Khrieko and Nitho Peseyie have been serving the Lord in Thailand for over 12 years. In all those years, they have witnessed and experienced God’s faithfulness in every area of their lives. They have learnt that no one can fathom God’s thoughts nor His ways for His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways are higher than our ways. The Peseyies have two daughters.
The Peseyies will be the first to testify that there is never a dull moment working alongside God. Their ministry is filled with stories of God’s faithfulness in different situations demonstrated in a most unexpected manner. From each situation and encounter, God revealed Himself in new and exciting ways.
Khrieko and Nitho were experiencing financial difficulty. Their daughter was now attending school in another province which was about 175 km away and that added to their costs. Although SIM paid for their accommodation in Chatturat, they had to pay for their own electricity, water, food and travel expenses. Now that their daughter was in Khonkaen, they had to foot her accommodation and living expenses as well.
Their finances were stretched further when electricity bills shot up one year during one of the hottest months they had ever experienced. They knew it would be impossible for them to settle two bills – their own and their daughter’s – without help. So they did what they knew best. They lay their financial anxiety before God and trusted Him to provide. Day after day, they were expecting a miracle but nothing was stirring until the day Khrieko received the power bill. He was stunned as he stared at the bill in his hands. Nitho’s heart sank as she studied his face. She gathered that the sum must have shot through the roof. But then Khrieko turned to her to say that the month’s bill stated zero sum payment. They knew God would work a miracle but they certainly did not expect this! For Khrieko and Nitho, God demonstrated not only a wonderful sense of humour but also His faithfulness in meeting their needs.
When Covid-19 hit the country, the government introduced a policy to ease the citizens’ burden of huge power bills. Many ended up paying less than usual for power. But for Khrieko and Nitho, they did not have to pay anything at all for three months!
A heavy downpour after an evangelistic outreach to a neighbouring district one day took Khrieko and Nitho by surprise. It was risky by any standards to drive home in such wet weather but they decided to take the chance. As they steered their car along the highway, the rain pounded it mercilessly. Some distance later, they noticed a huge tree next to a small rest house and decided to park under it for a short rest and to wait for the rain to stop. The rain with the accompanying strong gusts of wind were, however, relentless. Since they were only about ten minutes away from home, they decided to brave the weather and eventually reached home safely.
The next day, they heard news that a car parked under the huge tree where they had stopped and rested for a few minutes was damaged by falling branches. There was one casualty and several injured parties. They were sad to hear that, but they thanked God for His protection of them.
Khrieko and Nitho experienced another divine protection. They were waiting for the traffic light at a busy intersection to turn green so that they could swerve right to get to their destination when the car in front of them suddenly switched lanes. So they inched forward to occupy the vacated spot. Just then, a bus coming down the bridge that lay parallel to their lane hit the pole of a huge signboard. The signboard crash landed on the exact spot where Khrieko and Nitho’s car had been just a few seconds ago. The car that was occupying the couple’s earlier spot was badly damaged and the driver and his passengers sustained injuries. Khrieko and Nitho had missed being casualties by mere seconds. God had protected them in a timely manner!
God The Caretaker
After their third month in Thailand, Nitho and her daughter Asese who was two years and eight months old had to travel out of Thailand to extend their visas. They flew to a neighbouring country but were prohibited from leaving the airport upon arrival. Instead, they were locked up for 24 hours there. They had planned to stay with a pastor's family, but they never got to meet them. Despite not being able to make contact, this family sent them food and a handwritten letter to encourage them. Their love and kindness made all the difference to an otherwise distressing situation. Nitho remained grateful for their love to this day.
Since they couldn’t leave the airport, Nitho had wanted to call Khrieko in Thailand to inform him about their situation. She searched her purse for coins for the public phone, but she realised she didn’t have any. A man in uniform happened to pass by and noticed her dilemma. He handed her some coins so she could make her call. As she did not use up all the coins, she turned to return him the balance but he had disappeared. She asked the staff working there if they had seen him. They said “no” and tried to help locate him but he could not be found. The Peseyies have kept the coins from this good Samaritan up to this day as a reminder of his generosity to a stranger in a foreign land.
On a separate occasion, a man lent the Peseyies his mobile phone so that they could communicate with whoever they wanted. The next day, Nitho returned him the phone and offered to pay him the phone charges they had incurred. To her surprise, he refused her offer and said instead that he was happy to share his blessings with them.
For the Peseyies, God’s promise that He would never leave nor forsake His children is undeniable.
God The Saviour
When they first started serving, Khrieko and Nitho were excited about the church-planting ministry. But they soon realised that church-planting like any other ministry had its challenges. There were times when they were disappointed to see people confessing faith in Christ and then giving up along the way.
They recalled one very painful experience when a lady decided not to be baptised just a few days before the baptism service. Khrieko and Nitho had invested so much of their time and energy in her by having Bible study with her and her family, taking them to church, and giving her English and music lessons. They were looking forward to seeing her being the first person to be baptised on their missionary journey.
They had also invested time and energy in another lady for almost a year. They would bring her food and study the Bible together with her. Khrieko would pick her up every Sunday for church but one day this lady decided to stop attending church. A lot of tears were shed and a lot of questions were asked, but they ultimately submitted to God’s divine plan and purpose.
But it wasn’t always heartbreaking news. In some cases, God led people to them unexpectedly. A man noted their phone number displayed on the church signboard and called them to ask what he should do to become a Christian. The Peseyies invited him to their home and led him to Christ.
Another man, after hearing the gospel at a Christmas evangelistic outreach in the village, accepted Jesus as His personal Saviour. They subsequently did Bible study at his place and through him, four more people were led to God.
A lady who came to church every Sunday with her husband and kids never thought that she would become a Christian. She attended church only because she wanted her children to learn some English, but after two years she came to faith in the Lord. The Peseyies learnt to keep serving the Lord faithfully even in challenging situations. He was with them every step of their journey.
When it was time for them to move on to a new ministry in another location, the Peseyies successfully handed the church that God had led them to plant to the local believers. For the Peseyies, seeing the church grow in the Lord brought them insurmountable joy.
There are spirit houses in many homes in Thailand. One couple who had come to faith asked Khrieko and Nitho to remove the spirit house that was erected under a big tree in their compound. But, the man’s mother who was an unbeliever objected to it. The Peseyies were happy with the couple’s decision but they recognised that if they failed to deal with the issue wisely and carefully, their ministry might be jeopardized since removing spirit houses was highly sensitive. The Peseyies together with the church, prayed earnestly about it and decided to visit the couple’s place on a Sunday after church service to have a look at the spirit house first. But the Saturday before the visit, a strong gust of wind snapped the big branch that was right above the spirit house, crushing it. Khrieko and Nitho didn’t have to do anything to remove it. God had done the job for them. God certainly works in mysterious ways!
The Peseyies can certainly vouch for God’s faithfulness. For them, Lamentations 3:22-23 (NIV) express precisely what’s in their hearts, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”