November 25, 2003

Dear Friends and Family:

Holiday greetings from our home to yours. We give thanks for good health, supportive friends and family, and challenging work here in Thailand. Fortunately, our lives and work have not been directly affected by the disruptive events taking place in other parts of the world. We have been mindful throughout this year, however, of the many people who are suffering around the world. We pray for lasting peace and justice for all.

We could sum up this year as a year of celebrations, conferences, construction, curriculum, counseling and/or teaching, and (academic) cooperation (agreements)!

Our celebrations included weddings and reunions both in Thailand and in the United States. At the end of last year we traveled to Taiwan where we celebrated the wedding of our son Paul to Julie Lin. (The wedding had taken place the previous spring, but Julie’s parents had been unable to attend.) In August, we celebrated forty years of friendship with Bill Yoder and Hiroshi Tanaka who were co-teachers with us at the Prince Royal’s College in the mid-1960s. Bill, also a PC(USA) appointee to the Christian Church of Thailand and Payap University, hosted the event, and Hiroshi and his wife came from Japan for the occasion. Bill arranged a worship service in the PRC chapel, where John and I were married in 1965, and afterwards there was a party with former students, teachers, and friends.

Martha serves on the construction inspection committees for new buildings going up at Payap. In addition, she has been involved in construction of the new Bangkok Christian Guest House in Bangkok. She is happy to report that Payap’s Crystal Spring Guest House and the Bangkok Christian Guest House are now open and taking reservations. If you are coming to Chiang Mai or Bangkok we urge to stay in these new facilities.

In addition to the guest houses, concrete has been poured for the fourth floor of the new Payap library and ground will soon be broken for the law building and the international house. These facilities will allow the university to better serve the students who will be the leaders of tomorrow.

We have each worked on curriculum-development for two new international programs at Payap. Martha is pleased that the new International College is open. Four majors are being taught in English at the undergraduate level. We have been working towards this goal for over six years. Now the challenge is to find enough qualified teachers and students for the program. John has been involved with developing the curriculum for a new international master of divinity degree that will be offered by Payap’s McGilvary Faculty of Theology beginning next September and which will be taught completely in English. All the international programs are designed to serve students from Southeast Asia. Many of these students need scholarships that we will have to raise.

We both work daily with students, co-workers, and others in Chiang Mai. Martha spends lots of time counseling both Thai and non-Thai students and staff, and John continues to teach several courses at the university and seminary and for groups coming to the Institute.

Lastly, Martha has been working to increase the number of international exchange opportunities at Payap. She has worked with institutions in China, the United States, Australia, France, Japan, and Vietnam in recent months. In October, Martha traveled with Payap’s president, Dr. Boonthong Poocharoen, to sign cooperation agreements with five institutions in the Kunming region of Yunnan, China. Students around the world are eager to meet each other and to study languages and cultures. This, we believe, is the hope for the future. Cultural understanding and respect are needed if we are ever to create a peaceful and better world. Please join us in praying and working for peace.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a fulfilling New Year. Peace and love to all of you.

Martha and John Butt

The 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 184