through water far deeper than we should have attempted. It was then that we decided it was time to get out of the area before we were trapped in. So the Beckmans, who were already housing 12 people who had been flooded out of their homes in the northern part of the city, and our family, who was also housing three others, packed our bags quickly, did our last minute house flooding prep and headed to another church on the other side of the city still unaffected by floods. Today the Beckmans and the others headed out of town to a rental house in the southeast of the country.

What is complicating things for us is that Hannah was due with our fourth child on October 22^nd. But there is still no baby. The hospital where we had planned on having the baby is in our old flooded area, so we’re not going back there. Today we went to a new hospital hoping to have Hannah induced so the baby would come before we get trapped by flooding in this new area. But the doctor said Hannah is not ready to be induced yet. The doctor actually recommended we get our family out of Bangkok and find a hospital in another town. (Her house is currently under five feet of water – so that might be affecting her advice!)

So, at the moment, we have a plan. Our plan now is to head out of town first thing in the morning to stay with our missionary friends, Matt and Courtney Jones, in the town of Surin. They are unaffected by flooding. There will be no food or water shortages there, our car will be away from the danger of being under water and our kids will have a great time with the Jones’s kids. We will most likely use one of the hospitals in Surin, but might use one in the larger city of Korat.

So we appreciate your prayers that this baby would have a safe delivery, wherever he ends up being born. We have already seen the Lord’s hand directing our steps through this ordeal. Had our baby been born already, we might be stuck in a pretty bad situation. At least now we still have several options.

But I’m reminded to keep things in perspective here. In central Thailand and the northern parts of Bangkok hundreds of thousands have had their houses and cars completely destroyed. This flooding has actually been going on for months north of us and hundreds have died. So really, our inconveniences are not that big of a deal in comparison. But we do ask for your prayers, not just for the baby, but that the Lord would use us and the Beckmans in this situation.

I will, of course, send out another email after the baby is born to let everyone know how it goes. 

Your partners for the gospel,

Duane and Hannah Scott

PS – Baptist Mid-Missions does have a “World Relief Fund” that Lord willing we will be able to use here to help. That will probably happen during the cleanup stages when we have a better idea of how we can be used. We’ll keep you informed of those opportunities.

August 20, 2011

Dear Friends,

Since the last month’s report was so late in coming – and was quite long – I thought I would send out a quick update this month too.  Hopefully it will be a bit shorter as well!

In our last letter I asked you to pray for a special Mother’s Day outreach planned for the Sunday after Mother’s Day (which corresponds to the Queen of Thailand’s birthday.) We combined our regular church meetings with a special outreach to families of the children from our Saturday English students. Right now we don’t have a lot of children coming on Saturdays. But most of the students that do come were able to be there last Sunday and bring their mothers or grandmothers (or both) with them. The result was a pretty large group in our small meeting room. I think we had well over 40 people total. The children sang some songs for their moms, we gave all the moms a little gift, Nate Beckman brought a Bible lesson of being a mother, and then we all had lunch together. It seemed to go really well. Lord willing the Lord will use it as a step in the evangelism process with these families. 

Mother’s Day also provided a special opportunity in the women’s side of the prison where we regularly minister. Hannah, Maam Beckman and a few other ladies were able to have a Mother’s Day event there. Usually Nate and I teach English and Bible there on a weekly basis, but Hannah and Maam are not usually able to go. So it was very nice for them to be able to have a part in this ministry.  

On the men’s side of the prison we have been able to rework the regular Wednesday morning routine a bit to be more affective. Basically, in addition to what we did before, each week we now break up into small groups to discuss the Bible lesson, answer questions and get to know the men more individually. So far it has gone really well.  In the past month we have seen at least two professions of faith. Please pray for us as we follow up with Den and Tdae.

Relationships continue to develop with the adult English students at our church as well. For example, last Tuesday night one of Hannah’s students had just heard some bad news about a family member that was likely to affect her life too. She was much more open than ever to talk about the Lord and had a lot of sincere questions about the gospel. Her name is Ton.

So there have been encouraging things happening. But there are also struggles and disappointments. We would like to request prayer for one young mother who used to participate in our church gatherings faithfully and made a profession of faith about nine months ago. She has become very busy with work which has taken her away from almost all of the Bible studies and church services she used to be involved in. We have recently become aware that she has returned to some sinful life choices. Please pray for her and for us to know how best to deal with the situation.

As always, thanks for your prayers.

