UPDATES
There are many things to be thankful for everyday at YCF, and we would love to share snippets of our thanksgiving with you. In this page, we want to also share prayer request items, provide updates and to create a platform where we can showcase what we do at YCF.
Its a joy and privilege for us to keep you updated, we hope that you will delight in our sharing and do remember to keep us in your prayers.
NOVEMBER 2019
In the month leading up to the most anticipated month for the children, we were busy preparing for our Christmas parties as the children has to practice their song and dance items. We also had our dear Japanese friends Kazuo and Toshiko come visit us. They have been such long and dedicated friends of YCF, since the beginning years with Toshiko’s late sister who encouraged Tasnee to start YCF. This lovely couple has been coming every year to visit and we appreciate their time and are so encouraged by their love for us all at YCF. We had a great time enjoying their company and catching up. The new children could finally meet them and likewise they could meet and spend time with the children too.
DECEMBER 2019
December oh December, the best time of the year as it is the most wonderful time of the year (Christmas!) We had such a delightful time celebrating and had so many Christmas parties and just enjoying all the good food and the company of family and friends. We were so blessed to be invited to join in the many Christmas parties and we were so stuffed with good food and too much Christmas treats. Such a joy! We also had the team from Singapore come visit for the annual children’s camp and all the children were so excited to have their Singaporean friends come again. Thank you to BPMC church for all the annual children’s camp. We have seen how the children enjoy so much each year and how the workshop sessions have helped them to learn more about God’s word and strengthen their spiritual growth and relationship with the Lord. The children also love the games and of course the fellowship with each and every one. We look forward to next year’s camp!
In the days that neared Christmas, we had the privilege to do caroling and to showcase our dance items to send some Christmas cheer to those around us and to thank those who have supported us throughout the year. We went to Vivo Bene, we visited some friend’s houses, and we even had our own in-house Christmas Party where we had a lovely night out with some dear YCF friends and all our children. We had such a simple yet scrumptious dinner spread that night. During the concert, all the children put on such a great show and everyone was well entertained. We even had our very own Christmas tree next to the make shift stage in our open field. We hung little bags of snacks on it and after we were done with the Christmas party and gathered all the super eager children around the tree as we all shouted “Merry Christmas!” and they all jumped to grab a bag off the tree. It was such simple yet great fun!
Another year just went past in a blink of an eye. 2019 was a good year for us, yes there were days and times that everyone was just so busy with school and work around the house but we are all so thankful that the Lord has seen us through yet another year. He has blessed us with plenty, He has showered us with so much goodness and His grace always seems to find a way into our hearts.
JANUARY 2020
We started the year with a simple worship and thanksgiving and it was such a lovely night. We started the year in full gear as we had some Taiwanese University volunteers who came to visit and they brought about so much joy to us. The children loved their company and were all so psyched to be part of all the activities that they had lined up and prepared for us. The Taiwanese University volunteers also were very helpful around our homes, they helped to do cleaning and repainting the walls at House of Grace. Everyone was very blessed by them and their high energy and enthusiasm really lifted our spirits and laughter filled the house.
January is also the month where our Grade 6 and Grade 9 students have to prepare for their examinations (O-Net). We have 4 children who are sitting for their examination in early February. Please keep them in prayer. The new year is going by really fast. In no time, we will have new children joining YCF and a few graduating. This year started with so many things going on and we have to ensure that everyone is staying healthy and well. Let's continue to pray for the Lord's mercy and grace over us all in this new year. 2020, let's go!
30 January 2020
Twenty Twenty
Scroll through the gallery to share in some of the moments of the past 3 months.
31 October 2019
Enriching Experiences
"Go for it.
No matter how it ends, it was an experience."
31 days have passed by again so quickly! The children have had such a fun month as it is their school holidays and for two of them they had a chance to get holiday jobs. One of our older girl was so privileged to have been able to work at Vivo Bene for 2 weeks and one of our younger boys who is in Grade 5 he worked in the noodle shop called Dtee Noi. It was his first time working and he learnt so much from those few days there. We are always so glad when the children have the chance to go out to work as they get to learn so much from the experience and it helps to prepare them for when they are older. Not only do they get the opportunity to gain working experience but they also benefit from earning some pocket money. Their confidence is also boosted and they come back sharing the experience with their peers and it’s always so nice hearing them talk about it and we get to delight in their excitement and walk with them in their worries or encourage them in times of doubts.
We also went to Chiang Rai this month with some friends from YWAMM and they had prepared some programs for the children there and came with us to visit our children who are studying in Mae Fah Luang University and one who is in his last semester at vocational school. It was such a fun time and everyone had so much fun. Thank God for bringing them to visit us.
As Christmas is fast approaching…less than 2 months away, we have been busy getting ready for it. Yes, you read it right, we are already preparing by having the children practice songs for Christmas worship and celebration. We all enjoy and adore Christmas and having to celebrate it brings us all so much excitement and joy. The children have also been cutting up a storm, cutting really lovely and very cute paper cuttings during their short school holiday, especially for those who did not return to their villages. It’s good that we have this activity as it allows for their creative juices to flow and at the same time is very therapeutic and enjoyable. So we hope that this year, we will see a good sales in the Christmas cards created by our very talented children.
The next two months before the year comes to an end will be filled with many activities and events, especially as Christmas draws near. We want to thank God for watching over everyone at YCF, the children and the staff and for all His goodness over us. We can’t wait for what is to come, looking forward and enjoying each day as it passes by.
