The Day the Village Began to Hear

In late 2013 a 17-year-old Moken, Thoen — who had recently been coming to church — was electrocuted. Philip performed CPR but could not save him. The funeral, held partly in the Moken church and partly at the Thai temple, became a hinge moment: for the first time, Philip writes, the Moken genuinely heard the message. Even the mediums the village consulted reported that Thoen's spirit was happy and at peace and did not want to return. From this point the village's posture toward Philip and the church visibly warms — they begin to look after him "like something precious."