Your partners for the gospel,

Duane and Hannah

Duane and Hannah Scott   www.scottsinthailand.org

Sent from Family Baptist Church   www.familybaptistchurch.org

Serving with Baptist Mid-Missions    www.bmm.org

July 25, 2011

Hello from Bangkok,

I seriously doubt anyone fits this profile, but just in case any of you eagerly check your email each day, anticipating an email update from the Scotts in Thailand - well, sorry to have kept you waiting so long. I apologize. For most of you though, no doubt you are saying, “Oh, has it been that long?” Well, yes, it has been three months. I usually try to get these emails out at least every other month. So I’m a bit behind schedule here.

In the last prayer letter we mentioned the possibility of our moving. We did have to move.  The good news is that we were able to find another house in the same neighborhood. The bad news is that when you rent a house in Thailand you get the privilege of spending your own money to fix up your landlord’s house! The new house was in pretty shabby condition, and the amount of work (and money) we put in to get it ready to live in was extensive! It has made our last few months quite busy. But we were able to sign a four year contract. We are now in the house with most of the major projects done. It should work pretty well in the long run – but in the short term was a big hassle! 

All throughout the house hunting, house repairs and finally moving and then continuing the remaining house projects, we were doing our regular ministry routine. The month of May involved a church camp. One of the ladies who went with us had been attending church for a while but had never been saved – at least that is what we thought. But at camp she told us that she had actually trusted Christ weeks before and now wanted to commit to grow in the Lord. She has been following through with her commitment since that time.

All in all the ministry of Pinklao Baptist Church is seeing progress - although it is slow and irregular progress. The adult English classes at the church have seen some new students recently. I have been teaching a through-the-Bible approach during the Bible study time. We have gone through the major Old Testament stories and are now going to settle down in the gospels for a bit. Some of these students have been around a long time while a few others are new. Please pray the Lord would put it in their hearts to really think about what they are hearing. In the prison ministry on Wednesdays most of the people coming to our classes now are new to me since our return after a furlough. So I’m trying to get to know some of them better. A few of the prisoners who were recently released and had made professions of faith have been attending the church in that town – one in particular shows a real desire to grown in the Lord. On Fridays I have begun to teach a class on the book of Acts at a small Bible School. It has been a good stretch for my Thai abilities. So far it seems to be going well and I have enjoyed it. Hannah spends most of the day at the church on Saturdays for English and Bible classes for kids. Hannah has also been meeting regularly with a young lady in the church for a Bible study. And, after a short summer break, Hannah and the kids have started a new year of home school. She is trying to work ahead for when the baby comes in October.  

So we have been quite busy since our return to Thailand three months ago – much busier than we had anticipated. I feel especially under the gun the weeks when I preach the Sunday message. It still takes a lot of time for me to prepare Thai sermons. As far as our Sunday gatherings go, the one thing you can say about them is that are unpredictable. The number of people that we have contact with and that come to church somewhat regularly keeps expanding. And many weeks we have had visitors, many of whom have been unbelievers. But among our regulars, most miss the Sunday gatherings more than they actually attend. Many have good reasons - because of work, etc. But that fact has made it difficult to have much continuity in teaching and direction when on any given Sunday, less than half of whom we would consider our potential congregation are not present. Of course it is also not helpful for these people’s own spiritual growth and progress. With some we have been able to meet during the week for Bible studies and discipleship, but not with most. Some weeks in the past month or so have been strongly attended – 12 to 15 adults and teenagers, plus several children. But most weeks are considerably less.

Here are a couple prayer requests:

Nak – A lady in her late twenties made a profession of faith about 10 months ago, but now works 7 days a week from early to late. She rarely comes to church and we have been able to find a way to meet with her for discipleship.

Hong  is the lady I mentioned above that was recently saved. This week she is having surgery – it should be fairly routine, but I know she would appreciate your prayers. After her recovery she plans to look for a new job that would allow her to be free more Sundays.

Mix is a junior high boy who is a Christian but his parents have been giving him a hard time about being a Christian and coming to church. His younger brother had said he was a Christian too but turned back when things got difficult. Mix, however, is standing strong. Please pray for him to continue to do so.

Ja – a lady who actually lives just down the street from us whom we had not even met until some friends of ours met her and told us and the church. She had been saved a couple years ago. Since finding out about our church she has come several times on Sundays has brought several of her friends to our English classes on Tuesdays. The church she comes from is much bigger and more established than our church, but the small size of our church doesn’t seem to bother her. In fact she seems excited about a church in this area seems to want to be a part of it and wants to reach her friends. We are not seeking to take people from other churches, but a person like that could be a real help. Please pray for the Lord’s leading in her life.

