8/11/2019 TribesandTrails 1960 Thailand

1/8

TRIBESomcTRAILS

THA/LAND

May I960

for Thou wast slain and didst

purchase

unto God with

Thy

blood

men

of every

tribe

and

tongue

and

people

and

nation.

Revela t ion 5:9b .

David and

Delorls

Filbeck

TRI L

WORK

The Harry

Schaefer family tor INDIAN WORK

1

8/11/2019 TribesandTrails 1960 Thailand

2/8

Tr ibe s and

Tra i l s

in

Tha i l a n d

May, 1960

Vol. 9, No,

1

Published twice yearly, in spring and

autumn, by undenominational Christian

missionaries laboring to establish inThai -

land(Siam) self-supporting churchesafter

the New Testament pattern. Distributed

with the hope of gaining needed prayer

support for the Thailand work, of gett

ing more consecrated workers for this

and other fields, and of encouraging all

to greater effort in the spread of simple

undenominational Christianity through

out the world. Missionaries engaged in

this effort

are

presently located at two

centers in ex t reme Northern

Thailand:

Talat

Chiengkam, Changwat Chiengrai,

Thailand;

and

Pua, Nan Province, Thai

l and .

Our

Reporf fo

You

. . .

Our eyes have seen it In Isaiah 66:18

God has promised, I will gather all

nations and tongues; and they

shall come,

and shall see my

glory.

As the Word

has gone forth and intercession gone up

for

Thailand's

tribes, we

have

been re

warded by seeing lives transformed by

Jesus Christ . In the confidence that Jesus

will some day be worshipped in each of

Thailand's

tonnes ,

we submit

this

issue

as a report or what God has, thus far,

wrought in

the

land of tribes and trails.

May

it

result in increased prayer and

dedication to holding forth the

Word

to

those who have

not

heard .

THE D IV INE PATIENCE

The way to God is slow and hard.

The

climb

is tortuous aU our l ife.

We'U build a tower:

We'll

by-pass God

And heaven

we'll

reach without this strife. '

But God looked down In pity deep

Upon the foolish sons of men.

And

sentthem forth in various ways

And tongues, to learn of Him again.

The

Day shall come, thus saith my Lord,

They sHaU again be sonsof God.

But men were hard, perverse and fools.

They

left

the truth, and took a Ue.

They

made

them forms of bird and beast

And bowed to Satan's host so sly.

Then God looked down in angered love.

And said, We'll give them up for now,

For lust and s in a nd Satan's wiles

ShaU

be

the i r lo t, to make them bow.

The Day shall come, thus saith my Lord,

TheysHall be called the sons ofGod.

A star shone bright, an angel sang

To herald a most timely birth.

Then wonders, signs, and love

Of Sinless Man spread o'er the earth.

Such love must surely draw them back I

A cross was raised on yonder

hill

Those wayward men again had spurnedI

The Sinless Man, entombed, was

still.

The day shall come, thus saith my Lord,

They shall be called the sons of God.

But darkness must

precede

th e

dawn

He rose, and loved, and gave command,

Go forth and preach; I go to reign

Go seek mine own in every land.

And so they went, who loved Uielr Lord,

To gather every tribe and tongue.

He drew them to the great white throne.

Their voices raise--Fm praise is sung

The Day has come, thus saith my Lord,

These are the living sonsof God.

Lois E. Callaway

Romans 9:26

ework rs

Friends of

Thailand

will rejoice in

answered prayer as two new

families

pre

pare to join the work. Mr. and Mrs. Harry

D . Sch aefer need no introduction to the

brethren .

Born in India and a veteran o f

several

years service

there,

Bro.

Schaefer

is fluent in some of the

principal

Indian

dialects. In addition he is a trained psy

chologist and conducts Family Life and

Missionary

Clinics

in Churches.

The

Schaefers plan to work amongThailand's

large untouched Indian

population.They

hope to come to the field in September.

