Going, Going, Gone!

11 February 2010

Blessings—One After Another

Praise the Lord for His never ending faithfulness! These past few weeks, I have been incredibly busy, going from one place after another, making new friends and visiting old ones. The following is a brief list of where I went and what I did these past three weeks:

Doi Pui—graduation party, sight-seeing

Chiang Mai—English party at Songsawang Church

Chiang Khong--Hmong Foundation

Chiang Rai—Christian Paisanat School

Doi Saket--Hmong/Thai wedding at CMA headquarters

Phayao—CMA camp at the village, San Thi Suk

Mae Pow—Wisut’s house

Why in the world did I do so much, you ask? Well, it turns out that I’m leaving for the States in March. Yes, I’m leaving… *sigh* :’( But I’ll be back soon, Lord willingly! I will be in California, meeting with the mission board about goals, objectives, and steps to take in reaching out to the Hmong by the Hmong. I plan to take a few months off to fundraise for immediate needs here in Thailand and to prepare for long-term stay. Exciting, isn’t it? It’s not easy, but I trust that if this is the direction the Lord wants to take us, He will work out the fine details.

“The Lord will fight for you—you only need to be still.” (Exodus 14:14)

I have only one problem—and this is where you come in! I need help in raising support for the following immediate need:

A plane ticket (I don’t have enough to come back yet, but I need to make it to the board meeting in March! I found a great two-way deal on China Airlines and need only two or three hundred left!)

Make your checks out to:

Trinity Christian Headquarters

1028 P. Street Sanger, CA 93657

**make sure that you write on the memo line that it's for "Mydur Xiong" :) Thanks, and may you be blessed for your generous heart!

Let the Lord’s will be done!

God, if it’s pleasing to You, please send me back home so I can get some things organized with the mission board and get a clear focus on what You want us to do before I come back to Thailand again!

Doi Pui-Graduation Party, Sight-seeing

Because of our rural background, education is highly valued in the Hmong culture. Every time someone graduates, whether it may be in high school or a doctoral program, the family almost always celebrates this special occasion with a huge feast. I tagged along with Doua Her in joining a family in the village of Doi Pui, a tourist attraction known for its beautiful flower gardens and Hmong heritage. Many of these flowers, called “yeeb” (yeng) in the Hmong language, were harvested for opium in the past. Now that it has been banned in Thailand, however, these plants are only for landscape purposes.

Celebrating with graduates at their home in Doi Pui

The mother of the graduates is the only Christian in her family. Please pray that God will use her as a light to reach out to the rest of her family members with the love that can only be found in Jesus Christ.

Praying God's blessings upon them

Stopping to take photos at the flower garden

I'm standing here with Doua Her and her adopted daughter, Kue. She is handicapped, in that her legs are stunted and she walks on her arms. Praise God, He saved her from committing suicide. She is now going to school, getting a high school degree, and learning how to sew.

Onlooking the village of Doi Pui below

Chiang Mai—English Party

English classes ended in December but I never had a good opportunity to celebrate and have proper closure with the students. We sang songs, had cake, chips, donut holes, and dinner together. The overall experience, though mistakes were sometimes made, has been a positive one. I taught English for the first time in my life, learned teaching techniques, established relationships, and simply had a lot of fun. I will miss them all terribly!

Going over the past songs we learned in class

Celebrating the end of our class with cake and goodies! Yummm.... :)

They're all so precious...I will miss them so much!

Chiang Khong—Hmong Foundation, Pishon Church

What a blessed group! Every time I make a visit to Chiang Khong, I always stay longer than expected because I simply don’t want to leave! Plans are changing here at the Foundation—the children at the hostel are preparing for their end-of-course exams and leave in March for their summer break, Susan is leaving on furlough, and Somboon is focusing on Pishon Church in reaching out to their community. Everyone here always lifts up my spirits and encourages me when I see them worshipping the Lord with their hearts, evangelizing to the greater community, and praying hand-in-hand for the Lord’s guidance in their lives.

Ready to take off after church!

Left to right: Phii Nai, Cho, Sai, Mone

The church band, consisting of Somboon's younger brother Chai and two youths from local villages

Visitors from Korea stop by Pishon Church

I joined with Kia in encouraging the believers in the village of Baan Muang Gan (they don't have a church in the village)

Goong (Paj Nyiag) pausing to take a picture with the kids

While Kia and I did our thing, the girls from the hostels played with and evangelized to the children

Susan wrapping up her English lessons with the teens from the hostel

KIA!! I'm going to miss you!