Upcoming Mother’s Day service – No, I’m not confused about when Mother’s Day is. In Thailand Mother’s Day is in August, corresponding to the Queen of Thailand’s birthday. It is a pretty big event. We are hoping to take advantage of it to invite many mothers that we know, both mothers of our younger Saturday English students, our Adult English students who are themselves mothers and also friends and family of church members. We are planning a special service with a Thai pastor being a special speaker.

Hannah and the baby (boy)  – the due date is October 22.

Thanks again for your prayers. There is nothing we can do to “make things happen” in people’s lives. But the Lord can.

Your partners for the gospel,

Duane and Hannah

April 27, 2011 

Hello All,

We are now back in Thailand. We’ve actually been back almost two weeks. We left Denver late afternoon of Wednesday, April 13^th and arrived here about noon Friday on April 15^th. Somehow Thursday disappeared into a really really long Wednesday night! All in all, the trip went very well. All our flights were on time, all our bags arrived and the kids were amply entertained on the flights by watching the same movies over and over. The very good news is that the support which was lacking at our last letter had been at least verbally committed to us by the time we left. That is an answer to our prayers and no doubt many of yours as well. We are thankful for the generosity of so many.

 Back here in Thailand we are getting back into things. These are the summer months here. It is usually the hottest time of the year, but this year has been pretty mild comparatively. It is still usually in the nineties, but that beats the one hundreds! Since it is summer some of the usual weekly schedules have slowed down, so we have not been thrown back into things too heavily. We will be going to a family camp next week. Our church will be taking a fairly small group. But among those planning to go are a teenage boy who has come to English classes for some time and his mom. Neither has ever come to any of our church services. So this is a great opportunity for them to hear the gospel presented and to be exposed to a larger gathering of Thai Christians.

 We have been occupied since our return with our housing situation. Our current landlord wants to raise the rent.. The amount he wants would stretch us to our limit and give us no cushion for the continually devalued dollar. The thing is, we really like this house and would love to stay. Maybe he will soften a bit – but it looks unlikely. We’ve spent a lot of time looking around for other options in our price range. There are certainly other options, but all of them would require the inconvenience of moving of course, plus the expense of extensive repairs and updating (very few houses here have kitchens beyond a meager counter and a sink), painting, etc. We’re trying to crunch the numbers and see what would be the wisest choice for us. If we move, this would be our fourth house in less than five years. We would love to find a place where we could stay put for a while.  Lord willing we can make a decision within the next week. Thanks for  praying for us for wisdom and the Lord’s direction in this matter.

And last, but not least, for those of you who do not already know – we are going to have another baby! This will be our fourth. Elaine, David and Autumn are really excited to have another brother or sister. Hannah is due in late October. So we would also appreciate your prayers for a healthy pregnancy and delivery.

So we are back and ready to go – even if our Thai abilities are a bit rusty! We are excited to see what God has in store for us for this next term. May God use us to see many new people come to Christ and to see the establishment and growth of His church here in the Pinklao district of Bangkok.

Your Partners for the Gospel, 

Duane and Hannah 

Duane and Hannah Scott   www.scottsinthailand.org

Sent from Family Baptist Church   www.familybaptistchurch.org

Serving with Baptist Mid-Missions   www.bmm.org

October 29, 2010

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Minnesota!  We are now in Minnesota and about one month into our six and a half month furlough.  We arrived in Denver the last week of September and enjoyed about 9 days with my (Duane’s) family there.  We then traveled to Minneapolis where we have been for most of October.  Already we have been in a couple missions conferences and had a Sunday at our home church to talk about what we have seen God do in Thailand over the past few years.

An unexpected surprise has messed up our neatly planned out schedule!  The week after arriving in Minneapolis I was going through mail and discovered a summons for jury duty starting the following Monday.  Out of the several hundred in the room, I was called to be in the first jury pool.  Although I informed them of a missions conference where I was scheduled to speak in three different churches in central Minnesota Monday through Wednesday of this past week, I was not excused and was ultimately selected for the jury in a civil case.  At that point I was resigned.  I obviously wasn’t getting out of this one!  What other person do you know who has been out of the country for four years and gets called to jury duty the week after returning?  The trial is still not over, entering the third week this Monday.  (Lord willing it will be finished this week!)

