Every moment is a blessing

After spending almost nine months in the Philippines, we are so happy for the opportunity to spend Christmas and New Year with all our children. It was a rare moment for us to be together for more than a week celebrating Christmas and remembering God’s faithfulness in our lives.

It is true, the unexpected extended time away brought about changes. First, we noticed that the children are more mature, more responsible, and can do chores by themselves. Second, we can longer do the “heavy lifting." We are now a team with our children that each of us working together in a ministry God has given to us. Moreover, we believe our hosting of YWAM teams has come to an end.

It is easy to be thankful for the good things that happen in our lives but it takes faith to be grateful for all of our lives—the good as well as the bad, the moments of joy as well as the moments of sorrow, in success as well as failures, in health as well as sickness. We learn to trust the Lord that blessings are never in disguised. Every moment is a blessing from God.

This reminds us of Job when he says: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.”-Job 1:21

Once again, we are thankful for your love and prayers. We remember you who sacrificed a lot financially to help us taking care of the children. God bless you more and more.

Sharing Jesus' Story

We had a busy Christmas. It is because Christmas is never considered a holiday here in Thailand. No Christmas break for the children. So, they had to divide their time. going to school and celebrating Christmas.

One of the special activities we did last Christmas was caroling. We went into the community singing Christmas gospel songs and praying for the people. Even non-Christians would invite us to sing and pray for them. An opportunity to share the gospel through songs and prayers.

Moreover, we participated in a Christmas party organized by our church. Our church is planting a church in the village. Christmas party here is the time when we share Jesus' story in the village and we do the “raffle” thing. People received a gift by drawing their respective numbers. We sang Christmas songs and the children presented a drama about the story of Jesus—his birth, ministry, death, and resurrection.

Prayer Concerns

We are holding several English camps (Daily Vacation Bible School) during school breaks. Our church will join us, and our children will serve as camp staff. Please pray for God’s provisions as we minister to the children in the community.

Our children are now the main worship team in our church. They lead the worship and play the instruments as well. We are hoping to buy more musical instruments like a bass guitar. We are hoping we can teach them more worship songs. Please pray that God will use them in this ministry.

Our truck is in the shop once again. It is still working well but the maintenance is getting costly. We are praying for a new van that we can use when our truck broke down and we need it during the rainy season. We may not get the van we are praying for, we are looking for another van.

We are praying to do the after school English classes once again. We are planning to work with the School of Tomorrow and its BLESS (Basic Literacy Education Saving Souls) Project. We are praying to teach the children in the community to read and write in English and eventually share the gospel with their parents. It was a ministry we were doing for years and we like to do it again better this time with us to undergo training.

Joey needs to go back in March for two weeks to the Philippines for monitoring. He will have bone scans, blood tests, x-rays, and other follow-up checkups. Praying for favorable results. We are praying to find a good oncologist here in Thailand so that we don’t need to go to the Philippines for monitoring. Please pray for safe travels and provisions.

Thank you once again for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. We are feeling your love all the time. To God be the glory.

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.

He Is Indeed Faithful

We had a great time spending a week in the Philippines with our youngest son, Reuven. We joined him on his graduation day. It was one of the happiest moments of our lives.  We realized just how we missed our son. We are thankful to the Lord for making a way for us to spend time with him.

If you are a parent, you would understand how sad we were when we left him especially when we had been with him for a few days. As we were walking away and waving goodbye, Narlin said, “I can’t help but cry, I am sad we are leaving our son again but joyful just to remember how faithful God was to see our children through college.”

God’s provision for our children’s education is one of the most beautiful testimony we share about God’s faithfulness in our lives as missionary. We know some people who believe that God has called them to mission but could not go because of their children’s schooling. Likewise, we know people  who were in the field but decided to go home for the same reason.

When we went for mission, our children knew that they need to make sacrifice especially with regards to their education. We did our best to put them to school. The homeschooling didn’t work because travel and materials cost were way beyond our means. Moreover, International Schools in Thailand are catered for the affluents.

To make a long story short, the Philippine’s Department of Education came to Thailand to conduct Equivalency Test and all our children passed the test  that made it possible for them to go straight to college. God is faithful.

Sewing Ministry

It has been over a year since we left the sewing program. But it doesn’t stop Narlin from helping and teaching young women how to sew and make small items such purse, bags among others. The only setback for a while  was we didn’t have a sewing machine.

