NAPC Community

It’s great to welcome Rev. Chris Weichman back from his mission travels over the past several weeks. Chris has just led two trips—one to Israel/Egypt and the other to Honduras. It will be wonderful to hear from Chris this Sunday, as he weaves stories of his mission experiences into his sermon. While Chris is returning from his travels, I will be leading a small group of NAPC members to Thailand from June 20-July 6. The purpose of this Thailand trip is primarily to dedicate a church that has been built in loving memory of the late Rev. Dr. Prakoob Deetanna, Associate Pastor for Mission at NAPC for 33 years, until his retirement in 2003.

Dr. Prak is originally from a small village in Northern Thailand named Nan, about a 4.5 hour drive from the city of Chiang Mai. At the time of Dr. Prak’s retirement, the church gave a love gift in honor of his many years of devoted service to Christ through NAPC. Dr. Prak gave the majority of this gift to the building of the church in his home village. At the time of his death, a memorial fund was established in his memory that was also directed toward the completion of the church at Nan. Dr. Prak’s widow Aimon Deetanna—along with her brother Boon, Eugene Bales, Betty Saye, and I—will take the remainder of the financial gift to present at the time of dedication. The church at Nan has become a source of great pride in the village, and the people have been anticipating for the last two years the arrival of Aimon and the NAPC delegation. The NAPC session considers it a fitting tribute to Dr. Prak and his legacy to send a personal delegation for this special dedication. In addition to meeting with the people of Nan, our NAPC team will meet with Presbyterian leaders in Thailand. Thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.

Grace and peace,
Scott