The Gospel in a Bucket of Ice
Is it possible to share the Gospel by serving buckets of ice to guests eating at a funeral?
A couple of weeks ago, the mother of one of the leaders at the local church died. As is usual in Thailand, the family held a funeral over one week where the mother's body was in a refrigerated coffin and friends and relatives came to pay their respects. Part of the visit involves sitting and eating a meal in front of the family home.
The church leader asked the Christians to come and help serve one night.
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- Written by Jeff Callow
- Category: Serving in Mission
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Why Can't They Just Hurry Up!
I recently helped one of the local Christians put a walk-way into his house. He lives in the middle of a rice field and the land his house is built on floods a little every year. The house is up high on stilts but getting in and out of the house becomes difficult, as the pathway in becomes muddy and partially covered in water.
Back three years ago, a mission team from overseas came to visit. One of the Christians on the team wanted to help his situation, especially as he cares for aging and invalid mother, so she donated some money to help. Knowing his situation, I was quick to tell him that some money was available and suggested what we should do to improve access to the house. Despite being appreciative of the offer, the young Christian man wasn't ready to go ahead...
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- Written by Jeff Callow
- Category: Serving in Mission
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Three ways to stay healthy while serving in Thailand
1. Exercise
We all know that exercising on a regular basis will help you to stay healthy, right? Well, let\\\'s suppose you live in Thailand. And have two little children... The only time available to exercise is in the evenings, when they are sleeping. By then it\\\'s also cooler outside. But also dark. Plus if you went running in the dark about ten not so friendly street dogs would be chasing you home. Well, at least that would be a good motivation to exercise intensely, right?
If you have someone to watch the children during the day, you could go to a sports ground, or another public place like the middle of a round about: just follow the rythmic music and you will find a group of women doing aerobics. That can be fun and is also a good way to connect with people.
Swimming is also a good type of exercise in the hot season in Thailand. But if you are used to swim lanes without someone cro
ssing your way constantly: be careful. Especially when one half of the swimming pool is in shade and the other half in the sun. The Thais will just use the shady part, even if it means, that they cross your lane all the time...
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- Written by Ruth Meier
- Category: Life in Thailand
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I Never Could Spelle Enginear and Now I Is One!
One of the old jokes about engineers goes, "I never could spelle enginear and now I is one!" Engineers have never been well known for their ability with English or in communication. It's quite ironic then, that now I'm a missionary, I get called to teach English to Thais in my local area. Teaching English isn't my calling in life, nor is it something that I would seek to do out of choice. But as we've spent time in Thailand, we've realised that one of the major social needs is in the area of learning English. Normally, we teach a bit of English conversation in schools in our local area and have regular private classes at our home. But recently we had the opportunity to assist over 100 teachers to improve their English language abilities in a three-day course.
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- Written by Jeff Callow
- Category: Serving in Mission
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NST Full Gospel - Building Dedication
Some of us had the privilege to be invited to a new church building dedication in the city of Nakhon Si Thammarat. Full Gospel church of NST also was celebrating 46 years of being a church. It was a wonderful sight to see churches and church leaders from all over the area come and celebrate this occasion. There is a very small population on believers in Thailand and even smaller numbers represented in the South, so it can easily get discouraging to see how small the groups are compared to the whole population. That is why Christians in South Thailand will always take the opportunity to join other believers so they can be mutually encouraged.
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- Written by Lila Chang
- Category: The Thai Church
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Number Our Days
“Did you know? Mr.Suchat is dying… It doesn’t look good.”
I am standing in our kitchen one morning with our housekeeper/neighbor Mrs. Yaa when I hear her say this. I am frozen as I hear these words but not sure whether I understood correctly. Translating in my head slowly, I realized I heard it right. Our neighbor is dying?
“He fainted at home two days ago and has been in the hospital since,” Mrs. Yaa continued. “We don’t know how long he was there before a friend came over concerned about not seeing him.”
I keep thinking this couldn’t be true! I had just spoken to him earlier in the week.
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- Written by Lila Chang
- Category: Life in Thailand
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10 Ways You Know It's Summer in Thailand
Thai summer is in April, when the sun passes directly overhead in between southern-hemispere summer (December-February) when the sun takes a more southerly route overhead, and northern hemisphere summer (June-August) when the sun takes a more northerly route overhead. Cool season here is in January, but within the space of two months (February & March), we go from the coolest month to the hottest month!
Here's some things you may experience here:
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- Written by Jeff Callow
- Category: Life in Thailand
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