January 2004
April 2003
October 2002
December 2001
April 2001
November 2000
June 2000
September 1999
March 1999
November 1998
July 1998
January 1998
September 1997
January 2004
Dear Friends,
A late Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you!! We enjoyed our first Christmas in Minnesota since 1995. It was fun for Elsie and Noah (and us) to experience a white Christmas and get to be around family during this season. We are here in the US until July 2004 and hope to get the chance to visit with many of you during this time.
Elsie and Noah are enjoying attending New London-Spicer Elementary School and living with Grandpa and Grandma Wendroth with their nice big yard in the country woods. Cheryl completed her first semester at St. Cloud State University with flying colors. She had the flu during finals but still managed to ace her exams. She is working towards a master’s degree in Speech and Language Pathology. Many of you may wonder how such a degree can be used in missions. One of the ways Cheryl plans to use the degree is to work with children at the international schools in Chiang Mai. This would fill a need that has not been met and there are 5 international schools in our city. She is also looking into doing rounds with a Thai speech pathologist at Chiang Mai University Hospital next year when we are back in Thailand. Cheryl will still be a Covenant missionary in this role and not receive any extra payment for this work.
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Randy has been attempting to follow the role of his grandpa and great-grandpa in doing some preaching while visiting churches this year. He also made a trip back to visit Thailand in December. It was good to be able to spend time with staff at the hatchery and with Anan and Amnuay from the Center for Church Enablement. We had our annual Christmas party at the hatchery on Dec 12th and had a huge turnout of about 200 from the nearby village where most of our workers live. We pray the Christmas message would have reached the hearts of many who attended.
In 2003 our hatchery switched over to a new strain of tilapia called Supreme Tilapia. This strain is being developed by a Norwegian company that has lots of experience with fish genetics from the salmon industry. We are the first hatchery in Thailand to use it and customers are already noticing its good growth. It’s not genetically modified, just improved through good old selection. In 2003 we expanded the farm adding 9 more ponds on rented land to the south. We also expanded the number of nursery farms who receive small loans to grow out fingerlings for us to 13 families with over 30 ponds.
This past year we were able to add two more staff to the Center for Church Enablement in N. Thailand. Ot joined the music department and Niew joined the church planting department. In October CCENT put on an evangelistic music camp that brought together 80 kids from the many different groups that are studying Thai music.
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Thank you for your support and prayers over the last year. We pray God’s richest blessings over you and your families in the New Year.
Love,
Randy, Cheryl Elsie and Noah Bevis
April 2003
Dear Friends,
We hope this letter finds all of you well and enjoying the coming of spring and its feeling of new beginnings. As you can see, we’re still hangin’ in there here in Chiang Mai. But, our family has some big changes to look forward to in the coming months!
First of all, we will be returning to Minnesota in August 2003 for an 11-month home assignment. We plan to stay with Cheryl’s parents near New London, so Elsie and Noah will become the 4th generation to attend the New London-Spicer school district. It will be quite a change for our kids to experience school in the States. Luckily they’re still naive enough to think riding a school bus sounds like FUN! Randy will be doing the majority of itinerating on his own since Cheryl will be attending school as well. She recently got accepted into the communications disorders master’s program at St. Cloud State University after much seeking of God’s direction for future ministry involvement. This means she’ll do one year of studies during this upcoming home assignment and will complete it in a future one. Cheryl’s hopes are to use her skills as a speech therapist to serve the large missionary/foreign community, and possibly Thais as well—however the Lord leads!
Thankfully our housing while in the States is provided for, but we still have a need for vehicles. Randy will need one for itinerating, and Cheryl will need one for getting to school and everything else. We welcome any leads you might have as well as your prayers in providing for this rather big need. Cheryl is already biting her nails over the thought of driving on icy roads again—it’s been 6 years since we’ve been through a Midwest winter. Her biggest driving challenge here is trying to dodge the water buffaloes on the way to pick the kids up from school!
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| We recently had an opportunity to provide aid to 158 Karen families which had been run out of their villages by the Burmese army and have set up a new village across the river from Thailand. They lost their rice fields and were without food. Our friends at Partners Relief and Development are aiding these displaced people with rice and other essentials. Our hatchery donated 1000 lbs. of fish to help out. |
We are encouraged as we look back over the way God has blessed our work. In 2002 the hatchery sold 17 million fish, nearly double the amount sold in 2001. This increase was made possible through the addition of more ponds, paid for with Covenant World Relief funds, and the fact that the market for fry has expanded and solidified for us as well. We praise God for the good year we had for the hatchery and that it was able to support all the ministries of the Center for Church Enablement. Money was also donated to others in Thailand for such things as planting churches, improvements for existing churches, financially struggling organizations, and aid for orphans and schools. Besides money, we donated around 3000 kg of fish to the poor and additional fish fry to stock in ponds at Thai schools, community ponds and orphanage ponds. For Randy one of the major joys was seeing a shift in the thinking of his Thai co-workers, from that of being only “receivers” to also being “givers.” Since our beginnings we have generously received from Covenant World Relief for setting up the hatchery, Friends of World Mission, and supporting individuals and churches, and now we are able to bless others in need. This shift didn’t happen on its own, but our staff made the conscious decision to put aside money from every sale as a tithe to help others. We are so thrilled that our Thai colleagues have chosen to experience the blessing it is to give!
What a privilege to be a part of God’s family where we have experienced the joys of giving and receiving with you. Thank you for your part in our lives!
