Donate to our mission

Send a check in the mail to: Thailand NOW P.O. Box 56 Mannsville, KY 42758 (Please make checks payable to Thailand NOW) Or give online by clicking this link: https://secure.qgiv.com/for/thametmis/

We serve with the Thailand NOW

We serve with the Thailand NOW
Click on the image to visit our website at thailandnow.org

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Mission work in Thailand can be counter-intuitive

In Thailand, the mission field here is counter-intuitive.  One thing that goes totally against expectations is that the hill tribe people in Thailand are well reached.  Most of the hill tribes are majority Christian.  Whereas the Thai people are mostly unreached, with less than half of 1% of the population being Christian.  People usually think that the hill tribes would be unreached, but actually they are the most reached and receive the most mission effort.

All of the pink areas are unreached areas, with no church of any type.  The green areas, concentrated in the North, are areas which have churches.  Most hilltribe people come from these green areas in the North.
In the Pioneering Pastor Program, our goal is to train and resource pastors to pioneer churches in these pink areas, where there are no churches.  The Thai people will not be reached for Christ if Christians of all denominations and flavors do not work together to go into these unreached areas.  This is our vision, that every sub-district in Thailand will have a vibrant church.  We want to see the Thai people worship the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord has blessed the ministry here in Thailand, and over the past 5 years, we have helped 15 new churches to be planted in unreached areas of Thailand.  The most important facet of our ministry, is finding the right pastors to be pioneers.  They must have the heart and character needed to be a pioneer.  They must be wise, they must be tough, they must be called by God to this work.

Because the majority of hill tribe people are Christian, most Bible college students are hill tribe. A few of these hill tribe Bible college students become native missionaries, reaching across culture in their own nation to pioneer a church in a majority Thai community.  Some of our pioneering pastors are hill tribe.

Pastors Da and Ekerat 
Pastors Da and Ekerat are hill tribe pastors who pioneered a Thai church in an unreached part of Nakhon Pithom province.  They are not only pioneering pastors, but also missionaries who had to cross cultures to reach the Thai majority in Nakhon Pithom. 

Each Christmas season, it is traditional for hill tribe people to go back to their home villages to celebrate the birth of Jesus together with family.  Pastors Ekerat and Da went back to their villages to visit their parents and relatives.  They took a few pictures of the worship service at their village and they are posted below. 







When we talk with missionaries from other organizations, we have discovered that a large portion of the pastors who plant churches in unreached areas of Thailand, are hill tribe pastors planting churches to reach the Thai majority.  When you see the village above, you would expect it to be a village that only receives missionaries.  But this hill tribe village, and many others like it, are one that sends missionaries to the unreached Thai majority.  Like we said, it is counter-intuitive.




Wednesday, February 22, 2012

We have found the right building, now we need your help

Many of you have been praying that the Lord would lead us to the right building for Blessing Home and God is good, He has opened up a building for sale that is perfect for the needs of the ministry.

This is the building we would like to purchase for Blessing Home. 
This building is two rows wide and three stories high, but the rows are wider than in our old building.  Each floor is 45'x30' for a total of 4,050 sq.ft. (compared to 1,728 sq.ft. in our present facility).  The front of the building has a very large awning, making the front of the building usable for activities and/or a receiving area for the children.  The building is set up beautifully for us too, not much would need to be done to the building to make it fully usable, other that installing some air conditioners and some minor modifications, but these can be done over time.

The old building of Blessing Home is just a bit down the road.  This is the view from the 3rd floor of the new building we would like to purchase down the street to our present rented facility.
The location is perfect, being very close to our present location, so we can continue to serve the children close to where they live.  Location was vitally important, and God blessed us by opening up this building for sale.  Also, there is parking spaces available, which is a rare thing in crowded Pattaya.

The new building is in front of the Buddhist Temple.  You can see the temple from the back of the building.
This is a view of the Buddhist temple from the 3rd floor window of the building we would like to buy for Blessing Home.
People of God, we need your prayers and help.
At the present time, we have only $129,000 of the $144,000 purchase price of this building.  We need $25,000 to purchase the building, and any extra funds would go towards purchasing air conditioners.  We need one last wave of generous giving, one last drive of church special offerings and individual donations.

If the Lord is leading you to give to help purchase this building, please send a check to TMM at:
TMM
P.O. Box 56
Mannsville, KY 42758

or give online at:

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Life at Blessing Home

Some of the children at Blessing Home who needed some extra help from Teacher Pui.
Years ago, Sherri worked at a shelter for homeless teens, and it was very frequent that one client would come in with lice and if not caught very early would soon spread to many people.  We remember all of the hard work, to wash clothes and blankets, as well as the special shampoos and using the fine-tooth comb to get all of the eggs out of everyone's hair.