One night, out of the blue, a friend sent us a text message asking if we want to continue the sewing ministry. When we answered yes, she told us that she would give us the money to buy a new sewing machine. It is a miraculous provisions for a specific need. Narlin is now helping a lady by teaching her how to sew and to extra income by making items.

Praise the Lord that even though we don’t have resources to run a training center, God provides the opportunity to continue helping young women.

God's Assurance

We were invited to attend an opening of a new children’s home in Chiang Mai. And we could not help but feel a little bit insecure thinking: How much money has been spent buying the property and constructing the buildings? What does it cost to run the Foundation and paid the staff?  We never in our wildest dream could afford any of these frills.

But then God assures us that the success of our ministry is not measured on how much property we owned, how beautiful our house is, or how much money we have. It is about caring and loving the children, teaching them  to be good person, to believe in God and to be like Christ. God assures us that we are doing well with the resources that He has provided.

We thank you for your partnership in the ministry, your support and prayers surely helps us to continue  to love and care for the children and do other ministries that God wants us to do.

Prayer Concerns

Once again, we want to share to you our thanksgiving and prayer concerns.

1. We thank the Lord that our work permit problem is resolved.  The Rainbow Foundation helped us to keep our visa in spite of our cancelled Work Permit.  But this cost us to pay more fees to the Department of Labor. The only positive upshot of this hurdle is that we will be given a two-year work permit. Thank you Lord.
2. Pray for the children’s national ID (Thai citizenship). To be honest, we don’t have any idea how to do this.  We are expecting our friends to help us by giving their testimony to the government in behalf of the children but they refused. Please continue to pray for this as we gather information about the process.
3. The school term is about to end. The children are having their final exam next week. A long three week vacation is waiting for them to enjoy. Pray that they will do well on their final exam and for their needs for the second semester. We are preparing activities for the long break.
4. Please for us, Joey and Narlin, for safe trip to the Philippines . We were invited to attend a Missionary Care Conference on September 24-29.  Although, we benefited from several Missionary R&R here in Thailand, it is the first time in twelve years that we have the privilege of being invited to  events like this. Please pray for safe travel and provisions.
5. Pray also for our ministry involvement in the church. We are actually involved with two congregations. The children lead worship at a local Thai church and I (Joey) preached once a month. We also do the same tasks in an international congregation (which gathers once a month) composed mostly of Filipino English teachers and few people from Thailand, USA and Europe. We started this fellowship since we came here twelve years ago. Please pray that these ministries will be a blessing to the community.
6. Please also pray for the Philippines in the aftermath of the category 5 typhoon, Mangkhut. Please pray for those who are greatly affected especially in the northern part of the Philippines.

Please continue to include is your thoughts and prayers. We appreciate your partnership in our ministry.

This is also posted in my other blog and sent in email form to our family and friends.

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.

Fruitful New Year

Happy New Year! We are thankful to the Lord for his faithfulness for the year that passed and we look forward to another fruitful year to come. We pray that the Lord will give us the resources and opportunities to help young women and more children at risk. Most importantly, we are praying that Jesus will reveal more of himself to these people through these projects.

This year, we are taking our New Life Garden (NLG) team verse (Jeremiah 29:11-12) as our family verse too.

For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord. ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you a future filled with hope. When you call out to me and come to me in prayer, I will hear your prayers.

We are sending this update from the Philippines. We are grateful for our friend, Leah, who (surprisingly) find ways for us to be home on new year to celebrate God’s faithfulness in our lives and in our church too. We are at the moment enjoying the remaining times of our stay here with our children.

Thanks again for your continued support, love and prayers. We are sharing to you the ministry that we had last Christmas season.

Christmas Activities

When we came to Thailand ten years ago, we often heard people say that there is no Christmas celebration in the country. But I think that notion has already changed. The Thais are more aware of the commercialisation of Christmas rather than its spiritual meaning.

For this reason, we believe that Christmas is a day when many Thais are open to the message of the gospel. Thai churches have their Christmas party that is open to all the people from the community in a effort to impart to the people the real meaning of Christmas.

Hence, we, the NLG team carefully planned and held a party at Santhad Village on Christmas day. We gave gifts to those who attended and explained that Jesus is the greatest gift that a person can have in his life. The children also told the story of the birth of Jesus through a dramatic presentation of the nativity. The show was successful in getting the people’s full attention in learning the story of the birth of Jesus.

We also participated in our church’s Christmas Party. Our children performed a traditional Thai dance and they did perform the same dance at a Christmas party in the School for the Blind Foundation.

