Life Doesn’t Always go to Plan
Lish Besford
Last year did not quite go according to plan but God still worked in ways we could never imagine. While a pandemic may have stopped our world in its tracks, as always God was/is still present, still working, still helping us find hope in unexpected places. As we begin a new year, we are reminded that life doesn’t always go the way we planned. It more often than not, takes a twist or turn or two.
February marked 10 years in Thailand for Lish and reflecting on those 10 years I realised it has been filled with many plans that never happened and other things that didn’t go according to the plan I had. Life looks so different from how I thought it would when I packed my suitcase and moved to a slum community in the middle of Bangkok. However I wouldn’t change those years for anything, they may not have gone according to my plans but I have seen time and time again that God’s plans are better than our own. Dave’s plans for his life didn’t look like what his life looks like now but God had other ideas. Moving to a slum was not even on his radar a few years ago but here he is learning language, being a positive role model for the boys in the hood, a loving husband and Lego builder extraordinaire.
Our life in the past 12 months has not looked like the plans we made together but we know God has been working and is growing us as we trust him in the unknowns. Trusting, when life is uncertain and making plans is almost impossible, isn’t easy. We have struggled with disappointments, frustrations and unmet expectations. If we only trusted when life was easy, our lives would not know the fullness of God. The hope of Christ sustains us in those moments and shows us that God is love, mercy and compassion. While it is a hard reminder, our difficult experiences help us to love God and love others better. The more we need the depths of God’s love and peace, the more we can share it with others. Our neighbours have experienced so much hardship and devastation in their lives, last year has only added to that, yet resiliently they get back up and keep going. We hope and pray that all will know the depths of God’s love and peace like we do which is why we keep trusting in God and his plans for us as we live out our daily lives in this community.
While it was tough we still have many things to be thankful for last year and look forward to seeing what God does this year as we continue to learn to just run with it, no matter how many times the plan changes. As we begin this new year we want to say a big thank you to all of you for continuing to join with us in what was a difficult year, we could not have done it without you. We look forward to sharing more of our lives and stories with you in 2021, even if things don’t go according to plan!
A New Year
Elise Fletcher
Back in April 2020, the British government memorably descr ibed Covid-19 as ‘the great leveller’ and much debate unfolded! With the information and the first-hand experience we each have standing at the end of 2020, it is clear that so much about the pandemic has served to exacerbate the issues of social inequality. So where this year have we each seen glimpses of the promised levelling that Isaiah wrote of?
It was just this stark social inequality that originally drew our hearts to Thailand; the gaping gap between rich and poor is laid uncomfortably bare for all to see. It is a gap that exists everywhere but there is nothing subtle about it’s expression here.
Six years ago we felt God was asking us to settle in the gap as bridge builders. The bias of our background was significant so we needed to swing far the other way to learn the lessons of poverty. However the goal has always been to develop relationships and speak out for justice on each side of the divide. The gap is an uncomfortable place when we are so primed for segregation. In truth, we spend a fair bit of time clinging to one side or the other or plotting an escape!
When we get a chance to build bridges it is cause for celebration! This can take the form of sharing stories, perspectives, resources etc but sometimes it is more literal. We love to connect people who would never meet or have the opportunity to learn from each other in the course of normal life.
Recently we have had three final year students from an International School volunteering with UNOH Thailand for a service project a few hours a week. They are polite, highly educated Thai girls who are in the process of applying for medical school. They arrive in smart chauffeur driven cars that stand out a mile. Despite having grown up in Bangkok, they had never visited a slum community and were seeing a different world. We wanted the experience to be transformative for them and also valuable for our community.
We asked them to collect data for the apprenticeship scheme we are launching in April. We needed statistics about teenage pregnancy rates in Khlong Toey but also anecdotal accounts of what it is like raising a child as a young mum with little support and what the other options might have been.
We introduced these students to three local girls of the same age who have had children before completing their education. They were interviewed about their choices, their beliefs and their hopes for the future. Our role was only to facilitate. Whilst the content of the interviews was interesting, something much more meaningful was going on as the teenagers sat and talked in the gap.
