General News

Dear Friends and Fellow laborers,

We received news from Burma that Seng Pan, the wife of Seng Aung, our Pastor Trainee in Kyawk Taing, had to be taken to the hospital with a very high fever.

She had the fever for four days and it would not go down, so Seng Aung took her to the hospital. Her temperature is normal and she has returned home. We do not know what the cause of the fever was.

Please pray for Seng Pan. She has two small boys to take care of as well as teaching the Sabbath School children and other church duties. Her biggest worry is nursing the youngest son.

She is a graduate of Legacy School in Thailand and is a very important part of the Work of God in Burma. We are asking God to intervene and heal her completely so she can nurse her little boy and continue in her service to the Lord Jesus.

Please pray for her and the entire family. Satan is angry as the Fall Feasts approach. We will keep you posted.

Serving Our Lord Jesus,

T. Leon Sexton

Dear Friends and Fellow laborers,

We need your fervent prayers on two accounts.

First, we have some serious problems getting our young people over from Myanmar (Burma). There always seems to be problems with visas, etc.

In order for us to bring our young people (Burma Nationals) to Thailand we must acquire the appropriate visa. For our Burma students to stay and study at Legacy for three years, they must return home each year and then get another ED visa (Educational visa) for another year. This is time consuming and expensive when one adds up travel expenses and more visa costs. But this is the Thai law and if we want them to continue their studies at Legacy, we must comply with the rules and regulations of the Thai Immigration Bureau.

We sent Htoo Mya (Tommy) Shwe back to get another ED visa so he could return and continue at Legacy for his final year. When he went to the Thai embassy in Rangoon, they refused to give him a new ED visa, citing that he had been studying in Thailand long enough. Now we must bring him back on a tourist visa (30 days only) and send him to Laos where hopefully the Thai Embassy there will grant him another one year ED visa. This all takes time and money, and there is no guarantee the Thai Embassy in Vientiane will give him a visa.

Koin Yee, one of our COG girls is also waiting in Rangoon to get an ED visa. They have now said that they require more paperwork from the language school she will attend to learn the Thai language (a requirement for the ED visa.) We sent the paperwork and now we must pray she gets the visa so she can come to Legacy.
Legacy is not registered with the Ministry of Education. Instead we are registered with the Ministry of Culture. We can teach young people from Thailand and surrounding countries, but because we do not have a Ministry of Education registration, we are not on the list to receive ED visas. The red tape is endless.

Two others also had problems. Adja Shan and Moe Paley, both graduates, are returning to Legacy to help with translation of written material and translation of sermon videos, etc. I contacted the Thailand Foreign Ministry in Bangkok and requested a Non-immigrant, “O” type visa so they can get a required Thai work permit to serve in Thailand. The Foreign Ministry kindly forwarded the required paperwork to the Thai Embassy in Rangoon. However, when Adja and Moe Paley went into the Thai Embassy to get the visa, they said they could not give them a visa unless they already had a work permit. The problem is that the Thai government will not issue a work permit until you have the appropriate visa! It is a Catch 22.

So, we had to contact the Thai Foreign Ministry and explain the problem and then pray real hard. Lo and behold, the officials at the Thai Embassy in Rangoon said they went back and reviewed the paperwork sent from Bangkok and, even though the print was “unclear”, they would go ahead and issue the visas. God stepped in.
Now we must pray for Koin Yee and for Tommy Shwe. Please send up supplications for them.

The 2nd Problem we face is that our donations are way down. Most of our donations come from America and the economy at home is not in good shape. We need your URGENT PRAYERS that God provide our needs. We seriously need His gracious intervention at this time. We have the Feast coming up and always the day to day expenses of running a school to train young people in God’s Way of Life. It has been a real lesson in faith for us. Gloria and I have been working for the King of Kings in Thailand for 15 years now. It has almost always been a hand to mouth budget. We must pray time and time again for God to intervene to supply our needs. Rarely have we ever seen a surplus. Usually that gets eaten up rather quickly.

