“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” – Matthew 7: 24-27 (NIV)

How We Meet

One day on a hunting trip walking through the mountains, I saw a hut from afar. As I got closer, I heard laughter. I peeked into the hut and saw a Muangz and her friends. I instantly fell in love with Muangz. We have four boys and been married for 31 years. 

Muangz: “My father left my mother when I was very young. She was an opium addict and wasn’t able to take care of my brother and I. When I saw him, he was handsome. My mother approved and I was very happy to marry Wuonh”.

Witness to the Miracle

When I was younger, my older sister-in-law offered a goat as a sacrifice to our ancestors in a Taoist ceremonial to atone for their sins. After the ceremony she decided not to kill the goat and let it go. The goat ran for his life and trampled over her son, Gauv Tim. He went into shock and became crippled. He could not walk for years. He only knew how to crawl. Years later, the white men came into our village, surrounded Gauv Tim, held onto his hands and legs, and prayed over him. It was God’s grace and a miracle, Gauv Tim got up on his legs and walked. Praise the Lord, I was a believer then. I never knew who God was until that day, God showed me his Gloriousness! I told my husband then that I was going to become a Christian.

Muangz insisted we become believers. It was hard for me as I was considered one of the Shaman. At that time, I really didn’t understand what the Gospel was. That was the first time I heard of Jesus. I was afraid that if we became believers, there would be problems and if there were problems, I would not know who to call for help. In my village, no one I knew was a believer in Christ. I only knew of one Mien person that was a believer but he was from Northern Thailand in Chiang Rai, too far for me to travel and ask for help.

Challenges in Our Marriage

I was selfish, didn’t think of anyone but myself. I was an alcoholic, gambler, had anger issues, and used drugs. I didn’t care much for my wife or family at the time. I had affairs with other women and left Muangz home with the children taking care of everything while I was out having fun. It seemed as if I had committed every possible sin a husband could commit. I am truly ashamed of it. I was a horrible husband, was caught up in adulteress behaviors, and didn’t know how to get out of it. Honestly. I wasn’t able to show her or share with her all my love. The most challenging times in our relationship was when I left Muangz with my children for another woman. I was with this other woman for years until she was deported to Laos. I even thought about moving to Laos. Praise the Lord and my beautiful wife that she still loved me through all of our challenges. I don’t know what I would’ve done. I know now that this is God’s chosen partner for me in this life and nothing can separate us because God won’t allow it. Scripture says:

“For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate”. -Matthew 19:5-6 (NIV)

While he was gone, I still had to make a living. I was picking cottons for a living then. I carried one child in front and another on my back while I was picking cottons. I would fill up a rice bag of cottons for a few bhat only. But it was better than nothing. Even though he had left, I didn’t say much. It just hurt too much for me to. It was hard for me to do anything or concentrate on anything else. There were days were I felt so angry, I didn’t want to exist. He continued to go and I couldn’t stop him. I just stayed home and took care of my kids. When he would come back home, we would go pick cottons together as a family but he would wander somewhere else and not help watch the children. When it was time for lunch, he would come over and eat. There were times when I had forgotten to bring hot sauce. He would yell at me saying that I was so stupid to forget it. There’s just no words to describe how hurtful it was. When the pain in my heart became too unbearable, I started to speak up. Telling him to stop going and then eventually tried to stop him from leaving. He began to become very violent. There is no pain much greater than having the person you love the most say horrible things about you and then becoming abusive towards you. I wanted to die so many times. I even went to Wuonh’s mother to ask if there was something she could say to him. Wuonh’s mother would tell me that that it was my fault, that I wasn’t being obedient. Those words I cannot forget because it pierced through my heart”.

Motorcycle Accident

I was drunk and high on pills. My friend was driving me home after a night of partying. On the way home, our motorcycle flipped over as we were going downhill on a dirt road. I woke up the next morning finding myself in the hospital. I was informed that my friend was tossed down the hill into the canal and I went with the motorcycle while it flew up into the air and landed on a tree. I was hanging upside down on the motorcycle. I could’ve died then. Miraculously, my friend and I came out of the accident with just a few bruises, a couple fractured bones, and a nose reconstruction. 

