Our last morning in Bangkok began with a hotel breakfast and then mission team devotions. How odd it was to sit around the breakfast table with the mission team just a block from the Dieselberg’s NightLight ministry discussing our feelings regarding the rampant Bangkok prostitution and sex trading, and the necessity of Jeff and Annie to reach out with Christ’s love to the women (and men!) caught up in this horrible business as the prostitutes and their customers wandered in and out of the breakfast area for the buffet. Suddenly it seemed helping those in prostitution was not a far-away problem, but a real life issue as it surrounded us everywhere. These images are unforgettable!
After packing up, we met in the lobby and headed to the airport to catch our flight to Chiang Rai. Upon our arrival in Chiang Rai, we were met at the airport by Chuck Fox, ABC-IM missionary in this city of 100,000 people. We passed mostly rural areas riding to our hotel in Chuck’s truck, where our hotel sat on a large, beautifully gardened property on the outskirts of Chiang Rai. What a contrast to the crowds and congestion we just left in Bangkok!
At our hotel, we received the “Baptist room rate”,
a lower rate given by hotels in northern Thailand to American Baptist guests in appreciation for all the great work our ABC-IM missionaries have done over the past 150 years to help people in this area. After unpacking, we met Chuck, wife Ruth, and their family for dinner at a local restaurant. We were joined by Karen Smith (shown in the photo on the right), Director of the New Life Center women’s care facilities in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, and Angela Sudermann, ABC-IM Short-Term Mission Opportunities Coordinator at Valley Forge. Karen was in Chiang Rai that evening thanks to an invitation from Ruth Fox to meet our team, and Angela just happened to be there on her way to Chiang Mai to meet with ABC-IM missionary Duane Binkley. We felt fortunate to enjoy a meal with Karen and Angela, and to talk with them about their activities. After dinner, we shopped at the Chiang Rai Night Market. With Chuck’s assistance, some great deals were negotiated for souvenirs, and we saw for the first time beautiful Akha crafts being sold by Akha women. The evening ended with everyone going to the nearby Swenson’s Ice Cream Parlor next to the Night Market. It was indeed a great way to end our first day in Chiang Rai!Sunday, February 10
Breakfasts here are delightful. Fresh fruit abounds along with “sticky rice” and an array of Asian breakfast selections. After breakfast, out mission team piled into Chuck’s double-size-cab Toyota truck (some of us riding in the truck bed) as we went with Chuck and Ruth to the Akha village of Sukasem about 1 hour from Chiang Rai. Sukasem is a Christian village where the Akha residents have pledged to Akha church leaders to not use drugs or alcohol. Homes there are built of bamboo with thatched roofs nestled in a small valley.
We were greeted with smiles and waves as we entered the Sukasem village. We met the Akha Baptist Area Director Pedru who serves 12 Akha villages in this area, and sipped tea and ate delicious Thai “apple bananas” waiting for church to begin around 10:00 a.m. Chickens and their chicklets, cats, and dogs wandered around us as we ate. We were unexpectedly blessed to attend the service since it was a special day with a new Akha pastor for the village being installed by his younger brother Pastor Pedru with blessings also by Chuck and Ruth. The new pastor was being paid by the Akha Baptist Foundation about 600 baht a month for his upcoming pastoral duties, only about $20 a month!
After about an hour of visiting we made our way up the hill to the little church made of 
cinderblocks with cement floors, constructed by donations from International Ministries under the direction of Chuck Fox. The church windows had no glass, only wooden shutters which were opened for light and to allow the gentle breeze to flow through. Women sat on one side of the sanctuary, men on the other, while small children played on the veranda. Singing was joyful and beautiful. What a heritage we have as American Baptists that made this Sunday service possible for the Akha people in the Sukasem village!
