The YWAM Thailand C&L program is a 12-18 month program designed to help staff who are new to Thailand adjust well to living in Thailand, get a firm grasp on the Thai language and culture, and learn effective ways of ministering here. Its primary purpose is to support those who will be joining YWAM Thailand to transition successfully as long-term staff.

Note: We have different recommendations for culture and language goals for you to set depending on whether you intend to work directly with Thais or not.

The C&L program’s goals are for each new staff to:

• Gain cultural orientation and understanding which will enable you to transition well to living in Thailand and to minister effectively with your target group.
  
• Gain enough fluency in the Thai language to accomplish your personal and ministry goals in Thailand.
  
• Confirm and clarify your missionary calling to Thailand.
  
• Integrate into our YWAM Thailand family.
  

Audience: The C&L program is intended to serve YWAM staff who are in their first 1-18 months in Thailand, who have completed a YWAM Thailand staff application, who have been accepted as local staff in Chiang Mai, and who have agreed to pay monthly staff fees.

You may choose to join the C&L program for your first year and commit yourself completely to language and culture study. Or you may choose to join both a ministry and the C&L program for your first year. If you choose to join a ministry in your first year, you will need to agree with the ministry leader on how much time you will work with the ministry and how much time you will commit to language study. You will also want to agree with the ministry leader about the language goals you set for yourself. Our recommendations are included below.

In general, our C&L program serves you in the following ways:

• By providing a general orientation to Thailand, Thai culture and language school options
  
• By facilitating a monthly C&L gathering of all new staff which provides support, fellowship, advice, and access to resources you may need
  
• By helping you to set appropriate language learning goals and following-up with you to encourage you with your progress
  
• By being available by phone, email and in-person to help you transition
  

Orientation – Recommendations for Your First Month

In your first few months in Thailand, you will likely need to:

• find long-term housing
  
• make a number of major purchases (i.e. vehicle, furniture, appliances, etc)
  
• determine how to access your money from Thailand
  
• get a driver’s license
  
• finalize your visa (which can often take 3 months)*
  
• determine how you will renew your visa
  
• decide what language goals to set and what learning program you will follow
  

* If you plan to study Thai at a language school for at least 3-5 hours per week, we recommend that you consider getting an Education Visa, called a Non-Immigrant Type “E” visa. This is a one-year, renewable student visa that many language schools here will help you to obtain. Ask your C&L leader for more information about this type of visa.

To help you with all of this (and more!) your C&L leader is happy to provide you with an orientation to Thailand. The orientation will include an initial cultural orientation, orientation to YWAM Thailand, and an overview of various language programs in the city. This somewhat informal orientation generally only takes about a half-day and may take place one-on-one with our C&L leader, or in a group with multiple new staff. Please make sure to contact your C&L leader both before and after you arrive to Chiang Mai so that the C&L leader can set up a time to meet with you. You may contact your C&L leader at any time if you need assistance getting settled.