In the Hindu culture, as in many Asian cultures, disability is seen as a sign of bad luck or a punishment. People prefer that children with a disability aren’t seen, so they are isolated, hidden away. Bethany Home in Malaysia reflects a different way of looking at special needs, a way of showing love and […]
I had previously been a Youth Counsellor for SHWALLY for many years including two trips to Malaysia with the assistance of LCA International Mission. After having a couple of years’ break from doing anything major for the church, I was at my desk at work one day thinking that it was time to get out […]
In the last week of February I spent a week with some first generation Christians in the Nan Province of Thailand – mostly people from the “Lua” ethnic group. I went with Erin Kerber (a program officer with LCA International Mission) and Chris Sumner (a member from the Springhead congregation.) Our “mission” was to “look, […]
I sit, legs folded to the side, on the floor of a family home. Voices sing around me in words I don’t understand, but words aren’t needed to recognise songs of praise. Tomorrow is a day of great significance in Krus village, Kampong Chhnang province, Cambodia. This home is the second we’ve been welcomed into […]
Srey Lin is a 17-year old student from the Cambodian village of Phum Krus, a small village in which the Lutheran Church in Cambodian has a base. She has a high school scholarship with the church. When she has time off from school she always comes to the church to help with village preschool classes, […]
Yeay Souch is no ordinary person in the village of Krus. As the 63-year-old wife of the Buddhist high priest she has status among the people of this rural community in the province of Kampong Chhnang, Cambodia. Despite this prominence, Yeay Souch’s life has been a tormented one, as she has battled illness and spirit […]
Ouan was the last remaining doctor spirit in the village of Ban Huay Tong, in Thailand’s Nan Province. Spirits exist in many forms in Nan and the common element they share is the possibility that they will become evil if they are not properly appeased. Therefore the placating of offending spirits plays an important role […]
Not everyone is comfortable with sharing their faith. And the same could have been said for eight people from Ipswich Lutheran Church in Queensland, who travelled to Myanmar as part of their partnership with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Myanmar (ELCM). Apart from the obvious language barrier – people from Myanmar speak Burmese, among other […]
For the past 4 years, Good Shepherd Lutheran College, in Darwin, Northern Territory, have been sending a team to Bethany Home in Malaysia, with the view to establishing and building a relationship between the two schools. Bethany Home is a school run by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malaysia, and caters for students with disabilities. […]