Category: 2015 Thailand Mission Trip News

Final day

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Today marks our final day at Nakhon Si Thammarat. Our team was once again dispersed into three smaller groups to attend different churches (Full Gospel Church, Pak Panang Church and Bethlehem Church).

We said our final goodbyes to the Thailand team before heading to Hatyai to spend the final night in Thailand.

By Angel

18 Dec English Day Camp

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A few of us went really early in the morning to the English excursion with year 11 high schoolers. They were no different to the teenagers back in Australia. They like pop music, disco dancing, into beauty and chatting in their small groups. I tried to make conversations with one of the small groups.

Please pray for the students to open their hearts when they have opportunities to hear the gospel.

A Chinese teacher 劉㙯 from the school came to chat to me. She has her practical in this school. She was so happy that I could speak Chinese with her.
I invited her to come to the Christmas celebrations on the 24th Dec at 6:00 pm.

Please pray that she will come to the Christmas celebrations.

By Tracy

Sunday reflection

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Went to a church service today. Even though there was a communication barrier, I still felt unity, especially from singing from the songs, as sons and daughters of Christ.

However, I was also surprised that even though there was a language barrier, the reverend still made an effort to talk to me and engage in broken English. I thought to myself that if he loves and makes this much effort in making new comers feel welcomed, then I can do it myself.

By Alex So

Praise God for His Faithfulness

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We praise God for His protections, grace, blessings, and provisions for the team. We give thanks to God for Jeff, Belinda, Daniel, Megan, Andreas, Ruth, and Sue who have been leading us in various activities of our program in Nakhon Si Thammarat and Pak Phanang. We have truly witness the presence and love of God to the Thai people through His servants in Thailand from that we can also learn that we should only put our self interest in harmony with those in Jesus Christ. We are here to serve and not to be served. Today is our rest day. Even so, various things are still going today. Please continue to pray for the Thailand team 2015 as we shall embark on the remaining schedule of activities from tomorrow from that our Christian characters will be further developed and polished by God.

By Stephen Yu

13 Dec Reflection

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We spent our morning with Pak Phanang church. It is a small church but everyone is involve in serving. I am encouraged by a little girl who helped with the AV system. She and her sisters serve the church quietly as they were told.

Jeff told me that this church does not have a pastor but a Christian brother “Dig” who takes up the preaching role. Whatever he reads and understands from the bible he would preach.

Please pray for the Holy Spirit who will guide “Dig” to understand his words and preach His word faithfully.

We went to a small village after lunch at church.
The village is quite isolated. The houses are really basic. We visited two families. They are friendly towards Christians. One family owns a simple convenient stall close to the beach side. We spent some time at the beach side while Sue and Belinda chatted with the lady.

We drove back to the village afterwards and visited another family.
We sat on the ground outside their pergola. The man was really hospitable. He made a lot of effort making us ice cold cordial drinks by cutting the ice and present it in 2 nicest glasses. We thought he gave us the best things and he brought out more humble basic cups later for the rest of our team.

I felt a bit overwhelmed by what I saw. How could this village be reached? The work is plentiful but labourers are few. This place seems hidden away from other parts of Pak Phanang.

Please pray that God will open doors and Open the villagers’ hearts to see Jesus.
Please pray that God will continue to raise labourers to work in this area .

By Tracy

Day 7: prayer points

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Thank God! Our days have been full and put to good use; it starts at 7:30am with devotion and finishes at 9/10pm with reflection time. We are so tired but praise God for this day of rest.

Please pray for good rest and recovery and for those who are not well, that they would be given strength and speedy recovery.

Pray for safety, good weather and refreshment for those going abseiling or exploring the city.

We will also prepare in the afternoon for the next two full days of English Camp and for our skits tomorrow. Please pray that we will have wisdom to prepare well to teach.

Day 6 Reflection: Pak Panang Church

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12359833_186891241656081_1972680063761057552_n 12376263_186891068322765_1162224772057138983_nAfter hearing so much about the Pak Panang church in the Callows’ missionary updates, I finally got to see and experience this church.

The church is small compared to our congregation back home, with approximately 10 adults and 10 children who attend on a weekly basis. Actually going in, our team would have outnumbered the number of people there. I remember looking at the rows that were not yet fully filled and wondering whether more people were due to turn up.

However, despite the small size of the church, it was encouraging to see nearly everyone serving each other during the service and at lunch afterwards too. Even though the service was conducted in Thai and we could only understand what was translated for us by Jeff, I realised at the end of the day that regardless, we are still worshipping one God, and that’s what matters. Our God is the same God for the Thai people, and no matter what language we were singing our praises, it was a great experience to know that there and then, God’s name was being lifted high in a country where Christians are few.

Speaking to Belinda, growing the church hasn’t been easy. Some have been attending church for a while but still on the journey to putting their full trust and reliance on Him. Helping these individuals on this journey is a long process that can take years, requiring a lot of patience and perseverance. What stuck with me in my conversation with her though, was that God has his timing, and His timing is what they pray for and what spurs them on each day as they reach out to those in their community.

This fit in very well with what we read together as a group during devotion in Philippians 2:12-13 – that God works through us according to his good purpose, not what we think is best, but what he has determined is best.

May we also continue to pray and trust in God’s timing, especially when we may not immediately see the fruits of our hard work in His name.

– Ellen Law

Day 6: Prayer Points

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– Thank God the Adventure Team returned safely back to Nakhon Si Thammarat yesterday and that the last day went by really well.
– Today we’ll all be split into three teams visiting three different churches. Please pray that we will be an encouragement to the Thai Christians
– Hannah and Nathalie will team up today to run Kid’s Church at Pak Panang, please pray that they will have the wisdom to teach the kids faithfully and that they’ll have the courage to teach too
– There’ll also be teams to Hua Thanon Community Outreach and visiting at Talumpook Cape this afternoon. Please pray for good interaction and that God will be honoured.