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Lower Earley Baptist Church

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Follow Carolyn, Dorothea and Russell's visit
to Helen and Wit (February 2025)

 

Day 7 - Jesus the Healer

Today we were back to ministry with Helen, supporting pastor Moses and his wife Mary from Wang Daeng church. We visited various households facing different challenges. Except for one lady, the others are facing health issues that have a wider impact.

Sister Sommai has not been able to go to church over the last few weeks due to back pain. She appreciated out visit, prayer for healing and Carolyn sharing a Scripture.

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Sister Nan, a believer of 2 years, sells produce with a mobile shop. She was unable to work for 9 months due to problems with her knees and kidney failure. As she sells produce from churches members, not being able to work led to financial problems for her and the church members too. Thank the Lord her health has improved has and she was able to go selling today. It was good to be able to pray with her for further healing and encourage her with some Scriptures. Two seekers were also there listening and we were able to bring their needs of healing to Jesus, the great Healer.

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The next visit was to a couple: she became a Christian 2 years ago and is in need of healing too.  She cooks food which she then sells to  earn some money, especially now that her husband (not a believer yet) has lost his job. It was good to pray with both of them for their respective needs after a word of encouragement from Russell. 

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Another lady we visited was SomNuk, not a believer yet. She looks after her 5 grandchildren on her own. Two of them come faithfully to Sunday school every week. Dorothea shared her testimony followed by prayer for her.

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After a break in the afternoon we joined Helen for part of an English lesson in her home. We had fun playing a board game in groups to facilitate conversation around the question, "Have you ever...?"

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Entrance to Tao Hai village

This is our last evening in Tao Hai and so we wanted to take Helen and Wit out for dinner in appreciation of all the amazing hosting they have done for us.  So we went to a fun one in Tron and tried crocodile and spicy Dumtham soup.

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Dorothea


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Day 6 - sightseeing

We were awoken at the Homestay by an amazing thunderstorm - the rain was absolutely torrential! By the time we were getting breakfast though, the rain had abated, and by the time Wit came to pick us up the sun was trying to peek through. Poor Wit and Helen had suffered a power cut and water cut off until about 10.15, so had to boil water on the hob in the dark!

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Today was a rest day for us all so Wit and Helen had planned a really exciting day-off for us. After a delicious lunch at Melon Latte (a lovely Thai restaurant) we were then taken to Sukhothai Airport which is a privately owned airfield. The grounds were immaculate and full of beautiful trees and flowers, and dotted around the grounds were dinosaurs (not real ones!) and a selection of edifices resembling palaces, temples and shrines, all built by the owner! There was also a zoo but it wasn't open today.

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We then walked around the organic gardens, seeing experimental rice growing and some exquisite lotus flowers. There was a small shop there so we did some souvenir shopping before driving to Sukhothai Historical Park, which used to be the old capital of Thailand.

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Now it is a beautiful parkland with amazing ruins of Buddhist and Hindu temples -so interesting! We hired bikes and cycled round the park looking at the sights before finishing up at a lake watching the sunset - absolutely spellbinding.

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But the day was not over yet! Wit and Helen then took us to another lake, the shores of which were packed with street food vendors. Everyone bought what they wanted to eat, then we had a picnic on the side of the lake as the lights came on around us - a perfect end to a perfect day! Huge thanks to Wit and Helen for a fantastic experience!

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Carolyn


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Day 5 - eggs!

Last night we moved into our new temporary accommodation, a Thai "homestay" 5 minutes from Helen and Wit's. It's very pretty with a lovely lady owner, a bit like an Airbnb. Plus she/her husband (?) has a wonderful collection of old tech - TVs, hi-fi's, videos... you name it. And there's chickens, we think... on the roof!

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But the story of the day is eggs. We were out visiting with Wit, Helen and Ban Dara leader Arirat. Often it was to small groups of new Christians who are part of the church there. Some had invited family/friends/neighbours to come along to meet them and us. And everywhere we went Wit and Helen presented a dozen eggs to each household represented - 3 or 4 bags on some occasions.

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We took turns at each house to share some of our testimony, sing a couple of hymns in both English and Thai, and then pray with people. Sometimes this was for healing, sometimes for family, employment, or market stalls, and always for deepening faith. Everyone was very open to receive this, and we were able to speak about God's love, peace, and grace in Jesus.

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One or two were new contacts even to Helen and Wit, but not Arirat who grew up in the same village. And in a few cases they had come to a recent two-day rally ("crusade") the church had held, but were not yet Christians. We met Tawat, for instance, who had been a (mini-)bus driver and recently lost part of his leg following a stroke. He still gets about using his lever-driven chair. Plus (bonus fact) he's an Arsenal supporter 😉!

