Gail
left for Bangkok, Thailand, right after Easter 2000 and we pray for God’s protection and
guidance in helping her to settle into this new culture and in learning the language. We
learnt that “Sa-wa-dee-ka” and “Sa-wa-dee-krab” are Thai for
“Hello” when spoken by females or males respectively. We presented Gail with
some money to buy a video camera so she can send us images of her work, the country and
people. We pray that individuals and groups from St Wilfrid’s keep in contact with
Gail.
Please
talk to Kevin or Pat if you need more information, or how to contact Gail.
 |
Gail
Phillip (our Link Mission Partner with the Church Mission Society)
returned on holiday from her duties in
Thailand
and paid us a visit on Sunday 16th
November 2002. She was questioned about her experiences by Steven and told us
that she admired the passion and commitment of the Thai Christians and
their spirit of evangelism and discipleship. ‘I have learned from them
that we have to make sacrifices. Those things I had previously taken for
granted as my rights, like personal space and time, are given at God’s
discretion and may have to be given up sometimes.’ She has found it
hard to work from
7 a.m.
until late in the evening with full
commitment. She has been disappointed when some converts to Christianity
have given up but encouraged when many persevere.
Gail
is Principal of the childcare centre in
Bangkok
but she is likely to have to help
the daughter church in Ban Chang, a city to the South, to set up a
similar centre. This will be
a strain as it will be more rural, have less familiar amenities and she
will be distanced from the circle of friends she has made. She is
grateful for our prayers and asks us to pray that her language skills
will not be too rusty after six months back home and that they will be
equal to the task ahead. |
-
Gail's visit to
St Wilfrid's on 10th December 2006
-
Gail
returned to
England
for a short break before Christmas 2006 and agreed to come to our church
service at 10am on Sunday 10th
December, when she updated us on her Church
Mission Society work in
Thailand
. We had also arranged a lunch
in the Church Hall that Sunday for 18, and after lunch Gail took us through
a Quiz to further explain the work she undertakes in Thailand. We are
very grateful for Gail for spending time with us during her holiday and pray
her work continues to bear fruit when she returns to Thailand in early 2007.
-
Prayer
Update from Gail - April 2007
-
Dear
Friends,
A
very happy Thai New Year to you all! Yes,
once again it’s that time of year here in
Thailand
– maximum heat and mad water fighting on the streets!
Bangkok
is unusually quiet since many people travel back to their home provinces for
the holiday. Do pray for
safety on the roads as every year there are numerous injuries and fatalities
due to the combination of water-soaked roads, high spirits and drink
driving.
I’ve
been back in
Thailand
just over 2 months now and it has been a busy time what with end of term
events and various visits to our other 2 branches outside of
Bangkok
. In March, I also took a team
of teachers from our branch in the north-east on a visit to
Singapore
at the invitation of
St. Paul
’s church and kindergarten, who are coming alongside to support the church
and ministry in Sawang. The trip
was a very useful experience and we thank God for this on-going support.
Please pray for me as I draw up a Memorandum of Understanding to
clarify how best the
Singapore
side can support the ministry of our RCDC childcares.
Thanks
so much to all of you for your prayers regarding the rental of my house
in the
UK
. I’m delighted to report that
it is now let, which is such a wonderful answer to prayer!
The new tenants wanted the house unfurnished, so my parents had to do
a very rapid furniture removal job, but I’m so pleased that everything has
gone to a good home and can be a blessing to others.
Praise the Lord!
Here
are a few other items I’d like to commit to your prayers:
1.
Please pray for RCDC Bangkok that our enrollment for the new
school year starting in mid-May will increase.
We are aiming for a registration of 145 and currently have 100
registered.
2.
Pray for RCDC Sawang Daendin (in the north-east) for a good
enrollment for the new school year and for closer and more effective team
work in the branch there. Pray
also for the pastor of the church there, Acharn Kittikhun and his wife
Thongmoy.
3.
Thank God that our third and newest branch is seeing a good
increase of new children coming in and has earned a very good reputation in
Banchang. Pray for necessary
repairs and renovations of the building to be completed in time for the new
school year.
4.
On 1st/2nd May we will be having a
review and planning retreat for all the Principals and Managers of our 3
centres. Please pray that this
will be a fruitful time and for God’s guidance as we plan the future
development of all 3 Centres.
‘Do
not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and
petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.’ (Phil.
4:6)
THANK
YOU! Your prayers, support and
partnership are so appreciated!
With
love, Gail
-
Update
on Coup in Thailand (19th September 2006)
Gail
Phillip, our Link Mission Partner in Bangkok, sent
emails overnight on 20th September, following the coup:
By now you have probably seen or heard news of the
military coup in
Thailand
. We first became aware of this about 11 pm last night; - just before BBC
and CNN were cut off the cable networks. Martial law has been imposed and
today has been declared a public holiday with all schools etc. closed, so we
are holed up at home watching official announcements interspersed with
karaoke style patriotic songs. We're up-dating through the internet. Things
on the streets are calm and peaceful. There is still no official
announcement from the King. This will be of key importance when it comes.
