OMF Thailand Youtube Channel

Please go to our OMF Thailand Youtube channel and hear stories from our missionaries in Thailand. Some of the stories will make you laugh, other will make you cry. You will be encouraged and challenged as you see and hear how God is working in and through the life of our missionaries in Thailand. We are adding a new video each week so subscribe to make sure you don't miss out on any of the new videos.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYRsB-tduXN4EaCt61lGhgQ

Papaya - Wonderful Fruit of Thailand

I had papaya in Australia where I grew up and honestly, I don't remember it being that good.  On my honeymoon I was in the Cook Islands and the papaya there was amazing.  Thailand's papaya is just as good.  

We had a papaya tree growing in our front yard and last year it produced some great fruit.  But it grew too tall and I had to chop it down.  However, I used some of the seeds to plant new tree at the side of our house.  The 3 trees are now producing an abundance of fruit and it tastes great.

Papaya are really sturdy trees and easy to grow, even for novice like me.

Chaff Sculptures @ Huay Tueng Tao Lake, Chiang Mai

 

These sculptures were made from the chaff of rice fields at Huay Teung Tao Lake in Chiang Mai.  They were amazing.  

Largest Baptism in Thailand's history

 

On the 6th of September the FJCCA (Free in Jesus Christ Church Association) baptized 1,435 Thai people in Phetchabun. These new believers came from 4 provinces. It was the largest number of people baptised in Thailand's history.

This movement is seeing "hundreds of Thai believers going village to village bringing the light of Jesus Christ to those who have never heard of Jesus". They say that "this is just the beginning of what God is doing in Thailand".

Here is a video from Dwight Martin, a missionary who is helping the movement of the baptism service and a testimony from one of the people who was baptised.

May God continue to protect and use this movement for his glory.

Trip to Kanchanburi

Bridge over the River Kwai

We have lived in Thailand over 13 years and we haven't visited some of the most famous places in Thailand.  So with Covid-19 restrictions easing, we made the 700km road trip from Chiang Mai to the Bridge over the River Kwai in the province of Kanchanaburi.  It was our first long road trip in years as it is so cheap to fly everywhere in Thailand.  It was very crowded on the Bridge, but it would have been many more times more crowded without Covid-19 and all the tourists been locked out of entering Thailand.

Unfortunately, the Death Railway Museum was closed until the end of July so we couldn't go in.

The Commonwealth War Cemetery opposite the Death Railway Museum was a sobering reminder of the sacrifices of the WWII.

The Erawan Waterfalls is considered to be one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Thailand with 7 levels.

It was stunningly beautiful but we were sorely disappointed as they had banned swimming in the water due to Covid-19.  Kind of an overkill really as there hadn't been a new internal case of Covid-19 for over 30 days previous to that and people could still go into cafes and shopping centres and other public places and walk very close to others on the trial up and down.  

Worst Air Pollution in the World

Every year around this time, Chiang Mai, the city where we live experiences an increase in air pollution due to the burning of fields by farmers in North Thailand and surrounding countries.  Chiang Mai is surrounded by mountains and the air pollution is trapped in the city.  We have lived in Chiang Mai for 3 years now and this is the third burning season we've experienced and undoubtedly the worst.  The most commonly used measure for air pollution is the PM2.5 which is the air particle matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers.  These particles are dangerous because they are so small that they get lodged deep in your lungs and perhaps even into your blood.  The World Health Organisation (WHO) guideline is to keep the PM2.5 under 25. A PM2.5 reading over 50 is considered unhealthy.  Levels over 250 are considered hazardous to your health.  Chiang Mai has had days of PM2.5 over 400 in past weeks, being the worst polluted city in the world. 

When the levels are high you can feel and smell it in the air when you wake up.   Fortunately, none of my family have any breathing issues like asthma.  We also have the money to buy air purifiers which can reduce the air pollution within our house.  We also have bought masks for when we go out.  

We are praying for rain which will help reduce the pollution.  There is noise from those in authority about how they will crack down on the burning but it doesn't seem to ever have any significant impact. 

We are thankful that this is only a issue for about 2-3 months of the year, though I read a report that the period of air pollution has been increasing each year.

The Bible Project in Thai

The Bible Project Video: "What is the Bible?"

