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!