Soccer Outreach

At the beginning of June a team of young guys from Baan Jai Diaw (a ministry reaching out to university students in Bangkok) came to join us for a sports outreach. We have been reaching out to the young men in the Burmese community near where we live for quite some time now and this was just another way for us to grow closer in relationship to them and for them to see Jesus through the lives of some other young men.

Every evening for four days, the BJD team and the young Burmese men headed down to the soccer fields for a few solid hours of fun. On the last evening, they all ate together and some of the young BJD guys had a chance to share their testimonies with the Burmese men. 

We hope to host a another similar outreach in September.

Rice Seeds New school year

The school year in Thailand opens again this month and we are very disappointed that we will be losing a few of the children from our sponsorship program. Two of the boys have moved elsewhere with their families (they have found construction work with better pay elsewhere), and we are not certain whether they will be allowed to continue on with their education. One of the other boys has been taken out of school and has started working on the construction site here full time. 

 

On the other hand, we have had a lot of progress with some of the girls families - 2 of which are starting 10th Grade this month.(The highest so far that anyone in the community has ever studied). Their parents even seem eager to allow them to continue on to university should they so wish. We are thrilled and are praying for Wanlee (top left) and Tuway (bottom left) and their families as they continue on in their studies.

Beginning to break the cycle of poverty in Asian culture we have discovered starts largely in the minds of the parents. We have spent many hours encouraging the children to dream, but ultimately, it is up to their parents whether they will be allowed to reach for those dreams or not. For the two girls whose parent's mindsets seem to have begun to change, we hope that they will see their dreams come true. For those whose parents do not allow them to pursue the desires of their heart, we hope that they will not give up dreaming - and that they will encourage others, especially those younger than them, to do the same. For those entering our sponsorship program for the first time this year (the young children in the community who have just reached school going age), our prayer is that in the years that their children are at school, that the minds of the parents will be changed and that the parents will be willing to make that extra sacrifice of a few more years of financial struggle to allow their children to try to reach for their dreams.

God knows the hearts and the dreams of each of the children that we work with. It is from Him that they gain the courage to look beyond their own community and ask what their purpose is. It is also to Him that they turn to when they are disappointed and discouraged by what may seem like an end to their formal education. Our prayer for each of them is that no matter how high they study, that they may grow close enough to the Lord to know His comfort, and His encouragement - and to know that with a strong Christlike character, sometimes what may appear to be the end, is really only the beginning of a different journey - perhaps not the one that they imagined, but certainly one that He will walk with them.

April 2011

In January this year we opened a small library for the Burmese community that we work with. There aren’t many books or toys there – but most of the children in the community had never owned a book of their own. With the help of a YWAM Montana DTS team, we decorated one of the small rooms in the community for the kids and set up the library for them. We are looking for more books, toys and board games for the kids, but for now we are just pleased that the kids have a safe place to learn and play. Noiy now also has a place where he can always have his Friday afternoon Bible class with the kids, instead of having to have it in front of someone else’s house.

It’s summer vacation now, but the new school term starts in May and we will be continuing on with our Rice Seeds Child Sponsorship Program. Please pray for us during this period of time as for some of the kids, their parents now consider them old enough (around 12-13) to begin working.  We would like to see the children be allowed to study higher, but ultimately the decision lies in the hands of their parents.  If you would like to pray for them by name, here are some pictures of the children:

If you would like to be a part of our Rice Seeds Library project or our Rice Seeds Child sponsorship Program, please contact us, or you can donate online at: http://www.ywamthai.org/donate/?to=Ratchaburi

In February and March, our family travelled to South Africa to spend some much overdue time with family and friends there. It was such fun to watch Daniel and Naomi grow closer to their South African family. While there, we were able to share in a number of different places about what God is doing in Thailand. It was wonderful to be able to share the blessings of being involved in what God is doing here.  Noiy even had a chance to cook for a Thai evening that was hosted at the YWAM base in Muizenberg – for around 130 people!

Our children did really well with all the moving around that we did in South Africa, and it seems like they got some good practice in for the increase in travelling that we will be doing this year.  We sold our family vehicle at the end of last year and are praying for the finances to be able to purchase another one that will help us with the amount of travelling that we will be doing.  Please pray with us for the vehicle and also for travelling mercies, while we travel together as a family, and during the times when Noiy has to travel alone

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Pictures of kids in Burmese community

We always get some great pictures of the kids in the Burmese community that we work in when we have teams with us. Thought I would share some from the last team that was with us. Pictures courtesy of Becca Smith and Jenny Barber from the YWAM Montana DTS that was with us during the month of January.

Prison ministry

This week we went to teach the Bible for 2 days in the local prison. One of the prisoners brought his friend to me and said : "We need a word of encouragement. We are both HIV positive." I sat down and talked to them and shared the Gospel and His love with them. No matter who these men are or what happened to them, God loves them. They gave their lives to the Lord that day. They are so hungry to know God more and He is the only hope that they have. Please pray for them.