I don't know if you've come across one of The Bible Project videos, but they are fantastic.  The two creators, Timothy Mackie and Jonathan Collins wanted "to help people read through Scripture while avoiding these common pitfalls and misunderstandings. How could complex themes of the Bible be presented in a way that was real and unapologetic, but approachable?  Combining Tim’s deep biblical understanding and Jon’s passion for visual story-telling, they created their first two videos in 2014 and put them online for free.  Less than 5 years later, we have over 130 videos and 200 podcasts which can all be viewed on our website, The Bible App, YouTube, Vimeo and more. We have over 100 million views across all of our media channels in over 200 countries, and have over one million subscribers worldwide." https://thebibleproject.com/about/

I will be heading up the Internet Evangelism and Digital Media ministry of OMF Thailand when the current leader returns to his home country in the middle of the year.  Our current major project in partnership with Campus Crusade and Create Thailand is to make The Bible Project videos available in Thai.  The team is working on the first video "What is the Bible?" now and we hope to have that finished within the next month.  After that, the aim is to translate 2 videos per month.

I believe that this will be an invaluable resource for Thai Christians and the Thai Church.

You can see the English version of the Thai Bible Project here:- https://thebibleproject.com/

Crisis of the soccer team stuck in Flooded Caves

12 boys and their assistant coach have been trapped in flooded caves in Chiang Rai for the past 2 weeks.  3 of the boys and the assistant coach were rescued last night and the rescue operation continues for the other 9 boys.  The plight of the boys has caught the attention of the world and is on the top of the news cycle in many countries.  It has pushed into the background the other major news in Thailand of 2 tour boats which sank of Phuket with over 40 people drowned in the accident.  

During the week I took a team from Australia to a temple in Chiang Mai to a "Monk Chat" where you can talk with monks about Buddhism.  One of the team asked how as a Buddhist they could help these boys.  I didn't catch the nun's answer completely.  I'm not sure if she implied that they would make merit and that merit would be shared with the boys?

The next time I go to a "Monk Chat" this would be the question I would ask.  How does Buddhism help in situations like this?  As Christians we would pray to God for his help for rescuers and and boys to bring them out safely.  What would Buddhist do?  Was a result of the boys bad karma that they ended up in a situation like this?  Or was it just a foolish decision to go into the caves just before the rainy season?From the news report the assistant coach sounded like he was a very good towards the boys in taking care of them.  He was an orphan though but he was in the monastery before becoming the assistant coach.  I did see some monks at the rescue site.  

Our prayers are with the rescue team and the boys.  May all of the 9 boys be brought out safely.  

Finding a Rental House in Chiang Mai

Renting a house in Chiang Mai is definitely easier than renting a house outside of a major city like Chiang Mai, such as in Lampang or Chiang Dao where we have worked previously.  At least in Chiang Mai there are a fair few real estate agents who have houses advertised on websites which you can look through and they can organise for you to look at.  That said, it is still not an easy process as we have experienced in the last couple of weeks. 

Firstly, even though there are hundreds of houses to search through in websites such as http://www.ddproperty.com/ we found that most of the houses we were interested in, when we inquired with the real estate agent, they were no longer available.  So I would have a short-list of 10 houses which were listed on the website, but when I called the real estate agent only 1 or 2 at most would still be available.  A lot of time was wasted considering houses which weren’t available in the first place. I think they leave houses on the website to entice people to make contact with the real estate agent. 

Secondly, although many landlords in Chiang Mai are using the services of real estate agents, a lot of houses still are advertised privately, by a “for rent” sign outside the house.  If you just relied on websites and real estate agents you would miss out on a lot of houses for rent.  Knowing that I spent a few days just driving through neighbourhoods street by street looking out for “for rent” signs. 

Red "For Rent" sign in front of a house (not our one but one of the many we went past)

Thirdly, we have a big family of 4 kids which is amazes most Thai and the majority of houses are built with only 3 bedrooms and small living areas which suits most people.  But we were looking for at least 4 bedrooms and a large living area, close to the kid’s school, close to a shopping centre, without a spirit house if possible, able to have a dog and which didn’t have too much furniture (majority of houses for rent in Chiang Mai are partially or fully furnished).

In the end, we had looked at over 20 houses with real estate agents and on our own for several weeks and had found a few places which we could live in but nothing which we felt was just right.  In the end, we gave ourselves just one more day to find a house and if nothing turned up we were going to take a house which was o.k, but was fully furnished and a smaller living area than we wanted.  On the last day, I was at immigration and met another missionary and he told me about two neighbourhoods they looked at when they were searching for houses.

