Dear Norm
A concern we have had from the time we moved the THAILAND RESOURCE CENTER to this location four years ago was the presence of a spirit house in one of the corners of the property. We asked the owner even before we moved in if we could remove it and she told us no. Belief in "property spirits" is very strong in Thailand and she was fearful that if we removed it the spirits would give her problems.
So even though we didn't like having it on the property we couldn't do anything about it. We basically ignored it. In fact, missionary kids who didn't know what it was sometimes played with the figurines in the spirit house like it was a doll house.
After making the first payment on the property in January one of the first things I asked the owner was could remove the spirit house. This time she said yes. She said in her mind we were now the owners of the property so the spirits wouldn't bother her.
Even more than that I knew we had to remove it immediately for other reasons. Our Christian employees didn't like it because it represented a life they no longer want to be part of. Our Buddhist employee started offering “gifts” of food to the spirit house and we definitely didn't want that to continue. Finally, it confused some of the visitors to our office who didn’t understand the situation. They couldn't understand why a Christian organization would have a spirit house and we would have to explain the situation to them.
We praise the Lord now that we have made the first payment to purchase the property we were able to destroy the spirit house and replace it with a Frangipani plant.
God has been gracious as we have already received $9,000 for the next payment -- that leaves $41,000 to raise by next January. If possible we would like to pay the remaining balance before the end of three years. The total amount due by January 2018 is $130,000.
Thank you for supporting this ministry.
Please continue to keep the Thailand Resource Center in your prayers.
May God Bless You,
Dwight & Mary Kay Martin
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