a collection of news + stories
from rosedale mennonite missions
11 | 12 : Table of Contents:
• The Rooftop Baptisms:
Update from Thailand
• Locally Grown: Grease
Monkeys for Jesus
• A Visit to the Melting Pot
of Asia
The Rooftop Baptisms:
Update from Thailand
By Tom*
Tom and Candice live with their three
children in Bangkok, Thailand, where
they lead the RMM team in the city.
believer. They were accompanied by
an older brother who has already been
baptized and a young woman who is
seeking. All four of these young people
live on the other side of Bangkok and
work together at a gas station. Before
we started our meeting Lan reviewed
the baptism questions with them –
translating from Thai into Lao.
September 30 was a memorable day
for our family and our fellowship
in Thailand as three people were
baptized. It was a day full of exciting
developments and some drama as well.
We met in the morning beside a pool
at a nearby school. We had a goodsized group – a number from our house
fellowship, and some people from out
of town who were family members or
friends of Wana and Uthai, the believing
couple that has related to our group
for a number of years. Four of them
wanted to be baptized. Unfortunately
Wana wasn’t able to come because
she was sick. Then Lan, who attended
our fellowship before leaving Bangkok,
arrived with four Lao friends. He was
very excited because two of them had
requested baptism.
Lan got to know one of these young
men while he was at home in Laos. The
friend’s family is from a neighboring
village and they recently decided to
follow Jesus. This young man has been
working in Bangkok since April and
one of his friends has also become a
We had a good time of sharing about
baptism – Dan in English and Lan and
two others in Thai. Our daughter Claire
shared her testimony and then most of
the others who planned to be baptized
shared briefly about what their faith
means to them. Tiger, Wana and Uthai’s
13-year-old son, talked about how his
faith in God helps him with his studies
at school. Others mentioned their
belief in God and their desire to follow
him.
We were all excited to get on with the
baptism, but that’s when we ran into
problems. We’d gotten permission
earlier to use the pool, but when our
large group started to enter the pool
area the employees stopped us and said
we couldn’t go in because not everyone
had bathing suits. They wouldn’t make
an exception and our Thai friends told
us that they were probably unwilling to
let us have a Christian ceremony there.
We quickly decided to leave the pool
and go to the nearby river. But after
getting everyone there we found that
the water was too turbulent and deep
(as well as being very muddy!)
At this point we started feeling
hopeless— there didn’t seem to be any
good options left, we had a large group
waiting, and the four Lao people had to
get back to work soon. The group from
out of town decided that they would
rather wait and do their baptisms later
when Wana could be there and they’d
have time to find a suitable location. So
we said goodbye to them after making
plans to meet up the following week for
baptism and communion.
The rest of us decided to make one last
attempt by going to a water park on
the roof of a nearby shopping center.
Claire was anxious to be baptized and
we didn’t want to postpone baptism for
the Lao men since their work schedule
is very inflexible. We made the short
trip, rented bathing suits, and found
a relatively secluded corner of the
park. After Claire and the two Lao men
affirmed their faith in God and desire
to follow him we baptized them in the
shallow water of the kids’ pool. We
had a small group of very interested
children watching in the background!
Candice and I were gratified to see
Claire take this step and we were very
happy that she could share the
experience with so many friends. We
were disappointed that the morning
didn’t go as planned and that some had
to wait – but we’re hopeful that we’ll be
able to celebrate with them soon. And
we were very excited to meet Lan’s
group of Lao friends. Until now they
have not had any other Christian
fellowship and they feel isolated as
foreigners in this large city. Now we are
looking at the challenge of follow-up.
How can we encourage them and help
them share their faith with the many
Locally Grown: Grease
Monkeys for Jesus
By Andrew Sharp
Staff writer
Why does it always end this way? Your
car starts making a funny sound, so you
nervously take it to Hank’s Auto Repair
Emporium, hoping that this time, you
won’t come out feeling deep sadness.