So this service to our judicial system forced us to limit our participation in the central Minnesota conference.  But we were able to make the Sunday and Thursday services.  Even though we didn’t make it to all five churches, what we were a part of was an enjoyable experience and a blessing for us. 

This upcoming Sunday we will be in a church in Southern Minnesota and then the next weekend will be in Illinois – the first stop on a month long trip visiting churches, friends and family out east.  We’d appreciate your prayers for safety while traveling.

One quick update on the ministry in Thailand: Our co-workers, the Beckmans, are quite busy handling everything back in Bangkok while we are gone.  We got an email from them about a week and a half ago telling us that Nack, a lady in her 20’s who has attended our services regularly for a year, made a profession of faith in Christ.  We have asked prayer specifically for her on several occasions.  God has answered that prayer.  Among our really regular attendees, that leaves just one man who has not yet come to faith in Christ.  His name is Paul.  Keep praying for him.  There are a couple people who come occasionally who have not yet been saved either.

Thanks again for your prayers.  We look forward to seeing many of you over the next few months.

Your partners for the gospel,

Duane and Hannah

August 27, 2010

Dear Friends,

Well, August is almost at an end.  For most of you who are in America that means school has either just started or is about to start, summer is just about officially over, the long awaited football season is about to start, and many other signs of the changing season.  For me it means – I’d better send out another email update or I’ll feel really guilty for letting the month slip by without getting it done!

The past few months have been fairly routine.  The weekly schedule of English classes, Bible studies, prison ministry, church, and home school, and the miscellaneous business of daily life have kept us busy.  July was particularly busy when our co-workers were in the States for the month.  In the course of the regular ministries we have had contact with and conversations with many people.  So it is difficult to know just what to include in a short report.  So I thought perhaps I would just relate yesterday’s events as a way of painting a picture of daily life and ministry here.

Yesterday morning all five of us loaded in the car to drive about 45 minutes to a high school where Hannah and I volunteer weekly to teach an English class.  Yesterday, for some inexplicable reason, only two of the regular 10 students showed up.  I was pretty disappointed, not because I love teaching English so much, but because we do English for about an hour and then take about 20 minutes or so for a Bible lesson.  Over the past few months we have been teaching the story of the Bible, beginning with creation.  We have now had two lessons on the life of Jesus with two more planned.  I had prepared a lesson that I thought was really important on the teachings of Jesus, specifically who He claimed to be.  But as we sat around and talked to the two students and teacher who were there, the conversation turned to a girl in the class who had been in a motorcycle accident a few weeks earlier.  They said she must have had some really bad karma.  They asked us our beliefs about karma and the conversation then turned to their beliefs on various gods and spirits to which they pray and make offerings in order to secure protection and help.  We tried to explain the Biblical view of God and the spirit world.  Our conversation reminded me of the large gap in thinking between the gospel message and the Thai mind.  The fundamental goal of religion here is to manipulate spiritual powers for personal benefit, almost completely apart from any sense of sin or righteousness (other than the belief that doing bad brings you bad karma).  The fundamental goal of the message of the gospel is reconciliation with a personal God and forgiveness of sins.  While we both believed in spiritual realities, we were fundamentally concerned with different goals.  The conversation also reminded me of the true spiritual warfare we are in.  Why, of all days, when I had prepared a lesson of the claims of Jesus did the students not show up!  Next week will likely be our last chance with these students.  Please pray that we could effectively communicate the message of the gospel both to their minds and hearts.

The two students who did come to class told us that their classmate who had been in the accident had been transferred to a hospital very close to our house.  So we decided to try to visit her in the afternoon.  The hospital is a very large hospital with almost no parking.  After driving around the hospital for about an hour (or more accurately - after sitting in traffic jams around the hospital for about an hour), we finally found a place to park.  After locating the information desk in the multi-building complex, we found out that she actually was not at the hospital after all.  She had come the previous day as an outpatient but was actually not admitted to the hospital. 

So we went home for about an hour before heading out to a Bible study which we have each Thursday evening at the home of a lady in our church who was baptized last Easter.  Her name is Pu.  The study usually includes Pu, her adult daughter, and several of her grandchildren.  Her daughter is named Nak.  She has come to our Sunday meetings regularly for about 9 months but has yet to become a believer.  But for the past month new work has taken her away from both Sunday church and the Thursday Bible study.  We’d appreciate your prayers that Nak would be able to return to circumstances in which she will hear the Word and that the “seed” that she has heard would ultimately produce fruit.