I was struck that each of the girls could be individual role models for our own daughter, yet the combined strength in the room was huge. I felt genuine pride in seeing the young mothers from our community speaking truthfully but with so much wisdom to the International school students who were bravely facing their stereotypes head on. Those with power and privilege were learning from those without and they were amazed at what they were hearing!
The discomfort of hearing alternative narratives firsthand can lead to deep rooted change that shouldn’t be underestimated. Hopefully this knowledge will keep our family grounded in the place that God has asked us to be! Wherever we are, may we each participate this coming year in the great levelling that is God’s Kingdom coming on Earth.
Amaranth and Invitations
Brad Coath
A Candle Light in the Windows
Denise Tims
While teddy bears appeared in windows across New Zealand to help occupy children and bring a smile to their faces as they went outside during the coronavirus lockdown, with even the Prime Minister taking part, another symbolic message came to mind that told a very different story, as I walked passed my neighbours home.
In early America, the tradition of lighting candles in windows during Christmas had been interpreted in many ways. It was often a sign of welcome to a loved one, a beacon of hope for people passing by and a signal to strangers that they could receive food and shelter in that home. Sources trace this practice back to the Irish who immigrated to America.
In Ireland we are aware that the British Government, between 1691 and 1778, persecuted the Irish and inflicted oppressive Penal Laws, targeting the Catholics in an attempt to suppress their religion. Catholic priests were punished for practicing their faith and ordered to leave the country. In response, faithful Irish Catholics would, light a candle in the window and leave the door unlocked as a sign that it was safe for the priest to say Mass and to receive hospitality. (Ray Boas, “The Walpole Clarion – Candles in the Window” December 2019)
As I looked in the window of my neighbours home, I knew sadly that there would be no candle lit to welcome a whanau member home. For my neighbours a candle had been blown out and their loved one would no longer be returning home. Instead a hearse was parked in the driveway as a handful of family gathered around to say a final farewell. When Dave had invited neighbours to respond in acts of kindness and compassion, to our grieving family, food was delivered and a koha of over five hundred dollars was gathered. Death, and being able to farewell our loved ones, has been one of the most difficult situations to cope with during our COVID lockdown restrictions. When our neighbour and friend passed away in the midst of this pandemic, only a handful of family members could gather to comfort and console one another.
When the hearse slowly drove away, we knew no funeral service would be held to honour and say goodbye, sharing with the family, in their time of grief. It seemed such a cold hard reality. With tears rolling down my face as I joined with neighbours to line our street, all we could do was hold down our car horns to farewell our friend, who was taking his final journey out of our neighbourhood. The only candle that could be lit this time was that of Christ, and it was His light that would welcome our beloved neighbour home to give him peace and everlasting rest.
New UNOH Partners
Steve and Jo Sanglir are partnering with the UNOH “Apprenticeship Scheme” project which is a vocational training program focused on empowering youth from the Klong Toey slum community to break the cycle of urban poverty. This education program is particularly designed to equip teenage mothers, who have dropped out of school, with skillsets that will better enable them to secure employment upon graduation.
Their hope is that God will work through them to be a witness as they interact and walk alongside the youth and community of Klong Toey.
Steve and Jo’s long-term plans are to serve in Southeast Asia in children’s and education ministry. They initially planned to move to NY for Jo’s seminary studies, but due to spouse visa issues, they’ll likely be in Bangkok for another year. This extra year in Bangkok has given them the unique opportunity to invest in ministry at a greater capacity, and for that, they are grateful and excited.
As Steve and Jo are just starting out, they would really appreciate your prayers and support!
God continues to work in unexpected ways and while the process has truthfully been unsettling, it has also been very sanctifying. Steve and Jo have been learning to seek God in the midst of uncertainty and to find delight in His plans, even if it means surrendering their own.
Steve and Jo are taking their first steps into ministry funded through donations.
We at UNOH see their worth and their hearts to serve. Please support them!
To donate, one-off or regularly go to: