Digging In

Digging In

House set up and holiday over, on June 28^th we finally moved into our house to begin the work that God has called us to here in Ban Wang Daeng. Uttaradit province is described on the entry sign as ‘Heaven on Earth’ and although it is not a tourist area it has a beauty all its own. Since the rains have come, the local farmers have been busy ploughing and planting and now the corn is
waist high already and the rice shoots have sprung up, transforming the landscape from dull muddy brown to brilliant green splendour. As for us, we’re still at the ploughing stage, waiting for the ‘farm manager’ to tell us when it’s time for planting – in a spiritual sense of course.

Our main aim at this time is to build friendships with the local people here in Wang Daeng, as well as trying to find out their felt needs. Through giving gifts of food, offering help and just general chit-chat, mostly through Wit, we are beginning to get to know our immediate neighbours now. One lady, Mrs Somwang, has been particularly friendly, offering help when we were planting trees and shrubs out the front of the house and giving us all kinds of food, including once a plate of deep-fried toads – delicious! Our friend Mr Haeng is recovering from his operation nicely, thanks for your prayers, and he takes great delight in showing everybody his 9 inch scar.

Helen, has begun teaching as a volunteer in the local school three afternoons a week and getting to know the teachers and students there. It’s been a way to build a good reputation in the community. We have also started English classes at home – on a Saturday morning and three evenings a week. So far the numbers are small, but all are local children and we have been able to widen our circle of friendships in this way. Parents and teenagers seem to enjoy sitting out the front chatting before and after classes. We recently bought a ping-pong table and the children and teenagers have had fun playing on that too. Wit has done some training in teaching maths using the Chinese abacus method and is planning to do a Saturday afternoon class for primary aged kids soon.

Education is certainly an area of concern here, with the standard being generally very low, and there also seems to be very little for children and teenagers to do. We’re planning to do a survey soon to try to assess the felt needs of the community in the hope that we can work together with the villagers in meeting some of these.

Obviously the greatest need that we have identified is spiritual – the villagers are mostly folk Buddhists and very superstitious, living in fear of spirits, and in uncertainty regarding the after-life. At present we are praying for our friends and neighbours, asking God to open up opportunities to share our faith with them. We believe that God is preparing hearts to receive the good news but we’re leaving the timing in His hands.

‘Pray for us too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ…’ Colossians 4:3

Preparing the Way!

 

This was the scene that greeted us as we arrived at our new home to begin the setting up process: lots of noise, clouds of dust, hot tarmac, a steamroller levelling the surface and lorries charging constantly up and down busy laying the new road. The verse ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert a highway for our God’ (Isaiah 40:3) came to mind. In 43 degree heat it certainly felt as hot as the Sahara.

So this is what we’ve been up to for the past three weeks – preparing the way, in a practical sense, for a Christian presence to be in the village of Ban Wang Daeng. This has involved numerous trips back and forth from Phrae to Uttaradit, staying in a cheap local hotel in the city, sourcing furniture, electrical goods, workmen and the like, as well as doing lots of cleaning, in order to turn our dusty shell of a house into a home.

Spiritually speaking, of course, we believe the Lord has already gone ahead of us, preparing hearts to receive the good news. So far we have been warmly welcomed by our neighbours and they seem genuinely pleased that we have chosen to move into the area. Part of this enthusiasm may be due to the fact that most have children, or grandchildren, who are keen to study English. But aside from this it seems to be a friendly neighbourhood to live in.

That doesn’t mean that it has been all easy-going so far. Thailand is currently going through a time of serious drought and unprecedentedly high temperatures. All the waiting around in the intense heat has been very physically draining. And there have been other problems too such as electrical appliances not working and having to be replaced and delivery men getting lost, or turning up hours after the appointed time.

During a conversation with a neighbour we discovered that most of the people in the village belong to one of four big families and everyone seems to be interrelated. We had a moment of panic – ‘giants in the land’ – but we reasoned that, following our earlier ‘five stones’ analogy, that if we chose a stone then we should expect to come across some giants! And, as was the case for David, we have no need to fear.