Sincerely,
Randy, Cheryl, Elsie and Noah Bevis
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Randy has made two trips to Bangladesh to help Global Partners International develop a new hatchery and a network of fish distribution sites across the country. Some facts about Bangladesh:
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October 2002
Dear Friends,
We’re back into a routine again after a wonderful summer vacation in Minnesota. 
This June 21st marked the 50th wedding anniversary of Cheryl’s parents, so we spent a week in the Black Hills (their honeymoon spot) with the whole family. We had beautiful weather, beautiful scenery, and a fun and relaxing time together. And thanks to the nice hot weather in July we were able to thoroughly enjoy the lake up at the Bevis cabin in Ely. It was so nice to see our family and friends again! We were also able to briefly share at our home churches, spend a week at Excelsior Covenant’s VBS, and Randy went to Covenant Pines Bible Camp as a missionary speaker and counselor for junior high kids.
Unfortunately, our vacation wasn’t completely blissful as we found out a week before returning to Thailand that our home in Chiang Mai had been robbed. We lost a few thousand dollars worth of electronic items along with an assortment of other things. It was difficult to be so far away, but thankfully our landlady and maid filed a police report and took care of the cleaning up. We are so grateful for the many financial gifts we received to help cover our losses. We have been able to replace most of the items that were stolen.
Elsie and Noah are both attending Grace International School this year. Elsie is in 2nd grade and Noah is in Kindergarten. Elsie enjoys playing sports of all kinds while Noah spends hours every day drawing pictures of super heroes. Elsie is working hard to grow up as fast as she can. She’s already planned out where she’s going to college, where she’s going to work and what kind of car she’s going to drive. And I’m still having a hard time deciding what to make for dinner!
Things are chugging along well at the fish hatchery this year. 
We worked ourselves out of the red we were in from last season and have expanded production. 1.6 million fry were sold in August--a new record sale month for us. Randy went to the Philippines in August to work out an agreement to bring a genetically improved (not modified) strain to Thailand to start breeding for Thai fish farmers. Our hope is that this improved fish will set our hatchery apart for having the best quality and that it will help the fish farmers to grow bigger fish faster. Randy has also been asked to be a consultant for hatcheries that are run by believers in Bangladesh. He is excited to be able to help with the needs for fish in this country, one of the poorest in the world. He will be making his first trip there in November.
On the church planting side of the work here in Chiang Mai,
Anan and Amnuay have started a new cell group which meets
Sunday morning at Aay’s home. 
(Aay is one of the youth we
wrote about in our last newsletter.) Pray that this cell group
would be a light in their neighborhood and that many of the
villagers would attend worship there.
Keystone Challenge
During the last annual meeting of the Covenant Church, held in June at Keystone, Colorado, an important initiative called the “Keystone Challenge” was passed to raise funds for World Mission. Historically, the Covenant Church has only been able to increase the annual mission budget by about 3% per year. This has not been sufficient to send out new missionaries (unless others resigned) or to expand into new ministries around the world. The Keystone Challenge gives churches and individuals a chance to raise funds above and beyond what the coordinated budget passed each year at the annual meeting has allowed for. If you are interested in helping Covenant World Mission move forward in ministry and meet the many new opportunities that God is calling us to around the world, please send your donations to: Evangelical Covenant Church, World Mission, 5101 N. Francisco Ave., Chicago IL 60625. Checks should be made out to Evangelical Covenant Church and labeled “$500,000 World Mission Appeal.”
Love,
Randy, Cheryl, Elsie and Noah Bevis
Prayer Requests:
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We would like to wish you all warm Christmas greetings from an unusually cool Chiang Mai. The temps are getting down in the 50’s at night and only in the upper 70’s in the daytime. It makes for nice soccer weather! Randy is enjoying coaching Elsie’s team this year. Cheryl is at last finding some time for herself now that both kids are in school. She is volunteering at Grace International School (where Elsie attends) working with the special ed. teacher. |
Noah, Uncle Ben, and Elsie showing off their moose tattoos in the hot tub at Grandpa & Grandma Bevis’ cabin last summer. The lake was generally too cold for us Thai folks!
August meant back to school for Elsie but this year she’s attending a new school. She is in first grade and enjoying it. Noah has been growing up so much this year. He is attending preschool three days a week and even rides with Elsie and some other missionary kids to and from school. |
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 Elsie is standing in front of what will be our new house come February 2002. We have often dreamed of owning a house and this will be about as close as we have come. We will be renting it when it is finished but the owner is letting us design it so Cheryl has spent many hours planning the details. It will really suit our needs and the best part is that it is only 3 minutes from Elsie’s and Noah’s schools. We will have a guestroom so please come and pay us a visit! |
April 2001
Dear Friends,
We're once again basking in the tropical warmth of another Thailand hot season. Aside from the sweaty bodies, tiredness and heat headaches, there are good things that go along with the season: lots of swimming and water fights! Elsie has just recently started swimming underwater and also ditched her bike training wheels so she's been thoroughly enjoying the pleasures of growing up. It's been neat watching her change and learn new things this year, although she's still the same sweet girl as ever. Her non-morning personality came through yesterday as I was combing her hair for school. I commented on how pretty the birds were singing and she said, "I don't like it when they sing. They wake me up. I wish they'd go down the road and sing." Maybe some of you out there can relate to this?!
Noah is reaping some of the benefits of having an older sister, too. He can already sing the alphabet song and count to 20. And of course, the silliness continues with his singing and dancing and dismemberment of all his Power Rangers. He still loves wearing his Batman outfit, but has worn out the elastic so he ends up spending most of his day pulling them back up after they've fallen to the floor. Mommy really should go to the market and get some new elastic-it's times like these I wish Grandma W. and her sewing skills were still here.
