byers-mel-june-1958-thailand.pdf

8/22/2019 Byers-Mel-June-1958-Thailand.pdf

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THE GREAT COMMISSIONJtEMII^pmAmong the Tribes of Northern Ttiailand

"Goye infog/f fheworMtandpreach fhe (gospel.'

^blishedand mailed IrêbyMEL and JUN&BYRS

Talat Chiengkam,Chanqwat Chi'engrei,Thailand,Asia

VOL. 10

'And fh e f ieofhen s haHknow therf lam f/ie I ord,wfienlstKi//bffsancfified^ niyou befbre theireyes7, ^ e2CK.S6-Z3

Forwarding yêniMRSALLEN R.NtCHOLS

116-3^h.S^êet, Milwaukie, OregonU&A.

JANUARY - MAY, 1958 No, 1

A BUDDHIST MONK


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THIS IS NOT PLA.Y: Recently an elder from the leper villitgebrought a visi tor to our house. He was from a villageabout 25 miles distant. Some years ago he had been sp^n-kled and then l e f t on his own to try and walk the Chris-'tian lifoo The nearest Presbyterian help was about fiftymiles away. He had repeatedly sent out a call for helpsince there were others interested in the gospel also,but no one had come. These people could not enter intothe Christian l i fe because they believed that onrly certa in people had th e authority to administer the r i te ofsprinkling. After four years of no help, he came intocontact with a non-leper who had left the leper villageand moved into that area. Through this man he learnedof our presence and our willingness to teach anyone interested. From this man he also learned something of therite of baptism, which was as the scripture describes, a**going down into the water" and a "coming up out of thewater" instead of the custom of sprinkling, or as i t iscalled in the Thai, "the ri tual of touching the forehead."So i t was with these circumstances that this man came toour doorstep with his offering of sugar cane. I promisedto honor h is in v i ta tio n .

The first Sunday that I arrived, about twenty nativeshad gathered for service. Pour of them had been sprinkledand one had been baptized. There were also about fiveadults, some children and babies, all prepared to receivethe sprinkling ceremony that very day! I suggested thatperhaps we had all better spend time studying the Wordtogether so everyone would fully understand what "entering" the Christian life meant. This was agreeable.The f irst few times I spoke only on the theme of man'ssinfulness and his need of a Saviour. Each time they askedwhen they could receive the rite for "entering" Christ.They said i t would make no difference to them which procedure I used "touching the forehead" or by "plunginginto the water. They were only anxious to get on withthe ceremony. They were a l i t t le sceptical about the"plunging" into water, however, for i t seemed more humiliating than the more dignified and less cumbersomeprocessof "touching the forehead". Nevertheless, they were willing either way. I felt the time had arrived to beginmore teaching on what i t meant to "enter" Christ and thesymbolic significance of Christian baptism.I began with the baptism of Jesus* Since only one inthe group could read, I had him read from Matt.3:13-17.


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TThen cometh J e s u s f rom Ga l i l e e t o t h e J o rd an u nto J o hntjo be baptized of him and Jesus when he was baptized,'Went up stra ightw ay out of th e water - I poin ted outt ha t th i s r i t e was conmianded of Jesus and was fa i th fu l lypract iced by th e ear ly church as described in Acts 2:38,Then we went on to Acts 8:29-40. ** and as they wenton t h e i r way, they came to a ce r t a in water what dothh i n d e r me I b e l i e v e that J e s u s Ch r i s t is th e Son o fGod and they both went down in to the water and hebapt ized him and when they were come up out of thewa t e r .*So fa r so good. The a t t en t ion was keeuo Hearts weresober . Here was the Word of God speaking. But what doest h i s ' 'plunging'* in to water mean?Was baptism l ike a washing? Yes. This they couldreadi ly understand fo r they, themselves, go to the r ive rand plunge beneath the water whenever they take a bathoIn fac t , some of the natives have expressed it th i s way,"We go down to the r ive r to enter Chris t by taking a balh,"To cleanse the cup on the outside, however, was prof i t lessi f within there was s t i l l need of cleansing. I t wouldhave l i t t l e s ignif icance to wash the body in a divine ac twhen inwardly they were s t i l l fu l l of "hypocrisy andin iqui ty . " This ac t also had to express an inward cleansing , the resurrec t ion of a new l i f e - the becoming of anew man. From now on they had to rea l ize t h a t t h e i r l i p scould no longer curse and speak evilo They had been givennew hands which could no longer work fo r greedy s e l f bu tnow must show fo r th deeds of mercy and love . In f ac t ,they were to become new c r ea tu r e s .Hopefu l ly I tu rned to Col . 2 :12 . "Buried with him inbaptism wherein also ye are r i sen with him through thefa i th of the operat ion of God, who hath ra i sed him fromth e dead." This "plunging" in to water was l ike unto abur ia l . The old se l f - l i f e was to be buried and springing fo r th from t h i s watery grave was th e new l i f e of resur rec t ion . Herein i s your decis ion to forsake th e o ldfo r "old th ings must pass away", and herein i s your decis ion to exercise fa i th and grasp tha t newness of l i f efo r "behold a l l th ings have been made new." This was l ikebeing born again in to a new l i f e .Since th e nat ive mind demands something d ef in ite toaccompany h is "enter ing i n" , th e ac t of baptism has longb e f o r e been e s t a b l i s h e d t o mee t this n e e d . From this