Another town event that we participated is the Ten Tribes of Mae Sai Festival. This event was totally a secular activity for businesses and organisations who put up their booth for selling their products and services. We put up a booth promoting the activities of the Network for Women and Children Protection, NLG, Rainbow Homes and other community and social projects that we are doing.

2016 Opening Activities

The year 2016 has begun and we believe that it is appropriate that we spend the first few days of the year with our children in the Philippines. We’ll be back in Thailand on the 15th of January.

Please include in your prayers our activities this month. Upon arriving we will have a YWAM team from Wisconsin. This partnership has started five years ago and the traditions of the team taking care of the children to give us a weekend break has become a tradition. We are looking forward to it not because of the break but because we know that the children will have a wonderful time with people from across the seas.

The team will do English teachings at schools in the village. We are also hoping that the village leader will be able to organise Conversational English teaching for adults. Please help us to pray for this ministry opportunity.

In February, we will be joining the other NLG team members in a visit to a community project for young women that we will pattern our ministry with. The project is about training the young women with skills that they can use so that they can earn a decent income to save them from prostitution and other forms of exploitation.

Thanksgiving Prayers

Once again, we want to share many wonderful deeds that the Lord has done in our lives and the lives of our children.

• We are thankful for God’s continuous provisions for the children’s schooling. The Lord has been using friends like you who are faithful in their contributions. Pray that we will be able to get Fluke this year.
• We are thankful for his goodness to our own children in the Philippines. Jared passed the teacher’s board examination and Jillian will be graduating in May. Reuven just finished his first term with minimal difficulties. Please continue to pray for them. Their financial, spiritual and educational needs.
• We are thankful for the opportunity to help more children. Also for the opportunity to work with NLG. We are envisioning to help more young women and perhaps the elderly too. We hope that as we minister to these people, Jesus will reveal more of himself to them.
• We are thankful for the opportunity to preach and share the word of God. Thankful for the church that we can call our family in Thailand.
• We are thankful for Narlin’s healing in the due time. We are thankful for friends who helped us with her hospitalisation and medication.
• We are thankful for friends who continues to believe in us and the works we are doing to help children and share God’s LOVE. We are so blessed to have you as our partner. May God bless and keep you.

In behalf of the children, we thank you for your love, prayers and generosity. Praying that God will bless you more and more.

Thankful for Prayers

It’s been a month since Narlin suffered from deafness and vertigo. She was diagnosed with Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SSHL). It has been a rough journey for her. The doctor requested an MRI to make sure that her deafness was not caused by tumor. We are relieved and thankful that the result indicates that everything is normal. However, the chance of her hearing will return is 50 only percent. The best that the doctor can do is to prescribe medicines for the dizziness (so that she can do things normally) and to give nutrients for the auditory nerve.

We are overwhelmed by prayers and encouragements from friends. Since we don’t have any health insurance, Narlin’s hospitalisation, MRI, medicines and treatments have been a financial burden for us this month. But we trust that the Lord will provide for this particular need.

Growing Challenge

The children are growing up and taking care of them is getting to be more challenging. We found out that the boys were sneaking out at night to play online game at a nearby computer shop. Jennifer discovered about it when Narlin was hospitalised. A heart to heart talk followed and we emphasised that they need to follow the house rules while they are living with us.

We expect more challenges with the girls in the near future. Please help us to pray for all the children. That the Lord will give them wisdom and obedient heart as they grow up. Pray that the Lord will provide love, patient and wisdom in raising up these wonderful kids.

Religious Camp

Most Thai school have religious day camp. This is the day when all the students are asked to join Buddhist rituals. We had been thinking of holding a separate religious camp for Christians.
Mae Sai Municipal (Wat Poweehan) is the school close to our heart. The director is our good friend and her assistant (who was just a head English teacher when we first met her) is one of Narlin’s best friends. Last year Teacher Pu, a new English teacher joined the faculty. She is a Christian and she becomes our close friend too. She sometimes stays in our house and goes with us to the church.

Teacher Pu insisted that the Christian students would not participate with the Buddhist religious camp. She pushed for a separate camp for Christian students. So we requested the YWAM-Borders to host the camp for Christian students. Twenty-six students (including our children) attended and fifteen of them have made commitment to follow Jesus.