During the service, our Colorado mission team sang along with the Akha people such hymns as “Onward Christian Soldiers” and “How Great Thou Art” in Akha in the Akha language using hymnals that showed the words in Akha, Thai, and the phonetic Akha word pronunciations in English. This was made possible by the work that 
American Baptist Paul Lewis started in northern Thailand in the early 1950’s (and continues even today) to create the first written Akha dictionary, and to provide the Akha word English phonetic pronunciations and meanings so that other English-speaking people could communicate with the Akhas. Also, since the Akha people had no knowledge of a “music staff” for notes, Paul Lewis’s wife Elaine created a singing system for the Akha people where the “do, re, mi, fa …” words were written in Akha to tell them which tones should be sung. How joyous it was for us to sing with the Akhas!
As part of the church service, our ABCRM mission team stood before the some 80 Akhas attending to sing
“Amazing Grace” as we would in Colorado. We were awed by then the Akha congregation standing to joyously sing in return “Amazing Grace” in their Akha language accompanied by a guitar. What a sign of all of we brothers and sisters in Christ sharing our fellowship in this way!
As an example of what a small world it can be, Beth (Currier) Cook on our ABCRM mission team sat beside ABC-IM missionary Ruth (Gilson) Fox during the Akha church service. They had discovered the night before they both had a connection with former American Baptist missionaries and Beth’s “Uncle Bryant” and “Aunt Sara Jean” Currier. The Curriers had served in Burma when Ruth’s parents had been missionaries there many years ago, and knew Ruth’s missionary aunt and uncle. Also, Pastor Pedru who installed the new church pastor been installed by Paul Lewis many years ago as an Akha Baptist pastor. How deeply entwined our missions of the past are with today’s work to spread the teachings of Christ to the Akhas and other people in northern Thailand!
After the dedication of the new pastor and the completion of the service during which Chuck preached and both Chuck and Ruth gave their blessing to the new pastor, we were fed a delicious meal at Pastor Pedru’s home in the Sukasem village cooked over an open fire in the home’s kitchen. When we returned to Chiang Rai in Chuck’s truck, some rested at our hotel with a few went with Ruth to enjoy a relaxing Thai full-body or foot massage, quite a treat after all our experiences at the Sukasem village!
Monday, February 11
Our ABCRM mission team gathered for breakfast and devotions in our hotel before starting our tour of mission trip activities in Chiang Rai that day. We learned that American Baptist missionary projects in northern Thailand come in many forms. Our first stop was to attend the opening ceremonies at the Sakasartsuksa School located just a half-block from the home of Chuck and Ruth. This private school supported by the Thai government was started in 1957 by American Baptist missionaries, with the first classes composed of a handful of students meeting in a small bamboo house. Its purpose was to educate tribal children of northern Thailand who otherwise would have no educational opportunities as they are not considered Thai citizens. This school is now a large multi-building compound attended by 2200 students from various local tribal groups, mostly Akha.
Almost 60 percent of the Sakasartsuksa School’s students 
come from Christian homes, where some students live in the school’s dormitories and some commute there daily. Support now comes from a variety of sources other than American Baptist churches, but the school still honors its American Baptist heritage with classes in Christianity and the reciting of the Lord’s Prayer every day before classes start. Our ABCRM mission team members were the honored guests of the school’s opening ceremony this day, with our mission team leader Kerry saying a few words to all the students about where we were from, and also our bringing greetings from their brothers and sisters in Christ in the Rocky Mountain Region to these students.
We met with the principal after the ceremonies. Mr. Songsaeng was raised in a Christian family and his father was a leader of the Baptist Churches in Burma. His concern was that his school not only change minds but also hearts. Many tribal families deal with issues such as drugs.
Our next stop of the day was at the Akha Crafts Center Store across the street from the Fox home. We took advantage of this opportunity to see the beautiful items made by the Akha Crafts Store staff under the direction of Ruth before heading on to the AKHA (Akha Kinship and Holistic Alternatives) Foundation in Chiang Rai. AKHA Foundation leader Yote Kukaewkasem (mentored by Paul Lewis) focuses on helping many Akha villages in the Chiang Rai area, including protection of the forest environment, creating economic opportunities for Akha communities and families, educating Akha youth, improving Akha health conditions, providing Akha crises relief programs, and solving Akha/Thai community problems through negotiations.
