Thailand – first steps – Bangkok

It has been over a month since we arrived in Thailand. At first every time we went out of the air conditioned building we could not believe how hot and humid the weather was! It was as being directly under a heater working on a full power – yes, we discovered a new side of our powerful star, the Sun! Only a week earlier we had snow in Poland and here we were, right on the frying pan!
Our first steps were to the Bethel in Bangkok. Seeing our beloved hard working brothers in this distant part of the world was a wonderful experience. There is 56 Bethelites in Bangkok.

Once again we re-discovered how wonderful organization we have a privilege to be in. We also learned how to make elephants out of the towels! Detailed guideline in the pictures – stages of making an elephant.

We spoke with members of the branch committee, George and Matt, who encouraged us greatly.

George is from Canada and has been serving in Thailand for over 40 years.
Matt originally comes from England and he used to serve in Bethel in London. 15 years ago he and his wife decided to “step over to Macedonia” and moved to Nicaragua where they spent 14 years serving as pioneers, then special pioneers and in the end in the Nicaraguan Bethel.
8 months ago they have been reassigned to Thailand! His is very enthusiastic about what is going to happen in the spiritual field over here, in Asia in general and in Thailand particularly. The new brochure “Pathway to Peace and Happiness” has been written for Thailand and other Buddhist countries where still only few heard about Jehovah, or as Thai say “ Praa Yaho-waa”.
Matt gave us many great tips and encouragements and assured us that everywhere we choose to go we will have similar great experiences and that we will need to make sure that we are happy with the place we have chosen.
He also pointed out for us on the map of Thailand Chiang Mai where apparently the need is greatest at the moment. Chiang Mai is a rather large city with 700,000 people in the north of Thailand. There are 5 congregations – 3 Thai, 1 English and 1 Lahu (hill tribe). It is in a mountainous region with 70 different hill tribes (!) who speak 70 different languages. Only few of the languages where ever approached by Jehovah’s people!

Matt also invited us to the English Assembly that was being held over the next weekend in Bangkok. It was great to see around 300 brothers from all parts of Thailand, Laos and few other countries of South – East Asia.

At Bethel we also met Nurit who was our host in Bethel – before joining Bethel he was a fashion photographer for the fashion journals and he took that picture on the June cover of the Watchtower. He works in the Bethel studio.