Hi, my name is Prin. I was born in the northeast of Thailand in a Buddhist family. I have an older sister, a younger sister, and a younger brother. I lived in the northeast of Thailand until I was 21 when I got accepted into Chiang Mai University (in the north of Thailand) to study a two-year Bachelor of Ceramic Arts degree.
At the end of my first year of studying, I went to visit my family and found out that my mother and father were getting a divorce, my younger sister was pregnant, and that the father of her child refused to marry her. I decided that I could not go back to Chiang Mai to finish my degree because I would not have enough money to support my both family and myself. However, my aunt encouraged me to go back and finish my degree; she told me that afterwards I would be able get a better job to support my family.
So I went back to Chiang Mai to continue studying and I asked one of my friends if I could move in with him to help me save money. While I was still studying, I started looking for a job. All of the companies I applied to were looking for people who had good English and computer skills so I started looking for somewhere to study English. It was then that I found The Centre and started to go there to learn English. The first mission team that taught me was from Norway, and I spent a lot of time with them. At first I didn’t know that the staff at The Center were Christians, but soon God showed me His love through their lives. I saw how the Youth With A Mission (YWAM) people, missions teams and other Christians loved, helped, supported, and were real with each other in a way I had never seen people act before in my life.
I spent about 4 months with the staff from The Center before I accepted Jesus Christ into my heart on May 22, 2000. Since then, I have seen God leading and teaching me, and changing my life.
I graduated from university in 2001, and I got a job in Bangkok in a ceramic factory for 6 months, and then I moved back to Chiang Mai to work in a ceramic factory there. However, after working for 14 months, I felt my job was affecting my relationship with God and I decided to stop. I rediscovered my home church where my pastor mentored me and helped me to grow. To earn an income I did some part-time work at a milk shop and my church employed me as a cleaner. I also started working as a translator for YWAM mission teams, and through doing this I got to meet the YWAM leader of Chiang Mai. He told me about the Discipleship Training School (DTS) in Chiang Mai starting in September 2002 until February 2003. I prayed about it, and God led me to be a student in that school.
After completing my DTS in Chiang Mai, I joined the YWAM Thailand staff team, and staffed the September 2003 DTS. Then I felt God call me to do a School of Worship (SOW) from February 2004 until July 2004. During my SOW outreach, my father became very ill. I went to visit him and he told me to keep doing what I was doing for God. I had been giving him Christian literature to read and he had asked me for more: he was seeking God! He finally passed away while I was still on outreach on May, 22, 2004. After he died I had so many questions for God. God spoke to me, saying “Prin, when you think of your dad, remember this: you accepted me, and I am with you. Trust me, serve me and follow me. I will take care of your family.”
After SOW finished, I went back to be staff on the September 2004 – February 2005 DTS in Chiang Mai, and then I moved to Phang Nga in the south of Thailand after the 26 December 2004 Tsunami, to help Christians, teams and the Church there. I received a full scholarship to go to Montana and study the Bible at the School of Biblical Studies (SBS) from September 2005 to June 2006. I was so excited to study the Bible and get to know Him more. I have a heart for Thai people to know God’s Word more and apply it in their own lives and ministries, and this is why I have been serving as staff on the SBS in Chiang Mai since it started in March 2008. I love to see Thai people excited about God’s Word and to see how it changes peoples’ lives.
Since November, 2007 I have also been as working full time staff at my home church, TLC Center. Here I am able to use the gift of Worship that God has given me, as He has called me to be a Worship Leader. At TLC Center I am responsible for Worship team and I manage our church’s coffee shop ministry, TLC Java, as well as playing an active role on our church staff team. I give thanks to God for His calling on my life and I know that God is moving and using me here!
I met my wife, Sarah, in July 2004 when she came to Thailand with a YWAM Go Team from the UK. I was her team’s translator! We got married in Chiang Mai on 21 August 2010 and we are now serving God together in Thailand. My wife is from Belfast and I thank God for this gift of marriage and my Northern Irish family!
I know that God will use me and my wife for this generation, that He will use my life to reach the people of Thailand and the nations.
I look forward to making Him and His words known.
May God bless you and keep you! Without God I can do nothing
Much love and respect in Christ
Prin
If you wish to support our ministry through tax deductible donations, please send checks payable to "YWAM Montana" to:
"YWAM Montana, 501 Blacktail Rd., Lakeside, MT 59922, U.S.A.".
Please write "Project 3441" on the memo line and include a separate note indicating that your donation is for "Phongphimet (Prin) Phetpraphai".