Chapel

You are cordially invited to attend the High School Chapel tomorrow (Wednedsay March 30) at 11:15am - 12 noon where you can hear reports and reflections on the Senior Missions Team's time in Thailand. Chapel is held in the high school gymnasium of the school.

Video Reflection

Safely Home

By now most of you will know that the team has safely arrived home. Certainly, we celebrate the grace of God in bringing us home. However, we would ask for your prayers as we uphold the people in Japan who have lost so much. Here is a prayer from John Piper for the Japanese people. Please use it to fuel your own prayer for these people in the midst of this tragedy:

O God, we humble ourselves under your holy majesty and repent. In a moment—in the twinkling of an eye—we too could be swept away. We are not more deserving of firm ground than our fellowmen in Japan. We too are flesh. We have bodies and homes and cars and family and precious places. We know that if we were treated according to our sins, who could stand? All of it would be gone in a moment. So in this dark hour we turn against our sins, not against you.

And we cry for mercy for Japan. Mercy, Father. Not for what they or we deserve. But mercy.

Have you not encouraged us in this? Have we not heard a hundred times in your Word the riches of your kindness, forbearance, and patience? Do you not a thousand times withhold your judgments, leading your rebellious world toward repentance? Yes, Lord. For your ways are not our ways, and your thoughts are not our thoughts.

Grant, O God, that the wicked will forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Grant us, your sinful creatures, to return to you, that you may have compassion. For surely you will abundantly pardon. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus, your beloved Son, will be saved.

May every heart-breaking loss—millions upon millions of losses—be healed by the wounded hands of the risen Christ. You are not unacquainted with your creatures' pain. You did not spare your own Son, but gave him up for us all.

In Jesus you tasted loss. In Jesus you shared the overwhelming flood of our sorrows and suffering. In Jesus you are a sympathetic Priest in the midst of our pain.

Deal tenderly now, Father, with this fragile people. Woo them. Win them. Save them.

And may the floods they so much dread make blessings break upon their head.

O let them not judge you with feeble sense, but trust you for your grace. And so behind this providence, soon find a smiling face.

In Jesus’ merciful name, Amen.

In Hong Kong

We are in Hong Kong awaiting the last leg of our journey home. All are well.

Returning Home

Thank you to those who have followed our progress and who have remembered the team in your prayers.

It is 10pm as I write this. We will be leaving from the hotel at 5:15 am.

Our flight out of Chiang Mai to Bangkok departs at 8:10am (local time). It is Thai Airways flight 101.

We fly from Bangkok to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific Flight 708 departing at 10:50am.

We depart from Hong Kong for Toronto on Cathay Pacific Flight 826. It is scheduled to arrive at Pearson Int'l Aiport at 6:25pm (local time).

Please check with the airlines for any changes to these times. Thank you!

Preparing for Debrief

It is 10:30pm as I write this. The students have returned from one last fling at the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar. We were pleased by how intentional our students were in seeking meaningful gifts to thank their supporters for their gifts and their prayers. The night bazaar is a sea of merchants selling souvenirs and other wares for great prices.Right now the students are in their rooms and preparing for our last day in Thailand. May I ask you to continue to pray for the students and for their ministry? We have found that tomorrow - the day of debrief - has great potential to solidify the work that God has been doing in and through their lives. The day is spent in intentional reflection on both the Scriptures and on their time in Thailand. If received well, the day of debrief can significantly help to sharpen students' understanding of the gospel and Christian ministry. It is our desire that all of our students would gladly heed the call of Jesus in Mark 8:35. Namely, that they would lay down their lives for the sake of Jesus Christ and the gospel.

Mae Wong Village

We thank God for his grace in allowing us a fruitful ministry in the Mae Wong village and a safe return to Chiang Mai.