Kia, who has been working as the head of the girls' hostel, is leaving to fulfill God's calling for her to pastor the church in her home village

Chiang Rai—Reunion at Christian Paisanat School

On my way back to Chiang Mai, I made a pit stop in Chiang Rai where I reunited with the place of my internship in the summer of ’08: Christian Paisanat School, a Christian boarding school for hill-tribe children from kindergarten to 9th grade. What an amazing experience this was! I met up with old friends and was greatly encouraged when I found that I was more able to speak to the staff and children there in Thai (whereas last time, I could barely say anything)! Language can be such a barrier, but praise be to God, He’s helping me gradually crack away at it!

Phii Ben and Phii Jong, the staff members I worked with during my internship in the summer of '08

The small boys' dorm--where I spent much of my time during my internship

Chris and Esther Hoagland along with their children, Joshua, and Jasmine! Like a second family to me. What a blessing it was to spend time with them again!

This was my best buddy at Christian Paisanat School! His name is Phijit--the best behaved and sweetest boy on campus!

Doi Saket—Hmong/Thai Christian Wedding
A young Hmong Christian woman got married to a young Thai man whom she converted. Their wedding was held at the CMA headquarters in Doi Saket. This was the first wedding I have attended since being here in Thailand. And just like the Hmong in the States, the members of their congregation all helped by chipping in their share: those who knew how to work with flowers decorated the church, those who knew how to play instruments and/or sing created a band, and those who knew how to cook catered for the reception party afterwards. The communal bond within the Hmong people still catches me by surprise sometimes.


After the reception, however, everyone encouraged me to join a group of girls in catching the bouquet. So I said, “Well, why not? It’s just for fun and it’s nothing but superstition, right?” So I joined, and when the bouquet came flying in my direction, my heart pounded, I was gripped with fear, and I quickly turned away to allow Pang, the girl behind me, to catch it. She looked at me and said, “What?! Why did you do that?!” I turned and all the onlookers said, “We KNOW it was headed in your direction, Mydur. Why didn’t you catch it?” I responded by saying, “I…uh…I…just got scared.” LOL!! I don’t know of anyone else who has this problem, but you’d be surprised to know that this is the second time I avoided a bouquet that was headed straight in my direction. I’m honestly not sure why I’m so afraid…perhaps the mere thought of marriage and family overwhelms me with expectations of a Proverbs 31 woman. I mean, those are some pretty big shoes to fill, don’t you think? *Sigh* You’ve got to love weddings and how it makes you think about these things!

Doua and I pose with Ntxhais (Xai) and her new husband at the CMA headquarters

This is the Hmong outfit Doua lent me for the wedding (น่ารักดี โน?) :)

Visiting with Pastor Txawj Pe and his wife at their beautiful home in Doi Saket

Phayao—Church camp

Sight-seeing, fellowshipping, teaching from the Bible, how can it get any better? I traveled with a Doua Her, Wisut, and Lee Her (a Hmong missionary) to the Hmong village of San Thi Suk where one of the CMA churches was held. We spent the night at Pastor Toua’s house where there was almost no electricity—only two small light bulbs that kept flipping on and off due to the generator in the village (when the villagers use too much electricity, it goes out temporarily). After spending so many nights in my comfortable apartment in the city of Chiang Mai, I had almost forgotten what it was like to go without the convenience of running water and electricity. We cooked dinner in a pot over a propane stove and ate it hot-pot style—each person had their own plate of rice and, using spoons, scooped the main course from the one pot.

San Thi Suk Alliance Church

Hot-pot dinner, consisting of "thooj laj" with pork soup and rice (and pepper, of course!)

Three Hmong-American missionaries enjoying an authentic Hmong dinner at an authentic Hmong home: Doua Her, me, and Lee Her, the only other Hmong missionaries I know of here in Thailand (we're all 20 years apart, each marking a different generation)

I want to say that I had a good time but everyone there spoke the green (a.k.a. blue) dialect of the Hmong language, plus, added a good number of Thai words here and there that I often felt lost in the conversation. I think a lot of Hmong Americans can relate—when we’re listening to a conversation in Hmong, we kind of get the jist of it, but because we’re not familiar with total immersion in the language, our minds tend to wander and before you know it, the conversation has traveled somewhere else and you have no idea how it got there! This is a good reminder of how much more language learning I need to undertake. This is the order in which my language learning needs to take priority:

Thai—Central dialect
Thai—Northern dialect
Hmong—White dialect
Hmong—Green dialect

Lord, have mercy!

