tHI

Tjke Memo^A So/ournin0A in 'Ukailand"By faith they sojourned in the land....

looking forward to a city which has foundations,whose builder and maker is God."

HEB. 11:8-10

Alan Bemo

Rt. 3, Box 94JopUn, MO 64801New Telephone: (417) 781-2366

THE BEMO'S SOJOURNS

March 10, 1989

Forwarding Agent:Linda Goerke

R.R. 1,King City, Missouri 64463

Dear Friends,

"A man's mindplans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." (Prov. 16:9) This scripture has become of great importance atthis point in our lives. We are doing a lot of thinking and planning about the future but at the same time doing a lot of prayingand having faith that the Lord is directing our steps. We are writing this letter mainly to tell you about this planning. It is ourdesire that as you read you will think and pray with us.

Janet and I are both going to school. Janet is taking 17 hours this semester at Ozark Christian College and MissouriSouthern. She is working on two degree programs. I am taking 19 hours this semester at Crowder College and working on acertificate program in water and wastewater management. I will graduate the first of August, the Lord willing, with an A. A.degree and should be certified by the Missouri EPA to operate water and wastewater plants. The reason I was interested in thisfield was because of the experience we had in Thailand in putting in village water systems. Another reason has been a desire Ihave had for years to be able to have credentials to go to a country which is restricted to missionaries and do the Lord's work asPaul did. I would like to be able to go as a development worker, technician, or teacher.

When I look at a map of Asia today I see that the vast majority of land and population is inaccessible to people applying forvisas as a missionary. Japan, Singapore, the Philippines, and Hong Kong (only till 1997) are completely open to missionaries.Taiwan and Thailand are on the "emerging restricted" list. That is, it is getting harder and harder to enter these countries. Justthis last summer of 1988 the formerly restricted countries of Indonesia and Malaysia closed completely. At the same timealmost all the countries of Asia are open to businessmen, teachers, technicians, and development workers. The extreme exceptions are the totally restricted countries of Mongolia and North Korea. Vietnam, Laos, and Kampuchea are still extremelyrestricted but foreigners from some countries are working even in these places.

Because of our experience of 20 years of working with Mandarin speaking Chinese we are mainly interested in NortheastBurma, China, and Northern Thailand. We are especially interested in the southern province of Yunnan in China because weworked with the Yunnanese in Northern Thailand who had fled China during the communist revolution.

We are not wanting to change the thrust of our lives—that of the sharing of Christ as the most meaningful purpose of existence. When we were in Thailand the reason we were there was to preach the gospel. As a natural result of being a Christianand having the resources we helped people in the area of agriculture, water improvement, and even medicine. While doingthese things we were able to be an example, teach with actions and words, and in the evenings were able to teach in homes andmeeting places. Our foremost plan is to gain access into Northeastern Burma and do the very same thing. Because of the present changes going on in Burma right now we are preparing to present a development proposal to that government. If this doesnot work out now it may in the near future. In this case we hope to keep an application for entry before the Lord and thegovernment and in the meantime work on plan number two: Seek entry into China. This appears very feasible from severalangles and we have already sent two resumes for possible work there. Evangelistic work there would have to be much more lowkeyed but would be never-the-less effective. A third plan would be to go back to Thailand as developers and continue withwork which we were doing. The government of Thailand has communicated with all missionaries in Thailand that they are going to be getting rid of all missionaries. The Ministry of Religious Affairs has told the missionaries that if any are qualified theyshould try to seek entry as development organizations.

We believe God has given us a ministry among the Chinese and has put these things upon our hearts. It is easy to see howGod has led in the past but sometimes hard to have faith that He is working the future out in such a way that we will be amazedat the way it comes together. Please pray with us in all these things. We are hoping some miraculous leading will come in thenext few months.

In the meantime some wonderful things are happen-ing right around here. Our family has two weddings jplanned for this summer. Becky is marrying Brian "Hamlin, a fine Christian young man from a family here I vin Joplin who is very close to ours. They have set the ^date of the wedding for August 1st. Jon is engaged to be JBL^married to Michelle Bouvier, a girl he met last year atthe church our family attends in Joplin. They have set a

Moo and Beth left for the Orient on February 28th. They went to Hong Kong first to get visas and then on to Thailand to bethere on the first anniversary of Moo's fathers death. He is hoping to be able to affectively witness to his sisters and mother.They have made plans to go to mainland China to look up some of Moo's relatives there. They don't know exactly how longthey will be overseas. They have applied for the job of dorm parents at Morrison Academy in Taiwan where Beth went to high

On January 3rd, we celebrated Mom Dittemore's 80th birthday. Twentyof the Maxey clan came for the second, third and fourth for a great celebra-tion and family union. Sixty-three friends from Joplin dropped in at herbouse at an open house held January 3rd. I know many of you would haveliked to attend. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and singing. Boy, canthe Maxeys sing (and talk)!! Mom's health is very good but she tires quick- H|||||

We have been speaking on weekends at supporting churches and church missions meetings. We still have a few Sundaysopen from now till August and would be glad to speak to your group. If that doesn't work out and you would like to use ourslide presentation please let us know.

