LHM Thailand Team Shares True Love

On February 13-14, 2013 the Lutheran Hour Ministries Thailand (LHMT) director and staff did a special program for 4 schools in Prachuap Kirikhan Province.  In connection with Valentine’s Day, the LHMT team was invited to share the meaning of true love with the students and teachers at each of the schools.  Once again the team partnered with Pastor Wichian Rakkhuntho and some of the members of Guiburi Church in reaching out to students with God’s love.

On February 13 the team visited 2 schools.  The first school was Paknampran Wittaya School in Pranburi District.  The school director invited the LHMT team to do the Valentine’s Day program, because the team did a Christmas program a few years ago at another school where he was the director.  He appreciated the important message they shared with the students at his previous school and wanted all 148 students at his current school to hear what the LHMT team had to say.

From 10:30am-12:00 noon the LHM Thailand director and staff introduced the students and teachers to God’s love.  After an opening prayer and introduction about Guiburi Church and LHM Thailand, everyone joined in some fun activities.  The LHM Thailand team then taught the students a Christian song, “God is Love.”  One of the team members led the students in a light-hearted activity about the character of love and gave out a number of prizes. 

Each of the schools the LHM Thailand team visited were eager to improve their English program.  Some of the schools were looking for more English teachers.  All of the schools wished that they could study with a native English speaking teacher.  To give the students an opportunity to practice English, the team used a short video entitled, “The Bridge Master and His Son.”  The video is a story about a man who finds himself in a situation where he has to make a terrible choice.  He can either prevent a train full of people from crashing or save his son from being killed by the train. 

Part of the English activity was reading John 3:16, which was incorporated into the video, to explain to the students the true meaning of love.  Then all of the students wrote notes on heart-shaped pieces of paper that shared love with someone.  All of those notes were then attached to 2 larger hearts, which were then given to the schools.

The LHM Thailand team them taught the students a song about passing love to others.  After the song, Pastor Wichian invited the students to come to his church on Saturdays and Sundays, if they wanted free lessons in learning to play the drums, guitar or keyboard.  He then closed the program with prayer and a blessing on the school and students.  As the students returned to their classrooms, they all received a free gift set, which contained a New Testament Bible and other materials.

After lunch the LHMT team took a short break and then went to Wahkor Wittayalai School in Muang District.  From 3:00pm-4:30pm the team presented the same program for the 79 students there that they did at Paknampran Wittaya School in the morning. 

The next morning from 9:30am-11:00am the LHM Thailand team presented their same Valentine’s program for the 73 students at Baan Don Glang School in Guiburi District.  This was the team’s second visit to the school.  The previous visit was during the LHMT School Outreach Program a few years ago.

From 3:00pm-4:30pm the LHM Thailand team did their Valentine program one last time for the 71 students at Baan Nong Gade School.  The team also did a Christmas program at this school a few years ago.  Many of the students remembered the team members and were happy to see them again. 

After dinner the team rode in the van for about 4 hours and arrived home late that night.  Although the team was very tired, they were happy about making good connections with the students and the positive responses they received.  We thank God for blessing our activities and interactions with the teachers and students and we pray that the Holy Spirit will open the hearts and minds of everyone who heard about God’s love during this trip to Prachuap Kirikhan Province.

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Christmas School Outreach (December 14)

On December 14, the last day of the trip, the LHMT team presented a program at Wat Don Sukkho School in Uthong District, Suphanburi Province. Also a small school with only 54 students, Pastor Mai and his church members were already well known by the students and teachers. The school is also the sight of Baan Nong Pa Saeng preaching station established by Uloke Simuen Church. The school director allows the church leaders to teach Christian dancing to some of the students.

After leading many fun activities and Christmas songs, the LHMT team showed the “Red Boots for Christmas” video and did the spelling Christmas activity. At the end of the program the students received gift packs, Christmas tracts and the “Manger” comic book from LHMT and soft drinks and snacks from Pastor Mai and the church members.

The last school visit of the trip was with the 108 students at Baan Nong Grang School in Gampaengsan District, Nakhonpathom Province. Because this school is far from where Pastor Mai lives, he asked a friend of his, Pastor Preeda Gritsadathan of Baan Nong Grang Church, to organize this visit. This was the first time for the LHMT director and staff to meet Pastor Preeda.