We are thankful to the Lord that believers are now being recognised in the school. We are praying that this will be an opportunity to share the gospel to the other teachers and students. We are also considering that our ministry in the school is coming to its conclusion and YWAM-Border will take over. We believe that God is directing us to minister to village schools. We don’t know how it will happen but God promised that he will make a way.

New Life Garden
In our nine years of living in Mae Sai, we had been part of the beginning of new ministries. This year, we are blessed to be part the New Life Garden (Ban Suan Chiwit Mai). A new ministry that seeks to help young women and children from human trafficking. God has given us the opportunity to help connect people, introduce it to the community through English camp, to help in creating English Kid's Club, and English tutorials for young people and adults.

Eventually, we hope to hold training skills and provide shelters for young women. We also coordinated to make the New Life Garden to be a member of Network for Children and Women Under the Same Sky Association (NCWSA). Please pray for this ministry. We don’t know yet how long we will be working in this ministry but we hope that God will use it for his glory and advancement of his Kingdom.

Family Update

We are missing our children. Jared finished his studies and is now teaching in a private school. He will take the teacher’s board exam on Sunday (27 September). Please pray that he can pass the test.
Jillian is on her last year of studies and doing practice teaching at a local school in Baguio. Reuven is freshman taking up psychology. Please pray for protection (we are not there to look after them) and provisions (school expenses and house rent). We hope to be reunited with them in the near future.

More Prayer Concerns

• Most of the children will go to Bangkok to compete for national English drama competition. Pray for safe travel.
• School break is just around the corner. Pray for the children’s activities during the break and provisions for another school term.
• We cancelled all our English teaching (when Jennifer left) to give Narlin a break and time to heal. Please pray our regular students that can come back when she resumes teaching.
• Preaching is a part of our regular ministry. Please pray that God will use this as channel to share God’s blessing to the Thai people.

We are certain that God has called us to serve him here but without your love, support and prayers, we know that we could not stay here a day longer. We thank the Lord for using you to fulfill his calling in our life. You are a huge blessing to all of us and the people we are helping.

He Will Bring Health and Healing

“Do you have insurance?” The nurse asked us after Narlin signified that she was so dizzy to stand up and may need to stay in the hospital for the night. She was complaining of deafness on her left ear. She had vertigo and suffering from nausea for almost two days.

Although she was given medication for anti vertigo, we decided to go to the hospital in Overbrook Chiang Rai for a thorough diagnosis. After several tests, the doctor’s diagnosis was that she is suffering from Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SSHL). We are asked to come back to the hospital on the 5th of September to assess if the medications are working.

We don’t have any insurance but God. The cost made us think twice about buying a plan. The children’s needs and education are our priority. Regardless, we believe that God will provide, keep us safe and preserve our health.

This reminds me of couple of familiar verses from the Old Testament, Jeremiah 33:3, 6:

“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know…. Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security.”

We trust that God will completely heal Narlin’s sickness, he will protect us in every situation and he will provide for all our needs. Thank you so much for praying with us and for being part of God’s answer to our prayers.

Thanksgiving

We are thankful for our friends who prayed and encouraged us by sharing their experiences similar to Narlin’s sickness. We are thankful for doctor friends who gave us medical advice.

We are thankful for Jennifer whose presence become more indispensable when Narlin was confined in the hospital. She looks after the children when we are away. She will be leaving on the 14th of September. Please pray for traveling mercy and provisions.

We are thankful for God’s provisions for Reuven’s schooling. We were able to get his credentials from Philippine Embassy in Bangkok, his certificate/records from Mae Sai Prasitsart School which cost us some money. He is now enrolled in a university in the Philippines.

We are thankful that God has given us the opportunity to help more children. Whether it is through teaching English or taking care of them may it be short or long term. Please that we can help a couple more kids this year.

We are thankful for the opportunity to work with teams, schools and villages in ministering to the children. We are looking forward for another team to come and help in the near future.

We are thankful that our children have the opportunity to participate in drama competition in Bangkok. Although we don’t expect to win anything this time, we just want to give glory to Jesus’s name for all the blessings and experiences they will be enjoying.

We are thankful that in spite of the big amount we spent in our children’s schooling this month (August), the Lord has provided us enough amount for Narlin’s hospitalization.

Most of all, we are thankful to God every time we remember your partnership with us. We appreciate your love, support and untiring prayers.

