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  • 2008
    • September
      • End of the Blog
        09/24/08
        Well this is my last post on this blog for sometime. I arrived home on Monday evening and have been getting ready to return to Southampton. I hope you have enjoyed reading about my time in Thailand and have been encouraged by God's work in Nan province. Thank you for your prayers and support.

      • September Prayer Letter - Mighty to Save
        09/24/08
        “Saviour, He can move the mountains, My God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save
        Forever, Author of Salvation, He rose and conquered the grave, Jesus Conquered the grave” from Mighty to Save by Hillsongs

        Dear Friends,

        It was with sadness I left Pua on Saturday morning (

      • Farewell
        09/23/08
        “Hey Paul, you want to come and see the pig getting cut up?” Saman called to me. It was something they had mentioned on the first day and a group of men from the village, appeared in the garden to shave, chop and barbeque the fattened pig for me. It was quite a sight to see an animal being cut up fo

      • Journey Home
        09/20/08
        It was with great sadness that I left Pua this morning. I travelled back to Chiang Mai with Nok and Saman and a friend of theirs. It has been a wonderful time and a wonderful last few days with another girl who came to English camp choosing to accept Jesus just last night (Friday night). I have lots

      • SIM Conference – Getting a grip on world mission
        09/16/08
        One of things I find most exciting about returning home is having opportunities to encourage people by sharing stories from my time away. One such opportunity is the SIM day conference in Bristol on the 11th October. There will be other people speaking about SIM’s work around the world and I will be

      • English Camp
        09/15/08
        This weekend was something of a climax to my time here as Mindy and I held an English camp at the Chiang Klang mission compound. It was an extremely fun time as we had wonderful opportunities to share the gospel, to teach English and play some games. We had around 25 teenagers from Chiang Klang and

      • The Power of Native Language
        09/08/08
        “Utterly amazed they asked “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?” Acts 2:7-8

        When we read verses like these it is easy to feel a little jealous of the power the Holy Spirit gave the apostles on that day of

      • Mon
        09/08/08

        Mon seen here washing a rather reluctant cat

        I’ve already introduced you to a few of my friends and the people I live with and here is another. Mon has become a good friend while I’ve been here despite having little in common. She is a Bible college student and is spending her 10 mo

      • State of Emergency
        09/02/08
        You may have heard as I have this morning about a "State of Emergency" in Bangkok after a riot last night. It would be fair to say that Thailand's political situation is quite fragile at the moment and this could well be the start of some changes but life is certainly not affected in

    • August
      • Jungle Adventure with the Jungle Kid
        08/25/08
        “Mindy, you’re really quite at home here aren’t you?” A beaming smile on Mindy’s face confirmed my thoughts as we enjoyed watching some of the youth from Pua church splashing around. For Mindy trekking up a river in the jungle was quite a normal thing, “the kind of thing you do with your dad on a Sa

      • August Prayer Letter - Answered Prayers
        08/19/08
        "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" Matthew 7:9-11
      • Lua Village
        08/19/08
        Sunday afternoon presented a great opportunity to go with Mindy, Noi and Blake to one of the villages they work in. Mindy works in two Lua villages teaching English and giving medical advice. This Sunday was a special time for the village as they had their yearly spiritual ceremony thing which invol

      • "So Paul, are you going to be a long term missionary?"
        08/14/08
        Last weekend I took a short break in Chiang Mai or “Little America” as it is nicknamed by missionaries in Thailand. It was a good break and I enjoyed having deeper conversations in English and spending time with some English, American and Thai friends. It was also nice to taste some western food aga

      • Nam too-um
        08/08/08
        Yesterday it was time for a new word to be added to my vocabulary, Nam too-um which means flood. It didn't seem too bad but did affect quite a number of houses at the end of the road about a kilometre from where I'm staying and the girl's school has been closed for a few days. One of

    • July
      • "I Will Build My Church"
        07/31/08


        One of the tasks of a few weeks ago was putting a ceiling on the church. Previously it was a fairly un-impressive building with 4 concrete walls and a tin roof but after 4 days of work it now has a ceiling as well! A few of the teenagers and an older guy in the church lent a hand climbin

      • Takraw
        07/29/08
        If ever there were a game for a flexible, competitive man it would be Takraw. I however simply am not, although it is fun trying. This is very much an East Asian sport which is very similar to volleyball although you can’t use your hands to get the ball over the net, you can however use any other pa

