Chala's story

Chala, at the age of 42, has faced a life that not many people can ever imagine. Born into a hilltribe in the north of Thailand, Chala didn't attend many years of school and later on got involved in drugs. In his late 20's Chala was given a life sentence in prison for dealing drugs.

In prison, far away from his home province, Chala started serving his time. During the time that Chala was in prison, he met a group of Christians who introduced him to Jesus. Chala spent time with them and decided that he too wanted to know this Jesus.

After a few years, Chala's sentence was drastically reduced from life, to just 25 years. Later the 25 years was again reduced by a royal pardon to only 12 years. However, Chala had since lost the only family that he had, and had nobody on the outside of the prison walls to go back to once he was released.

The day that Chala was released from the prison, he had no idea where he would go. While he was sitting outside, waiting for his papers to be finalized  he met the YWAM Ratchaburi team that happened to be ministering in the prison that day. One of the YWAM Ratchaburi team, Mongkhon, was released from the prison last year and was one of Chala's friends from inside the prison. The YWAM Ratchaburi team decided to take Chala along with them when they left the prison, and give him a place to stay and pray with him to see where God was leading him.

Mongkhon will be leaving Ratchaburi to study his Discipleship Training School (DTS) with YWAM in the north east of Thailand on Monday the 4th of March, and as the YWAM Ratchaburi team prayed with Chala, they felt moved to challenge Chala to attend his DTS along with Mongkhon.

Chala and Mongkhon will be leaving together, brothers in the Lord who have already endured so much together. Now they go forth to discover the great and wonderful plans that the Father has for them. Chala may not have any family, but he certainly is not alone in the body of Christ. He is loved, and his gentle nature and joyful disposition seem to draw others to him. We are excited about what God is going to do in his life!

Chala will need to pay the school fees for his DTS. He doesn't have any money, and left prison with only the clothes that he was wearing. He owns nothing else in the world, but the hope that he has in Christ Jesus surpasses all of that. Would you like to be a part of this amazing journey that Chala is on? He needs people to partner with him in prayer, and he will need people to financially support him to complete his DTS. Would you like to be one of those people? 

You can send a contribution towards Chala's DTS here. Please mention that the contribution should be specifically for "Chala's DTS."

Mongkhon, Noiy (YWAM Ratchaburi director) and Chala

KFC Christmas

Every year for the past 4 years, we have had a Christmas party in the Burmese community near to where we live. This year, we won't be in Thailand over Christmas, but still wanted to do something for the kids in the community.

A fun meal together at KFC and some games in the arcade. It may not seem like much of a Christmas to some, but to these kids, just a little love and attention, along with a luxury that they are never really afforded, goes a long way. Sometimes Christmas memories at KFC are just what you need when facing the hardships that life has for the kids in this community.

Thanks to everyone that has been a part of our Rice Seeds program this year. For the volunteers, the sponsors, the visitors, and the prayer partners - thank you for having a part in helping us touch the lives of these children throughout 2012. We appreciate you!

The Lord's tents Camping #4

Every year, we take a group of children camping. This is never an ordinary camping trip and these are by no means any ordinary children. These children come from circumstances that many other people never have to face. For some, they live in a place where they will never truly belong - born as the child of a migrant worker, never having set foot in the country that they are citizens in. For others, their struggle comes in the form of family - for whatever reason their family could not properly care for them, and they have been placed in a children's home so that they will be able to complete their studies. Often people in situations like this grow up feeling unknown, unimportant, unloved.

Each child's situation is different and yet they all have something in common. They have all someway, somehow, through someone discovered the truth of the Gospel and the great love of Jesus Christ. In previous years we have watched children on our camp grow steadily. This year we watched as many of the children who were so young when we started hosting the Lord's tents camping 4 years ago, now confidently lead group devotions, sharing passages of scripture with the younger children.



One of the highlights of the camp was a 3 hour hike. Each group had some local children in it who lead the group on a journey to find different species of plants and animals. Through thorn bushes, up mountains, often off the beaten track, each team journeyed together. For the children from the slums in the cities and towns, this was a new and exciting experience. Even the local children expressed their joy in walking with a goal in mind, often having walked these paths before, but never having thought about what was actually around them while they walked.


On the Saturday night, each team was given a number of ingredients and told to make themselves a meal. The conditions were that they had to make something in a hollow piece of bamboo, and that everything needed to be made over the fire. With a little imagination, each team managed to come up with quite an appetizing meal - which was finished just in time for a huge downpour of rain.





Each year we have come across different challenges when it comes to having the kids sleep in tents. This year, it was the rain. It rained and rained and poured until the tents began flooding from the water that had begun to build up around the tents. At midnight everyone was pulled out of their tents and given a safe and dry place to sleep for the remainder of the night. On the final day as each of the children stood to say something about their camp experience, it was obvious that even the rain had brought the children closer together.

God did something special in the hearts of  each of the children. They are important. They are loved. They will never be unknown - for their Heavenly Father has called them each by name. And while their circumstances may be more difficult than some others have to face, they can have the boldness to dream the dreams that God has put in their hearts. He will show them the way.

