Member Care Visit to Thailand and PNG
By Fiona Emery
June 2023 saw us travelling to Malaysia for IBCM8, which was such a blessing and time of encouragement. While we were in that part of the world, we were able to travel up to Thailand to visit some of our AMT missionaries serving there. First stop was Chiang Mai, in the north of the country. We spent time with Scott and Songkran Breaden, along with their son, Mitch, seeing the sights but also hearing about the work there, the culture and the inroads being made with the Gospel through oral storytelling and Bible teaching. They opened their home to us, and Songkran supplied a delicious lunch of local Thai cuisine.
From there, still in Chiang Mai, we were able to catch up with Liz Pfeifer and tour the Wycliffe offices. She shared about her work with the literacy software, Bloom, and Alpha Tiles, which is being translated in many languages. She trains literacy workers from around Asia to use these apps. It was good to catch up over lunch, and hear how she is going and about the new innovations in IT for missions.
From Chiang Mai, we flew to Bangkok and met David and Tina Cannon, who hosted us for two nights. They are involved in member care with OMF, and we enjoyed getting to know them and gaining some understanding of their role in the Asian context. They showed us around the OMF property as well as some local markets and sites before we flew back to Adelaide.
Then, in October 2023, Phil and I travelled to PNG to speak at the New Tribes Mission Sepik conference in Wewak. We took this opportunity to also have a member care visit with four of our AMT missionaries working in that area. Jason Stuart looked after us very well, providing our lunches each day. It was great to spend time with him and be updated on his ongoing translation consultant work, with the latest being the Dinangat language group. He is kept busy travelling between the coast and the highlands for translation checks and training other consultants. It was great to spend some time with his kids, Jed and Ella-Jo too. Jed is finishing up his schooling in the coming year and hoping to travel to America to attend EBI in Waukesha.
We also met up with Rob and Katie Hovenden from Samaritan Aviation. They were in the throes of making major decisions about the coming year, with plans to return to Australia and settle in Cairns at the end of 2023. It was good to chat with them and pray together about their transition back to Australia and concerns for their kids.
On the Monday, we went to Carol Luttah’s for dinner, accompanied by Les Loader. She was facing some major changes in the staffing and administration of the CBM bookstores in Wewak and around the country. It is not easy for a single lady working in PNG, even though she is very capable. We prayed together about the many challenges. She appreciated the visit.
Phil and I were blessed to meet and spend time with all of these missionaries, and we hope we were some encouragement to them too as they continue to serve overseas.