 Anyway, our Bible study time was pretty typical, with singing, the Bible study and a time of prayer.  Pu is facing some exhausting and difficult situations at home, being the primary caregiver for her grandchildren while her three daughters all work.  But she is eager to grow and learn and seems to enjoy the weekly Bible studies.  While taking prayer requests one of her grandchildren, a twelve year old girl who has shown a real love for God and genuine faith asked for prayer because she wants to become a missionary.  We pray that her spiritual sensitivity and growth will continue as she enters her teen years.

So, that was our day yesterday, complete with some disappointments and also some encouragements and opportunities.  Please pray that God would direct our paths each day and that we would walk in the Spirit in order to be used by Him.  Pray that God would open hearts and minds to His Word, pray that we would have wisdom, grace and boldness to speak, and pray that we would be a tool of growth in the lives of believers.

I apologize that this letter has become long, but I need to mention one last thing.  We are preparing for our first furlough.  We leave for America the last week of September and will be there through mid-April.  We anticipate reconnecting with many of you on our travels as we visit our supporting churches.  We are looking forward to it.

Thanks again for your interest and prayers.

Your partners for the gospel,

Duane and Hannah

Duane and Hannah Scott    www.scottsinthailand.org

Sent from Family Baptist Church   www.familybaptistchurch.org

Serving in Thailand with Baptist Mid-Missions   www.bmm.org

June 15, 2010

Since we are here in Bangkok as church planters, it is understandable that we tend to think of Sunday morning as the main event for the week.   And it is also easy for us to count the heads on Sunday morning to gage whether or not we are being “successful.”   We have been reminded again recently how insufficient Sunday morning can be as an indicator of what is really going on.  It can lead to unrealistic encouragement when, like a week ago, we had six first time adult guests at church!  Or it may be unrealistically discouraging when, as this past Sunday, only two of our regular adults and no visitors came.  I certainly do not want to downplay the importance of the church gathering on Sunday for worship, prayer and preaching!  But counting bodies in chairs on Sunday morning may reveal very little about what is going on in people’s hearts.

But we do believe God is working in people’s lives, both among those who have attended Sunday worship and those who never have.  In Thailand the new school year started about a month ago.  This has brought us a busy new schedule and with it many new contacts.  We have had dozens of new teen and adult English students in the various settings in which we teach.   Please pray that God would use the Bible lessons that accompany each class and that God would give us one on one witnessing opportunities with these new students as well.  I’d particularly like to ask you to pray for Hannah and me as we teach at a high school one day a week as we did last year.  This term we have only ten or eleven students.  This situation provides us a much better opportunity to get to know the students.  Already we can see a significantly more positive response and interest than before.

Another ministry outside of Sunday is the prison ministry that Nate Beckman and I do each Wednesday.  We have been encouraged by what we have seen there.  There are a few men and several ladies in the prison who appear to have made genuine decisions to follow Christ.  Recently a few of the prisoners have been released and have contacted us.  A few others will be getting out soon.  One man in particular who was recently released for whom I would request prayer is “Nok.”  Pray that we could keep up a relationship and continue to have opportunities to share the gospel.  Pray that the good seed of the Word that he has heard would not be choked out by the cares and temptations of the world.  A Thai lady and a Thai pastor also work with us in this prison ministry.  Pray for all of us to be used by God to bear fruit that will last beyond the prison walls and into eternity.

But, as I alluded to before, since we are church planters, our own prayers and thoughts are constantly coming back to those who regularly or often come to Sunday worship.  Most have made a profession of faith.  A few have not.  We have had many visitors all having their various reasons for showing up.  In recent months several of the children who come to Saturday English have begun regularly attending church too.  Some of their parents and other relatives have visited with them.  Interacting with all these people leads us to ask ourselves questions about how best we can meet their needs and communicate the gospel of Christ to them.  How can we help the believers to become grounded in their faith?  How can we help them in the difficult situations that some of them are facing?  How could they begin to serve in the church?  What should we be doing to help those still unwilling to commit to Christ?  How can we be more faithful at following up on contacts that we see only briefly and then seem to never see again?  What should we do differently?  What is the most effective use of our time and effort? (And for Hannah and me especially – How can we get better at Thai so that we can understand what people are REALLY saying to us and so that we can say what we would REALLY like to say?)  The need for God’s wisdom and grace never ends.  So that is why we ask for your prayers once again.  Thanks so much for praying. 

