The Final Word

Hello Everyone,

Well, all the team have dispersed to Africa, Malaysia, England, and humble ol New Zealand, so I guess it's time for me to write my final letter to all you guys. The trip has been a really excellent one, and if anyone is considering student ministry, especially in an asian context, I highly recommend joining next year. It has been such a privilege to work with Johnny and Ann, who have so much wisdom and experience under their belts. It was also great to go with a team where everyone contributed 100% (we pretty much all got sick somewhere along the line) and had real positive attitudes the whole time.

So far, my conclusions from the trip?

Do I love the Thai people and see their need for the gospel? Definitely.
Is this love I feel unique to them? Don't know really.
Do I have unique skills for the Thai context? I think I could survive, which is actually quite a good start. Music and drama and high energy seem like pretty important assets over here, but I might scrape through with some sports skills.
If I had complete freedom, would I come back to Thailand as soon as possible? I think so.
Am I excited about what God is doing here? Yes.

Being the type of person I am, I would love to know now what I will be doing in 5-10 years so I can start preparing now, but I guess some patience won't kill me! In the short term, I would definitely like to support Central Thai ministry while I'm in NZ, so pray that I can meet some like minded people in the Naki who can pray with me for the work here.

This is the last email I will send out to everyone. Thanks so much for all the support you guys have given me. Hopefully in heaven I will be able to find out the effects of your guys prayers! It's been such an encouragement and I really thank God for the family He has given me in this world.

I have finally posted a couple pics on the blogsite for this trip, and hopefully will continue to post some stuff on there, regarding my life in Thailand.

Anyway, thank you all for your support and encouragement.

Soli Deo gloria,

Philip McIvor

Finally! Some pics.

this is my good mate Ball, who I met on the 3rd last day of our trip. he was a really friendly guy and invited me along to play football, and also over for dinner a couple times at his classmates house.


this is us on our day off, visiting a crocodile farm. we all got to hold a little baby crocodile as well which was cool.


we also went on a mini boat trip on our day off to see a swamp. lots of birds which was cool and this is our 'excited to see more birds' faces.


this is me at camp with som, ice, and nanzy, showing off our craft/holding random objects for additional photographic effect. they are high school girls from nakhon sawan. we are all at camp.


we did a haka at the camp, which everyone really loved. by the time we left, some of the girls were able to do the whole thing, in maori! which is pretty impressive.


me, posing for more photos. very exciting.

Thailand 3

Hi everyone,

Thanks heaps for praying! James and I went to play basketball on Wednesday night and 8 guys followed us back to the youth house to hear a short gospel message and join in an evening of games,which was really encouraging. It is really amazing to get guys coming along, as Johnny and Anne (missionaries working here) say that it is predominantly girls who come along.

Tonight we are going to be showing the movie Superman Returns and pick up on the theme of the world needing a saviour. Tomorrow night, the local church is putting on an evangelistic Christmas party for the church youth, so pray that they will have the courage to invite their friends.

It seems like time has gone by so fast, as we are due to finish next Friday!!! Our final big event will be a Christmas party on Thursday night, so I would really appreciate your prayers for that. It's also frustrating for me, as I feel like I am just starting to get a bit of a feel for this place and my Thai is almost becoming functional now! I can definitely see the need for Christ in this place, but whether God will use me directly or not, in the future is pretty unclear to me at this stage.

Thank you so much to everyone who replied. Great to hear from you, and thanks so much for praying for God's work over here.

Love Phil

Thailand 2

Hi guys,

Well I'm enjoying my trip a lot so far. We just got back from a camp yesterday (Monday), which was a great opportunity to get to know the students better, and a really exciting time to be part of them hearing the gospel. Out of the 25 students that came from the town I'm in, only 5 of them were Christians, which is really exciting. Pray that the students will respond to the challenge they have heard, and will see that Christianity is a complete change of lifestyle!

The camp was also quite an encouragement for me in getting some free time just to chat with the students and become a friend. It was also quite cool to see Hank, WinDee and Yuan come along who I've become good friends with. Please continue to pray that I will be able to have some meaningful conversations with them. There was a chinese Bible study at camp and a lot of questions were being asked which is cool. Eating rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner was an experience, along with all the guys sharing the same room, sleeping on just a plastic mat and a blanket (especially when some of the guys insisted on watching soccer until the wee hours of the morning, on the TV in the corner), but I was happy at how comfortable I found it all.
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Some prayer points I would really appreciate your prayer in are:

1. Continue to pray that I would be able to have significant conversations with the students here.

2. Pray that I would be able to meet some new students to invite along to the youth house here (where most of the outreach is done), especially as I go to play basketball.

3. Pray for all the students who heard the gospel at camp, that God's Spirit will convict their hearts and they will respond to this conviction.
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Anyway, feel free to let me know you are getting my emails and still care! Always nice to hear from home.

Love Phil

Thailand 1

Hello Everyone,

Well, I have been in Thailand 5 days now, and it has been pretty full on. Had a good break in Australia first. Bit dramatic, but a really good rest with my family.

We arrived on Monday at 4am, waited till 5 for rooms to be sorted out, and started the day at about 10. We are working with Jonny and Anne McClean, who are working with students here in Nakhon Sawan, Thailand. They have had over 15 teams out before so it is great to be working with people who know exactly how to use us! So far we have been involved in handing out information fliers and tracts on campus, helping out with English and Bible lessons. We have met quite a few Chinese students so far, so on Wednesday night, we had a trilingual Bible study, in Thai, English and Chinese! But amazing to see several students who have never even seen a Bible before, start to learn who Jesus is!

A highlight has been meeting three chinese guys called Hank, WinDee, and Yuan, who have been really friendly, and came to the Bible study and have said they will come to the Christmas camp we are running this weekend. I am hopefully playing basketball with some of them in 45 minutes, and pray that I will be able to meet some of their friends and invite them to the camp as well.

Johnny and Anne are expecting about 75 Thai students at the Christmas camp this weekend. It is really inspiring, in a country where Thai Christians can be persecuted for not being Buddhist, Christian students are only allowed to come along to the camp if they bring a non-Christian along with them! Pray for this camp, which runs from Friday to Monday.

I am still getting used to the heat (much hotter than I remember!), and the dress requirements of an English teacher. On our second day here, we were dragged along to buy a proper pair of dress shoes, dress pants, and a haircut!! It's the first time I've paid for a hair cut in over 7 years!

I am definitely enjoying my time here. I didn't expect it to be this busy. But time is short and as we have been reminded, we are definitely not here to be tourists! It is a really great window into what student ministry looks like in Thailand. A lot more work than I imagined, but inspiring to.

In our team times, we have also been going through the book of Philippians which is incredible. It is great to see Pauls heart for the gospel, and it is a constant reminder to me that my joy should be in what Christ has done on the cross, and my goal should be to preach that good news as much as possible!
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I would really appreciate your prayers for:

1. That we would be able to have meaningful conversations with students despite language barriers.

2. That my relationship with Hank, WinDee and Yuan, would enable them to hear and be challenged by the gospel.

3. That our team would remain focused, despite busyness, on God's love for the Thai people, and on His glory.

4. That I would see if I have unique skills for the Thai mission field.
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Thanks so much for all your prayers and support.

Love Phil

ps. to get a more comprehensive overview of what we are doing each day, visit our team sight at www.GoCU06.blogspot.com