We had a second moment of alarm when we noticed the prevalence of spirit-houses in the neighbourhood and in particular the one outside the front of our house. After contacting several of our supporters regarding this, we received a lot of scriptures, encouragement and advice as well as assurances of prayer, which put our minds at rest. We have now prayed over each room of the house, dedicating it to God and to His service. We’ve also prayed over the spirit-house and have removed all the objects and offerings. Our neighbours are probably expecting us to keel over at any moment, but we hope they will see that there is nothing to fear – our protection comes from a higher source.

So our house is now beginning to take shape and will be ready – both physically and spiritually – for us to move into on the 19^th May.

Home Sweet Home!

Let’s Go Fishing

 

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4.19)

Seven hundred men, standing on rickety platforms in the middle of a lake, poised, waiting, waiting for the signal to cast their nets and start fishing.  This was the scene we witnessed last week in the district of Tron in Uttaradit province and then, as they let down their nets, we saw fish large and small being caught in every direction. Some jumping out of one net only to land in the next one, no escape, and an air of joy, laughter and excitement all around.

To be honest we feel a bit like those men standing on their platforms, just itching to get going! The good news is that after praying, surveying, reflecting and gradually narrowing down the choices, we have now settled on the village of Ban Wang Daeng in Tron district, Uttaradit as the place to set up our rickety platform and start fishing – figuratively speaking of course. We hope that our presence there will bring joy, laughter and excitement as many people are transformed by Jesus Christ and as they experience His abundant life (John 10.10).

The main reason we chose Wang Daeng was not because it was more suitable, friendly or needy than the places in Phrae we had looked at. It was more to do with the welcome we received from the other churches in Uttaradit and their desire to work with us, to pray for us and to be a mutual encouragement one with the other.

We have found several places for rental in the village through the kindness of local people volunteering to show us around, and in doing so have already made friends with some of our soon-to-be neighbours (no estate agents or even signs outside properties here). Only one house really fits the criterion: two-storey, in the heart of the community, with land. Actually it doesn’t have much land, just a small patch out the front, but that will have to do. Hopefully we will be moving in at the beginning of May after doing a bit of DIY, buying furniture and so on as it is just an empty shell at present – not even a kitchen sink!

So after driving 4,000 kilometres round 2 provinces, exploring 7 districts, finding 5 sub-districts, visiting 9 churches, selecting 2 villages, looking around 12 houses and finally plumping for 1 big pink house in Ban Wang Daeng… we have finally finished stage 1 of our project. Now for stage 2!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prayer in Phrae

 

I lift up my eyes to the mountains –where does my help come from? Ps.121.1

Prayer in Phrae

After 3 weeks in Bangkok, settling in again to life in Thailand, we flew up north to Chiang Mai to pick up our vehicle and to spend a few days with Wit’s brother and his family. Finally last week we drove east, through the mountains, to the province of Phrae to begin our new adventure. Phrae is aptly named, for what better place to start but in prayer.

We have found a one-room apartment to stay in for the time being whilst we pray and explore to provinces of Phrae and Uttaradit. Our plan to begin with is to follow God’s leading to find a community where there is no Christian presence as yet. The first day we arrived we met up with Ajarn Thaworn, an old friend of Wit’s, who is the pastor of a large Presbyterian church in Phrae city, and also with the chairman of the 4^th District of the CCT (Church of Christ in Thailand). They were able to give us a good overview of the various districts of Phrae and Uttaradit and made suggestions as to where we should begin our search.

There is one district in Phrae that has no churches at all, so we decided to go and have a look there first. In Thai it’s called Nong Muang Khai, which translated means ‘Purple Pond Egg’ but we’re not sure why it was so named! Several of the sub-districts there had the kind of close-knit rural communities that we are looking for and we were attracted to one, Nam Rat, in particular. The main sub-district of Nong Muang Khai is quite developed with primary and secondary schools, a hospital and a 7-11! However, it’s early days and we have a lot of places still to visit before we make any decisions as to where we will settle.

This week we’re planning to make initial visits to the districts of Song, Rong Kwang and Long which are all in Phrae province. Then the following week we’ll venture into Uttaradit province to visit the districts of Tron, which has no church at all, Phichai, Tha Pla and Laplae.

So will you join with us in prayer for Phrae… and Uttaradit?

Ready Steady Go!