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After quite a long day we went out for dinner (again... I could get used to this!) with Arirat and a 15 year old girl called Music whom she helps look after. But we had to stop on the way for a beautiful picture or two by the big Nan River which flows through the area.

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Russell 

 


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Day 4 - home visits

IMG 20250217 092700971 HDRWit and Helen's house 

One ministry Helen and Wit give a good chunk of time is discipling  and building friendships with non-Christians. We had the opportunity today to accompany them to visit a lady who suffered a stroke some years ago and faces a difficult home situation. Helen and Wit support her with regular weekly visits. They help with some rehab exercises and we shared some Scripture with her and prayed for her.

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This was followed by  a visit to two female church members with whom Helen and Wit have a weekly Bible study. These ladies boldly invite friends and family to join the Bible study session but everybody tends to have excuses why they can't come. We encouraged them with songs,  Carolyn shared a testimony and Dorothea led a short Bible study.  The session ended with a time of prayer. It felt like a small discipleship group meeting, followed by lunch together.

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The afternoon included siesta time followed by a little bit of packing for our 2 nights at a homestay accomodation. We want to experience this place as a possible accomodation for a future team.  Before settling there for the night we visited a family Helen and Wit have built a relationship through English teaching and the sewing classes. We were treated to a wonderful evening meal full of new treats for the taste buds, including fruits we had never seen nor tasted before.

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All in all, another insightful day into the work Helen and Wit do!

Dorothea





 


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Day 3 - big church!

We had a great time worshipping at the new Wang Daeng church building this morning. It's a great facility, with a central courtyard for eating together, and high-ceilinged indoor worship area, a Sunday school room, and a residential part.

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Wit and Helen had arranged for the Ban Dara church to have a joint service, so there were lots of kids and young people, as well as older members of the congregation. They welcomed us with baskets which their basket-weaving group had made. We gave Wang Daeng pastor Mary (left) and Arirat (from Ban Dara) gifts from UK.

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After that they asked us to perform a song (!!!), and Russell preached a Valentine's themed message on John 13, where Jesus washes the disciples' feet.

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Lunch was served in the courtyard - sticky rice and deep fried pork cooked by Mary's husband, co-pastor and chef, Moses. Kids played with the bubble tubes we brought for them, and everyone had a great time.

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We had an afternoon visiting a museum about traditional Thai life in Laplae, a refreshing drink at an upmarket coffee shop, and then had dinner of soup at a street cafe by the river. A brilliant day!

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Russell 


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Day 2 - serving the children! 

We had a really good night's rest and, after a lovely breakfast and a time of prayer with Wit, we spent some time with a small class of children that Helen teaches English to in her home. We taught them a song and engaged them in simple conversations. 

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We then headed off to Ban Dara church to spend an hour teaching the children English through songs, games and fun activities.

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After another delicious lunch, we had a couple of hours' siesta time and then it was time to return to the church to work with the youth group. Our trusty song was sung again, and some of the children who had been there in the morning were getting very good at it!

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We played games with the parachute and there was lots of laughter and enjoyment. Dorothea then gave a word of encouragement to the young people, translated by Wit.

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We were then treated to a tasty communal meal of fried rice and seaweed soup with all the youngsters and the rest of the team, cooked by a lovely lady called Arirat. She's the one who began the Sunday School at Ban Dara and was the key person in the church's establishment. We finished with an amazing birthday cake for Wit and sang 'Happy Birthday' which rounded  off an exciting and varied day.

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Praise God for all the people, young and old, that we met today and for developing friendships. Please pray for our contributions to the service tomorrow morning - including performing a song as a trio!

Carolyn


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Day 1 - Arrival 

After a gruelling 23.5hr journey from Lower Earley, Helen and Wit greeted us off the train at 2.40pm local time in the town of Uttaradit.

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Thank you so much for your prayers. We landed in Bangkok half an hour early,  picked up our bags and a tourist SIM, and didn't have to panic our way to the central train station through the city metro.

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After settling in at Wit and Helen's (with A/C in the bedrooms!), we presented them with a few thank-you gifts on behalf of LEBC - fancy biscuits, tea, and some "luxury" gardening gloves (a major hobby).

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They kindly took us out for a celebratory welcome dinner, with as much garlic and chillies as we wanted to add!

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Ministry begins tomorrow. But right now we're just glad to be here and settled. Time for a good night's sleep!

Russell 


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