The Lord is My Shepherd

Three days before we hadn’t the slightest idea that we would be in the Philippines attending the funeral of Gavs. We were all shocked by his “untimely” death caused by brain aneurysm. He was a funny and humble man, a good father and a loyal friend. He was our nephew but more than that he was like a son to us. He never knew his father and her mom got sick when he was little. We took him in our young family then. He spent many years of his life with us. He was 30 years old.

Just before his body was put into the ground, the Pastor recited Psalm 23 and uttered a comforting prayer for the bereaved family.

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Although this Psalm is considered to be part of the funeral liturgy, we believe that God’s promises in this passage are being fulfilled in our lives on daily basis.  Thank you for being part of God’s fulfilled promises to us and our children. We are thankful to the Lord for using you in our ministry to help children, youth and women in the community.

English Camps

It is a joy to watch a group of young people sharing the gospel to more than a hundred of students through songs and Bible Story in an English Camps. We thank the Lord for the YWAM team composed of youth members of Faith Family Church (Illinois) who came last week that helped us in a 3-day English camp at Tesaban 1 Wat Proweehan School. These young people shared God’s love to the students.

We have another YWAM Team that came last Friday and will help us in another English Camp in Suntard Village School. This is a small village school that the government is planning to close down if the student population will not increase. We want to help the school to have more students next year so that it will continue. Together with our friends who live there, we are praying that the presence of the YWAM Team teaching at the English camps will help the school. We also hope to get volunteers to teach English at the school on regular basis.

After helping the school, we are praying that we can start the ministry with young women in the area with our friends. We also hope that we can share the gospel and a community of believers will gather to worship in the village. Please pray that God will use the English camp as a channel of God’s blessings in that village.

Visa Extended For Another Year

As far as I can remember, this year holds the record for the smoothest visa extension we ever had. We drove to Chiang Mai to visit the immigration office to have our visa extended. We noticed right away that there were fewer people at the immigration office even though we went there on a Monday. We learned later that the place is being used solely for visa extension and the 90-day appearance, re-entry permit and such like transactions are transferred to another location. We are thankful that we don’t nee to come back after a month. The office granted us one-year visa in just one visit. Thank you for including this concern in your prayers and for your contribution to our visa expenses.

Little Family Update

Although we are mourning, our visit to the Philippines also made us happy. We were able to spend precious time with our own children for 4 whole days. Those days were the happiest days for us in a while. We have many wonderful things to be thankful for. Jared is already working as teacher in a private school. Jillian defended her thesis last week and she will graduate next year. Reuven will be enrolled in college soon. Please pray that the certificate from Philippine Department of Education for his passing the ALS Test will be given soon. We are praying that he can enrol this August. Thank for helping us in praying for our children. Please pray for God’s provision for their studies.

More Prayer Concerns

• Please help us to pray for the following concerns:
  Pray for the ministry in Suntard Village. Pray for our friends, Wayne and Jeen, who live there and want to spread the gospel to their neighbours. Pray for Larry as he works out the details of our plan for the ministry to the young women that will be based in that village.
• Pray for our ministry at Pantamit church. Preaching, training and teaching children in Sunday School.
• Pray for Jennifer, our friend from Ireland who has been helping us immensely with English teaching ministry, English Camps, music and caring for the children.
• Pray for good health for all of us specially the children during this rainy season.

Thank you so much for your prayer and support. We sincerely appreciate your love and generosity. We pray that God will continually prosper and bless you. The Lord honors the sacrifices you made in helping us in our ministry.

Through the years

Happy New Year! It’s a bit late greeting but we missed the opportunity to do it because we skipped sending you our January Newsletter.  We thanked the Lord for your continued partnership through out the years. Nine years to be exact.

We came to Mae Sai in January 2006 hence we are now on our ninth year here. This year, we were together in celebrating God’s faithfulness in our lives and ministries. We are grateful that Jared and Jillian were able to come to celebrate Christmas, New Year and the anniversary of our coming here in Thailand.

Team Visits

They came with a purpose to help the children at risk and we happen to have ten of those. Seven wonderful young ladies from YWAM DTS-Madison came to help us with the children and also with teaching English at the Municipal school. They stayed in our house for almost a week. We also took some time out to show them to few interesting places in Mae Sai. They came at the right time because we needed to go to the Philippine Embassy in Bangkok that weekend because Reuven had to take the Alternative Learning System Accreditation Equivalency (ALSAE) Test. We had people who looked after the children while we were away.

We also met with a 32-people team from South Korea through our Pastor friend. They were doing mission exposure in Southeast Asian countries. We were grateful to them for taking the time to visit our place and for encouraging us. We were able to help them in our own small way to look for an overnight accommodation.