The Pamphlet

After many years of living the old way of life, I felt I needed a change. I became so tired and not understanding the reasons. I decided to call my son who lived in Bangkok who was a salesman to see if we could go visit him for a few days. He was happy to have us and we helped him sell stuff. While helping out on the streets, these pamphlets were on the ground everywhere and there were hundreds of them about the size of my palm. I remember stepping on them as we were working. One flew by and landed on me. I picked it up and started reading it. As I was reading the pamphlet, that moment I understood. I understood that Jesus can save us. Thinking back, when the white missionaries came. I didn’t understand what they were or why they came but, at that moment it all made sense.

God Showed Us His Love

During that time, we really wanted to convert but was so afraid because we didn’t know anything and did not have a nearby church to go to. Our great Auntie lost her husband and was very depressed so she asked the Hmong people in the village to help convert her to Christ. She was the first Mien in our village to announce that she was a Jesus believer. My wife and I decided that if our great Auntie will have happiness and can live peacefully, we will also convert. We took her as an example to see what Jesus would do in her life. We saw how God gave her love, peace, and comforted her in those days.

The Conferences

Once we accepted Christ, we faced many trials in our life. My father disowned me, I still had temptations to read the Shaman books, and my youngest son was in a horrible motorcycle accident and broke his leg. I became discouraged asking questions to God, why was I going through this? Where was God? Why isn’t God helping? Why would He allow this to happen? This made me very angry and wanted some answers. When we heard there was a conference in Chiang Mai, I didn’t feel like going because I was so discouraged. The next year, I knew I wanted to attend because Muangz and I disagree on so many things in life and we had gone through so much in our earlier years together. I knew we had lots to work out.

When we first attended the conference, I felt full of encouragement. This is our third time attending the Marriage Conferences. This conference helps us understand each other. Learn to know how to respect and forgive each other. I mentioned before I had anger issues and can become violent at times. I wasn’t a patient man at all. After the first time attending the marriage conference, I learned to have self-control. There were so many times when I wanted to argue with Muangz but didn’t. This conference taught us that self-control begins with each of us. We also learned that as partners in life, we need to do things that are pleasing to God.

Most importantly, we learned what our role as Godly parents looked like from these conferences. In my earlier years, I never had patience to take care of my children. In fact, I never knew how to raise my children. After the conference, I realized that I did wrong. I am so hurt because of these conferences. I hurt not for me but, for the people I hurt. The teachings in the conference made me realize that for so many years, what I had put my family through. I apologized to my wife and asked for her forgiveness. We wept and held each other. All the struggles and pain we faced in our earlier years seemed so small compared to the feeling of love, forgiveness, and happiness at that moment. This year’s conference teaches us to build a firm foundation in Christ. We intend to apply the teachings in our lives. As scripture says, “So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.” - Isaiah 28:16 (NIV)

Every time I attend, I always learn something new. Without the scholarships from brothers and sisters, we would not have been able to learn how to be better partners and understand our role as parents in Christ. We do not get to hear these types of teachings in our church, we really depend on this conference. We would like it more often if possible. We are eager to learn to become closer to God. I truly can say that I am still learning and seeking on how to become that Godly Man God wants me to be for my family. Thank you so much for these conferences and allowing the opportunity for us to attend.

Prayer Request

We would like to ask our brothers and sisters to please help pray for our congregation. We would like to have a Pastor in our village to lead us. Without a Pastor leading us, we are afraid that some may lose faith. There are more couples in our village that can benefit from these kinds of teachings. Please help pray for my children and parents that they will come to know Christ soon. I pray that soon their eyes will be wide open to see Jesus’s love for them. Please pray that this conference continues and will have many supporters and sponsors to host the 2018 conference. Hope that we will have the opportunity to attend the next conference soon to learn more.