For bookings and information

contact

them

at

535 La

Marina

Drive,

Santa

Barbara,

California.

David

and Deloris Filbeck are

sched

uled to arrive inThailand in April.They

will probably spend some time at the

^nguage school in Bangkok before com

ing North for tribal work. Bro. Filbeck is

a graduate of Ozark Bible College and

has specialized in training for linguistic

and t rans la tion work. Mrs. Filbeck is a

^aduate

nurse

Forwarding address

for

the Filbecks is D. W. Peters, Crane, Mo.

Miss Dorothy Sterling, R. N. is now

living in Chiengmai studying the Thai

languagepreparatory to engaging in trib-

al

work. Her present address is

c/o Chil

dren'sCenter,

Box

38, Chiengmai, Thai

l and

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K l i a i ii i i

The Khamu are a jungle tribe steep

ed in demon worship. Nevertheless, they

have been the most responsive of all

tribes to the gospel message. Donald

and

Roberta

Byers

live

among them

and

are learning

tfieir language. The Byers

returned from furlough in the U. S. in

March 1960, and though they

live

in Nam

Mong their mailing address remains Pua,

Nan Province, Thailand.)

The

Nam Mong congregation advan

ced in evangelistic spirit in 1959. Acon-

tribution

was sent for typhoon

victims

in

Nagoya, Japan. The congregation was

instrumental in beginning the new chur

ches at Bang Sa andWang Pang. In Dec

ember

Nam Mong sent an evangelistic

team

to the upper Yao valley with the

result that many in that area have be

come interested in the gospel.

In the rainy season of 1958 Mrs. Aw

b e c a m e so concerned

about

her

soul s

condition

that

she appeared on the verge

of a m e n t a l breakdown. Her

husband

fin

ally agreed to permit her to be baptized

and joined

her

in a public profession of

faith.

However, under pressure of pagan

relatives,

he went back into

demon wor

ship and forbade his wife to attend church

services. Recently this couple has re

turned

to the Lord

and are

now

among

the most active and happy of the Nam

Mong Christians.

Headman In Bun of Wang Pang was

the first in his village to obey Christ.

Within a

month

he

made

a

trip

to

the

distant villages of Huay Moi and Nam

Loo where his testimony for Christ has

a w ak e n e d m u ch i n te r e s t His c o n s i s t e n t

C h ri s tia n l i f e

h a s b e e n

i n s t r u m e n t a l i n

winning others. The Wang Pang congre

gation has grown to 26 members since

J u n e

If I m

ever

crazy

enough to

become

a Christian, I give you permission to

club me

over me head , was

Daum s

angry reply to a neighbor who was trying

to

lead

him to Christ a few years ago.

The

love

of Christ preached and reveal

ed in transformed lives, broke through

the

barriers. On February 28, Daum and

two

of

his friends were buried in baptism

in t h e

waters

o f

t h e b e au ti fu l Yao r i v e r

s i i k I

(The Miao are a semi-migratory

tribe

who

live

and grow opium in the

highlands of much of Southeast Asia.

They are a highly intelligent, but un

stable, people tightly bound in the trad

itions of ancestor worship and spiritism.

Garland and Dorothy Bare are engaged

in language study and evangelism of the

Miao

near

Pua.

Nan Province.)

Mel Byers, left, visiting Miao

village.

Tribes People Vls ifed

Bro. Kenneth Rideout of the Bangkok

Church of Christ accompanied Garland

Bare on a

trip

to

the

T in and

White Miao

tribes in Febmary. Although the

evang

elists were warmly

received

by the tribes

men, there was very little interest shown

in

the

gospel.

Song Books Requested

During a song

service

at Pua, recent

ly,

the

missionaries

looked

up to

see

two

T i n t r i b e s m e n f r o m t h e r e m o t e

N o r t h

Bau region standing in the doorway. We

have a radio in our village, they ex

plained,

and

we

have heard these same

hymns on a broadcast from Manila. We

would

like

to buy a

hymnal

so we

can

sing these hymns at home. Our

village

has

a s c h o o l

so

we c a n

r e a d

T h a i

books .