After I had finished at immigration I went to these two neighbours and drove up and down every street looking for “for rent” signs.  Finally I found a sign and rang the owner and organised a time later that afternoon to see the house.  Once I went into the house, I realised that this could be “the house” and I quickly rang my wife and organise to pick her up and get her to see it while the landlord waited. 

The house fit with almost everything we were looking for and the landlord was more engaged and helpful than any other landlord we’ve dealt with.  They didn’t advertise their house on real estate websites because they wanted to be very selective about who rented their house and they had rejected a lot of previous people who had wanted to rent their house.  They immediately dropped the rent by 2,000 baht per month and when we told them that we liked the house but as Christians we wanted to pray about it overnight and get back to them the next day, they dropped the rent by another 500 baht per month because we were involved in helping religion. 

We are really thankful to God for the provision of this new house.

ACT Church Leaders Camps 8-10 Nov 2016

ACT Church Leaders Camp 8-10 Nov 2016

I had the privilege of attending the ACT (Associated Churches of Thailand) Church Leaders Camp from 8-10 November 2016, when around 135 pastors, church leaders and missionaries gathered for the first time in almost 10 years (?) to mutually encourage one another.  It was held at the Wang Taan Resort in Doi Saket. It was a great opportunity to worship together, listening to the word of God and sharing communion together.  I met a number of pastors who I hope to visit in their ministry contexts when I return from home assignment next year.

Why I won't be preaching anymore

One of my students preaching for the first time

As a missionary I get asked to preach quite frequently when I go to visit a church.  In the past I used to accept these invitations to preach to encourage the church members.  However, these days I almost always politely refuse.  I would rather help the members themselves develop their own preaching or give an opportunity for my students to be trained in their preaching.  I don't know how long God will have us serving in Thailand, but when that day comes, I don't think any of the sermons I preached will have as much effect as the training I provided to others.  

Motorbike Finance

Our house helper’s old motorbike was breaking down and the costs of repairs was becoming prohibitive. She mentioned that she was thinking about buying a new bike in passing. By God’s grace one of the short-termers who had come to Lampang had recently been in contact asking whether they could send a financial gift over to our house helper and her husband who pastors a church in a neighbouring town which is relatively poor. So with this gift she was able to put a deposit down for just under half the cost of the bike. The rest she entered into a finance agreement to pay off the bike over the next 24 months. She showed me schedule of monthly payments. It was more than a third of her monthly salary. Although she has put a deposit for almost half the cost of the bike, her repayments over the next 24 months means that she will pay the finance company more than the total cost of the bike. The interest rate she is being charged is almost 50%! Wow. One of the things we want to do is setup is a workshop dealing with debt and money issues (which can be huge issues for families in Thailand). We hope it will be helpful considering my financial planning background.

Flood crisis worsens in Bangkok

 Don Muang Airport 1 week ago

The same airport this week

 

Cars parked illegally on the elevated motorways sometimes leaving on 1 lane each way

 A underpass completely submerged and now a swimming pool

Please pray for Thailand.

Flooding & moving

There are severe floods affecting Thailand right now. Here are some pictures. There are many things I’ve experienced for the first time in my life in Thailand.

An industrial district in Ayutthaya flooded

The main highway from Ayutthya to Bangkok cut off

The kitchen from the house we moved from last week

Moving Thai style.  I'm on the back of the pickup holding on to the furniture so that it doesn't fall off the back

The Princess is coming to Lampang

The Princess of Thailand is coming to Lampang on Friday. Above is the huge sign announcing her coming outside our son’s school. She will be opening one of the new building at our son’s school as well as visiting other places such as the School for the Blind. Our school is undergoing large changes to how it looks, with large banners purple and white draped everywhere. Parking at the school has become near impossible when dropping off and picking up our son. Fortunately I can zip in and out by motorbike. Today at the end of school we get a letter saying that the school is closed for the next 2 days in preparation for the Princess’ visit.

Flood (con't)

 I’ve recently received the photos that our team mate took of our house when it was flooded. The above photo is of our kitchen.

This is the back of our house.

From the watermarks left on the wall, the flood waters reached just over 40cm in the bottom section of our house. Apart from dedication and commitment of our househelper who stayed overnight at our house and help from our team mates and neighbours we would have suffered a lot of damage to our furniture and household goods. At one stage our househelper and our team leader Nick lifted our large fridge up two steps (with food in it) onto a higher level as water was pouring into the house (we had 4 people move it back down into place). We only suffered water damage to some cupboards and the laptop battery. Major electrical items which were underwater, we allowed to dry before turning on and praise God that they were working!