This school director also wanted to emphasize the learning of English for his students, so he asked the LHMT team to do the spelling Christmas activity in addition to showing the “Red Boots for Christmas” video.

The school director is eager to have LHMT return to his school to do a special English program. Because he said it would be okay to use Christian materials for the English program and the school is located just 2 hours from Bangkok, the LHMT director is very interested in doing more activities with the school.

We hope and pray that these Christmas School Outreach activities will help the students and teachers understand who Jesus is. LHMT will do follow up activities with the two churches in the coming months.

Christmas School Outreach (December 13)

Pastor Mai Phuengubol

The morning of December 13 the LHMT team made the short trip to Thamaga District in Kanchanaburi Province. The first program of the day was at Pracha Wittayakarn School from 9:00-11:00am. Pastor Mai Phuengubol from Uloke Simuen Church was the host for this part of the trip. Earlier this year he had attended an Equipping the Saints training conducted by LHMT at his church. Because he enjoyed that so much, he wanted to do an outreach program with LHMT. This Christmas school outreach was a good chance to do that.

The school director wanted the children to practice English, so the team showed the “Red Boots for Christmas” video and also did the spelling Christmas activity. Pastor Mai and a group of his congregation members provided soft drinks and snacks for all 165 students. As usual, every student received a gift pack, Christmas tract and a “Manger” comic book at the end of the program.

The second school visit for the day was at Baan Jaeng Ngam School in Thamaga District. In the past the school had more than 700 students, but only 48 are attending this year. Pastor Mai graduated from Baan Jaeng Ngam School and wanted the students and teachers to learn about the true meaning of Christmas. In spite of the small number of students, the LHMT team was happy to do a full program there, including showing “Red Boots for Christmas” and doing the spelling Christmas activity.

Christmas School Outreach (December 12)

On December 12 the LHMT went to 3 schools in the Nakhonpathom area. From 10:00-11:30am they were at Baan Bang Pradang Elementary School in Sampran District. This time it was possible to show the “Red Boots for Christmas” animated video to the 206 students in addition to doing the games, songs and fun activities. Following the video the team did a question and answer activity to be sure that the students understood the meaning of the video. All of the students were happy to receive the gift packs, tracts and “Manger” comic books.

At Marie Upatham Catholic School most of the students are Buddhist. Because they attend a Catholic school, they have learned the story about the birth of Jesus. During their lunch break from 12:30-1:00pm, the LHMT staff did games and activities that focused on reviewing the true meaning of Christmas with 351 students. Because the time was short, it wasn’t possible to use the video or to do the activity of using the letters to spell Christmas. All of the students seemed to know the Christmas story very well, but very few believe in Jesus as their Savior.

Wat Thakham Elementary School was not far away, so it was possible to arrive there in time to get set up to do the program for the 232 students from 2:00-3:30pm. Unfortunately, due to a heavy rain the school property flooded and all of the materials and equipment had to be moved to a narrow area outside the classrooms on the second floor. Because of the crowded situation it wasn’t possible to show the video or to do the spelling Christmas activity. Instead, Mr. Siam, one of the LHMT staff, did a simple explanation of the true meaning of Christmas for the students.

Christmas School Outreach (December 11)

From December 11-14, 2012 Lutheran Hour Ministries Thailand (LHMT) conducted its annual school outreach program at 9 schools in Central Thailand.  Although only 1.6% of the population of Thailand are Christian, many Thai people enjoy celebrating Christmas.  However, most people only know some basic stories about Santa Claus and the custom of giving gifts.  Very few people know that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus, the Son of God.

Each December LHMT is invited to do a special Christmas program in Thai government schools and some Catholic and private schools.  The main purpose of this program is to clearly share the true meaning of Christmas.  This year the LHMT director and staff traveled to the provinces of Nakhonpathom, Suphanburi and Kanchanaburi for the school outreach program.

The morning of December 11, the LHMT team rode in a van for 3 hours to reach Sampran District, Nakhonpathom Province.  Pastor Sangworn Duangkam, a former studio technician for LHMT, hosted LHMT for the day.  His congregation, Tan Nampu Church, provided the comic book called “Manger” for all students in the schools that LHMT visited near his church. 

The first school on the schedule was Sampran Wittaya School.  From 1:00-2:00pm all 1,083 students participated in the games and fun activities and sang Christmas songs with the LHMT team.  To teach the students the true meaning of Christmas, the LHMT team used an English activity.  Each letter in the word “Christmas” started a word that helped explain that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus, the Son of God, and that he came to bring forgiveness of sins and eternal life to all who believe in him. 

