Thai people love to eat and have even coined a phrase, “gin prumprua”. It is hard to translate, but basically means that the Thai love to snack throughout the day and center their social interaction around food. I recently read an article entitled, “A Surprising Reason Not to Ban Coffee and Donuts From the Sanctuary”. […]
There is a peculiar village outside of Chiang Mai called “House of Two gods”. At first I wondered if there had been some kind of mythical battle in the past between two rival gods … a kind of Buddhist version of the “Battle of the Titans”. But it turns out there is a temple in […]
I just read a fascinating article called, “In Thailand, blood sacrifice is out, Strawberry Fanta is in. (https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-04-06/thailand-blood-sacrifice-out-strawberry-fanta) Most all Thai homes have a “spirit house” in which resident ghosts reside in order to protect a person’s property and in exchange for this service are served a variety of fruits, sweet meats, rice, coconuts, but especially […]
It seems that every year during the Songkran Festival in Thailand a new record is broken. If it was a new record for the most water throwing revelers in the same place it would be acceptable, but instead it represents the high number of deaths and injuries on the highways and byways of Thailand during […]
The main motto promoted by the Thai tourism department is “Amazing Thailand”. The year 2016 was indeed amazing for our country, but none so surprising, especially in the area of sports, than the first place finish of Leicester City in the Premier Football League. The previous year Leicester had finished in 14th place and the […]
I was teaching a Bible class in the evenings in Phuket, South Thailand. I had extra time during the day and so would frequent a Roti shop run by a young Muslim man. This man impressed me because he had a large Koran set out prominently on the table. I told him I enjoyed telling […]
For over 40 years Dr. Henry Breidenthal (52 years with OMF) has gone to a public park on Sunday afternoons to hand out gospel tracts. I had the privilege of watching Henry in this ministry at the Lumpini Park in Bangkok thirty years ago when I was a new faculty member of the Bible school […]
I was asked to preach on Thanksgiving/Harvest Sunday in a mainly tribal church in Chiang Mai called “Beulah Church”. It was impressive to see a huge mound of fruit pilled up at the pulpit that morning (Thailand is known for its abundance and variety of fruits – 28 varieties of Bananas!). I did not inform […]
Before making a one day visa run to Bangkok, I prayed that I would have an opportunity to share Bible stories with the Thai I encountered that day. The first was a retired civil engineer in his early 50s who was going on vacation. The story I told to him was the Tower of Babel […]
The American swimmer, Michael Phelps, caused quite a stir at the Olympics in Rio when he arrived at the starting blocks for the 100 meter freestyle relay race with large circular bruises on his back. It took a while for the reporters to figure out that he and his teammates were trying to get a […]
On June 9th I got on a crowded overhead train in Bangkok and observed that two thirds of the commuters were wearing yellow. It turned out that the whole nation was wearing the colour of the monarchy, and especially celebrating the 70th anniversary of the reign of their King – Bhumibol Adulyadej. Even after working […]
For a week I had been teaching orality at a conference and whilst going home on the last night I passed a couple on the side of the road. Feeling convicted that I should help them, I stopped and then reversed back to them. Their motorcycle had broken down and they needed a ride. The young man […]
In 1975 I was a student at Dallas Theological Seminary. Dr. Dan Bacon (DTS grad and OMF director at the time) was the chapel speaker and asked us students whether we were praying for any specific missionary. At the end of his talk, Dr. Bacon handed out a little blue commitment card which I filled […]
After a 3 day bible story training in Mae Sot, North Thailand, Kennedy Paizs and I were making the five hour trek back to Chiang Mai. I noticed an elderly monk hitch hiking by the side of the road. I stopped and asked his situation, being careful to use the proper vocabulary for monks. He […]
Larry Dinkins was tired. His two-week ministry trip to Thailand had been fruitful, but intensive. He’d led 10 one-on-one counselling sessions, attended three church services and spoke at several seminars. Now, he was on the plane headed home. His plans for the 13-hour flight from Taipei to Los Angeles included relaxing and watching a few […]
How can you make the most of your retirement? I recently read an article by Evan Tarver listing “7 Reasons Why Americans Retire in Thailand” and it got me thinking. Tarver started his article about the benefits of retiring in Thailand by saying, “If retiring Americans are looking to maximize their retirement, it’s a good […]
Thailand and all of Asia was shocked by the huge blast in Tianjin, China on August 12, but then Thailand’s attention was diverted a few days later by the joy of setting a world record for bicycle riders with 150,000 participating in Bangkok to mark the 83rd birthday of Queen Sirikit. This made headlines for […]
On my first day in a small village in Mukdahan province of Northeast Thailand, I was sitting in my host’s house and noticed an eight year old girl who seemed to be leaning over a fence. When I observed her for a couple of more moments I realized she had fallen into a barb wire […]
