2011 What made it such and exciting year.

Jordan graduated from High School

Lizzy began year 11

Camps in the south

We visited James and Sarah in Melbourne         

Camps in the mountains

More camps !

Praise and worship went to a new level!

Volunteers working with us

Teams

Thai lessons with Kru Dang continued

New Micro enterprises.

Kids Ministry Grew

Youth Ministry grew

And some slept through church!

We opened our children's home

Schools ministry continues

miracles in the mountains

Perry Family Update

Sarah has moved to Australia


We have spent the last couple of months settling Sarah back into Australia so that she can study there.  Sarah is doing amazingly well and is living with a fantastic family, not too far from her brother James and her grand parents.  Leaving home at 15 is a very big move for her, but something that we know she needs to do.



Lizzy's health challenge

While we were in Australia with Sarah, Lizzy stayed in Thailand with her grandparents. During this time she suddenly lost heaps of weight.  Thanks to the quick action of her school, blood tests were taken and we discovered she had a hyperactive thyroid.  This has been a very challenging time for Lizzy, but she is doing really well and working hard at restoring the lost weight.

Jordan in Japan

After graduating high school in June, Jordan visited Australia for a month and now has been in Japan for 4 months.  His original plan was to assist Jesus Life House to plant a church as a gap year experience, but now sees working in Japan as his full time calling.



James at Uni

After graduating high school in June 2010. James planned to go to America, having received a full scholarship to study there, but when he encountered visa problems he decided to stay in Australia and is now studying Marketing at Uni in Melbourne. He has settled into Australia and is doing really well at uni.


We are so excited that while we were in Australia our Thai team went ahead well.  The numbers of kids attending kids club increased and they prepared a kids camp that they are currently running by themselves. Schools are on Mid year holidays right now, but we launch back into working in the schools in a couple of weeks. 
Meanwhile we are currently running a kids camp, planning another 2 to be run in 2 weeks time, planning a trip south, working with the local education department on preparing teacher training sessions and preparing to begin working much more closely with our local uni.  Of course team meetings, home visitations, training sessions, etc go on....

Our Girls

Two little girls, living in poverty were being used as child labour to help their parents meet basic living needs. Their parents  loved them dearly, but, due to circumstances and financial hardship, were unable to look after them in a way that every child should be looked after. The police were about to intervene and remove the children, placing them in a Government orphanage.

 

Our team members had been working with this family for some time,
and have seen wonderful changes in their lives. Because of our relationship with all
parties concerned, we were able to intervene and bring a better solution. The girls
now live on site in our team accomodation, being cared for by our children’s leaders. This
also means they are still able to regularly connect with their parents, are attending a great school and are beginning to love life the way children should. A future that couldn’t have been so bleak is now full of hope and light.  Another family saved by the power of One.

Frog Farming

 After the English Camps in the South, another house we visited was that of another 14 year old, year 8 girl.  This girl had tidied her house and prepared food for us to eat.  Her mother was out working, her father had died some years earlier, so she hosted us by herself.'

She took us on a tour of her family business, a frog farm in the back yard.  I have truly never seen so many frogs in one place before.  There were literally thousands of them!  All separated into tanks according to their maturity.  Eggs in one, tadpoles in another, right up to the large frogs ready to be sold to the local restaurants.  If the family kills and skins the frogs, preparing them for the restaurant, they can get about $5 a kilo for these frogs.  A good income for this small family.

Just Loving getting to know people!

Home visiting in the South

Our English Camps in the South of Thailand not only helped to develop the English skills of the students, but also connected us and our team more closely with the community.  After one of the English camps concluded, a couple of the students invited us all back to their houses to see a little more about the life styles of Southern Thais.  Sa, pictured above is a 14 year old, year 8 student.  One of 6 children in her family.  Her mother (above, left) works hard, selling tea and somtum to help support the family. Dad (right) builds bird cages.  Connecting with this family and listening to the challenges of raising 6 kids on very little income was eye opening.  They had recently been given a motorbike, which means that mum can now get all the kids to school in only 3 trips, but the challenge of feeding them and paying for their education remains.  Like all families they face the challenges of raising kids in a society that offers drugs and other temptations to the kids and the heart break of watching some of their kids making unwise decisions.  We were so delighted to meet this family and very impacted by their lives.  We know that the relationship that has begun between the family and our team will continue on.
 with all of our lives becoming richer.

English Camp in the South

In July Tim & Bronwyn  headed to the South of Thailand to work with the River Team Members who are establishing a work with the government there.

We began by running a 5 day English camp in one of the local government schools.  Once the teachers at that school became aware that we had some free time in the afternoon, they connected with another school and organised for us to run a camp there also.  So we soon had 2 simultaneous English camps running.






95% of the students in these schools are Muslim, 5% are Buddhist, all are gorgeous treasures.
These kids are growing up in an area where bombs explode regularly killing innocent by standers. Where apparently random targets are shot dead in the streets and where there is much uncertainty about their future.  With the boarders of surrounding nations likely to open in the coming years, English language is seen as a gateway to future employment and is sought after.

 Of course English lessons Perry style, are not quite like any English lessons that these kids have ever experienced before.  The good, solid, lessons are filled with fun, illusions, songs, activities and of course love and relationship building.

We were so touched and impacted by these kids and their lives that we would love to continue to work with them into the future, should the doors open for that.
 

Chiang Mai Youth Outreach July 2011

The sound coming out from the hall at the beginning of the 2 weeks was loud, wrong and aweful !! But by the end of those 2 weeks of rehearsals, it had the resemblance of music.
We had been given the opportunity to lead the praise and worship at a city churches Youth group rally/concert.  The local boys from our HangDong Youth group  whom we have been working with for some time now were contacted and the rehearsals began.


For the first few nights the hotel staff and our team graciously put up with the noise, but by the end, many people were coming in to the rehearsals and enjoying the music with us.
The night itself was a fantastic night. The band played so well, the energy level was
huge and our team led the way with passionate and enthusiastic praise and worship.