A natural pig-farming project in a Thailand village will develop sustainability in a children’s home, support a Thai Christian evangelist, and open doors to evangelism in the community, according to CMF missionary Preston Coursey, who works in Chiang Mai with his wife Kristin.

“We’ve been working with Montree and Supa and their children’s home in a village outside Chiang Mai for several years,” said Preston. “He is a great evangelist who has established a church in his area and uses his children’s home as a means of outreach into the community.”

Pork is one of the most popular meats in Thailand and commands a good price at the market, so with the help of the CMF team, Montree and Supa designed a business plan to raise six pigs over five months and sell them.

“We financed the loan for the initial purchase of the pigs and have been providing guidance with the budget for their feeding and care,” said Preston. “After five months the home will sell the pigs, pay off the loan and probably put the profits into the children’s home and toward a second round of pig-farming.”

This project has caught the attention of the local community; at a recent meeting, Montree was asked to share about the project, which gave him the opportunity to network with community members and may lead to opportunities to share the gospel with them.

Preston has come by his pig-farming knowledge the hard way, with hands-on pig encounters, he reports.

“We were visiting a different pig project and it was time to separate them for feeding,” he said. “At the time I was ready to get my hands dirty for the Kingdom of God, so I jumped in the sty and started rounding up the pigs! I hoisted a pig up by its waist, when ‘chaos’ let loose down my front. I learned that you never want to have the ‘business end’ of a pig facing you when you pick it up, and that you should always bring a spare pair of pants when working with livestock!”