(continued on p, 6)


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THS THA.1 AT WORK

The s t a lks of sugar cane a re fed in to thewooden press by hand. The press i s oper->ated by a water buffa lo walking slowly ina circle.

The syrup i s then boi led down un t i l t he rei s only the sugar l e f t . This i s separatedin to pa t t i e s , cooled and so ld .


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(continued from p. 3)act t h e h e a t h e n a s w e l l a s t h e new C h r i s t i a n d a t e s his" e n t r a n c e i n t o C h r i s t . "How much o f t h i s was g e t t i n g a c r o s s t o t h e minds sonnfarai l iar with s p i r i t u a l terms? Was it more confusing?Had t h e s p i r i t of God been speak ing t o t h e i r h e a r t s ?The Thai faces g ive no express ion.My h e a r t was soon t h r i l l e d however when one of t h emen who had wanted t o be baptized ventured t h i s comment,**! d o n ' t t h i n k 1 should be bapt ized today- - I should bet a u g h t some more - f o r t h i s i s n o t plavo"

The a c t o f " e n t e r i n g C h r i s t " and i t s express ion i nC h r i s t i a n baptism - i s not p l a y . How much play i s t h e r ei n t h e r e l i g i o u s world today? How many people continuet o p l a y with t h e meaningless custom of "touching t h eforehead". How many of t h o s e who have claimed t o r e s t o r et h e " a n c i e n t o r d e r " of t h i n g s still continue t o p l a yw i t h this d i v i n e o r d i n a n c e . L i k e a child's b a l l we t o s sit around, dropping it i n t o t h e mud and mire of humanspeculat ion, chipping o f f i t s beauty and depth, s c a r r i n gits r a d i a n t design with a cold, l e g a l , s p i r i t l e s s b r o t herhood concept, r e l e g a t i n g t h i s most s i g n i f i c a n t experience t o "one of t h e s t e p s of salvat ion" i n s t e a d of ad e t a i l e d express ion of t h e e n t i r e process of s a l v a t i o n .No longer does baptism s i g n i f y a dea th . The o ld man ofs i n goes down i n t o t h e wate r and h o l d s h i s b r e a t h f o r asecond and comes up beaming and j u s t as a l i v e as e v e r .There i s no d e a t h , no b u r i a l and no i n t e n t i o n of a r e su r r e c t e d l i f e . We simply a r i s e from t h e w a t e r s , c o n t e n ti n t h a t we have been obedient t o a s e r i e s of s t e p s pecul i a r t o a bro the rhood . From thence we go on with ourplaying i n regard t o s i n , the f u l l d i r e c t leadership oft h e Holy S p i r i t and t h e s o b r i e t y of l i f e .May we catch the i n s i g h t of a simple searching nat ivewho s a i d , " t h i s i s no t p l a y . "

.0000000-

We a l l make f o o t p r i n t s on the sands of t ime. Someleave the imprint of a grea t soul others j u s t leavet h e m a r k o f a h e e l .

