Colorado Burma Roundtable Network

Wednesday, October 15, 2008 9:02 PM
Subject: Trip Report

Greetings from Mae Sariang, Thailand. Our team is now beginning the 3rd week of this year's mission trip. We have witnessed the tremendous impact that your financial grant to CBRTN has had on the Christian activities here in the area.

We arrived in Chiang Mai Thailand on 1 October. On 3 October we went to a new church in the Hang Dong District that received $1,000 to help sustain the native pastor (Chuan) and his family... This contribution was the beginning of a vibrant and growing Christian community in the area. On the 3rd, I assisted their pastor, Chuan baptize 18 new converts into God's kingdom... This was the second baptism celebration his new church has had in thier year of existance... I counted 85 people attending the church service that preceeded the baptisms. The church facility was literally a little hole in the wall on a small street in a commercial area of Hang Dong. Since there was no front wall, people spilled out onto the sidewalk and almost into the street. The church is continuing to grow, and now they are talking of knocking out the wall of the adjacent shop and expanding there! Only God knows what $1,000 can do when it is placed in the hands of a dedicated servant.

Following Chiang Mai, we came to Mae Sariang where funds were used to complete the building of a new church. We used the new church founded by Fay Wakling as a medical facility to treat the surrounding villagers of their ailments. We have found that our team doctor opens doors for evangelization after we leave... It was a beautiful church that replaced the bamboo and thatched roof facility acrossed the street. It is used by the natives and has a native pastor named Tong Dee (means "Good Gold"). We didn't attend a service there, but according to Fay, his preaching is excellent. Seeing this new facility out in the country, serving the Karen minority population there is a blessing, indeed.

But perhaps the most exciting part of the trip has been our time with the mountain evangelist team of Panya and Ratraphi. A generous church in Colorado provided all of their annual salary ($2,000). They have no other means of support except that which we have provided for them for special needs. The impact that these funds have made here will only be truly known when we reach heaven, but they have been truly significant. Every day we have traveled to different mountain villages where Panya and Ratraphi evangelize. In all, we went with them to 9 very remote mountain Karen villages to give medical treatment to Karen hill tribe people. We had to rent a 4 wheel drive to reach these villages because they were often located only reachable over very trecherous, muddy mountain roads (trails).

Yesterday for example we went to the Village of Mae Jong which is on the top of a mountain 9 miles off the main highway. This 9 miles took us an hour to reach as we slipped and slid through deep mud and ruts, sometimes with drops of more than 2,000 feet inches from our wheels. We knew when things were getting "dicey" when Ratraphi would shout "Jesus!". I only mention this because these are the trips that Panya and Ratraphi make every day on a motor scooter, rain or no rain. Sometimes they walk through the mud because their scooter can get them no further.

Our team doctor, Diane Barnes has treated hundreds of people in these villages with medicines that she had purchased here with her own funds. Panya and Ratraphi have used these medical opportunities to gather many non-Christians together and open many doors for proclaiming the Gospel. In one village, Ban Buak, they have even built a new church from trees fallen in the nearby mountains, and the siding and flooring lumber and support beams hewn with their own hands using primative tools (there is no electricity for power tools). ... One pastor named Sukochai (you have his picture giving communion to his church) made the most beautiful ornate doors for the church entry. This place of worship is a beautiful, simple building with a cross and hand made pulpit in the front... It serves as a beacon of Christ's light in the jungle, where not too long ago primarily Buddhits and Spirit Worship dwelled. In this church, there are no chairs, only straw mats to sit on, as the natives only sit on the floors anyway. And yet in its simplicity it is perfect.

In another village, Ban Mai Heui Kung, which is similar to Ban Buak, we baptized 16 converts to Christianity... They waited for us to come to Thailand to give us the honor of baptizing them. What a blessing. Ban Mai Heui Kung now has an ordained pastor which shows the growth pattern that is taking place in these mountains and amongst the Karen people. Panya and Ratraphi serve as leaders in this growth.

In two villages we visited, non-Christian people from surrounding villages heard that a doctor was coming and made the trek on foot to see her. Some walked 10 miles to get there and 10 miles back, up and down steep mountains, in the rain, carrying their children... They got treated medically, and then prayed for by Pastor Panya and one or two local Christians. Panya and Ratraphi were ecstatic that these Buddists/Animists allowed a Christian to pray for them to our Lord and Savior.

There are many more stories to tell; about the roads and jungle conditions, but mainly I just wanted to give you a flavor of what your funding has meant, and will continue to mean to Christian effort here in Thailand...

I give thanks to God for you, and your church... God's Blessing, Jack Johnson

Go back