So we empathize with Pui and the staff of Blessing Home whenever one of the children come in and has lice.  Usually if one has it, many do.  And Pui has to treat their hair and make sure the families of the children have special shampoo and make the effort to rid themselves and their house of lice.  We cannot just send the children home, this must be done at Blessing Home.

This type of problem is just one of the common things that happen that the staff must deal with.  Pui and the staff and volunteers never complain, but lovingly and patiently serve.  It is an honor to serve with such wonderful people.

Pui with one of our new children, Jenn
Last week, Blessing Home received a new child named Jenn.  Jenn is a 6 year old child who was abandoned by her parents (we have no idea who her parents are, actually).  A kind-hearted couple now take care of Jenn, and she is now attending Blessing Home and receiving services through this ministry.  Jenn  is challenged with autism, so Jenn, the staff, and the other children, are all learning and adapting together.
At first, Jenn was constantly agitated because there are many children all crowded together at Blessing Home.  Jenn likes quiet spaces and limited stimuli, so the first few days were tough.  The staff have been very patient, and finding ways to give the best care possible to Jenn.

Jenn is developmentally challenged.  She can talk, but most of the time, she "parrots" whatever anyone says to her.  So if you ask Jenn, "Are you hungry?", she will smile at you and say "Are you hungry?'.  Pui says that Jenn has made great strides in adapting, and so have the staff and other children.

We thank everyone who helps to support Blessing Home.  Abandoning children with physical and mental challenges is very common, and ones like Jenn need the ministry of Blessing Home.  Thank you for your compassion.
-----------------------------------------------------

Blessing Home is a ministry of the Thailand Methodist Mission
Donations can be sent by mail or by internet

Please mail checks payable to TMM to:
TMM
P.O. Box 56
Mannsville, KY 42758

or give online by clicking this banner.

 

Sunday, February 05, 2012

Blessing Home has a special event for the older children and their guardians

The Blessing Home ministry takes in children at the very young ages of 2-3, because the best way to stop child trafficking is through prevention, and we must start very early.  The orphans and street children of Blessing Home begin by attending our Pre-school.  And then when they are of age to attend public school, the Blessing Home ministry provides school uniforms, books, supplies, transportation, and food for these children all the way through graduation from high school (this ministry is only 4 years old now, so all of our children are still young, but there is long term commitment to these children).  Blessing Home also provides food and care during school breaks, so that these children's needs are met and they have security.

At the end of January, Pastor Banya and the staff of Blessing Home had a special meeting with the guardians of the children that are sponsored to attend public school.  When Blessing Home receives a child, we try to keep them in the home that they are already in, if possible.  These guardians are not the parents of the children, but they take care of them with merciful hearts.  The purpose of the meeting was to say thank you to these guardians, who have been very good to these children.  These guardians are very poor, but they share what they have, and the Blessing Home ministry makes sure they receive education, medical care, food, and Christian nurture.

The older children of Blessing Home make thank you cards to give to their guardians.

Teacher Pui and TMM missionary Christine Villa are close friends as they work together as staff at Blessing Home.

These are some of the guardians and older children of Blessing Home (the ones that attend public school now).  Not all could attend the meeting.
Some children, like Naet, have had to be saved from being trafficked by their familes, and the Blessing Home ministry must provide Christian foster care for her.  Naet now lives with Teacher Pui, one of the staff at Blessing Home.  This is a great sacrifice (caring for a child 24/7 is always a huge task) but a ministry that saves children from traffickers, especially when the predators are family, carries risk for the Thai staff.  Pui expressed concern about what would happen if one of Naet's family got out of prison and came to take her to use her to sell drugs.  Pui said she is trusting in God to protect Naet and to protect Pui and her family as well.  (Just to answer concerns, we will cross that bridge when and if we get to it.... but one thing is for certain, Naet must be protected.)

Sherri and I are honored to work with people like Pui, who give everything to the Lord and risk everything to save these children.  She is truly an inspiration to us.

Naet and Teacher Pui
------------------------------
BLESSING HOME BUILDING FUND UPDATE

So far $123,000 of the $144,000 needed to purchase a building for Blessing Home has been given.  In a few weeks, Mike and Sherri will be coming back to the States on itineration to complete the fund raising.  Please pray that the funds will come in soon.

If you wish to donate to the Blessing Home building fund, please make sure you designate your gift for the Building Fund.


Send a check in the mail to:
TMM
P.O. Box 56
Mannsville, KY 42758
(Please make checks payable to TMM)

Or give online by clicking this link: