Rain is A Blessing

We woke up with the sound of pouring rain and soft thunder, a welcome relief to long scorching summer heat. The rainy season has officially begun in Thailand. We have waited longingly for this season when the air is now refreshingly clean and cool, the grass and trees will be greener. It soon will be beautiful out here.

I (Joey) was preparing a message for Sunday when I came across this verse reminding us of God’s faithfulness in our life.

"The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands." - Deut. 28:12

Thank you so much for your love, support, and prayers. We are sharing with you how God is working in our lives these days.

The Kids Are Back to School

The school opens on the second week of May. The children were so excited to go back to school. They have new uniforms, bags, and school supplies. They would meet their old friends again and would make new ones as well.

Four of the children, Sam Ching, Dina, Jai, and Muey made it to the senior high. Ai Pang did not move up because his average grade is not high enough. He is now studying at a vocational school taking up hotel and restaurant management. The rest of the children are in elementary school.

Your support and contributions have helped the children to continue their studies. Two more years and four of them will be in the university. God has faithfully provided for their educational needs

The Exciting News

We hint about this in our previous newsletters, the exciting news is that the Lord has given us the opportunity to expand our children’s home ministry. It may take a whole year to work out the details before it can come to fruition. The initial meetings with Divine Inheritance Foundation (DIF) have been encouraging.

We have been envisioning to take in more children, but our space and resources are limited. The founder of the DIF met with us and allowed us to use a portion of the property (which has not been used for more than a decade) for our children's home. The Foundation was established to help children-at-risk and our work fit in perfectly with their purpose.

Please help us to pray about this next phase in our ministry. We are praying to have another batch of ten to twelve young children next year. Pray also that an MOU favorable for both parties will be drawn. Please help us to pray for volunteers and paid staff who can help us. We do not know yet how this ministry will be supported but we have proven that God throughout the years that He is faithful.

Beginning of a New Decade

Happy New Year!

As the year ended, we could not help but once again remember God’s faithfulness. 2017 is the beginning of a new decade for us here in the mission field. We arrived in Thailand on the 6th of January 2006, with three luggages, meager support and three children, nobody thought (including ourselves) that we could even last for a couple of years.

But here we are, with God’s care and provisions and with our friends’ love and sacrifices. We are ready to face another decade of ministry. We will continue serving God and helping people to find their freedom in Christ.

In Thailand, they don’t celebrate Christmas or at least they do not know the real reason why Christians celebrate it. Although it is not considered as a holiday, the supermarkets and shopping malls are full of Christmas stuff on sale and Christmas songs filled the air. This is the time of the year when Thai people are open to listen to the true message of Christmas. This Christmas, the Lord had given us several opportunities to be in that situation-share the message.

Christmas Activities

We are thankful to God that the Tesaban 1 Municipal school asked us to sing carols and explain the meaning of Christmas at the school during their flag ceremony. We thought it was a great opportunity to involve our church in the activity. Our church’s youth joined us in the singing and our Pastor, Ajan Sunit shared the message.

We also had the privilege to join several Christmas activities. First, we organized the New Life Creations Foundation Christmas Party. Second, we had the opportunity to be part of Pantamit Church’s Christmas outreach program in Baan Nana, one of the biggest children shelters in Mae Sai. Lastly, for three years now, we had been invited to be part of the Christmas program for the School for the Blind in Mae Sai. We are praying that our working relationship with the School of the Blind will grow deeper. We pray that we may be able to help through connecting them with people who have called to work with the blind.

English Camp at Tesaban 1 

Narlin is doing what she does well, organizing English camp at schools. Joey has to excuse himself to take the time to write this newsletter. She had been planning this English Camp (with YWAM-Madison Team) for more than a month when Teacher Jar (the head of the school English department) told us that two other teams from Univeristy in the US would join the activities. So instead of having 7 people from YWAM, we ended up with 18 volunteer teachers from the US.

It is a big group, but by God’s grace we are on the last day of the English camp and as far as we can see, it was a success. We are once again, thankful to the Lord for giving us the opportunity to serve the children at the school. We also have helped the teachers and our good relationship with the school has grown stronger. All for the glory of God.

Family Update

We considered going home to the Philippines to celebrate Christmas with our family. But we thought it would be better if our children, Jared, Jillian and Reuven, would come to here to celebrate with us and also that they would be reconnected with their little brothers and sisters. Nuch came home from Chon Buri to join us. That was the first time in five years that we were reunited.

The Father Cares for Us

The sweet songs of what seem like a hundred birds awaken us from our sleep every day. In fact, they sing the whole day, come rain or shine. A reminder to us that God’s faithfulness is new every morning. Jesus asks us to look at the carefree lifestyle of the birds to teach us not to worry about life’s necessities. God uses these little feathered creatures to tell us that we have a caring heavenly Father who looks after our needs.