We left Chiang Mai on Monday morning bright and early. The plan was to check out of all the rooms in the hotel except for one room where we would store all of our luggage. Although we communicated our intent to keep all but one room for the next three days to more than one manager, language barriers were still present when we were about to board the song-taws to leave and we suddenly saw that all of our luggage was being carted out of the hotel. The teachers rushed to the front desk and tried to explain and re-explain that we were keeping the luggage in the hotel in that one room. Finally, after multiple attempts, there was a glimmer of understanding and the luggage was returned to our room.

We made the trip to the village early in the morning. It is a lush, fertile area filled with tall coconut trees, banana trees and large swaths of paddy fields. The houses were in the village were very simple. We noticed that at the front of every house was an ornate altar to Buddha. The people were warm and welcomed us kindly.

We arrived at the government school to find the children already waiting for our arrival. This school is a government school. It has not Christian affiliation whatsoever. At the front of every classroom there were three images above the chalkboard. The first was that of Buddha. Below Buddha's image was a Thai flag and then a picture of the King of Thailand. In the courtyard, under the shade of two trees, stood a large altar to Buddha. We were not only the first Christians to visit this school but also the first foreigners.Before we began our three days of ministry at this school, we clarified with the school principal that we were Christians and that we would be teaching the children about Jesus Christ. We were unsure how the principal might respond. His reply was: "As long as they have fun, you can teach what you want." We took his permission and began.

Each day began with some Bible songs. The songs were not only taught to the students but the meaning of each song was explained for them. Imagine hearing almost 100 Thai children learn and then sing "Jesus Loves Me" for the very first time! That was one of the many blessings we enjoyed over these past three days. The songs were followed up with a mime or a drama. Again, before each preformance, the students would explain the meaning of the drama.

From the opening session, students were divided among the Thai students. There were four groups: kindergarten, grades 1-2, grades 3-4 and grades 5-6. Our students introduced different parables from the teaching ministry of Jesus to the children each day. Each lesson was taught out of the Bible and included songs, crafts and games. The lessons had been prepared in advance while we were still in Canada. It was good to finally be able to teach these lessons which we had worked on for so long!


At the end of each day, we returned to our home in the village. The home is the home of a very poor pastor. Attached to his home is the church which is a simple structure that can maybe seat about 20 people. Tragically, we learned that his church has sat empty for a decade. 10 years ago, the Jehovah's Witnesses came into the village and took most of his parish away. He spoke to us, through a translator, about being neglected and abandoned and how blessed he was to see his church being used again. The girls slept on the ground in his house and the guys slept on the floor of his church.

On our first evening in the village, the guys went with a couple of other Christian men to the home of a very very poor family who needed a new roof. We initially thought that we would be nailing shingles down. How wrong we were! The house consisted of one room. The frame was made from bamboo shoots and the shingles which provided the roof was made of leaves which had been stitched together with dry grass. The entire house was made from materials in their garden! When they needed a new beam for the roof, they simply hacked down a bamboo shoot with a machete.

To be honest, we were useless and spent much of the time marvelling at the simplicity and also the ingenuity of the house. The Thai Christians seemed to intuitively know how to use the materials from the forest to erect the house, stitch the leaves together and bind the shingles to the roof. Although we tried a few times, it was for their good that we got out of the way.

Meanwhile, the girls were back at the house and had taken the pews out of the church which had been neglected for some time. The girls sanded down these pews and gave them a new coat of lacquer.

On the second night in the village, we led in a time of worship and Bible teaching at a children's hostel. These hostels are a cross between dormitories and orphanages. The children who go to these hostels come from rural areas where there are no schools. These hostels provide room and lodging for the children so that they may be able to attend school. A number of Christian ministries have seen the strategic value of these hostels since it affords them an opportunity to share the gospel with the children, train them up in the fear of the Lord and love them in the name of Christ. When these children are old enough, they leave the hostel and either return home or go to universities in the big cities, all the while taking the gospel with them.