Apparently there were about 5 eels swimming in our house at one stage which our househelper’s husband caught and cooked up for dinner.

According to our neighbours there was a worse flood about 10 years ago which reached about 1m in our house!

So another first in my life, I felt an earthquake (though very minor) in Lampang a few months ago and now I’ve experienced a flood. What’s next?

flood

 Nick (left); Samon (second from right) and Neighbours having a laugh about the flood in the middle of our flooded street.  Our house is below the level of the street.

We were on holidays in South Thailand about 1000km from home in Lampang. Around midday I check my phone and I have 6 missed called from our house that morning (2 on Lisa’s phone). i figured something must have happened at home and that it was fairly urgent that it couldn’t wait. I call home but no one answers the phone. Finally about 15 minutes later, our househelper calls me telling me that heavy rain has flooded the outside room at the back of our house which has our washing machine and is used for storage. However, water had not entered our house yet and the rain had stopped so there was no pressing need to return right away since it was the last day of our holiday anyway. The next morning at 6am I get a call from our team leader Nick and half asleep I answered the phone. He said something along the lines of, “Sorry Rich, but I think you’ll need to come home right away. It rained heavily last night and water had flooded the bottom floor of your house”. I thought he was joking at first but after a pause there wasn’t a “just joking Rich” and then I realised he was deadly serious. We quickly finished packing but then when I tried to start the car the battery was dead. Luckily another one of the guests knew how to jump start our car so that I could drive it to the nearest car dealership to get the battery replaced. However, this all took time and cost us at least an hour and half of the morning, time which we could ill afford as we had to drive back to Bangkok (300km), collect our son’s passport from the Australian Embassy and then renew our visas before the immigration department closed at 4:30pm. We reached the Australian Embassy around 1:30pm, had the passport by 1:45pm, drove to the otherside of Bangkok to the OMF head office to get the visa paper work and reached the immigration department by 3:00pm. Our OMF visa person was waiting for us and had already collected a number for us in the queue. By 4:20pm our visa renewal had been completed. I caught a taxi to the airport and then the final flight to Chiang Mai. Then taxi from Chiang Mai to Lampang. I got home just before 10pm.

This was the sight which greeted me apart from a strong moldy smell. I was relieved to see that the flood waters had gone out of the house. After eventually getting through to my wife I went to bed ready for the cleanup tomorrow. More about that tomorrow and the rest of what happened.

 This was our downstairs toilet

Loy Kratong

 Loy Kratong Festival in Lampang

Kratong

Last Sunday was the Loy Kratong Festival in Thailand. “Loy” means to float and “Krathong” is a small floating wreath or basket. According to Wikipeadia, “The festival is believed to originate in an ancient practice of paying respect to the spirit of the waters. Today it is simply a time to have fun...”

The Thailand.com website states, “The Loy Kratong ritual is a simple one. One needs only to light the candles and the joss sticks, make one's wishes and let it float away with the current of a river or a canal.

On that day, thousands of people will gather beside the canals and rivers. With kratong in hands, they light the candle, put some coins in the kratong and silently make a wish, and carefully place their kratongs in the water and release them to the current.

They watch intently as the float drifts silently downstream, hoping that the candle will not go out. Its flame is said to signify longevity, fulfillment of wishes and release from sins. Altogether it is considered a romantic night for couples or lovers. Couples who make a wish together on Loy Kratong are thought to stay together in the future.”

The origins Loy Kratong are disputed and no one really knows the true origins. Thailand.com states that, “Whatever the true origin ... Today, Loy Kratong offers a unique occasion to celebrate. It's a good time for people to make wishes and look to the future as they float their floral offerings along the waterways.”

Thai Christians in general have avoided participating in Loy Kratong because of it’s origins and association with the spirits and Buddhism. This alienates Thai Christians from other Thais and relating with non-Christians.

However, is there a way for Thai Christians to be able to participate in this festival so as not to alienate themselves from their friends, yet not be syncretistic? Could Christians infuse new meaning in this festival. Could the candle represent Jesus being the light. Could Thai Christians praise God that their sins are assured of being forgiven through Jesus while they release their Kratongs?

Undoubtedly, Thai Christians and missionaries will have vastly different views on this issue.