“I tell you not to worry about your life. Don’t worry about having something to eat, drink, or wear. Isn’t life more than food or clothing? Look at the birds in the sky! They don’t plant or harvest. They don’t even store grain in barns. Yet your Father in heaven takes care of them. Aren’t you worth more than birds?” - Matthew 6:25-26

But to be honest, in our moments of weakness, we could not help but feel anxious. We worry about our own children who live away from us. Are they safe? Are they in the company of good people? Do we have the financial capability to see them through college? We worry about our children here. What would happen if for some reasons our visa is not renewed? Who will take care of them? Do we have enough funds to provide for their needs? But then we heard the birds sing, remember God's constant care and our friends whom he uses. All our worries are gone as soon as they came. Thanks again for your love and prayers. Our appreciation could be expressed in words.

Nobody Saw It Coming

The Mae Sai municipal school English drama team composed of five of our children that represent Mae Sai a drama competition won the third place. It was an English drama competition among municipal schools in Northern Thailand. Nobody in the school thought they had a chance but the children outdid themselves and and to everybody’s amazement was able to snatched the third prize. By virtue of their win, they will represent three teams that will represent Northern Thailand in a nation wide competition in Bangkok on first of August. The municipal and school officials, recognising that the team has the potential to win the first prize, are exerting extra effort to make the drama better. They allocate more funding to replace the hand drawn backdrop with the printed tarpaulin and the recycled plastic costumes with the real dresses. Narlin has been spending sleepless nights sewing dresses. She will also accompany the children to Bangkok. Please pray for their safe travel. The children are praying for another opportunity to win. Please help them in prayer. This is another to give glory to God through the lives of our children.

We Can Call This Place Our Home

Thank you for helping us in praying for the extension of our visa. We went to Chiang Mai immigration office on the 18th of July. The process was a bit different from last year. This time, we had an interview with the immigration officer and our photo was taken while they are receiving our payment for the visa fees. It makes you wonder why they are doing that. We were given the usual provisional period of one month and by 19th of August we expect that our visa will be extended to full one year. Thank you so much for praying for us about our visa and also for helping us financially. God has allowed us to stay in Thailand for another year and now we can really now call this place our home.

When We Pray God Works

At the moment, the cost of education of our children adopted and natural, here and in the Philippines is really overwhelming. But we are grateful to the Lord that we still have enough to pay our bills, eat good food and have transportation going and to and from school. Having said that, we are grateful to God for his faithful provisions. I was reminded again by Hudson Taylor's words: "God's work, done in God's way, will never lack God's supply." I believe God's supply does not refer only to crisp dollar bills, it may refer to people touched by God to become our friends and partners in the ministry. We are greatly blessed to have you. Pray for Jared and Jillian studies. God’s provision for their studies is nothing short of a miracle. Their monthly expenses can be considered a heavy burden for parents who have regular job and income. We neither have both but we have a great God who provides for everything that they need. Pray for Reuven. We are hoping that he can take and pass the test for Alternative Learning System (ALS) this year. He needs reviewer so that he can properly prepare for the test. If he passed, he will qualify for college in the Philippines. He will be going home to be with Jared and Jillian maybe in the same university. Pray for Aipang, SamChing, Dina, Yekchai, Muey and the other members of the English Drama Team. They will go to Bangkok for the competition. They will be going with other teams from their school that will compete with dance and recycling contests. Narlin and the other school staff will go with them. Please pray for safe travel and that God will give them favour to win the English drama competition. Pray for Joey as he will take care of the seven other children who will be left behind for three days. Pray for the Network for Children and Women. Some of the members opted to disassociate themselves. Khun Ngaw, one of the founding members is now back and bright prospects are now possible under his leadership. Meetings with the members makes us realise that many children still need home and they asked us if we could take more. Unfortunately, we our house and resources are just enough for the children we have at the moment. Please pray for the network that God will use this to help minister to children and women needs help. Pray for our need to build a quarter for the boys. We are seeking God’s guidance regarding this need. We believe that if it is God’s will for us to have this building, will receive confirmation and funding. Please pray about this particular need. Please continue to pray for our teaching and preaching ministry. Through this community service to the children and young people, we are able to connect with other schools. Please pray for Joey's as he is regularly been asked to share the Word to Pantamit church.

Father to the fatherless

How could such a little boy possess so much charisma? We have been doing a lot of thinking lately about Fluke. Fluke was a street children used to beg for food and money at the Mae Sai border market. Apparently, her mother abandoned him with his alcoholic father. He was brought to us because nobody wanted to adopt him. The day he came to live with us, he was dirty and the years of living on the streets made him rebellious.

