Mission Trip to North Thailand
(Team 2, 12-17 Dec 2018)

This year’s North Thailand Mission Team 2 comprised of 13 members: Dness Teo Chew Hoon, Dness Patricia Lee, Dn Steven Yeo, Dn Ken Horn, John Lim, Fang Wei, Cindy Chua, Kay Ang, Gwyn and her son, Dexter Sin, Tan Choon Leng, Denise Lim and Gillian Lee. Dness Chew Hoon led the team this year. With God’s guidance through the exploratory visit in July this year it was decided that the focus of the mission would be to reach out to the teachers and students at Jedyod Primary School in Chiangmai, and the villagers of the Ahker village in the mountains of Chiangrai.

By God’s grace, 12 of us arrived safely in Chiangmai on 12 Dec and went through customs with no hiccups. We were received by Dness Patricia Lee, Pr Nathaniel Heng and his wife, Patricia Heng, who had arrived a day earlier to purchase all the gifts and things we needed for the program. We were also greeted with cool weather of temperatures in the low 20s (Centigrade). Our accommodation for the next 5 nights was simple, with no frills, but conveniently located in the city centre, close to Jedyod Primary School.

The first night was spent at Lighthouse Church, packing goodie bags for the children we would be meeting with, before returning to rest in the motel.

Jedyod School

Days 2 and 3 were spent in Jedyod Primary School, reaching out to the Primary 1 to 6 students. Jedyod Primary School is a public school in the city centre of Chiangmei with a total of 200 students and 12 teachers. This is the fifth year that Herald’s mission team has visited the school with the purpose of sharing the gospel. We thank God that even though there had been a change of Principal, the new Principal had agreed to have us return this year to share Bible stories, sing songs of praise, and to teach the children simple English. We recognized some of the students who had attended the program with us years ago. We were also blessed with the company of 5 Thai friends who were able to speak and sing in the Thai language, and helped us with the interpretation. This is a great improvement from previous years as the stories and messages were more engaging and impactful.

This year, we shared the Creation story with the children, as well as the fall of Adam and Eve, and the hope in Jesus Christ. We started each of our 4 sessions with simple songs like “God is so Good” & “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus”, adding actions to help the children to understand and sing along. Preacher Gate and his wife Nate, old friends of Lighthouse Church, shared the Creation story with powerpoint slides, which ended with the fall of mankind and God’s gift of Jesus Christ.

On the second day, we screened a Thai video clip showing a more complete picture of the gospel story. We also had quizzes which the children so eagerly participated in. Each session ended with an art and craft activity to reinforce what the children had learnt for the day. We could see the seeds that were planted in previous years taking root in some of the children, as they drew scenes of Jesus dying on the cross and writing “God is Love” on their worksheets. One of the students even shared with this teacher that he enjoyed the programs very much and his time spent with us.

Not only did we reach out to the students, we also had the opportunity to interact with the school teachers during a dinner which we hosted at a restaurant. The Principal and 12 teachers turned up for the event, and we shared the gospel with them. A few teachers indicated interest to know more about Jesus! We thank God that Herald is able to maintain good ties with Jedyod Primary School, and will continue to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to the children and teachers in Chiangmai.

Ahker Village

The second half of the mission trip was spent at the Ahker village in Chiangrai. This was our second visit to the village since 2016 when we first connected with Preacher Joe. We got to know Pr. Joe when he was our songtiaow driver during on of Herald’s earlier mission trips. Pr. Joe had a comfortable life in the city of Chiangmai, but he felt the burden to bring the gospel to his fellow villagers if should return to the village. Since then Pr. Joe has built a church building with the support of missionaries from Kong Kong. Although the adults in the village are reluctant to enter the church building, we learnt that 31 children are regular attendees every Sunday morning.

When we arrived at the Ahker village on a Saturday afternoon, Pr. Joe, his wife and the children were busy preparing for a village get-together which Pr Joe had organized to celebrate Christmas and the New Year at the church. As the sun began to set, a few of us accompanied Pr. Joe to invite the villagers to join us for the get-together, presenting them with socks as gifts. This was symbolic to them as the villagers were preparing to welcome the New Year. Gradually, more villagers joined us in the field outside the church as we sang Christian songs in English and Thai. Dinner was prepared by the women, and people took turns to eat inside the church building. Patricia Heng had earlier suggested that Herald could sponsor a whole pig for the night as it is a delicacy for the villagers. Thus, the main dish of the night was pork. As the temperature dipped, people gathered around the campfire and listened to Dness Patricia Lee share her testimony. They also watched the video clip of the gospel story, and enjoyed a presentation of “Christmas is a Time to Love” put up by the children who attended the chruch regularly. The night ended with a short ceremony of pounding sticky rice to welcome the New Year, a common practice among the Ahker villagers.

On Sunday morning, we went for an early morning hike up a hill where we would have group devotion, and to enjoy the cool mountain air. Sister Cindy suffered from altitude sickness during the hike. We than God for His protection over her as she recovered after some rest. The mission team then had the pleasure of serving in the Sunday Service for the children. Dn Steven Yeo gave a short message on “God is Love” with the children. Pr. Bert of Lighthouse Church also shared about the Creation story and the fall of mankind. The children enjoyed learning new Christian songs in English, and were gleefully engaged in the DIY notebook art and craft activity. We thank God for the work that Pr. Joe has been doing in Ahker village, and that Herald is able to show support for his work in a meaningful way.

There is still much work to be done in Jedyod Primary School and in the Ahker village. We pray that God will continue to use Herald to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with the people of Thailand.

“For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.” – Acts 13:47

Gillian Lee

Click here to our Mission Journal.

 Also check out the following on our Facebook
– Photos of Jedyod Primary School
– Photos of Aker Village
– Short clip of Jedyod Primary School
– Short clip of Aker Village