I’ll close with a quick personal update.  With the start of the new Thai school year we have decided to home school Elaine and David this year.  Elaine is in first grade and David in Kindergarten.  Autumn, now three, pretends to do school until she gets bored with it in two minutes.  (David also gets bored with it in two minutes but he isn’t allowed to quit!)  We are all doing well and healthy and, thankfully, staying safe.   Recently several experiences have caused us to appreciate God’s protection from accidents, injuries, theft and even political violence!  After the chaos of last month that grabbed world headlines, life has returned to normal here in Bangkok - at least on the surface.  So we are thankful for that.

Thanks again for your interest and prayers.

Your partners for the gospel,

Duane and Hannah

Duane and Hannah Scott   www.scottsinthailand.org

Sent from Family Baptist Church   www.familybaptistchurch.org

Serving with Baptist Mid-Missions   www.bmm.org

April 9, 2010

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Bangkok!  We hope you all had a significant Resurrection Sunday this last week.  Of the two Christian holidays, Christmas of course gets much more attention in the broader culture.  But we who are believers realize that it is the death and the resurrection of Jesus that gives Christmas its significance.  We trust that you all had ample opportunity to rejoice in all we have through the death and resurrection of Christ this past weekend.

Last year for Easter we passed out a bunch of church brochures in the neighborhood specifically inviting people to an Easter service.  No one showed up.  It was disappointing of course, but at least we had a relaxing day!  This year was quite different – it was far from relaxing or disappointing.  For starters I was asked to preach at the church our family attended before starting this new church.  Usually my Thai sermons are for our very small congregation.  So preaching to this much larger one was a bit more nerve wracking than usual.  But, thank the Lord, it seemed to go well.  I then hurried back to our church to join Hannah and the kids and the rest of the church for Sunday lunch and other activities we had planned.  I was surprised to walk in the door and find a whole bunch of people I’d never seen before!

Besides our usual group of five or six adults, a several teens and children, we had two first time Thai visitors who had been invited by one of our regular attendees, and about ten guests from South Africa.  They are all newly arrived in Bangkok to be English teachers in Thailand and were looking for somewhere to go to Easter Services.  So needless to say, having ten English speakers arrive just minutes before the Easter Service which had been prepared to be all in Thai threw off the plan a bit!  But Hannah and our co-workers quickly made some changes and began the worship service.  After the service we enjoyed lunch together.

The highlight of the day came after lunch.  Our church had its first baptisms. A lady named “Pu” and her son and a granddaughter were baptized.  It has been great to see Pu faithfully attending since last October.  She has a large extended family, many of whom come to church regularly and some others who have attended once or twice.  One of her daughters, Nek, has been coming since October but has not yet made a profession of faith.  But she has missed only three or four Sundays in the last six months.  She also takes part in a weekly Thursday evening Bible study at her mom’s house that we have been having for the last couple months.  Please pray for her salvation.

The months of March and April are summer months here.  Schools are closed and it is vacation and activity time just like summertime in America.  Hannah and Maam Beckman had a day camp for kids at the church last week.  In another two weeks we will join another church for a family camp for a few days.  Then in the first week of May we will join a different church in putting on a small evangelistic English camp for teens and adults.  So please be in prayer for spiritual fruit for these endeavors.

The prison ministry that Nate Beckman and I are involved in on Wednesdays seems to be bearing more fruit.  Both in the sense that there have been a couple professions of faith and that others have become more open and interested in the gospel message.

As usual, there is more that I could write, and other people for whom we could request prayer.  But I will stop here.  If you are interested in seeing some videos of the baptisms this past Sunday, you can look at them on our youtube video page here: http://www.youtube.com/user/duanehannahscott#p/u    (Warning – the sound is bad, due to a small concrete walled room and tile floor and several very small children present.  Everything echoes in the small camera microphone.  It really wasn’t as chaotic as it sounds in the videos!)

Also, if you are curious, you could check out our church website here: www.pinklaobaptistchurch.org   It is a dual language site.  It still needs some work, but it somewhat presentable.

And, as usual, I’ve updated our personal ministry website along with this letter.

Thanks so much for your prayers for us and for those with whom we have the privilege of sharing Christ.