30 September 2019
Everyday Goodness
"Nothing ever becomes real, till it is experienced"
- John Keats
We have been having sunnier days of late, this month the rains have stopped pouring and Mr Sun is out again to grace us with his presence. It has been a month of good fun as we had a team from Sydney-Australia visit us, bringing about much fun through the lessons they taught us about their Samoan culture, singing worships songs, doing crafts, learning English and not forgetting showing and teaching us (the boys in particular) how to do the Haka. Our friends in school were also so delighted to have a chance to meet them all and were blessed from the time spent together.
We also had two staff who were unwell this month, one of our female staff was feeling really under the weather and had a massive headache for about a week. She has to be hospitalized and was on bed rest for 5 days when she got home. Praise God as she has recovered well and is back on her toes, caring for the children. Our driver, Uncle also had met with two accidents, during the first week of September, he was out at dawn tending to the cows we have at House of Grace. In the darkness he was not careful and he slipped and hit his knee, which left him with a bruised and super swollen knee. But being the ever so crafty and innovative man that he is, he made a homemade walking stick with bamboo and a pipe head and was walking around the place in no time. However, just last week, Uncle was careless again and accidentally cut his leg while he was working with a knife. We brought him to the hospital and told him to rest and not work until his wound healed, he got stitches at the hospital. Uncle is a hardworking man and loves being out and about, but at his age, we always remind him to be extra cautious and careful. Do pray alongside us for fast healing and recovery in uncle’s leg and for the Holy Spirit to continuously guide and protect him in his daily doings. We are also in need of prayer for our staff, we are a small team and hence, we pray that we will be able to find new staff to join the YCF family and for all our current staff to be well as they serve.
With the sun out on most days now, the children are all happy as they can be in the outdoors- running and playing, catching fish, playing sports and one of their all-time favorite activity…swimming! It is good to see the children all so active and having fun together. It brings us so much joy too!
In just a few weeks’ time, our school-going children will be sitting for their school examination as the school holiday is approaching soon. Please pray for them to be focused and self-motivated as they prepare for their examinations. It’s going to be end of the school semester, when it feels like the children just started school. They are all also growing up fast and we now have many teenagers in the house.
We also want to thank God for His goodness in seeing that the rice we planted are growing well and soon we will be able to prepare to harvest it.
31 August 2019
Blissful Times
August has been a month filled with so much laughter and new memories. We hosted friends from Taegusndo University, who came and brought with them so much fun activities and even came to our elementary and high schools to visit. Not only did we get to have fun with them but our friends in school were also able to get to know them and learnt more about the Japanese culture and we all had fun playing together. It was such a privilege to have them come to visit our schools. Back at home, we also enjoyed delicious Japanese food that they prepared with so much love for us to eat and enjoy. During the time that our Japanese friends came to visit, they took our children out for a treat at MacDonald's. For some of the children, mostly our new children, it was their first visit to MacDonald's and their first time having a hamburger! We heard so much squeals that day as they were waiting in line to place their orders and the children could not stop talking about their MacDonald's trip when they got home. We look forward to them coming every year and we appreciate that they take the time to come visit us. It is nice that we are able to foster good relationships with our Japanese friends.
We were also graced by the visit of BPMC church from Singapore, we are so thankful for their constant love and support for us at YCF. We enjoy having visitors and are truly so encouraged by their visits as we feel all their love for us. Thank you to all our YCF friends from far and wide. We are one big family in the Lord.
On 11 August, some of our children were chosen to participate in the Taekwondo Championship at the 700 years Stadium in Chiang Mai. They did such great jobs and clenched medals, ranging from gold, silver and bronze in their respective divisions. We are so honored to have the Chiang Mai Taekwondo Association come every Sunday to provide free lessons to all our children. So even the youngest ones at our homes have the opportunity to learn and exercise through being actively engaged in this sport. Some of our children are really good at it and have excelled in this sport. We were even featured in a sport broadcast by Thai PSB, it is such a big blessing. We are so happy seeing our children pick up this sport and doing well in it and of course, enjoying themselves.
[Watch the broadcast below]
August is also the month where the rains fall hard, and it has been raining daily this month and we are glad as the rain waters will fall and flood our rice fields. The rice seedlings have all been planting and now we are just waiting for the rice field to flood up and for the rice to grow well and strong. Time just passes by so fast, it is already the end of August, two more months of rain and soon it will be harvest season again. Not only are our rice and crops growing well, we thank God as the children are all growing well too. They are getting taller and bigger fast! We look forward to what next month has installed for us.
31 July 2019
Hello Again!
We have been so loved and greatly blessed by our visitors from near and far, we have started swimming class at Vivo Bene, Chiang Mai for our new children, our rice fields have been filled with rice seedlings and the children have been growing well and being good at school.
In July, we had a bittersweet moment when we had to bid farewell to two of our older girls who had been with us since they were both in Kindergarten. We have watched and been with them from the time they were so small and now they have blossomed into fine young ladies. We take delight in knowing that they are heading out to further pursue their higher education. One is pursuing a degree in Nursing at Mae Fah Luang Univeristy, Chiang Rai and the other is taking up a certificate course to be a dentist assistant in Chiang Mai University. We are just sad that the girls will no longer be living with us, but they will still be under the YCF scholarship funding program until they have graduated from their courses. We want to thank God for His goodness in ensuring that it was a smooth process as we planned for their accommodation and prepared them for the huge transition into their next chapter of their lives. We had to opportunity to personally send both girls to their new schools and lovingly assured them that they can do it and we are always keeping them in prayer. They will also have a home at YCF, but now it is time for them to learn to be independent and work hard to achieve their life’s goals.
