March 15, 1998 Sunday Evening

Dear Family,
First Lord's Day in a long time that I didn't preach in Thai or English. Was a nice break today to enjoy a good biblical lesson by Prasat, one of the ministers of the growing congregaton in Udorn, Thailand. While getting our mail yesterday from Vientiane, we also received all the back issues of the only English newspaper in Vientiane, the government controlled "Vientiane Times". The February 28th issue carried an article on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs press statement under the headline, "Violators to article 66 of criminal code deserve punishment." Rather than reprint the rebuttal here, you can read it online for an accurate picture of our actions that "deserve punishment."

It struck me this morning while I was listening to God's Word, instead of preaching it, of the absurdity of the charges against the Canfields and Foxes. One of the attributes of a Christian is honesty and truthfulness. If Jerry and I deceived and lied to the Lao government about our work with Partners in Progress, then maybe they have grounds for charges like "creating social unrest", "acts of religious discrimination", "acts to cleave a wedge among people", "use religious practice as a pretext for their propaganda activity", "slandering the Lao leaders", "rallying to expand the size of their membership to take upper hand over other religions", "made use of a car with a forged license plate". "One Laotian Foreign Ministry source said that the authorities had been investigating the activities of the foreign suspects for some time before the arrests took place. They came to Laos as medical volunteers but their activities were much more than their duties. They held the meeting to study the bible but took this chance to instigate division in our country,' he said."

When did we "slander the Lao leaders"? During two and a half years of preaching most Sundays for the Phon Kheng congregation, I taught a few lessons on prayer? What illustrations might I have used for Laos? Since there were one or more government spies in the congregation, what did they report to their masters about my sermons? The following story may give you some insights into the difficulty of communicating your faith to a different culture.

For four days we were separately interrogated by municipality police, and officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Department of Immigration. They had one last question for me on the fourth day: "What does it mean that a samlor driver can talk to God easier than he can talk to the Prime Minister?" I thought for a moment, wondering where this question came from, and where they wanted it to go. A samlor is a three wheeled bicycle taxi in Laos and Thailand. A samlor driver peddles his bicycle taxi all day for a living and is on the bottom rung of Lao society. The Phon Kheng congregation had three samlor driver members.

I explained to the officials that the Christian God is a Spirit and not limited by time, space, knowledge or physical locations. Jesus taught that God is always available to hear the prayers or petitions of his children. So a Christian samlor driver could pray or talk to God, anywhere or anytime, because God is always present. However, if that same samlor driver wanted to talk to the Prime Minister of Laos or any nation, he would have to request an appointment with the officials. If the appointment were graned, he would then have to wear his best clothes, wait for the appointed time, and then respectfully present his request to the Prime Minister. The officials had a puzzled look, took their notes, and left for the day. The next morning, my final session, their one big question was, please explain again about the samlor driver taking to God and the Prime Minister. It seems the previous evening they had presented my answer to their superiors and they wanted more details. So we went through the concept again of an omnipresent God that loves and listens to samlor drivers. Slander the Lao leaders? Hardly! One of the purposes of prayer is to make intercession for "kings and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity."

Sunday in Vientiane? Quiet. A few of the brethren were together but we don't know how many and where they met. Reports from other parts of Laos are sparse but contain references to another group being arrested, spies, being watched, and being cautious about their meeting together. The God who "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth," hears your prayers for the leaders of Laos that all Laotians may lead a tranquil and quiet life and come to the knowledge of the truth.

God bless,
Ken & Jean Fox