A beautiful story of an aunt and her niece.

Last year we met a young lady named Kung. Kung grew up near to our home, living in a family that she describes as ‘broken’. Kung says that she often felt unloved by her father and that her family struggled financially to get by. Kung wanted to get a good education, but her family couldn't afford to send her to a good university. Determined to study, Kung worked hard at school and was granted 100% scholarships to study at 2 well renowned universities in Thailand, completing her bachelor’s degree followed by her master’s degree.

It was while Kung was at university that she met someone who told her about Jesus. Kung decided to accept Jesus into her heart eight years ago at the start of her studies. When she finished her master’s degree, her pastor asked her if she was interested to attend a Discipleship Training School(DTS) with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). 

It was during her DTS at YWAM in Chaing Rai, in the north of Thailand, that we first met Kung. Kung was one of the students along with Diaw, a young man who came out of the prison ministry here in Ratchaburi. Little did we know at that point that Kung’s life and our prison ministry were already interconnected to a much greater degree.

Kung and Diaw

 Five years before Kung went to do her DTS, her aunt, Napa was sent to prison in Bangkok. Kung went to visit her and shared the Gospel with her. Kung encouraged NaPa to join the Christian fellowship in the Bangkok prison.

A few years later, Napa was transferred to the Ratchaburi Central Prison. Napa has been a part of the women’s fellowship for some time now, and this week began her own DTS journey as a part of the Prison DTS.

Kung says of NaPa: “Napa has a heart to serve God. God will help her and will do even more in her than He has done in me.”

Kung is now living close to home again and has begun reaching out to children who are growing up in circumstances similar to her own - many from broken families, attending poor quality schools and having to fight for the right to a better education. Kung teaches extra lessons to them after school hours, tutoring them and sharing the love of Jesus with them. Only God knows what their future will be like one day, but having someone like Kung as an example for them to follow can only encourage them to keep fighting for the future that they deserve. 

It's time to begin again...

Days blend into nights and nights blend into days and all of it is just wonderful and terrifying all at the same time. Then before we know it, three months have passed us by - in what seems like a blink of the eye.

We are the staff of the Prison Discipleship Training School (PDTS) in Ratchaburi Thailand - a three month training program where inmates learn important Biblical truths about who God is and who they are in Him. Last year was the very first time that the PDTS was run. If it went by in a blur for us, we cannot imagine what it must have been like for each one of the students who participated.

There is something that goes beyond human understanding when God's grace is extended to people who are labelled as the outcasts of society. The ones who have been abandoned  even by their own families. Assassins, murderers, drug dealers, rapists - they have committed the worst of crimes, and yet there is still grace for them. There is still forgiveness and peace, even behind the high walls of the prison.

This week, the second PDTS begins. Last year we had 55 students. This year, there are 72 students. 72 inmates studying about the love and grace and forgiveness that is available for them in Christ Jesus. 72 students, many of whom will remain in the prison, and who share the message of Christ with others through the bars of the cells that they sleep in. 

We could never have imagined that God would transform the prison in this way. Nor can we even begin to imagine what the prison will look like in the years to come should the Christians inside continue to be equipped and continue to share Christ with others. But what we can imagine, is that it will surely be an inexplicable kind of beauty that is rarely seen in this world today.

As we begin this three month journey again this Monday, as nights again begin to blend into days and everything becomes wonderful and terrifying all at the same time, all over again - please remember us in prayer. For we cannot fight this battle alone - we are only the messengers - we need an army of prayer warriors to stand with us in this battle.

Pattaya Slum Ministries and Rice Seeds

The youth from Pattaya Slum Ministries have come to join us for a few days. Today they went, with the Rice Seeds children from Ratchaburi town, to visit a Karen village in Suan Pueng, near the border of Burma. The Pattaya youth ran a children's program for the Karen children.

Great fun was had by all - especially on the way home, visiting sheep and swimming in waterfalls.

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")