We are again living back at our own home after getting relieved earlier than expected from our dorm parenting duties. The DeNeui family arrived the end of March to finish out the school year before leaving for the States in June. Their son, JP, is one of the children at the dorm, so now they are able to be together as a family before their big move. It feels good to have our load lightened and to be home again! We can never say thank you enough to those of you who have prayed us through the past several months. They certainly helped sustain us.
Randy continues to be busy with the fish hatchery. They are currently breeding three strains of tilapia fish. There are currently 16 Thai employees at the farm and we continue to pray for these staff, many of whom have not made a commitment to Christ. The hot season is good for fish breeding and production is increasing. The farm is currently hosting two fisheries students from a local university for a two month internship. Monday worship time is a fun time of playing music and singing. Randy is getting better at playing the seung, a Thai mandolin-like string instrument. Elsie has been asking for one too and was really happy when Amnuay got one for her last week. Maybe someday Randy and Elsie can tour the States together!
With love,
Cheryl, Randy, Elsie and Noah Bevis
PRAYER REQUESTS:
Please pray for the Covenant work in Colombia, S.A., as they are making plans to build a tilapia hatchery and Randy is involved as a resource person. He will be visiting in June.
Praise God for our latest acquisitions of a used van for the Center's youth work, and a used truck for the hatchery.
Pray for the right person to be added to our staff in the area of church planting, and the provision for the extra funds needed for the salary.
Praise God for those who gave towards the dorm needs of a large oven and kitchen water heater. Thank you!
November 2000
Dear Friends,
Looks like we're way overdue for another update. We've thankfully been nudged into this task by a few friends who have written with questions like, "What's going on over there?!" Here comes the answer…
We returned to Thailand on August 2 from our home assignment in the States. A few short days later we were already welcoming in part of our new "family." As we mentioned in our last newsletter, we have taken on the job of serving as dorm parents this year for two 8th grade and two 10th grade Covenant missionary kids. Since their families are living in places where there are no English-speaking schools, the older kids come here to Chiang Mai to attend one of our local international schools. The kids are all easy to have, but nevertheless the added responsibilities have kept us hopping and our own children a bit confused at times. We are continuing to rent our own home so we can return to it at the end of the school year, but currently live at the dorm with the kids. Praise God for the recent word of acceptance for a family from Michigan who will be coming to replace us in the next school year.
Since this is our first year of being a large "dorm family" we have been spending a lot of time in creating a home for these kids. One need that we have is for a large size oven, a more costly item here than in the States since they have to be imported. Also, being that Thai homes generally don’t come with hot water, we need to buy a water heater for the kitchen sink. The kids have been boiling water on the stove for washing dishes, but this is obviously not the most convenient or safe way of doing things. Together these things come to around $1000. We would appreciate your prayers, or financial gifts, towards these items if you feel led to help. Gifts should be sent to the Department of World Mission, 5101 N. Francisco, Chicago, IL 60625. Please add the designation "Chiang Mai Dorm Equipment" on your check.
Elsie has reached a major milestone in her life with her entrance into kindergarten. She really loves being a "big kid" and thanks God at every mealtime prayer that she can go to "kinnergarren". Randy and I attended our first parent-teacher conference last week and of course reveled in the praise for our daughter. Miss Maggie (Elsie's teacher) said that Elsie is one of the best students when it comes to sharing, listening and following orders. That's our girl!!
Noah is keeping us, and the rest of the town, entertained with his three-year old antics. He loves dressing up in his Batman outfit and wears his bright red ladybug rainboots to complete the look. Since he insists on going everywhere with Mommy, that means we spend our mornings running errands around town with people smiling, laughing and calling, "Bat-man!" at us. It's nice that Noah can bring a spot of joy into so many people's lives without even trying! Maybe all of us should get a Batman suit…
Over the past few months sales of our fish have dropped off considerably. One reason for this is the economy of Thailandwhich continues to struggle. We have started producing a red tilapia fish that is selling well at the moment and we are working on increasing our production of this fish to help meet our budget for the Center for Church Enablement. Our farm recently hosted two Cambodian pastors whom we trained in how to produce tilapia. They hope to start a hatchery in Cambodia to generate income for the Christians who have recently returned to their country after many years of living in refugee camps in Thailand. Please continue to pray for us as we live out our faith through this hatchery and by visiting fish farmers across northern Thailand.
With love from Thailand,
Randy and Cheryl Bevis
PRAYER REQUESTS:
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Our family arrived in Minnesota the end of February for home assignment, immediately jumping into itineration. Elsie and Noah were thrilled at the sight of snow, and had lots of fun jumping into that until it all melted a few days later. (Elsie’s still hoping for more snow, and I’m still hoping we’ll eventually hit the 80’s!) We spent much of our first 2 months traveling as a family. It was fun, yet the schedule started wearing a bit on Mom and the kids, so we’ve sent Randy out on his own for the past few trips. It has been such a pleasure to get to know so many of you who have blessed us through your support, prayers, and friendship. By the end, we will have visited about 40 churches during our 4 months of itineration. For those of you who need to brush up on your Thai, that means "thank you very much!" This is especially for the anonymous donor who has provided for us in such a wonderful way. Money was given for us to rent a mini-van for our time here in the States, and it has been a tremendous help to us. We hope you know how appreciated this gift is! These are just a few of Elsie and Noah’s new favorite things. Life in Minnesota has been full of new experiences for our children. They’ve been enjoying lots of time at Grandma’s and Grandpa’s houses, playing with cousins, meeting new friends, watching cartoons in English, ordering kids’ meals at fast food restaurants and sometimes even eating the food. They’ve spent countless hours in planes, trains and automobiles (yes, we’ve traveled in them all) during our time here and thankfully handle it all well.  |
I always say God knew what kind of children we needed. By the way, even Mom and Dad are revelling in the good things about Minnesota: the natural beauty of the lakes, birds, and wildflowers, fishing, Target, and not having your clothes sticking to you all day from the heat and humidity. But who knows, maybe that is yet to come!