      • Old Friends
        07/17/08


        Today was an exciting day as I had my first taste of travelling by myself in Thailand. It wasn’t too difficult, I got a bus to Nan and back about 60km. It was however very exciting to meet up with my old friend Aun again. He was my student and best friend at The Centre last year but sinc

      • July Prayer Letter
        07/15/08
        “Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvellous deeds among all peoples.” Psalm 96:1-3

        Dear Friends,

        We have so much to “Sing to the Lord”

      • The days of Adam
        07/14/08


        “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you and you will eat of the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it

      • Chiang Klang
        07/07/08
        Tuesday was yet another sweltering day with temperatures over 35°C in Chiang Mai. Fortunately I was travelling with Mindy, Noi and Bang to Nan Province in an air conditioned truck. The journey took about 8 hours including stops for lunch at a roadside restaurant, Tesco-to stock up on supplies for th

    • June
      • Arrived!
        06/27/08
        We finally arrived in Chiang Mai, 24 hours after leaving Thatcham at around midday on Wednesday. It was a pleasant journey with only a minor trauma in Bangkok after we were delayed in Bahrain we nearly missed our flight to Chiang Mai but made it just in time, and our bags made it too. It was great t

      • June Prayer Letter
        06/17/08
        “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.”

        Dear Friends,
        I want to start by

  • 2007
    • July
      • June/July Prayer Letter "Home Coming"
        07/19/07
        Dear Friends,

        I write my final prayer letter for the foreseeable future with sadness that this gap year has come to an end but praising God for a wonderful time and all the great things he has taught me and shown me this last year. It feels a very long time ago that I wrote and so much ha

      • India Photo's
        07/04/07
        I've only now got round to putting up India photo's, do take a look. Link to your right.

    • June
      • The last week!
        06/28/07
        Well, we are here, our last few days in Thailand. At times it has felt like this time has been a while in coming at others it has felt like it is here far too soon. I have mixed emotions about returning home, while I'm excited to see everyone at home and enjoy some good mother's cooking, i

      • India
        06/22/07


        As I mentioned, 2 weeks ago we trotted off to India for a bit of holiday before returning to Chiang Mai for a busy final 2 weeks. We were heading for a small town in the north of India called Mussoorie. Mussoorie is an extremely beautiful place, it is located in the foot hills of the H

      • Going to India
        06/06/07
        Tomorrow we continue our travels around this vast continent of Asia as we head to India for a week. We will be traveling with friends from Chiang Mai to a small town in the north of India, at the foot of the Himalaya's. We have been told it is a very beautiful place and so I'm sure we will

    • May
      • May Prayer Letter
        05/31/07
        Dear Friends,

        As the rainy season has closed in on Chiang Mai our work has continued with the various encouragements and frustrations that each day brings. Chiang Mai has seemed a little more like home at times this month as we have often been welcomed to a day by drizzle and gloomy skies

      • Earthquake!
        05/23/07
        Being English I'm not used to earthquakes so the fact that Chiang Mai was hit by a big earthquake last week is really quite exciting. Newspapers claim that it was 6.3 on the Rickter scale and its epicenter was just 260km from here. The funny thing, I didn't even feel it. As I sat in The Ce

      • More Exciting News
        05/18/07


        Dear Friends,

        The Centre was an extremely excited place to be yesterday as we heard news that one of our students Jeep became a Christian. Jeep was only at The Centre for a couple months arriving around the same time as us and then leaving a few months ago. He is now living

      • Moogatar
        05/15/07


        Moogatar has to be one of my favorite places to eat in Chiang Mai and my advice to any tourist would be to give it a go, it is certainly an experience. We ate there on Saturday night with a couple of students and some of the YWAM team we have been working with along with around 600 othe

      • New Friends
        05/08/07


        People tell me that Gap years often change you as you experience new things and meet new people. While I know this to be true I didn't quite expect to change in this way. I have never been a great fan of any kind of animal but the worst were by far Dogs. Dogs have a habit of comin

      • A Simple Thai family with something very special
        05/08/07
        This is a story that I helped P'Opal write last week and thought I might share it with you. P'Opal is the boss at The Centre and became a Christian about 3 years ago; ever since she has prayed earnestly for her family and here is the story. P'Opal writes:

        In October 2005 my

      • April Prayer Letter
        05/07/07
        Dear Friends,

        April has been another month of ups and downs and a lot of travelling. It has been what we hope will be the warmest month of our time here and as the rains draw in we continue to enjoy ourselves working with the students at The Centre. Sometimes it has been hard to find the

