Why, why why?
Due
to the coup in Thailand, we had to call off all our mission trips to China and
Laos and even our family vacation/retreat at Koh Chang, near Bangkok. Throughout my life, I’ve lived under the
military coup many times, total of 12 times: 1957, 1958, 1971, 1973, 1976, 1977
(bi), 1981, 1985, 1991, 2006, 2014; though it is not acceptable for me
personally, I can go through it.
However, our children who have never ever experienced such
circumstances, are continually raising various questions; for instance, why do we
have to cancel our family vacation? Why
is the coup erupting? Why did dad cancel
his mission trip? And much more questions…
It is quite beyond their understanding!
We don’t know what will happen to Thailand in the next few months. The fact is that we live under daily rumors
and hoax news. Recently, the military
junta was attempting to block the world's big social network and websites: Google
and Facebook. Nevertheless, the
spokeswomen of those companies declined to comment on any invitation or
questions about the army’s approach to Internet censorship. The junta will travel to Singapore to discuss
the issue with Google and Facebook next month, and would consider visiting the
headquarters of Japan-based Line—Thailand's most popular smartphone messaging
app—at a future date. We pray this will
not happen in Thailand. If it does,
please notify that our regular report will be changed according to the
political situation. Please pray for our
family and ministry so that we will be able to go through it with emotional and
spiritual peace in Christ, the Living God.
Overall, we have many reasons to give thanks and praise our Living and
Ruling Lord and God. First, we are not involving
and having any direct connection with the political crisis since we are merely
God’s tool for carrying out His great Commission. Second, we are using this time of crisis to
focus on our ministry and family, having more time together inside the house
since there has been curfew.
Updating on ministry
Most of our time in this
month was spent on pastoral ministry; visiting and praying for sick people at
hospitals, counseling to various people and in particular, several broken families. The way of counseling in Thailand, we guess,
is very different from the West. At
several times, Nick was a bit surprised when he observed the way we did
counseling here in Thailand. The
following paragraphs are some of his responses:
The way of counseling
in Thailand is nothing like I’ve ever experienced in America. I graduated from
Ozark Christian College with a BA in Psychology and Counseling and had work
experience in the field of psychology in the States. As you may know, in
America, counseling sessions are general done in confidential one-on-one
settings. Confidentiality, and helping clients come up with their own
resolution, is important in the “American” counseling. In Thailand, it’s
completely different.
The counseling ways of
the typical Asian way of counseling is completely polar opposite of the
Western. I was able to experience first-hand the counseling ways of Thailand.
My cousin recently went through marriage problems, and since this is a sensitive
issue, I won’t go into too much detail. What was really interesting and
surprising to me was that almost 20 members of our family, mostly the elders,
attended the “counseling session.” Not only did this session involve many
people, but the elders basically gave advice and made decisions on what will
happen to the husband and wife.
This counseling
session, in this case for the couple, involved many members of the family,
because in Asia, when a couple got married, it’s not only about the individuals
but also about the bond of the families or clans. Although the counseling of
Asia is different from America, I feel like it worked for the community. It was
a very different eye-opening experience for me.”
a family counseling
Updating on Leadership
equipping and empowering
We are now shifting our
ministry from outdoor ministry, evangelistic emphasis to biblical teaching and
leadership equipping and empowering. At
the moment, we have 5 Christian leaders from Myanmar and two from China who are
preparing their English with Nick, Becky and John in order to have them well
prepared for our visiting teacher, Dr. Derek Voorhees, from Boise Bible
College. Dr. Derek Voorhees will spend
two weeks with us and will be teaching an exegetical class on 2
Corinthians. Then, our students will
take a class the New Testament church with Mr. Isaiah Yintum, followed by 2
exegetical classes, 1 Corinthians and Ephesians with Dr. Stephen
Wongratanamajcha.
The two Christian leaders
from China came particularly to ask us to offer our biblical classes to
them. Indeed, many church leaders from
Thailand, Myanmar and China have requested us to offer special courses for
them. Rather than higher academic
emphasis, offering them practical and pastoral emphasis while being faithful to
the Word of God. Actually, the request
meets our ministerial philosophy. As you
may realize, our ministry of leadership are equipping and empowering emphasizes
on person rather than buildings. Various
occasions, we are moving from place to place, borrowing church buildings to
hold our teaching classes in various locations in Thailand and even other
countries, Myanmar and China. We are
offered merely to those who are presently serving His Kingdom. We are praying and waiting for God’s leading to
expand for this need ministry. We cannot
do this by ourselves. We need to have many
people and churches involved, particularly churches that are willing to
sacrifice for the fostering or sponsorship in prayers and finance.
Becky is teaching English
Nick is tutoring students on 2 Corinthians
John is teaching English pronunciation
Stephen, Isaac with students
Update from the last
newsletter:
Remember our latest
newsletter, we mentioned about Stephen’s trip to the central Myanmar for
drilling and building the water system for the orphanage home and bible
students. Now the work has finally been completed. We drilled 250 feet into the ground in order
to find water enough to support the people for both places. And the water system, tank and pipe, are also
finished. Our deep appreciation goes to
IDES for helping make the drilling system happen and a former missionary,
Kimberly Ayars, who raised the one time gift necessary for the water system.
Laying out water pipe system
building water filter system
setting up the water tank
the finished project
a group picture of orphans
As you may have known
already, health and hygiene in Myanmar are urgently needed, particularly the
remote and ruler areas. Many villages
need to have water sources for their daily drinking and usages.
a drinking water well at the remote village
Wongs in Update
Every one of our children, except Isaac, is at school
break. John is sacrificing his summer
break by helping our students with English pronunciation since his English is
his first language. Nick is tutoring our
students to go through all the biblical lessons. Becky is taking her internship at her
university by teaching English to our neighboring kids who are misplaced people
from Myanmar. She is also helping
teaching English to our AIS’ students.
Mary as usual is busy taking care of all the needs of the family,
students, faculties and visitors. Bless
her heart! She is the most-hard worker after
all.
Isaac is exhausted on his way from school to home
Always appreciate your partnering with us in advancing
God’s Kingdom here in Southeast Asia and China.
Richly Blessed,
Stephen and Mary