We will also be working with YWAM Team from South Africa this month. Please pray for the school activities where these young people who will minister among the students of the municipal school.

Children Update

We thank the Lord for his provision for all the children’s school expenses. They are all doing good in the school. Being with them and seeing them 24/7 make us oblivious to the physical changes happening to them. We just noticed that their clothes are getting too small for them.  So we are again buying them new set of clothes and school uniforms.

Our own children are doing well in their studies. But Narlin and I think they need somebody to be with them to help them keep the house tidy and prepare food for them. Jared will be graduating in May and Jillian will be in her third year. The fact that they are in the Philippines in college is a miracle of God’s provision.

Reuven took this year ALSAE Test. If he passed, he will go straight to college in the Philippines. The test is specially difficult for him because the test is 90% in Tagalog. For someone who who live in Thailand for most of his life, written Tagalog is not easy to understand. Please pray that Reuven will pass the test this time.

HT Related Projects

Please continue to pray for us as we help our friend to start his ministry projects in Mae Sai that seeks to prevent young women from becoming victim of human trafficking (HT). We hope to find a place to rent to be used as vocational trainings centre (initially sewing for crafts like dresses and bags and maybe more courses later) and another place for shelter. Pray for our friend's health and pray for wisdom and provision.

During our last meeting with the Network for Women and Children, someone brought out a pressing problem. We are told that the Thai Immigration Office deported several young women who are working illegally in Thailand. Although these girls are from Burma, they practically grew up here. They couldn’t speak Burmese and they don’t have any idea where their family are located. Allegedly, they ended up homeless and raped by the police.

We are hoping to help provide solution to this problem by having people in the immigration office to look for the deported girls and provide them temporary shelter until such time they locate their family in Burma. This is a good opportunity to share God’s love to them.  Please for God’s guidance and provisions.

Members of Network for Children and Women (NCW) sharing problem on human trafficking and sharing ideas on how to provide solutions.

Thanksgiving

• We thank the Lord for another year he has given to us. We are looking forward for a fruitful 2015.
• We thank the Lord that our children from the Philippines were able to celebrate holidays with us.
• We thank the Lord for friends who are faithfully supporting and praying for us. We pray that God will bless you always.
• We thank the Lord for leading us to a local church where we can serve him.
• We thank the Lord for the opportunity to serve with the international community (who need spiritual feeding too) in our once a month English worship.
• We thank the Lord for the opportunity to teach English and the Word to the children and young people in the community. 
• We know it's still early but please help us pray for our visa and work permit this year. We are grateful that we did not have major difficulties in extending our stay in Thailand.

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.

Rainy days and God's faithfulness

Last year, some time in September I wrote this and posted it over at my other blog.

We are experiencing dark and rainy mornings here for a week now. Yesterday, when we were preparing to go to the church and as I was putting on my rain coat, it happened, a tiny tear from the neck decided to go all the way down to the bottom. The rain coat proved to be unusable. I had no choice but to go in spite of the strong rain. I drove our 10-year old Honda Dream 100 with my wife holding a big umbrella at the back and my 8-year old son at the front holding a smaller umbrella; we negotiated the road to our church up to the mountain. It was a difficult and dangerous drive. The drop of rains pierced my eyes and face like millions dumb needles. It was painful. And I was thinking I had to do it again for I had to come back for my other two children.
My friends who are also missionaries always tell me that I need a vehicle—a car or a pick-up truck that I can use for our ministry. But to be completely honest I really do not have the desire to owe one although it may be a real need for mission work. I believe a motorcycle will do the job. However, God knows our needs and not our wants. I don’t want to have a car but if God saw that it is what we need then perhaps God will give us a car.

I’m not trying to trick God by saying I don’t want it but we need it to so that He will give it anyway. We had a similar experience before with God when I was studying at the seminary. I was serving in a church as an interim pastor on the weekends while studying in Baguio for the weekdays. The church is a 3-hour drive from the seminary. I thought we did not need a car because we can commute every weekend to our place of ministry, but of course with much difficulty. We were satisfied with that arrangement because that was our way of life for almost a year and we got used to it. But God knows our needs more than us that after almost a year in that situation, He did provide and gave us a vehicle we can use every weekend. Now it made me think… God would provide our needs if it will help us become more effective in His ministry and because He loves us. For me… it is a clear application of this verse: …for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matthew 6:8)