Apart from the goodbyes we had to say this month, we said many hellos too! We said hello to visitors from Japan and Taiwan and we also said hello to the rice planting season! The rain has been pouring and it has been flooding our rice fields, which is a good thing! We need all the rain water to flood the land so that the rice will be able to grow well. The children were also hard at work after school on some evenings to help plant the rice seedlings, they did a fantastic job and now we are just awaiting the growth of our rice this year. So happy to see that the children were all working together, splitting up the task and getting the rice planting done fast and well.
Please keep us in prayer, especially for our health in this wet season. We are so appreciative for all the love we receive.
30 June 2019
Let it rain!
June came and went by quickly. This month the children got right back to their school day routines and our staff have been busy caring for the children and our homes. The highlight of this month was that we harvested the remaining rice in our field at the back of House of Hope. Everyone helped out to harvest the rice and helped to also thrash the rice to gather the rice grains. The older children geared up in their long sleeve shirts, plopped on hats and had a sickle in hand and they set off into the rice field to harvest the rice by hand. The younger children were also very helpful as they put their energy to good use, running back and forth from our big open space where they transported the harvested rice for the middle aged children to thrash.
It was such a hot day, but we managed to get the work done in less than 2 hours. It’s always such a joy when we work together to get the work done. However, the rice harvested this year was not as good as compared to other years. We suspect that it is because of the weird weather change this year, the rains did not fall down enough to flood the field and nourish the hard soil and the scorching hot sun rays blasted upon our crops. Hence, when we thrashed the rice, we did not gather as many rice grains as before. Regardless of the harvest this time round, we are still very pleased and thankful that we have 16 sacks of rice for our consumption. Thank God.
We also want to thank God for allowing the new children to integrate smoothly into YCF. We have gotten to get to know them so much better and they are such dears. We have discovered that they are very talented, we have a girl who sings and plays the guitar so well, a boy who is so capable and can do many things and is so helpful and of course a few very adorable small children who just captures our hearts with their contagious laughter.
In June, we also started our Sunday school lessons before our Sunday church service. We have 3 staff and 2 YCF friends, Teacher Jean and Khun Scott who conduct Sunday school for our children. The children get split according to their age groups and we teach about the bible through games, activities and scripture reading. Everyone has been benefiting from it and we are so happy to know that the enjoy it.
The last few days of June, we have started planting ‘new’ rice. We have started to rack our fields and have scattered rice grains into some. The raining season is schedule to be now, however, with the freaky weather it is quite unpredictable. So please pray alongside us, as we pray for good rainfall this rainy season and for our rice fields to be flooded with rain fall so that our rice may grow tall and bear many rice grains. For July, we will continue work on the rice fields during the weekends and we are still praying for more funds to continue work on our House Building Project at House of Grace. Currently, we have started putting in cement for the second storey floors and we have a staircase that is up but some work is still needed to get it functional. The children at House of Grace are so excited as they get to witness first-hand how the house is coming up and they can’t wait to be in it to enjoy their library/play room.
Onwards to the second half of the year, we will continue going strong as we know we have Jesus always by our side and He is our strength, joy, peace and everlasting love.
31 May 2019
Oh The Fun We Had!
As we enter the mid-point of the year, we want to share with you all about our month of May. May is the month when the school holidays come to an end, but yet there are many new beginnings for us! You may be thinking…many? That’s right, many because not only do we have new additions to the YCF family, the start of the new school year kicks off and for our children it means the start of their new grade level, new friends and teachers and for some, new schools! Last but not least the beginning of the busy period for us, now that the children are all back to school and to flow of school life sets in on top of all the activities we have back home.
We are so happy to introduce our latest additions to the big YCF family, these children have joined us this year and have happily embarked on their educational journey and are enjoying their new friends and schools. Please continue to pray alongside us as we pray that our new children will settle in well and take to their new home and environments. As we get to know them better, we hope to shower them with God’s love and to allow them to experience His goodness in their own lives. We are also excited for them to be exposed to all the works at YCF, for them to learn and experience new things. May our new children be good children and take their schooling seriously and may they come to love their new YCF family.
One of this month’s greatest thanksgiving is that one of our boys received his Thai Identification Card after a long period of just having an Ethnic Thai Minority Identification Card. Thank God for His wondrous grace and mighty works. We are overjoyed and we are looking forward to more of such news as we pray and have faith that our other children who are still in the midst of waiting for their Thai Identification Card will also be able to obtain theirs. Though the wait is long and the process gets tedious at times, God is so good and He delivers!
Right: Our new children for this new school year. Welcome to the family!
Left: Our boy proudly showing off his Thai ID card. Yes, it is his to keep!
As we wrap up the last few weeks of the long school vacation, we were blessed to be able to bring our older children to Hua Hin for a week of bible study camps and a time of rest and recreation. The children attended the “Walk with the Holy Spirit Camp” and we had our good friends, Edgar and Toto to accompany us to facilitate bible study and to teach the bible to our children. It was a splendid week of not just soaking up the salty sea waters and sunshine- but also soaking up knowledge on the bible and learning more about the great God that we worship. The children truly enjoyed their time at the beach and of course found it hard to have to leave. Nonetheless, we want to give thanks for the opportunity and support from our friends who made this trip possible.
We also had a fun activity back home where all the children participated in. It was a fun time learning about relationship building. The children loved being able to get creative, to dress up and find props that were needed for the activity. They learnt and had so much fun.