Your partners for the gospel,

Duane and Hannah

January 26, 2010

Dear Friends,

Although this is the first letter of the New Year, it seems a bit late to be “wishing you a happy 2010” doesn’t it?  So I guess I should not even bother with, “hope you had a great Christmas,” because that was a whole month ago!  At least for us it seems hard to believe Christmas was just one month ago.  I imagine many of you feel the same way.

But, since I have not sent out an update since Christmas, I had better start out with a brief report about that time.  In short, it was a very, very busy time - but a very profitable one.  Here in Thailand Christmas is not even a holiday.  Schools and businesses carry on with business as usual on Christmas day.  But they are all aware of Christmas because even here it is commercialized.  So Christmas provides a great opportunity to tell the real Christmas story in multiple settings, which we did.  It was a time filled with parties and special events.  The highlight was probably our Christmas church service followed by a small Christmas party the Sunday before Christmas.  We had multiple visitors which helped pack out our small meeting room.  Another highlight of the Christmas season was that Hannah’s Aunt Gloria came to be with us for about two weeks.

Our purpose for being here is church planting.  So for us the Sunday morning worship service and preaching/teaching is the focal point of the week.  The Lord continues to bless in this time.  A few regulars who used to come seem to have left, but the Lord has brought a few new ones our way.  A typical service usually sees 6 to 8 adults with us, a couple teens and a couple kids.  I’d love to tell you the stories of each one, but of course that would take too long.

 One thing we realize is that, although we have a small group of regulars coming to our services, we seem to still be a ways away from having a stable church nucleus.  Our energies right now are focused on trying to spend personal time with each person who comes, in order to understand whether or not they are saved and understand the gospel, what things they are facing in their lives, and to get to know them better.  So far with some we have been unable to have much personal time because of their busy schedules.  But with others we are making some progress.

I have begun a weekly Bible study with a man who began coming to the church in October or November.  He showed up out of the blue, having found out about our church on the internet.  He said at the time he had just become a Christian.  We began to wonder over the next few weeks whether he understood what it really meant to be a Christian.  As our Bible studies over the past few weeks have progressed, it has become clear that he is still depending on the Buddhist rituals of “making merit” to get him to heaven.  He wants to add God and Jesus to the mix, but as of yet isn’t willing to give his life over to Jesus alone.  So pray for us as we continue to do Bible studies and as he continues to come to church.  His name is “Paul.”

There are several members of an extended family that are regular attendees.  Some of them are believers already.  Others are not.  Just last week we began a weekly Bible study and prayer meeting at their home one evening a week.  The plan is that we and the Beckmans will alternate in conducting that meeting.  Please pray that this occasion would be used for the growth of the believers and the salvation of other family members and even neighbors.

Along with the encouraging developments, there have also been a few that have not been so positive for which you could join with us in prayer.  1) One of the young ladies who attended church regularly for several months, who had claimed to be a Christian, informed us in December that, “ever since she had become a Christian her life had been really bad.”  So she was giving up on it.  We have not totally lost contact with her.  Her name is “Toei.”  2) Another young man, who is not a Christian and never claimed to be, attended church all through December.  He has not returned at all this month.  We feel terrible that, for some unexplainable reason, we never got his contact information.  No excuses here.  So all we can do is pray that he would get in contact with us again.  His name is “Neng.”  3) A young lady named Kai who had gone to the teen camp with us made a profession of faith at our Christmas service.  However, just two weeks later she suddenly left Thailand and returned to Burma to pursue a foolish and sinful relationship.  We have no way to connect with her either.   4) And finally, our adult English classes have all but died.  Hannah’s sister Gloria teaches a class of high school girls which is still doing pretty well.  But most evenings the number of our college and adult students has ranged from zero to two (but usually zero or one).  Our adult English classes have provided great witnessing opportunities since opening up ten months ago.  Although they have not yet produced results in the way of conversions, we still would hate to see them totally die out.  (On a brighter note, the children and junior high English classes on Saturday’s are going stronger than ever.)

Before wrapping it up . . . We have enjoyed several occasions this past month to see people who were passing through Bangkok.  Pastor Les Heinze, the pastor of Red Rocks Baptist in Denver where I grew up, where my family still attends, and which also supports us, stayed with us for a couple days.  He worked us into a busy Asian mission trip.  We also were able to connect with Pastor Jeff Anderson and a fellow traveler from Grace Bible Church in Colorado Springs as they passed through Bangkok a couple times during their Asian ministry.  We also got to see a medical mission team from Baptist Mid-Missions headed to Cambodia. And, I’ve been able to connect with some good friends on two other occasions for breakfast before their flights to other places of ministry.

