Church Camp in Thailand

 We were blessed to be able to go to Thailand for their church camp.  It is for Thai Christians of any age. There were over 500 attending this year.

The camp is held in Chaam, Thailand.  It is a fantastic time to enjoy God's beautiful creation, see friends, have some terrific singing, and hear God's Word taught.  It is truly an uplifting time.

 We know a lot of time goes into the preparation of camp.  The Soi Somprasong 4 congregation in Bangkok organized the camp each year.  They put in a lot of planning and go down a week early to get everything in place.
  This is a picture of Prasit and Praguy, with their sons and daughter-in-laws.  Prasit is one of the elders at Soi 4.  This entire family is very active in the congregation there, and are just a wonderful family.

 When the Thais get together, they can really sing!  One of the things I miss most about not being in Thailand is the singing.  I know that God is pleased!

The theme of the camp this year was
Leaving A Legacy.
 There are also a number of deaf brethren that attend.  This is Prateep signing for them.  There are several people who are able to do this ministry.
 In the mornings, after breakfast, we would sing, have 2 speakers, then sing some more before breaking off into the classes.  Then came lunch and afternoon activities (blessings, Bible Bowl, etc) and free time.  After supper, we met together again to sing and listen to 2 more lessons.  Then there were games for the kids before lights out.
Most of the people stayed in tents on the grounds.  Some of the older people (and us) stay in a hotel nearby.
 Rich taught the men (ages 20 and up) during class time and I taught the women.  Our topics for the 3 days of classes were:  Leaving a Legacy as a Husband/Wife; Leaving a Legacy as a Father/Mother; and Leaving a Legacy as a Grandfather/Grandmother/Strong Families.

It is always a time of homecoming of sorts for me. There are so many of the Thais that I have known for years.  It is quite frustrating however, to understand a lot of what they are saying, but not being able to answer back.  When I open my mouth, I speak Khmer (Cambodian), not Thai.  Thankfully, they are kind and endure with me!

One blessing that we certainly didn't expect was that a Khmer man, who is working in Bangkok, was baptized on the first night of the camp.  He speaks street Thai well.  But as the Bible is in an upper level of Thai (Khmer is the same way), he doesn't understand a lot of it.  We got to spend time visiting with him.  Then on Sunday, Rich preached and taught class.  Mavin, the Khmer man, sat beside me and I translated Rich's lesson into Khmer for him; while Glome translated the lesson for everyone else into Thai.

It is our prayer that one day in Cambodia, we can have over 500 Christians meet together and praise God in song and listen to His Word being taught.
We are grateful for all of you that are a part with us in this ministry.  We couldn't do it without you.

Please keep us and the work here in your prayers.  Please pray that we will have wisdom to lead in the right way.
Much love,
Ronda


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