 ...the motto of missionary life. Not only has that philosophy served us well here in the States, but it will also get us through more changes coming up as we return to Thailand. We will be dorm parents for 4 Covenant missionary kids who will be attending international school in Chiang Mai. This means we’ll be moving to a different house (thankfully only a couple blocks away) and doubling the size of our family. We’ve agreed to fill in for this coming school year while we continue to recruit for a couple/family that feels called to this type of ministry. We have had some "nibbles" but nothing definite yet for the 2001-2002 school year and beyond. If you’re interested, please contact us or Covenant Headquarters for more information. |
Anan and her husband Amnuay have recently recorded 20 of the Northern Thai hymns they have written over the past 3 years. Joining them was a group of youth that has been learning to play the traditional instruments under Anan and Amnuay’s tutelage. The fish hatchery work continues to do well even in our absence. This is a blessing and relief to us as our staff had no experience with breeding fish until 2 years ago. We have even been able to expand our farm thanks to an anonymous donation and funds from Covenant World Relief. The initial land consisted of 4 acres--now we have nearly 8 acres with 16 fishponds. There has been a steady stream of visitors at the farm, including university students, fish farmers and mission organizations. Production still tends to outnumber our sales so pray that more farmers will hear about our fish and buy them! |
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Prayer Requests
"I wanna go home!"
These words seem to be increasing in frequency. Elsie and Noah speak often of their lives in Chiang
Mai and in spite of all the fun they’re having here are looking forward to going home. We’ll be
returning to Thailand on August 1, with mixed emotions and hearts full of new memories of so many
of you. God bless you!
Randy, Cheryl, Elsie and Noah
Dear Friends,
It’s always hard to get started on a newsletter, especially when we’ve got the past 6 months to cover! Things are always changing, kids are always growing…just like in the U.S. This morning I just dropped Elsie off at her new preschool so I’m feeling inspired to make use of some uninterrupted moments to write. Elsie and two other friends are being taught by Mr. Brian (Carlson), our Covenant short-termer who is here in Chiang Mai working as "dorm dad" for three missionary kids who attend international school. Elsie adores Mr. Brian and has already taught him how to give bear hugs.
In May we celebrated Noah’s 2nd birthday. He’s quite the big boy now and insists on doing everything "by myself!" A couple nights ago he came out of his room triumphantly announcing, "I did it by myself!" wearing his jammies with the shirt and shorts on backwards. It was a major achievement since all the times before he’s appeared stumbling with both legs in one hole. Our home would definitely be lacking in laughter if it weren’t for Noah.
Our family has another big change coming as we near the end of our first term as career missionaries. This means it’s finally time for home assignment. We’re planning on being in the States for spring/early summer 2000. This will give us some time to spend with family and friends and travelling to churches to get acquainted or re-acquainted. As our children have never played in the snow, we’re got that at the top of our to-do list. But first we’ll have to locate something besides shorts and t-shirts to wear. They don’t know what cold really means in Minnesota!
Things at the farm are going well. Enough fish fry have been sold to support the Center for Church Enablement for the last three months. Our production is around 1 million tilapia fish per month. We have also been able to provide many farmers with technical help in raising fish. We hope that these new relationships will lead to opportunities to share the gospel and plant more churches in northern Thailand. Fellow Christians are being helped as well. In July, we assisted in a project at the Home for Tribal Children and we’re currently helping a missionary set up a hatchery in another part of northern Thailand. Within our Covenant family we had the opportunity to host Cathy Campobello and Marlene Soto from Colombia. They were here to research the possibilities of setting up a hatchery in Colombia for outreach and for providing a support base for Covenant Kids.
Cheryl began teaching English a few months ago to 2 of our Thai staff. Meeting only one morning a week means slow progress, but her students are quick and eager learners. Our hope is that in the future they will be able to communicate personally with foreign visitors and lessen their dependence on us when English skills are called for. Cheryl is also taking time out in the afternoons to read through the book of John with our house help, Jane. Cheryl gets practice reading from the Thai Bible first and then Jane takes her turn reading the English version. In between is a lot of discussion. Jane is not yet a believer, but we’re trusting the Lord that seeds are being planted.
We pray that the Lord will use each of you to be planters of His love and salvation in the lives of those around you. Thank you for your love and prayers for us. They’re appreciated more than we can say.
Love,
Randy and Cheryl Bevis
Dear Friends,
Please join us in praising God for at last bringing the farm to the point of making money instead of just spending it! This is truly a joy to see after many months of hard work on the part of Randy and the rest of our teammates. Not that the hard work is over, but it’s great to see some fruits of all that labor. We have been able to sell about 100,000 fry per week in the month of March, at a little less than one penny a piece. It’s an encouraging start towards our Thai organization’s goal of self-support.
In addition to raising fish, we’re also working on raising children of God. Worship is regularly held at the farm, attended by the 9 farm workers, 5 of who are not yet Christians. Please pray for Daeng, Pai, Loon, Pan and Dee, that God would give them spiritual understanding and they would open their hearts to the Good News. We’re grateful as well for a good relationship with the village leader and the local villagers. May God use this to open many doors for sharing His love.
