Who Is Your Best Friend?

The Kid's Camp ended yesterday. It was a blast!

We thank God for the 100+ kids (almost 120) that turned up for the 3 days!
Thank God for protecting everyone over the 3 days and providing good weather!
The kids had lots of fun with games, worship, Bible stories, quizzes, yummy lunches and coconut ice-cream!

Theme of the camp - Pheurn Rak (Friends Love)

The Kids arriving and registering themselves to get grouped up.

The kids praying in the morning before the start of the camp.

Bible Story time for the kids aged 7 -11 Bible Story time for the youths - us acting it out in a skit.
They were taught the story of Abraham & Lot over the 3 days - the friendship they shared, Abraham praying for Lot and the city of Sodom. Art & Craft time where the kids made bookmarks, pinwheels and a group effort of a friendship hand.

And of course, their favourite - GAME TIME!

And the new friends I made! The Fong sisters: Lydia & Lois, Bible College students from Bethel Bible College: John, Da & p' Charlie, Payao Bible College student & intern Care & Motu respectively, and p' Kul!

We thank God for His watching over us through this camp, and we pray that the Word of God will dwell in the hearts of these children who came for the camp. It is our prayer that one day, they will come to realise that Jesus is their best friend and come to acknowledge Him as their own personal Lord & Saviour.

Kid's Camp: 20-22 October

Hi all,

We're all planning for the Shan Kid's Camp (day camp) that will happen from 20-22 October.
The theme for the camp is Friend.

It's going to be held at the Suan Luang village and we have invited the kids from the Suan Luang, Nam Jam and the new village.

Some things that you can pray for as we approach the last few days towards the camp.

1) Committee members planning for the camp - that we will prepare our individual parts, and for unity amongst us.
2) Finances. Thank God for providing the finances that we have at hand. Pray that we will use them wisely.
3) The 4 leaders who will be leading the 4 groups during the camp. Pray that they will be a good example to the kids.
4) Attendance. We are expecting about 100+ kids. Pray that their parents will allow them to come, and that they will invite their friends to the camp as well.
5) Safety. Pray that God will keep everyone safe during the 3 days.
6) Weather. Pray that God will grant good weather. It's the end of the wet season, but it's been raining on some days still.
7) Logistics. A van has been arranged to pick up the kids from the villages to Suan Luang. Pray that the van will be ready and that the kids will arrive safely back and forth.
8) Unity. As the kids come from different villages and different tribes (there are some Ahka amongst the Shan kids), that they will come together in unity.
9) Most importantly, pray for God's Word to take root in the hearts of the children. Many are non-believers. Pray that through the Bible stories, they will realise that Jesus is their best friend in their life.

Visit to a New Shan Village

Apart from the Bible Club held on Saturday mornings with the Suan Luang kids and Sunday afternoons with the Nam Jam kids, I had the opportunity to visit a new Shan village futher down from where we live yesterday evening with Sam & Motu.

This village only has 5 families living there. Visits to them are made every Monday. The families staying there are mostly new migrants, so the women are only able to speak Shan.
Over there, Motu teaches the women to read and speak Thai.
I had the opportunity to teach the children simple English.

Sam does Bible Study with the new Christian. (The guy in the middle) He lives in that village and opens his house for the Monday meetings.The guy in the red jacket had expressed interest in Christianity, after he observed how Christians treat women and children with respect. However, when he shared with his family members about it, he was faced with much persecution from them. Thank God after much prayer, he turned up for the meeting yesterday, after skipping last week's.
Sam managed to share the Gospel with him yesterday.

Some things you can pray for them:
1) Pray for the families living in this village.
2) Pray that what had been shared will grow in the interested guy's heart.
3) Also pray for courage to face up to the persecution that he may face from his family members should he accept Christ.
4) We have also invited the children to attend the coming children's camp from 20-22 Oct. Pray that they will come, and that God word will be sown in their hearts.

Morning jogs in the fitness park

On my 2nd day here, Chompu brought me along for their morning jogs at the nearby fitness park. For the past 2 days, I have woken up at 5.30am to prepare for a 6.00am jog. Yup you heard it right! I am no longer waking up at 10.00am! No more late nights for me! I managed to sleep at 10.00pm every night! My liver and kidneys will be very thankful for the rest. =)

Taken on the 2nd morning. It's the 6am sky from the porch of my house.

The street that I live on. Basically the area I live in is like rows after rows of terrace houses.

Chompu comes over to cycle me there, since I can't cycle on my own. I'll post a picture of her when we've taken one! =)

The entrance to the park.The jogging track.

The beautiful green field in the middle of the park, plus a very beautiful morning background of hills and mountains.

Pray for me as I build my friendship with Chompu. She'll be one of the youths i'll be discipling. Pray that even as now we may not speak the same language, but that will not be a barrier between us. =)

1st 2 Days

Finally got some Internet access at the Fongs’ place, so I’m gonna do some updates.

I arrived safely in Chiangrai at 9.20pm and was picked up by Sam & Kul at the airport. We headed to Neel’s place to stay for the night before heading up to Maesai the next morning.

Kul’s really nice and friendly. Look at what she drew for me in her room! =) Hope that I’ll be able to get to know her better this trip.

The journey to Maesai from the city took about 1hour, and here’s the place that I’m staying in! It’s a simple place with minimal furniture.

The living room where I have my Thai lessons. I started my first lesson on Thursday.
My teacher’s a Shan youth called Chompu.

I’m known as “pi daphy (dae-fee)” to them, coz Daphne’s too difficult for them to pronounce.
The first few lessons are focused on pronunciation, intonation and making sure I get all the sounds and accents right. It’s kinda tricky since Thai is a 5-tone language. Thankfully having learnt Mandarin helped in differentiating the sounds more easily.

My room after the mattress and pillows and my stuff were unpacked.
My ‘wardrobe’ and ‘dressing table’.
The rather empty kitchen where I managed to ‘stock up’ some biscuits and milo for breakfast.
It’s a little scary living in the house alone. Its pitch dark at night! Thankfully I have company on weekends, and in the subsequent weeks, there’ll be different groups of people coming up to Maesai and living with me.

I’m still very unfamiliar with my surroundings, but I’ll soon have to venture out and walk about to familiarize myself with the area.

I have gotten myself a Thai number. All incoming calls are FREE (local or international!!!) so please feel free to drop me a ring-a-ding-ding when you miss me! It’s a super easy to remember number by the way…
My number: +66801243556

(Just enter which ever IDD code you use before the number to call. E.g. 00166801243556)
If in doubt, you can ask Matthew! =)

Some prayer items:
1) Thank God for a safe journey to Maesai.
2) Thank God for familiar help just next door.
3) Pray that I’ll be able to spend my time well as I have quite a lot of free time at hand right now.
4) Pray for language learning – ability to pick up the different tones & ability to remember the different vowels (similar to our Chinese Hanyu Pinyin)
5) Pray for courage. It can be quite intimidating to be in a totally foreign environment, more so in a “chicken-duck” one.