Planting Out

I like plants.

If you've spent anytime in this blog, you've probably figured that out already.

When it comes to growing plants, sometimes I appear to have a green thumb and at other times that thumb seems to have been amputated. But I do enjoy taking some seeds, tenderly caring for them in their infancy, then growing it out to a container of some kind and then eventually planting it out.

Lignum Vitae plants just emerging

An avocado plant getting almost too big for its pot

Plants are kind of like people.  It seems they need a lot of care when they are really young.  The moisture has to be just right.  An single small insect can take them out in a single blow. But as they mature they can withstand a bit more stress and eventually they can get by with no help from us.

One thing I have seen is that if you keep a plant in a pot or bag too long, you can do permanent damage to the plant. It may not die, and when you plant it out it will continue to grow.  But often such plants never get as big as they otherwise could.  They become stunted.

Perhaps in this way, people are a bit like plants. As kids grow up, they eventually get to where they can make it on there own.  But sometimes the parent doesn't want to plant out the child .  When this happens, the child may be almost like the plant that is permanently stunted.

Letting go can be hard. And the best time and technique varies from person to person. A parent needs a lot of wisdom in this.

This concept also seems to apply to churches as well. Someone or a group of people make an effort  to plant a church.  They coddle it. They nurture it.  They help it get through all of the dangers of the seedling stage. They gradually put it in bigger and bigger pots.  But eventually it comes time to take the plant out of the pot so it can flourish in the native soil.  But this releasing process can be hard.  We like having the pot in our front yard where we can see it from our window.  We enjoy the activity of watering and fertilizing the pot.  But if we keep the plant in the pot too long, there is the danger that it will never thrive.

It's been wonderful to watch some of our churches in Thailand grow up. But the "letting go" part is tricky.  When is the best time?  How do we do it and do it well?  And like raising children to adulthood, there can be pain and hurt feelings along the way.  But with grace, wisdom, and help from God, it can be done.  And it is wonderful to see the churches say, "Yes! We can do this!"

Point your kids in the right direction—
when they're old they won't be lost. (Proverbs 22:6 MSG)

Sunrise over Isaan

Welcome to Isaan

Driving the Friendship Highway (Highway 2) east out of Saraburi you come to a crack in a narrow ridge of mountains (a feature that I presume gives rise to the name of the nearby community, Pak Chong=”mouth of the hole”).  This seemed an appropriate location for someone to put a dam, so there is a very nice lake here.  But as you pass through this gap in the hills, you enter the elevated portion of Northeast Thailand called the Khorat Plateau.  This is known as the Isaan Region (variously spelled in English, Isarn, Isan or Esarn). 

Map Showing the Isaan Region of Thailand
CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51258

Lake at Gateway to Isaan

Gateway to Isaan

Isaan is an area that is more Lao than Thai.  The language (Isaan) is more similar to Lao than Thai as is the food and culture.  While most people can speak Thai (it is taught in schools and heard and seen in mass media), the older people all speak Isaan.

Social Issues

Over 30% of Thai citizens live in the Isaan, but it remains the neglected and poorest part of the country.  For that reason, many people have left Isaan to work in Bangkok or other cities, or work overseas.  It is the goal of many parents to have a child marry a foreigner, for it offers them a way up.  I heard somewhere that there are about 100,000 Isaan people are married to foreigners and living overseas.  Another 20,000 foreigners are married to Isaan people (primarily foreign men and Isaan women) and live in the Isaan.  It seems most villages have at least one foreigner living there-though they often don’t speak the language.

(Our little corner of Bangkok is almost like little Isaan.  The streets are filled with vendors selling all kinds of cooked food—much of it Isaan style food cooked by people who have migrated to the city to improve their economic outlook.)

The cities have a lot of problems common to cities throughout the world.  Drug and alcohol abuse.  Infidelity. (Infidelity is a problem throughout the country. A Bangkok Post commentator (originally at http://m.bangkokpost.com/opinion/271595, but link is not longer valid) referenced a survey in which just over 50% of both men and women reported cheating on their partner.) Incomes that are not on par with the standard of living or, more likely, not on par with a desired lifestyle. While in the past women might have been sold into prostitution, these days women enter the trade because they can earn for more money than they can with a "normal" job.  So it is not surprising that there are a significant number of people that are HIV positive.  In one province for which there is data, 16.66% of children under the age of 2 are HIV positive.(data originally from http://www.unescap.org/esid/psis/population/database/thailanddata/northeast/NakhonRatchasima.htm, but link is no longer valid)

There are a couple of reasons for Isaan being economically depressed. One is that it is a bit remote. It is not on the way to any place in particular except Lao, which is also much poorer than Thailand. There are not many resources there to cause factories to locate there. Agriculture is the dominant industry, but the area is also dry. It is the driest part of Thailand and there is no irrigation water in much of the area.  As a result they can only grow one crop a year, unlike the 2 or 3 crops that are grown throughout most of the rest of the country.

Isaan Produce-Note the Red Chilies!

Hog Farm

Sugar Cane Truck

Photogenic Cow

Religion

The Isaan is strongly Buddhist.  The temple remains the center of community life.

There are few or no Christians in most towns and villages. Some of the cities might have several churches but they are generally quite small.  (For more detail, you can view the map at http://e-star.ws/harvest/christian-presence-map.html)

Sakon Nakhon Baptist Church

Living Water Community Church in Borabue

At this point it looks like we will be moving to the Isaan in the near future.  There would be many opportunities for us to use our technical skills and abilities as we start building communities of faith.  Pray that the light of Jesus would shine brightly through us.

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16 (NIV)