At the end of the activity the LHMT director and staff led the students in a question and answer time that reviewed the main points of the activity. In this way they could be sure that the students really understood the true meaning of Christmas. At the end of the program each student received a gift set with Christmas tracts and the “Manger” comic book.

The LHMT team then packed all of their equipment and materials into the van for a quick trip to the next school.  From 2:30-4:00pm all 326 students at Baan Donggade School enthusiastically participated in the songs and activities.  Because these students were very young, the LHMT staff planned to show a Christmas animated video.  However, because the program was held outside and the sun was very bright, the video couldn’t be used.  Instead, they did a very simple version of using the letters to spell Christmas.

Mother’s Day Provides Good Opportunity for School Outreach

The children learned about their mother’s love through Christian beliefs.

On August 10, 2012 the staff of Lutheran Hour Ministries Thailand (LHMT) spent the day conducting two school outreach programs in Guiburi District, Prachuap Khirikhan Province.  In Thailand Mother’s Day is celebrated in connection with Queen Sirikit’s birthday on August 12.  Because it was Mother’s Day weekend, the team focused on the relationship between the students and their mothers. 

In the morning they visited Yang Chum Wittaya Junior High School.  From 9:00-10:30am the team led the 78 students in grades Junior 1-6 in songs, games and fun activities.  The LHMT team also used three short video clips that demonstrated how great a mother’s love is for her children.  One of the LHMT staff talked with the students about how a mother’s love comes from God, so the children learned about their mother’s love through Christian beliefs.

In one of the activities the teachers acted as representatives of the students’ mothers.  The children then showed honor to their mother’s by doing acts of respect for those teachers.  During the week before Mother’s Day the students wrote essays about their mother’s love.  The LHMT director and staff read the essays and chose the best three.  At the end of the morning’s activities, the pastor’s wife presented awards to the students whose essays were chosen as first, second and third place.

After lunch the LHMT team went to Wat Wong Yao Primary School to conduct a Mother’s Day program for the 239 students in grades 4-6.  They did many of the same songs, games and fun activities as they did in the morning.  For these younger children the LHMT staff did show the videos, but the students didn’t write essays.  Instead the children drew pictures to show their mother’s love.  

Once again the LHMT staff chose the top three winners and gave them awards.  They also selected two other pictures for honorable mention.  As during the morning session, the teachers served as representatives of the students’ mothers and the children showed respect for their mothers by honoring their teachers. 

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As often as possible the LHMT director and staff use Thai holidays as an opportunity to visit schools to conduct special programs.  The teachers and school administrators usually are very happy to invite LHMT to conduct these activities.  It makes the holiday celebrations more enjoyable for the students without extra work from the teachers.  This has proven to be a very effective way for LHMT to make connections with schools and to have opportunities to share God’s love with the teachers and students.

LHMT Staff Shares the True Meaning of Christmas with More than 1,500 Students

Students enjoyed watching the animated video, "The Little Shepherd"

During our annual Lutheran Hour Ministries Thailand (LHMT) Christmas School Outreach program each December we usually visit about 10 primary and junior high schools.  We had invitations to do our presentations about the real meaning of Christmas at 10 schools in Samut Songkhram Province this year, but we had to change our schedule.  Six schools had to cancel our visit, because they still were closed in December due to the floods that covered many parts of Thailand.

LHMT worked with local churches to plan and coordinate this program.  The four schools that were in session in December were very happy to have us present our program, because they never heard about the true meaning of Christmas before.

On December 13 the schedule was arranged by Pastor Gongpop Phujan from Jaisaman Samut Songkhram Church.  In the morning they did the program from 10:30-12:00 noon for 514 students at Muang Samut Songkhram School in Muang District.

In the afternoon 558 students at Ahnutbaan Muang Samut Songkhram School enjoyed the same program from 2:30-4:00pm.

LHMT staff gave gifts sets and encouraging Christian tracts to every student

On December 14 Pastor Samattapon Tankanitlert from Nimitmai Amphawa Church arranged for the LHMT team to visit two schools.  From 10:30-12:00 noon the LHMT team did the program for 299 students at Amphawan School in Amphawa District.  In the afternoon 130 students at Tessabaan School#3 participated in the program from 2:30-4:00pm.

