When we first came to Thailand some 12 years ago, the folks at International Ministries (IM) said, In the first four years it is a good goal to "learn language and build relationships".

That was good advice Ruth and I took it very seriously.  Actually, concentrating on those skills did bear much fruit a few years down the road.

I am conscious of the fact that in many situations today you have to continue to build relationships and keep reaching out to build more friendships.  In Thailand, we say everything is built on relationships.

The story is about our sport day outreach to the non-Christian side of an Akha village.  Many years ago, about 50 people of this village of 300 decided to follow the Jesus way.  They were for the most part opium addicts who became clean through the help that American Baptists provided at a Christian drug rehab.  The headman of this village kicked them out of the village.  So, I have had a good relationship with the Christian side of the village.  However, we wanted to show the other side that we are not filled with revenge but that we want to be friends with the other side.  So, we prepared for a big deal of a sport day which included the offering of a pig, sport equipment, trophies, free dinner and entertainment...just to open our hearts and their hearts.

In the culture of northern Thailand, a soccer (football) competition, badminton, volleyball and dekraw (volleyball played with the feet) is the kind of thing that young people enjoy.

As we journeyed to the village, the rains were upon us continually and so we began to contemplate what we would do the next day as we started our sport day.  That evening we had worship together among the Christian kids and we prayed that the rains would stop.  The next morning the rains held off as we began our games together.  We felt God had answered our prayer.

This event was all about building relationships.  Before we held sport day, my evangelist friend and I held a meeting with the new headman to see if we had permission to bring both sides together for a sport day.  He asked what the purpose would be in such a gathering.  We answered that to show friendship...and to bring people together.  He was a bit suspicious of the whole thing, as he does not want his side of the village to believe in Christ, he wants to keep control of the whole thing.

Praise the Lord for the preparations and effort everyone put into this day way up there in the hills of northern Thailand.  We had a great outreach and the headman came and was so impressed with our group that he said that next time he would contribute some money toward the cost.

After our games, we had the Akha dinner, in which the pig donated his life, the music and drama.  The new headman came to most of the evening even though he does not share our worship.  We had several families come from the other side of the village for the dinner and worship.  God was with us!!

Overall, the living God answered our prayers...we built relationships and gave a witness to the sensitive non-Christian side of the village.  Our dramas were more than a soft sell as we dealt with Christ's death absorbing the sins of the world.  The music was Christian and as you can see from one of the pictures we asked the headman to give a trophy to a winning student.  About twenty of the kids came from the Christian village, Sukasem, and they are the ones who worked on the drama.  We honor God for this success.  Slowly, we are able to build authentic and honest relationships showing that God is in our lives and that God is the one changing our lives for the good!

Blessings,

Chuck Fox