    • April
      • Thai Celebrities
        04/29/07


        Its not everyday you meet famous people so here is one. I haven't a clue who he is but my students told me his name is "Ot" and he is very famous for his food programs in Thailand, so I guess he might be the equivalent of Jamie Oliver back home. Anyway, we were just havi

      • The Beach
        04/17/07


        There are many great things about being a missionary in Thailand and one of them has to be the opportunity to take a holiday on one of the many “paradise islands”. Last week was “Songkran” (the festival to celebrate the Thai New Year) and we followed many of the westerners in Chiang Ma

      • A weekend with a Thai family
        04/05/07

        Dinner with Aun's parents and his uncle

        Last weekend saw an exciting opportunity to visit the home of one of my students. Aun who I had taught for 2 months and build a good friendship with, took me to his family home just outside a town called Phrae. He has a simple family, j

      • March Prayer Letter
        04/02/07
        Dear Friends,

        As I write the third prayer letter I have sent from Chiang Mai I realise that this must mean I am half way through my time here. We are enjoying ourselves so much that even the mention of going home is banished immediately. However March has been a month of ups and downs as

    • March
      • Fear Factor
        03/22/07
        As hopefully many of you may have remembered, Tuesday was my birthday! What would normally be a day with a few presents in the morning, a day at school and then a nice meal in the evening was rather different this year. It was a day that was shrouded in mystery, came with an early and unexpected sta

      • Back to School
        03/16/07
        This morning saw an unusually early start at around 6:15 to be up in time for school. Today was a special opportunity to visit “Grace International School”, located just south of Chiang Mai, it is a school run primarily for MKs (Missionary Kids) whose parents work all over Asia. As we could see from

      • Exciting News
        03/06/07
        "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
        "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a

      • Discipleship House
        03/06/07


        As well as teaching English, The Centre has several ways of reaching students with the Gospel. I have already told you a bit about “Cooking night” but one of the other ways is through Discipleship House. This is located just across the road from The Centre and its aim is to provide a s

    • February
      • February Prayer Letter
        02/28/07
        Dear Friends,

        Time has been whistling past at a rate of knots as we find ourselves at the end of our 2nd month in Chiang Mai; February as been a much more settled and normal month than January as we have got used to being at The Centre every day. We have really got to know the staff here

      • Cooking Night
        02/15/07


        As well as offering students a chance to improve their English, The Centre also has evening activities to help build relationships with the students. One of these is the legendary Wednesday Cooking Night. This is a chance for the students to learn how to cook Western food and also to ha

      • Elephant Riding
        02/10/07
        Today we tagged on to a lively bunch of SIM treasurers to head of on a day of Elephant riding, trekking through the Jungle, visiting a hill tribe village and bamboo rafting. Need it be said it was tremendous fun. The day started with a spot of Elephant riding, we got the ADHD Elephant that which too

      • Agency Day
        02/07/07
        Today we were invited to attend a conference with other SIM missionaries who are working in China. Some of them are here in Chiang Mai for another conference with SIM's partner organisation so today was a chance for them to share their experiences and prayer requests with us. Unfortunately, as

    • January
      • January Prayer Letter
        01/26/07
        Dear friends...
        Welcome to Chiang Mai! Nathan and I arrived here safely Monday morning (8th Jan) after a long but pleasant flight from Heathrow to Bangkok and then a short flight to Chiang Mai. We have so far settled in well and we’re enjoying the busy life that accompanies living in the middle

      • The Poor Singer
        01/25/07
        (or is that just an even poorer pun?)

        Nathan and I are settling back into life in Chiang Mai just now, having recently returned from about five days at the SIM C-SEA (Central & Southeast Asia) conference in Singapore...

        We arrived last Friday (19th January) and as the confe

      • December Prayer Letter
        01/24/07
        Dear Friends,

        December could be described as a kind of no-man’s-land of the SIM GAP programme. The 8 weeks of orientation is over and the great adventures yet to begin. These last few weeks have been a good time to relax and reflect on the past 8 weeks and prepare for the coming 6 months

      • The Blog
        01/24/07
        Hi, welcome to my blog. I’m Paul Zealey from Newbury, England. I’m currently taking a gap year with SIM (Serving in Mission). After 2 months training in the UK last year I am now in Chiang Mai, Thailand, working with university students and sharing the good news of Jesus with them. I am here with my