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 On March
13 – 24, 2006, Pastor Jeff Prewitt and I took a missionary trip
to Thailand. Our flights were scheduled to fly from Milwaukee
to Chicago to Korean to Bangkok
and to arrive in Chiang Mai on March 15, but the flight from Milwaukee
to Chicago was cancelled, so we
took a bus ride to Chicago to
connect with the flight to Korea. The total flight from Chicago
to Bangkok, Thailand
was 23 hours. We arrived in Bangkok
about 12:10 AM on March 15. We spent the night at the Bangkok
International Airport
to catch the early flight to Chiang Mai.
On March 15, we purchased tickets with Air Asia to go to Chiang Mai. We departed at 6:45 AM and arrived in Chiang Mai at 8:00 AM. Tong Vang
picked us up at the Chiang  Mai International
Airport to the Thailand
Hmong Mission Training
Center. We arrived at the Center about 9:00 AM.
On March 14, Pongsak was already at the Training
Center to wait for us and take us
to the village. We spent the day
shopping for the things that we would need for our stay in Thailand. That day we also waited for Dang and Rev.
Ted Engelbrecht to arrive from Bangkok. They wanted to accompany us to Klong Hoi
Klai village to gather information on the needs of the people for a potential
NGO project there. About 6:00 PM, Dang and Ted arrived at the Chiang
Mai International
Airport. We picked them up and went to dinner on the
way back. We had much to talk about
that evening. About 8:45 PM, Houa Hang came for a visit. Houa is Phaav’s older brother who used to
work at one of the Orphanages in Chiang Mai.
He quited his work at the Orphanage and wanted to persue the
ministry. Houa wanted to know if we would
support him to be trained at one of the Thailand Bible Colleges and also to be
trained by us. Dang took the
information and will do research on the different Bible Colleges on the costs
and requirements and also to follow up with the Thailand Project Director,
Dr. Fungchatou Lo.
 On
March 16, we journeyed to Klong Hoi Klai village. We stopped at the Hot Spring, as usual, for
a visit and to have lunch. As we went
closer to Klong Hoi Klai we also stopped at an open grocery market to pick up
some groceries. We arrived at the
village about 4:30 PM. After a short rest, we went to see the
Church and visited the local school.
Dang visited with the teachers and spoke with some people to gather
information about the needs of the village for starting a NGO project in the
village. After a brief meeting with
the teachers, Pongsak took the group for a tour of the village, and afterwards
we had dinner with Pongsak’s family.
 In
the evening, Tong and Dang taught the children in the village songs and Rev.
Ted Engelbrecht played a game with them.
Everyone had fun but was very tired.
Ted, Jeff and I spent the night in the Church while Dang and Tong slept
at Pongsak’s house and the Van driver (Tong’s father) stayed at another
village to look for a potential bride for a young man that he brought along
on the trip.
The next day, March 17, we had a
devotion with some members of the Church and we installed Phaav and Tong to
be ministers for the Youth and Hmong language teachers for the ministries in Thailand
and possibly to help with Dang’s NGO project.
It was about 10:00 AM, we
were ready to go back to the Training
Center in Chiang Mai. Our van driver came back to the village and
told us that my relatives at another village where he spent the night wished
to become Christian and that we must go there because they would like to
visit  with
me. When we arrvied there we spent
about 2 hours talking with them, but they were not ready to become Christian
that day. They wanted to wait for
another trip since we did not have much time.
I encouraged Deacon Pongsak to follow up with these families and to
baptize them when they are ready to become Christian. We had lunch with my relatives and we departed
for Chiang Mai about 12:45 PM. On the way back, we stopped to visit a
family in Long Xang village that was baptized last year and brought them
along to Chiang Mai. The family wanted
to look for work in the city. During
the traveling to and fro between the villages, we had good conversations with
Rev. Engelbrecht, Dang and everyone else about ministry, family and life in
general.  We
arrived back at the Training Center
around 5:30 PM. Rev. Ted Engelbrecht and Dang went to the
city to visit with Heidi and spent the night at a hotel to get ready for the
next morning flight going back to Bangkok
for another meeting. The rest of us
had dinner at the Center. While still
eating dinner, Waxwm Yang (another driver who has joined our ministry on this
trip) called and said that I must go with him to the province
of Tak the next day because he had
made appointments for me to meet some families who wanted to become Christian. I said no at first because of the limited time
on the trip; but not to disappoint Waxwm and the families at Tak, I told him
that I would go only one night because I needed to be back to translate for
Pastor Prewitt’s teaching. We ended up
spending two nights at Tak. Not
knowing  who
would be helping with Pastor Prewitt’s teaching while I was gone, we thought
of asking Heidi to help do the translation.
We called her right away and she said “Yes” in helping with Pastor
Prewitt. God had prepared everything
in advance! We asked Heidi to help
with the translation for just one day, but she ended up helping Pastor
Prewitt for both days that I was gone.
The next day very early in the morning, Waxwm’s family and I went to
Tak and Pastor Prewitt stayed at the Center to teach Pongsak, Phaav, Lee and
Pao the book of Acts with Heidi as his interpreter. Four other students (Tong, Joshua, Houa and
Hnia Pao Lor) didn’t show for classes on this trip.
Upon arriving at the village, we
were told that those people with whom we were supposed to meet had gone on a fishing and hunting trip and they would not come back until
the next day late afternoon. A little
disappointing, but we had another plan; we went to visit Waxwm’s
brother-in-law’s family who also lived in the same village. They also had expressed to Waxwm before
that they wanted to become Chrisitan and that the family was also waiting to
talk with me on this trip about the Christian faith. We went to see this family about 7:00 PM.
We had dinner with  the
family, and we gave out some shoes and candies donated by Pastor Prewitt and
some families in Wisconsin to
his family and other families that came to listen to us. After dinner I shared God’s Word with the
family. They wanted to be baptized
that same evening, but suddenly the man recalled that there is a ritual that
he needs to perform for his ancestors so he changed his mind about being
baptized that night. But he assured
Waxwm and me that his family and perhaps five or six of his immediate families
will be ready to become Christian on the May trip.
 On
March 19, I was invited to preach a sermon in an OFM
Church. I took the invitation and preached a sermon
on Abraham’s obedience to God’s test of sacrificing Issac to God to encourage
the congregation to obey God and to live a faithful lives after His Word. While I was still preaching, the people
that went fishing and hunting came home and Waxwm met with them, and later Waxwm
told me that they will be ready to join the Lutheran ministry in May since we
did not have enough time that morning.
They told us that they have already picked a leader to be trained as a
pastor for the group. Earlier in that
morning before the worship service, Waxwm and I visited two families at
another village who also wanted to be part of our ministry. We prayed for one of the families but the
parents of the other family were not home, just the children.
After the worship service, we
departed for another village about three hours away. Along the way, we met a family who wanted
to become Christian but decided to wait for the May trip for his family to be
baptized; and about a mile away we met yet another family who had listened to
our tapes and CD about the Lutheran teaching.
He shared with us that he really enjoyed the  message
and hope to become Christian as soon as he can convince his parents to join
his family. We gave out some shoes and
candies for his children. We then continued on to our
destination. The man that we planned
to meet was worried about us because we were late. He and his wife came on a motorcyle to look
for us and we met them about 4 kilometers away from his house. We arrived at our final destination about 6:00 PM.
We went to his house and had dinner with his family. That night eight men and their wives (two
couples were the ones we met on the way to the final destination) came to
listen to me teach God’s Word. I
shared God’s Word with them  and
how we apply it to the Hmong culture.
Everyone expressed to me that they like what I taught them and they
were ready to become Christian and ready to be baptized the next day. But the next day some had changed their
minds to wait until May; however, four families decided that they will go
ahead and be baptized to become Christian since they had been waiting for a
long time for a pastor to come to the village. These people had heard about the Gospel
before, but no pastor had gone into the village to convert them. On March 20, 2006, I instructed the four families about
the importance of baptism and the Christian faith and life. I baptized  22
people that morning. I removed all
their spirit altars and cut the spiritual strings on their wrists and necks
and threw them away on the way home. The
group has picked a man to be trained as their pastor. The family that hosted us for the night
told us that his family and all his sons’ families will become Christian in
May. Waxwm, his family and I said good
bye to the new Christians and the people in the village. I promised the new Christians that I will
send them materials, tapes and other resources to
help them grow in their faith and we will visit them again by a different
group in May.
 We
left the village and again we stopped to visit another family on the
way. Waxwm wanted to invite his family
to become Christian. They told us that
they will become Christian soon. We
gave them some tapes and CDs to listen about the Lutheran teaching. We spent another 6 hours on the road
returning to the Training Center
in Chiang Mai. On the way home Waxwm Yang
told me that he is ready to become a member of the Lutheran ministry in Thailand
and wanted to persue the ministry. He hopes
to become an Evangelist for the Hmong people in Thailand. In the evening I helped to translate for
Pastor Prewitt and I did the same for the next day which was already March 21
when he completed teaching the students the book of Acts. On March 22, Heidi drove Pastor Prewitt and
I to meet with Operation Blessings, a NGO that helps
the hilltribe peoples in Thailand. She also drove us to downtown to do a last
day shopping. I spent sometimes on March
22 and the morning of 23 to teach the students about the ministry and how to
teach God’s Word to their people in the village. Everyone appreciated so much for the learning
on this trip. On the morning of March
23, we had devotion and I confirmed Waxwm into membership of our ministry,
all his children and wife were baptized by us last year and they are already
members of our ministry in Thailand. After the devotion, Pastor Prewitt and I
had lunch together with our friends, we took a picture t ogether
and said good bye to them. We came
back to Bangkok, and again, spent
the evening at the Airport to catch the next day flight to the US. On March 24 at 9:30 AM, we arrived in Chicago
and our flight to Milwaukee was
cancelled again so we took the bus to Milwaukee. We arrived in Milwaukee
about 3:00 PM. Susan came to pick us up to Sheboygan
and from there Pastor Prewitt went home to Neenah. Pastor Prewitt has planned to go back to Thailand
sometimes in July of this year.
I thank God for His protecting of
us on the trip and for a very successful trip. God has been good to the Thailand Hmong
Mission. We are looking forward to
bring more new members in May, to continue training the leaders, to work with
Ted and Dang for some NGO projects and to continue the expansion of the Thailand
Hmong Mission to other villages with God’s help and His blessings.
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