We then traveled to a nearby camping site where we stayed for the night. The theme was, How to Avoid Being a Lukewarm Christian. Amazing, isn’t it? While the adults listened to Doua teach from the Bible, Wisut and I led the children in songs and activities.

Phii Wisut and I lead the children in songs and games

Pastor Toua of San Thi Suk village leads worship

Eating dinner: wild game (chicken, some bamboo-eating rat, and fish) (haha, sorry, I don't know the name of that rat in English...but it wasn't tasty)

Doua Her teaching on lukewarmness and how spouses should treat one another.

I've heard her teaching numerous times on this topic and I never tire of it.

Afterwards, the children begged us to take them hiking on the mountain. As it turns out, there was a cave up there, too, fully equipped with peeing bats! This was no easy hike—I love hiking and have done it quite often in the past but this particular trail was definitely not hiker-friendly! There were some holes near the peak that were quite dangerous if one were to fall through it, not to mention spike-shaped rocks and wide gaps that perhaps would not be open to children in the States. YET, these adventurous children know no danger. They had to wait a while for Phii (me) to cross through.


One child ran ahead and yelled, “Wow! Phii Mydur, come look at this! This view is even more amazing than the one before!”

So I yelled, “Coming!”

A few minutes later, he shouts, “This view is SO incredible! Where are you, Phii Mydur? Hurry up?”

“Phii Mydur’s on her way,” I said.

A few minutes pass, he goes, “Phii Mydur, where in the world are you? How come you’re taking so long?! This view is amazing!”

So I said, “OH my gosh, I’m coming already!”


**I was in the process of crossing a bridge made of spikey rocks in between two massive boulders that required rock climbing.

Exploring caves, staring at screeching bats

The whole hiking team

The view at the top! Beautiful, isn't it?

These two girls, Sarah and Dia, picked me a beautiful bouquet of flowers! Doua asked them how they knew I liked flowers and Sarah answered, "Well, I don't know, she's just pretty." How sweet! I really connected with them.

Hanging out with the kids during free time

Mae Pow—Wisut’s House
After camp was over, we headed straight to Phii Wisut’s house where I met his family and the believers in their village. The first night, Lee introduced TEE (Theological education by extension) to the church leaders to see if anyone would be interested in the training program. It was good to see an experienced missionary to the Hmong seeking to train leaders in reaching their community. I spent the second day at Big C with Doua, eating ice cream and discussing church history among the Hmong in Thailand. She told me about the past problems that denominations had with one another and offered a few suggestions for future ministry. God has blessed me with such incredible people in my life!

There was also a dinner in Doua’s honor because of her generosity in giving a car to Wisut’s family. Because Wisut’s father is the pastor of the village, the whole church came over and cooked up a storm in their backyard. I joined in a bit just for fun, peeling and breaking stalks of “kav theej,” a bitter, fibrous vegetable often used in Hmong soups. My parents use it in their cooking too, though it was always dried since it isn’t native to the States. I thought I knew how to cook, but when I saw these ladies slicing and peeling away at the vegetables with only their hands and knives, I bowed down and kissed their feet (not literally).

Introducing TEE (Theological education by extension)

Meeting Pastor Nyiaj Ntxawg (Nhia Cher) and his wife

Doua and me enjoying ourselves. I just love this pic.

Joining in the cultural Hmong experience of cooking with the women of the village.

Random: taking out my contacts. This family has never seen this before, so they all gathered around and watched me do it!

Dinner in Tais Nruag’s honor for the car

On top of everything, I recently moved out of my small apartment into a condo that a friend had already paid for (for this month). It provides me with a nice break, considering everything that has happened these past few weeks. I’m glad to finally have some solitude and reflect over all that has happened since I came here to Thailand. Now, I just have to prepare for my transition to the States in planning out a long-term career here.

Lord, let give me the grace and mercy I need in walking down this path You have set for me. Pab kom kuv muaj laj lim tswvyim los ua taus Koj tes dejnum raws li Koj lub siab ntshaw.

Not-so-typical everyday life!

I can't believe it's getting near my sixth month anniversary being here in Thailand! :) I'm so grateful for each day that the Lord has given me here. Sometimes, I giggle myself to sleep at night thinking about all the crazy stories of my experience here in this foreign country.

