Seeing God at Work in Thailand

On our arrival in Chiangmai, Bobby Nishomoto, a missionary from Hawaii, Samarn, a Thai evangelist, and Sombat, joined us in a team to reach the northern area of Thailand. We distributed large quantities of Gospel literature throughout the region, going from house to house and had many outreaches to the villages, seeing many people saved and water baptised in the ponds and rivers.

On one occasion we went to Fang, near the Burmese border. A thatched roof was erected with bamboo poles, and the town people gathered. We had a great meeting and Samarn, who has a gift of miracles, prayed for a forty-year-old woman who was deaf and dumb from birth. The people were astonished when she heard and spoke for the first time and great praise rang out. Then, suddenly, stones began to rain on us. They were being catapulted from behind the wall of the Buddhist Temple which was a few hundred yards away. Amazingly, no-one moved and no-one was hit. I saw a stone coming straight for me. It hit a thin bamboo pole in front of me. Great were the victories we experienced in those days.

A Church is Born in Chiangmai

We began a Gospel meeting in a shop front in the busy shopping area of Chiangmai. This was a difficult task in 1963 and when we saw 80 people come to the Lord at our Gospel hall it was considered quite a visitation of God in those days. At that time many missionaries had been in Thailand for ten to fifteen years and had seen only one or two converts.

One night, when we were gathered with the new converts in the little shopfront, I preached on the story of David and Goliath, through an interpreter, using the old Bible story as a picture of how Jesus defeated our enemy, Satan, for us. I was acting it out, jumping on a chair whenever I was taking the part of Goliath bellowing across the valley to the army of Israel, and jumping down to be David, swinging my arm as he shot the stone from his sling. Unbeknowns to me, outside a young boy was hiding behind the wall listening intently, peering around every now and then to watch the histrionics. As he heard the simple Gospel message, his heart responded, and when Bobby went out to talk with him, he received the Lord Jesus as his Saviour. That young boy, Boonmark, was to become a well-known Christian radio ministry in Thailand and pastor of one of the fellowships that sprang from the little shopfront meeting.

At the same time Boonmark was hiding behind the wall, Teeung, a business manager in the city, came off the street into the shopfront, believed the Gospel message he heard and received the Lord as his Saviour. His wife, Supit, a night club singer, would later follow him. She was to compose many wonderful Christian songs which she would sing in traditional Thai style.

Another man, Unoope Pimpar, received a Gospel tract and, a violent man, reacted with such anger that he planned to come with a knife to "kill the missionaries". Bobby and Samarn went to visit him and, on finding Unoope ill and his little boy with a hernia, prayed for them in the name of Jesus and both were healed. As result both Unoope and his wife received the Lord. Noongluk would later testify how, while trying to support the family by selling homemade cakes in the market, she was amazed that her cakes never seemed to run out. She would sell them and still the same number would be in her basket. We shared with her from the Bible about the miracle of Jesus, feeding the 5000. Unoope and his family would later follow us to Bangkok and he became the director of our literature ministry throughout Thailand. Aderik, a top cartoonist known throughout the nation, also came to the Lord. He, too, was later to work with us, using his talent to reach millions.

Over the year we were in Chiangmai we would cover every house and every village in the northern region of Thailand with the message of the Gospel. Some time later the Communists would fly from the north and drop propaganda into the whole area but we were thrilled that, possibly for the first time in Asia, the message of Jesus Christ had reached there first.

Leadership Gatherings

We also sent out a series of special Bible studies on "First Principles" to Christian leaders all over Thailand and, for four years, held conferences at the Baptist camp site in Pattaya Beach, outside of Bangkok. Hundreds gathered on these occasions from all over Thailand. God poured out His Holy Spirit on us each time we gathered. There was a great release of teaching and imparting of gifts. Repentance, deliverance, and healing took place in many lives. Some saw visions. One saw the Lord Jesus, his body filled with disease, and we knew it was picturing the condition of the spiritual Body of Christ around the world and all were stirred to pray. Another saw the building where we were meeting ablaze with fire. All rejoiced with great praise to God. A first missionary was sent out from our midst - to Laos.