So, please help us by sending up some extra prayers to the Almighty asking Him to provide the necessary funds so we can continue the work of educating the young people God sends us from Thailand and Burma. It is His Work in this part of the Earth and these nations desperately need the Gospel of the Kingdom preached to them. It will be the young men and women we train that will be carrying that true Gospel to families and friends, and then spreading it out to the far corners of their countries. Legacy Leadership Training Center is a necessary part of preaching the Good News to those who are blind and broken hearted.

Jesus said:

Luke 4:18-19
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

Please pray for us.

Serving the Lord Jesus in Asia,

T. Leon Sexton

Main building of Empress Hotel & Convention Center in Chiang Mai

The Feast of Tabernacles is just around the corner. If you are still undecided as to the festival site you will attend, consider Thailand. Thailand was never colonized by a Western nation, so the culture is uniquely its own.

The God-appointed Feast will be held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, with daily sermons of spiritual food —the most important aspect of the Feast—along with the feasting of physical meals, both Western and/or Asian.

Chiang Mai, called the “Rose of the North”, was founded by three kings over 700 years ago and still retains some of the faded glories of its ancient past. For instance, one can still walk around the moat that surrounds the old city and explore the remnants of the ancient walls. The Thai people are Buddhist, so a visitor will find temples and pagodas mixed in with modern Western style shopping malls and merchant shops packed with hand-woven cottons, silks, gems, and carved teak statuary and furniture. Chiang Mai is a major tourist destination, so an abundance of miscellaneous souvenirs at the famous Night Bazaar or Sunday Market are also available. Chiang Mai is a blend of ancient and modern; serenity and hustle bustle; exotic and familiar; provincial and cosmopolitan.

The Empress Hotel has all the amenities one would find in any Four or Five-Star hotel anywhere in the world—even Wi-Fi.

To see more about the Empress Hotel and Convention Center, go to http://www.empresshotels.com/

For more information and to have an application sent to you, please contact: Mail@LegacyInstitute.org

Meanwhile, please do not forget our COG brethren in Myanmar (Burma). They are not able to gather with us in Chiang Mai and will gather together for the Feast of Tabernacles near the central Burma city of Taungoo. Our Legacy graduates will be giving sermons every day. The COG deacon, U Myo Zaw and his wife, Too Mar, will travel north from Rangoon to assist in handling the Feast logistics. Legacy Institute must also finance the Burma Feast of Tabernacles for approximately 30-40 people gathering from different parts of the country. Since most of the Feast participants are subsistence farmers and day laborers, few have enough 2nd tithe. Also our Chiang Mai members and students who do not earn a living, must be provided for. If any of you have an excess of festival tithe, please help us finance the Feast of Tabernacles in Burma and Thailand. It will require about 2,500 USD for all 8 days in Burma. This will cover all food (including special feast food such as more meat), and transportation for a special outing. To cover the cost of the Feast for member families and students (20+) in Thailand, we estimate we will also need $2,500. Please designate your donation as “Burma Feast Fund” or “Thailand Feast Fund.”

May Our Glorious God grant you all a wonder-filled and spiritually rejuvenating Feast of Tabernacles!

In the Lord Jesus’ service,

T. Leon Sexton

I have been home for almost 2 months and the dreaded day has come for me to finally end this blog and admit that my time at Legacy is done.

I am so very grateful for my time spent in Thailand, fully immersed in the culture, completely involved with my fellow volunteers, my students and the Sextons. We created a family unit in 10 months that completely changed my life, perspective and my heart.

Let’s take a quick stroll down memory lane. Let the tears begin.

Forever family

I miss 5 hours of bonding and sweat each morning!

My little dude. (I miss him the most)

I can now pin point the best day of my life and this was it.

Hardworking sistas

I would like to relive this day.

Thai beauty, my fave.

Some very special boys in my life.

A scary good day.

I can now check off Malaysia from my list.

I like these boys.

Some of my favorites in all the land.

Thanks for stealing my heart!

Friday night bonfires were our favorite!

I miss him SOOOO

This girl changed my life.

This girl cheered me up with just a smile.

I miss this. My knees don’t though.

Love x532620

Cuties!

Rebels

A hammock above the sea. Not too shabby.

A life changing trip to Burma.

I’ll take them both!