But as you stand there breathing the
mixed odors of old grease, tires, and
outdated Motor Trend magazines, your
hopes fade while the guy behind the
counter reviews his clipboard and taps
a calculator for a long time. He tells you
happily, “Ok, we can have that doodad
here by Friday on special order. We get
a discount, so it only costs $900, not
counting labor, of course.”
For some, that kind of sticker shock
might mean no eating out for a couple
of months and cutting back on the golf
rounds. For those living in poverty,
though, it’s more of a financial body
blow, a cause for real panic. They don’t
other Lao people who come to Bangkok
for work? This is the kind of opportunity
that we’ve been praying for! They are
uneducated, undocumented, and must
work long hours – but they are a readymade small group and the potential is
very exciting.
have the money for repairs and won’t
be able to get any without a car.
In Goshen, Indiana, a number of people
who face this kind of urgent need
benefit from living near Maple City
Chapel, a Conservative Mennonite
Conference church in town. The church
has an auto repair ministry called PITT
Road. While they can’t fix everyone’s
car, they focus on the most desperate
situations, especially single mothers,
widows, or people who have lost
jobs and need transportation to start
working again.
Maple City Chapel is located in a
remodeled Wal-Mart facility. That WalMart had four service bays for auto
repair, so when a former mechanic
named Gary Miller began working
full time as an assistant pastor at the
church, he and others at the church saw
the opportunity for a ministry. Miller
brought over the equipment from his
business, and with help from church
members, set up a repair shop.
All the work is done by volunteers, who
meet on Tuesday evenings. Some of
them are experienced mechanics, and
some are not. Alve Shetler, who attends
Maple City Chapel, said he didn’t know
much about cars when he started, but
has now helped change transmissions,
gas tanks, and even engines.
One incident early on helped convince
Shetler that he wanted to be involved
in this kind of work. It was around
Lan was baptized last May and it’s been
amazing to witness his rapid spiritual
growth. He is a natural evangelist and
his enthusiasm for Bible study and
sharing his faith has been a blessing to
all of us. Now he’s baptizing his friends
and he’s looking forward to spending
some more time in his village over
the rice harvest, sharing again with his
family and friends about who God is
and what his love means.
*We want to avoid making new believers
and seekers in other countries feel like
“projects,” so we have omitted Tom’s last
name for privacy.
Christmas time, and they were fixing
a van for a woman with three children
who had no way to get to work or
church. “On Christmas Eve, Gary called
her up and told her we had the van for
her, and I heard her cry over the phone.
That meant so much to me,” Shetler
said. He was hooked. “I can’t get up and
sing very good, I can’t get up and talk
very good, but I can help people,” he
said.
The greatest impact, Miller said, comes
through showing people respect while
helping them get over a very difficult
hurdle in their lives. “Almost all are
extremely grateful,” he said. “It is not
uncommon that a person will break
down in tears over something so
simple as a brake job or a water pump
replacement. They are used to being
abused and turned away everywhere…a
common phrase I hear is ‘I didn’t think
God remembered me or cared about me
any more…but you guys have shown me
that’s not true.’”
Shetler said people will send notes
of appreciation and some have even
brought them meals as a way to say
thank you. “One lady brought us a meal
for three weeks in a row, she was so
excited about it.”
Pitt Road volunteers work on 200 to
300 cars every year, Miller said. People
also donate about 15-25 vehicles each
year to the ministry. The volunteers
refurbish these as they have funds and
give them away.
One ministry that has benefited from
these donated vehicles is Spiritual and
Personal Adjustments (SPA), a six-month
residential program in Elkhart, Indiana,
for women who are facing major life
issues like abuse, addictions, or mental
illness. Sandra Bontrager, director of
SPA, said when the women are finished
with the program they don’t have money
and need to start jobs, and for that they
need transportation. “They [PITT Road]
have been able to supply quite a few
of them with vehicles, which has made
their transition back into mainstream so
much easier,” she said.
vehicles, but the volunteers fix the
vehicles later when they need repairs,
Bontrager said, which saves SPA a
fortune. “Gary and his crew are just
fabulous.”
