Mennonite Church Canada Witness
International Ministry Opportunity

Assignment objective

• Help teach English to Isaan people so they get better in using this important trade language of the world.
• Use all opportunities to share Christ with the Isaan people.
• Provide assistance to the Living Water Church's programs and activities.

Qualifications: Necessary skills, experience and education

• Enjoyment of and experience in teaching.
• Love God and people, self motivated, responsible, able to work as part of a team, flexible and adaptable.
• Sensitive to culture differences and enjoy interaction with people. speaker of English
• A post-secondary education or college degree.
• Some knowledge in teaching English as a second language (TESL) would be a plus, but not neccessary.

Assignment description

There are many Thais (adults and students) who would like to learn English with native speaker(s). The English Learning Center is part of the Living Water Church. English classes for high school students are held Monday - Thursday--4:00 pm to 5:30 pm, and for adults--7:30 pm to 9:00 pm. Christian ESL materials incorporate Bible stories which provide opportunities for teaching and asking about Christian faith. Students pay a small amount of tuition for 6 weeks of learning.

Every Sunday, about 20 -30 students come to learn English at Ban Daeng church (located at Ban Daeng village) and 10 - 20 children at Borabu Church (located in the town of Borabu). Children between 7 - 15 are taught very simple English in this education hour (10:00 am - 11:00 am).

In addition to teaching English, intern workers can help out with some of the church programs including (1) Helping national staff to show the Jesus movie from time to time. This is an open theatre which commonly attracts 100 - 200 people to see the movie. The purpose for the movie is to help Isaan people to have a better understanding of who Jesus Christ is, and also we hope that some of them will come to accept Christ into their lives. (2) Help planting tapioca or other crops. The church has 5 acres of land which could be used for planting. We hope that an agricultural project would provide some income for the church. The church normally plants tapioca and other crops in June. The church needs a lot of help during the time of weeding and harvesting.

Primary duties

• Teach English to adults and high school students.
• Teach English (one hour) to children on Sunday.
• Provide assitance to church programs and activites such as showing the Jesus film, running the medical mission, planting rice or tapioca and other activities

Financial Arrangements

This assignment is self-funded by the intern. Mennonite Church Canada will develop a budget for the assignment and will invite constituency churches and individuals to support this assignment. Funds are dependent on support received.

Location factors

• Accommodations: Houses are available for rent. Costs are estimated at CAN $110 - $150 per month. Normally the house doesn't come with any furniture.
• Climate: Temperature from February to November is 30 celsius and up. December and January are cooler (about 25 celsius). Northeastern Thailand has two seasons--dry season (end of October to end of April ) and rainy season (May to October).
• Health facilities: Borabu has a small government hospital (about 50 beds) and several clinics. Doctor appointments are available in Khonkaen city, an hour drive from Borabu.
• Church: The Living Water Church of Borabu established in 2001 worships in two locations weekly --Ban Daeng village and the town of Borabu.
• Transportation: There are buses to and from Bangkok, Mahasarakham city and Khonkaen city. We use mission and church vehicles and motorcycles to go to villages.
• Food and Restaurants: There are no western restaurants serving western food in Borabu. There are these types of restaurants in Mahasarakham city (25 km) and Khonkaen city (90 km).
• Bank and post office: There are two banks with 4 ATM machines and a post office in the town of Borabu.

Interested in Applying?

You can get started right away by filling out our General Expression of Interest form or you can contact:
Kirsten Schroeder
Director of Human Resources
email:
Phone: (204) 888-6781
Toll-free: 1 866-888-6785 ext. 110