Because all of the schools were primary schools, our staff showed the “Joel, The Little Shepherd” video to the children.  After watching the video, the LHMT staff talked about the story with the children to be sure they understood the main points about Christmas.

In addition to the video, the LHMT staff led many fun activities with the students.  They sang Christmas songs, played games and gave many door prizes to the children.  The pastors introduced their church members who helped with the program, told the students and teachers about their churches and gave a blessing to the teachers and students.

In spite of the schedule changes the trip went very well.  Everything was well organized by the pastors and our LHMT team were very happy with the results.  Although we weren’t able to present the program at six schools, we thank God for the opportunity to share the true meaning of Christmas with more than 1,500 students and teachers.  We also had a good chance to get to the know pastors and some of their church members and to begin building good relationships with them.  We look forward to working with them again in the future.

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Bright Teeth and Happy Feet

More than 600 students will be help through this project

Elementary schools in Thailand often have programs to teach children about how to have good health and proper hygiene.  In many schools the students are required to brush their teeth after lunch under the supervision of their teachers.  The students learn the importance of taking good care of their teeth and learn proper procedures for brushing their teeth.  This can help them prevent problems with their teeth and reduce the need for going to a dentist.

During our Christmas Schools Outreach Program in December 2010 in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province the LHM Thailand director and staff visited a number of schools in poor, rural communities.  We noticed that the students in these schools weren’t brushing their teeth after lunch.  The teachers and school administrators told us that the schools didn’t have enough money in their budgets to provide the toothbrushes and toothpaste and that the families were too poor to pay the cost themselves.  Hundreds of children in these schools were not taking good care of their teeth and were likely to have significant problems in the future.

Many of these same children wear socks to school each day that have huge holes in them.  Often their socks are missing both the toe and the heal.  Because they don’t wear shoes inside the school, their socks wear out more quickly.  In these rural areas it’s important for children to be careful about protecting their feet from the bacteria that is common in the dirt around their homes and rice fields, especially when they have animals in their yards.  We observed a large number of students wearing no socks or socks that provided no protection.

The LHMT director decided to try to help these students.  She submitted a proposal to do a holistic project called “Bright Teeth and Happy Feet” in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province.  The leaders in the Lutheran Hour Ministries headquarters in St. Louis approved the project and are providing the necessary funding.  The project will be conducted from May 25-27.  LHMT will provide a packet that contains 2 toothbrushes, 1 plastic cup and enough toothpaste to last one school term (5-6 months), 3 pair of socks and some Gospel tracts.  Packets will be given to 632 students in 7 schools in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province. 

The LHMT director and staff are currently planning special activities and materials that will help the students understand how to take good care of their teeth.

Please pray that the students will experience God’s love through this project and will want to learn more about who Jesus is and what he has done for them.

The LHMT team will work together on this project with the Guiburi Full Gospel Church

Christmas School Outreach Program Moves to Petchaburi

Technical College students helping Mr. Dennis with the spelling Christmas activity

On December 16 the LHMT team moved to the city of Petchaburi and conducted the Christmas School Outreach Program in two schools. The schedule in Petchaburi was organized by Pastor Chaowarit Kusawadee from the Petchaburi Full Gospel Church. From 10:00-11:30am the team did the program for 200 students at Petchaburi Technical College. Although these students were older than those in all of the other schools, they still enjoyed learning the spelling Christmas, singing the Christmas songs, participating in the activities and receiving the prizes and gift sets.

After lunch the LHMT team went to Suwanrangsarit School, where 600 students from primary grades 4-6 and junior high grade 1 participated in the songs and games. Instead of showing a Christmas video, the team did the activity of spelling Christmas and using each word to start another word that helped explain the true meaning of Christmas. This time the program wasn’t conducted in a regular school meeting room. It was somewhat unusual for the LHMT team to clearly tell how Christmas was about Jesus coming to the earth, being born as a baby and then suffering and dying for the sins of all people, as the students packed a ceremony room in the neighborhood temple.

Some novice monks learning about Jesus

Among the students were 10 boys wearing the saffron-colored robes that indicated they were doing their special study with the temple monks. In one corner of the room stood a very large image of Buddha. These were very clear reminders of the great need to share the true meaning of Christmas with the people in Thailand.