Our next stop during the day was to visit the Mekong Minority Foundation (MMF) in Chiang Rai led by ABC-IM missionary Scott Coats, son of well-know northern Thailand missionaries Bob and Patricia Coats who started over 60 American Baptist churches especially among the Karen people from 1957 through 1995. Scott’s MMF organization focus on helping all the Mekong Delta tribal groups (Karen, Akha, Hmong, Lahu, Lisu, Mien, and Tai Yai) to develop and raise up leaders among these people, emphasizing through training how to lead based on Christian ethics and morality in all that they do. Although Scott has been here several years connected with World Concern based in Tacoma, Washington, he has organized in recent years the independent MMF Foundation to carry on the work of building tribal leaders (see -- http://minorityleadership.org/English/minoritypeople.htm).
After our visit with Scott, we stopped by the Family Learning Center in Chiang Rai to see the completion of this international school’s “Sports Day” where Ruth Fox is the principal. Sports Day involves five multi-aged groups of the some 80 elementary/primary English-speaking students at this school competing in various athletic events to see can score the most points. We ended the day by returning to our Chiang Rai hotel dinner with Chuck and Ruth after Chuck showed us the typically street markets where food and other items are sold. We discovered when the hotel’s evening soloist starting singing American songs from the 60’s and 70’s that Chuck/Ruth and Carl/Carmen are great dancers. It was another nice ending to a busy day in Chiang Rai!
Tuesday, February 12
Today’s ABCRM Thailand mission trip activities started with visiting the Family Learning Center for a more in-depth tour after briefly seeing the school’s Sports Day events on Monday afternoon. Many missionary children attend the school as well as Thai children and children of other non-Thai’s who are spending time in this country for business or other reasons. It’s located in a former “bungalow motel” with 35 cabin units used for classrooms and school offices. The curriculum is based on home-school teaching materials, but Ruth hopes to soon achieve an accredited international status for the school. Christianity is emphasized in the curriculum although not all children are from families who are Christian.
On this day, our mission team attended the hour-long worship time that FLC holds for all students in the school’s primary meeting room every Tuesday morning. All the students joined in singing contemporary songs with words displayed on TV monitors, and sharing of prayer concerns raised by the students and staff. Ruth invited Beth Cook from our mission team to provide the worship message in the form of story-telling to all the school’s students that they tremendously enjoyed. What a joyful service it was to start our day’s mission team’s activities!
At the end of the school worship service, Bruce Cook of our team 
presented a $1200 donation to the school’s building/grounds supervisor Mooh, a member of the Karen tribe. This money came from the Cook’s building contractor who had been working on their home in January, and heard about our ABCRM Thailand mission trip from Beth. Although the Cook’s contractor had no knowledge about the need for $1200 by Mooh to buy a much-needed pickup truck that had been found by a Chiang Rai friend who was selling it for $1205, Ruth Fox (much to her amazement) found about the Colorado contractor’s $1200 donation and made the “connection” for Mooh to receive the donation forwarded by First Baptist of Colorado Springs through the Cook’s. Mooh was total overwhelmed by Bruce’s giving of these funds to her, as were the school students and our mission team members who witnessed this amazing way in which the Holy Spirit can work in our lives!
After a tour of FLC by Ruth, our mission team checked out of our Chiang Rai hotel, and prepared for the next five days of doing our primary ABCRM mission trip projects. Carl, Kerry, Bruce, and Karen helped Chuck load up his truck with construction supplies, sleeping bags, and other necessities for their school renovation project at the Sansuk Akha village located about an hour from Chiang Rai. Barbara, Beth, and Carmen moved into the Fox home to in parallel do crafts projects with the Chiang Rai New Life Center women, help the Akha Crafts staff and Ruth with various Crafts Center work-items, and to help with FLC library projects under Ruth’s direction. Our ABCRM team was looking forward to doing “hands-on” work projects with our Akha and Thai friends, where the $4500 cost of the materials associated with these projects was covered by 2008 ABCRM missions-focused funding for our February 6-19 ABCRM Thailand Mission Experiences trip. Our mission trip members are excited about the rest of our week here that lies ahead!
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