Thankful for every blessing

The seemingly long summer vacation was officially over. The long break away from the school rekindled the children’s enthusiasm to go back to school. The girls who are in fifth grade are delighted to find out that they all made it to the top section. The boys on the other hand remains on the same section. The children are growing up in all aspects and the challenges we have in raising them up also go up to a different level. We will not stop our teaching ministry at the school and organisations but we deem it necessary to do less of these this year so that we can give time and focus more to the needs of the children. Once again, words are not enough to express our sincere thanks for your love, support and prayers. The children surely can feel your love for them. We are sharing to you our thanksgiving and prayer concerns.

Dorm for the boys

Two years ago, we felt the need for a separate sleeping quarter for the boys. So we rented another house to meet the need. However, trying to manage two different houses plus the expenses of paying another rent and utilities proved to be costly and impractical. We believe it is more economical and practical to build a boy’s dorm on our backyard. We will draft a plan and will ask our builder friend how much it will cost and will give you update as soon as we can do it. We want to hear from the Lord regarding this. Please pray and share your ideas about this project.

Home away from home

Our house, although old and lacking in amenities, has served as halfway home for guests, kingdom workers and even co-laborer working in Burma. If we have the time we also show them around bringing them to the places that are considered tourist attraction. In our own small way, we are hoping that we may be a blessing to them. We were blessed to have several guests last month. One of them is Amor, a fellow-kingdom worker ministering in Burma. Every 14 days, she will stay 2-3 days in our home so that she could extend her stay in Myanamr. She used to work with YWAM-Philippines and she had been a big help in cooking and taking care of the children. Because of the new Thai immigration rules, she is no longer allowed to enter Thailand moreover her ministry in Burma did not work out as planned. Please pray for Amor as she continues her ministry in the Philippines. Please pray also that our house will be a home for those who are temporarily “homeless.”

Thankful for backpacks

We begin to notice that we are spending a lot of money for the children's bags. The new bags that we bought for them at the start of the school would be broken even before the semester ends. We considered buying them quality backpacks that will last at least a couple of years but we did not have a budget for such bags for 13 children. We thank the Lord for touching people’s hearts to give each child a brand new original Jansport backpacks. We thank the Lord for Nori and for the people whom God used to provide for this particular need.

Pray for Thailand

When we came to Thailand in 2006, the then Prime Minister Thaksin was accused of corruption and was unseated by coup d’etat. But when democracy was restored and an election was held later, it was ironic that majority of the seats was won by Thaksin's party members and even his sister was elected as Prime Minister. After eight years, it seems the situation has not changed. The hostility between the pro and anti government is becoming worse. The military declared martial law again on the 21st of May to “calm the situation” and eventually took over the government 12 hours later “to allow the army to maintain and restore peace in more effective manner.” For those who live outside Bangkok like us, except for the visibility of soldiers guarding offices and patrolling the streets at night, we barely feel the effect of the military junta. But we know that the Thai people are suffering for what is happening to the country they love so much. Please pray for Thailand and that this will be a good opportunity for the Christians to share God’s love to the Thai people.

More prayer requests

• We thank the Lord for your continued prayer and support specifically regarding our visa and educational expenses of our children. Your partnership keeps us going on.

• We thank the Lord for local people who would knock on our door to donate food, clothes and even used bicycle.

• Please continue to pray for Jared and Jillian as they are going through college in the Philippines.

• Please pray for Reuven. He did not pass the ALS exam this year. One of the reasons was that the circumstances did not allow him to study for the test.

• Pray for our English teaching ministry. All of our students’ parents decided to continue their English language learning with us. Pray that this will become an opportunity to share God’s love to the community.

• We are praying for a more intensive church involvement. Although we consider Grace Church as our home church, our involvement is becoming lesser. Also most of the children do not speak Burmese. We are asking the Lord’s guidance to look for a church that God can use us and the children. Having said that, we are praying that God may use us to start a new church in a village where there is no Christian presence yet.

We cannot stop thanking the Lord when we remember you and your partnership in the ministry. PTL!