Thank you for your prayers for
Thailand
at this crucial time.
The atmosphere on the street is relaxed.
Shops are open as normal. We had soldiers on our road last night, but
they were gone this morning. We are hoping to re-open the childcare
tomorrow as normal. We break up on Friday anyway.
We can continue to pray that out of these events
will emerge a government that can put an end to corruption and truly take
the nation forward. On the whole, people seem positive about the
action taken by the coup leaders, although still difficult to tell with
little unbiased media coverage.
Please pray that the coup continues to be peaceful
with nobody harmed, and for a swift return to the democratic process.
Up-date
on Suan Phluu Slum Fire (May, 2004)
Thank
you so much to all of you who have been praying for the families affected by
the slum fire 2 weeks ago. Groups of us have been going in nearly every day
to visit folk housed temporarily in the local technical school. On
the first few evenings we ran a sort of mini-children’s church programme
there to give the children some opportunity to let off steam and share
something of their experiences. The response to people’s short term needs
was quite amazing with donations of food, clothing etc. coming in in
abundance.
Yesterday
was the deadline for folk to move out of the technical school. We thank God
that most of our children’s church families have now found alternative
accommodation locally so it will be easy to maintain contact with them.
Please do continue to pray for people’s long term needs.
Some local landlords have exploited the situation by putting up
rental prices so some folk are now renting for more than they can afford in
the long term. Pray for the
government’s response to the situation.
It seems they are now withdrawing their commitment to build new flats
for the community.
Some
folk have expressed interest in making donations towards the support of
these families. If you wish to
do so, you can send donations to the following account:
Bangkok
Bank Head Office Silom,
RainbowLand Community Services Foundation, Account No. 101 7730217
Please
specify that your gift is for the Suan Phluu Slum Fire Response.
It would also be helpful if you were to drop me a line to let me know
who the donation is from, for how much and the date on which it was sent.
CMS has already donated $1000.
I am off to Chiang Mai (northern
Thailand
) tomorrow (8th May 2004), leading a team from
Christ
Church
to help run a Children’s Ministry training seminar for over 300 delegates.
Please pray for a safe journey there and back (about 10 – 15 hours
by bus) and that the training
will be fruitful.
Blessings
in His name to you all!
Gail
Gail's Link Letters
arrive several times a year. There are
copies of them in the entrance to the Church Hall
and in the Charities &
Missions Scrapbook. Gail also communicates through
e-mails and cards. She sent some photos in
November 2000 which show her busy at work with the children and colleagues.
-
Pat Darke went
to visit Gail in January 2002 with several other people from
link churches in Nottinghamshire. Here is some news of Pat's visit.
-
|
A grou p of nine from three different churches, including myself from St.
Wilfrid’s, visited Bangkok recently.
We wanted to see the work of our Mission Partner, Gail
Phillip, an English teacher who is working with both adults and
children. She also runs
monthly workshops for Thai teachers of English.
Gail
works at the Rainbowland Community Centre, which is part of the
community service arm of Christ Church, Bangkok.
We had the first of many delicious Thai meals on our first
evening, after introductions to Rev. Gerry Koo and his wife Dorothy
who lead the Mission Team.
We
were up early next morning to visit a local primary school; we
toured classrooms and the children all greeted us with English
songs. The children learn English from the age of seven.
They have computers and headphones in their language
laboratories. The
children gave us a musical interlude, by playing their bamboo
flutes, which they did beautifully.
We were honoured to be invited across the road to meet the
Director of Education who greeted us with garlands, coffee and
fruit. He spoke of
building bridges between the communities, rich and poor, east and
west and between people of different spiritualities.
He spoke highly of Gail who is transforming the teaching of
English in his schools.
We
visited many of the outreach areas of the Church including the
children’s hospital, a respite home for families visiting children
in hospital and a visit to the slums where the Church runs a play
therapy group and is involved with a kindergarten.
In the slums there is a lot of squalor, mangy dogs and ripe
odours as we walked past the tiny living rooms and shops set up to
provide an income. Some
of the children cannot afford school and that’s where the
Rainbowland project helps by giving scholarships.
On
Sunday we attended a morning service for the English-speaking
congregation and in the afternoon attended another service for the
Thai congregation. This
service was very lively and charismatic and went on for over 2
hours!
The
last few days were spent at Hua Hin in an idyllic position on the
beach with a wonderful warm sea to swim in and relax before
returning to Bangkok and then back home to England.
Pat
Darke (March 2002)
|
-
Letter
to St Wilfrid's dated October 2000
Dear Kevin
& all at Saint Wilfrid's
Thanks for the recent church
magazine - I enjoyed reading about Dr Snow's experiences in Africa with a dead bull and
can understand what he means about really getting involved in the every day life of
people. Nobody has dropped a dead cow at my door (yet!) but on a recent trip to the North
East of Thailand I had the opportunity to sample fried frog and a very special snail dish
while visiting our daughter church there - more in my next newsletter!
