Dear Friends and Fellow laborers,
Satan never sleeps. We are under constant attack and meet roadblocks thrown in our way. Fellow laborers generously donated to get Kawn Yee and Toomya Shwe to attend a Thai language school in Chiang Mai so they could acquire an ED education visa from the Thai government. Then they could come to Thailand, study Thai, and attend classes at Legacy too.
In order to obtain an ED visa, we had to pay the full fees to the Thai language school. They then wrote a letter of request for an ED visa from the Thai Embassy in Laos. Kawn Yee and Toomya Shwe went to Laos accompanied by Adja and Oom, two of our Legacy employees. All the paperwork was correct, including the letter from the Thai school, and fee money ready to pay for the ED visas. But the request for ED visa for Toomya Shwe was rejected. They said he had studied Thai long enough since he had been in Thailand on an ED visa for one year already. They refused to give Kawn Yee an ED visa with no explanation.
What a disappointment! We all were dumbfounded. There is no known reason for the change.
They were able to get a 2 month tourist visa with a one month extension from the Immigration office in Chiang Mai. After 3 months they must return to Burma and we start the process all over again. Thailand red tape can be extremely frustrating, especially when the rules constantly change.
Kawn Yee and Toomya will stay at Legacy for the three months and then go back to Burma for the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread. We must then figure out another avenue for them with the help of Almighty God. Kawn Yee is in her first year. Toomya will graduate in February and I had wanted to keep him for one more year of education before sending him back to Burma. But perhaps that will not be possible now. At least he will be graduating before his tourist visa runs out.
Please remember these 2 young people in your prayers to God. And remember others God may want to bring from Burma to learn His Way of Life at Legacy. It is getting harder and harder and more and more expensive each year to sustain our school. Now we have to deal with more stringent immigration laws.
It will soon be time to send funds to Burma for the expenses of COG operations. The members there are only just learning the importance of tithing. Many feel that they are too poor to tithe. That mindset is difficult to break when a person has grown up in poverty. Those that understand the importance of tithing do what they can in tithes and offerings, but it is not nearly enough to be self-sufficient. What this means is that we must subsidize the church in Burma. We will need to wire money there in January. In February we have the expense of our graduation. Then we will have the Spring Holy Days in April. Gloria and I plan to go to Burma for the Passover and U.B. All expenses for the meetings and meals must be supported by Legacy. As you can see, between now and the end of the Spring Holy Days we have many financial responsibilities. These expenses are all above and beyond the day to day operations of our Legacy school.
Please remember Legacy in your prayers. Ask Our Heavenly Father to supply all our needs. We rely solely on donations from individuals and small congregations. We have no large COG organization funding any of our projects in Thailand or in Burma. The brethren in this part of the world earn little or are subsistence farmers.
We have been doing God’s Work here in Thailand for over 16 years now and God has always supplied our needs, sometimes in the eleventh hour! But God also tells us to knock on the door. I have had people tell me, “please let us know what your needs are so we can help you.” So, I am letting you know our needs at this time.
Time is short. Prophecy is racing ahead. Jesus admonishes us to work while it is day, because the night is coming when no man can work. There is so much to be done here and it is important we train up workers for the Lord’s harvest fields.
We keep pressing forward.
In Jesus the Christ’s service,
Leon Sexton
