The Akha village’s morning worship in the Akha language was led by both men and women. The service music was a mixture of contemporary songs (like “Shout to the Lord”) and the same traditional hymns that are sung in U.S. churches. Although we couldn’t understand what was being said or sung, we could see the joy they had in their hearts of the Akha people in praising God and loving Jesus.
After the sermon, Chuck introduced our mission team members to the Akha congregation, and told them where we came from in the U.S. Our team then joined with Chuck, Ruth and NLC staff volunteers to sing “Amazing Grace.” Kerry presented an enlarged photo of our ABCRM clean-water mission-team members to the Akha village clean-water project leader. The picture was taken in front of their village church on Saturday. Each of our team members had signed the photo-card with messages of blessings and Christian love to our Akha brothers and sisters in Christ.
At the conclusion of the service, Barbara Fuller talked about the wooden cross necklaces that had been hand-made by a relative of hers in Kansas for our mission team members to bring along on our trip and give to people we met. Barbara and other team members gave a necklace to each Akha man, woman, and child in the congregation. Karen Van also presented to the congregation prints of her digital photos she'd taken of kids and families in the village and of the clean-water activities we’d helped with since arriving to the village on Tuesday.
After eating a last lunch prepared by the village, we said good-bye to our Akha village friends. They had gone out of their way to make our team members feel welcome and comfortable during our stay, and we appreciated all they had done for us. Our team returned to Chiang Rai after lunch to look around the downtown area, and then enjoy our last evening meal with Chuck and Ruth at a downtown restaurant, followed by some night bazaar shopping.
On Monday morning, Chuck took our mission team to the Christian public school located across the street from the Fox home. We watched the daily opening ceremonies of the students saying the Thailand pledge of allegiance, singing the national anthem, school song, and singing the Lord’s Prayer. Karen Van and Mark Francis then said a few words of greeting to the students assembled in the school courtyard. It was amazing how quiet the students were as they listened to the school principal talk about the day’s activities and events.
After the ceremony ended, the principal told our mission team about the school’s beginnings in the 1950’s by Chiang Rai American Baptist missionaries. The school had grown from less than 10 students when it was founded to todays over 2200-student population. It is comprised mostly of tribal group children in the Chiang Rai area. There is no tuition charged to this Christian school that covers grades K-12, with financial funding provided by the Thai and Japanese governments. The school was another example of how American Baptist missionaries have greatly helped people in need in Thailand.
On Monday afternoon, some of our Thailand mission team members went with Chuck to see the Golden Triangle area and the northernmost city of Masae where the borders of Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos meet. We flew from Chiang Rai to Bangkok later in the afternoon. We spent a few days there seeing various sights before leaving for Denver on Wednesday morning.
The February 2009 ABCRM Thailand mission team members were thankful to have come to Thailand to meet many American Baptist missionaries during our visits to Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. We are especially thankful to have helped in providing clean-water to the Ban Huai Akha village. Many thanks to all the churches and individuals in the ABCRM who in some way contributed towards the costs of our Thailand in-country projects, and to those who give to the World Mission Offering to help keep our American Baptist missionaries in the field in Thailand.
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