Our first Christmas in Thailand fell on a Sunday, and it was baptism by fire. “Christmas is a great time for outreach,” our team leaders had told us. But nothing had prepared me for the moment [...]

Today I heard a Bengali Christian encourage us to celebrate International Mother Language Day. It has been celebrated worldwide for the past 20 years each February 21st. The day encourages [...]

The corona pandemic and justice issues for the vulnerable. These two issues have taken front stage globally and are the topic of most every conversation. In ancient Israel there were three groups [...]

With the outbreak of Covid-19, writers have been revisiting similar pandemics from the past, especially the Spanish flu of 1918-20 which infected 500 million people. Early missionaries to [...]

If you asked people to define “pandemic” a few months ago most all would have struggled, but now everyone seems to understand how a disease can spread quickly to an entire nation and even world. [...]

There is a small, dime-sized hole just above our kitchen sink. A couple weeks ago, Julie noticed a roach peering out from the hole, and so she grabbed the roach spray and put it to good use. What [...]

A few years ago, a group of women on a short-term mission trip from the states came to a Thai temple and to the horror of their host began to hug some of the child novices! They explained, “We [...]

There are some sights in Thailand I could live without – for example, a red-legged centipede racing across my kitchen floor. (It was months before my toes didn’t curl every time I walked into the [...]

Aunty Em was at the end of hope. The priest at the local temple hadn’t helped. The traditional medicine healer (witch doctor) hadn’t helped. The local medical clinic said they couldn’t find [...]

My wife and I were sitting in a Sala (pavilion) at a temple for a funeral.  The younger brother of a good friend, and father of one daughter, was tragically killed in a road accident. While we [...]

There it was, a large white sign with the words “NO FOREIGNERS ALLOWED” painted in a very decisive shade of orange, and beyond it, a view of one of the most beautiful beaches I had ever seen in [...]

“Now that I know God who is love and the creator of everything, I refuse to live my life in fear again” – Note Note used to live in fear and shame. She used to fear everything including [...]

If you ride a motorcycle often, you get used to this question: “Have you ever had to ‘lay it down’”? Invariably the seasoned biker has had at least one occassion where he or she has had to [...]

Our first few months at Walailak University has mainly been to build relationships and establish a presence on campus. One of the ways that we have been able to do this is through meeting the [...]

I am writing this on April 1st (April Fools), a day famous for hijinx and general tomfoolery in the west. But in Thailand it is a serious day to reflect on King Rama V (Chulalongkorn) who on [...]

The Christians in Lopburi have been invited to be involved in the Narai festival which is taking place until the 17th February. King Narai reigned from 1656 to 1688 A.D. During his reign [...]

  I sat talking with Auntie Baht, whom our family has known for 6 years now. “Yesterday I saw Teacher Is,” Auntie Baht told me. “She asked how you and the family are doing. I told her how [...]

Lots of people have heard about culture shock.  Its that feeling of disorientation, confusion, or frustration when you are suddenly surrounded by a foreign culture and a foreign language, and are [...]

One aspect of the miraculous cave rescue in Thailand that the press failed to emphasize sufficiently was when the British diver popped up and asked how many were on that ledge. This was the first [...]

  I’m new at this I’m not a ‘career’ missionary. I didn’t pack a coffin to get here (an old practice carried out under the assumption that it would be shipped [...]

While in the states, I routinely shell out up to $15USD for a simple haircut. The other day I kidded my barber in Chiang Mai about his raising the price of my haircut from $1.30 to $1.60USD. What [...]

The plan was to help one of the Christians who live nearby evangelize their village. When I came there she didn’t want to go anymore, so I asked what happened. ‘’If you are going to evangelize in [...]

‘Look who’s there’ our daughter shouts out. Grandfather Ohd and grandmother Dam have come and as always they also brought a snack for the kids. This time some sticky rice and sausages. For the [...]

Recently I had the wonderful experience of a holiday with my parents in Israel. It was great to see many places where Jesus had walked, spent time in ministry by the Sea of Galilee, sites in [...]

Last week, we listened as one of the Christian ladies shared how she was really relying on the MP3 player with an audio Bible, Christian songs, and testimonies, in order to learn the Gospel. She [...]

Throughout the city of Lopburi there are several ancient ruins (all refurbished and maintained). The oldest is called Prang Khaek, see the photo above. It dates from the 11th century (before [...]

I just spoke at a church camp for 70 Thai people. I counted only 11 males which works out to a 1 to 7 ratio. On a regular Sunday, this church has a higher ratio of males to females, but overall [...]

  After a day of hard work, we finally were able to pull out two trees besides the church. The church members had been talking about it for a while, but the concrete around the trees [...]

Over this past year, I have been wanting to do adventure ministry in the area where I live in order to reach local youth and young adults. A few kilometres from my house there is a small mountain [...]

… sometimes I just don’t get it. Some things just remain strange. But what do you want, if you were born on the other side of the world and now only five months are immersed in a completely [...]