AFO IMPACT
Making a Difference
for Christ
in Southeast Asia
Worship in a Refugee Camp
In November 2025, a team of 5 from the USA spent 8 days in Thailand with the AFO-Asia team. 2 days were spent in a refugee camp on the Thai-Myanmar border. Team member Melissa shares her experience worshipping with the refugees:
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As we wove back and forth through the switch back roads, we couldn’t have known what was in store for us. As we anticipated what was to come, we held on for dear life as the road to our left or right cascaded down to the deep abyss of the mountainside. Cows frequently blocked the roads or were grazing alongside the road.
I was shocked at all the mud, mess, metal-roffed shacks, stray dogs, and living conditions far worse than any picture ever revealed to me. I wondered, "Is there really a church in the midst of this poverty?"
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To my surprise, the church, albeit humble and somewhat makeshift, had a big cross on the top reaching toward the heavens.. As we approached, all these beautiful people stood in a line to greet us. They were smiling, shaking our hands, and pinning a flower corsage on each of our shirts. As I looked into their eyes, I was overwhelmed with emotion and tears streamed down my face. These were the very people I had been praying for, for at least eleven years!
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The church service was filled with beautiful singing and the joy that exuded from these peoples' faces was like nothing I'd ever experienced. In the middle of a refugee camp, riddled with poverty, improper health care, little food, and haphazard living conditions, were my brothers and sisters in Christ, filled with peace because they knew Jesus. After the all-day service with a lunch break in between (chicken foot soup included!), we handed out food, clothes, and blankets. I couldn’t help but feel they had blessed us more than we had blessed them. Or maybe the love we shared in Christ was a win-win for all of us.
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In that moment I realized that although the world has countless needs and hosts over 140 million refugees, the Lord has brought this specific people group to our attention. He has asked us to engage with this unique part of the world so that we might help some. Asia Frontier Outreach-USA exists so that we all can come alongside these people to help meet their basic needs.
Team members:
Chris, Aaron, Kori, Melissa, Deb
Meet a New Christ-follower:
"Jesus, the One who never turns away"
My name is Su Ling*, and I come from a quiet mountain village
deep in southeast Asia. I lost my husband a long time ago, and
after he passed away, everything changed. People in my
village began to avoid me. They said I was cursed. I felt invisible,
unwanted, and each day I asked myself, “Why am I still here?”
My sadness felt like a heavy weight I couldn’t remove.
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But one day, everything changed.
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A small group of Christians came to our village. They looked at me with kindness, not fear or pity. They brought food and supplies, but more than that, they brought something I had almost lost: hope. They didn’t avoid me. They saw me. They told me about Jesus, the One who never turns away the brokenhearted, but instead welcomes, loves, and calls them by name.
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One night, I was alone in my small house, and I whispered a simple prayer: “Jesus, if you are real, please comfort me.” That night, for the first time in many years, I slept peacefully.
Soon after, I gave my life to Jesus. Today, I call Jesus my true comforter. He didn’t just heal my heart; He gave me a new life.
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*Name changed for privacy
