The Hope For The Nations : First Teaching Session at Santisuk Silom English Center Bangkok

Chao Phraya River
Our condo is just to the right of the tall white building on the other side of the river

After returning back to Thailand from our ministry trip with Teaching Leaders International in India on Sept. 29, we started our first English teaching session in Bangkok and now 29 days later we are already beginning our second session. Each session is composed of classroom instruction/conversation for two hours a day for 15 days. Lyndell taught Level 1 and Gary taught Level 4 during the first session. Our classroom student numbers were down, which has been a similar experience in the other 6 branches of the Santisuk English Centers. Although this is somewhat disappointing, it does offer the opportunity to spend more time with the students on an individual basis. Our hope is that some would continue to take more instruction in order to facilitate their English learning and understanding of the gospel.

This second session Gary is teaching Level 1 and Lyndell is teaching Level 6. None of the seven students that Gary has in his class have ever heard any stories about Jesus. One of the them is a dentist who is studying to be an oral surgeon and another is a 4^th year law student. The dental student is of course excited to have Gary as her teacher.

The ties to the student’s Buddhist heritage are very strong, as they are for most Thai people. One student in Gary’s class seemed to feel that he really had life figured out for himself and didn’t really have a need for any religion. Please pray for Mos and Beer (yes, like the adult beverage) to press on with a real desire to know the truth about God. The other student, Boom, will continue on with more classes at Santisuk and we pray his heart would soften and humbly see his need for a Savior. We understand that unless the Lord circumcises their heart and makes it receptive to the truth of God, they will continue to live in darkness and not have their spiritual eyes opened to seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.

In the Thai culture we observe great respect and adoration of the students for their parents. They appear to do just about everything for them, including providing financial support as their parents become older. This concern for parents is honorable, but also is a strong barrier against anyone considering becoming a Christian, which would bring great dishonor to their family. Yet, we continue to trust that the gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to bring anyone to salvation. No one can make someone else become a Christian and no one can make themselves become a Christian. The work has to be accomplished by the Holy Spirit, as God replaces the heart of rebellion (stone) with a heart of receptibility (flesh)to the substitutionary saving work of Jesus Christ’s life, death and resurrection.

In Level 4 each student has a closed session Q&A interview with their teacher after which the gospel is presented and explained in the Thai language as well. This is a time to evaluate if the stories taught from the Bible are moving the student towards an interest in knowing God. The students were told in their interviews that the merit of Jesus’s perfect life could be exchanged for our imperfect life and the penalty He paid for our sins by His sacrificial life would clear a sinner from all their guilt and shame, in order that they could enter into an eternal relationship with God characterized by everlasting peace and joy.

When the students were asked to describe what their religion of Buddhism meant to them, it became evident that none of them would actually consider themselves a practicing Buddhist. They said they were Buddhists because they were born Buddhists and followed certain rituals to honor their parents and earn some merit. Gary later gave a short testimony at the session’s closing party and stressed that no one is born a Christian, but each person must individually place their trust in what Jesus Christ has done for them in order to become a Christian.

Lyndell’s students did not know what a Bible was and had not heard any stories about Jesus before the class began. We often wonder what kind of thoughts each student must have when they are first exposed to the love and power of God through the stories from the Bible in the curriculum. Her student’s Gale, Js, and Ja really enjoyed Lyndell as their teacher and expressed how they would like to have her again in another session sometime.

We had an outreach event in our apartment in which we had 17 students and staff attended so we could get to know our students better as we ate and played games together including ping-pong and swimming. We also had a dinner night out at a street side restaurant with all the evening students, which is always popular among the Thai people. There have been a few former students who we have met again that we taught last time and we’ve tried to get reacquainted. This is difficult however because of the long time it takes in the city to travel from where many of them are working or living. We believe follow up is crucial if our desire is to see them begin to have faith in Jesus. So, we keep inviting them to events and activities where relationships can continue and foster greater trust in what we are telling them about God to be true and relevant to their lives.

Holidays are plentiful here and during the celebration of Rama V (former King) one Monday, classes were not scheduled and so we traveled a couple hours south with friends to the island Koh Si Chang for some hiking. It was a very hot day (what’s new) and we were so thankful for a thunderstorm that came through which helped to cool things down a bit.

Gary was asked to preach a couple Sundays after we returned from India and then taught from the book of Ephesians at the two day long second annual church retreat that was held the weekend between our teaching sessions. We traveled about a 3-hour drive to an Airbnb north of Bangkok. We all enjoyed getting out of the busyness of the city and actually hearing what quiet is like again. We observed an interesting sign similar to ones we are accustomed to back home. This one was a warning to watch out for elephants, not deer like in Minnesota. The retreat provided a time to reflect on God’s amazing grace and discuss how both our salvation and our maturity in Christ are fully dependent upon this gift of God, as we wage the daily war all Christians face against the spiritual forces of evil.

Lyndell has again joined the local Bible Study Fellowship (BSF), but this time the other 5 staff women from the school have joined as well. Lyndell is already developing friendships with several women from other countries also.

We continue to rely upon God working through your prayers to help encourage us and overcome the barriers of culture and language when sharing the good news of Jesus as we teach English to the satisfaction of our students.