February 15-16

Team Activities with IM Missionaries Chuck and Ruth Fox in Chiang Rai on February 15-16

Early on Monday morning February 15, our mission team went with Chuck to see the 7:30 a.m. opening ceremonies of the Combined Christian Village School located across the street from where the Fox’s live in Chiang Rai. This school was begun in the 1950’s by American Baptist missionaries who initially taught 15-20 kids in their home. Since then, it has grown to be a Christian school that has a student body of over 2300 kids. Most of the students come from nine different northern Thailand tribal groups, where some students are Thai and Chinese. As the opening ceremonies were about to begin, it was quite impressive to watch as over 1500 kids from grades 7-12 obediently stood in the large open space in the middle of the school grounds to sing Thailand’s national anthem, followed by their reciting of Thailand’s “pledge of allegiance” and the Lord’s Prayer.

After members of the school staff gave announcements to the students, team member Arlene gave them a message of Christian greetings from our mission team and American Baptist churches in America, and of encouragement to study and learn from their teachers. After the ceremony ended, our mission team talked with Principal Wichai Sonosaeng (a Thai Baptist) about his over 20 years of service at the school, and about how the students receive a quality education there. The school is a wonderful testimony of the impact that American Baptist missionaries have had in helping people in Chiang Rai.

During Monday afternoon, Chuck drove Arlene, Sandy, Karen, and Beth to see areas north of Chiang Rai, including a scenic overlook of the confluence of the Ruak and Mekong Rivers at the place where the borders of Burma, Laos, and Thailand meet to form the infamous “Golden Triangle”; Mae Sai, the northernmost city of Thailand at the border with Burma; and the Queen’s Garden, a beautiful botanical garden south of Mae Sai that has over 10 acres of many kinds of flowers, plants, and trees indigenous to Thailand arranged in spectacularly beautiful ways. While this sight-seeing was being done with Chuck, Kerry stayed behind at the Chiang Rai New Life Center facility to work with a NLC staff member to complete the testing of a database program he’d developed for Karen Smith and her NLC staff to use to keep statistical/education information about the in-need women they helped.

On Tuesday February 16 (the team’s last full day in Thailand), we started our day by visiting the Chiang Rai “Family Learning Center” (FLC) where Ruth Fox is the principal. As is done every Tuesday at this grade international school, the upper-class students led a contemporary worship service. Team member Beth had been invited by Ruth prior to our mission trip to give an inspirational message to the students, so she shared we them an abbreviated summary of the book of Daniel that included the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed'nego and the “fiery furnace”. Ruth followed Beth in thanking our mission team for bringing along with us from Colorado a “Tall Paul” anatomical model to be used for FLC science classes, as well 40 Bibles for the FLC Bible studies class. These items were paid for by a portion of the $5300 in 2010 ABCRM missions funds that were designated for this ABCRM Thailand mission trip’s projects.

After Ruth Fox gave our mission team a tour of the FLC facilities and talked about their plans to build a larger FLC facility in Chiang Rai, we visited American Baptist missionary Scott Coates and his “Mekong Minority Foundation” facility on the outskirts of Chiang Rai. Launched in 2005, MMF’s goals are to equip, train, and empower marginalized tribal people in northern Thailand to develop sustainable solutions to complex problems that impact their communities. Due to globalization and other factors, tribal communities are facing unprecedented issues of poverty, trafficking and exploitation, debt, and environmental destruction. MMF is uniquely positioned in Chiang Rai to help address these issues. As our team did with other American Baptist missionaries we’d met during our trip, before leaving we stood hand-in-hand with Scott to pray for him and his MMF ministries that help so many tribal people in northern Thailand.

After returning to the Fox home from the Family Learning Center, the mission team visited the Chiang New Fai New Life Center facility behind the Fox’s home to be given a tour by NLC staff members. The Chiang Rai NLC is a “sister facility” of the Chiang Mai New Life Center, where both facilities are overseen by Karen Smith and her staff. The Chiang Rai NLC in-need women are given education and training to help them lead self-supporting lives as is done in Chiang Mai.

After lunch, our last mission trip activity was to go with Chuck to an elephant reserve about 20 miles north of Chiang Rai, where we took a 30-minute ride around the small village where the reserve is located, returning to the starting paint by the elephants walking in a river. After enjoying a delicious evening meal of homemade pizzas that Chuck cooked in a pizza oven he’d built in his backyard, we finished packing our bags (including the 40 Karen Bibles being taken back for Duane Binkley), and headed to the Chiang Rai airport to fly to Bangkok to then return back home the next day. Thanks to all who prayed for us during this ABCRM mission trip!

Kerry Hassler