A cycle of giving - Thailand
A story of transformation and generosity
From an unjust prison sentence to joining a Bible translation project in their language, Tawan and Jum, a couple from the Eastern Lawa community in Thailand, have experienced the transformative impact of God’s generous provision in their lives. Together with Wycliffe Thai Foundation and others involved in a Bible storytelling project among the Eastern Lawa people, God has used them to spark a cycle of giving and compassion in their community and beyond.
Tawan's journey to Christ began years earlier when he was caught up in a dangerous situation involving drug trafficking. Falsely accused and sentenced to 33 years in prison, Tawan endured unimaginable hardships. Yet, his faith blossomed even in the darkest of times. Overseas pen pals dedicated to prison ministry showed him the power of compassion and selflessness. Witnessing an elderly woman's care for him from afar, Tawan was deeply moved and decided to embrace Christianity.
In prison, Tawan's newfound faith took root. He became a beacon of hope for his fellow inmates, leading church services and ministering to those serving life sentences. The positive impact of Christianity on prisoners caught the attention of the guards. Musical instruments and resources were provided, leading to lively worship services and housingChristian prisoners together due to their exuberant singing.
After seventeen years, Tawan was unexpectedly released and embarked on a mission to find his wife, Jum, who had also been imprisoned. Tawan's transformation from a reckless young man to a devoted husband and father inspired Jum to embrace Christianity as well. Despite the challenges they faced after being released from prison, their shared faith and newfound purpose allowed them to rebuild their lives together.
Living out their faith, Tawan and Jum faced resistance from fellow villagers who held animist beliefs. Some even attempted to seize their land, exploiting complexities in Thai real estate law. However, Tawan and Jum's unwavering kindness, generosity, and peaceful demeanour began to change hearts. Their annual Christmas party served as a bridge between their faith and the villagers, welcoming hundreds from the community.
Tawan and Jum's journey demonstrates that a cycle of giving can break through the darkest of circumstances. In the Eastern Lawa community, the cycle of giving continues. Tawan and Jum's acts of kindness touched their neighbours' lives, gradually shifting attitudes towards Christianity. Preservation of the Lawa language and the hope for revival among the Lawa people contribute to this transformation. Although challenges persist, Tawan and Jum remain steadfast in their trust in God.
During a celebration, Tawan addressed a gathering of Lawa people, expressing gratitude and humility. He shared how acts of kindness and generosity had transformed their lives. Tawan's words ignited renewed commitment to live out the cycle of giving. Stories circulated of neighbours helping one another, strangers extending a helping hand, and the Eastern Lawa community uniting to support those in need. They have embraced a culture of generosity, recognizing that it encompasses more than material possessions. Giving one's time, love, and compassion can create a ripple effect, transforming lives and fostering interconnectedness.
As others witnessed the impact of the Eastern Lawa people's generosity firsthand, their acts of kindness reached neighbouring communities, inspiring them to embrace the cycle of giving as well. A group of Bible translators from partners of Wycliffe Thai Foundation decided to contribute to the Lawa community development initiatives. They offered support in preserving the Lawa language, providing educational resources for children, and promoting sustainable agriculture.
Tawan and Jum's story serves as a testament to the saving power of the Word of God and the transformative power of generosity. The cycle of giving in the Eastern Lawa community reminds us that acts of generosity can break through barriers, heal wounds, and create lasting change. It encourages us to look beyond ourselves and embrace a mindset of abundance, where we recognize that when we give, we not only uplift others but also enrich our own lives.
