Day 6 - Monday in Chiang Mai (Part 1)

In 1995 I was working at Twin Lakes Christian Center in central Iowa. A missionary joined us for a week at camp, named Randy. Randy was creating a fish farm in Northern Thailand at the time, and he spent the week sharing the work he was preparing.

Travel 16 years later, and Lindsay and I were standing on the grounds of the fish farm alongside Randy. Randy and company have transformed a one-pond fish farm into a massive 9-12 pond farm employing 40 or so Thai.

The ministry is offering jobs, food, and community to Thai villagers. This business is for God’s glory, and resources many other businesses in the area. We were very encouraged to be at the farm. Several of our prior congregations supported this work over the years.

We were able to jump in the ponds and harvest fish eggs. The eggs are incubated in the mouths of the mother fish, so harvesting them is quite the exciting process. First you have to catch the fish in a small basket. Then you grab them in your hand, open the gills with one finger, the mouth with another. Then the eggs are flushed out of the mouth and caught in a basket. The farmers put the eggs in a hatchery and watch them grow. (The infant fish are sold to others for raising and selling on the fish market).

On Mondays the staff takes a break from 11-noon for worship. Not all of the employees are Christian, but they all respectfully participate in singing and listening to the readings of Scriptures. This is a time of encouragement for daily living and singing. Following worship they eat together. We were privileged to join them in the meal, and we enjoyed a Tilapia fish fry (the fish were from the farm).