Amidst the joys of seeing the "birth" of the fish hatchery, we have felt the sorrow of two deaths, both just a month ago. The first was the suicide of a young man who had helped on the construction of the farm. Suicide is a not uncommon choice here in Thailand when someone fears they have contracted AIDS. Sadly, this only adds to the pain for those left behind who must live with thoughts of "what if?" The other death was that of our former evangelist’s son from illness. Please keep these families in your prayers, especially that the mother of the man who committed suicide would come to know the peace and love of God.
Anan and Amnuay, CCENT’s president and music department head, continue to work together in the areas of church planting and music. Weekly they visit a village chief, Po Luang Boon Ta, and his wife to teach them the basics of the faith. The wife has not accepted Christ yet, but we’re praying that she soon will and that their home would become the start of the first church in their village. In the area of church music, Amnuay has taught a group of local youth to play the Northern Thai instruments and they now travel together, performing at churches and special events.
On the more personal side, we’re glad to report that we passed the much anticipated government language test we took in December. The reason for this test is so we can show the government that we’re committed to being here more than just short-term and desire to really immerse ourselves in the Thai language and culture. Having a test to look forward to also kept us motivated in our language studies.
Our past dilemma over what to do about Elsie’s schooling just seemed to fade away. She’s been staying at home and we all feel this is best. The homework can wait! Elsie has a couple new friends now to keep her company—a long-nosed whip snake and an English cocker spaniel puppy. Our unusual girl is enamored with snakes, so Randy found her a nice little non-poisonous one to play with and hang around her neck. It’s actually rather amusing watching the reaction of visitors when Elsie fearlessly reaches into the cage and pulls out a snake.
Noah keeps on growing taller and not fatter. At our last visit, the dr. insisted I give Noah some medicine for worms. He told me he’d only believe Noah’s thinness ran in the family AFTER a round of medicine. Noah loves the water, whether it be indoors or out, and seems to find a way of getting himself drenched at least once a day. Now that we’re into the hot season again I guess it’s not such a bad idea!
We are so grateful to be children of God, and are grateful to each of you for enabling us to serve Him here in Thailand through your giving—in prayer and finances.
Love,
Cheryl and Randy Bevis
A Visit to "The Farm"
We realize that it’s difficult for friends at home to envision exactly what "the farm" means, so we’d like to make our best attempt at painting you a picture, and to let you know how you, too, can join us in this venture.
Randy and Cheryl moved to northern Thailand in June 1997 to work alongside a group of 6 Thai Covenant Christians who had formed an organization called the Center for Church Enablement in Northern Thailand (CCENT). One of our goals as an organization is to be self-supporting, which makes Randy’s background in aquaculture a very useful commodity. Fish farming, in our case the producing and selling of sex-reversed tilapia fry, gives a better return than most other agricultural products. In addition, there’s a low supply and high demand for our type of fish, making it easy to sell. In fact, ours is the only farm of its kind in the entire northern region of Thailand.
We are now selling our own fry, producing 500,000-700,000 fry per month. The hatchery has the capacity to produce up to 2 million fry per month, but our pond space limits us to a lower level. We employ 9 Thai staff; 4 are Christians and the other 5 are Buddhists from the local village. It is our prayer that over time these 5 non-Christians would come to see the grace and love of God through us and also become followers of Jesus.
We believe that God has brought us here to work with CCENT so we can enable our Thai teammates to reach their own people with the gospel. The money we make from the sale of fish will support our work in church planting and writing and teaching Northern Thai worship music. Along with supporting direct evangelism, the fish-selling business provides a natural avenue for being a witness to our customers and to the people in the village near where the farm is located. We don’t just sell the fish and send our customers on their way, but give them free technical advice so they can be successful themselves as fish farmers.
CCENT also has a development department, with one of our goals being to help those most in need. One way we’d like to do this is through a rotating small loan project for those who desire to raise fish but lack the money to invest in digging a fishpond. Fish farming is beneficial to the poor in that it can give them a source of income as well as provide them with the protein they typically lack in their diet. Fish is an important source of protein for the Thais but over-fishing, the creation of dams, and the use of pesticides in the rice fields has severely depleted the natural fish stocks. Aquaculture or fish farming is playing an increasingly important role in meeting the food security needs all over SE Asia.
Now, how about taking a look at the farm?
What we do at the farm: The process of breeding and sex-reversing tilapia
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An opportunity to help:
The Evangelical Covenant Church is currently assisting us in raising matching funds for CCENT. Each dollar raised will be matched by a private donor. These funds will be used to set up a rotating loan fund for poor farmers, expand our pond space and build additional staff housing on the farm. If you would like more information, please contact us at rcbevis@loxinfo.co.th. Your gifts are tax deductible and a receipt will be sent to you from the Evangelical Covenant Church of America. Send funds to Covenant Headquarters:
Evangelical Covenant Church
Dept. of World Mission
5101 N. Francisco Ave.
Chicago IL 60625
**Clearly mark your check: Matching Funds for CCENT, Thailand
Dear Friends,
Once again the holiday season is upon us, giving us the chance to wish you a very blessed Christmas and New Year as we provide you with an update of our past few months. We pray that you and your family will take the time to reflect on what God has done in your lives in the past year, and to remind yourselves of God’s marvelous character as well. One of the blessings we get from writing to you is that we are forced to do just that--as we look back we are able to see God’s goodness in our lives. And we have so much to be thankful for...
