It was early morning the noises made by the children excitedly talking had awaken us. They were preparing to go to school. It has been a month since the school had opened but the children are still overly excited to go to school. We pray and hope that their enthusiasm to learn will not dwindle down even when they grow older. Although, the memories of last summer’s fun and activities are still fresh in our minds we are now determine to face the challenges of taking care of the children’s needs for their schooling.
Provision for Kids’ Education
Nine of the children are continuing their schooling at Wat Poweehan Municipal School. Christy and Pia will also be going there for the first time as pre-schoolers. Sam Rong is advancing to grade six in a school in Tachilek, so he has to cross the border to Burma every day at six o’clock in the morning. Reuven needs to learn to wake up early to go Mae Sai Prasitsart High School. This will be a totally new experience for him.
Jared went back to the Philippines to go to college. The latest update we received from Nori and Dadai is that he is now enrolled in University of Cordilleras in Baguio City and had his first day of classes today (June 5).
We thank you for your prayers for all the children’s education including our own three older children. Thank you also for your support, the school fees we are paying are much higher than the previous years. Nonetheless, God’s faithfulness to provide for this need never fails. Please remember all the children and their needs in your prayers.
Teaching Ministry
Narlin enjoys teaching English to the elementary kids at Wat Poweehan Municipal School. She was also invited to teach English in a community at Ban Nam Chan on the evenings. She has been teaching for two weeks. The number of students has doubled this week and it seems more people will be coming this weekend. We are thankful for this opportunity. Here in Thailand, teaching English is still one of the most effective ways of sharing the gospel to the Buddhists.
Joey has been an itinerant preacher for a while. He has the opportunities to be invited to share the word of God to the congregations in churches. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will use him in this ministry.
Taking care of 15 children and having other ministries are not easy. There are times when we feel tired and burned out and just wanted to get away which we could not do at the moment. However, we thank you for understanding our situation and for offering us time to rest. We will have the needed break as soon as the opportunity presents itself. Thank you so much for your care and concern.
Teams Visit
We had teams from two seminaries dropped by in our house. Students from Singapore Baptist Theological Seminary and Asia Theological Seminary from the Philippines came to Thailand for mission exposure. We were happy to welcome and show them the work we are doing. Our children’s home has served as a model of doing mission to students and future missionaries. We are thankful for the encouraging time they spent with us.
Nuch is back
She called us up and said she was lonely and tired working so hard in Bangkok. We asked her to come back home and work for us. We could not pay her higher salary than she was earning in Bangkok but we are confident that God will provide for this particular need.
Nuch was one of the first two girls we adopted (the other one is Tina). Her father died when she was young and her mother spent more of her time in prison accused of selling illegal drugs. We took her when she was 14 years old. She is now twenty and has finished her high school. We believe that God saw our need for a co-worker and she is God’s answer to our prayers. She is the kind of co-worker we need. She is a good worker and can speak several languages like English, Wa and Chinese.
We are planning to send her to college with Jillian next year. Please include Jillian and Nuch in your prayers. Both of them help us in many ways in working and looking after the children.
Wait upon the Lord
Our plan to have a Learning and Ministry Center for discipleship, English learning and music school may not materialize this year. We thought that the center could minister to our adopted children and the children in the community. It can also be a means to evangelize and a source of extra income for missionaries who want to teach English. However, we have doubt at the moment if we can sustain the cost of the rent and utilities as of the moment. Our ministry and finances are all focused to the care of the children and their education. The Lord has impressed upon us that there is wisdom in waiting. Please pray for this ministry opportunity.
Song Taew
It is now rainy season here in Thailand and bringing the children to the school on the back of the truck is no longer possible. We thank the Lord for God’s provision. We were able to pay for the installation of the song taew. The children are enjoying it.
Just in case you are wondering what happened to the van, its door broke and fell down again. The repair was taking so long that we decided to give it to the mechanic who become a good friend already. The van had been a big blessing to us but it had seen better days and had served us beyond its years.
Prayer Requests
- Pray for the children’s schooling and their health.
- Pray boldness to share the gospel through teaching English.
- Pray for the churches we are attending and helping at the moment.
- Pray for Jillian. June 7 is her 17th birthday.
- Pray for Sam Rong’s complete healing. There will be a celebration on 17 of June declaring that he is totally healed together with other TB patients at the hospital organized by the NGO who helped them.
- Pray for smooth processing and provision for our visa extension in July.
- Pray for Jared and Reuven’s adjustment in school. Pray also for provision for their school expenses.
Most of all our hearts is full of prayer of thanksgiving to God. We thank the Lord for you and other friends who are our partners in the ministry. Thank you so much for your love, prayers and support. Our prayer is that God will continue to richly bless you.
Much love,
Joey & Narlin
With Jared, Jillian, Reuven & Nuch
AiPang, Tilek, SamChing, SamRong, Mike (SamRang), Ayong,
YekChai, Muey, Christy, Pia, Dina and Tina
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