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.  

Kingdom Training

kingdom.training

Kingdom training provides free online training to help you use media to accelerate disciple making movements.  I've started to do some of their trainings and it has been super helpful.  What they want to do is help you to: - "Get the right message, in front of the right person, at the right time and on the right device"

I only became involved in digital media ministries at the beginning of last year, taking over from someone who was returning home.  I had no previous experience in this are but I just couldn't see this ministry fading away with no one to lead it. 

Covid-19 and with some many face-to-face ministries being curtailed has highlighted the lack of preparation amongst churches and Christian organisation, in terms of engaging people through digital media. It was a real scrambling effort.  

With the internet and social media, missionaries and Christian workers are now able to reach people through their devices in a way which was never possible in previous generations.  There are similarities between what the system of roads in the Roman Empire leading to the rapid spread of Christianity, to what the internet and social media can enable, if it was utilised effectively. 

With the use of targeted ads we are able to find the people we are looking for much more easily and traditional means of going into a community and looking for seekers.  However, we have dedicated so few to this area of ministry.  A seismic shift of thinking is needed in missions.

Discovering Home Delivery

Before Covid-19 we only had home delivery for Pizza.  But we've discovered a whole new world ...

From gelato

Cinnamon Rolls

Chinese Dumplings

Pad Thai

and donuts ...

Just to name a few things.  We are fortunate to be able to avoid to buy these things but many other in our community are really struggling.

My wife and some of our kids have had a chance to help our missionary friends and local Christians in giving out food.

Zoom becomes the new verb

Zoom meeting with OMF Thailand Leaders

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, "Zoom" has become a verb.  It is no longer Skype or some other video conferencing but Zoom.  I can under why it has become to the "go to" video conference software.  It has been so much better than Skype.  We have had our North Thailand prayer meetings twice now on Zoom.  Even my monthly mentoring meetings we've switched to Zoom.

Thailand has been under an emergency decree for over a month now.  Social distancing and wearing of masks is mandatory as is the 10pm-4am curfew.  It was declared today that the emergency decree would be extended for another month as as the ban on inbound international flights.  Our children's school has been closed for the past month and won't reopen for face to face teaching until the second week of August!

Praise God that the number of new cases of COVID-19 has continued to decrease and as of last night it was below 10.  Like, most people we are looking forward to returning to some semblance of what will be the new "normal".

Opportunities in times of Crisis

Man on the plane wearing two masks?  Double protection?

Last week I took a flight down to Bangkok for a meeting and when I got to my seat someone was sitting in it.  I showed my boarding pass to the air steward and he politely directed the man to move from my aisle seat to his assigned seat by the window.  As he moved he smiled and said that he’d already cleaned my seat and with his gloved hands he proceeded to get out his alcohol wipes and wipe down his new seat, the tray table and the arm rest.  I thanked him very much for cleaning my seat for me and that was a conversation that we might have never started if it weren’t for the coronavirus.  

Just as it was for 9-11 and the Tsunami, a time of crisis brings opportunities for spiritual conversations that might not happen in normal times.  May we have the courage to use these opportunites.

Chiang Mai University English Language Team (CELT)

Cardiac Electrophysiology Research & Training Center Presentations

I have started helping as an English consultant at Chiang Mai University, Medical Faculty one day a week.  I attend the weekly Cardiac Electrophysiology Research and Training Center (CERT) presentations and listen to 2 research presentations and provide English feedback.  I also mentor 2 first year medical students each week with their English.  

It has been a good opportunity to meet more Thais and help the community.

Air Quality

The new and old air purifier filter

While my home town of Sydney discovers what air purifiers are from the savage bushfires, here in Chiang Mai I am well acquainted with them have 5 units in our house since last year.  Unfortunately, this year the air quality has worsened earlier in the year than in previous years.  This year we have had "red" PM2.5 reading in January already, whereas in previous years it has been at least February before the air pollution worsened.  Last year, I was caught out in not buying replacement filters quickly enough, so this year I've bought them early.

