Every January, a mission team led by Zion members go to Thailand for two weeks. We share our faith and teach English to Hmong high school students who attend a Thai school and reside in a student hostel named House of Hope in ThaWangPha, a village of a few thousand people in northern Thailand not far from Laos. We do likewise at the student hostel in Pua called Cathy’s Home.

Education, the English language, and faith in God who created us and Christ who leads us are a firm foundation for the students who live in hostels. They often come from non-believing families. Almost always, they both graduate from high school and asked to be baptized at 18 years of age.

The Hmong people with origins in southern China are scattered across the highlands of Laos, Thailand, North Vietnam, and Burma – over a million strong. In the aftermath of the war in Vietnam, a select group of Hmong were resettled to the US. The population of Hmong Americans now exceeds 300 thousand.  I am in awe of the Hmong families I know in Oshkosh. Their work ethic, tenacity, and family values are exemplary. 

We work under the direction of missionaries from Nagaland, India. House of Hope and Cathy’s Home where we work offer a home away from home for middle school and high school students. With their houseparents the students read the Bible, sing, and worship every day, and study very hard.

This year we are also going to a refugee camp where many Karen live. We will connect with them and see what God has in store.

The entire Karen congregation of Oshkosh prayed for us and with us, and fed us a feast in preparation for our upcoming trip. What a joy to partner with this vibrant Christian community of Oshkosh! The smiles in the pictures say it all.