During these past three days we have marvelled at the grace of God in providing for us many real opportunities to preach the gospel to Thai children who have never heard of Jesus Christ, the cross or the Bible before. Just this afternoon, Candice had the privilege of teaching the story of Peter walking on water to the entire school. She shared how just as Peter had to cry out "Lord save me!" Each of us also need to cry out "Lord save me!" because we are sinners and the wages of sin is death. However because of God's love for us, he gave his only Son to take the punishment for us in our place. As Candice clearly explained to the Thai children: Jesus is our substitute. She sincerely and earnestly pleaded with them to turn away from their sin and turn to Jesus Christ; to believe in Jesus and to trust in him for their salvation.

As she was preaching the gospel, I sat in the back with a Thai pastor who began to weep as he saw so many young children hearing the life-saving and life-transforming message of the gospel for the first time.

Would you take a minute, even as you read this and pray that this gospel, which alone can save, would be received and repeated by the children who heard it. If every child takes what they have learned about Jesus Christ and shares it in their homes, it is very likely that every home in the village would hear of Jesus Christ. How we long to see Jesus Christ worshiped in this and many other Thai villages!

Liberty Church and The Phrao Project

The day began with a time of prayer, worship and Bible study. After breakfast, we boarded a couple of vehicles and made our way to the Liberty Church of Chiang Mai. We were warmly greeted and had the joy of joining these believers in worship. Though the service and singing were in Thai, the joy that these brothers and sisters in Christ expressed through singing was quite tangible. Furthermore, we had the privilege of sharing in communion with these believers. One interesting habit that we observed was that when the grape juice was consumed everyone exchanged the cup of juice they held in their hand with their neighbor before we drank. Melissa shared her testimony and encouraged the believers to persevere in their faith.During the sermon, we took the children from the church to another room and led them in a Bible story and activities.

We shared a simple meal of chicken and rice with the members of the church and then made our way to the Phrao project. Phrao is a remote village about 1.5 hours away from Chiang Mai. In this community we gathered the children of the village together and had the chance to lead them in ministry. Some of these children heard the gospel for the first time this afternoon! Please pray that the seeds of the gospel will find fertile soil in their young lives.As I write this, the students are preparing for the next three days of ministry in the Mae Wong Village. Very likely, there will not be internet where we are going. So, if the blog is silent, please don't be alarmed.

Care Corner Orphanage

My apologies for not updating the blog yesterday. It is almost 9am as I write this. Students are grabbing breakfast and preparing for the upcoming day of ministry.

Yesterday saw the team spending the day at the Care Corner Orphanage which is situated outside of Chiang Mai. Along with teaching lessons from the Bible, leading in fun games and songs, we also had the joy of purchasing a meal for all the children in the orphanage. Due to financial restraints, it is not common for the orphans to have meat in their meals. When we learned of this, we gladly purchased a meal for all the children in the orphanage.

We started the day as one large group. Melissa Chau and Daniel Ng shared about life in Canada, our school and why we were in Thailand. Josh Han and Jonathan Lin taught the children a couple of fun, Bible songs and had the entire orphanage singing along. We then divided into three groups. One group consisting of the younger children learned about the parable of the lost sheep and made lamb faces from paper plates. The middle-aged children learned about the parable of the unmerciful servant. The eldest children learned about the wise and foolish builder. Dorothy taught the children how to make paper houses and encouraged them to build their young lives on the foundation of Jesus Christ.
After the lessons, we enjoyed a few minutes of simply playing with the children before we entered the canteen where lunch had been prepared. What a joy to sit among these children and share a simple meal of rice, chicken and vegetables with them.


After lunch, the children of the orphanage preformed a couple of dances for us. Candice Taguibao taught the children of Peter walking on water and encouraged the children that like Peter, they cry out to Jesus and he will hear and answer. Alison Li shared her testimony with the children.

We spent the remainder of the time with the children in play.
Thank you for your prayers and your love for the team. Thank you for taking the time to read these updates and to remember us in your prayers.