Dear June, you rolled in too quickly yet at the same time we look forward to seeing what this new school year holds for us. Watching the children grow brings us much joy and so much anticipation to seeing them get closer to reaching their full potential. We ask for your continual prayers as we care, love, nurture and grow with our children, may God grant us renewed strength daily and may we not lose sight of his love even in tough times.
"My strength comes from God who made heaven,the earth and mountains."
-Psalm 121:8
30 April 2019
Splish Splash
What a busy yet fun month it has been for us at YCF! It was such an eventful month, even though April is the hottest month as the temperature these days hit 40 degree celsius in the day…yes it is that hot! However it is the month when the Thai people celebrates their New Year. More commonly known as “Songkran” to many internationally, it is a 3 day water festival which extends over a week where the nation of Thailand celebrates by throwing water which signifies ‘blessings’. Well for us at YCF, we take this time as a good time to head out for the children to have some fun playing with water in the crazy heat. This year, the children had so much fun playing at the nearby dam and canals. They were splashing around, swimming and lounging in the cool waters. It really feels good to be able to soak and have some fun in the water when the heat is so bad. The children also got to have a mini water fight at home, where we allowed them to splash water at each other. If only you could hear their war cries, the contagious giggles and their little feet scrambling around in the wet grass.
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Aside from all the fun and games, we toiled in the heat to harvest the peanuts which we harvested a week ago. We gathered so many! Thank God for how well they grew and for such a plentiful harvest. The children enjoyed munching on them and were so pleased to see how much was collected. We also commemorated Good Friday but remembering how God loved us so much that He sent his one and only son, Jesus Christ to die upon the cross for our sins, to wash us free from it all. 3 day later, He rose from death to life and we celebrated Easter Sunday by rejoicing and singing praises remembering that joyous day! The children sang a lovely song at Pastor Songkiat’s church for Easter and we were so blessed to be able to be there to listen to the sermon.
Our staff went for a 3 day staff retreat that was ran by our friends from Singapore-Bethesda Pasir Ris Mission Church, along with some other church worked from Chiang Rai. It was time well spent as the staff were able to learn through the workshop they attended, by engaging in discussions with other church workers exchanging experiences and knowledge across the table and sitting in for bible lessons by the Singapore church members. During the staff retreat, the staff were also able to have some time to rest and relax and they enjoyed themselves greatly.
Half a month left of school holidays for our children, soon it will be time for the new school year to commence. We are looking forward to welcoming new friends to YCF, they should be streaming in the early weeks of May. Excited to meet them? So are we! Those children who returned to their villages during the school holiday will also return to YCF soon, as they will need to prepare themselves for the new school year. Many changes, but we are eager to see what lies ahead. As for now, we are just so thankful for friends who have been coming to keep the children occupied with enriching and fun activities for them to do.
31 March 2019
Marching On
Our 10 graduating grade 6 students. They all look so grown up now.
March is the month we celebrate the end of one school year, the month which the children look forward to as they graduate and move on to the next grade, or next school for some and not forgetting the long summer school vacation which lasts till May.
This year, we are so proud to see 10 of our grade 6 students graduate from elementary school. This has to be our biggest batch of graduands in all of years of running YCF. Ten! 10 of them, just so thankful to the Lord for seeing them through their 6 years of elementary school education. Our hope is to see all our children get educated for a better life ahead of them and of course to attain the highest education possible for them. We tell them to be grateful that they have a chance to go to school, to receive education and always remind them to do their best as they owe it to their sponsors who so generously supports them in financing their school fees. Thank you to our sponsors, we will appreciate each of you and all that you are doing and giving to our children. They are truly so blessed and we want them to be aware and know they have to do their job as a student well as they are accountable to the Lord and to their respective sponsors but most importantly as they get an education it is for their own futures. We are pleased to announce that all 10 students have done well and passed and will move on to enter middle school, grade 7 in May.
We saw 3 of our older children graduate from middle school and high school too. 1 will go one to pursue and education in a vocation school and 2 are in the midst of sitting for entrance exams for university. We will keep you posted on where they have been enrolled when they get news of their posting results next month. Please keep the 3 of them in prayer as they prepare for the next chapter of their lives as young adults and as they go to new educational institutes where they will pursue their desired courses that will chart the course of their careers once they have graduated. The children are all growing up so fast, and seeing them being able to express themselves and their goals for their lives makes us even more thankful for the opportunity to journey and watch them grow and develop into adulthood.
Left: Two of our beautiful girls graduated from High School.
Above: Our sweet boy who graduated from Year 9.
In this month, we also welcome with much anticipation the summer school vacation. A few of our children have returned home to their respective villages and will only return late in April to prepare for the new school year that starts in May. For those children who are unable to go home, they stay on in YCF and they get to enjoy the vacation by resting, relaxing at our homes and also take part in the various activities that we have planned and prepared for them. Often times when a child is unable to return home to their villages during the school vacation, it is because the situation of them home is not the safest. They may not have anyone home during the day to care for them or just the dynamics of the family is not the best and we want to ensure our children are safe and cared for, hence they stay on at YCF.
