Baptist students lend youthful enthusiasm to Thailand missions

Even though it’s been eight months since the devastating tsunami that struck Southeast Asia, the cleanup continues.

In addition to Georgia Baptists joining in the recovery effort in Indonesia (Index Feb. 3, April 28 issues), groups have also been converging in Thailand. Cleanup done by Georgia volunteers in that region has been ongoing due to damage caused by the earthquake that brought about the massive tsunami.

Dalton College BSU

Chad Nichols, a student at Dalton College in northwest Georgia, builds a platform used in reconstructing a school in Thailand. Nichols was among many Georgia BSUers assisting in construction efforts in the country over the summer.

Recently, members of Georgia Baptist Student Unions have helped out by working with Thai children in addition to helping with construction. The group worked on a schoolhouse in Satun that lost its second floor from the Dec. 26 earthquake, with damage accumulating from smaller quakes suffered since then.

Bill Grissett, campus minister at Dalton College in northwest Georgia, says workers in the area requested students to focus on building relationships.

“The area is about 90% Muslim and has a lot of unrest,” he said. “The town of Satun has around 35,000 people but only two Christian churches. Our students built inroads with the children by teaching conversational English in their school.”

Thomas Gonzalez, a student at Dalton College and member of nearby Iglesia Nueva Viva Bautista, had gone on mission trips before, but this was his first overseas.

“We couldn’t go out and evangelize openly,” he recollects. “But just being down there and working gave us a chance to interact with people. They wanted to know why Americans were that to help them.”

“Our outreach was centered around building relationships with the Thai people,” says Mindy Richardson, a member of the group and former student at Dalton College. “We were invited to share in the classrooms with the Thai children during our breaks and were very humbled, but restricted to teaching English and not sharing the gospel unless questioned about our faith.”

Sometimes those questions can come with a few moments of trepidation at first.

“One day, the kids were telling their parents about the Christians who were helping rebuild their school,” recounts Gonzalez. “Some parents went down to the school to see what was going on.

“We were a little concerned at first, because we were already told to be careful, but the meeting ended up being good.”

Since June, approximately 150 Georgia Baptist workers have traveled to Thailand, says state Director of Disaster Relief Jim Richardson.

“The disaster relief volunteers provide expertise while students provide a youthful enthusiasm for missions,” says Richardson.

Volunteers are still needed for future trips to Thailand, with plans for teams to go to the country Sept. 6-16, Sept. 20-30, Oct. 4-14 and Oct 18-28.

Contact Richardson at (770) 936-5259, (800) RING-GBC, ext 259 or email jrichardson@gabaptist.org for more information.