Sanitary Pads for Christmas?

With names like Carefree, Freedom, Always and Stayfree, one would imagine that such a simple thing as a sanitary pad should be available to everyone who needs one. Unimaginable to most ladies is the reality that there are women out there who do not have access to the monthly necessity of sanitary pads.

The women in the Ratchaburi Central Prison do not have access to sanitary pads unless their friends or relatives bring them a supply when visiting. Visits are often few and far between leaving ladies in the prison with a limited supply of something which most of us would consider essential. Others have no visitors and must live without any access to sanitary pads among other essential items like toothpaste, deodorant and shampoo.

This Christmas  YWAM Ratchaburi would like to give a donation of as many sanitary pads as possible to as many ladies in the Ratchaburi Central Prison as possible. It's such a simple gift, but we really believe that they will feel loved by receiving something so practical. We will be holding our annual Christmas party in the prison on the 14th of December. Would you consider helping us to bring joy to the ladies in the Ratchaburi Central prison this Christmas? 

Interested in being a part of this really practical Christmas gift... you can give online here. (Please make sure to mention in the note that the gift should be for the "Ladies Prison Christmas")

So many things happening in Ratchaburi over the past few months - click here to read our latest news:)

Introducing Diaw

This is Diaw. At 28 years old, his life significantly changed a few months ago.

Diaw has been a musician for as long as he can remember. He picked up the guitar for the first time at the age of 12. He dreams of travelling with a a band of his own, writing songs and performing.

A few months ago, Diaw made a wrong decision that landed him in jail for six months. While going to jail is nobody's ideal, Diaw's life may not have changed had he not had to serve the time in prison.

Inside the prison, Diaw met the inmates in the Christian fellowship that YWAM Ratchaburi runs. He joined the group and over time asked God to come into His life. He may not have understood much about Jesus, but God began using the gift that Diaw has in song writing to help him to understand more. To date Diaw has written more than 30 worship songs. He now dreams of using his musical gifting to help bring the truth of the Gospel to others who have never heard it before.

Diaw began the Prison DTS with YWAM Ratchaburi in June 2012, but was released only 2 weeks into the DTS and is not allowed back into the prison to complete the DTS with us. Diaw's life is changed. He is learning more every day, currently studying the Bible and serving alongside the YWAM Ratchaburi team. He wants to complete his DTS in Chaing Rai this coming September.

We believe that God has an amazing plan for Diaw. We are excited to see the things that he is learning and can already see an enormous amount of growth in him. He is humble and willing to learn, and most importantly, God has captured his heart.

If you would like to help to sponsor Diaw to attend his DTS you can do so online here: http://www.ywamthai.org/donate/?to=Ratchaburi (please mention in the note that the donation is for Diaw's DTS). For more details, please contact us by email: ratchaburi@ywamthai.org

We are standing with Diaw in prayer - we know that he would appreciate your prayers too!

God's love knows no boundaries

Many things that have happened over the past few months in the prison have surprised us. God is doing something new every day - there seems to be something beautiful that He does that takes our breathe away each day. Some things are very simple and beautiful in their simplicity. Others are deep and so touching.

This past week, a life outside the prison walls, came to know true peace because of someone inside the prison. 

A relative of one of the inmates in the prison came to visit her family member. While there she noticed on the list of names that another inmate was someone that she had known growing up - a childhood friend that she hadn't seen in many, many years. She decided to begin to visit him. Her childhood friend happens to be one of the Prison DTS students and after a few visits, he begun to tell her about what God was doing in his life. He wrote letters to her and also spoke to her about it during their visits.

Meanwhile, in the Prison DTS classroom, this man shared of his desire to finish reading his entire Bible so that he could give it to this childhood friend. He wanted her to know the peace that he had found. When he had finished reading the Bible once completely through he gave it to us and asked us to deliver it to his friend outside.

Looking lost and bewildered, she showed up at our home one rainy afternoon to fetch the Bible. She didn't understand why he had sent her this book, but she did know that she had seen something different in him - a hope that she herself very desperately needed. She took the Bible along with a few tracts and over the course of a few days, began to read it. 

She started asking God to reveal Himself to her and eventually, came back to talk to us a few days later. On the day that she arrived, she looked different. She didn't yet understand much of what she had read in the Bible, but she was certain that she wanted to know more about what it was all about. At the end of the evening, she prayed a prayer to ask Jesus to come into her life.

Perhaps we shouldn't be astounded that God's love is flowing out of the prison ,despite the high walls that seem to stand in the way of anything else getting in and out. After all, God's love knows no boundaries. It's just that when these things catch us by surprise, they truly take our breath away.

Our new sister in Christ (in the light blue shirt)

When asked how life has been since she made that decision just a few days ago, our new sister in Christ says: " I've never been happier." Please pray for this lovely lady who will begin to study the Bible with us this week - the first life outside this prison that has been changed by hearing the truth from someone inside. We are certain that she will not be the last.