Home is where the heart is

And just like that, we are halfway through the year 2020. Our ordered lives were turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic. We lose track of time; we are stranded in a place that used to be our home fourteen years ago and do work that we do not think we will be doing.

This pandemic makes us realize that we cannot fully control our situation. Only God can.  We could not do anything that requires us to go to other places. As much as we want to go home to Thailand, we could not as the airport are closed at least until the end of the month. 

We miss our children, our home, and friends in Mae Sai. But we know that our waiting will not be for long. We will be home soon. In the meantime, while we are here God has given us the opportunity to minister to our church here in our own small ways. I have been helping as part of the worship team, preaching, and helping the media team doing the church’s worship online. Narlin is leading multiple Bible studies online on Facebook. 

We are thankful to the Lord for His faithfulness in providing for the needs of the children. Narlin and I have expenses on our own, but most of the support that we receive is mostly spent on the needs in the home and of the children. We are grateful for people who recognized that it is difficult for us to be away from our ministry and that we have our own needs too. 

We are aware that there are people who wonder how we take care of the children while we are not physically present. We mentioned this in our previous newsletter in passing but it is good to clear it up again here. Our children are in their late teens. We talked to them online often. They are well-disciplined and know what their responsibilities are. For our friends who stayed with us can attest to it. Jillian grew up with children and knows each one well and she knows how to deal with them. 

Our children's home does not exist in isolation. We are part of a community. Our church looks after the children while we are away. Our Pastors, Ajan Sunit and Ajan Chang, come to our house regularly especially during this pandemic and we call them whenever there are concerns that need to be addressed immediately. Both pray and study the Bible with the children. We are also part of the network of other children ministries in Mae Sai and their leaders are our friends who are happy to help while we are not there. 

Except for the time when I had two surgeries last year, this is the only time we are away longer.  We never consider leaving Mae Sai except for a consultation with my oncologist. After we got our bone scan result, and I believe I will be cancer-free soon, we will find a local oncologist so that we don't have to go to the Philippines for monitoring. 

We thank the Lord that in every situation, He reminds us that "He is the one who meets all our needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19). 

Thanks again for your love, prayers, and continued support. Please pray that the pandemic will be over, pray that we can go back soon, and pray for the children

Whoever welcome these little ones

On our early days here, we didn't plan to focus on children ministry. But God had other plans for us. He was the one who lead  us into this and we are grateful for the privilege. We are here to serve our God and Saviour Jesus Christ. We were encouraged to know that the Lord says that every good thing we do for these children, we do it for Him.

"He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them. “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.” [Mark 9:36-37)

Once again, we want to thank all our friends and partners who believe in us and what we are doing.Here are the few highlights of what happened this month and  will happened next month with its accompanying prayer concerns.

Teaching teachers

Narlin had finished teaching conversational English at Tesaban 1 Watpoweehan  School. They will have their final test on Friday. We are thankful to the Lord for this rare opportunity to teach the teachers and develop friendship with them in the process. It was indeed a wonderful experience.We will be spending the last day of the class in a buffet (eat all you can) restaurant as the school is treating us. Thank you so much for your prayers. If you or anybody you know wants to minister here through teaching English, you are welcome to join us.

Sam Rong Gets Better

After an emotional struggle to prevent Sam Rong from being taken to the remote place in Burma, we are happy to announce that he is responding well with medication. He is now playing with the other children and has been a laughing a lot. He is even helping in some household chores. We are expecting that the medication will be totally stopped and he will be totally healed until June. Our God is the Lord who heals.It seems that Sam Rong will be staying with us for good. It's wonderful to think that after several changes in the number of the children we adopted, we are back with 12 of them. Thank you so much for your prayers for these children.

Tina, Ayung and Mike Graduate

We watched our kids went up the stage to receive their certificates. From afar because parents were not allowed to get near the stage and take photos. We couldn't believe that we were sitting among the proud parents of the graduating kinder pupils of the municipal school. It was a wonderful experience.

 

Three pupils were selected to deliver the graduation speech in three languages--Chinese, English and Thai in that order. Tina spoke almost perfect English. After the speech, the head teacher of the kindergarten, announced that Narlin is teaching English at the school and we have an orphanage where Tina came from. Thank you for your prayers and support for the children education.

Learning and Ministry Resource Center

We had been driving around Mae Sai looking for an appropriate and affordable house for teaching and discipleship. It proved to be an impossible task. We were about to give up the search (we had been looking for three months.) Until a friend told us in passing that an OMF rented house will become available in September.It is God's answered to our prayers. We talked with the tenant and she told us that she will pass the house to us and we might be able to use it for accomodating teams this April even though the contract will expire until September. Praise the Lord!

Tentative Activities this Summer

Please help us in prayer for the summer activities with the help of team coming from the Philippines. Please help us in prayer for the summer activities with the help of team coming from the Philippines.

• Easter Sunrise Service for International Community
• English camp in Mae Sai Pantamit Tribal Church.
• English (DVBS) and music camps in Tachilek, Myanmar
• English camp and music clinic in Emmanuel Church in Ban Chong.
• Teach in Song Kran Bible Camp in Mae Sai Grace Church
• Music Theory Class in Mae Sai and Tachilek.
• English, Music, Piano and Guitar lessons in our house for our kids for a month.
• Opening of Learning and Ministry Resource Center.

More Prayer Concerns

Thank you for your untiring prayers. Listed below are our praises, thanksgiving and concerns.

• We praise and thank the Lord for Displaced Orphans International (DOI) Foundation for the facilitation of receiving support in our behalf in the US (tax exempt). They are a big blessing to us.
• We are thankful for God's answering our prayers with regards to Nanay Linda's (Narlin's mom) healing. She is in the Philippines now. She has problem with blood circulation in her feet extremeties that the doctor thought that amputation is the only option. However, after getting second opinion it is good to know that other treatment is probable.
• Pray for Jared as he will go home in May to go to college. He will go home with my sister Dadai. Pray that his transition to the life in the Philippines and his adjustments to college will go smoothly. Pray also for Jillian and Reuven's studies.
• Pray for provision as the time for paying our house's one-year rent has come. Moreover, the extension of our one-year work permit and visa is also fast approaching. God

Our God is an awesome God and we thank Him for giving us awesome friends like you. We sincerely appreciate your love and prayers. Until next update.