June 2008 Mission Trip

Team members:Alex Lau, Eva Kwok, Dionne, Nany Hoey

Ministry Dates: June 17 - July 3

The July 2008 mission trip consisted of a Cantonese speaking team from South Camberwell Uniting Church which served for two weeks in Phrao. The team stayed at the home of Daniel and Sharon, who have relocated as missionaries to Thailand since April 2008.

The team ran a children’s program for the boarding house children each evening and on Saturday mornings using the “Cosmic City” VBS material by David Cook. The children participated in crafts, games, bible stories; by the end of the program they all had the theme song “Everlasting” ringing in their heads! On the final evening, the children were awarded with certificates. What touched the team most was to see some of the children run to their rooms and retrieve an envelope full of certificates from the previous 6 years of programs that past mission teams have run with them; with much joy they added the new certificate to their collection.

The team also taught English at two school; Ban Janguerang and Sang Klang Primary Schools. Ban Janguerang is the top primary school in Phrao, and so it took the team a few lessons to adjust to the school’s teaching expectations. Nevertheless, Eva, Dionne and Alex made such a good impression that they were invited to lunch with the principal on a number of occasions. The years of contribution that various mission teams have made to this school have also paid off; the principal invited Pastor Arun of the Phrao Church of Christ to be on the school committee. Perhaps in the future we will be able to see more Christian programs at the school as a result of this.

Sang Klang school on the other hand is struggling to survive. It is situated at the outskirts of Phrao and predominately consists of Hill Tribe Children of Lahu and Ahka descent. For this reason, none of the local Thais in the area are willing to send their children to this school. The parents would rather drive them to schools much further away. An unspoken discrimination still seems to exist in this part of the country. We found out that a German Christian recently bought land and offered to set up a boarding house for Hill Tribes students at the school so that they could have a safe environment to live while studying away from home. Although the project was supported and promoted by the school, the village refused permission for the construction on the basis of ten points; to name a few, 1. That the Hill Tribe children speak a different language, 2. They are uncultured, 3. They are dirty, 4. They are involved in drugs, etc… The school teachers, who are all ethnically Thai however, are to be praised for their continued commitment to the school and its students irregardless of their background. This story gives an idea of some of the difficulties of doing ministry here.

Nevertheless the team formed a close relationship with the school teachers and children through their English teaching. They also shared a night of karaoke and dinner hosted by the school in gratefulness for their work. On the final day they marched with the children through the village in honor of the Queen’s national day against drugs.

Besides the mission team visit, our resident missionary, Daniel, regularly teaches Christian education at San Klang School on Friday afternoons. During this time the children will choose between Buddhism classes and Christian classes, according to their religious upbringing. About 60 children (50% of the school) attend the Christian classes. The rest attend Buddhist meditation in the temple. Daniel is currently going through the bible from Genesis to Revelations, picking out the main stories. It has been a joy to see this once shy bunch of students growing in confidence and bible knowledge as the weeks go by.

In the final days of the trip the team made a trip out to Mae Hong Son, near the border with Burma. The long and windy ride (they say there are 1900 curves along the road) resulted in much travel sickness, but the view from the mountains was spectacular. On the way they stopped a number of occasions to admire the beautiful scenery which they found were told were the “drug routes” from the Golden Triangle, and where there were hundreds of hidden mines waiting to be sprung. Security check points were scattered all along the stretch of road they traveled.

The team’s ministry was focused at a Lahu village on the way to Mae Hong Son. Seven churches from neighboring villages were invited to join the conference that we had organized; this included a children’s program on the Saturday, and two preaching sessions on the Sunday. Many of the attendees came a night earlier and slept over to avoid being bogged in the rain if they traveled the next morning. They came from young churches with Christians less than 5 years in spiritual maturity. At the Sunday service, the women’s choir from one church presented several traditional Christian songs and dance; it was a joy to see the women so empowered and enthusiastic in a culture that is generally male dominated. We were also inspired by the pastors; they served fulltime in ministry as well as working fulltime in their farms during the week days in order the earn enough to survive. Besides the ministry, the team were also treated to some traditional Lahu food, and received hand woven carry bags in gratefulness to their work.