A letter from Bill Yoder in Thailand
Christmas 2007
Dear Friends,
It is difficult to believe that Christmas is here once again. The past year has flown by so quickly, no doubt because I spent nearly four months of it in the United States doing my final home assignment and participating in Mission Challenge ’07, an attempt by our PC(USA) to connect the local churches and presbyteries with global mission once again. It was, by my estimate, a resounding success; and, perhaps, a sign of how mission interpretation should move in the future.
I retired from being Dean of McGilvary College of Divinity on May 31, 2007, and will retire from the payroll of the PC(USA) on December 31, 2007. I will continue, however, as a long-term volunteer for the Presbyterian Church serving as their regional liaison for mainland Southeast Asia. Payap University also conferred on me the title of dean emeritus at my retirement celebration on June 9, 2007. So I’m not quite sure what “retirement” means! I do know that it has entailed a good deal of paper work for the PC(USA) and for the Social Security Administration.
I returned to Chiang Mai in time to attend the McGilvary and Payap graduation exercises in which our first class of international Master of Divinity students received their diplomas. This was my last big program initiated at McGilvary, and it was a blessing and a joy to see them finish after five years of planning and organization and finally getting the program up and running and successful. The graduates will be great assets to their churches and blessings to their people throughout Southeast Asia.
I intend to do some teaching as well. I am happy to be able to turn my attention once again to students and their personal and learning needs rather than doing administration. I also intend to do a good deal of writing, as I have indicated in the past. I continue to be concerned for the scholarship needs of our students at McGilvary, and I hope all of you will continue to help me with this. I will give you information at the end of this letter.
It was a joy to see so many of you while in the States. It was also very frustrating that I could not visit all of you. My time with Mission Challenge meant I could not visit many of the churches and friends I usually do. My friend and brother Bill Blair and Top and Jane Peterson saw to it that I got in lots of cultural events while in the United States, the most memorable being a recital in Akron by Yo Yo Ma. What an incredible artist he is! And I got to have a lengthy conversation with him at the reception after the recital. I also had lots of fun bridge games with friends. I wish I could find some bridge players in Chiang Mai. It’s a great game for keeping the mind sharp.
Having been in the United States until the middle of November meant that I could have experienced some really cold weather, something I don’t deal with very well any more. But the weather held, not getting cold until my last week in Ohio and I did get to see two days of flurries in before taking off for Chicago. I left Chicago with temperature at 27 F and flurries in the air again. It was time for me to head for warmer climes! And Chiang Mai has turned pleasantly cool for my arrival. The mornings are in the low 50s, and it is about 75 by mid-afternoon, which is pretty much ideal weather as far as I’m concerned.
We will be having elections in Thailand on December 23. One of the men who lived in my house for some time, Preecha Pongcharoenkul, is running for parliament in this election. So our whole family is mobilized in helping him get elected. I guess there are two things that I will never be able to escape in my life: God and politics. Not that I want to, you understand.
If you wish to help us continue to produce good leadership for the church here, please help me through the Presbyterian Church ECO E862414 at the Presbyterian Church (USA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, KY 40202-1396. Or, you can send directly to:
Christ Presbyterian Church
530 Tuscarawas Street West
Canton, Ohio 44702
Please mark your contributions clearly that you wish to give to the mission work of Rev. William J. Yoder.
We live in dangerous times. Advent and Christmas give us hope that there is an answer to all the turmoil. The sign was given to us in Bethlehem of Judea two thousand years ago. May the Prince of Peace be born in all our hearts this Christmas season, particularly the hearts of our leaders. “Come! Lord Jesus.”
Much love to all of you,
Bill Yoder
The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 119
