Wherever God leads
How did I end up in Thailand?
I came to faith in 2004, came into full time ministry in 2005. Along the way, one thing I always felt was that when the time comes for God to grant me a spouse, she will not be someone from my country. Oh well… Eventually, I did meet her while in Thailand on a holiday. We wedded in 2014 and we were quickly blest with 2 beautiful daughters in 2016 & 2017, so it’s safe to say God is telling me to stay put here 🙂
But before anything else, a bit about my background.
My background
I’m a Malaysian from the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. Professionally, I studied hospitality after finishing secondary school. My goal was to be the world’s greatest chef. I’m also a keen computer enthusiast. Well, mostly being keen on videogames but because of this, I studied computer programming as well. It’s all Pascal and Borland back then, so it’s safe to say I’m quite outdated.
Jesus calls
As with all young people, other than ambitions and flights of fancy, I’m was pretty content with life thankfully coming from a peaceful family. I had experiences, one of which I found myself in the UK on a Working Holidaymaker visa for young people from the Commonwealth.
It should’ve been the experience of my life… and I made an utter waste of it! I was too socially anxious, I had too many hang-ups that didn’t manifest themselves while I was in the comfort of home. Anyway, the long and short of it was I wasted my time and my parents resources in my short time there, and I found myself on a miserable flight back to Malaysia.
Not sure of how to proceed, not sure if there’s any meaning to life at all.
It was at that moment, something strange happened – I called out in the name of Jesus!
Of course, in this age and time, everybody “knows” Jesus. He’s that Christian God! Or something like that…
But it was at that moment when I called out to Him, more than just a thought in mind but to actually call out to Him driven by something I don’t know at that time and that I wanted to have a personal relationship with Him. Yes, the Holy Spirit of God came upon me.
From then on, it was just an amazing ride with Him as I quickly recovered, got a job, got a few jobs in fact! I found the time to attend church, got baptised, talked to my pastor about serving full time, went to seminary and became a full time servant of God.
Wow! Thank you LORD, amen!
A brief timeline
1979 – Rick and wife, Nicharee, born the same year!
2004 – Came to faith, baptised in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
2005 – Started ministry at Trinity Methodist Church Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. My home church.
2006 – 2007 – Complete my theological studies at seminary (whilst working as above)
2014 – Married my wife whom I met in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
2015 – Left Trinity after 10 years as my wife and I decided to settle down In Thailand.
2015 – Got in fellowship with the House of Praise / COC Thailand
2019 – Moved to Udon Thani (eastern Thailand) as part of wife’s occupation. Got involved with the Udon Thani International Church (now called “Isaan Challenge Community”).
2020 – Moved back to Chiang Mai and began full time work with COC.
2020 – Got involved with Kids of Destiny from a brother in COC to help them develop their website strategy and to work on a potential Bahasa Malaysia series.
2022 – Got involved with the Karen Baptist City Church as an associate pastor.