“And what is your job?” We’ve had to answer that question many times since we’ve been here. What should we answer? We laugh at the thought of saying, “Our job is to convert you!” But really, is it our job to convert people? No. Only God can truly change sinful hearts and minds. Ultimately, I think our job is to love, obey, and cooperate with Him—prayerfully and lovingly sharing Him and His gospel in a way that makes sense to the Northern Khmer. Then we can nurture and disciple believers so they can continue to share Christ among their own people. But how can we explain this to them when, as it is, we can barely carry on the simplest survival-related conversations? I started telling people that our job was now to merely learn about the people of Surin and learn both Thai and Northern Khmer.

That raised other questions. “Why have you come to learn about Surin of all places?” “Why are you so interested in the Northern Khmer language?” These things are highly unusual for foreigners.

One day our neighbors stopped by for a visit. Our landlords, Taa (grandfather) and Yei (grandmother), welcomed them with great respect. The woman was a teacher. The man also claimed to be a geography teacher. As we visited, he asked if he could see our passports. I didn’t think anything of it. People are often intrigued with this little book that gives a person license to travel to faraway places. Perhaps this guy, too, was an aspiring world traveler. But then he proceeded to copy my full name, my passport number, its place and date of issue, expiration, etc. into a notebook. This made me nervous. What could he do with that information? I asked him why he was copying my passport information.

He said something about keeping a record to remember his foreign friends in Thailand. Yeah right! After he left, I asked Taa very directly what his neighbor’s job was. He told me that his job was to know things that happen around Surin. I didn’t understand so another neighbor told me that he was kind of like the FBI in America. Ha! The Thai FBI was watching us. Why? Could it be because I had been saying that my job was to learn about the people of Surin and learn both Thai and Northern Khmer—a vague job description that sounds a lot like that of my Thai FBI neighbor? Was I making it sound like Shannon and I are spies?

I’ve since decided to be a little more clear about what Shannon and I intend to do. Now I say that my job is to learn Thai and Northern Khmer, and afterwards to teach English, Bible, health, and music somewhere in the Surin province. Their reaction when I mention Bible classes is rather neutral. But English? In two weeks, we were offered four places where we could stay rent-free in exchange for teaching English. Teachers have much respect here, and many people want to learn English. So regardless of their feelings about Christianity, we find that we are unanimously welcomed and appreciated. I’ve not heard from the FBI neighbor either so I’m assuming all is well.

We have been in Thailand for 19 days. We wanted our first Thai experiences and relationships to be made not with other missionaries, foreigners, or even the Thai people in general, but specifically with our target people group, the Northern Khmer. So we hurried to the Surin province and most recently to Prasat where we have been focusing on building relationships ever since. How?

First of all, we chose to rent a room and live with a Northern Khmer family instead of renting an entire house for ourselves. In a sense, that made us part of a family and not just the strange foreign couple across the street. Although we agreed with our landlords that we would make our own vegetarian food, which was a relief to Yei, still she made several vegetarian dishes for us and asked us to make American vegetarian food for her. She was terribly curious what kind of foods Americans make. But what kinds of American food can you make with oriental vegetables, oriental se
Elementary school children. asonings, and oriental appliances and utensils? Shannon said, “I used to know how to cook in America, but they don’t have our food in their markets.” It’s true.

Even in the progressive city of Bangkok, we walked every aisle of a modern supermarket without putting anything in our basket. We didn’t know what to do with what we saw there. It was even more of a challenge to buy food in Prasat’s traditional outdoor market and make something that wouldn’t shame our fellow American vegetarians. To make a long story short, we bought veggies and tofu. Yei added the seasonings. We all took credit for it and ate together as a family on their mat in the center of their living room. It was fun.

Walking through the market was an experience in itself. Everyone was extremely curious about these two new white faces. “Pai nai? Tong arai?” they asked. We didn’t understand their Thai, and no one spoke any English. “Do you speak Khmer?” we asked. “Speak!” they answered affirmatively. “You speak Khmer?!” they asked in surprise. “Speak a little—Southern Khmer,” I replied. And so began an hour and a half of many short conversations. It was good language learning time, and people seemed to like us, but it was tiring.

“Man! This dialect is really hard to understand!” I told Shannon. She needed no convincing. A lot of Northern Khmer words are totally different. Most of the words that are the same have such different accents and stresses that I can only recognize them by their context.
We realized that trying to learn Northern Khmer before learning Thai would be too difficult and frustrating since no Northern Khmer people speak English, and Shannon would be continually dependent on me for her language learning. So we decided to search for a Thai/English speaker instead. The only ones in town were the local high school English teachers. We told them of our plight and they offered to teach us Thai in exchange for our services as guest English teachers. And so began a new phase of bonding.

The next Monday, we dressed up like professionals and taught English classes for two hours, basically telling the students about our lives in simple English. It was fun for everyone. In the afternoon, we met with a teacher named Mew (literally “Cat”) who taught us to say in Thai, “May I practice Thai with you? My name is _______. I just came from America with my spouse. We want to learn to speak Thai because we will live here for six years. This is all I can say. Good-bye.” We recorded Mew’s voice on our 30-second loop tapes as he read our text aloud. Then we memorized it. Next came the test. I went to the soccer field to play with the guys and practice my text. Shannon went to the exercise park to walk the track and speak with whomever was there. An hour and a half later, Shannon returned with a smile on her face. “I practiced with 15 people, and they understood me!” she exclaimed. “Finally, I feel like I am actually making friends for myself without having to depend on you.” I rejoiced with her.

Since then, we’ve met our many language helpers all over Prasat. Shannon and I enjoy introducing each other to our friends. Often our new friends see us walking to or from the market, and they stop to offer us rides on their motorcycles. These random acts of kindness are like gentle rain on our friendship-thirsty souls. We praise God for them. Building deep, meaningful relationships is our goal. Loving communication and social interaction is the key. We have a long way to go. Someday we will know the words to tell them about our loving Savior. For now, we are dependent babies in this new culture who can only preach through our smiles and actions. Some have already told us that we are different from most of the foreigners they have seen—kind and smiling all the time. Then we share our one-sentence sermon with them: “We are happy because God makes us happy!\”

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