Simon and Karin Schoettler

Thailand and Southeast Asia

Known as the „Land of Smiles“ Thailand is located in the heart of Southeast Asia, a subcontinent with a lot of history and culture. Different religions, customs and peoples left their imprint in this region and various influences were united in the former kingdom of Siam. Until now you find a writing that emerged form the Indian Sanskrit, Chinese elements in food-culture and a most common spirituality that combines Buddhism and Animism (worshipping spirits and ghosts). Because of the constitutional monarchy the royal families highly respected in Thailand and finally it was the fifths king of the current dynasty, who in the end of 19th century initiated various reforms to open the nation to the Western world. This gave Thailand a huge advantage compared to its neighbours in matters of infrastructure, economy and education.

But a opening towards Christian faith didn’t really take place widely. Since more than 200 years there are missionaries in the country and there is a church, but the percentage of christians among the almost 70 million Thais is below 1%. Together with its different people groups this makes Thailand one of the biggest harvest fields for the Gospel of the unreached people groups in Asia.

Who we are

We really got to know each other in 2015 in the FCJG (Free Christian Youth Fellowship) in Lüdenscheid/Germany. This is where Simon grew up and in his early years he heard the reports and testimonies of missionaries. „At the age of eleven my dad took me to a short-term-outreach to Mongolia – what an adventure to hand our emergency relief goods and to share about the power and love of the Gospel of Jesus in a foreign culture. Later on I continued going for several short-term outreaches to Asia.“ This was followed by finishing school, doing civil-service and graduating from university with a Bachelors degree first, and while working in child-protective-services, also with a masters degree in Social Works.

Karin grew up in the YWCA Germany – while living four years in Lima/Peru with her parents – and became a clerk and youth-educator in Stuttgart. 2008 she moved to Lüdenscheid to do an apprenticeship in the drug-rehab centre „Haus Wiedenhof“ for one year. When this one year was stretched to seven years Karin refocussed on children in need and became a certified trauma counsellor while working again with heavily traumatised children.

In the time when Simon was employed God spoke very clearly about several nations in Southeast-Asia, but his first thought was that he could go there for an outreach, like he had done it before. God shared His different perspective on that matter and Simon quit his job to enrol for a missions-training-school to get prepared to being send abroad.