Chiang Mai, Thailand

[July 31, 2001]

As a thankful community of faith, we welcome home our Chiang Mai mission team: Clayton Williams, Anita Roper, Chad Johnson, Mary Gutwein, Shelly Guagliardo, A___, S___, Paul Capps, Tim Baker and Laura Adams.

We rejoice in the enormous labor of love you provided the Karen students in the painting of their hostel. This was no small task and you did it exceedingly well. Beyond the obvious, you graciously offered your lives and love to a community of folk who are among "the least of these;" you embodied and reflected the love and grace of Christ to them, and we are deeply grateful to and for you.

You have been ambassadors for Christ, sowers of the Gospel and reconciling servants of Crescent Hill Baptist Church. You have brought honor and glory to the name of Christ and helped "God's Kingdom come and God's will be done." Of one accord we salute you and say well done, good and faithful servants. And, thanks be to God.

Chiang Mai Share Holder Meeting - August 12

Shareholders for the Chiang Mai mission trip are invited to a special program next Sunday, August 12, at 6:00 PM in Fellowship Hall. You will have the first opportunity to see photos and hear from team members about the trip which your contributions enabled. Join the team for an informal time of sharing and remembering about their journey and its steps in building future relationships with the Rock People of Thailand.

[July 16, 2001]

The ten volunteers from Crescent Hill left on July 16 for ten days of work refurbishing a youth hostel run by Baptists of the Karen tribe. Young people stay in the hostel while they're studying in Chiang Mai. It's an excellent opportunity to introduce them to Christ.

They've arrived

Wed, 18 Jul 2001 05:03:39 -0400
From: Mary G.
We have arrived in Chiang Mai! We arrived at 2:00p.m. today. We have several joys to report:
1. Everyone is here - no one got lost along the way.
2. Everyone's luggage is here.
3. Everyone is healthy, albeit a little weary.
Tonight we will have dinner, and then have a worship service with the students. Everyone is very happy and excited to be here. Tomorrow's email will have much more information - we will be touring some mission sites.
Thanks so much for your continued prayers!

[e-mails from Thailand: see Chiang Mai e-mail site]

The Country

Thailand is a country in southeast Asia approximately twice the size of Wyoming. Bangkok, in south-central Thailand, is the country's largest city. In the north-central part of the country, Chiang Mai is the second largest city and the destination of the Crescent Hill Baptist Church 2001 mission team.

Characterized by a tropical climate, average temperatures range from 86° in January to 97° in April. Summer temperatures are tempered by the rainy season, which peaks in September with an average of 11.8 inches of rain.

Thailand's forests, wetlands, coastal plains and mountains are home to an amazing abundance of wildlife, including one of the few remaining populations of tigers. Elephants, leopards, Asiatic black bears, monkeys, hippopotami, deer, buffalo and snakes also call Thailand home. While tigers and black bears face a perilous future because of being hunted for their body parts and a loss of habitat to deforestation, elephants are a common part of daily life in Thailand. Important work animals, elephants are trained for use in logging, transportation and tourism.

The staple of the Thai diet is rice, which is as likely to be eaten at breakfast as at supper. Noodles, like rice, form the bases of many meals when served in soups or with meats or vegetables. Thailand's varied and abundant fruits also make up a large part of the diet. While some seem very common to us - like watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapples, and coconuts - others seem quite exotic - such as mangosteen, guava, pomelo and rambuton.

Web links:
Chiang Mai News
Welcome to Chiang Mai
Governor's office - Chiang Mai

The Karen

http://www.karen.org
Tribal Research Institute
The Mountains around Chiang Mai

Overall, the people of Thailand are known as a very gracious, hospitable people. Never colonized by European powers as so many other countries of Africa and Asia were, Thailand has prospered in relative peace.

While the Thai are the predominant people of the country, the mountainous northern and western regions along the border of Burma (now called Myanmar) is home to many hill tribes. Of the six major tribes, the largest is the Karen. Like the Palaung, Crescent Hill's adopt-a-people group, many Karen have migrated into Thailand from Burma.

