Annual Akha Youth Retreat in Chiang Rai, Thailand

April is the hottest time of the year in Thailand. Some folks may say that it is hot all of the time in Thailand, but we think that the humidity makes it feel especially so in April. Also, this is the Thai summer and the kids are out of school from the middle of March until the middle of May and we take advantage of this to hold our youth retreat at the center for the Akha Churches of Thailand.

About 350 young people gathered for a 4-day retreat. They had a blast!  This is an opportunity for young people to meet up from different Akha villages all over northern Thailand. The kids have learned the Thai language well in school, and so we had singing  and teaching in both the Akha and Thai languages. They love to sing and we had a karaoke contest using Christian songs.   A grand prize of a guitar went to the
winner!  Some of the leaders of the ACT were the judges.  It was a lot of fun.

Of course, there were many speakers, and I, Chuck, had the opportunity to speak on the theme of worship.  Our key verse came from John 4: 24: "God is Spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth". I used the flannel board set sent to me by a church in Ohio.  I compared some of the worship traditions in the Old Testament, such as the sacrifice of animals for the forgiveness of sins, to what Jesus did for us on the cross. The Akha understand about the killing of animals because there are still some places where animals are killed to keep evil spirits away.

At this retreat, as usual, we had plenty of games and plenty to eat.  How do you feed 350 teenagers?  Feed them rice!  As you can see from the pictures, this is a staple here in Thailand. In the end, through the music, teaching, games, food, and fellowship, we had a great retreat; ending with 6 baptisms which occured at a nearby lake. In
total, the Akha youth at this retreat came from some 50 villages.

We want to thank the American Baptist Churches for your support because we are here in the north of Thailand as your missionaries.  Also, through your gifts, we helped to support the budget for this youth retreat. You have helped these young people hear about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Blessings,

Chuck and Ruth Fox