This November we finally saw the fulfillment of many months of anticipation. No, NOT another baby, but rather the arrival of my parents for a month’s visit. After over a year of separation, there was lots of catching up to do when it came to loving the grandchildren. Grandma and Grandpa Wendroth have been making sure to get in plenty of hugs and kisses, pushes on the swing, and chasing around the house while they can. None of us wants to even think about their too-soon departure next week. Even our helper, Jane, is commenting on how lonely it’s going to be once they’re gone! Living so far apart makes us all realize how precious the time we do have together is.
We’re also glad to report that 4 months ago we got ourselves a car. We are ever grateful to each of you who gave towards our vehicle fund. Our original plan was to get a larger vehicle, like a pick-up with seating in the back, but after I spent some time test-driving a big truck around town realized that was more than I wanted to handle. Being this is a 700-year old city, the streets are quite winding and narrow with minimal space for parking, not to mention full of terrible drivers. I felt I’d have a better chance in a regular car, so we ended up with a Honda Civic which is very easy to drive. And, with our remaining funds we were able to purchase a pick-up for the farm that is used daily. Last week Randy and a coworker took the truck to Bangkok and returned with 200,000 fish fry which were sold to fish farmers in the area. Praise God for the provision of these very big needs!
Things at the Chiang Mai Development Farm continue to progress. Nine fish ponds were dug in July, a staff house/office built in September, and the hatchery is now being completed. Electrical poles are also being put up to bring power into the farm. Once it’s fully operating, the fish hatchery will provide the income to pay our Thai staff as well as support the church and development work of our Thai organization (CCENT). We currently have four areas in which our Thai team is planting churches. In addition to these areas, we hope to see a church grow in the village where our farm is located as a result of our weekly worship and Bible studies there.
Change remains a constant when two small children are involved. In October we made the decision to take Elsie out of her Thai preschool. The differences between Thai and Western-style schooling and adult-child relationships were things we felt we could put up with, but the signs of stress we saw in Elsie were not. Thankfully things began to improve within days of removing her from school. With the activity of having my parents here we’ve put off the question of what to do now. Our choices are to keep her at home or send her to a rather expensive international preschool. Speaking as a selfish mom, I think I’d rather have her stay home, but Elsie does enjoy school and being with friends. Please pray for wisdom as we seek to make the best decision.
Noah is leaving the baby stage behind and is acting more and more like a toddler. He’s working hard at trying to keep up with his big sister. Last week he decided his toddler swing is too tame and wants to sit on Elsie’s big kid kind. Unfortunately, Elsie isn’t usually very gracious at sharing. Noah’s speech is developing quite rapidly and he’s able to repeat most words. It always amazes me how much an 18-month old can comprehend. One day he walked into our bedroom carrying his yogurt drink and from the kitchen I heard Elsie commanding, “Go get one for Elsie.” Seconds later he came to me and pointed at the drinks on the shelf. After giving him one I commented to Randy on how smart he was, to which Randy replied, “I think Elsie’s the smart one.” I guess so!
On December 6 we’ll FINALLY get to take that government Thai language test we’ve been anxiously waiting for. Please remember us in your prayers as the day approaches. We’ll be giving one big sigh of relief to be over that hurdle. I think both Randy and I are ready to take a break from formal language study.
Our first full year here in northern Thailand has been one of growth and blessings. What are we thankful for?
The list could go on forever, but hopefully we’ve inspired you to start making your own. May you look forward to the New Year as one of hope and possibility.
Love,
Randy and Cheryl Bevis
PLEASE PRAY FOR:
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| Four-acre farm before ponds were dug | Ponds, looking back toward office/staff house | Laa & Randy in the hatchery |
Dear Friends,
Happy 2nd Half of the Year! And for us it’s especially Happy End of the HOT Season!! This year has been weird weather-wise in the Eastern Hemisphere just as it has been in the west. Not only did we seem to miss out on the cool season (during your winter months) but we also got an extra dose of heat for the hot season. I was frequently asking God for added patience, which may sound silly, but after weeks of unceasing heat, tempers tend to flare easily. Praise God for the change of seasons--looking out the window this morning I see nothing but dark clouds and rain, and couldn’t be happier!
Speaking of seasons, our lives have all taken on major changes in the past few months. As you may remember from our last letter, we mentioned the Thai language test we were due to take on May 2 which would mark the end of our language studies. Unfortunately, because of the economic troubles here in Thailand (and the rest of Southeast Asia) the government cut the May testing from the budget. After learning that in March, we stopped our daily preparations for the test and will have to wait until December to take it in Bangkok. We are meeting with a tutor once a week to try and maintain what we’ve already learned. It doesn’t take long for those reading and writing skills to go right out the window!
The positive side to this bad news was that Randy was freed up earlier than expected to work full-time. Since then he’s been busy establishing our Center’s fish fry business. A land purchase was made last month thanks to the Friends of World Mission Project and ponds are currently being dug. With God’s help, this farm will provide the income to pay the salaries of our 7 staff and the rest of the costs to run the Center for Church Enablement in Northern Thailand. The farm will also serve as an outreach and avenue for evangelism to area farmers. The Center has started selling fish fry that we have trucked in from the Covenant’s fish farm in Udon in the northeast, a 14-hour drive from here. We have been able to sell about 300,000 fry in one month. Praise God for a good start!
We are already facing challenges in our relationships with our neighbors at the new farm. Like most Thai, they worship and fear the local spirits, and have informed us that there is a spirit living on our land. One day we had a dedication service for the land and took out the small spirit house where the former owner had made regular offerings. A few days later Randy stepped on a nail and Amnuay, the Center’s director of music, had heart problems and had to be hospitalized. During a conversation, the neighbors blamed this on our lack of respect for the spirit, which gave Randy an opportunity to share about God’s power and care for his people. Praise God for the quick healing of Randy’s foot and please pray for Amnuay’s health and healing as well. He is scheduled to have an angioplasty on July 23.
