Report by Mike Smith - Sri Lanka Revisited

So on the 7th May 2005 Tony and I returned to the Land of the Thai. where we hear from BMS Missionaries, to be Thai is to be Buddhist. A chance conversation on the flight with a fellow passenger, a young Englishman who lived and worked in Pattaya, revealed that to the Thai person their Religion.,King and Culture are everything and are intertwined. To leave one, in their way of thinking e.g. Buddhist Faith, is to leave all. We learned much from Paul and shared the Gospel with him when he spoke of his troubled past and his Praying Mother. It transpired that he had worked in the same Cornish Nightclub that I had frequented regularly when I too had been a troubled young man! The fingerprints of God's touch were beginning to appear.

On arriving at our Hotel we were introduced to two Australian Families both Smiths not unlike Janet and myself! Shared the reasons for our trip with them and then prayed in the Lobby for their middle-aged daughter wheelchair bound with multiple sclerosis and given less than a year to live. We were straight to work. First port of call was the Church in Phuket town and Pastor THANI. We spoke there with his assistant. observed a large supply of bibles and heard how their Fellowship was doing very well. I have learned about Thai people that when ones needs are met they will point you to another whose are not. We took Bibles to give to our Driver and Friends.

Independently of each other and since our last Thailand trip Tony and I had been impressed upon by the LORD to go out in a boat away from the Land and Pray .We very quickly did so. I soon felt all weariness and the weight of burdens from work at home wash away to be replaced by a flood of Peace. We were ready. We called on our Driver Mr Jade James who had helped us with our previous work and headed to Iris home town in the South of the Country to Pattalyun and Song Kra. There we distributed the cuddly toys, baby clothes and gifts to poor Families in the Rubber Plantations and a Farm just north of Malaysia, my own birthplace. Being received into the homes of people in the Forest who had maybe never seen a foreigner before was an unforgettable time. We both felt a move of the Spirit when considering how we could help these people in future.

Next stop Bangkok and the first contact the Indian Tailor and his Family, a time of wonderful prayer and Fellowship further contacts received and an opportunity to encourage them with financial help their business on the brink of collapse due to persecution. Another suitcase of babies and children's goodies for a local Christian Orphanage,-Andy spoke of Ministry to the main Prison where he preaches and baptises Prisoners m the waste water troughs that run through the grounds, nothing less than sewerage, where he risks infection with Aids every time. He told us of a nearby Christian Beauty Salon where staff treat and minister to local Bangkok prostitutes. A visit to a Christian Bookshop and renewed supplies of bibles, books and worship music for the friends we were making along the way and another opportunity to bless hard work with our giving.

At Chaing Mat in the north of the country we visited the Bible Society and another Book store and a Christian school. Enquiries made about supplying bibles to the local prison and hearing in this major Buddhist town about the Christian daycare centre for educating slum children and the home for HIV infected mothers and their children. So many wonderful places and acts of sacrifice for us to encourage and assist. At the border with Burma we were aware of a hard nation but were prevented by our driver from entering as he could not guarantee our return. Tony and I had to stop ourselves form running over the border and simultaneously caught the urge to return with a supply of bibles to another barren land. The call to our hearts had already come with a desire to return and cross over into Cambodia for rescue of a very different kind. Yet again I am reminded mat the WORD not only written but also spoken, sung and lived out through the eyes, the expressions the hands and me feet of our lord's followers must be presented to die dear lost souls in the dark places. After a word from GOD before leaving home about the beautiful feet and good news 1 actually wrote that scripture in green ink on my sandals!! A word from a brother in my home Church about going to those who Jesus was already walking with confirmed this. We were about to experience that Jesus walk on our return to Bangkok and Thailand's most notorious and infamous slum area.

We had heard and read about Father Joe MAIER a catholic missionary priest from America who had worked in Bangkok's Klong Toey shun area for 30 years. He tells in his book of how he started by buying innocent little children from the brothels where they are bred to become prostitutes in conditions worse than any pig farm. The price was 8yrs of food and clothes,as if!, and it is the only way to rescue them properly? He now has a Mercy Centre in the slum with 200 staff who feed. care for and protect and educate the slum kids in nurseries, kindergartens and classrooms. An amazing work to reach the orphaned, and the child victims of crime, drugs, abuse and the evil sex trade. He has a hospice with around 50 Aids/HIV patients including children. We were shown around the Centre all done on donations and all provided for kids who would not otherwise receive this help. So humbling to see the American man whose purpose for being there was to massage die Aids patients dying in die cots before us.

We also visited a Church in the slum with a refuge for girls taken from bar work etc. giving them a trade in flower decorations. We prayed with them again, we helped and we gave. To a Government run Emergency Centre for abandoned and or their babies. The rape and incest victims the prostitutes, the pregnant and homeless, the throwaways. No welfare help here. We gave music systems with Gospel Worship music and a trolley full of babies clothes. We were the blessed ones. On our last trip I learned not to judge. This time I am reminded that it is all about unconditional Love and Forgiveness. I start again with my Family and I have been kissing my enemies without even realizing it!
There is a saying in the Klong Toey slum that to be robbed ten times is not as bad as one flood. Ten floods are not as bad as one fire. We went in response to the tsunami but found something much worse .After 18 years as a Policeman and in some hard places, I thought I could never be shocked-I was.

And a final word on behalf of the little people. What God the Father considers to be pure and genuine religion is this: to take care of orphans and widows in their suffering and to keep oneself from being corrupted by the world. (James 1:27 Good News Bible)

We figured to look after a child rescued from an existence as a sex pet (my words) is the cost of a bottle of decent wine ... .a month,

Over to you