Happiness is Air Conditioning in the Rainy Season.

Progress is having our "bedroom" in the house which was my office on the first floor, which has a air conditioner that still works.

Update: The roof is COMPLETELY on and we have the kitchen, office (or temporary bedroom!) and living room of our former house back, but because of remodeling needed (and no ceilings yet) we are only getting partial use of the house for a while.

How to give to help the Crafts

Because we were renting and there was no insurance, we are obligated to offer to repair the damage ourselves to avoid a lawsuit and other fines. Recently, my Brother Roy, offered to loan us the money to purchase the property for church property here. The former rental home is being built to accomodate our Sawang Dandin Baptist Church center (we rent another property now).

We did not have funds of our own for this, but a number of individuals and churches have offered to help. We are continuing to work in our ministry in spite of the difficulties.

For those who desire to give a gift through our mission for us, ABWE mission has set up a special account for to raise funds needed for the project of “House Fire Recovery”:

The purpose of this account is as follows:
To settle damages as renters with Don and Gail Craft's landlord (Necessary to avoid a lawsuit). To remove damaged parts of the house and rebuild the home. This includes, labor, building materials, and supplies. To purchase things that were destroyed in the house fire, such as clothing, Gail’s computer, other equipment and furniture.

Tax deductible gifts for those wishing to help Don and Gail Craft, ABWE missionaries to Thailand, can be sent via regular mail to the following address

ABWE, Inc.
PO Box 8585
Harrisburg, PA 17105-8585
USA

Include a note, for “House Fire Recovery” account of Don and Gail Craft. To speed things in processing, you should include this account number "013035".

Or if you have Internet you may give via the www.abwe.org website as follows:
http://www.abwe.org/give/ways_to_give/online.asp

Or you can give by telephone:
Calls should go to Alice Harpster at (717) 703-3484.
If she is not available, you may leave a message.

Tell her you would like to give to Don and Gail Craft Fire Recovery fund and use this account number: 013035

Future Sawang Dandin Baptist Church Center

Many friends and family members here and in USA have proposed that we not just rebuild the house, but make it our new Baptist Gospel Center.

The great news is we have been loaned enough money to purchase this property. It is now in the name of our Church. Gail and I will will continue to live here as main church planters. The new church center will look like something like this. We still have a lot of expenses besides the purchase in continual building but progress is being made as funds come in. We also want to pay back the loan.

American-Thai, Mr. Anuh, helps us!

Anuh Lekjarun
Skilled Construction Journeyman
Praise the Lord for the provision of a skilled construction worker, Thai born, American friend for a number of years. who came here from Hawaii, celebrating 25 years of marriage, a gift from their children. Anuh and Elizebeth Lekjarun called to greet us on our phone, not knowing our need. When they heard of our plight, they came up to help us for a number of days. His expertise in construction has helped tremendously already. His energy seems limitless. He has helped with some of the expenses too but his skills were most needed now. What a blessing to see the Lord helping us behind the scenes and providing for our needs.!

Four weeks later

Today I sent our first "Prayer Letter" about the fire on May 4th that has without a doubt changed our lives for a long, long time. There are many possibilities opening up to us since the fire. One which is interesting is the possibility of buying the property for church property. As we rebuild, we can see how we can make this the location of Sawang Dandin Baptist Church.
Presently we rent a smaller piece of property on the main road. It is very visible on the main road through town, which has been an enhancement to the ministry – but there are many problems with this rental property. It would be extremely expensive to buy and make a church, perhaps 100,000 dollars. To improve the lot where we rent for our church to make it less prone to flood during rainy season would mean tearing down everything and rebuilding after filling the land since it is the lowest property in the area now. Again this would be quite expensive.
The advantages of buying and making this property where the fire took place the future Church property are many. One, it is on a hill and will never flood. Second, it is a one half acre lot with lots of room for parking and future expansion. And because we are building now, we are building it so it will accommodate church meetings, classes and such. This property has an advantage of being in a quiet area, but on a paved road. We need to raise only 20,000 dollars to purchase this property