Time to Act: New Publishing Project in Thailand
Written by Travis Sharon
For many years we have struggled with the fact that there wasn’t any literature in the local languages that we could share with the people. We wished someone would start making materials that could be “scattered like the leaves of autumn,” but no one ever did.
We read inspiring statements like this one:
“Our publishing work was established by the direction of God and under His special supervision. It was designed to accomplish a specific purpose. Seventh-Day Adventists have been chosen by God as a peculiar people, separate from the world. By the great cleaver of truth He has cut them out from the quarry of the world and brought them into connection with Himself. He has made them His representatives and has called them to be ambassadors for Him in the last work of salvation. The greatest wealth of truth ever entrusted to mortals, the most solemn and fearful warnings ever sent by God to man, have been committed to them to be given to the world; and in the accomplishment of this work our publishing houses are among the most effective agencies." 7T 138.2.
“What a great idea,” I thought, but I didn’t apply it to myself.
About two years ago, God started to impress me that maybe I should be the one to start this publishing work here in Thailand. But that seemed pretty crazy because I am not a writer, and I don’t know anything about publishing work. I tried to write something, but I gave up after a while. However, the idea just wouldn’t go away. For the next year it kept bothering me.
Then my brother Jason and his family ended up coming down to my place for a few weeks. While he was there, the subject of publishing came up again. But this time, God made it clear that it was time to act. Jason told me he had been impressed to write pamphlets in the Karen language, and he wanted to know if I could do the publishing. Since we had both been impressed about the publishing work, we knew we had better get busy and obey, even if we didn’t know much about publishing.
Within a short amount of time, other family members also started writing pamphlets, and my Karen sister, Marybeth, and her husband Caleb, joined the team to help with the translating work. My wife Becky used her artistic skills to draw illustrations for the books. We bought a small black and white laser printer, and got out our old Toughbook computer (and it worked, which was a miracle in itself because the battery had been dead for years), and we were in business.
The Sharon Family at Marybeth and Caleb’s wedding in 2019
Front: Hannah, Marybeth, Caleb, Destiny
Back: Becky, Travis, Lisa, Leroy, Shoshana, Jason, and their children
Our Bible Workers and my parents’ Bible Workers have already been able to distribute several thousand little books, and the demand is much greater than our little printer can keep up with. Our little books cover subjects such as the Gospel, current health issues, the three angels' messages, the power of God’s word, the story of redemption, and the sanctuary. In Jason’s village, the people are so excited about the little books that the Baptist pastor and a group from the Baptist church are also helping to do the translating. Requests for books are coming from other places, but we don’t have enough books to fill all the demand.
In order to move forward in getting the word out, we currently need a bigger laser printer, and monthly funds to buy toner, paper, and other publishing supplies. We also need a desktop computer for the printing office (which is currently in our guest room). We are looking for translators who can translate into Burmese and other local languages as well. We ask that you would pray for this project, and for each little booklet that goes out, that hearts would be touched, and people would be won to the kingdom.
Editor's note:
The Sharons' small publications are in very high demand, and they are having a hard time keeping up, even though Jason, who has purchased a second printer, is going through five cartridges of toner every day! Each cartridge can print 1,000 pages! They are researching a higher capacity printer and having more small tracts translated into several languages.
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