There was presentation by one of Chiang Mai's leading Paediatric Pulmonologists at our children's school recently about the air pollution in Chiang Mai.  I wasn't able to make it, but apparently some (or a lot?) Chiang Mai's air pollution is caused by the biggest poultry company in Thailand, which has been planting fields of corn to feed its pigs.  The feed burning practices for the supply of this animal grade corn is what is causing the air pollution.

The Thai people I have spoken see to agree with this view and they don't think much of the owner of this company.

I do hope there is an improvement of the air quality in Chiang Mai in the future as it seems to be worsening each year and impacting life here more and more.

EFT North 50th Anniversary Celebration

EFT North 50th Anniversary Celebration @ Mae Jo University

On 4-5 November, the Evangelical Fellowship of Thailand (EFT) in North Thailand celebrated their 50th year anniversary in Chiang Mai.  The EFT is one of the 3 major Evangelical church councils in Thailand, the Churches of Christ in Thailand (CCT) and the Baptist Convention being the other two major ones.  

David Yonggi Cho was invited as the keynote speaker.  I set up a booth to promote The Bible Project Thailand, the Prakhampee and Know God facebook pages.

My booth at the EFT North 50th Celebrations

They were hoping for 3,000 church leaders to attend.  I'm not sure if they reached this number or not.  On the first night I stood at the door and handed out flyers and I gave out at least 500.  I hope that the 2 days at the booth would have helped in getting the word out about these 3 internet Christian resources.

Prakhampee (Bible) Facebook Page Ministry

Prakhampee Facebook Page

We have been in Thailand 12 years and we couldn't have imagined the different types of ministries we ended up being involved in.  We started out in church planting, then teaching at a Bible school, leadership of missionaries and now into Internet Evangelism and Digital Media ministry.

Our involvement in the latest ministry in Internet Evangelism and Digital Media, started when one of our workers running this ministry was going back to their home country and a person was needed to takeover.  When this need was discussed at our leadership council meeting, I was the leader with the least number of missionaries under my leadership and had more time than the others.  Not only that, when I heard about the ministry, I felt that this ministry must continue and if there was a extended time with no one leading this ministry then the previous 7 years of work might go to waste.  So I volunteered to take it on, even though I did not have any prior experience in this ministry.

So from July, the plan was to spend 75% of my work hours on this ministry and 25% on my leadership responsibilities of other missionaries in North Thailand. 

There are several aspects to the Internet Evangelism and Digital Media Ministry.

1. Prakhampee Facebook Page  

This page encourages people with daily Bible verses and encouraging messages as well as short Christian video clips like from the Jesus Film.  As far as I can see, it has the largest number of "Likes"(117,000+) and "Followers"(122,000+) for a Thai Christian facebook page.  We hope to develop this page by adding courses and articles to help Christians grow as well as introduce Jesus to those who do not know about Him.

2. The Bible Project Translation

The Bible Project is an organisation that has produced over 160 amazing videos with topics ranging from "How to Read the Bible"; Themes of the Bible and introductions to the books of the Bible.  We in partnership with Campus Crusade and Create Thailand have been translating these videos into Thai. We have almost completed the first 10 video and are slowly working through the rest.  These video will be a great resource for Thai Christians and those wanting to know more about the Bible.

I have been given the task to develop our team and build on this ministry and by God's grace it will have a growing impact on Thai speaking people around the world.

Memorial Service for John Davis

Memorial Service for John Davis at Phayao Bible Seminary

John Davis was an OMF missionary who came to Thailand in the late 1950s from the UK.  He found the land on which the present Phayao Bible Seminary (PBS) and was it's first principal.  John spoke Thai, Northern Thai and some tribal language fluently.  John's influence in establishing PBS and in revivals in North Thailand have left a lasting impact on the Thai church.  I can't help feeling that we lack the people of the mould of John in missions today.  They are rare.  He was much loved and honored by the Thai brothers and sisters.  As an OMF missionary, I stand of the shoulder of giants, and John was truly one of them.  "Thankyou God for this good and faithful servant."