March 2002

Greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

In our last newsletter, we told you about our trip to visit Rangsee Wittaya School in the northern Thai town of Fang. In this newsletter we will share with you the rest of our trip across the northernmost part of Thailand to the city of Chiang Rai and Chiang Rai Vidhayakhome School.

While our visit in Fang had been good, the drive up from our home in Chiang Mai had not. Most of the road between Chiang Mai and Fang was under construction; actually it had been completely torn up and resembled a lunar landscape more than a highway. Our little car had been damaged by the trip and wouldn’t survive another (the same could be said for us!), so we decided to change our plans for returning home. We now had to take the longer route
into the northernmost mountains not far from the Burmese frontier, which ended at Chiang Rai, and so we decided to make an early visit the mission school there—Chiang Rai Vidhayakhome.

It was a pleasantly surprising and spiritually rewarding trip! We left Rangsee Wittaya School in Fang after the last classes of the day and headed north, hoping to make Chiang Rai by seven. The drive through the mountains was wonderful as traffic was light and the highway was in excellent condition. We began seeing signs in English, Thai and Chinese telling us that a church was in the next village. It soon seemed as if every little village we passed had a church. We were in hill tribe country. My work does not bring me into contact with the many churches and groups doing mission work with the various hill tribe peoples who live along the border of Thailand and Burma, but I have read about and spoken with those who have. It was a wonderful sight to see the fruits of their work, and after passing the tenth church, we decided to stop at the next one and take a look around.

None of the churches we had passed seemed open, it being evening time and a Tuesday, but we decided to take a look anyway. The church we stopped at was called "The Light Church" in English and as we parked our car an elder of the church came out and greeted us. He was there preparing for his sermon next Sunday. Most of these churches have no pastor. Elders take turns giving sermons, otherwise pastors from the churches in Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai, or from the seminary in Chiang Mai take turns visiting these churches.

This church was a wooden structure with wooden pews and bookshelves where old Thai hymnals lay. Most of the congregation knew the words to nearly all the songs, we were told upon admiring the hymnals and so they weren’t really necessary. The service, we were told, consisted mainly of songs, scripture readings, personal witness by members of the congregation moved to speak, and a sermon. We had a nice chat with the elder, Nai, and I asked him what he planned to talk about next Sunday. He laughed and told me he didn’t know, but he had just prayed for God to give him the words and that was pretty much his preparation. We left with a prayer and a promise to return on a Sunday.

The next day we visited Chiang Rai Vidhayakhome School (CVK) in time for the morning assembly. CVK has grown tremendously over the past few years. It has a long tradition of strong academics and teaching, particularly in English, and it was a joy to observe elementary classes in the morning. The young children think English is fun. The teachers incorporate plenty of games, songs, and activities in their lessons so that the students receive practice in the listening, speaking, reading and writing skills while learning content. They were not shy about speaking with the teacher or with me, and they were correcting their own mistakes with laughter. These teachers have created the kind of open classrooms where content is learned and students are encouraged and motivated to use what they are learning. This is a big contrast from many schools, where content and rote learning are the focus of English study, which is often tedious and boring to students who have no desire to learn or try.

I spent time in the afternoon with the secondary level teachers. CVK has only recently opened a high school and they have been spending a great deal of time trying to work out a solid curriculum in all subjects. I only observed a few of these classes since I was asked to examine the curriculum. I wish I had more time to do that, and more time to talk with the students. The English they study is basically the grammar and reading they will need to pass the university entrance examinations. Very little of what they learn will prepare them for the actual uses of English they will have in university and life. I was given a copy of their objectives, syllabus, and content for closer study and we will get together again in a few months to discuss the curriculum and share ideas and concerns.

The principal of the school brought our car to a mechanic to replace the shocks and we had our car by evening. After our trip we were ready to go home, but we would remember our special detour through the mountains and our visit with Elder Nai.

Thank you again for your prayers in support of our mission, and for your letters. God’s blessings to you all.

Scott, Khanita and Christopher Satterfield