A Day Off & A Day On (Elephants and Bamboo Rafts!)

Today was our first official "day off" since arriving in Thailand... and what a day it was! We had the rare opportunity to ride on the back of elephants in the morning and then make our way to a river where we rode on bamboo rafts. It is really hard to explain what these two experiences were like. The entire team was paired up and together, we tromped through the Thai jungle on elephant back. We had to frequently stop and pinch ourselves as we realized that we were riding elephant! We also had to frequently stop because the elephants demanded to be fed every few paces. For less than $1, you could buy a bag of sugar cane or a bag of bananas. About every 10 paces, the elephant would stop dead in its tracks, its trunk would swing above its head and it would wait until you placed a sugar can shoot or a couple of bananas in its trunk.

After riding the elephants, we journeyed a little further until we reached the edge of a river where we boarded bamboo rafts which meandered along the river steered by Thai tour guides. It was a refreshing and relaxing ride.

After riding the elephants and riding the rafts, we returned to Chiang Mai for a bite to eat and returned to the hotel for a few hours. Students finished off lessons for the next few days, swam in the pool or took a nap.

In the evening we visited the night bazar where all sorts of bargains were acquired.

The next five days will be quite busy. Tomorrow, we visit an orphanage where we have a day of ministry prepared. On Sunday we minister in a local church and then make our way to one of the Hill Tribes in Northern Thailand for children's ministry.

On Monday we depart early in the morning for three days of ministry in a rural village where we will be staying. We will not be camping outdoors as originally planned. The female students and teachers will stay in the home of a local pastor while the male students and teacher will stay inside the church.

Please pray for stamina for these next five days of ministry. Tired bodies can make for irritable spirits and irritable spirits can distract us from the ministry of sharing the gospel. Please pray against this and ask that God would grant to us strength, patience, and unity.

Painting and a Visit to the Slums

We spent the morning in two different locations doing different activities. Half our team went to a children's centre run by a christian couple. They had the opportunity to serve in a very practical way. They painted the main children's activity room and the outside exterior walls. The students worked hard to do a good job laughing and smiling the entire time. Their joy was evident to all who passed by the doors and outside the centre as the work was being done. Even the buddhist bus driver commented on how happy they were. The students found it very satisfying to see the before and after shots of the rooms and what a difference a coat of paint made to the appearance of the centre. The centre directors were very grateful for the quick make-over, as it would have been a project that may have been put off based on priority. Before leaving, the students lay hands on the husband and wife and prayed that God would bless their ministry and that many Thai children would come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour through this children's centre. The team also experienced eating rice and roasted chicken by hand and thoroughly enjoyed a popular Thai dessert – mango and sticky rice covered in coconut milk!!



The other half of the team traveled down to one of the “slums” in Chiang Mai. We went anticipating that a crowd of 10-15 village children would come out to sing songs and listen to us tell stories. God surprised us by bringing two! A five year old girl called Chang Chang and a twelve year old boy called Tai Wan. Regardless of the numbers, our students enthusiastically sang Jesus Loves Me and Father Abraham, Renee and Jon S. told the parable of the lost sheep, Victoria performed Peter Walks on Water and the kids completed a craft – all on a dirt road beside a tree. Chang Chang was very shy but warmed up to us by the end and it was Tai Wan that captured all of our hearts. He was very affectionate right from the start and smiled and laughed at everything. On our journey back through the village, we got to visit Tai Wan's home and it was then that we realized that God had much to teach us through Tai Wan. We entered his “house” that consisted of a medium sized room with an attached smaller room which was the kitchen. The only furnishing in larger room was a twin mattress and as we gazed around the room, the walls were bare. This is where Tai Wan lived with his parents, his 4 sibling and grandparents. Tai Wan's father had an amputated left leg and his mother had an amputated arm. Tai Wan and his family often had to walk the streets to beg for money in order to pay for rent and have food to eat. It was an incredibly humbling experience. This family had so, so little but Tai Wan was probably happier than many of the other boys his age back in Canada. We were grateful that the family allowed us to pray for them in their home. It is our hope that the gospel seeds planted in Tai Wan's heart will grow in the years to come. We walked away knowing that this will definitely be a memory we will keep and learn from over a lifetime.

