August 2009

Greetings from Thailand,

We have had a very busy month recently. Being busy is sometimes a really good thing, but at other times it can be a little too much. So what have we been busy with?
Mid-July we went to Chiang Mai (a city 3 hours from Chiang Rai) to pick up a young man who will be helping us with the School of Biblical Studies (SBS). He comes from Oregon, USA and will be staying with us for about a year and a half. He is a great guy and we look forward to working with him over this next period of time. His name is Jake and he’s 24.
While driving back from Chiang Mai I received a phone call asking about an opportunity to teach in the Discipleship Training School (DTS) is Bangkok from July 20-24. After praying about it Cy and I both felt that we should go. I had one week to prepare a 15 hours teaching on Spiritual Warfare. It was a lot of hard work, but it was a lot of fun to learn and then teach what I had learned. We talked about spiritual warfare being as simple as TRUTH vs LIES. We were fighting the lies with the truth. It was a very tough week, but very fruitful. One day and a half was spent on confessing the lies that everyone was believing in and replacing them by praying the truth over them. One girl even dealt with some issues with the occult and witchcraft in her life. It was the first time that we cast out a demon in Thailand and God was glorified immensely. Cy and I were both impressed with the power of God during that week of teaching.
After teaching Friday the 24th we went to pick up my (Rob’s) parents who were arriving to spend two weeks with us. The following day we brought them to Chiang Rai. We showed them everything that there was to show and took them elephant riding. We even got a group photo of the four of us holding a 13 ft python. After that we went to discover the Southern region of Thailand, going to Phuket and Krabi. Both places were beautiful. We stayed in a hotel for 23$CAD a night and rented scooters for 7$CAD a day. We explored the island of Phuket for 4 days before heading to Krabi.
In Krabi, Cy and I participated in the YWAM Thailand National Conference which was held there for four days. God challenged us to deepen our intimacy with Him while aiming our efforts to reach out to Thailand that is in great need of Jesus. We were encouraged to pray and worship and fellowship with YWAMers from all over the country as we spent four days together. God really used that time to encourage us and inspire us.
Now we have returned back to Chiang Rai where we will be starting a time of staff training for the SBS. We commence in a week with the two families (American and Swedish) and Jake. Please pray that God would equip all of us to lead and teach well. We’re really excited that after 2 ½ years of being in Thailand we’re about to start the SBS, the reason why we came here to begin with.
We pray that all of you are doing well and that God’s continually drawing you into a greater friendship and intimacy than ever before. May God’s will be done in all of our lives.
Blessings,
Rob and Cy
See our pictures by the link on the left

What have we been up to?

Greetings,

We have been a little late on our monthly updates this year. We had some opportunities arise that allowed us to participate in events in other countries. Our global leaders in YWAM encouraged us to participate in what was called “The YWAM DNA Infusion”. It was a three week event where our leaders spoke about the original call of YWAM to go to ALL nations and preach the gospel to EVERY creature (according to the gospels of Matthew and Mark). We were challenged to renounce what we as humans believe are our rights (for example: a right to live wherever I want, a right to sleep in a bed, a right to do whatever I want, a right to eat the food I like and to not eat the food I don’t like, etc.). We were challenged to lay down our lives (renounce our rights) and follow Jesus. We were taught to first commit ourselves to obeying whatever He tells us and then listen to what God speaks to us. Then obey. Pretty simple, eh? Simple to understand, challenging to do. We were inspired throughout the three weeks. This event was held in Herrnhut, Germany (close to the borders of Poland and the Czech Republic). From there we went to another conference that was held in Hurlach, Germany (2 hours from Munich) where all of the leaders from the School of Biblical Studies from around the world gathered to talk, pray and seek the Lord together. Both times were great and God moved in both of them. We have a lot more to share but we understand that not everyone has the time to read long emails, so if you would like to know more of the things that God spoke to us then email us.



One of the things that God did was use another missionary couple to bless us with 100 Euros. So, between the two conferences we spent five days serving the YWAM base in Herrnhut by making food for them and then taking day trips to both Prague, Czech Republic and Gorlitz (a border town between Germany and Poland). We’ve posted pictures of everything on Facebook and our blog (robandcy.blogspot.com).

We have some great news! The foundation that we are spearheading for YWAM Thailand is getting closer to the goal. The original goal was to raise 18,000$CAD. That has changed because we have changed the law firm that we were going to go with. Now the cost is cheaper: 360,000 THB (13,000$CAD/10,500$US). That’s not all! We have raised almost 285,000THB and we only need another 75000THB (2,500$CAD/2,200$US). Isn’t God great? We’re so close to our goal. We just wanted to praise God because He raised about 10,000$CAD in two months. Only our Provider can do something like that. We want to thank those who gave because their sacrifice will serve many for years to come. Thank you!

So, we’re back in Thailand and eager to put all that we have learned into practice. Please pray for our language studies (yes, we’re still studying), our health (you never know what the enemy will throw at us) and for our ministries. Rob will be going to teach in the YWAM Discipleship Training School from May 31-June 6 in a country closed to the gospel, so please pray for God to use him and for safety. It’s an underground discipleship course so cover him with your prayers.
We love you and thank you for your support,
Rob and Cy Wiebe

We're back online!

Greetings to everyone,

This last month has had a lot of things packed into it so we’ll try to summarize and make this a short update. In our last update we mentioned that we have been in the process of setting up a new foundation which YWAM would have in order to offer long-term visas for its staff. As many of you already know, we have to travel too much due to visa situations and now that we have been seeking out solutions and praying about we sense God’s leading in this director. Our goal is to raise 18,000$CDN as soon as possible to officially apply for the foundation. We have raised close to 3,000$ already and continue to pray for more support.

We had the privilege of having friends from South Abbotsford Church come and visit us for two weeks. Chad and Theresa Unrau came with their two daughters Cassandra (14) and Maya (9). We showed them everything we could possibly show them in Chiang Rai. Then we went to Hua Hin with them to have some fun and get to know each other even more than before. It was a great experience for them and for us. It was the first time that anyone from our home church had come to visit us in the field and we felt refreshed by it. We showed them where we serve and the people we serve with. We even got to spend a day with a team in a small village in the mountains of northern Thailand. That was an experience in itself. We felt very blessed by them and by God for bringing them. Our hope is that this experience will help everyone feel more connected even though we are half a world apart.

We’re back into the swing of things here at the base, serving in our capacities. We continue discipling the staff, the students and the people we reach out to. We really enjoy what God has called us to do here in Thailand. The kingdom of God is birthed, built and extended through relationships, both with God and with others, so to be in a position to constantly support and promote relationships between people is a joy to us. May God continue to build His kingdom across the nations and cultures, reaching all people everywhere.

We thank you all for your support and prayers and emails. We look forward to keeping up with you and having you be a part of our lives, even at a distance. God bless you and keep you and may His face shine upon you and be gracious and give you peace.

With love,

Rob and Cy