 Another prisoner wrote a letter to me saying that he will be released from prison this Friday. He wants to go to church. He wants to serve God and he wants to come back to the prison to share about God with the other prisoners. Isn't that amazing?

God truly loves each of us. No matter where we are at, or what we have done. His love is unconditional and cannot be held back by the walls of a prison.

December 2010

The month of December is always a busy one for us and this past December was no exception. We ran 2 of our own Christmas parties, and lent a helping hand in many more that other people were organizing. We also hosted our second camping trip, and were part of organizing the first joint Christmas event in which almost all of the local churches in Ratchaburi participated.

Burmese Christmas party
This year was the third year that we have had a Christmas party in the community of Burmese laborers that we minister in. This year we had mainly non-perishable food items to distribute, as well as a some larger items for a few of the families. Friends from many churches in Ratchaburi and outside of Ratchaburi worked together to help make the evening a success and a good time was had by all. At the end of the evening many of the people in the community responded to the message of the Gospel. After three years of working in the community, we are sure that God is working amongst them and we continue to look for ways to show His great love for them and help them to learn more about how they can know Him more.

Mentally handicapped Children's Home

Our second Christmas party this year was in a Home for Mentally Handicapped Children. A friend of ours helped us to be able to buy pizza for each child - something that most of them have never had the chance to eat before. They played games and had fun, and learnt about God's love for them. We do not know how much the children understand about the Gospel, but we do know that God loves each of them incredibly and we want to be a part in showing that love to them.

The Lord's Tents camping 2
This time, instead of just the Burmese kids that we took camping last time, we were also joined by another 15 children from the slums in Bangkok. Our friends at ARK international and Kings Kids Thailand did a great job teaching and coaching the kids- loving on them and having fun along with them. The camp was a great success and it will definitely not be the last that we host.

Christmas day
On Christmas day, Noiy was on the military radio station sharing about the real meaning of Christmas. It was the third time that he has been invited to share on this particular radio show, which is broadcast to 12 provinces in Thailand. We are so thankful for this open door and pray that they will continue to invite Noiy to share and that the hearts of the listeners will be open to the truth.

Ratchaburi Christmas Event
Our hearts were filled with joy on the day when we finally saw the churches in Ratchaburi working together towards a common goal. During the 5 years that we have been in Ratchaburi, it has been heavily on our heart to see the churches begin to work together. On the 28th of December, the churches gathered to host a Christmas event - the numbers of people that attended greatly exceeded expectation and we are certain that the churches were encouraged by the outcome of the day. Our prayer is that this will only be the start of greater unity.

Every event that we hold, every camp that we host, every time we speak on the radio, we have expenses that we must cover. We want to say a special thank you to those friends that support us and our ministry financially, particularly over the Christmas season when there are so many events that we participate in over one month. Thank you for helping us to make a difference in the lives of the people here! 

Rice Seeds library

'Books can be dangerous.  The best ones should be labeled "This could change your life."  '~Helen Exley

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."
Dr Seuss

When one ministers in a poor community there are endless things that you can do to show the people that you care for them. Our number one desire for the people in the community of Burmese laborers that we minister to is, most definitely, that they each one of them would come to know Jesus Christ intimately as their Lord and Savior. However, there are many other desires that we have for the community - one of those is that we desire to see the children being allowed to stay in school for longer, being allowed the time to have their world view broadened and possibly have a  chance of getting a job somewhere other than the construction site that their parents work on. Leaving school at age 12 is most often the norm in this particular community, and when the children leave school and begin to work, their childhood abruptly comes to an end long before it should.

There are 18 children in the community that we raise support for on a monthly basis in order to help their parents to keep them in school through our Child Sponsorship Program (Read more about Rice Seeds Child Sponsorship Program). Not every parent understands the importance of staying in school - in fact very few of them do. For them, taking their children out of school when they are old enough to begin to earn money for the family means another salary to help to lift the family financial burden.

We know that we cannot keep all of the children in school. We can provide help for those families who decide to keep their children in school, but ultimately the future of the children is in the hands of their parents. We can however encourage the children, and the community as a whole for that matter, to continue to learn even when they are not at school, or are no longer of school going age.

We have begun collecting books and some toys to set up a small library in the community. Very few of the children in the community have ever owned their own toys, and it is unlikely that any of them have books of their own. We have been given a room in the community which we will decorate and make into a special place in the Burmese community. We will begin with the decoration of the room at the end of January and will continue collecting toys and books to add to the small collection that we have started.

We have some lovely English picture books, and we would like to be able to purchase a number of Thai books too. We believe that  books can give the kids in this community a lot of joy and a glimmer of hope - as well as a way to continue learning while they are not at school. If you would like to be a part of this project, you can give online at : http://www.ywamthai.org/donate/?to=Ratchaburi

(Please state that it is for Ratchaburi and specify that it is for the Rice Seeds Library)

or for other ways to give, please contact us: ratchaburi@ywamthai.org