I have finally settled into my new position as full-time mom and housewife. It was a bit hard adjusting to after spending nearly 6 years married to a student, and being one myself. My days are filled with bill paying (no easy "put the check in the mail" procedures here), grocery shopping (7 different stores to find everything I need), and keeping the house and kids semi-in-order, as well as other mission business that needs to get done. I’m also on a committee for a new international school a group of missions is trying to establish here in Chiang Mai especially for missionary kids.
Our children are continuing on in the business of growing up. Elsie is now attending a Thai preschool in our neighborhood. She still refuses to speak Thai, aside from the occasional screams of "Mai ow!!" (loosely translated, "NO!") when Noah is trying to turn off the t.v. and "Chuay duay!" ("Help!") when being tickled by Jane, our new helper. This frustrates her teacher, but I happen to believe that Elsie is completely capable of speaking it if she wants to. Anyone who has witnessed the strong will of this 3 ½-year old would understand!
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| Elsie's preschool class | Noah at the dinner table |
Noah stood up and went for his first unassisted walk at 11 months. The fun part was that Uncle Ben (Randy’s brother) was here for a visit and got to see it as well. We had a wonderful time together and even took a mini-vacation further north in a province that borders Burma. Our itinerary included a long, nauseating drive in the mountains, a walk through a cave where we were harassed by a monkey, a boat trip to a long-neck village and an elephant ride back down the river. Can’t wait for Uncle Ben’s next visit!
We’d like to close with a couple of heart-felt THANK YOU’s. First of all, thank you to those who prayed with us as we chose our new helper. God answered our prayers beyond what we asked for in Jane. Being a divorced mother of a 3-year old son, whom she rarely sees, she was thrilled to get a new baby boy to love. Jane loves Noah as her own (good thing I’m not the jealous type!) and most of the time is more doting over my children than I am. The bonus is that Jane and I get along great, so our relationship is more of a friendship than an employer/employee one. Please pray that I’d be a loving friend and good witness in action and word to her. Jane is a Buddhist and knows little about Christianity.
Secondly, our thanks again to all of you who had a part in our vehicle fund. We’ve now reached our goal and are planning to go "shopping" next week in Bangkok. A total of 23 individuals, groups and churches will soon be co-owners of a vehicle in Thailand. You’re all invited to come and take a ride! We’re so grateful to serve a faithful Lord who gives us joy and strength as we continue to serve him here in Thailand. May each of you be filled with God’s joy and strength as well.
Love,
Randy and Cheryl Bevis
Dear Friends,
I think this must be the 5th time now I’ve started this letter--I seem to be struggling with a major case of writer’s block. It’s a good thing we have such a big stack of Christmas cards and letters to say thanks for, or I’d probably put this project off for another month! We have plenty of news to share, just don’t know where to begin...
This fall we were blessed with having a few visitors, some long-time friends and some who were just friends of friends who needed a place to stay--one of the bonuses of living in a beautiful part of the country that happens to be a popular tourist destination. We’re glad that God has brought us here and given us a home with plenty of room for guests. My favorite memory of this past fall was the elephant ride I(Cheryl) went on with Elsie and college-friend Lisa. We laughed almost the whole 30 minutes as we held onto the rope in front of us (and little Elsie!) with all our strength. Never realized how hard it was to go down a steep, muddy slope while sitting on top of an elephant!
Fall in Thailand means rice harvest time. This year we all took part harvesting a coworker’s field by hand--a great time of fellowship, exercise and practicing our Thai!
This past December was a hectic one--the schedule of programs and parties was busy enough to compete with any in the States. Since every Thai loves a party it’s a great time for our team to invite others to performances of the Christian music and dances they’ve created as a means of sharing the gospel. One Saturday our team held a Christmas celebration in one of the villages we’ve targeted for church planting. The day started at 8 a.m. with Randy driving the equipment out and helping with the stage set-up and didn’t end until 1:30 a.m. when he finally fell into bed. Wisely, I opted out of that one to stay home with the kids. Being that Chiang Mai is a base for many missionaries who are working with hill tribe people here in the north, we have a fairly large English-speaking church to attend. There’s no shortage of musical talent among these missionaries, either. Not only were we treated to a wonderful children’s program, we also had an adult Christmas musical in which I was able to take part. It would have felt just like home had it not been for the fact that we were all sweating as we held our candles and sang "Joy to the World."
Randy and I have had the joy of watching our children continue to grow and accomplish new things over the past few months. Elsie just turned 3 this January 6, and now keeps busy riding around our neighborhood on the shiny red bike that Grandma and Grandpa Bevis brought for her. Dick and Mary were able to join us for a few days over the holidays. Elsie was especially excited to take Grandma and Grandpa to her favorite place, "Wee Haa!" (our special name for the big mall in town which has a many-leveled parking ramp, hence the "wee haa") We also took advantage of Mary’s creativity--she came up with an idea for a small rose garden in our front yard, so one day she and Randy planted 2 dozen rose bushes and several other hedges around it. Before you start wondering how we managed to finance this major undertaking, we should tell you that we’re also blessed to live in a place where a rose bush costs just over 50 cents! I guess this is part of the compensation for the stifling heat we endure 9 months out of the year.