For instance, just a few days ago, I had the privilege of going out to dinner with a few friends and meeting a ministry that worked specifically with the Hmong. They're called HCC (Hmong Christian Connection), supported by Open Door Ministries in doing underground work for closed countries. Doua Her keeps introduced me to the group as a future employee (haha). They are in need of translators, and as interesting as the organization sounds, I have many doubts that I'll be able to work for them any time soon considering my young age and lack of experience (not to mention language deficiency in Hmong!). So anyway, the board/committee wanted Doua to translate something to the Open Doors missionary from the Phillippines (Ronald) but she didn't want to because it was about her being nominated by the entire board to be their chairperson for this year. Well, since I spoke English, they asked me to translate instead. But while one of the board members was telling me about this, I thought to myself, "Okay...I can understand every word (except for the Thai word they used for "chairperson") but I can't seem to remember what all else he said." lol. SO...in trying to translate, I summed up his three minute speech to ten seconds. After this happened, I thought to myself, "Wow! I have such a looong way to go!"

Also two weeks ago, I was blessed to be learning in an environment with other passionate missionaries and evangelists. Biola University decided to meet at Payap University this semester so it wasn't too far from my apartment. I saw a few old faces from last semester as well as made new friends--other Christian workers from around the world as well as right here in the city of Chiang Mai! I had the privilege of getting to know these amazing people along with their ministries in countries such as China, Taiwan, Cambodia, Singapore, Korea, the Phillippines, Nigeria, Canada, etc. Although it was for only a brief period of time, I can now say that I am more knowledgeable about doing qualitative research as well as using storytelling as an evangelistic tool. How cool is that? :) And it's so relevant, too, when many villages don't read and write often, even if they can, to hear these stories, see it played out in drama, remember them, and pass them down for generations to come.

Elisa and I stop for a picture outside of our classroom



"Ethnographic Research Methods" class
Top row: Joshua (Wonhyeok) Song, James Hung, Mark Syn, Dr. Rich Starcher, Paul (Ka Ming) Au, Jake Romaniello
Front row: Anne Alexander, Sunny Hong, Esther You, me, Haedy Liu, Lisa Hoff

This week has been quite busy for me. I've been trying to nail my assignments as soon as possible so that I can focus on ministry for the rest of this semester (last semester, I procrastinated for one class and it completely stressed me out--that's not going to happen again!). I also made a friend while going out to dinner one night. His name is Gladstone Robert and he's a priest from CSI (Church of Southern India), apparently the largest Protestant church in all of India! He hasn't seen much of Thailand so I took on the liberty to show him around a bit. We went to visit my tutor's Thai church, Krisjak Mae Nam Haeng Chiwit (the River of Life Church), on Sunday as well as the Sunday Night Market. It's been nice getting to know him, his family, and his career and ministry. Sometimes, I tend to forget that priests are normal, everyday people--the outfits they were on Sundays can be quite intimidating, don't you think? :) After all, two of my favorite undergrad professors are Anglican priests and they're as cool and laid back as anyone else.

Gladstone at the Sunday Market; my Thai tutor, Than, me, and Rev. Gladstone

Stopping for a picture with little Thai dancers at the Sunday Night Market!

I also went out with a team (or a class, I should say) from Minnesota with Dr. Jim Lewis of Bethel University. This group was learning about Religious traditions of Buddhism at Payap University. After hearing Dr. Lewis give a lecture about ethnic minorities from Vietnam, specifically the Hmong, we spoke about our dear friend, Doua. I was then invited with his class on exploring the the Hmong village of Nong Huay Mai. There, we watched Doua evangelize, heard her testimony, was welcomed by her friends into their home and heard their faith story, was served authentic Hmong food consisting of soup and stir-fry with rice, and returned home. It was very encouraging to see Dr. Lewis's passion for the Hmong.

Dr. Lewis, Doua Her, Meryl Lewis, me, and the class from Bethel University

Caitlyn and me in front of the mountains of the Hong Pong villages (there's three!)

Hmong meal of kale with pork soup, stir-fried cabbage with pork, and rice

Aside from doing homework, learning Thai, and meeting with friends for coffee, I finally had the opportunity to visit Yai See (one of the church members at Songsawang Church). She is a very sweet elderly lady who always keeps me company at church. When I arrived at her home yesterday, she was very happy to see me, despite the fact that she wasn't doing very well. There had been problems with her ankle, her eyes, her stomach, and with arthritus in her fingers and joints. She always tells me how painful it is. Plus, she recently told me how she had recently been involved in a motorbike accident and almost lost her life--but praise be to God, she's still alive! :) We had dinner together. I gave her a watermelon from the market, she gave me a few oranges and some clothes for winter that she had promised me earlier (even though the cold weather has for the most part already passed).

Visiting Yai See at her home

Yai See's daughter, Pah Raa Thanah

Mother and daughter