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TOM AND GAYLE SILKWOOD Children: Jeff, Kim and Kari Address: P.O. Box 180 Chiang Mai, Thailand 50000 Email the Silkwoods Web Link Read their latest newsletter. |
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The Silkwood Family - Thailand | |
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Thomas W. Silkwood is a native of Indiana and Illinois. He graduated from Lincoln Christian College in 1980. Upon graduation from LCC, he moved to Thailand at the invitation of a veteran missionary there. Tom’s first term as a missionary was taken up with language study and medical work, due to his experience as an E.M.T. Tom married Gayle (Smith) on his first furlough home. Tom and Gayle have three children: Jeff, Kim, and Kari. On their return to Thailand, Tom continued with his medical work and evangelism but began doing more multimedia work. He primarily worked on duplication of old filmstrips for the mission. This ministry grew from a part-time ministry to the founding of Freedom Films Productions in 1989. In 1995, the ministry began working in video production. Although Freedom Films Productions was already part of the Good News Productions, International team, it became a full regional center in 2000. As regional director, Tom’s goal for GNPI-Thailand is the same as it was in the beginning, to share Christ in the heart language and culture of a people group using appropriate technology. The studio is uniquely located to do just that, as Chiang Mai is considered to be the number one city for outreach to Southeast Asia and Southern China. Information obtained from Good News Productions, International" Notes From The Field November 26, 2009 Dear friends at First Baptist Liberty City, Gayle, the Freedom Films Productions team and I hope that you have had a wonderful Thanksgiving. This year we had to postpone the traditional thanksgiving meal until evening as we have been working on some important projects. The film that I showed at FBCLC, The Bridge, is nearing completion in the Cantonese language. This has been a huge project. Mr. Heinz Fussle and I few to Hong Kong back in May of this year to do the audio recordings. Those were completed but we also decided to do a second film in Cantonese and those recordings weren't quite complete. This presented a pretty big problem. Where do we find Cantonese speakers in Chiangmai in the short time we have to get the films completed??? God has proven that He, as always, is completely sufficient and so are we when we walk in His will. Through a string of events that included a casual encounter in a pickup truck taxi, we found the people we needed. Gayle and an intern, Kendra McBee, were going into town when a young woman notice Kendra's shirt that said, "Made in Illinois". She ask, "What part of Illinois were you made in?" To Gayle and Kendra's surprise she was a native of illinois and Chinese. She just happened to speak Cantonese and knew a Cantonese pastor living in Chiangmai. This pastor just happened to have an absolutely PERFECT recording voice! The pastor also speaks 13 other languages! It just so happens that he also speaks Mandarin and told us that he would love to help when the film is produced in the Mandarin language. We are so thankful! First we will make a Thai version of the film and then Mandarin but our Lord is lining up the people for this project. All this is just to say that we certainly have reason to be thankful to our Lord. We are also thankful for all of you folks in enabling us to do this work. I just wanted to take a few moment to share this news with you after reading your church paper. I also noticed how long it had been since anything new was sent to you from us. We also have new pages on our web site to keep the church posted on events and projects. That has proven very helpful. As of today we will have the funds in hand to upgrade our audio department with better soundproofing material. This project has been on hold for years due to lack of funds. Praise the Lord, another reason to be thankful. If you get a chance we invite you to visit our web site and check our our project page and blog page. We update the blog weekly and you can leave comments. We LOVE the comments! http://web.mac.com/freedomfilmsprod Please know that you are all in our prayers. We are so thankful for your partnership in this work. In Christ, Tom & Gayle Silkwood June 25, 2007 Dear friends, Our web site has been updated with news about the cyclone in Burma, a new released XTTV production and news concerning the movie, "The Bridge" and the impact it is making in Vietnam and in Malasia. Please take a look at what is happening with your help and prayers! Kind regards, Thomas W. Silkwood June 18, 2007 I just published an update to my website. It now contains a report on the cyclone that hit Burma. This report comes from Bobby Morse who was selected by the leadership team to go and conduct a survey as he is fluent in Burmese and other languages of Burma. This update includes a few "ungraphic" photos and his report. More updates will follow. On a personal note Gayle and I have greatly enjoyed having our middle child, Kim, with us. She completed her internship here in Thailand and will graduate from Lincoln Christian College after one more semester. Kari graduated from Grace International School this month. Both Kim and Kari headed back to the USA. We MISS them already. Jeff and his fiancee are still with us but will return to the States tomorrow. EMPTY NEST has finally struck and dad ISN'T ready for it! The good news is that Gayle and I return to the States next month where I will conduct Jeff and Mary's wedding. Having met Mary we are thrilled. She is certainly a Godly young woman. God is good. Kind regards, Thomas W. Silkwood June 2, 2008 Dear friends, As some of you may have noticed, out web site (see link above) has been off line for some time. This is due to it being a trial account. We have now upgraded to a full account and the site is back on line. We will be making upgrades very soon and plan to send you links so you can follow our work here in Thailand. We hope to have info very soon on the situation in Burma. We have a team there who are working with national churches we work with. When that information is available we will let you know. April 4, 2008 Dear friends, Our web site is not complete but to the point that we want to announce that it is open and ready for viewing. Many thanks to those of you who helped check it over and give advise. We will send out these notices when new material is placed on the site. Our hope is that it will keep you better informed about the work here in Asia. In the future we also plan to have our newsletters available for download directly from this site. For the time being, and until I learn how, they can be downloaded from the Good News Productions, Thailand web site. A link for GNPI, Thailand is on our web site. Please keep in contact with us. This is your work too. Blessings, Thomas W. Silkwood, Director Freedom Films Productions/NBCM |