(The T in

language has never

been

re

duced to writing. The next morning

one of the youths, Somboon,

returned

to

inquire further about the way of the Lord.

As he left he took some scripture portions

and tracts. And so

the

Word goes

out

to

a region visited bymissionaries only once.

8/11/2019 TribesandTrails 1960 Thailand

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Report

From

Yao

Tribe

Since 1952 ihe C. W. Callaway

familyhave lived and labored among

the

Yao

at

Tzan

Fu

V ille. The Yao

are an opium growing tribe living at

highaltitudes.They are proud and un

responsive toward the gospel. Tzan Fu

Ville

has

no postoffice so

mail

to

Callaways

must

be addressed to Talat

Chiengkam, Chiengrai, Thailand.

T z a n

u s

M o t h e r

Did your father buy your wife for

Proud

but miserable at heart the Yao you?

How

do Christians marry? What do

sorely need the Gospel, but are slow to you do at the funeral if you don t have

accept. devil worship? With these and many

similar questions the Yao village head

man,

TzanFu

sought to ascertain var

ious beliefs and practices of Christians.

Some favorite topics of conversation He had announced that his mother want-

among the Yao are opium, horses, and ed to become a Christian and had asked

hogs. Opium is by far the main topic, him to inquire as to what was involved.

Their animals and other valuables are This

gave

a welcome opportunity

for

often valued as worth so

much by

weight Callaways to

teach

him the plan ofsal-

of

cmium.

This

past

winter

has

been

so

vation

as

well

as

to

answer

many

of

his

mild that

the

opium harvest has been questions.

quite small.

s God

answering the pray- Laterhis mother received personal in-

ers of

many

for Thailand tribespeople by stmction

from

themissionaries. She pro

creating dissatisfaction with opium and fessed her faith in Christ and her resolve

thereby making it easier forihese people tohave nomoreof

devil worship. Through

to break

away from

opium s chains and the

power

of the Lord her addiction to

turn to Christ? s there anything too hard opium smoking has

been

broken.

Daily

forihe Lord?

The

Thai

government

offi-

Callaways

pray with her

and

on Sundays

cially banned opium commerce and they worship with her in her home. She

smoking

last year.

Opium dens

can no has beenvery

weak with

the disease beri-

longer

operate legally.

Most

mountain beri.

and she has

allowed

this and

other

tribes still grow opium butthey arefind-

excuses

to keepherfrom

baptism.

There

ing the price lower

and

it is increasingly is

urgent

need ofprayer to the end that

difficult to market their

crop.

she

be

obedient in baptism and filled

In January 1959 Garland Bare and

with

faith.

C. W. Callaway visited the village of Many in Tzan u Yao village have

Wen Sue onThatchmountain in the Pua said that in the past few months that

district. This Yao headman listened they may

someday

become

Christians

Opium

Laterhis mother received personal in-

ally

clubbed

to death. The report was

said

quite candidlyone day IfTzan u

that he

had

decided

to

heed

the

govern-

becomes

a

Christian almost

everybody

ment ban on opium planting and that \

others irked that h e would not

continue

with them in this, arranged for his mur

der. Was he also contemplating becom

ing a Christian? We can only wonder. a dangerous business. But disaster after

A Yao chieftain and a Yao merchant disaster may yet serve to open their eyes

were

murdered

in Nan

province

lastyear that they may more readily accept the

because ofinvolvement in opium traffic, claims of Christ.

When

tney come to

Those

who deal in

opium

know that it is

Him

their sorrow shall beturned to joy.

ing a Christian? We can only wonder.

yet learned to think independently. Christ

can

set their minds free

8/11/2019 TribesandTrails 1960 Thailand

5/8

Tzan

Fu's

Wife

I

do wish we could be Christians,

said Tzan Fu s wife one day after hear

ing a gospel hymn in Yao. Tzan

u

re

plied, We are going to be some day.