I'm so sorry I seem slow in
responding to your request for pictures. I'm picking double copies of 2 films up today and
will send you a selection (assuming they're OK). I have also been accumulating some video
material of various visits and events at church. The problem is that I don't have the time
or the equipment to do any editing here. I was wondering if I sent the 'raw material' to
you on an ordinary video cassette, would there be someone who could do some editing? I
have tried to do some commentary along with the shots to help you know what's what. Is it
easier to have it on an ordinary video cassette (they use the same system here as in the
UK) or to have the original tape from the camera itself? I'm afraid I'm not very
knowledgeable on these things!
Please do let me know and I
can get it sent off to you.
It did also occur to me that
perhaps folk from my other Link Churches would like to access your Web Page to see the
latest pictures. Could I publish your web address in my next newsletter for them? Can you
remind me of the address so I can print it accurately.
I am well and gearing up for
new terms both in the Language Centre (starting today) and in the kindergarten (starting
next week). I'm now living in my own home with 3 Thai housemates (2 of whom speak good
English so I'm not completely lost!) I've now stopped going to Thai language school and
will set up some private tuition this week.
Thanks for all your support
- especially your prayers. Could I ask you to pray especially for my mum at the moment as
she recently had a fall and has fractured her left arm which is giving her quite some pain
and making every day tasks a little difficult.
Hope to hear from you soon
re the video. Please do pass on greetings to all at church. I'm remembering you in my
prayers too.
Love in
Christ
Gail
(09/10/2000)
Gail's Photos from Thailand
(Nov.
2000)
| Children from the
Kindergarten in Sawang Daendin enjoying a praise song. Sawang Daendin is a relatively small town in
the Northeast. By God's grace and amazing provision, Christ Church was able to purchase a
row of five shop houses there, which have now been transformed into a church, kindergarten
and computer club. |
 |
 |
Making "Sam Tam"
(papaya salad) - one of the most traditional Northeastern Thai dishes. The Northeast is the poorest and least
developed region of Thailand. Most people still live off the land and houses are the
traditional Thai style - made of wood and elevated on 'stilts'.
Mee Deeng was
the very first Christian in Sawang Daendin. She heard the Gospel from a missionary who was
passing through the area. She accepted Christ and, despite much opposition from her own
family, remained committed and continued to grow in her faith. On four occasions she was
seriously ill, the first time with a disease which was eating away at her intestines. No
treatment could be offered and, feeling Mee Deeng would surely die, her family had a
coffin ready and waiting, and her husband married another woman! However, mee and others
prayed, believing that, if Jesus wanted her to live, she would be healed - as indeed she
was! |
| Gail with a group of church
members in Sawang Daendin. Note the woven baskets of the staple food - khaw nheiw
or 'sticky rice'. Eating,
like most things in this part of the world, is very communal with everyone sharing a 'common
spoon'. You have to become adept at handling your khaw nheiw
like putty and using it to scoop up helpings from accompanying dishes. |
 |
| Gail with one of the classes at
Christ Church Language Centre (CCLC) at the end of term party. Gail is enjoying the challenge of teaching a
very diverse range of ages and abilkties - from four year olds to adults! Praise God that
she can now read many of the choruses at church in thai and sing along! She now has
private language lessons twice a week. |
 |
| Sunday morning breakfast
picnic in Lumpini Park - relaxation and an opportunity to meet and chat wito the many
Bangkokians who gather there. |
 |
Our other charities and missions
An A5 brochure giving more details is available at the back of
church together with a "Scrapbook" giving further details of these main
charities and missions.
In addition to these six main charities we also set aside an
annual sum for one-off projects with a local interest.
2007 - the
charity being supported this year is the Rainbows Children's Hospice,
Loughborough
St
Wilfrid's Church in Kibworth Beauchamp have begun a month of fund raising in
support of the Rainbows Children's Hospice Charity. The Church Council
agreed earlier this year to donate a proportion of service collections in
May and money raised from their annual Church Fete to the children's hospice
in Loughborough.
Harry
Moore, one of the co-founders of the hospice and accompanied by Sarah
Staines, one of the hospice's community fundraisers, gave an illustrated
talk about the wonderful work of the hospice in the middle of the All
Age Worship service held in a packed church, bedecked with coloured
balloons, on 6th May. Harry told how the £2.8m annual costs of
running the hospice came entirely from public donations to help provide
respite, palliative and terminal care to families that include a child with
a life limiting illness.
Robin
Hollick, one of the Kibworth churchwardens, said "We were very pleased
that Harry was able to come and launch our month of fundraising for the
Rainbows charity. Sunday's service also included two baptisms and a
presentation by Kibworth Rainbows, and we gave a helium-filled balloon to
take home to each of the children in the church. We based the theme of
the service around God's promise as signified by his sign of a rainbow to
Noah in Genesis, and are delighted to be contributing something to this very
worthwhile charity in the county.
"Our
month of fund raising will continue now until the annual Church Fete, which
is held in the area around the church and church hall, starting at 2pm on
Saturday 9th June. The theme for this year's Fete will be ...
Rainbows of course! We want to welcome as many people as possible to
help boost the funds for the Rainbows charity"
Website: http://rainbows.eazytiger.net/index.asp
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