SE Asia #3 – No Matzah in Chiang Mai
By Ben Volman, Toronto Ministry Team Leader and Messianic Rabbi of Kehillat Eytz Chaim / Tree of Life Congregation
(Ben was kindly invited to travel to Thailand and speak to a group of local pastors and evangelists about a Messianic perspective of the Gospel. And, since he will be “in the area,” he’ll also visit the Philippines to visit some pastors there.)
You can’t teach everything as you had intended. And the obstacles of translation and pronunciation, even for my translators, are sometime lost in nuance. (After all, Thai has five tonal aspects, which strongly affect the way they hear language—and my guess is that my listeners hear these, even if my translator is effectively sharing my words.)
By the way, I should mention that they don’t wear shoes in church, just as they would not wear shoes in a temple. I did my presentations standing up in socks.
On Friday, my last day with the pastors, evangelists and church planters, I shared three presentations. The first was on obedience—and I’d forgotten that it started with a story that has a punch line. It landed like a lead balloon. It’s hard to give your key line and see blank faces—then have the translation lead to more blank faces—then explain the joke, and have people nod, seriously. I’m beginning to understand why we westerners can be so hard to understand.
Fortunately, the presentation was saved by the striking powerpoint illustrations. I was never so glad that I had put so much effort into these.
Afterwards, one of the students said how much he appreciated the visual quality of the seminars.
Then I spoke about forgiveness (in my next presentation, not as an apology).
This went over very powerfully and I have to credit my translator, Sunny Danpongpee, who had been in Bible College in Philadelph. He helped to deliver the tone of this talk very effectively. I was contrasting the stories of Simon Wiesenthal and Corrie ten Boom.
Simon heard the confession of a blinded, dying young German soldier who asked for forgiveness and then walked away, wordlessly.
Corrie shook the hand of a guard she had remembered from the Ravensbruck concentration camp and found healing.
Later the participants, including the women, asked very sensitive questions about the challenges through a life of faith.
Finally, I did a Passover demonstration: no matzoh, but Beverley (my host) did find real creamed horseradish (as if they don’t have enough heat in the food here). We used some round pita that had been toasted. And since it was after lunch, most of them had a little nap during the hour-long presentation.
Afterwards, though, they were very enthusiastic and seemed to appreciate the tableau of the Passover table—candles, cup, the unity and symbolic foods, including charoseth, and parsley. Many of them insisted on taking pictures with me in front of the table.
As we waited for the final meal, Beverley introduced me to an elderly lady who had attended all my sessions. At one point, I had asked her if she understood what I was talking about and she said, “A little.” But this woman is a bold evangelist and she and her mother have access to a very obscure tribe whose language is dying out. Because they know the language, they go into these villages, house to house, to sit with the families and share the Gospel.
Tribal life was described for me as living in another century—no electricity, running water, or bathrooms apart from the outhouses. The roads are often mountainously steep and covered in mud—you have to be determined to get through.
Super, my driver, is that kind of evangelist and his uncle was also with us, sharing with me that they liked me coming to share with them.
“We come to Canada,” he said, “and stay at your house.”
Super asked a question that a Buddhist had posed to him and he couldn’t answer. Both Beverley and I were able to address this matter, which concerned the questioner’s claim that he is sinless and not guilty of the death of Jesus.
Later, Super stood up to share his gratitude for my teaching and the love he felt for me as a brother in the Lord. The hosting pastor, Phiret, also did this.
As we closed, it was with a great sense of unity, mutual affection, and deep respect for one another’s callings. In one another, we could see profound signs of God’s faithfulness. Each one is a witness to a larger story in which God will bring to pass all that He has promised His people—both in Israel and all those who have chosen to follow Yeshua and now walk in the steps of Abraham our father.
