Jesus for Asia: Thailand

Greetings Everyone,

May has proven to be a very busy month for us. We had our bags and cameras packed and were ready to travel south about 5 hours to do a documentary on a nurse that is stationed in a remote village. At the last minute the transportation fell through.

We had received an update from Ralph and Delores Rhyne, who were reporting on their Evangelistic outreaches here in Thailand. We had been asked to help video the presentations, but we had already booked this other documentary. Bill responded to the email update to let them know that we were now available. We heard back from Ralph Rhyne very quickly, and he made immediate plans for us to be with them at their next location, which was to be north of Chiang Rai. We bought our bus tickets on Sunday, and packed our bags again. We caught a ride to the bus station from Larry Daughtrey on Monday morning, and we were on our way.

The meetings started on Monday evening at a Hmong Hill Tribe village. It was in the high country and it was very scenic to look out over the land and mountains from this church site. What a lot of beautiful people there are in God’s remnant church. We were so well cared for, with delicious vegetarian meals served prior to each evening meeting. Pastor Luesak, a young Hmong Pastor, stationed in Chiang Mai, did the translating each evening in his native tongue. He was our chauffer as well. Between meetings we had a comfortable room with air-conditioning, a perfect environment for the long hours that Bill put in each day on the editing of the meeting videos.

Here is a bit of info on this group of people: The Hmong are believed to have been the original inhabitants of the Yellow River valley in ancient China. The expansion of the neighboring Chinese from the north caused a disruption in the Hmong culture and forced them to migrate southwards to escape oppression and persecution. Over the centuries, many wars have been waged against the Chinese in which the Hmong would suffer heavy casualties, being that they were outnumbered. The Hmong are becoming well integrated into Thai society as well as being among the most successful. The current population of Hmong in Thailand is estimated to be roughly 151,080.

The lay pastor of this village church stated that they had never had a foreign evangelist visit them before. We are pleased that the DVD’s made from this week long series will be far reaching, as there are also Hmong villages in Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar. The Mission in Bangkok has been given a set of the DVD’s to distribute to these locations.

Our next location proved to be just as interesting as the first. We met in a Lahu Village about 45 minutes outside of Fang. Here’s a tidbit of info regarding the Lahu: In Thailand, Lahu are one of the six main hill tribes, and their population is estimated at around 100,000. Thai’s call this tribe “Muser” because of their legendary skills at hunting in the forest. The tribe is concentrated close to the Burmese border west and north of Chiang Dao and Pai.

Again, the lay pastor at this village said that this was the first time that they had ever had a foreigner come to give meetings. The meetings were translated into Thai. Even though they spoke Lahu, most understood Thai.

We had a blessed week with these people. We were especially grateful to the District Pastor and his wife, who came to pick us up each evening and took us to their house for dinner. After our delicious meal we would drive out to the meeting site.

The next meetings were held at the downtown Chiang Mai Church. The new Pastor assigned there just a week before was also the same Pastor that translated during week number 1. He translated this week’s series also, but this time in the Thai language. Yes, he is very gifted; he also speaks English fluently.

Week number 4 we were pleased to be staying at our home, as the meetings were held at the Chiang Mai Academy in our village.  But wow what a schedule! There were 4 meetings per day, 2 for the Elementary age, and 2 per day for the upper grades — a total of 20 meetings taped during the week. I was concerned for the stamina of the speakers but they came through with God’s grace just fine.

A total of 38 DVD’s will have been produced for this month of tapings. We are pleased that the Lord saw fit to use us in this way.

Pastor Ralph had 6 more sermons that he wanted filmed to finish out a series of 3 covering the 28 fundamental beliefs. We knew we needed a good translator and a good setting, so back to Chiang Mai we went to do these recordings, with our dear Pastor Luesak as the translator. It was a marathon kind of a day, but it proved to be rewarding as we now have a complete DVD series to distribute and air on TV someday soon.

Many have inquired regarding our safety and the political unrest that has been broadcast on the news. We have been far removed from the troubles. The only problem we have faced was the week in Fang where there had been some curfews and some store closures out of precaution. The conflict has been primarily in Bangkok. We are thankful.

Please follow this link to view our video newsletter:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nfz3FqsxVjc

We miss you and think of you often. Thank you for your continued prayers and the financial contributions, which will go to purchase equipment and air time for the studio.  We look forward to our visit home in only two months.

God bless,

Venie and Bill Osborn