During the past few months this head

man has frequently served as language

teacher for Callaways and has helped

them

in

Bible translation. He

has

been

more receptive than

everbefore

to Chris

tian

teaching.

The

Yao, however, are

especially given to procrastination. Op

ium addicts,

such

as Tzan Fu, are all

the more

incl ined to

le t life take its eas

iest course and put off good resolves for

a

more convenien t

season.

The effec

tual fervent prayer of righteous men and

women can cause

this headman to see

that now is the day of salvation.

A

Broth e r s Advic e

Formerly

attention

has

been called

to the strong interest in the Gospel on

the

part of Lou Ling and

her

husband and

two children.

They

live in the village

of Sang Tsoy

near

a big

opium

field

area. The home

has

been qui te open

for Christian teaching, and the whole

family seems keen to accept Christ in

to

th ei r li ve s. An older brother of

Wen

Chang, the husband, has said they must

no t

b ecome

Chris t ians

un t i l Tzan Fu o r

others turn lest they

meet persecution.

For the present they are yielding to the

brother s

wishes .

Deafh

Takes

Gyim

Sue

Our loving Savior with arms out

stretched is reaching todayto souls in the

most

isolated

sections

of

the earth.

Many

are being redeemed from the clasp of

the

enemy.

Still

thousands pass

daily

over the precipice of deaih--beyond

r each

of C niis t and

His

cross.

Ment ion

has

been

made

of the.

welcome

given to

the teaching of Christ on one occasion

by Gyim Sue of Ai Liang Yao village.

A s i lversmith

an d brother o f

the

head

man there,

he was always friendly. He

had

obtained

medicine from Callaways

for a

heart condition.

In January

the

hear t

t rouble

c l a imed

his

l i f e . He was

still

beyond

the

reach of

the

Savior's

mercy--having

not laid hold upon the

Thousands of Yao boys such as this

have never seen a car, have never been

inside

of

a school,

have

never heard

of

Christ.

Mark's

Gospel in

Yao

The

Gospel of Mark was recently

translated

and several copies mimeo

graphed in the romanized Yao script by

O. M. F. missionaries. Callaways are

making a systematic revision of this ed

ition with

the

hope of

attaining even

grea te r

accuracy. They

hope before

long to mimeograph the revised trans

lation, but will be using the adapted

Thai

script. This should

make

for

the

earlier

reading of it by more Yao in the

area in

which

they serve than would the

romanized script.

Prayeroffered in

America can protect

missionaries in Thailand from unprofit

able interruptions that

hinder the

task.

Prayer can provide also

the

necessary

language

help

from the Yao people to

bring into existence in their language

the

Bible, Christian hymns, and

other

Chr is t ian l i t era ture .

proffered grace. His brother, Gyim

Mwang, headman of that village, has

listened attentively to the gospel mess

age.

M^

he find the hope which

yim

Sue has forever lost

8/11/2019 TribesandTrails 1960 Thailand

6/8

Christians on Way to Tung Daa

Jungle Trip

The

middle

of January 1960 a group

of 30 including Christians from Sope

Waan the m a r ke t

area

and

mission

aries Mel Byers, Imogene Williams, and

Dorothy

Uhlig

made

th e

19 mile trip to

Tung baa and spent the weekend with

th e C h r i s t i a n s t h e r e . A truck to o k the

group part way, but the last portion of

the trip was on foot over a jungle

trail

that wound and twisted through the hills.

Dusk found the group at their destina

tion.