It’s been just 2 weeks of school vacation and the children have been kept busy already and enjoying themselves. Even though the weather in Chiang Mai at the moment is really bad with the horrible haze causing a hazardous air pollution, it is very hot during the day. The hot season is fast approaching and with the haze in toll it is just makes this burning season one of the worst in all the years. Hence, with the hot stuffy weather, the children wanted to go swimming. As much as we wanted them to stay indoors as much as possible we decided to allow them to go for a quick dip in our friend’s pool. Khun Michael has always been very hospitable by opening his beautiful home to us for the children to swim in his lovely swimming pool. The children could not wait to jump in to splash around in the cool waters. No regrets, we all needed to cool off in the heat and thankfully that morning we were at the pool, the haze cleared a little and the air was fresher. The children even had the opportunity to visit 50FLY Trampoline Club, which allowed them to be indoors and to burn off their never ending energy by jumping on the various trampolines and to be wowed by the stuns they could pull off while jumping around. It was a good exposure for them and a whole lot of fun! Aside from all the fun and games, the children went to a 2 day bible camp which was organised this week by our Pastor friend, Ajarn Songkiat and his church. They were thrilled as they got to meet and make new friend, participate in games and learn more about the bible through workshops and activities.
This holiday we are going to start work again on the house building project at House of Grace. This is all thanks to God for providing us with some funds to engage a contractor to come down to help assist us in building the stairs for the interior and to purchase the materials needed to do so. Thank you to those who have gave to bless us with funds as we work on this house building project. As we receive funds, we will work with what we receive to move on to another step and we believe we will be able to finish building this house by the end of this year. If you would like to give to this project, please let us know by dropping us an email at youthcharityfoundationthailand@gmail.com We still have to gather funds to put in the walls for the building, purchase the roof, tiles, paint, windows, doors and electrical components. So for this holiday, we will get the children to help out with the house building project. As they say, “working together is success”, so with more hands chipping in to help, work gets done faster.
Put the cursor on the pictures to see a slideshow of how the children have been spending their school holiday and to view more precious pictures of the children's graduation.
Next month the children will also be able to have so much fun as Songkran (Thai New Year-Water festival) approaches. Which child does not like a good water fight? Well for ours, they all absolutely love playing with water so they will surely have a whale of a time. We are also looking at sending our older children to Hua Hin for a bible camp with a bible collage there. Some children will also have to return to school for summer school. Many things to come, we are excited for all that is to come and at the same time very thankful for all that has happened. One last thanksgiving item is that all our children who were unwell and for some who were warded in hospitals, all of them have recovered and have been discharged. Thank you for all your prayers.
28 February 2019
Ending the School Year
28 days is not enough, especially so when we have a house full of children and that in February we have so much to do! In this month, our children have to sit for their final school year examinations as it is the last month of school before the long summer vacation starts next month. Two of our older girls will be graduating from high school and soon they will be headed to further their studies in university or in vocational schools, they are now in the midst of sitting for their school entrance examinations as they have finished their high school final year examination. We are so excited to see where the Lord will lead them to in their next chapter of their lives as young adults.
The weather this month has not been the best as even with the nice cool nights and early mornings, it has been rather hazy. Thus, some of our children fell sick with the fever and flu. We had two who had to be hospitalized, but by the grace of God they are now much better and have recovered. We pray that the haze will go away and for better weather to come as the hot season approaches.
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Thankfully, our vegetables in our vegetable patch in House of Grace has been flourishing. With the hard work that the children put in to weed, water and tend to it, the vegetables that we have planted have grown well and we are now seeing the fruits of our labour. Just a while more till we can harvest them for consumption and the children are starting to get impatient and want to harvest the baby vegetable to eat. In the meantime as they wait, they can continue to learn the importance of having patience and also how to care for the crops. Everyone has a part to play in our household, regardless if they are small or big, everyone is in charge of a certain chore. They learn from it and it good skills to have, as they grow up and eventually lead their own lives. As pictured, you can see how our youngest boys are busy enjoying collecting the eggs daily from the chicken coops we have. They learn to be gentle with the eggs as they have to carefully remove them from the coops and focus as they walk when carrying a tray full of eggs back to the kitchen. The older boys, more is expected from them and hence, they are in charge of self-grooming. Yes, they help cut each other hair. You know, boys and their head full of hair which grows too quickly! So with a clipper and a chair, they get busy as they rotate helping one another, until all of them gets a fresh haircut. It saves a lot of money and also it helps them pick up a new skill and should one of them be keen to be a hairdresser or barber one day, we will fully support their endeavor.
Thankfully, our vegetables in our vegetable patch in House of Grace has been flourishing. With the hard work that the children put in to weed, water and tend to it, the vegetables that we have planted have grown well and we are now seeing the fruits of our labour. Just a while more till we can harvest them for consumption and the children are starting to get impatient and want to harvest the baby vegetable to eat. In the meantime as they wait, they can continue to learn the importance of having patience and also how to care for the crops. Everyone has a part to play in our household, regardless if they are small or big, everyone is in charge of a certain chore. They learn from it and it good skills to have, as they grow up and eventually lead their own lives. As pictured, you can see how our youngest boys are busy enjoying collecting the eggs daily from the chicken coops we have. They learn to be gentle with the eggs as they have to carefully remove them from the coops and focus as they walk when carrying a tray full of eggs back to the kitchen. The older boys, more is expected from them and hence, they are in charge of self-grooming. Yes, they help cut each other hair. You know, boys and their head full of hair which grows too quickly! So with a clipper and a chair, they get busy as they rotate helping one another, until all of them gets a fresh haircut. It saves a lot of money and also it helps them pick up a new skill and should one of them be keen to be a hairdresser or barber one day, we will fully support their endeavor.