We continue to be convicted of the world's need for a Savior and His commission to "Go into all the world." We continueto be encouraged by the Holy Spirit and by your interest in God's work. Please continue to pray fervently for us and the workthat God has for us to do in the remaining few days of our sojourn here on earth.

Yours in Jesus,

Alan and Janet Bemo

Formosa Christian Mission

c/o Mrs. Linda Goerke

R.R. 1, Box 115King City, MO 64463

ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED

11ISSIDH SERVlCtiS BSSHiBlJXKHPXVILLE TN 3790V

Non-profit OrganizationU.S. POSTAGE

PAID

King City, MO 64463PERMIT NO. 4

m

TJke Semo'i Soiourninffi In Okailand

Alan & Janet Bemo

FOOD FOR THE HUNGRY

7729 E. Greenway Rd.Scottsdale, AZ 85260

Yokefellow;

Linda Goerke

3106 Summit Ave.

St.Joseph, MO 64506

August 25, 1989

"Byfaith they sojourned in the landlooking forward to a city which hes foundations,

whose builder and maker is God."HEB. 11:8-10

The new team:

Alan and Janet,

Sarah-12, Nathan-IA,and Rachel-5.

Dear Friends,

What a rellefl! Weddings are over, I have finished my education, we havesent Nathan on to Malaysia, we're moved out of our house, and we have justfinished ten days of training with Food for the Hungry. With theaccomplishmnent of each of these items we have felt a ton of load come offour shoulders. As this happens we are feeling more and more excited aboutgetting to Thailand. We were planning on leaving on August 30th but havenow delayed our departure till September 20th to be able to do a few morethings and get sufficient support raised.

Probably the biggest relief Is finalizing plans to join Food for theHungry. If you received our March prayer letter you may remember ustalking about trying to find some way which would allow us to get intoThailand or certain other Asian countries that are closing or are nowclosed to "missionaries." After investigating several possibilities andafter much prayer we have joined Food for the Hungry. This is a non-profitdevelopment organization which is concerned with addressing the two hungersof man — spiritual and physical. We are happy to have this opportunity tocontinue to serve God within the framework of F.H. (Food for the Hungry),an organization made up of skilled Christian workers. We will be leavingfor Thailand very soon where I will do development work as a watertechnician. We will be able to use the knowledge we have been acquiringand our past experience to do water projects in north-eastern Thailand andbe a witness for Christ as we are doing so. This will give us thecredentials we need to stay In the country and the credibility to be aneffective witness while we are there. I have believed for many years thatthis would be a very effective way to serve God in Thailand. We havemailed a detailed description of this Important change to most of oursupporters. If you have any questions, Linda will be glad to send you acopy upon request. We continue to be directly supported and responsible tochurches and individuals who have faithfully supported us for many years.We praise God that we have almost 100% of the monthly support we need butwe are still lacking quite a bit of the outgoing expenses. Allcontributions should be written to "Food for the Hungry" with a notation"for Alan & Janet Bemo."

I am writing to you from Scottsdale, Arizona. We have just finished twoweeks of intensive training with F.H. which I heartily recommend foranyone. It really opened our eyes to the whole world's needs, (did youknow 35 to 40 thousand people die every day due to hunger?!) and howimportant it is to help the whole man. Without critical physical needs metin love it is hard for a person to respond to his spiritual needs. Thehumility and servant's attitude of the whole F.H. staff and overseasvolunteers really impressed us. We are happy to be part of their new phasein development work.

A lot of changes have taken place lately. Please notice in the letter-headabove that Linda Goerke has moved and we are calling her our "yokefellow"instead of forwarding agent. She will still take care of prayer letters,displays, and any personal matters. Also, please notice our change ofaddress. Until we get settled in a house in Thailand, F.H. will forwardall mail to us.

Jon & Michelle Bemo- Married May 12 Becky & Brian Hamlin - Married Aug. 5

I want to back up and talk about some events which were only mentioned inthe first paragraph. Weddings: I don't know what the deal is with mykids. They like outdoor weddings and getting married young. Maybe it hassomething to do with the fact that Janet and I were married outdoors and at19. Jon and Michelle were married on May 12th by a beautiful stream at afriend's house. The only problem is that it rained and the ceremony wasmoved into the house. It was a beautiful wedding in spite of the rain.Becky and Brian's wedding was on August 5,th, a gorgeous day, by anotherstream at another friend's house. About 200 people attended this event

-TTtricti r-drm't beTTeve could have been more perfect. ~• ,

Yes, Nathan is in Malaysia. Because the Dalat boarding school's semesterstarted on August 14, we had to send Nathan on ahead. It was hard to seehim off at the Tulsa airport on the 9th but he called us from San Franciscoairport, and again after he got to Singapore, Nathan is really happy to bethere as he has been looking forward to going to school at Dalat for fiveyears. Those interested in writing him can write to: DALAT SCHOOL,SANDYCROFT, Bungah Rd, 11200, Penang, Malaysia.