The Karen are known as peaceful, gentle, cooperative people. According to Michael Leming, a sociologist/anthropologist who has extensively studied the Karen, they "have often been characterized by outsiders as being fearful, timid and shy. The Karen, themselves, claim to value group consensus and equality above assertiveness and an entrepreneurial spirit."

Primarily rice farmers, the Karen live in bamboo houses built on stilts. Their domestic animals - such as pigs, buffalo, and chickens - live underneath the house. The Karen are best known for weaving beautiful cloth and taming elephants. Their fabrics are highly prized and their mahouts, or elephant trainers, are renowned as the best in all of Asia.

Because educational opportunities in the Karen villages are limited, students seeking education beyond a middle school level must go to cities like Chiang Mai. They often live in hostels, similar to dormitories, with many other students who have left their villages also.

About 95% of the Thai people are Buddhist, with Christians making up only about half of one percent of the population. Of the nearly 322,00 Karen living in Thailand, however, 18% to 25% are Christian. (Approximately 55% are Buddhist; 10% follow traditional Karen animism; the remainder combine Buddhism and animism.)

In his documentary of one Christian Karen Village, Leming examines the traditional religion of the Karen and their evangelization. American Baptist missionaries who came to Burma in the 1820s first evangelized the Karen. The Burmese Karen in turn evangelized the Karen in Thailand. Leming points to an ancient Karen story that lends further understanding of the appeal of the gospel to the Karen:

After Y'wa created the earth, he decided to go on along journey, and so he called his sons together and gave each a book of life. To the Karen, the eldest, he gave a Golden Book of Life. To the others he gave other books of life, until finally to the white man, the youngest brother, he gave a White Book of Life. The white brother took his White Book of Life and went away to the west, and was never seen again. As long as the Karen read and followed his Golden Book of Life, his life was happy and prosperous.

One day the Karen brother was burning and clearing a field in the forest. He put his Golden Book of Life on a stump in the field while he was doing his work. In his carelessness, the Golden Book of Life was burned, leaving only fragments, until one day they fell through the cracks of the bamboo floor in his house, and the pigs and chickens underneath ate them up. When he no longer had his book of life, his life became more and more wretched with fears, sickness, crop failures, and persecutions from outsiders.

The Karen brother hoped that some day his white younger brother would come back on the wings of a great white bird floating in the water and bring his White Book of Life to share with his older Karen brother. The Karen waited for the white younger brother to restore to them the prosperity that Y'wa had intended them from the beginning.

For one Karen Christian pastor, the Reverend Baw Ney, who used this ancient story to introduce the Gospel to his people, Christ fulfills this ancient promise to the Karen in the same way he fulfills God's promise to the Jews.

Karen Dress

Karen dresses come in wide varieties differing from tribe to tribe or even sometimes from village to village. However they all have certain design themes and colors in common and they are clearly distinguishable from the costumes of the other tribes in the Burma/Thailand region. Karen dresses are made to be comfortable to wear and are designed so that they are easy to produce.

The basic and the traditional Karen dress is call the "Hse" and it is worn in one form or another by all the Karen tribes. It is worn both by men and women. The Hse is simply two oblong pieces of cotton cloth joined at the sides to form a "sack" with a hole for the neck at the top and two holes for the arms on either sides of the sack. The variation of the Hse among different tribes are usually in the length that they are worn in and the decorations on them. Most Hses are variegated and embroidered.

The modern forms of the Karen dress are usually a combination of the Hse, which is usually used as the top portion of the dress worn with a longyi, for women, or a piso, for men. The longyi and piso are cloth sewed to form a tube which one wears around one's waist. To keep it on the body, a knot has to be tied around the waist to prevent it from slipping off. The following are pictures of modern Karen dresses. As you will see, the colors and styles are widely variying but the general shape of a Hse is maintained.

There are meaning to some colors on Karen clothing. Red, for instance, signifies braveness, blue, faithfulness, and white, purity. Often you would find certain patterns or shapes on the clothes that symbolizes an object or a concept. The speckel that is often found on the longyis of women symbolize the skin of a serpent, or Satan, so they put on a longyi there to damn Satan.

By far, the largest hilltribe in Thailand is the Karen, who began migrating here around the 18th century. They number anywhere from 265,000 to 300,000, accounting for over half the total number of hill tribe people in Thailand. Most Karen live in the mountains in the west and southwest of Thailand along the Burmese border, and are categorized into two sub-groups: Sgaw and Pwo. Although their language is believed to be of Tibet-Burmese origin, Sgaw and Pwo are not mutually intelligible. Karen were early converts to Christianity, and to this day believe in monogamy and look down on premarital sex. Karen do not recognize political borders and pose somewhat of a conundrum for patrollers of the borders they regularly cross for family and economic reasons. They have often been caught in the middle of warring factions and have been forced to serve both sides of conflicts.

The Karen are also known to be the best elephant trainers or mahouts in Thailand and even in the whole of Asia.

Thailand Baptist Missionary Fellowship

Today, Baptists continue to play a major role in the mission fields of Thailand. Since the formation of the Thailand Baptist Missionary Fellowship (TBMF) in 1974, Baptists from around the world have become a model of cooperation for bringing the Gospel to the people of that country. The TBMF is now made up of over 13 different Christian organizations, 12 different nationalities and about 55 missionaries.

Crescent Hill Baptist Church is affiliated with two of the TBMF's cooperating organizations-The Board of International Ministries of the American Baptist Churches and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

Headquartered in Chiang Mai, the TBMF does mission work all over Thailand. The TBMF provides counsel and assistance to its members and affiliates in matters of administration, the assignment of missionaries, project development, finance and funding, planning and strategy for the future, program development, and the interpretation of policy. All this is accomplished through a process that involves mutual concern, cooperation and dialogue with the partner churches in Thailand to which TBMF relates.

Karen Baptist Convention Youth Hostel

The Thailand Karen Baptist Convention (KBC) is another member of the TBMF. According to Baptist World Alliance Records, the Thailand KBC has 101 churches and 17,500 members.

During their 10-day stay in Chiang Mai, Crescent Hill's 10 volunteer missionaries will paint the 25 rooms of a youth hostel operated by the KBC. The hostel "parents" are Mr. Kong Kimd and Mrs. Paw Cheela. The hostel houses 50 students, ranging in age from 13 to 21 years. The students attend high school, university or college. Some study vocational skills such as carpentry, plumbing, etc.

New Life Center - Thailand

Prayer Needs

Following are listed several prayer needs. In as much as possible, incorporate these not only into the Sunday School time but continue to make these matters of prayer as preparations continue for this summer's mission trip. Also, each class has been assigned one missionary family of the TBMF to pray for during the Sunday School time.

Pray for all missionaries still in language school that they will get a good grasp on it all and not become discouraged.
Pray for TBMF Staff Conference July 3-8th - for speaker and refreshment in every way for the missionaries who attend.
For health and safety for all missionaries, especially coming into the wet season. - Over 500 people were killed during Songkran with 38,651 injured, which is a staggering number.
For Paul and Ruth Smith, ABMS Missionaries who have recently returned home due to Ruth being diagnosed with terminal cancer, at 52 kyears of age.
For the hostel parent, Mr. Kong Kimd and Mrs. Paw Cheela, and the 50 students living there.
Cresent Hill Baptist Church's mission trip July 16-26, 2001, and the 10 volunteers.

INTERVIEW WITH JOY:

Name: Joy K.
Ethnic Group: Sgaw Karen Tribe
Age: 29 yrs.

Joy K. was born in the small town of Mae Sariang. A missionary doctor, Dr. Keith Dahlberg, assisted in the delivery at the Mae Sariang Christian Hospital. Joy's mother is Karen and a trained nurse who was born and raised in Burma. She worked for many years at the Christian Hospital after coming to Thailand from Burma. Her father is a Karen who was born and raised in Thailand. He was educated through Jr. High School and lived in the hostel in Mae Sariang as a student. After finishing school he worked as a gardener and salesman. Joy is the oldest child of three; she has a younger sister and brother.

During the school years of grades 1-9, Joy lived at home with her parents and attended Thai government schools in town. Then when Joy was in 10th grade, her parents became hostel parents at the local Baptist student hostel in the town of Mae Sariang. For the next three years Joy lived in the hostel and attended school through grade 12. Then she moved to a hostel in the larger city of Chiang Mai and lived in a hostel there while attending a local Christian University. At this hostel most of the students attended vocational or technical schools. There were thirty students living there and they were supervised by a hostel father and mother. The atmosphere at the hostel was not helpful for Joy who was in a full-time university program. Some of the other students were not so serious about their studies and there were too many distractions for more serious students like herself. So she left the hostel after one school year. For the remaining three years she rented a house to live in. During university she received support from her parents and some missionary friends. She graduated with a BA degree in English Language Studies. After graduation from university, she had an opportunity to live in the States for one year with a woman who was a former missionary nurse at the Christian Hospital in Mae Sariang. She had the chance to have a wide variety of experiences while in the US. After returning to Thailand, she started working with the New Life Center and the Health Project for Tribal People, both mission supported programs, based in the city of Chiang Mai. She worked there for three years before joining the office staff of the Thailand Baptist Missionary Fellowship where she currently works as a book-keeper/accountant. She is taking further classes in computer and accounting as well. Joy says she is glad the hostels are there for kids to give them a place to live while attending school, but there are many problems and challenges, especially today, that the parents and guardians have to deal with. Some of these are drugs, drinking, smoking, breaking curfew, skipping school, defiant behavior, little interest in church, and financial problems where the parents cannot pay the hostel and school fees. These are problems that are found in Western cultures as well. Please pray for the hostel parents and pastors as they try to have a positive influence on these older students.

NOTE: The story of Joy is not typical for most tribal students as her parents were educated and she received special help along the way. Most tribal students do not get university degrees unless they have special academic aptitude, and get scholarships and opportunities such as Joy. Joy's story is probably more the exception in this way. But, her success story does show that in her case, the mission is reaping the benefits of investment of mission dollars in someone's life, as she is now using her education and skills to help the mission work go forth in Thailand for God's Glory.

"THAI-UP" Your Christmas

What: An opportunity to support Baptist Thailand hilltribe persons working to provide a sustainable income for their families.

How: By purchasing many of your Christmas gifts throught a Thailand Baptist agency called Thailand Tribal Crafts.

Who Are They?: A self-help agency established in 1973 and owned by the Thailand Lahu and Karen Baptist Conventions.

What Do They Sell? A bountiful and varied supply of beautiful and unique handicrafts from the mountain villages of the hilltribes of northern Thailand. Several of our Thai Team members brought back items pruchased from this group.

Why? To continue our connections with the Baptist hilltribes groups, to allow our holiday gifts to "give" two or three times and to reduce the commercialism in our Christmas season.

Preview: Website -- www.ttcrafts.co.th
(Note: prices may be listed in baht. 1 baht = approx. 2.5 cents, 45 baht = one dollar)

Plan: To collect orders and make one large order (minimum order $150) and to share shipping costs. Coming soon: sample items, catalogs, order forms and price lists.

Commit now to participate in Christ's "Kingdom" economics and "Thai-up" your Christmas!

CRESCENT HILL BAPTIST CHURCH
2800 Frankfort Avenue
Louisville, Kentucky 40206
(502) 896-4425

We would like to hear from you.

Return to Home page
Return to Spirit: Thailand section