He is staying with us for almost a year now. With a lot of work giving him love and discipline, he transformed into a happy and handsome boy. Now we are having problem stopping people to like him. People talked to us about adopting him. In fact, a lady in the church started “borrowing” him for a day. We thought it is good but it is now causing us a problem. She is spoiling Fluke and it causes us headache and heartache too. We are seeking God’s guidance regarding this incident maybe we can consider finding a family for some of our children. But at the moment, the Lord has impressed to us to keep all the children.

Church and School

When Ajan Sunnit invited me (Joey) to preach at his church, I thought that would be the first and the last. It is because I’m not really a good speaker. Second, my command of Thai language is terrible and even if it is good, I don’t think I can speak Thai words with the proper tone. A slight mistake in tone totally change the meaning of the word. Nonetheless, we are grateful that the Lord has given us opportunity to share the Word to the people regularly.

Our community English teaching continues with Narlin bearing most of the teaching load. Her presence in the school is not required but she still works closely with the director and principal. In fact, she is at the moment, is in charge of the school’s drama presentation in a inter school competition. We consider this school and church involvement as God’s way to extend His love to the people in some schools here in Mae Sai.

Land and Building Projects

Please continue to pray for our need to build a dorm for the boys. We could not yet find the time to sit and draw the plan and estimate the cost. Our handyman-friend is busy and the kids’ school activities are keeping us tied down. Nevertheless, we believe that in God’s time our little dream will become a reality. In relation to this, we are going to Chiang Saen to see the land that we are planning to buy. We already forgot about it because the subject was not discussed again during our meetings with the Network. However, we learned in our last meeting that some portions of the land are still available. We are envisioning that this land will be the home of our future ministries like children’s home, leadership training and a church building. We will give you an update as soon as we are able to see the land and the owner. Please help us to pray for God’s provision about this future project.

Visa and Work Permit

Our visa will expire on the 20th of July, so this yearly requirement (although it seems more like monthly) will occupy most of our time these coming weeks. We already made several trips and we are anticipating to see more of Chiang Mai. We are hoping that the current political situation may not affect the visa processing which is already complicated as it is. Thank you for praying and extending financial help to pay both for our visa and work permit expenses. God is good!

More Prayer Requests

• Pray for the children as they present a drama in a regional competition. Not just to win but to testify how God has help them grow in wisdom and stature.
• Pray for God’s provision for our prospective dorm building project.
• Pray for God’s provisions for Jared, Jillian and Reuven. And also for the study needs of the twelve.
• Pray for our health both for us and the children. A humid rainy season makes people vulnerable to sickness. 
• Pray for more opportunities to testify about the greatness of God.

Temporary homes, eternal treasures

The 13-hour bus travel from Bangkok to Mae Sai was pleasant but not the less tiring. We arrived in bus terminal very early in the morning. I remember everything, it was January and it was raining. It was cold, in fact, it was colder than we had expected. Even the sun seemed so lazy to peek out from the thick clouds. We had arrived to the place we know little about and would become our home for seven years.

Although we were commissioned by two churches and several organizations, we had not received any assurance of commitment for regular support. We came to the field on our own. Nobody arranged for our housing or the ministry that we would be doing. We were totally dependent on the Lord's guidance and provisions.

Fortunately, there were people who kindly helped us during our first two weeks. We met Angela, whom until that time, we only knew by name. We also met Pastor Maung whose church we would become active members. He, his wife and few church members would become our friends and family during our first year of stay in Mae Sai.

We believed that we were in the place where God wanted us to be. with only a few clothes and some books for our kid's home schooling, we practically did not have anything. No house we can call our won. We slept in Angela's house during the night and walked around the town we could call our own during the day looking for the elusive home.

After two weeks, with the help of a lady named Nim, we found an abandoned row house. Apparently, some people thought it was a good idea to buy these cheap houses but realized later that they did not want to live in this kind of house. So they abandoned the house and was left uninhabited for many years. But for us, it was once again God’s miraculous provision at that time. The house had everything that we need in it. It had closets, book shelves, mattresses, bed frames, bedding, comforter, blankets, dining table and a rice cooker. It was our first experience of God’s miraculous provisions.

We lived in that house for over three years. God proved true to his promise that he will provide. Monthly provisions for the payment of rents and utilities always came in the nick of time. God is faithful. We were in that house when we got Tina and a year later we got Nuch. Few more children will be added a year later. It was then that we realized that God was giving us a new ministry. We need a new house with a big a yard that the children can play and work on.

A year later, God had found us another home. An old but bigger house with a big yard but it needed a lot of works--cleaning, painting and repairs. But God had helped us in many ways by sending teams and individuals who were willing to do the hard works. We cleaned the yard, trimmed the grass and made vegetable gardens. For us, it is the most beautiful small spot in this part of Mae Sai-- our home.