The Forgiveness Church

According to statistics, Thailand's population is only 1% Christian. A common saying about the Thai is that "To be Thai is to be Buddhist." Certainly, we have seen this. As soon as we arrived in Thailand, we found Buddhist monks in saffron robes walking about. Every day we are here we see more and more of these monks. Every restaurant we eat at has images of revered monks and statues of Buddha.

Today, we witnessed a different side of Thailand's spiritual make up. We had the opportunity to spend much of the day with a handful of Thai Christians. Our day began very early in the morning. We boarded a song taw - a covered pick up truck which is the common form of transportation in Chiang Mai. We drove 30 -40 minutes from our hotel to a tiny house which doubles as the Forgiveness Church. The interior of the house has been converted into a meeting room where Christians gather for worship and for Sunday services. The room is not large, certainly smaller than the average classroom at PCA.

The pastor, his wife and his teenaged daughter live in this house. Apart from the meeting room, there is a kitchen and a washroom. Outside of the house is a yard with a couple of trees surrounded by a cement wall.

The pastor had wanted to have this wall painted for some time. So, this morning, we purchased the paint and supplies and painted the wall for him. First, we washed down the wall. Next we cleared out all the growth that had cropped up along the wall. After laying on a coat of primer, the students put on two coats of paint.

Although the task was relatively straight forward, we ran into a hurdle when we accidentally punctured a city water pipe in our zeal to clear the growth away from the fence. The punctured pipe began to spray water and soon we were looking at the threat of a flood. Thankfully, the pastor was able to secure some assistance and within a short period of time, the pipe was fixed.

It took most of the day to complete all the work related to the painting of the wall. Hopefully, we can post pictures of the freshly painted wall soon.

In the evening, we joined the evening prayer meeting of the church. Young people from the community were invited to come and join the meeting tonight. We were blessed to join them in worship. Many of the tunes were familiar but obviously the language was different. What a privilege to be in that meeting as we sung the same praises to Jesus Christ in two different languages.

Another highlight of the night was the opportunity to pray one-on-one for those gathered. Each of our students joined hands with a Thai Christian and in our respective languages, we committed one another to our Saviour.

Josh Han and Candice Taguibao shared their testimonies and the gospel with those gathered in the meeting.

Tonight as we debriefed, there was a sense of God's grace in allowing us to participate in the meeting. We walked away from our time at the Forgiveness Church with a richer understanding of the body of Christ and the great treasure that we share with all Christians, everywhere, in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Thank you for your prayers.

Cooking Night

It is 10:30pm as I write this. The team has put in another full day. Today was geared towards the cooking night at the Centre. We began the day by visiting Chiang Mai University where we initiated conversations with students and invited them to join us at the Centre this evening for English conversation and a taste of Western foods.

By 7:00pm, the Centre was filled with students. We played a few ice breakers with the students and then moved into the food. Our students prepared three dishes: tacos, poutine and crepes. After all were fed, our students introduced the parable of the Good Samaritan and preformed it for those who were gathered. After, Jonathan Selvalingham and Dorothy Yeung shared their testimonies and the message of the gospel with the Thai students. It was trememndously moving to see our students introducing these Thai students to the person and work of Jesus Christ - some for the very first time.

We have now returned from the Centre and all are settling in for a well deserved rest. Tomorrow will see us visiting a church and helping with some manual work on the premises. Afterward, the youth of the church have invited their friends to come to the church. We will be sharing with these youth. Please pray for clarity and boldness in sharing the gospel.