Of course, someone has to pay the
expenses, and Miller said that is one
of the main challenges of the ministry.
The program is funded through the
church and extra contributions from
individuals, but the needs are so great
that Miller estimated they can only help
about 20% of those who need it.
Not only does PITT Road provide
The people who bring their cars in are
supposed to pay for the parts, while
A Visit to the Melting
Pot of Asia
there are two) and envision the possibilities for sending more Latinos to
Thailand. I was pleased to see how well
they are adapting to the culture, language and people of Thailand.
By Nathan Olmstead
RMM board member
A group from RMM traveled to Bangkok, Thailand at the end of October. Our
team consisted of me and three other
RMM board members, three office personnel, and a few others. We made our
long trek to bring encouragement to
the missionaries working in Thailand,
evaluate the work that is being done,
and pray, seeking the Lord’s face for
continued vision for Thailand and the
continent of Asia.
It is difficult to put into words what my
experience was like in Thailand. This
was the first opportunity I had ever had
to travel to the Continent of Asia and I
anticipated a week of learning many
new things, culturally and spiritually. I
was not disappointed.
A personal goal of mine was to spend
time with the Latino missionaries working in Thailand with our team (currently
I was impressed by the sheer number of
people in Bangkok, where we spent all
of our time. The population of greater
Bangkok is between 12 and 14 million, and is made up of many different
ethnicities. The city appears to be a
“melting pot” in Asia. A slightly better
economy and better education are what
attract a lot of foreigners to Bangkok.
This is proving to be true as our team
of missionaries in Bangkok is working
spiritually with students from China,
Laos and even from the continent of Africa. There are also many Lao and Burmese immigrants that end up in Bangkok working in factories, gas stations,
etc. As someone stated, “Bangkok is the
spiritual door to all of Asia.”
The RMM mission force in Thailand is
working hard to accomplish the task of
“inviting the nations to worship Jesus.”
The work in Thailand is difficult and can
seem slow, humanly speaking. With less
than one percent of the population being followers of Jesus—the majority
being Buddhist—the task is certainly
daunting.
The vision of the mission team in Bangkok revolves around building relationships. The task of presenting Jesus to
the people of Thailand involves consistently being available to the people and
being a listening ear. It is a process of
patience and prayer. The team shared
PITT Road volunteers provide free
labor. But many times people can’t even
afford the parts. “Moms are desperate
for transportation for work,” Miller
said. “A high volume of the people we
serve have few healthy connections
and no family and often a child that is
somewhat handicapped. So funding is a
challenge.”
Despite the financial limits to what
they can do, Miller said they have
learned that it’s not that hard to help
their community as long as they are
committed to it. “It may cost you some
time and money, but what are those
resources for, anyway?”
with us that it has taken a long time
for Thais to feel comfortable enough
with them to open up and allow them
to speak into their lives. Our workers
have to earn the right to share faith
with them.
The team has built relationships with
many different people in Bangkok and
has earned the right to speak into some
of their lives, and they are seeing some
of the fruit of their labor. Some of the
ways they are naturally building relationships are: studying at different
universities, teaching English, tutoring, joining running clubs, working out
at gyms or simply influencing through
their presence with landlords or neighbors. By the grace of God the team has
been able to pull together some Bible
studies at different locations, stemming
out of these relationships.
My sense is that God is creating something new for spiritually dark Thailand
and I’m excited to see and be a part
of that process. The RMM missionaries
who are working there have paved the
way for others to follow. If the way to
influence the heart of Thai people is
through physical presence and relationships, what effect could multiplying the
mission force have on the city of Bangkok? Certainly the more pertinent questions would be, “Is God calling you?”
and “Are you responding?”
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