Until recently, the house seemed to be getting smaller. The children are growing so fast. This is something we already anticipated but it is coming sooner than we thought. Nuch is now in college and the girls, of course, are growing faster than the boys. Moreover, we are having English, Thai, Bible and music lessons in the house. Visitors and guests were coming often and at times with twelve and when so many things were going on at the same time, the house was verging in to a chaos. We realized we need a separate place for the boys and to hold those classes. But then we thought, it was financially impossible. We could not afford the monthly rate and the utilities.

Needless to say, God never ceased to surprise us. A home that fits our need had become available. A row houses nested in the middle of a community, a strategic place to know the people and minister to the children were provided by God. We converted it to learning center and invited the children from the community (besides our adopted children) to learn English and Thai for free.

We thank the Lord for the people who have been helping us with our ministry. Keeping two houses is not easy but we believe that God will provide for the monthly rent and utilities. We believe that God will use this place to point people to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We believe that this will be a place where God will be honored and glorified.

I love you forever

Nori, my younger sister had spent three summers with us. Helping us with the mission works that we could no longer handle during summer. She had spent many hours with the children and she had written her reflections. I just posted as it is. I should have posted this long time ago here but really couldn’t find the time to do so. This is the first installment of several stories.

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I was reading Grace Cho’s God’s Favorite Face and except for Chai, all the other Dek-dek are chattering as they compare their noses, eyebrows, lips, hair… the noise was so deafening that i had to sssshhh! them. Yex Chai was in a very pensive mood… actually, she was sort of melancholic. In a matter of split second, i tried to analyze what was happening to this girl.

Possibility 1. Separation Anxiety. Lola Linda, Auntie Selma, Tita Dadai, and Eb-Eb has left the other day and they have gone back to the Philippines. The AVSTM big brothers had left the day after. The kids have been counting days and we are also going home with Ross.

For some days, the house was full… 28 people plus one dog… Narlin and Joey slept on the living room for two weeks or so. They planned to buy a tent and set it up in the yard, but after the earthquake, the tent available in town were all sold in one day.

Summer is a busy time for missions. A lot of groups come in to spend time with the Dek-dek. The house is practically full. There was too much commotion and each meal is like a feast. MaEng is always busy in the kitchen plus take note of the cleaning, washing, marketing, groceries, etc. and the planning that goes behind each menu. The washing machine is running everyday.

But summer is almost over. Rainy days start to set in. Schools in Thailand will open on the third week of May. The busy-ness will soon end. The visitors are going home group by group.

Possibility 2. Yex Chai is missing her mommy, this is how the Dek-dek explained it. The other day, while waiting for the music to be downloaded for their interpretive dance lesson with Kuya Ross, I read Robert Munsch’s “I love you forever”. It is a story about a mother and her son. Featured in there are the most important yet crucial stages in the life of the child and the way the mother would carry the baby (as a real baby, a toddler, a child, a teenager, an adult, etc) and the song she always sang for him. I tried to put a tune to the song. It does not sound so right, and it is not at all original. I have taken a chorus of some song, but i cannot even remember which one is it.

The lyrics of the song goes like this, “I love you forever, I like you for always… As long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be.” Since the song was repeated several times, the children were able to memorize it all at once. They sang it while preparing the table for lunch, while washing the dishes, during their silent moment as they take their nap, as soon as they woke up, and practically every lull moment.Yex Chai proudly told me that she has memorized it and that she can sing it.

Most likely, the children are correct in their diagnosis. Or, it is also possible that all of them started thinking about their parents and their home. Some of them literally felt so homesick afterward. But maybe, Yex Chai felt it more. I suddenly reckon that someone hugged me from behind and asked me, “can I call you mommy?” and i just replied with another question, “Why? do you want to call me mommy like Ycoi?” “Yes!” Others said, “we want to call you mommy too.” But I never heard anyone call me mommy yet…

I stopped reading the story, and i signaled Yex Chai to come closer… She was in tears and was almost sobbing. I felt her forehead, “no fever Yex Chai, but what seems to be the problem”. As she tried to control her sob, I immediately hugged her close… and let her sit on my lap… and as i held her, i cradled her a bit… kept her there… and continued reading the book. Then the Dek-Dek started talking again relentlessly.

That night, after the devotional time, and as we close in prayer, the Dek-dek remembered to pray for Yex Chai and for their own parents back home. All these times that i was with them and that we are having our prayer time, i only hear them pray for Tatay and Nanay (Joey and Narlin). While they were away, i even hear the Dek-Dek prayed for them in their supposedly silent individual prayer before they sleep. But I hope this night as they felt that nagging loneliness may it help them see that their real parents need their prayers too…parents whose hearts miss the little one whom they will love forever, they will like for all time, and whom they will call “baby” for as long as they live.