Kham Siri Article from Ang Kaew Newspaper Written on August 10, 2007, by admin.
5 August 2007
Translated by Stefan Mickel
Stefan Mickel, born in Germany has surprised me when I first met him. He spoke Thai rather fluent, even though he has a slight accent. Stefan who has his base in London lives here together with his wife and his son for 3.5 years. When they came here, they first studied Thai at a language school and practiced speaking Thai with their neighbors mainly in the community around Wat Buak Daem, where they lived.
Stefan’s trademark of a smile and building friendships causes the neighbors not to be scared to speak with a foreigner and they are treated like one of them. After a year of bonding there, they felt established in their neighborhood. They started a place that receives children and youth and they all together call it “youth club”. They have different activities there all aiming to learn English. The reason for this is to help and support the community. Stefan feels that education in Thailand is very expensive; therefore many children miss out on education. Being equipped with the ability to speak English is very important nowadays. This is the one thing he is able to give to the children. They have activities 3 times a week, Tuesdays, Thursdays in the evening where they study the Bible, English and German. On Saturdays they mainly have activities like sports, drawing or arts.
Studying and teaching of Stefan is not a tight learning by heart method or practice but he uses a method of listening and telling a story. This causes the children to feel they have fun and learn vocabulary at the same time in an easy way. For the older kids, Stefan will speak with them in English in order to lower the anxiety level of speaking in a foreign language. Because when they are bold to speak, they will soon find out here they still make mistake and can develop skills to get better.
Stefan never forces kids to study. Every kid can decide for themselves. They want to study, they can study. They want to play, they can play. Stefan believes that all of the kids have freedom to decide for themselves what they want. It will cause them to feel more relaxed.
When Stefan talks to the children who came for the first time, they are mostly likely shy, but when they join in activities or listen to a story, they start to feel more relaxed and want to participate with all the activities as well. Right from the start the club had about 10 members and more. When the numbers increased, the burden for Stefan increases too. The need for more equipment, which is necessary increases. Fortunately he has received some financial support from friends from abroad. He also has been given some games and books which are useful for the children’s development.
When I asked Stefan if he sometimes feels tired, he certainly says that he feels tired. He’d like to have an assistant but he doesn’t have enough money to employ one. Nevertheless he sometimes has a friend from abroad coming here temporarily to help with the teaching and activities with the children. But even so, in the evening he is tired. Stefan and his wife strongly aim for giving it their best shot. But Stefan is certainly very happy and satisfied that he is doing something useful for the community. He is happy that the parents of the children have told him that they progress very well in their language skills. In the future, Stefan has the concept plan of setting up a counseling centre for young people and wants to manage to be able to give credits at low interest rates, which would certainly help the community.
Stefan says the community development is very important. He wants the people in this community to become very strong in order for them to become leaders in their own community, and therefore to continue to develop the community themselves. He just wants to be a small part in it. One part which helps the community to develop in their own pace.
This way of thought makes me think he is doing it right. It is also not important what the children’s’ belief system is or if they practice the same religion, the only thing they have is common is a united heart…….
Volunteers sacrifice themselves as part of the community…..
Even so it looks as if they only work with a small group within the community; one can compare it with a light of a candle that maybe can be extinguished anytime. But this small light, this candle is able to send/bring light and to lead the way in the community in their own pace in the future- that’s for sure.
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Prayer letter March 07 Written on March 21, 2007, by admin.
Dear Friends,
Family
As a family we are doing well, especially Tobias ,who is really enjoying life.
We are also fostering little Matthew, who has his good days and his bad days. Because he has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, to care for him is a lot of work and esp. Tina is at times very tired.
4 weeks ago we had a burglary in our house and they stole our computer, my PDA and our camera, hence another delay to send out this prayer letter.
Ministry
We had the privilege of baptizing Anusha. It was a wonderful occasion, as the Holy Spirit was there. Even now we still meet regular for bible studies. He is certainly growing as a Christian.
Saturdays at Kam Siri
“Chek came in proudly with her own bible, asking me, what time we’ll study the bible”.
Then we told the kids the story of the prodigal son today. When we prayed the kids were lying on the floor with eyes closed , receiving the fathers’ love. Then Garfield told Tina, she wants to receive Jesus into her life. So we prayed and she received him. We also prayed against the fear of ghosts and darkness.”
We are not teaching English a lot, but having some worship songs and then telling the kids bible stories. They really, really love it and 3 weeks ago 6 more children gave their lives to Jesus. Jesus is simply good news.
Youth club atmosphere.
We bought some new games again. So, some kids play games, some learn English, some do colouring, some play badminton – relaxed, but good atmosphere.