Some students still wanted to hear more about Jesus from the LHMT staff after finished the activity

The school outreach schedule ended the next day, as the team did its final presentation of the trip at Praemrudee School in Petchaburi. From 12:30-2:00pm 107 students in primary grades 1-6 had fun singing, watching the puppet show and “Red Boots for Christmas” video, and receiving their prizes and gift packets.

After each presentation the LHMT director and staff received many positive comments from the students, teachers and school principals. Several principals asked if LHMT could return to their schools next year to do another Christmas program or to come at another time of year to do some other program. Some teachers said they would like to share this information with students in other classes, who weren’t able to attend the presentation. A few English teachers wanted to get copies of the words and music for the beautiful Christmas songs, so that they could teach them to their students. One principal asked if it would be possible for LHMT to do an English camp at his school sometime before the end of the school year or during the school break.

Although the schedule of the Christmas School Outreach Program was very busy, the LHMT team was very thankful for the positive feedback they received and about the many things that God already had accomplished through them. They were most excited about being able to share the true meaning of Christmas with nearly 3,000 students, teachers and parents in twelve schools in Guiburi District in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province and Muang District in Petchaburi Province. But, they also were happy that so many more people now know about Lutheran Hour Ministries Thailand, that they were able to start some good relationships with the school principals and teachers, and that they helped the local churches make connections with the schools in their communities.

The LHMT team pray that many of the teachers and students will accept the pastors’ invitation to join them in their churches’ Christmas activities and look forward to hearing from the pastors and church members as they do their follow-up activities with the schools in the coming months.

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Nearly 2,000 Students and Teachers Hear The Gospel in Guiburi

Almost everyone in Thailand is familiar with Christmas, at least with a limited idea of what it is.  Throughout Thailand special Christmas decorations will appear in December and shopping malls and large department stores will have Christmas sales.  Some stores will sell artificial Christmas trees, ornaments, Christmas lights and other decorations.  Most Thai people know that Christmas is a major holiday for Westerners.  They know that it is a very happy time when people give each other gifts, but they don’t know why.  Many Thai people have heard something about Santa Claus, but only a very small number know that Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas.

The LHMT staff coordinated with the local church to conduct the Christmas school outreach in Guiburi

Each year LHMT receives invitations to visit schools to do presentations about the true meaning of Christmas.  The principals and teachers want their students to learn more about this important Western holiday.  This is a great opportunity for LHMT to share the Gospel with thousands of students and teachers and to help local churches make connections with schools in their communities. 

The Thailand Lutheran Hour Ministries (LHMT) director and staff recently spent three days in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province.  From December 13-15 the LHMT team did activities in nine government schools in and around the town of Guiburi.  The itinerary was arranged by local pastors and church members, who also assist with the presentations and do follow-up activities with the schools.

The LHMT staff did a 90-minute program in each school.  The program always began and ended with a prayer from the local pastor.  Then the LHMT staff led the students in doing fun activities and singing Christmas songs.  Throughout the presentation small gifts were given to the students. 

Students had lots of fun with the skits and songs

In the kindergarten and primary schools the LHMT staff did a short puppet show and then had the children watch an animated Christmas video.  At each primary school the students saw either “The City that Forgot Christmas” or “Red Boots for Christmas.”  Both of these videos were produced by Lutheran Hour Ministries in the USA and dubbed into the Thai language in Bangkok.

After the students watched the video, the LHMT staff did a review activity to be sure the students understood the story.  The team asked the students questions about what happened in the story and the meaning of the story.  Many students were given a chance to answer a question and received a small gift for their answers.

Mr. Dennis Denow helped to give the explaination of true meaning of Christmas to junior high school

The LHMT staff only used the animated videos with the younger students.  When doing presentations for students in junior high school or older, they substituted an activity that used a lot of English.  Each letter in the word “Christmas” was associated with another word that begins with that same letter.  Through this process the true meaning of Christmas was explained to the students.  For example, the word associated with the letter C was “come”.  Christmas is the time when we celebrate the birth of Jesus, God has come to earth as a man. 

Students enjoy receiving the souvenirs from the LHMT at the Christmas activity

At the end of the activity the LHMT staff asked review questions of the students to be sure that they understood and remembered the words, so that they knew the real Christmas story. 

As the students left to return to their classes, each of them received a gift set from LHMT.  The gift sets for the younger children included a key chain, candy, and a Christian tract.  The older students received a notebook, candy and a Christian tract.

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