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.

Hearing God's voice in prison

Extraordinary things have been happening in a small room in the Ratchaburi Central Prison. Since the beginning of June this year, fifty of the inmates have gathered daily to join in the YWAM Discipleship Training School (DTS) that is being held there. Many of the students really had very little idea what they were letting themselves in for. Most are new in their faith and many had never owned a Bible of their own before the start of the DTS.
 
During one of the weeks, the students were learning about the subject of: “Hearing God’s Voice.” One of the students had to do some extra work duties on one of the days and wasn’t able to attend the DTS class. He went somewhere to be alone and took his class notes and his Bible and prayed to God:” God, I really want to be in the class today and I am disappointed that I am not there.” He then opened His Bible and found the story of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples. He was really touched by the story and had a wonderful time reading his Bible and praying.
Little did that student know that while he was reading that very story, the DTS staff were washing the feet of the Prison DTS students. Students were so touched by the symbolism of what the DTS staff did for them – a gesture that would bring many people to tears, but even more so in Thailand where feet are considered lowly and untouchable (many of the students expressed that not even their own parents would have done something like that for them). Tears flowed freely from many of the students and hearts opened to understand the love of Jesus in a new way.
One of the students wrote a note to the YWAM staff saying: “'I don't know exactly how to explain what I want to say because I am someone who is usually not very bold. However, what happened yesterday helped me to know many things about Jesus - because for someone to come and wash someone else's feet is not an easy thing. Nobody has ever done something like this for me in my life. I was really touched. It caused the tears to flow from my eyes - not tears of sadness, but tears that flowed from God's great love shown through you. I know now how great God's love is - that God has allowed you all to come and help us to know God more. I know that God is real and that God loves me so much. Thank you so much. I will walk in His ways, in His will in every way.”



 
The DTS student who missed class that day was shocked when he heard from his classmates what went on in the classroom while he was gone. It was a very special lesson for him in “Hearing God’s Voice.” He may not have been able to be in the classroom, but God wanted him to be included and he heard God’s voice for himself.

The fifty Prison DTS students are in for an incredible journey…. And this is only the beginning.

Follow the journey on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/PrisonDtsYwamRatchaburiThailand

Rice Seeds Child Sponsorship Program 2012

The new school year started today. The kids in our sponsorship program were excitedly waiting for the school bus this morning along with all of the other children in the neighborhood. For most of the children in the neighborhood, this is just another school year, but for the children that we sponsor we know that every year that they are allowed to stay in school counts. Every year is a sacrifice for their families and we are thankful (as we know the kids are) for some of the parents who have begun to see the value in having their kids stay in school.

For 2 years now, we have had sponsors for the Burmese children in our sponsorship program and we are grateful for each and every sponsor. Over the past year however, we have begun to reach out to other children, both Thai children in our neighborhood and children in a Karen community about an hour away from where we live. These children also desperately need help to be able to stay in school, and we would love to find sponsors for them.

Would you consider sponsoring a child to stay in school? For only US$30 a month, you could help one of these children continue pursuing their education - we believe for some of them, it will be a helping hand towards a better future.Our hope is that some may grow up to be a helping hand to their own community - helping to stop the cycle of poverty.

If you would like to sponsor a child to stay in school you can give online:  http://www.ywamthai.org/donate/?to=Ratchaburi 

A Second Rice Seeds Library

There is a community of Karen migrants that we began to reach out to around a year ago. Most of the parents have very low paying jobs, if they can find jobs in their area at all. Many times families cannot afford for the children to stay in school and they are forced to take their children out of formal education and send them to work at the end of their primary school years.

This is not a unique story, and is one that can be heard in many slum areas throughout Thailand, as well as in many other places in the world. Each person however does have a unique story of their own, with hopes and dreams that perhaps will never come true because of the family situation that they were born into. 

With around fifty children in the community, there is much hope that the future of the community need not be as grim as it now appears - should someone just step in and help them to continue on with their education.

Just as we have done with the Burmese community in Ratchaburi, we would like to find sponsors for some of these children to stay in school. We cannot force them to continue on with their education, but with friends and supporters standing alongside us, we hope to at least offer the chance of a better future to some of these children and their families, should they so choose to walk that path with us.

Presently, we don't have sponsors for any of the children, but we do have plans to build a library for the Karen community as we did with the Burmese community. A place in their own community where they can go to do their homework, study the Bible, have toys to play with, and books to read.

We will be starting to build this library during the third week of May 2012. Right now we have no books, or games. Just a few second hand toys, a small starting budget and a dream of a special place where these kids can be safe, and feel the freedom to nurture their dreams.

Do you have second hand books/toys or games that you would like to donate? Would you like to bless these kids with some new books or games? In a project like this, every donation truly makes a difference, no matter how small. 

You can donate online here. (please specify in the note that the money should be allocated to the Rice Seeds Library) Or contact us to find out more about donating second hand items to the library.

Rice Seeds Summer Fun

Summer fun with our Rice Seeds kids.

Special thanks to the DTS team from YWAM Skien (Norway), who have loved the kids and planned wonderful activities for them throughout the past 3 weeks!

B-Boy Ratchaburi

Taylor is an 18 year old American who finished his DTS with YWAM in Bangkok. He decided to come and spend some time serving with us in Ratchaburi before returning home to continue on with his university degree. We love having volunteers like Taylor and have been really blessed by his openness and willingness to serve the community in Ratchaburi. Taylor has also found something that he is passionate about that we were not yet involved in and he has taken the chance to dive in and start a brand new ministry all on his own. Taylor speaks of his experience with YWAM Ratchaburi below:

 "My favorite ministry that I am involved with is the break-dancing ministry that I started.  During my DTS my outreach team went to Pitsanulok and we got the chance to evangelize and fellowship with a local break-dancing crew.  God blessed my time there very much and gave me opportunities to develop relationships and speak truth into a few lives.  Coming to Racthaburi I was sad that I wouldn’t be getting the chance to work with break-dancers.  Little did I know God had another plan.  My first week here I saw a break-dancing crew and exchanged numbers and now I go and spend time with them four times a week. 

My time with them has been amazing.  In such a short time I have been able to build strong relationships with many of them.  They are beginning to open up to me about struggles in their lives, and God has given me opportunities to show His love to them.  This week I had  a dinner with them.  At the dinner I had a chance to share the gospel with them as well as give my testimony.  I got to know them better and look forward to more opportunities to share with them.

Please keep my friends in your prayers and pray that God gives me opportunities and courage to share his amazing love to them." 

If, like Taylor, you are looking for a place to volunteer, consider coming to spend some time with us here at YWAM Ratchaburi.