Beyond the Classroom

A letter from Sharon Bryant serving in Thailand

Spring 2016

Dear Friends,

The big news comes first: I am coming to the U.S.A. for an extended period of time to visit churches and share stories of this ministry. My journey will begin in Seattle, Washington, in mid-May and culminate in San Diego, California, in mid-September. In between I will visit churches in Washington, California, Texas, Louisiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. I would love to see you at some point in my journey! The most current copy of my 2016 summer itinerary can be found on my PC(USA) Mission Connections web page at: www.pcusa.org/sharon-bryant. If you are interested in having me speak at your church, please email me at Sharon.Bryant@pcusa.org to find out what dates are still available. I look forward to hearing from you.

So much has happened and there are so many stories to tell about this ministry and the wonderful people who have come to Thailand to minister to the Thai people through the Christian Volunteers in Thailand (CVT) program. This joint ministry of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Church of Christ in Thailand (CCT) has expanded to include many global partners of the PC(USA) from many nations. Let me share just two examples:

Ken Anderson teaching third graders in Chiangrai

Ken and Martha Anderson, two CVT volunteers from a Lutheran (ELCA) congregation in the U.S.A., have been serving at Chiangrai Vidhayakhome School in Chiangrai, Thailand. Ken and Martha came to Thailand in May of 2015 and have been winning the hearts of Thai children ever since. Ken teaches third grade, and his students have made remarkable progress in their ability to speak English in the year that Ken has been working with them. This is so critical to their future now that ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) has opened the borders of 10 member nations, providing ever-increasing opportunities for the people of these 10 countries, including Thailand, to interact with each other, through trade, business, employment, travel, and more. Fluency in English, the official language of ASEAN, is important to future success. Thailand ranks 10th among the 10 nations of ASEAN in its ctizens’
ability to use English. What Ken is doing here may mean the difference between these young people having employment or not having employment in the future. Education is a key strategy for the elimination of poverty throughout the world and Ken is a critical piece of that puzzle.

Ken Anderson with Karen hill tribe students at an English camp

But it is more than just classroom drills. It is living among, and loving, the students. Ken writes: “Esther (a CVT volunteer from the Presbyterian Church of the Republic of Korea) and I completed the three-week Intensive English Summer Camp we put on for 11 Karen (a hill tribe) high schoolers who live in a dorm to attend school far from their homes and parents.…The kids were highly motivated. We sang songs, learned skits, made a video, read a whole bunch of books, wrote paragraphs and spoke more English than the ‘campers’ had ever spoken in their entire lives up until we started camp. We also played games, ate popcorn, watched some videos, and had an ice cream party. The camp was a huge success. The kids were just awesome.”

Kristin with her colleagues at CCI

Kristin Wolf, a CVT volunteer from Global Ministries of the UCC/Disciples, has been serving at the Christian Communications Institute (CCI) of Payap University, the first private Christian university in Thailand. A Theatre Arts major with a seminary degree, Kristin hopes to have her own drama troupe someday, but for now she is working with Thai university students and professionals as they present dramatized stories of God’s love and grace to the mostly Buddhist audiences in schools and other venues. CCI often uses local folk tales and adapts them to share a Christian message. Their powerful dramatic presentations have been winning souls for Christ for more than 40 years. The troupe travels around the country, visiting schools to reach out to Thai children, going up into the hills to reach many different isolated hill tribe groups, and even traveling to the U.S.A. (as they are doing now) to share gospel stories and Christian drama with all.

When Kristin first arrived she was not certain what she would learn or how she might contribute. But recently she wrote: “…days like yesterday (observing others rehearse) are exactly what I wanted to experience and that there is an art of observation and listening involved in being a storyteller. I am writing more in my journals than I ever have before and I am learning a lot about what kind of ‘work’ I want to spend my life doing.” In addition to her work with CCI, Kristin is learning about interfaith dialogue and relationships through the Institute of Religion, Culture and Peace at Payap University. The Institute regularly gathers scholars from Christian, Buddhist, Sikh, Muslim and Hindu faith traditions to share readings from their sacred texts and discuss how they can pursue peace and reconciliation together. Other interfaith dialogues have dealt with human trafficking and other concerns in Thai society.

Opportunities like these are provided by the many schools, hospitals, universities and ministries of the Church of Christ in Thailand (CCT) for our Christian Volunteers in Thailand (CVTs). The CVT Program includes volunteers from six nations and eight different Christian denominations, all working together to minister to the people of Thailand for the greater glory of God. Each story is unique and I can never predict what the learning outcome might be or what fruit may come from the work that is done. But more than 50 years of CVT ministry in Thailand has shown that everyone who participates is changed by the experience, even as they change the lives of those they come to serve. Why not you? Do you have six weeks to two years to give to make a difference?

• Please pray for our volunteers—especially the new ones who will arrive in April and begin their ministry in May. Pray for smooth transitions and lots of support.
• Please pray for me as I travel throughout the U.S.A., sharing stories from this ministry with congregations from California to Florida. Pray that God’s glory might be seen.
• Please pray for peace throughout this world, that we might learn to live together as God’s children. Pray that divisive rhetoric might be replaced with words of love.

Thank you, again, for your prayers and your constant support of me and this ministry. Again, I hope to see you somewhere during my journey.

Blessings,

Sharon L. Bryant