Small World Stories

Barney & Theresa

Story and Photos by: Theresa Sacket/Contributing Writer

I love meeting new people and exploring new places. I especially love when I meet people along life’s journey that are connected to other people or places I know. My name is Theresa Sacket, and I just returned from a two-year adventure living abroad with my family in Chiang Rai, Thailand. However, this story starts with an encounter I had with Barney Barnwell (aka Barney the Barber) in May 2019.

Barney and Vonda Barney had asked if I could paint a mural for him, but I was getting ready to leave for Thailand that week so I went to visit with him and give him a list of other artists. We quickly began talking about many things and when I mentioned

Thailand he told me all about some exchange students that stayed with him over a decade ago. A brother and sister named Thoe and Ja stayed with his family at different times throughout their high school and college careers.

After talking for a bit, we said our goodbyes and a week later my family arrived in Chiang Rai, Thailand.

My husband, Jeremy, and I hadn’t overplanned anything for our journey. We live on the prayer based on Proverbs 16:9 “Lord, as we make our plans, please direct our paths.”

We had intended on homeschooling our three children and were only going to help teach English at an orphanage and church. We began teaching English a couple times a week, but quickly felt like we needed to do more and that our kids needed more interaction with other children. This led us to Chiang Rai International Christian School. They were in need of a kindergarten teacher and a part-time computer science teacher. This seemed like a good fit for our kids and for us. All non-native teachers are volunteers/missionaries from all around the world. It is a smaller school with around 200 students K-12th grades, with students from over 22 different countries. We began teaching at this school in August 2019 while continuing to help with English classes at the orphanage and church in the evenings and on Saturdays. We did all of this while still working our other full-time jobs. To say we were busy is an understatement. There were many times we would look at each other and ask, “What are we doing with our lives?” If you are like me and questioning your life choices, sometimes it only takes that little “sign” or confirmation that you are in the right place at the right time to keep you going. For me that confirmation came during my second week of teaching. I had 10 sweet little kindergartners in my class. I always send a note home with families telling who I am and where I come from. One day after school, Tien’s dad stopped to talk with me. He said, “I finally read that letter you sent home and see that you are from Ponca City … do you know Barney?” After picking my jaw up off the ground I responded, “Yes.” Tien’s dad just so happened to be Thoe, the exchange student who stayed with the Barnwell family. Thoe told me about how he and his sister Ja had both stayed with Barney at different times and how they really enjoyed their time in Ponca City, Oklahoma. Thoe and his family had lost