-oo~ooo00-


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CALLING NAMES: Nothing gets a Thai quite so rat t led aswhen he i s suddenly and unexpectedly confronted with aforeigner. Normally the Thai are quite reserved and expressionless, but when you come upon one without warningthe re are viv id s igns of inner exci tement . The normaland customary greeting is for the Thai to press his openhands together and raise them to his face. This practicehowever very nearly caused an accident . On one occasionI met a Thai doctor riding his bike and carrying twochildren behind and one in fronts He was surprised tosee me and unconsciously s ta rted to make the formalgreeting. He very nearly lost a ll his passengers as wellas h is digni ty .Some of the more educated will t ip their hats or evenventure to t ry the strange custom of shaking hands. Theterms for addressing a foreigner are varied. I f thenative is at loss what to say, he will just call you"Mister" much in the same manner we employ the term.Once they know you are a missionary, they will call you"Teacher" or "Doctor", the term doctor denoting simplya term of respect .Perhaps the most uncomplimentary term is that used bythe children in the market, who have been prompted by thewicked and opposing minds of their parents. While ridingor walking through the market one cannot escape thechorus of shouting youngsters, "white dung of a birdwhite dung of a bird", while their parents approvinglylook a t each other and smile .On the other hand, there is a coveted term which isused by the country folk. When they meet you for thefirst time, they might use the term "Teacher", but ifyou come often and they learn of your real mission, thenthey will address you as "Father who cares for us". I tis refreshing to walk along a country road and hear someone cal l "Father who cares for us" come over and chatwith us awhile. How easy then to te l l them of the Heavenly Father who cares for them more than any earthlybeing.j^^^^^^^XyXXXXXYXXXXXXXXXXXXYYYyyTryyyTfld-yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyYy FLASH I!! I am sorry to have to inform you xX that Mel has Hepatitis, and they will not be arriv xI ing in May as planned. We are not sure at this xX time just when they will arrive. Will you remember xX them in prayer that they will be strengthened and xX encouraged and soon be able to travel. ifrs.A.R.N. iXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXJCXXXXXXXXXXXyyvxTTirygYy


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Bal . Nov. 1, 1957 $ 234.23RECEIPTS: Nov., Dec. , J a n . , Feb.Garibaldi Church of Chris t l l O l . l TF r i e n d s 65.00Coburg Church o f C h r i s t 50.00T r e n t Church o f C h r i s t 4 0 . 0 0The D a l l e s C h r i s t i a n Church 10,00Multnomah Church o f C h r i s t 400.00Ronald Byers 10.00F r i e n d 50,00Mr. & Mrs. Jay S h i e l d s 30o00Mrs, 0 . E. Hobart , Missouri lOoOOMr. and Mrs. Don Thomas 44o45Baker, Oregon Missionary Group. 20.00Molal la C h r i s t i a n Church 20.00Sanonamish Bible Camp, Washington 10.00Athena Christ ian Church Missionary. 15.00Gleaners Sunday School Class, Molalla . .o .o 28o00Church of C h r i s t , Milwaukie 125.00El Cajon, C a l i f . Friends 17.00Mr. and Mrs. L. M. Copenhaver 100.00Mr, and Mrs. L. M. Finch 5000Mrs. Arthur Copenhaver 100.00Mr. and Mrs. Teddy Leavet t 25.00F i r s t Christ ian Church, Roseburg 25.00Dr. and Mrs. P. G. Sals trom 25.00Corbet t C h r i s t i a n Church 10.00Church of Chris t , Oregon City 120.00Southwest Church of Chris t 65.00Euffl-Join~Us Class,Bdwy.Christian,Lex..Ky.. 10.00

1 5 7 5 . 6 2DISBURSEMENTS: Nov., Dec., Jan., Feb. $1809o85Household (upkeep and repair) $156.25Food 253.45Film 31,95Correspondence, l i t e r a t u r e 20.77Customs and t a x 42.04Personal (clothes, gifts, medical)...,.... 111.80Travel 16.70Miscellaneous 5.00The Photo-Lith Co 47.20Check service charge 3,45

$ 688,60Total Bal , March 1, 1958 $1121.25


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^SSlQ-' 3

THE GREAT COMMISSION REMINDERAmong the Tribes of Northern Thailand

"Ooyeinfo p//ihewor/d,andpreach fhe (josperM A ( tK I : i 6

'And th e hea fhen s h o Uknow thcrtlam the Lord,when I sha / / b e^nc / i f / edinyoubefore theireyesT

CZCK. 36-23

tForwarding Agent

MRSALLEN R.NtCHOLS116-36m. Stree tMiiwa ukle,Oregon

U S A .