One thing I haven't mentioned yet is that Mom Dlttemore is moving into theSpring River Christian Retirement Village in Joplin as of September 1st.We are happy she made this arrangement because we know she'll be happythere among friends and will be well cared for. We had been worried aboutleaving her alone.

Our older children: Moo and Beth are back home after a trip to Thailand.They had a good visit and Moo's sister accepted Christ while they werethere. Moo's mother came back to the U.S. to live with them and hasaccepted Christ since then. Brian and Becky are living in Columbia,Missouri where he is working and she is finishing her education. We splitour home into two apartments so Jon & Michelle could live in one of themwhile they continue with their education. We rented the other half to acouple who are students at Ozark Christian College.

Again, we are so excited about serving the Lord in Thailand. If you haveany questions please write or call. Until September 16th you can reach usat 417-782-2225. If you need more information concerning F.H. call 1-800-

-2—Hunger. —

Yours in Jesus,

Alan and Janet Bemo

Linda Goerke3106 Summit Ave.

St.Joseph, MO 64506

ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED

V.

NiS&IQH StiRViUtls' H3SH.

KNDKVILLE TH

Non-Profit OrganizationU.S. POSTAGE

PAID

King City, MO 64463PERMIT NO. 4

IHI'

ZJfte ^emo J Soiournin^d in Ohailand

Alan & Janet Bemo

FOOD FOR THE HUNGRY

GPO BOX 2830

Bangkok, 10501, Thailand(Tel. 66-02-585-2022)

"By faith they sojourned In the land....looking forward to a city which has foundations,

whose builder and maker Is God."HEB. 11:8-10

December, 1989

Yokefellow:

Linda Goerke

3106 Summit Ave.

St. Joseph, MO 64506(816) 279-7783

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year From Thailand!!!

Yes we are in Bangkok, having arrived at midnight on November 17th. We were met by three FoodFor The Hungry people —Director George Fune, Nancy Sayers, and Pai San. We stayed in a Hotelfor four days and then with friends, Tom & Debbie Morse, for about another week as we looked fora house. We have found one which is partially furnished and quite reasonable. Besides bedrooms, wealso have a school-room for the kids. We are in Thai language study already and are enjoying beingback in the Thai society. Sarah & Rachel are studying Thai too and are making new friends. Sarahhad her 13th birthday on December 6th — oh Boy, another teen-ager.

We had a great trip from Joplin to Seattle, Washington. It took us almost exactly two weeks withspeaking at Churches in Sublett and Dodge City, Kansas, and Anaheim, California. We also took inthe National Missionary Convention in Anaheim and did some sight seeing. The only car trouble wehad on the way was a wheel that almost came off in Tuscon (that took IV2 hours to fix) and a fuelpump which went out in a little town in the middle of the prairie. It went out right in front of a yardsale with tools for sale and close to a parts store (that took 1 hour to fix). God certainly was lookingout for us both times. We saw some of the aftermath of the earth-quake in Oakland when we deliveredour two small crates to be shipped over here. We had a great time at the Overlake Christian Churchin Seattle and then had a pleasant plane trip to Bangkok.

About a week before we left the States we had a disturbing message on the answering machine onemorning in Anaheim when we woke up. It said that Nathan was not in serious condition but thathe had been in an accident. We called the boarding school in Malaysia right away and found out thathe had taken a bad spill on his skate board and had broken his collarbone. He also got skinned uppretty bad. We just got a letter from the school nurse telling us they had taken the figure 8 braceoff. We sure are anxiuos to see him when he arrives next week.

A few days before we left the States we got a call from Moo and Beth to tell us that we are goingto become grandparents next year. We were really happy to hear about this and I can tell you forsure it is going to be hard to keep grandma Janet home when this big event takes place.

1st Meal in Thailand New Friends 1st Day

The saddest news we got was the day before we left from my dad telling us that Dot, his wife, hadjust gotten acall from her family in Dallas saying the her son was not expected to live very long.They left immediately for Dallas and sure enough he passed away shortly after they arrived.

I need to straighten out a misconception I had of where we are going to be working. We will be inNortheast Thailand, in an area in and around the towns of Buriram, and Sunn. I will be workingwith a man named David Sobeck.

After Nathan's arrival of the 14th we are planning on going on a trip on the 16th for a week to theNortheast to see where we will be working. After that we are planning on being up around Chiangmaifor a week so we can encourage the Churches where we used to work. I anticipate having some interesting things to tell you in January after these trips.

We have been going to Thai Church ever since we arrived and are attending aThai Bible study threedoors down from our house on Tuesday nights. We are so excited about being here. The most excitingthing is to be able to share God's message, hear it, and praise Him in Thai. That is the mam thingwe will be concentrating on in the next few months. Pray for us that we might have His power tolearn quickly and well. Then, pray that He will fill us with His message and His spirit so that wewill be sharing Almighty God Himself.

Yours In Jesus,

Linda Goerke

3106 Summit Ave.

St. Joseph, MO 64506

Alan Bemo

Non-Profit OrpanizationU.S. POSTAGE

PAID

King City, MO 64463PERMIT NO, 4