Over the next couple of weeks we will be hearing from Simona, a member of the Redeemer staff team, who recently travelled to Thailand to work alongside local missionaries and see the gospel preached to those who have never heard it before. We hope you are encouraged, challenged, and inspired by her story.
You could say that our adventure began on October 27th when my lovely travel companion, Maria Bo, and I headed to Heathrow Airport en route to Bangkok. However, the adventure actually began earlier this year in January when we were invited to participate in a four-day training program on empowering struggling communities 🤝 . The program was held at The Hub in the heart of Ealing and was hosted by Richard Holt, the training also included an invitation to join him in one of his projects in Asia to put into practice what we had learned.
As such, the main purpose of our trip was to help facilitate a TOT (Training of Trainers) for a Community Health Evangelism (CHE) program. CHE is a community development program that focuses on evangelism in unreached and impoverished populations by meeting their most urgent needs and working together with local leaders to support and facilitate work within those communities. The work targets major sectors such as health, education, agriculture, and trauma recovery, and its holistic approach is based on biblical principles and the example of Jesus, who met people's physical, emotional, and spiritual needs when entering the community and preaching the good news of the Kingdom of God.
As well as the knowledge we gained, it was a great opportunity for me to meet many inspirational, radical and dedicated missionaries and people from different cultures who have left their home country to serve in Thailand and make a difference by being ” light and salt”, just as Jesus commanded us! We discovered that they possess a deep understanding of the local culture and spirituality. This knowledge enables them to effectively communicate the message of Jesus to the Thais in a way that is both relevant and easily understandable in this particular part of the world.
Life Changers
How can I not mention some of the meaningful conversations I had? 🗨️💖💬 The one with Sara* from Australia 🇦🇺🦘 for example. She moved to Northern Thailand with her whole family and children to reach an unreached group with the Gospel. She shared how difficult it is to enter those villages, and sometimes it takes years to have a minimal impact. She likened sharing the Word of God with the Buddhist society to “trying to cut water with a sword” because the impact of the effort would not be long-lasting or significant, as Buddhism already defines and encompasses every aspect of people's lives in those areas. At the moment, they do prayer walks in the villages and offer to pray for people. Surprisingly, she didn't ask for protection prayer but for resilience and perseverance despite the daily difficulties and challenges she faces. She was hopeful about the training we offered as she said it might be a very effective tool to open doors in those villages, especially as it wasn’t labelled as "Christian”. This often creates barriers, preventing them from building an initial connection with the village chief. I was inspired and encouraged by her story. ✨🌟😊
I also had the pleasure of meeting X., a Burmese refugee who shared his story with us. He belongs to the Karen community which is mainly Christian and very blessed, despite being very small. He told us about the ongoing civil war, how he lost all his documents, his rescue and how he met his Norwegian wife on the field. He joked: “When God calls you, He also likes to give you the whole package”! - pointing at her. We were invited to their home and enjoyed a meal with them, their children, and friends. It was a sweet experience. 👨👩👧👦❤️👫🫶
It was also encouraging for me to meet Cris at a home fellowship church gathering. Cris is a single American woman in her late 40s who has been serving in Thailand for many years as a lawyer, helping families and children. She told us that despite the challenges of living abroad without a husband or companion at her age, she felt the desire to adopt a child. God has blessed her with supportive communities and friends along the way. Maria and I had the opportunity to pray for her. 🙌
During our first week, we stayed at the ECHO farm in Chiang Mai. It's a beautiful agricultural farm that employs local Thai people who are all Christian, which is quite remarkable since the percentage of Christians in Thailand is very small. They cultivate a wide variety of plants, fruits, and vegetables, and maintain their own seed bank.🌱🌾🧡🍈🌴I even bought some seeds from them, including papaya and dragon fruit, but I'm not sure if they'll grow! I might get a chance if I entrust them to my family in sunny Calabria -South Italy! ☀️🏊♂️
After the experience in Chiang Mai, we took a coach and travelled for 5 hours to Mae Sot, and you can hear more about that experience next week!
*Some of the names in this story have been changed for the safety of those involved.
