Cozumel, Mexico

We first met Jose three years ago when we stopped at his little shop by the side of the road in Cozumel, Mexico. He sells ceramics, t-shirts, blankets, and tablecloths etc. ............to make enough money to support his family. As I was perusing his "stuff" - all of a sudden something jumped out at me - an English New Testament and a Daily Bread devotional. When I picked it up to look at it, Jose told me that it was for me to take. I told him that I already have a Bible. It was was so exciting for both of us as we began to share our common faith in Jesus. He told me the story of his whole family accepting Jesus as Saviour after his brother experienced supernatural healing. Several of his family members suffered from alcohol and drug addictions but were all delivered from these addictions because of their newfound faith. He shared with me how he was having great difficulty in getting Christian literature and more specifically "Bibles" to distribute to the people that he was ministering to.

Last year I was able to deliver New Testaments and children's booklets that I obtained from Canadian LifeLight Ministries to Jose. He was moved to tears! I don't think that he could believe that I actually followed through on my promise to bring them.

This year I took Jose more New Testaments, a Bible for himself, two different kinds of children's books and several Gospels of St. John. He was so happy to see us and was very thankful again for the literature that we brought. He told me that his brother that had been healed, had died after choking on some food, 2 days after I had been to see him last year. So, last year has been a year of grieving for Jose's family - but not as those who have no hope. They have hope of seeing their loved one again in heaven.

God is using Canadian Lifelight Ministries to share God's Good News with the Spanish speaking people of Cozumel, Mexico. Thank you for making your literature affordable and avaliable to people like me to deliver to those who need to hear.

Blessings,

Beryl J.

Thai Picture Bible

Dear Raymond,

Thank you for your letter and your interest in partnering with OMF in a Thai literature project. Praise the Lord for your earnest enthusiasm!

Robert's proposal to have an illustrated Genesis / John book is a very good idea and we trust that we will be able to start developing that project early next year. However, it will take a good many months before that book will be print ready and so I am writing to propose another very good project that has been a priority for us for quite some time.

We would like to publish an Old Testament Picture Bible in full-color cartoon-style format. The artwork is based on a similar work by Cook Communications Ministries International and we want to make this book available to the Thai church to strengthen their hands in evangelism. We are excited about this specific project, because:

• Thai people of all ages, but especially children, find comic-style books irresistible. There are thousands of shops all over the country where you can rent comic books, buy new or used comic books etc. It is a proven format and we have published sections of the OT Picture Bible in the past and they have been received eagerly.
• Thailand is arguably the most Buddhistic country in the world with centuries of Buddhistic thinking shaping their world view, values and behaviour. There is nothing like the Old Testament history that can challenge that and prepare people's minds for the Gospel. This is how God prepared the Jews to be ready for Jesus and we believe it is still the most effective way today in any culture that needs a lot of ploughing before there can be effective sowing.
• More than half of the Thai church are first generation Christians. Young Christians will benefit from this very digestible format to quickly get a basic overview of the Bible and prime their appetite for the real thing.
• Most of the work on this book has already been done: we have acquired the Thai publication rights, purchased the full colour film sets for the art work from the USA and the Thai translation is done. The book can go to press within weeks.

The production cost is estimated as follows:

$3 per book for a print-run of 5,000 copies

$2.48 for 8,000

$2.22 for 10,000

There are many ways in which you can partner with us on this project, like:

1. Sponsor a number of copies to be made available for free to any ministry / outreach you might specifically want to support. If you do not have a specific ministry in mind we can handle the distribution. We have requests for free evangelistic material all the time. Also, the more copies that are sponsored, the more books we can print and the cheaper the production cost becomes. In this way we can even sell the unsponsored copies for significantly less than would otherwise be possible.
2. Make a general donation to enable us to get more copies out by special offers like buy one, get one free.

May the Lord lead you as you prayerfully consider this opportunity to invest in this part of His vineyard. We look forward to hear from you soon.

Warm Bangkok greetings

Jannie Theunissen

Kanok Bannasan (OMF Publishers)

1694/1 Prachasongkhro Rd, Dindaeng, Bangkok 10400, THAILAND

kanok@omf.net | tel: +66 2692 1402 | fax: +66 2275 2800

SPANISH NEW TESTAMENTS AND TRACTS

My husband and I are traveling to the Dominican Republic in early February and would like to take down NTs and Bibles with us. I was supposed to contact you in December, but the time got away from me, so I hope it's not too late for you to fill this request.

Based on the size of the scriptures and tracts we took down the last time we went to DR, could we order 12 each of the NTs and Bibles.

I'm not sure the best way for you to get us the material, but we live in Winnipeg and attend Church of the Rock.

Thanks for your assistance with this request.

Blessings for a wonderful 2007.

D