Christmas in Ratchaburi

“Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it's Christmas.” Dale Evans Rogers Celebrating Christmas in Thailand is quite strange. It’s not a public holiday, and even churches only have a Christmas service on Christmas day if the 25th happens to be on a Sunday.(Otherwise it's the Sunday before or after that a Christmas message is shared at the regular church service). There are big dancing Santa Clause mannequins in the supermarkets, complete with Christmas music (usually the same old cd played in every supermarket all day long for the entire month of December), and some fake Christmas trees and Christmas décor on display.

This will be my 8th Christmas in Thailand and being here each year has made me think a lot about the real meaning of Christmas. I do celebrate on the 25th of December, but to me it really isn’t much more special than any other day anymore. I now consider Christmas an extraordinary opportunity to share God’s love with other people. Every day is an opportunity to share God’s love and celebrate what God did for us through his Son Jesus, but Christmas opens a special door for us to take the Gospel to those who have never heard it, and to bring gifts to those who have may never have received a gift before.  For the past few years in Ratchaburi, we have travelled around to different places in and around our province throwing Christmas parties for different groups of people. We have been to many schools; the local university; a large village; the local prison; a home for mentally handicapped children; a community of Burmese laborers; slum areas in town and worked alongside many of the local churches to help them run their own Christmas parties.     This year we will be running 2 Christmas parties of our own. The first will be on the 10th of December in the Burmese community, and the second on the 20th of December at the home for mentally handicapped children. We will be helping with the organization of many of the others that the churches will be running. On Christmas day, we will also be sharing the message of Christmas on the military radio station. We usually collect second hand clothes for the Christmas party in the Burmese community and also collect donations of non-perishable foods and toothpaste, shampoo etc (or monetary donations to purchase such items). We also provide a meal and some special gifts for each location that we host a Christmas party at. If you would like to be a part of helping us to do that this year, you can contribute online by clicking here Donate towards YWAM Ratchaburi's Christmas parties or contact us for more details on other ways to give. (If you donate online, please be sure to state the purpose of the donation as "Christmas party".) Every little bit makes a difference! If you are in Thailand and would like to join in the fun – please come and join us – we would love to have you!    Our prayer over the Christmas season is that, in the heart of everyone that hears the Christmas message of God’s love and hope for them, a seed will be planted that God would water and cause to grow. Please pray with us. Christmas began in the heart of God.  It is complete only when it reaches the heart of man. --Anonymous

YWAM Ratchaburi November update

“Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again – rejoice!” Philippians 4:4

When months go by without an update from us you can be certain that it is not because we have nothing to say, but rather that we have much to say, but often have run out of time to say it! We have begun to prepare ourselves for Noiy to take on the new position as Central Region leader of YWAM Thailand as we mentioned in our last update, while still continuing the ministry here in Ratchaburi. New things excite us and we are truly excited about what God has for us in this new position and to be a part of what he will continue to do in Ratchaburi.

Radio show

There are also new things happening in the ministry in Ratchaburi, one of which is that Noiy was invited to speak on the military radio station about Christianity during the month of October. The host enjoyed the show so much that she invited him to come back again.  The next radio show will be at the end of this month. If you are in Central Thailand and would like to listen, you can do so on FM 99.25 MHz from 14:00-15:00 on Saturday the 27^th of November. Please pray for Noiy as he shares - it truly is an amazing open door through which we believe so many Thais can be reached with God’s truth and love.

Rice Seeds Child Sponsorship

Our Child Sponsorship Program is now into its fourth month and we are so thankful to the sponsors who are helping the families of the 18 children involved to stay in school. Our hope is that when the new school year begins in May 2011, families will be willing once again to allow their children to stay in school when they would otherwise have stopped school and begun working (usually at the end of Grade 6). Please pray with us, and if you feel on your heart to help with the sponsorship program please contact us – we still need sponsors!

December

We had planned a camping trip for the Burmese children’s church during the month of October, but the trip fell through and we had to postpone it until December. It is coming up on the 17^th -19^th of December and the kids are really excited. We have found another beautiful location that we have been granted use of for free! Praise God for the things that He puts on our heart to do that we don’t always have the finances for; He always has a way of making possible!

December is always an exciting month for us with the Christmas parties that we run. It is a chance to share God’s love and to be a blessing to those who are really in need during the Christmas season. This year we will be running Christmas parties in the Burmese community that we work with and a mentally handicapped children’s home, as well as a many alongside churches that we work with both in Ratchaburi and the surrounding provinces. If you would like to give towards our Christmas parties this year, please contact us. We always collect second hand clothes from people in Thailand for distribution, but we also purchase non-perishable food items for the people in the community and provide a meal at the Christmas party. If you are in Thailand we would love to have you join us this year!

Family 

It’s been more than a year since Noiy’s father passed away now, and while his mom and sister have been attending church most weeks, they just didn’t seem to be growing in their understanding of what it meant to be a Christian. Noiy made a commitment a few months ago to meet with them and teach them the Bible once a week and they have since grown a great deal. Discipling one’s own family members is a unique challenge –please pray for Noiy, his sister Patchali and his mom Piew.

We have just had a short but wonderful visit from Bronwyn’s mom and will have her dad visiting with us in December.  We are also planning a visit to South Africa in February/March 2011, so lots of special family time coming up in the next few months.

An answer to prayer

We have begun travelling to visit different ministries in the Central Region to see what is in store for us next year and we are truly blessed by what we have seen. There are many more visits to come and much more travelling to be done. Noiy is doing some of the trips alone at this stage, but we hope that next year we will be able to do many of them together. One of the things that we have been praying about since considering taking on the position is a helper for our family – someone who can help us at home when we need to work, and who can come and help us take care of the kids when we need to travel and have meetings. We have found someone to help us – and what a blessing she has already been! Her name is Daow. Please pray for Daow – she is wonderful and our children love her – we would love to also have the opportunity to lead her to Jesus while she is working with us. 

 Much work is ahead of us – but we take every day as a new and exciting challenge. To quote Dr. Seuss:  “Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So… get on your way.” 

Blessings

Noiy and Bronwyn