Everyone had a quick

bath

in the

river, and then got out the cooked

rice

and hot pepper sauce they had brought

along

and quickly

at e

supper. After

visiting a bit every on e joined in a time

of singing and prayer before turning in

for the night. The women and girls

stretched out in the one and only room

of the house, and the boys and men

found places on the porch and in the rice

storage shed. A few of us slept at an

other

house

The following morning a stage was

erected for putting on the plays. Two

nights a

pantomime

on the birth of Christ

was presented with the

help

of some of

the local children. This was followed by

a play on the resurrection of Christ

pre-

sented by the young people from Sope

Waan. There was a

good

crowd of

l oc a l

people attending each

night. Each morn

ing and

evening inf or mal

services were

held and all the group learned new

songs

and joined

together

for a

time

of prayer

and Bible

study.

There was a real spirit

of fellowship and joy in the Lord, and

the

local C hristians

were

strengthened.

There were many opportunities of wit

nessing to non-christians

and we

pray

that

some of these will soon

accept

the

L o r d .

Report

From Lowland

Tribes

(In the plains and valleys of North

Thailand live a number of tribes speak

ing Thai dialects and

professing

Budd

hism.These include th e Lao North Thai

Shan, and Lu. On the Chiengkam plain

Melvert Byersand Misses Uhlig

andWill-

iams regularly visit five or six Lu and

Thai vi l lages where there are small

groups of believers. Largest of these is

the Sope Waan

congregation.

There are

a fe w

T h a i

Christians in

N an

Province

also, Denominational teaching is a sev

ere problem among them and muchpray

er and teaching is needed to bring them

to a strong

andfree

stand in Christ.

Add-

dress of Mel and June Byers, and Miss

Dorothy U hlig is Talat Chiengkam.

Miss Imogene Williams is now on fur

lough. Her address is c/o J. V. Williams,

RFD 4, Hodgenville, Kentucky.)

Ya, with Imogene Williams

ndec ided

Ya a Laotion girl who married a

Chinese Christian and moved to Chieng

kam three years ago, still rejects the

Gospel. She has not only

heard

Christ s

message of salvation many times, but

was taught to

read Thai

so she could

read th e Word herself. S he co ntin ues to

say, I

don t

understand well enough,

but is showing no desire now to under

stand. She is sweet and friendly but seems

completely

blinded by

Satan

as to

her

n e e d

o f

a S a v i o u r .

8/11/2019 TribesandTrails 1960 Thailand

7/8

M

Nai Sang, New Christian

ew onver t s

Two men, Nai Sang and Nai Kam,

were baptized into Christ on January 9,

1960.

Nai Sang came across the borderfrom

Laos over two years ago and showed real

interest in the Gospel from his first days

in the village. Last year he married a

Christian widow in the village. She had

learned to read in our Bible-Literacy

Schools and taught Nai Sang to read af

ter they were married. He recently re

ceived a songbook for memorizing 50

verses of Scripture and is now learning

more to get a Bible. Few in the village

have enough money to pay 30 cents tor

a songbook, but can earn one by mem

orizing

Bible verses. The

Christians here

like to have their own

songbooks

to use

in the home as

well

as at church on Sun

day.

Nai Sang isn t responding very quick

ly to

treatment

for

the

disease of

his

body, but is responding to the spiritual

t rea tment

for his

soul.

Liferacy School

Christ

Preeminent

was the theme

of the

school

held at

Sope Waan during

the month of February. Studies from the

book of Colossians

stressed

the

Lordship

of Christ in

all

avenues of the believer^

Ufe The children

and beginning

adult

readers had classes in reading and writ

ing taught by Imogene Williams, and

Dorothy Uhlig The

advanced

group had

a brief introduction to the teachings of

d i f f e r en t denominations and

cults

in

Thailand taught byMel yers

Nai Non--Once a Happy Christian

Slipping Backward

when the above picture was taken

Nai Non was strong in faith and zealous

in teaching his daughter Moon and others

of Jesus. He withstood persecution from

relatives and neighborswith patience and

prayed much

for

them.

