After 20 months being separated from his missionary assignment due to COVID border closures, Fr Toub Anisong Chanthavong SVD is set to return to Thailand with a thankful heart in September.

Fr Toub took the short trip from Thailand to Laos in December 2019 for three months of home leave with his family, but the worldwide pandemic prevented him from returning to his ministry for almost two years.

Fr Toub had been set to take up a new parish assignment as assistant priest in Ban Dung, Thailand upon his return from home leave, but instead, he kept himself busy in various forms of ministry and service in Laos.

“I came to Laos for home leave and planned to stay at home for three months while also waiting for a working visa in Thailand,” he says. “And then everything changed. The virus broke out and the borders were closed.”

Fr Toub, who is the SVD’s first priest to come from Laos, had a little money with him, from the time of his ordination in Australia and shared it with a local widow by building a new shelter for her to sleep in after her husband passed away.

“The poor helps the poorest,” he says.

“I also conducted retreats for the seminarians and the sisters here and I’ve been looking for donors to donate rice to the poor communities during the pandemic.

“It keeps me busy and I feel rewarded.”

More recently, Fr Toub has built another house for an extremely poor family, using his personal funds and some donations from friends of the SVD.

He has also shared his personal allowance with the sick and the poor who he visits regularly.

Fr Toub says he is looking forward to returning to Thailand and to assisting in parish ministry following his period in hotel quarantine.

“I am looking forward to returning to Thailand continuing to journey in faith with the faithful where I have been posted,” he says.

“And also, to discover our brothers and sisters who have different faith backgrounds.”

Fr Toub says his many months of waiting have taught him much about God, faith and life.

“I realise that I need a lot of patience,” he says.

“And it was a good opportunity to reflect on God’s plan for me.”

PHOTO: Fr Toub pictured with a widow and her family and the home he built for her while on 'extended' home-leave in Laos during the COVID pandemic.