Published andmailed freebyMEL and JUNLBYCRSTalat Chiengkam,Chanqwat Chiengret,

ThailandAsia

\/0i. 1/ PiONCB OF "THE QUIET HEART"The Zapotec Indians in the mountains near Oaxaca c i ty

in Mexico have t ransla ted the word peace to mean "in thehear t s i t t i ng quie t . " Ihe hear t t ha t Jus t s i t s down i s notenough. Quietness must be the essence of i t s repose.

J e su s comes to us a s th e P r in ce o f Peace . He is Mas te rof "the quiet hear t . " 3he g i f t of God wrapped in swaddlingclothes and ly ing in a manger i s the symbol of peace.Strange, tha t th i s t ranqui l scene should create such a holocaust of commercial greed, noisy j ing les , mythical celebra t ions and genera l confusion. The innkeeper claimed t h a tthere was no room in the inn , to-day we have ne i the r roomnor time. This nois y troub le d world i s too busy "celebra t ing" the bir thday of Jesus t ha t there i s no t ime l e f tto j u s t sit and worship Him who i s the P rince o f "thequ ie t hear t . "When the confusion and merry-making of Christmas subs ides , take time to quiet ly kneel a t the manger scene andlearn of tha t peace which the world cannot give. Let yourh e a r t be ca lmed i n its stillness.May the Holy atmosphere of CHRIS1AS, i t s peace andcalm, const ra in your hear t to begin the NEW YEAR -qu ie t ly .

H i


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%


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TIDIN6S>y THAILAND"May Spirifua!Blessing-"-....Mercy....ancfHea r t Peace*'BEYOURS FROM 60D THE FATHERAND CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD. AMEN.

TheMel Byers fdm/7y


12/12

A LITTLE GIRL*S SOJOURW IN AMERICADaddy told me a lot about America so naturally everytime ^the big plane landed I asked, "Is this America?" Always th6'

answer came back, "no, this i s Japan" or "this i s Okinawa or"this is Hawaii." One morning however as we were flying hi^above the Pacific ocean my daddy woke me up, pressed my faceagainst the window and shouted, "look - look, see thosegreen h i l l s and snow covered mountains - tha t ' s America."I declare i t looked about l ike any other country and I didn'tknow what a l l the excitement was about. But it looked l ikefun so I got ex cited to o.Down below I could see the water pounding against theshoreline o f that land which was to be my new home for oneyea r . Another ha l f hour and we landed in Por t land . Inever saw so many English people in a l l my l i f e - in fac tI could not see a single Thai or native around anywhere.America must be the place where the English people l ive. Thenthere was grandpa and grandma and a whole lo t of other peoplejust kept looking a t me and holding me. I just knew that Iwould l i k e Amer ica ,God has always taken good care of my daddy and mommywhile we were a t home in Thailand and so naturally I was al i t t le worried about coming to a new and strange land. ButGod must be here in America also fo r when we arr ived a tgrandpa's house there was a nice new car waiting for us touse. I t was l e f t by Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Garland Bare.Daddy took us a l l fo r a r ide and it went so f a s t and smooth.They real ly know how to make fancy ox-carts in America. ThenGod must have talked to some of the people in the Milwaukiechurch for they fixed up a nice house for us to l ive in. Theybrought chairs, ta ble s, refrigerator, washing machine andmany other things. This has sure been good for me for mymommy says I don't act so good i f we have to keep movingabout and l iv ing with other people a l l the time. Everyonehas been so good and we thank God fo r His goodness.I don't know much about furlough for that i s big peoples'talk but I know daddy i sn ' t home very much. He is alwajrs outpreaching somewhere. He says he has to go and t e l l the peopleabout God and the work in Thailand. Anyway, I th ink thingswill be better for me when we get back to Thailand. Daddysays we wi l l be going home around May 1s t .

America i s nice but it seems to me tha t people make anawful fuss and bother jus t to l ive . Everyone i s so busy.I rea l ly don ' t th ink l i f e i s t ha t complicated a t a l l . Ohwel l , it wi l l be good to ge t back home. You see I have al i t t le kitten called "tiger" and an old ragged doll in

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