So, it has been a busy past two months.  If you’ve read all the way to the end of this letter – thanks for taking the time to do so!  And thanks for your prayers for us and those we have mentioned.

Your partners for the gospel,

Duane and Hannah

September 11, 2009 

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Thailand!  I trust all is well for those of you receiving this letter.  I usually say this at the end of the letter, but I’ll say it at the beginning this time – We really do appreciate your interest and your prayers.  Thanks for taking the time to read this.

I’ll begin with a brief update about our ministries here.  Our primary method to meet and befriend new people is through teaching English in a variety of settings.  Hannah has been able to meet with an older lady who lives right across the street from the church during the day, three times a week.  She has shown openness to learning about the Bible and Jesus during their Bible study times at the end of most English lessons.  So please pray for this relationship.  Her name is Ampan.

We teach English to high schoolers, college students and adults a couple evenings a week at the church building.  To be honest, these classes are not going as well as we would hope.  The attendance has really dropped from what it was when we started last spring.  While there are probably a dozen or more people who still come, they do not come regularly.  This has made getting any momentum or continuity during the Bible study times quite difficult. 

But, on the positive side, one of these adult English students has been regularly attending our Sunday church services.  He is a young man, probably about 24 years old, not yet a believer, but comes to church nearly every week.  Thanks for praying for his salvation.  His name is “O.”  We are also glad to report that a young lady who is already a believer has also been coming regularly for the last two months or so.  She became a believer while a university student in northern Thailand.  After moving to Bangkok for work she could not find a church that was convenient for her, or one that she felt comfortable with.  She received a church brochure in her door, decided to visit and has been attending whenever she is able ever since.  She is quite busy and so that has made it difficult to spend much time with her other than on Sundays.  But she seems to be a committed believer and seems to want to be a part of this ministry.  She brought her sister, who is still not a believer to church a week ago.  So, besides us missionaries, we normally have at least two others at Sunday services, occasionally even more.  Of course we want more, but it’s a start!

We have other things going on, such as the children’s English classes and ministry at a prison and a school that I mentioned last time, but for the sake of brevity, I will save comments on those for another time.  However, I will mention that in October we will be attending two camps.  One will be a youth camp and the other an English evangelistic camp.  A few have expressed interest in the English camp.  So far, none of the teenage English students have shown interest in the teen camp.  We would love to take some as this will definitely be a time for evangelistic ministry.  Would you pray that God would put it in the hearts of some of them to come to camp?

I began this note with a wish that all of you are doing well.  And I hope you are.  But in the past few weeks we have been reminded quite personally that things do not always “go well.”  Events that we would not chose come into our lives, directed and allowed by our sovereign God.  Our God is good and welcomes our prayers in these matters.   I’d like to ask you all to pray for two matters that do not directly relate to our ministry here, but are weighing heavily on our hearts.

The first is the Caynor family.  They are fellow missionaries who arrived in Thailand not long after us and we have enjoyed getting to know them.  A little more than two weeks ago, Lisa Caynor and her two children were in a car accident near the town of Hua Hin, which is about three hours from Bangkok where they had just moved to start a new church plant.  The children, Kristen and Ricky, were both beat up pretty badly, but will be OK.  Lisa, however, has been in a coma since the accident.  She has a brain injury and there is just no way to know how severe it is until she wakes up.  Her husband’s name is Rick.  I know they would appreciate your prayers.  Lisa is in the hospital here in Bangkok.

The other request has to do with my younger brother Daniel.  He has had serious heart problems for most of his life.  The last ten months have been particularly difficult and he has been undergoing tests to determine if he should be put on a list for a heart transplant.  This past weekend he was experiencing bleeding into his lungs.  He has been in the hospital at the University of Maryland since then.  They have sedated him and put him on a ventilator.  Yesterday (Thursday the 10^th) they tried to get him off the ventilator. He was off of it for a few hours but had to be put back on it.  As of this writing he is still sedated, has a fever and on a ventilator.  Our family will appreciate your prayers for this situation as well.

May God give us all grace, whatever our situation, as we love and trust him.

Your partners for the gospel, 

Duane and Hannah

Duane and Hannah Scott   www.scottsinthailand.org

Sent from Family Baptist Church   www.familybaptistchurch.org

Serving with Baptist Mid-Missions    www.bmm.org