Apart from all that, we have been truly blessed to have our dear friends, Edgar and Toto come on Sundays to share the bible with us. They make learning bible stories so fun and engaging. The children have so much fun listening and learning. Thank God for people He sends our way. Our children also enjoy presenting their song or dance item as an offering to praise and worship Jesus and watching them brings us so much pride and joy.
Looking forward to the upcoming school holidays, where we will all be able to catch a breather to rest and enjoy. As soon as that is, it will come even sooner when we will have new additions to the YCF family with new children for the new school year. Speaking of new additions, our beloved dog, Momo gave birth to 7 puppies in January and they are just so adorable. They are growing up well, all chubby, wide eyed and ready to explore this world as they waddle around with their stumpy feet. Time is just going by so fast, we will also have to see 3 children into new chapters of their lives and we look forward to doing that with the Lord.
31 January 2019
A Fresh Start
As we welcome the New Year, January is also one of the children’s favourite months. This is because Children’s Day falls on 12 January and on that day, the children of Thailand are celebrated with lots of snacks, sweet treats, fun activities and of course lots of freebies- free entry to attractions, free movies and even free meals! Apart from Christmas, Children’s Day is very much anticipated by our children. They are so blessed and we feel happy just seeing them enjoy themselves and being able to watch them grow.
The cooling weather is such a bonus as we get to throw on our jackets and get busy in the fields where we have started planting some vegetables like, lettuce, peanuts and corn. The children learn so much from planting food crops in our fields and learn how to appreciate food even more. In a few months’ time, our vegetables will be ready for harvest, check back to see how they have grown. Just speaking about it makes us excited as we have planted extensively this time round, hoping for more harvest.
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It may not look like much now, but with love and care as we tend to the crops, in a few months time the vegetable will grow!
How we celebrated our Children's Day! It was so much fun!!!
Earlier this month, the children had a day off from school and we brought them to a children’s home in Chiang Rai to help run a day camp with the children there. Our children are so blessed as they receive love from all of you and have the privilege to experience going for camps, doing fun activities to help them grow and learn and they receive so much. For that we are ever so thankful and we want our children to be appreciative and of course learn how to pass their blessings on. So we decided on holding a children’s camp for some children at a children’s home in Chiang Rai. Our children did such a fantastic job! The older children were in charge of planning and running the camp, our younger children helped out and also took part in the camp activities. They all had such a lovely time getting to know their new friends and of course it goes without saying they loved all the games. It is so good to see our children in action and seeing how they are able to help others and bring a smile to other’s faces. We want them to be able to spread the word and love of the Lord to others, just as how they receive it so freely, we want them to give freely too.
We were also able to squeeze in a quick trip to Pai, where we went to visit some of our children’s villages as well as to celebrate a dear friends’ 12th anniversary-thanksgiving for their drug rehab and church ministry in Pai. We make often trips to our children’s villages, this is so as we want our children to be connected to their families, regardless of whether it is their direct family or relatives. It is also a good opportunity for us to check in with their families to see how everyone is doing and to pray for them. The children also enjoy visits back to their villages and they get to give a tour to their friends and take them around and it makes them so proud and pleased.
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The first month of 2019 has been nothing short of His amazing grace. We started the year with many enriching activities and we are looking forward to see what else is in store of this New Year. Please keep our 9 Grade 6 students in prayer as they will be sitting for their final grade school examination next month.
31 December 2018
Christmas Delights
December was a month filled with so much celebration and love for us. We has friends come to visit to gift us with many gifts and sweet treats as well as friends who came to visit and bless us with us with their presence during the festive season.
As we celebrated Christmas this year at YCF, we had in mind the theme “Faithful King”, this was in line with the camp theme that we had with the BPMC Singapore team. God is our faithful king, He sees all and He cares and love us- His people so much. We had such a lovely time remembering that He is faithful not only because He loves us but because He has been with us throughout, in all times. When we celebrated Christmas this year, we also looked back at the year 2018 and were reminded of how good God has been to us all at YCF.
We had a 3 days camp with BPMC Singapore team and the children has such a good time learning more about the bible with how God’s faithfulness and their personal faith aligned. They also had so much fun during the games segments as we could hear so much laughter and little squeals coming from our open field. It was such a joy and blessing being able to participate in the camp. We want to thank our Singaporean friends for coming annually to run camp programs with our children. They benefit so much from all the activities, from the workshops, to the worship session and of course through the interaction with their friends from Singapore.
The children also had the privilege to be invited to sing some Chirstmas carols at various places this year. The elementary school children went with their school to some places around our province to sing Christmas carols to bless their audience and spread the good news that Jesus is born and the true meaning of Christmas, and our children also went to Chiang Mai Christian School as part of the All Saints Festival of Carols. Our children enjoy singing and dancing, hence, they had so much fun preparing their performances and they worked hard to practice.
We were also blessed to be invited to Christmas gatherings and parties by our friends, they had such big hearts and welcomed us to their homes and churches to take part in their Chirstmas programs. Everyone had such a good time and loved getting to eat delicious food and of course receiving little gifts.
On the last day of 2018, we had a morning of games, where all the children took part in mini games that were ran by the YCF staff and some older returning children who are in university or have graduated. We love having such gatherings, where everyone comes together as we are all part of a big family. At night, we had a worship-thanksgiving time where we sat around to look back on the year and to look forward to the new year. Everyone shared and enjoyed a simple barbecue.
We want to thank you all, our supporters, readers and friends for all your love and prayers this year, we are excited and thankful for the new year ahead. May 2019 be a year filled with great wonder and joy, and may we continue to stay close to the Lord and seek Him in leading YCF onward to greater heights as we keep loving our children and to welcome new children in the months to come.