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05/2025 Global
05/2025 Global
‘We’ve come very far, very fast’
A tech observer outlines what AI will mean soon for workplaces and ministry
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Global
Tech pioneer: Christians ‘have to show up’ for AI
Silicon Valley pioneer Pat Gelsinger was CEO of Intel Corporation until December 2024. Quickly realising his career in technology was not finished, he joined the faith/tech platform Gloo in early 2025 as the executive chair and head of technology. He is also a general partner at the venture capital firm Playground Global. Gelsinger was instrumental in the development of cloud computing, Wi-Fi, USB and many other everyday technologies. He estimates his work has touched 60 to 70 percent of humanity. Here are highlights of his keynote talk at the 2025 Missional AI Summit. You can watch his entire talk here. Pat Gelsinger (left) is interviewed onstage by Steele Billings. Both are with Gloo. Watch the full interview here. Is technology good or bad? Technology is neither good nor bad. It’s neutral. It can be used for good. It can be used for bad. … If you think back to the Roman roads, why did Christ come when he came? I’ll argue the Pax Romana and the Roman roads. … The greatest technology of the day was the Roman road system. It was used so the Word could go out. Historical example I will argue Martin Luther was the most significant figure of the last thousand years. And what did he do? He used the greatest piece of technology available at the day, the Gutenberg printing press. He created Bibles. … He broke, essentially, the monopoly on the Bible translations …. He ushered in education. He created the systems that led to the Renaissance. That’s a little punk monk who only wanted to get an audience with the pope because he thought he had a few theological errors. I’ll argue (Luther was) the most significant figure of the last thousand years, using technology to improve the lives of every human that he touched at the time. How today compares to the dawn of the internet AI is more important. AI will be more significant. AI will be more dramatic. … This is now incredibly useful, and we’re going to see AI become just like the internet, where every single interaction will be infused with AI capabilities. In the 75-year-or-so history of computing, we humans have been adapting to the computer. … With AI, computers adapt to us. We talk to them. They hear us. They see us for the first time. And now they are becoming a user interface that fits with humanity. And for this and so many other reasons that every technology has been building on the prior technology, AI will unquestionably be the biggest of these waves, more impactful even than the internet was. On the need for AI development to be open-source It is so critical because we’re embedding knowledge, embedding values, embedding understanding into those underlying models, large language models and every aspect that happens. It must be open, and this is part of what I think is critical about us being together here today. We need to be creating trusted, open, useful AI that we can build humanity on. On the need for Christians to help build AI systems We have to show up as the faith community to be influencing those outcomes, because remember what happened in the social media. We didn’t show up, and look at what we got. So are we going to miss this opportunity for something that’s far more important than social networking with AI? Where it truly in the models embeds every aspect of human history and values into it? We have to show up, team. What we do with large language models is far more important because truly we are choosing how we embody knowledge of all time into those underlying models. They need to be open. They need to be trusted. What Christians must bring to the process If we’re going to show up to influence AI broadly, we have to show up with good engineering, good data, good understanding, good frameworks. How do you measure things like ‘Is that leading to better character? Is that leading to better relationships? Is that creating better vocational outcomes? Is that a valid view of a spiritual perspective?’ We need good underlying data associated with each one of these. And for that we’re actively involved. We’re driving to create that underlying data set. Because we need to show up with good data if we’re going to influence how AI is created. How should this work? For the AI systems we need to create good benchmarks. If I ask about God, does it give me a good answer or not? If I ask about relationships with my children, does it give me good answers? We need to create the corpus of data to give good answers to those questions. And, armed with that good data, we need to show up to influence the total landscape of AI. We want to benchmark OpenAI. We’re going to benchmark Gemini. We’re going to benchmark Claude. We’re going to benchmark Copilot. This is what we’re going to do at Gloo, but we want to be part of a broader community in that discussion so that we’re influential in creating flourishing AI. Technology is a force for good. AI that truly embeds the values that we care about, that we want to honour, that we want to be representing into the future and benchmarking across all of them. Oh his role with Gloo We are going to change the landscape of the faith community and its role in shaping this most critical technology, AI, for faith and flourishing. That’s what we’re going to do at Gloo and we need all of your help and partnership to do so because if we don’t hang together, we’re not going to influence the outcome, right? ‘Here am I, Lord’ I don’t think I’m done. … You and I both need to come to the same position like Isaiah did. Here am I, Lord. Send me. Send me. Send us. That we can be shaping technology as a force for good. That we could grab this moment in time. This is the greatest time to live in human history. We’re going to solve diseases. We’re going to improve lives. We’re going to educate every person in poverty. We are going to solve climate issues. We are going to be using these technologies to improve the lives of every human on the planet. We are going to shape technology as a force for good. Here am I, Lord. Send me. ••• Story: Jim Killam, Wycliffe Global Alliance Translated with ChatGPT. How was the translation accuracy? Let us know at info@wycliffe.net. Alliance organisations are welcome to download and use images from this series.
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