He witnessed to

his wife for three years before she enter

ed Christ. Great was his rejoicing when

she and, later, his oldest daughterwere

baptized.

However, in the past six months he

seems to have grown cold and unconcern

ed for spiritual things. He sometimes

meets withChristians in the village where

he moved last year, but often doesn t,

and seldom comes in to meet with the

Christians in Chiengkam.

Rumors

say

that he

plans

to leave his family and live

with a brother

who

is a

strong uddhist

and very opposed to Christianity.

Imogens Will iams

Home

Miss Imogene Williams

arrived

in

the

United States for furlough onApril 4. She

may be addressed at

RFD

4, Hodgen-

ville, Kentucky for speaking dates and

camps

after

May 30.

SopeWn-^nYoung

c

;oleWith Mel Byers

8/11/2019 TribesandTrails 1960 Thailand

8/8

Myfirst impressions of Thailand, be

ginning even at the airport upon arrival

in

angkok

six months ago, were of a

country

whose

people were blessed with

a sense of

freedom,

so

in

contrast to

those of surrounding countries. Both off

icials and the common people showed

sincere friendliness, helpfulness and lik

ing toward westemers. On first thought

this

would

seem t o make Tha il and a

won

derful place to preach Christ unhindered.

In one sense it is, for among the be

liefs of these people, who, strangely

e-

nough, have been able to live a lite of

freedom and self-government in contrast

to their neighboring countries, there is a

belief in religious freedom. Christian,

Buddhist or Moslem can preach what he

believes. The Thai listen politely and in

a friendly spirit, but do not change their

l ives

Thailand has been f looded wi th miss

ionariessince

ommunism

beganforcing

missionaries out of

China.

But

the

Thai

are stil l largely Buddhist. There is also

a strong underlying animism and fear of

spirits. They cling fearfully to their dem

on worship.

Here in Chiengmai the temple gongs

beat softly far into the night. People do

not venture out much at night because of

fear of spirits.

One thing diat amazes me continually

is

the indifference o f

Lisu and

Karen

tribes people in Thailand, while in Burma

they willwalk many days journey to beg

for

someone

to come and teach th em .

Having taught among the Lisu in Burma

and China since 1944, and found them

so

eager, and their lives so changed by

Christ,

the

difference is a source of nag

gingwonderment. Whatmakesthem dif

ferent from their fellow tribesmen?

I ve heard some say

that it

is

the

opi

um here which binds tnem. Opium is an

economic

crop in

Thailand,

raised only

in the mountains, and therefore, only by

tribespeople.

To the

tribesman wanting

to becom e a

Christian,

there comes the

double question of giving up the use of

opium himself, and also of not planting

it and thereby losing his way of making

a living.

A new Mission called the New

Tribes

Mission has recently begun workinThai

land. Their aim is to reach only those

tribes which have never yet heard the

Gospel of Christ.

Their ultimate

purpose

is to reach

all

the untaught tribes of the

world in our generation. Thus could be

m et th e unf i iml led condit ion

that

before

Jesus returns, every tribe and kindred,

language and tongue must first

hear

the

Gospel. Much faim and courage, prayer

and sharing of our love for Christ with

others

are

needed to

cany

out this task

in our

day.

The power to do this does

not lie

within

any of us, but in

Jesus

Christ working tnrough us.

What does it mean to you, person

ally

that

in our generation

all

the un

reached tribes of the earth could, yet,

hear of Christ, and His power to save

from bondage?

--Dorothy Sterling

Chiangmai, Thailand

T R I B E S AND

T R I L S

IN

THAILAND

F I R S T C H R I S T I N C H U R C H

N i n t h

a n d P in e Streets

Klamath Falls,

Oregon

Dorothy

Uhlig,

Missionary

to Thailand

Non-Profit Org.

U.S. POSTAGE

I cP ID

Klamath Falls,

Oregon

Permi t Number

12

Form

3547

Requested