Please do help keep our graduating children in your prayers. We have 9 grade 6 children who will be sitting for their final school exams in February and 3 older children who will be graduating from high school, they too will sit for their final examinations. We pray that God will continue to see them through and that they will be responsible and hard working to study hard. Thank you!
Blessed New Year 2019!
From all of us at YCF to you and your family.
30 November 2018
Little Grains of Gain
SNIPPETS OF THE MONTH:
Everyone working hard, harvesting and drying out the rice from our rice fields. Our male staff working on repairing the roof of our small lounging area. The children playing and Sunday at church.
We are nearing the end of 2018, the last 30 days of November has passed us by so quickly. The children are all back to school, the staff are busy around the homes running errands, taking care of the children and most importantly we are all preparing and counting down to Christmas! Just 26 days more to Christmas! We can’t wait!!! We have all been well this month, the weather has been starting to get colder, the days are shorter and the nights long. It seems like this year we will have a nice cold and cosy Christmas and New Year.
In the month of November we spent the month harvesting the rice in our rice fields, we had the help of a rice harvesting machine that we hired to help us. Once the rice was harvested, we had to work together to spread out the harvested rice on tarps as the rice was still a little damp. After leaving it out for a few days to dry completely, we gathered all the children and staff to help with the collecting of rice grains. We had to do this a few times as we have a few rice fields that were harvested. It is tiring but seeing the fruits of our labour was worth every sweat. The children were in awe of the quantity of rice collected. We foresee that the rice harvested will last us about 8 months in total, for our daily consumption. We tasted the rice for the past two week and it tasted really good. Thank God for seeing us to harvest!
The children have been really busy with all their school activities, from sports to the arts. The grade 6 pupils have been studying hard for their upcoming major examinations which will be in a few months’ time. They have been going back to school on Saturdays for extra revision lessons and have been revising work at home. The children are also super excited for Christmas as in the weeks leading to Christmas, they will have small treats from school or from friends of YCF. For the past few weeks, they have been practicing Christmas song and dance items for the mini celebration that we will have for Christmas and New Year.
Work around the homes never stop, the staff were busy repairing the roof of the Sala (sitting area), preparing the outdoor stage and tidying the homes. They are good workers, who work together to get things done around the house. We want to just say thank you to all those who have been loving and supporting YCF. We are still seeking building funds for the small house at House of Grace, which we hope to complete by the mid of next year. Thank you to all who have given and helped pray for and over us. Your kind thoughts are well received and appreciated greatly.
The countdown to Christmas has already begun for us, has it for you?
26 days to Christmas!
31 October 2018
Far and Wide
“Welcome, may all who enter as guests leave as friends”
This quote is so apt, especially for us at YCF. We are so blessed to have many guests come visit us and to spend time and shower their love on the children and our organisation. We truly appreciate everyone’s time and we are thankful for all the support and love we receive. The children learn so much from visits from guests, through their interactions with our guests they build up their English vocabulary, it boosts their confidence to practice speaking in English and through conversation shared, it broadens their horizons. We thank God for the people He has allowed us to meet and to partner together with to help our children in their education and in their stay with us in YCF, without them we will not be able to proceed with our education sponsorship program, start and finish our projects around the house and to afford for the daily living expenses of the home. Thank you to friends from far and wide, for all your prayers, time and love. We hope that those who enter as guests, we leave YCF as our friends.
With all that has been said, this month has brought the feet of many new and old friends of YCF. Earlier this month, we had the honour of meeting Khun Marilyn who flew in from United States of America to come visit our children and our two homes. Khun Marilyn has been such a dear, she has been helping YCF greatly by working together with her church back home in the states to gather church members to help sponsor a few of our children for their education sponsorship. Even though she has not met us before her visit this month, she continuously helped us communicate updates, and shared about YCF’s education scholarship program and our house building project at House of Grace with her church members. She garnered information from us and would always inform her church and would also send well wishes over from her church to the children at YCF as well. We were so glad she could come visit us and that we could finally meet her in person to thank her for all that she is doing for us. We had a lovely day together, showing her around our homes, having her meet all our children, bringing her to see how the progress of the house building is coming along and finally ending the day with a night of fellowship, where the children donned their ethnic tribal clothing to sing and dance to worship songs. Thank God for His goodness and thank you Khun Marilyn. We have truly gained a new friend and many new friends from the church who we hope can come visit us one day too.
Scroll to the right to see how we spent the day with Khun Marilyn >>>>>>>
This month, we also had to bid farewell to a new friend, Glendon, who has been volunteering at YCF for a few months. He was such a big help and his enthusiasm and good care for the children will make us miss him even more. Thank you Glendon for your time and love for all of us. You have been a blessing to us all, we wish you well as you head home.
Just a few days ago, our long time old friends Khun Kazuo and Khun Toshiko from Japan came and will be with us for a week. We want to honor this couple and their relentless love and support, from the start of YCF to what we are today. They have the kindest hearts and have seen our children past and present grow and have journeyed so loyally with YCF. It is always a joy to have them come visit and to catch up, to relive old memories and to make even lovelier new ones.
October is also the month for school term break. In which the children have a month off school as they are done with the school term and are awaiting the start of the new term. So some of the children have returned home to their villages, while those who are unable to, stays back at YCF. Those home with us have been kept busy doing spring cleaning, playing and resting as well. The new school term will start next month, so most of the children who returned home have returned back to YCF to prepare for the new school term. The staff also managed to squeeze in some time for rest during the school holiday, thank God for that as self-care and rest is very important for all. Everyone is doing well, those who were unwell are all recovered and back to their usual self, our boy who injured his hand is recovering well with 5 stitches in his hand, he is as active as always. God is great and our awesome healer, watching over us always.
