Hello!  My name is Rachel Jones and I live in Udon Thani, Thailand.  My husband and I have been here for 4 years.  Thailand is a striking mix of modern conveniences and deep rooted thousand year old cultural traditions. While much of the country still has rice fields and grass huts, the cities have modernized with concrete buildings, somewhat paved roads, fairly stable electricity, and indoor plumbing.  Even computers and cell phones have become easily accessible and popular.  But, underlying all the material things, a deep set Buddhist mentality remains.  Every part of daily life is intertwined with Buddhist rituals, from the way you greet a person to the way you sit or stand.  There is such a great need for the closed hearts of the people here to be molded and changed by the Word of God.

I have seen many changes since moving to Thailand.   Phillipians 1:6 states “He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”  God started a work not only in the hearts of the Thai people here, but also in mine.  It’s not enough to just see souls saved.  Spiritual growth is also important and necessary to really seeing lives change. The word “until” implies that growth ought to be continual. 

Our first year in Thailand seemed to progress slowly. One day, when our keyboard was burnt up by the horrible electrical surges we frequently had, I sat in the back of the services while Danny led the music and played the guitar. Tears came to my eyes. I suddenly realized that the church people were singing the words to the music. I was singing in Thai, “PraJow san dee (God is so good).” We were praising the Lord. Nobody was walking around and nobody was talking. Everyone bowed their heads to pray and people were even giving when the offering plate was passed. These things might seem so frivolous, but to me it seemed as if they had come so far. Verse 25 of James chapter 1 spoke to my heart, “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” Really, nothing that has been accomplished in Thailand is because of me; it is because of the perfect law of liberty. It is because the Thai people are actually receiving Christ and worshipping Him. It is amazing how the Lord changes people.

Life in Thailand comes with new surprises everyday.  I spend a good portion of my day cooking.  As most missionary wives soon learn after moving to the field, I learned that cooking means making everything from scratch.  We don’t have many pre-prepared, canned, frozen, instant, microwavable, or refrigerated food items to choose from.  When I go downstairs to make breakfast, there is no Jimmy Dean sausage, Hungry Jack refrigerated biscuits, Cheerios, Lender’s bagels, Thomas’ English muffins, Pop tarts, frozen waffles, Bisquick pancake mixes, or grits. Although I started out with a hot plate on top of my washing machine as my sole source of cooking, I am now able to use an electric stove and oven.  What a wonderful and welcome change of pace!

Most Thai people get up every morning and go to the market to buy just enough fresh meat, vegetables, and fruit to last them for that day.  I prefer to go shopping at a grocery store.  We have Lotus, which is a Thai supermarket.  The food items are catered to the Thai tastes and so we have an aisle of rice, an aisle of soy sauce, an aisle of noodles, an aisle of cooking oil, a produce, a meat, and a very small dairy section.  The store also has other sections like toiletries, household products, and clothes although most sizes are too small for me to fit it.  We can get all of our basic toiletries as well, although deodorant is hard to find since most people prefer to douse themselves with baby powder instead.  I can usually find all the household items I need.  We have plenty of toilet paper here since it is used for many additional purposes like tissues and napkins.  We are very blessed that our town has modernized since we’ve moved here and we are now able to be able to shop in air conditioning!

My biggest involvement in the work here is teaching children.  I have spent many hours of preparation putting together my own material to teach, but I praise the Lord that in the past year we’ve found a wonderful Thai lady to help translate some Sunday school material that we will be able to use.  She has also taken over my Sunday morning children’s class while I’m pregnant, and the children have responded very well to her.  I am still teaching a Sunday evening class.  Tara has joined the class and seems to fit right in, even though I speak exclusive Thai.  I play the piano for all of our services.

Danny does most of the preaching and teaching, especially since he’s started the Udon Baptist Institute.  It is still small, but we praise the Lord for the faithful attendees!  Two of the teenage boys have been doing some preaching in our services.  We have something going on every day of the week except for Mondays.  As part of our ticket to stay in the country, we must teach English.  Danny teaches at a local high school on Wednesdays and I am able to teach here at the church on Saturdays.

Our biggest current project in Thailand is the construction of the new building.  In the past year that we’ve been back from furlough, we purchased a piece of land fairly close to the current location of the building we are meeting in.  The Lord blessed us with this land and before long we were able to begin construction on the first phase of the project which was a storage shed to house building supplies and an office for the purpose of literature translation.  Soon after that, our current stage began.  When this phase is complete we will have classrooms that will be used for Sunday school and the Bible classes taught during the week.  The “L” shaped building also has a large meeting room, which will serve as our auditorium.  Progress has been slower than we anticipated due to financial constraints, but we are comforted by God’s promise to complete the work He has started!

Our Family is constantly changing as well.  For the first year and a half that Danny and I lived here, things were very quiet at home.  Our house had a sudden burst of energy when our daughter, Tara, was born here.  She is such a blessing to us and brings so much joy to our lives.  She’s an active toddler who loves to read, talk, sing, and play.  We are now expecting our second daughter sometime around the first of November. With every new change in our family, I covet your prayers.  I want to continue to grow to be a better wife and mother.

James 5:13 says, “Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you?”  I don’t know where you are in your life right now, but I do know our God is unchanging.  In our lives, circumstances may change, addresses may be new, acquaintances may come and go, and our appearances may even fade.  God doesn’t move, but we ought to be changing.  We should be drawing closer to our Lord and communing with him every day!

Thank you all so much for giving me the opportunity to share with you about my life here in Thailand.  I covet your daily prayers for both me and my family. I praise the Lord He has given me the opportunity to serve in a place that is slowly changing. And though that change is not fast paced, I thank God that people’s hearts are slowly changing and becoming more open to the Lord. Maybe one day Thailand will become a Christian nation and I count it a blessing to be a part in continuing His work here!

In Christ,
Rachel Jones

Return to Rachel's Corner