Chiang Mai, Thailand? Yes, that's right. Chiang Mai, “The jewel of the North” is in Thailand, “The land of a million elephants” and “The land of smiles” in South-East Asia, also part of the 10-40 window.
Where We Serve
Population and Geography
Do we live in grass huts and ride elephants to school? Well not in recent years, but Chiang Mai does have a long cultural heritage that involves those things. In fact, when we had the restaurant, a local elephant would come visit and patrons could feed it bananas! Chiang Mai is the second largest city in Thailand after the capital of Bangkok. With a population of more than 1.2M people, it's not small, but is still a dwarf compared to Bangkok’s 11.2M. Chiang Mai is a fast growing urban area that sits in a valley surrounded by beautiful mountains.
Religion
Buddhism (92.5%) is the official religion of the country, though many strong animistic beliefs are intertwined in Thai belief systems. Islam comes in second with about 5.4%, and still only about 1.2% are Christians with a majority of these being non-Thai nationals from various other tribal groups.
Chiang Mai - Base Camp South-East Asia
Thailand has long-time been a haven for religious freedom and God has opened many opportunities for missionaries to minister in Thailand freely as well as use cities like Bangkok and Chiang Mai as bases for ministries to surrounding closed countries.
Unfortunately with the lack of educational support for missionary families in many surrounding countries as well as the high cost of most international schools, it has led to a high number of missionaries having to leave the field in previous years. Grace International School in Chiang Mai has been on a mission to serve missionary families and offer them the educational support they need while also offering financial aid through the help of direct donors to the school. The volunteer foreign admin and teacher workforce that raises their own support provide that support as well. Within this Thai and international context, Jessica and Elijah will be serving as a support to missionary families and will continue to reach out to non-believing Thai and foreign communities through both the international school and the business context.