Pure joy

On the other hand, I was that girl running through the LAX airport to get through customs so I could finally be reunited with my family. I am so very happy to be home and back in the groove of things, despite my home sickness for all things Thailand. Upon coming home I was overwhelmed with emotions as I saw all my family, hopped on my surfboard, and slept in my overly soft bed. Some other fantastic things were eating In N Out, (a few more times than I shall admit to) dryers, and good beer. I loved seeing my friends after a week or two. (Thanks friends for being patient as I acclimated to real life again) Some things that were a shock was the fact that I was freezing at night and walked around my house in pants socks and a hoodie, being in large groups was even more terrifying than usual, and turning on the shower for the first time led to loud screams from yours truly because of the overly high pressured weapon of a water stream that was attacking my body. (No wonder we are in a drought people!) I also got pulled over for running a stop sign but the officer was understanding as I frantically sputtered out, “There are no stop signs in Thailand. Everyone is white here and I can understand EVERYONE and I’m confused and I’m sorry.” I also say “Thank You” in Thai to people in the customer service field and I just ignore their looks of confusion.

It was a total overload to be home, it was actually very very hard. I am finally getting used to our fast paced and irrationally stressful society. (But I have promised to not go back into that world, because I unknowingly lived there for 24 years) Despite the fact that I miss my students so bad that it hearts my little heart, I came home worried that I wouldn’t feel like I had a purpose. I had a few moments while being home that I wanted to up and go back but thankfully God opened a number of doors for me to serve others at home and to remain involved with Legacy until the end of my days. I “found my niche” as one of my besties told me while I was skyping her at Legacy. I didn’t believe her then but I now know that her wisdom was true. While being away, God showed me my calling. And I realized we ALL have one. I thought it was just the important people. But it’s us too! Be excited.

Now that I am home, I do realize I don’t have to travel the world non stop to feel accomplished. I do know that I DID have to go to Thailand to understand what God’s job for me on this earth is though. It’s all a wonderful and amazing process to look back on and piece together all the steps and instances and revelations.

To answer the #1 question I get asked, “Are you going to go back?” YES! (Wait don’t freak out yet, keep reading) I am totally going to go back to visit when I make myself some money! I don’t plan on serving at Legacy again but I am not shutting the door to any opportunity to go back there or any other place in need. Wherever God wants me, I’ll be there… even though praying that prayer was the scariest prayer I have ever prayed and afterwards I said, “WAIT… NO I take it back! I can’t do that. Never mind God, I don’t take it back. Let’s do it.” <<< My brain, ladies an gentleman.

I want to thank all of you who followed my blog and who kept up with me. I didn’t realize how many of you were reading about my time at Legacy, let alone enjoying them. I highly appreciate you taking this journey with me. And I will say this really quickly so I don’t get all mushy. There were lots of moments when I felt lost, alone and overwhelmed while being away. However, hearing from all of you after I would post a blog, gave me comfort because I knew the prayers and love were coming in. I just really want to say thank you so much! Your notes, emails and facebook messages left me in tears many a times. Thanks for the prayers and thank you for loving Legacy and the work that is happening over there! I am going to leave a link below for the Legacy website so you can donate if you are able. Legacy desperately needs money… in all honesty, so anything would help. I want to see Legacy continue to provide for those in need… and God’s church really does need Legacy to help produce godly leaders who can one day serve the brethren in Burma. Your donations and prayers go leaps and bounds!

http://legacyinstitute.org/

I thank God daily for helping me realize that I should never fathom investing my life in anything other than God because what I learned over there from experience and from my students is that a life without doing God’s purpose is meaningless. I don’t care how cheesy it sounds… a piece of my heart was left in Thailand and Burma and there it will stay.

In the words of another wise person in my life: “Live a radical, devoted and committed life for God. Go deep. Exercise yourself beyond the confines of the standard, to do things that demand every bit of yourself. Don’t pacify yourself with a lesser thing. Don’t skate the surface of life. Be consumed by Him.”

Thank you all so much. I love you all and the short journey we enjoyed together.

Until the next adventure,

Lacee Hilgen

(Original blog address – https://laceehilg.wordpress.com/2015/06/13/its-official/)

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