We have a big thanksgiving item, we want to acknowledge the Lord’s providence and grace in seeing us through the long tedious process of obtaining a Thai ethnic minority ID card for one of our older boy who is currently in his second year in university. He came to us at a young age, he was without any Thai identification. Hence, over the years we have put in applications to get him his Thai ethnic minority ID, he is of the Lua tribe. Many years we have been working hard to assist him and by the grace of God he has finally obtained his Thai ethnic minority ID card. This will ensure that he will have more opportunity to find work and is now a recognized citizen. We have been praying for so many years and each time there would always be new hurdles, we refused to throw in the towel and persisted. How big a sigh of relief for us and even more so for him. God is so good!
"Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed, every one was fulfilled."
-Joshua 21:45
Lastly, we are getting started on our paper-cutting, card making project! Christmas is just a month and a half away! The children will be doing paper cut-outs to make Christmas cards to sell for fund raising. Stay tune to see some of their wonderful and very creative creations. The cards will be on sale, they will make such lovely greetings to loved ones and friends this Christmas! We are looking forward to getting them done, the children feel so proud of their craft and get excited each time one of their card gets sold. If you would like to purchase some cards for Christmas, please get in touch with us at youthcharityfoundationthailand@gmail.com to place your order and find out more. Each card is unique, specially put together to brighten your day.
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30 September 2018
Grace Abounds
30 days in September... we did so many things and of course so many things has been happening around our two homes. We have had great days and a few not so good ones. You must be wondering, “What could have gone wrong?” or “Did something bad happen?”. This month sure did push us all physically and mentally .Sometimes, things which are beyond our control just happens, but we know the one who holds us in His hands is the good Lord who holds all things. By now you must be curious as to what happened, well, this month many of our children were hospitalized for various illnesses and injuries. We were all so worried and concerned, the staff were all so busy running around as they had to accompany or visit the children who were hospitalized. The other children back home were also praying for speedy recoveries for their friends. We had 5 children who made trips to the hospital this month. 1 big boy went to the clinic to get checked for the pains he had in his arm from a soccer game, 1 other big boy was warded for a fever, 1 middle aged boy was admitted to the hospital in town for a serious injury he got from a knife accident, and 2 younger girls were admitted for fever with 1 whose case was very serious and she had to stay in the intensive care unit (ICU) for 3 nights.
You could have imagined how hectic it was, having our staff scramble from home to hospital almost daily and how we were all so distressed knowing that our dear children were ill or in pain and had to be away from home to stay overnight at the hospital. But the Lord is so good, He was with them and us throughout! We want to declare His mercy and grace for watching over them and for allowing them all to be better as the 3 out of the 4 who were warded have been discharged and are now recuperating back home. They are doing so much better and getting back into the pink of health. Please continue praying with us, for our last child in who is still resting in the hospital, she is one of the young girls who was in the ICU, but has now been moved to the normal ward. She is getting stronger and regaining her strength, her temperature has gone down and we are glad to see her communicating and out of the ‘danger zone’. It is really by the Lord’s grace we can get through tough times, He does not forsake us and He hears our cries. Nonetheless we are very thankful for the Lord’s grace over us each and every day and we trust in His goodness and might.
On a lighter note, this month we also were graced by the visit of 4 very talented Japanese friends. They came for a short visit but were able to use the time they had with us to teach our older girls some bead works. One of them is a well-known jewelry designer and he is so skillful and creative. He and his friends taught out older girls how to make some lovely beaded dangling earrings. It was definitely not an easy task, even for their nimble hands, the girls had quite a hard time trying to bead the tiny delicate beads through the thin string and even struggled a little when it came to the part where they had to intertwine the beads. There were many attempts made before they successfully strung in the beads and got the loops done. The big girls shared so much laughter together as they were learning and they all were so pleased and proud of their finished product. Why do they have to learn or why were they taught bead work? Well, these Japanese friends have a social enterprise platform called "CRAFTAID" (http://craftaid.jp/) where they teach and help the hill tribe people sell the hand made crafts made by the hill tribe of Northern Thailand for a good cause. By learning how to do bead work, we believe it is a very good opportunity for our girls to learn new skills and we enjoy seeing how their lovely final products turned out and them taking pride in their work.
We have also been working at the rice fields, weeding and tending the rice. The toughest part of planting rice is not the planting of the rice but rather the hard labor is in taking time to continuously ensure that the rice field has a good supply of water that the weeds are weeded and the rice is growing well without the wild snails eating them all up or destroying parts of it. It is a good thing that we have many hands, and when all these little hands chip in to help tend to the rice field, the weeding work gets done faster and everyone has a good time singing, laughing and just enjoying the company though the actual work is so tiring.
This month has really exhausted us, but we are not defeated! God is good and so we are well! The importance of prayer and love just echoes even more, we are always so grateful for all the love and support we received from people, the financial support and donations, but even more so for the prayers you say for YCF, for the children, for Thailand and for the works we are working so hard for daily. Thank you! We will only get stronger, because we are fueled by the Lord’s great love and we have you all journeying with us in this big journey. Please continue to keep us in your prayer, we greatly appreciate all your love and support.
31 August 2018
He Watches Over Us
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The Lord watches over you
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all harm
he will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.
- Psalm 121:5-8