Christmas Outreach

In December we had the opportunity to help with a Christmas outreach party through our Thai church. This was their first Christmas in their new location (Chaiyo opened this building in March 2022), and this was easily the biggest outreach they have had to date. Nick and I were initially unsure of how we could help, given there is still a huge language barrier, and especially when with less than a week to go, they were still coming up with ideas for the party. It is not unusual within this culture to be making plans in what feels like the eleventh hour, and as silly as it sounds, we regularly have to remind ourselves that making advance plans is actually something instilled from our own western culture and not a Biblical principle.

All of the church body banded together and put in their best effort to pull off a very successful outreach. There were roughly 100 people that showed up for the event—mostly visitors from the local community—and there was plenty of food and activities for the whole group. Nick and I were asked to help with some Christmas crafts—this certainly tested my (Traci) Thai as I explained to small children how to adhere stickers to a foam gingerbread house and how they could follow the example or just make their own house as they pleased. Our kids got involved too—we encouraged them to find ways to help out—to offer a hand with picking up garbage as it accumulated, to show the kids how to do the various crafts, to help with passing out gifts to the guests, and play with the visiting children. It was actually quite humbling to see the turnout of the event. In the end, we had more children show up than originally anticipated, so our kids did not get a gift bag to take home. We were really pleased to see their response in this situation—they didn’t get all bent out of shape, but where quite generous in making sure other kids where served first. Doing these sort of activities with a full family can be really exhausting, but I believe these simple investments are what will help our kids develop a love for serving others. What a joy it was to see all of the children and guests enjoying their time. Pray with us that the message they heard and the relationships begun would have a lasting impact on their lives.

Losing a Leader

Christmas was also a challenging time for our Thai National staff—TCCC (Thailand Campus Crusade for Christ). One of the National Directors in our TCCC leadership team (the man who originally founded the TCCC ministry here in the north of Thailand) was missing for several days. His body was found just days before Christmas—his death was the result of what appears to be a freak accident. This was a massive loss, and while Christmas festivities went on, many were/are deeply grieving. Please pray especially for his wife, daughter (16 yrs), and all our Thai staff at this time.

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