Maxi, Tia (d. 2005)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2006 Oct 23 p. 1, 2

Birth date:

text of obituary:

Witnesses in life, and in death

Thai converts' funerals testify to hope their faith brings

By Ryan Miller
Mennonite Mission Network

Borabu, Thailand — Though they shared the gospel in life, death has been an equally effective ministry for several Thai Christians.

Before her death from AIDS in October 2005, Tia Maxi had a final wish. She wanted to be remembered with a Christian funeral.

When she died, just two of Maxi's family members were Christians — both because they listened to Maxi describe her faith experiences.

For many in her village of Ban Pongpod, her funeral was their first direct exposure to Christianity.

By January, three months after Maxi's death, family members asked representatives from Living Water Church in Borabu to help them start a cell group.

Today, about 10 villages meet every three weeks to talk about faith, God and the Bible. Three new members of that group have accepted Christ since it began.

One of those new members, Yan Chansot, accepted Christ just three months before his death Aug. 5. His funeral — the second Christian service in the small community — raised more interest in Christ and the faith of the small group of believers.

Pat Houmphan, a mission worker with Living Water Church through Mennonite Mission Network and Mennonite church Canada Witness, said traditional Thai Buddhist funerals last several days, and the gathering often includes gambling and drinking.

Maxi's funeral was very different. Houmphan preached, telling listeners that dath reminds us of Christ. And Thai church staff members showed the Jesus film. Bao Maxi and Dao Chansri — Tia Maxi's sister-in-law and daughter-in-law, respectively — said the replacement of betting and alcohol with joyful, peaceful singing at the funeral impressed many of the villagers, drawing them to look more closely at Christianity. When they looked, the relatives told Houmphan, many sensed the hope Christians retain in life after death.

Conversely, they said, Buddhist funerals, without the promise of an afterlife, sometimes offer only desolation and hopelessness.

Houmphan said many people in the Isaan region of northern Thailand and Laos believe Christians do not have proper end-of-life rituals of burials

But Christian funerals enable non-Christians to see "that there is a place for the dead and there is actually a proper ceremony," Houmphan said. "Through these Christian funerals we are able to proclaim the good news of Jesus' resurrection, life after death and the hope of reuniting another day."

Most of the cell group participants are part of Maxi's family. Houmphan said they first noticed the love and care in maxi's life, which interested them in her beliefs. The peace and joy they witnessed in the funeral ceremony gave them the final push to ask questions about Christ.

Maxi first hear about Jesus and became a Christian while living in Bangkok. She joined Living Water Church in Borabu in 2003. She invited church leaders to her home to talk about their faith with her friends and relatives, and then invited those friends and relatives to join her at church. Through those conversations, her mother, a cousin and Chansot became Christians.

"Through Tia's life and death, many have heard the good news and many more will," Houmphan wrote in a tribute to Maxi.