Noah is changing all the time, too, although he doesn’t seem willing to plump up. Apparently he’s taking after his Grandpa Wendroth--not a trace of fat on this boy! Could be due to the fact that he’s also non-stop action and started crawling at 5 1/2 months. He’s no longer content to crawl, however, and wants to be walked around instead. Kind of hard on Mommy and Daddy’s backs after awhile. His increased mobility has become quite a threat to his big sister, whose precious "Hi, Noah!"s of the past have turned into even more frequent screams of "NO, Noah!! That’s Elsie’s ____!"(shirt, bike, hair, or whatever else he’s headed for)
We’re still plugging away with language studies but are happy to see that the end is near. We’ll be taking our Thai 6th grade equivalency test on May 2 and then we’re finished!! Language study has been great, but we’re both ready to move on to other things. Randy has been spending more time lately helping our coworkers in the afternoons. He’s glad to have more variety to his day and to be doing some agriculturally-related things, such as digging a rice field to use for raising fish! Unfortunately his enthusiasm got the best of him last week. After a day of mixing and pouring cement by hand for our new office building floor he spent the next couple days flat on his back with severe back pain. Randy said next time he’ll put up the $10 to rent a cement mixer himself!
The New Year has brought with it another source of pain besides Randy’s back, from which we’re all feeling hurt. After 2 years with our helper, we’ve learned that she’s been lying to us and taking advantage of us, and also has a side to her that we didn’t know about. This comes as quite a shock since up till now we trusted her completely. We’ve done our best to try to help her but she is unwilling to speak the truth with us, so at the end of this month she’ll be leaving. Thankfully it was her decision to go, although if she hadn’t we would have asked her to. Since we can’t get along without a helper while we’re in language school, we’re now prayerfully considering a replacement. As all of you parents out there know, it’s not easy finding someone worthy enough to take care of your children!
For those of you wondering how we’re doing in our vehicle fund, as of December we had over $5000 raised. That means we’re now about 1/3 of the way there. We’re hoping to have what we need by April, since that’s the hottest month and the truck that we’re currently using has a very worn-out air conditioner. Imagine driving around town with two small children in 100 degree heat and no air...How’s that for a plea?!
Finally, we want to express our thanks to each of you for your love, prayers and support over the past year. One of the toughest things about missionary life is being so far away from those we love back home, but God eases that loneliness by continually increasing our "family" on both sides of the world. Through your expressions of love we have come to know more of God’s grace--we have received so much that we don’t deserve, but pray that our lives will be used so that others may know the wonderful grace of God as well.
Love,
Randy and Cheryl Bevis
TO MAKE A GIFT TOWARDS OUR VEHICLE PURCHASE, designate "For Bevis Vehicle" on
your check and send to:
Covenant Headquarters
Dept. of World Mission
5101 N Francisco
Chicago, IL 60625
Please pray for:
Dear Friends,
First of all, we’d like to begin this letter with a very late announcement of the birth of our son, Noah Reid Bevis. Noah arrived on May 28, at 10:40 a.m., weighing 8 lb.4 oz. I was almost laughing on the way to the hospital at 2 a.m. as I remembered the concern of some friends that I’d be stuck in traffic and end up delivering in a taxi. Well, God obviously answered their prayers since that’s pretty much the only time of the day when there’s not traffic in Bangkok. Noah is a very happy and healthy baby, praise God. He loves quiet and being outside and is rolling around like crazy. Elsie is (usually) a loving big sister, helping out at bath time and saying, "Hi, Noah!" several times a day.
The middle of June brought another big change for our family as we (or should I say, Randy) packed our things and moved to the north. It was exhausting, but very worth it to finally be out of Bangkok. Elsie loves having a yard to run around in and a stream behind our house in which to throw rocks. We also have a view of the mountains from our front window which sure beats the concrete we stared at for the past year and a half!
Then, in mid-July we packed once again--this time for a trip home to Minnesota. We wanted to spend time with our families and let the grandma’s and grandpa’s meet their new grandson. It was also in God’s timing that we could be home for Cheryl’s father’s colon cancer surgery. Again, we have much to thank God for in that the cancer was self-contained and Dad has returned to his previous hectic schedule! Although that aspect of our time home wasn’t exactly fun, we enjoyed every minute spent with our families, friends, and home churches.
Now we’re back in our new home with our new baby, attending a new language school, and getting to know our new Thai teammates better. One afternoon a week we get together at the office for a time of worship. We usually get the gist of the message, but the music is a real challenge for us to try to figure out. At this point it feels like it could take years before we’ll be able to sing one of those songs! Too bad they don’t teach us how to sing the traditional northern tunes at language school...maybe we could suggest that for our next module.
For those of you who got our last newsletter, you may remember the photo of our family riding an elephant. Thankfully, we do have a quicker mode of transportation these days. One of our missionary families left in August for home assignment and has given us their truck to use during their absence. We have received over $2,000 (as of the beginning of Sept.) towards the purchase of our own vehicle and are very grateful to those who so generously gave. The cost of a good used vehicle here in Thailand is surprisingly high compared to what you might pay in the States--about $15,000--so we’ve still got a ways to go.
As we look back on the past few months, we can see so many things to thank God for and have seen him work more miracles in our lives--through the birth of Noah and in his healing of Cheryl’s dad. It reminds us of the theme verse we chose for our wedding: "For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations." Ps.100:5
May God show you his hand and love in your life as well!
Love,
Randy and Cheryl Bevis
Our corrected zip code and new e-mail address:
Randy and Cheryl Bevis
195/12 New Mae Joe Rd.
Thanavan Village
Chiang Mai 50300
THAILAND
New email address: rcbevis@loxinfo.co.th
To make a gift towards our vehicle purchase
attach a note to your check stating,
"For Bevis Vehicle", and send to:
Covenant Headquarters
Dept. of World Missions
5101 N. Francisco Ave
Chicago, IL 60625