Aug 19, 2009
Anchalee
For those of you that think my wife was underrepresented in my first blog, I will have to agree. Anchalee is the most important part of this ministry, I could not dream of doing this without her. And on top of that, this week in Thailand was Wahn Maa (Thai Mother’s Day) and it was Anchalee’s first one as a mom. So in tribute to this extraordinary woman of God, this week’s blog is all about Anchalee.
Anchalee was born into an animistic tribal family in the mountains of northern Thailand. Her family had a subsistence lifestyle living on their own rice, and whatever plants or animals they found. She remembers times when one chicken was rationed to feed the family of five for a week.
One day when Anchalee was looking after a buffalo, she had a revelation that the natural world is so wonderful, so organized; certainly someone must have made all of these things. She wondered, “Who?”
Several months later, a missionary, Peggy Schmitt, visited her village and shared the gospel. When Anchalee heard about God, she knew that He was the ‘Who’ of her revelation. Anchalee received Jesus and was filled with the Holy Spirit. To this day Peggy is a good friend to Anchalee and she continues in her life giving work.
At thirteen Anchalee was sent to work in a noodle shop. She was the oldest and she had to do her part to support the family. She spent two years working for an abusive boss. But Anchalee was so diligent in her faith that, although the owners were mean to her, they also saw she had strong beliefs and would not force her to observe Buddhist rituals.
One day a Christian children’s home started up nearby. Anchalee asked her dad if she could work there instead. Her father agreed and for the first time in her life Anchalee was able to work in a Christian environment. Soon Anchalee taught herself enough English so she could interpret for visiting missionaries.
The children’s home grew rapidly and at times Anchalee, her cousin Nit, and good friend Star, were the primary caregivers for 90+ youths. When it comes to child care, ‘Chalee’, as the kids call her, has serious street cred.
When Anchalee became an adult, she was allowed to attend Bible college: first in Thai with Marvin and Anna Enos’s ‘Word of Life’ School in Chiang Mai, and then in English at Al and Terry Purvis’s VBCI College in Sriracha. Ironically it was an advertisement that I had designed for a Christian directory that attracted Anchalee to the VBCI College. After one semester at the VBCI College, Anchalee and I discovered each other and the rest is too romantic to share here.
Anchalee excelled at College, eventually earning a degree. From that point she learned how to edit video for Continuum TV. But as much as she was learning and applying herself; this kind of work was just not fulfilling the dreams God had put inside of her.
Thailand shall be transformed, but not by the wisdom of man, but through the creative power of God flowing through citizens. Anchalee’s prayer is that the gospel spreads to the very ends of society in every occupation and every class. This is the quest she will put before our children.
Aug 7, 2009
Introduction
I will give a little personal background to introduce this ‘Mirror Dimly’ blog.
Call me Kim: After college and university I went to work in my chosen career of commercial photography. When the photography thing finally took off, I discovered that material success wasn’t nearly as thrilling to me as I had imagined. At that point I was a neutral Christian: I went to church, but outside of that building, very few people knew it. I found myself afraid that my life would come and go, never having been a plus player for the Kingdom.
I was determined to keep this from happening. I took advantage of a company merger and sold my shares in the company. A month later I was heading for Thailand. My opportunity there was to be a part of Al Purvis’s team and to use some of my photo, design, and writing skills to help advance Al and Terry’s big vision for Asia. The lessons I learned with them were countless. It was sort of a second college for me; the first college was about the world, the second was about the Kingdom.
Being on Al’s team was a tremendous privilege. I saw nearly all of Southern Asia on our many trips. The places we went were always poor; usually our contacts were persecuted churches. After seeing so many Christians in desperate situations, I began to feel a bit inappropriate; just dropping in and out, but never investing anything of myself into these people. I couldn't sense my contribution. For Al it is different, his calling is to be an encourager and teacher. Al has a deep biblical understanding, and a rare gift for communicating the heart of scripture. He has an undeniable apostolic gift. Church leaders listen to Al, he has influence and he makes the best of it. Al has a passion for leadership. Everyone can see the impact he makes.
But as much as I enjoyed Al’s company, I was being pulled in a different way. I had seen too many poor futureless kids. I didn’t want to just preach and go back home never knowing where my arrows landed. I needed to know for sure I was changing lives. Maybe it was a lack of faith, but it was lack of faith in me, not God. In my life I had planted seeds, but now I wanted to see some become trees.
My wife Anchalee, another Purvis prodigy, also dreamed of being more deeply involved with the poor and the lost. About a year ago it became obvious to us that our dreams had matured. God saw our hearts and showed us that all we had to do to start a children’s home in northern Thailand was to step out faith and do it. We got Al and Terry's blessing and here we are, and here you will see our story unfold.
I hope you will enjoy my blog; I will attempt to have a new topic every other week. It won’t always be so self-focused either.
See ya next week