We’re Finally here in Thailand, feeling a bit jet-lagged, but excited and ready to begin our new adventure. The final weeks in the UK were enjoyable but busy: family Christmas in Surrey, New Year, Brazilian style, at IMC, a lovely few days in the Cotswolds with our ‘children’, lots of sorting, packing and eating out, our Commissioning service at Thrapston Baptist church and then a quiet few days, being well looked after by Helen’s sister, in Surrey before our flight.

The Commissioning was a very special occasion and we were delighted to catch up with so many old friends and to say our final farewells – the worst of these was saying goodbye to Josie, who is in the thick of exams and was unable to come to Helen’s sister’s with us. DJ’s turn was in Surrey after a delicious roast dinner (topped off with Christmas pudding!), the evening before our flight. Praise God for Skype and Facebook, but separation is still a huge wrench.

Now here we are in Bangkok, enjoying the lovely warm weather and amazing Thai food, and making plans. We hope to travel up to Phrae in about three weeks’ time, stopping off in Chiang Mai first to catch up with folk there on the way and to pick up our ‘pick-up’. We plan to base ourselves in temporary accommodation in Muang Phrae and to use that as a base to explore both Phrae and Uttaradit, and to seek God’s guidance as to where He would have us settle.

Countdown

Time is ticking down now and we’re nearing the end of our course here at IMC. So what’s been happening since we last wrote?

• We have enjoyed learning about all kinds of things – from development projects to Ignatian spirituality, from nutrition & health to security & risk management, as well as continuing with our theology and culture modules.

• We’ve had a lot of vaccinations – not so enjoyable.

• We’ve written a report, two essays, and a country project – each. Wit’s project was on church planting in Thailand, and Helen’s was on Buddhism and how it is practised in Thailand. Both will be very useful for our future ministry.

• We’ve been on four church visits, which were a real blessing to us and hopefully vice versa. We were inspired by the ways in which each of the churches is reaching out to the communities around them, and the dedication of the ministers. A Thai banquet and three roast dinners were also much appreciated.

• We’ve booked our flights – flying with BA on January 20^th

• We went to the Open Doors’ Greatest Adventure day and were deeply moved by the stories of Christians under persecution, but also amazed to hear of how God is working in those countries.

• We’ve been able to celebrate our DJ and Josie’s birthdays with them. It’s also been good to be around as DJ moved to Newbury to start the second phase of his graduate training scheme with Vodafone.

• Finally, in case you were wondering, the food is still amazing!

SEVEN good reasons for training at IMC

Why bother training? You’ve been missionaries in Thailand for over 14 years – what more do you need to learn? These are the questions people have asked us. To be honest we weren’t too sure about ourselves. But now, having been here for 7 weeks, we can see what a benefit it has been and we’re only half-way through the course. So here are our personal seven good reasons for training at the International Mission Centre:

• We’ve been studying about theology in a global context and understanding how people from other cultures respond to the gospel differently. The mission trainers have all spent time overseas and draw on their own real-life experiences for their teaching.
• It’s also been very useful to study the different world religions and especially to read about Buddhism as it is practised in Thailand and to begin to think about why the gospel is such GOOD news for Thai people.
• For the first month there were 30+ young people – Action Teams – also training here to go out for 6 months to serve in different locations around the world. Their enthusiasm and energy was truly inspirational.
• Last week we had a surprise visit by Benjamin Francis, an evangelist from India, who has been responsible for planting over 18,000 house churches in the past 15 years. His story is incredible and it gave us so many ideas for our own church planting project. He’s also planning to come and visit us in Thailand.
• There are 10 other mission trainees on the course and it has been great to get to know them and to build friendships. We have heard their stories and it is fascinating to see how God works in the lives of people in so many different ways. We all plan to keep in touch after we leave IMC and to support one another in our different projects.
• On a personal note, our daughter Josie is studying at Aston University here in Birmingham so we’ve been able to see her quite often. It was especially good to be around to take her to the hospital after she decided to jump down some stairs and fracture her foot! Our son DJ is also not too far away in Leeds and we’ve been to visit him once for his birthday and he’s planning to visit us here for Josie’s birthday.
• Finally, perhaps the best reason of all, the food is just AMAZING.

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