The adults
I‘ll actually copy a part of my diary now:
Uan told us that his niece, Eeh had a very bad accident. Head injuries, bleeding from the ear, having fits and throwing up. Despite the heavy symptoms they released her from hospital after one day. In the evening we prayed for her. She was very frail and bruised.
We prayed. We sensed God’s presence in the room . Waves of mercy, waves of peace came and I had a sense of “The Lord is my strength” for her. With such a presence of God there must also be his healing presence…….
We went back the next day into her room. Here she was, conscious, talking and looked much stronger. She had a meal already.
I think God has done something here.
Eeh has seen a doctor today. He told her the only problem left for her is dried up blood in her ears. God simply healed her and dried up the blood flow.
What an awesome God we have!!!!!!”
For the last 6 weeks I’ve seen Sawad’s mom almost every day. She started with a very heavy cough and has been diagnosed with Tuberculosis. She is very poor and had a difficult life, but she knows Jesus now. She knows that God has chosen her and prepared a place for her. She is rich now in her heart and every time we meet she wants me to pray for her.
One more quotation from diary:
“2 days ago I talked to Meela, who sells little Buddhas outside AUA. Language School, when a mentally handicapped girl crossed the road. Meela introduced me to her and asked me to go with her to find her dad, who is apparently not too well. So I went with her and after a long walk through a lot of small lanes we found her dad. He is living on a pavement, surrounded by some plastic sheets, outside a run\close down shopping unit. He is the poorest person I ever met in person .Besides being extraordinary skinny, he also has no clothes. Only a few very dirty blankets. He cannot go anywhere, because he has no clothes to wear!! No money, help for clothes or food!! We talked a bit. For his physical condition, he is mentally rather in good shape. After a while he asked me why I look so satisfied. So I told him about Jesus. He believed everything and I prayed with him to receive Jesus in his life. So he did and I bought him some food and promised him a bible.
I went back today with some clothes for him and his daughter. I also gave him a bible.” End of quotation
His name is Sii and his daughter ‘s name is Chek.
I see them regular now, talking , eating and praying together.
God is really extending his kingdom here and we love to follow the fathers’ lead.
It’s a great privilege to see God working amongst the poor.
Prayer Points:
- Please pray for us as a family. Having Matthew living with us puts quite a strain on us, esp. where it is a lot of work for Tina.
- Please pray for Matthew. He needs a big healing miracle from Jesus, there his cerebral palsy is rather severe.
- Anusha and his family. His grandmother , aunty and uncle are already Christians. His parents and brothers seem more open now.
- Please continue to pray for all the new believers.
- The kids at Kam Siri. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will fall on them and reveal the fathers’ love. Please also pray that we are sensitive to the Holy Spirit and the needs of the children, as we build relationships with them.
- Please also pray for Sii and Chek, that God will continue to be with them and protect them.
- I will tell you more in our next prayer letter, but God opened a great door into the prison and psychatric hospital here in Chiang Mai. Please pray that God will guide Stefan and he will see healings and salvations in there.
- We need a team to build on the work. Pray that God will bring the right people ho share the same vision.
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Prayer Letter Feb 07 Written on February 21, 2007, by admin.
Dear Friends,
It has been over 3 years that we are in Chiang Mai, Thailand and God has open doors and guiding us in the ministries that we are doing and continue to open more doors into other area where His heart is. Thank you so much for your support and prayers.
Family
Stefan’s knee is nearly fully recovered from the motorbike accident. Tobias is enjoying school very much and is fluent with German language. He is speaking 3 languages well for his age (English, German & Thai).
Ministry
Khamsiri ministry is still very alive and kids are enjoying playing and learning.
Prayer points
- Proctection as a family.
- For us as a family that we will be sensitive to God’s guidance in every area of our life here in Chiang Mai.
- Matthew – total healing of epilepsy (he is on medication) and he will continue to grow physically. Pray especially that he is heal of stomach reflux and drink/eat normally.
- Sawat’s mum
How to contact us:
We will be distributing regular news for prayer. This will be
- By group email
- Hard copies
- Through prayer gatherings.
For those in our home church – Riverside Vineyard , London
admin@riversidevineyard.com
For others contact Ian Watts – 020 8944 0982 – hallelujah150@yahoo.com
Or if you want to support us in any way, you can contact us here in Chiang Mai. Our Email address is mail@mickels.org
Our website is www.cornerstoneasia.co.uk
Thank you all so much for your support and prayer. We miss you a lot, but it is great to know that you are right behind us.
Lots and lots of love
Stefan, Tina & Tobias
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