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Thailand and Cambodia 1961-1996

A Foothold in the Shadow of the Buddha

In Southeast Asia every forward step for the Church has been hard won. Missionaries to this part of the world have known that they were pioneers who needed the same qualities of vision, courage, hard work, and faith that were required of the early Mormon pioneers to achieve dominion over the American frontier.

Thailand is a missionary frontier because Latter-day Saints have never confronted a people who are so completely devoted to their country, their king, their religion, and their local traditions. More than in China, Korea, or even Japan, the people of Thailand confront Christian missionaries with customs, beliefs, and cultural characteristics that are different from those of the Christian world. Although Roman Catholics have proselyted in Thailand for 400 years and Protestant missionaries have taught their from of Christianity for more than 160 years, Thai Christians comprise fewer than 1 percent of the total population. (In 1995 Thailand's population numbered some 60 million, including 226,500 Protestants and 236,000 Roman Catholics.) Between 93 and 95 percent of the people are Theravada (Orthodox) Buddhists; the remainder follow Islam or Chinese traditions. Most Thais are as much controlled by animism, a belief in local spirits, as by formal Buddhist beliefs.1 Christian missionaries have had relatively few direct problems from the Thai government because local social pressure-whether Buddhist or animist-has been more than sufficient to convince all but the most determined students of Christianity that they do not wish to leave the local tradition. Most Thais believe it is not only anti-Buddhist to convert to Christianity but also unpatriotic and anti-Thai.

Nevertheless, even though the advantage has clearly been with the traditional culture, LDS missionaries have succeeded in winning a growing number of devoted converts to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

Formal LDS activities began in Bangkok in 1961. In June of that year, Max and Janet Berryessa and their four sons, from Brigham Young University, arrived on an assignment as education advisers to the Thai education department. Within days they met fellow Latter-day Saints Colonel Joseph Meacham and his wife, Shirley, and moved into a home next door to them. The two families held informal Church services together and soon invited another LDS family, Captain Robert and Virginia Liday, to join with them. In early 1962 President Robert S. Taylor of the Southern Far East Mission traveled to Bangkok to officially organize the first group of the Church. Berryessa was sustained as group leader with Brother Meacham as assistant. The group grew steadily as LDS military and technical advisers were assigned to the country in conjunction with the Vietnam conflict.

In May 1963 Elder Gordon B. Hinckley, supervisor of the Church in Asia and the Pacific, visited Thailand. While there he met with members of the Bangkok group and asked if Thailand was ready to receive missionaries. The response was positive but guarded because of the deep dedication the Thai people held for their Buddhist religion. In December 1964 Elder Hinckley again visited Thailand. In his journal he noted his positive impressions of the people, their relative prosperity, the general stability of the government, and the missionary-mindedness of the members. Twice he observed that he thought the Church should have missionaries working there. He wrote: "When we come to this part of the world we are almost overwhelmed by a realization of the immensity of our task in preaching the restored gospel. Nevertheless, I feel that with the planning done by our American brothers and sisters who are living here, we could begin to do some missionary work."2