31 July 2022

Growing Leaders of the future 

We are proud to announce that we have another graduate in the house! Thank God for His goodness and providence in allowing us to see another one of our children through university. She has just graduated with a degree in Nursing. Each time one of our children graduates, be it from elementary or university, we can’t help but to give thanks because we know that without the Lord’s help, it would be impossible for us to see them through their education and for us to provide the means to help them attain the highest possible education. Each of our children have their own unique strengths and talents, we are humbled and privilege to journey and help them to our best to chart out their education route. Our end goal is for them to each have a good future, to get employed, be good citizens who will be independent and help contribute to the society to help others in need. We are immensely proud of their achievement and filled with great joy as we see how far they have come. So happy to see them pursuing their passion and we are always so excited to see them start their new chapters after graduation.

The rainy season has started early this year, thankfully, we are prepared and have started on weeding, clearing, and preparing the rice fields since last month. Hence, we started our rice planting at our homes. It is always something we look forward to and we want all the children to part of the process and to learn this important life skill of planting rice. The children really enjoy being in the rice fields, we usually plant in the evenings as it is cooler, and the children can all be there to help and learn. Now we wait for more rain to fall and flood the rice fields for the rice to grow. Praying for a good harvest this year.

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In the last week of the month, we had our community project camp in Chiang Rai, and it was nice to resume it after a period of break as our children had to settle back to going back to school and returning to school routines. We were happy to see everyone there well and healthy and as happy as they were to see us, we were also very glad. We have truly seen how the Lord works, He has been and is still working in the lives of our children. Our children are now more confident individuals and they have learnt to be bold and courageous to lead and facilitate the activities and guide the village children. We look forward to more of these community project camps and to raise more leaders amongst our children and to provide them the experience to grow and lead as they give back to other less fortunate than them in the community.

30 June 2022

Clearer Skies 

It has been a whole month back in school and the children could not be happier. We are just happy to see them all happy and well. Nonetheless we still must keep vigilant and ensure we take care of ourselves as the Covid virus still lingers. It is juts so good that schools are open, and the children can all head back to school, to learn, play and interact with their friends and to meet with their teachers. It makes such a difference, and we can see it so clearly in their eagerness to go to school and returning home with many stories.

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As we got used to the whole school routine, it was nice that the children had the opportunity to go swimming, their favorite activity, at Jasmine Hill. Thank you for having and hosting us. Anytime they can go to a pool, you will see them all getting so excited and when they are in the pool, it is always a hard time getting them out. We have also been getting the fields ready for rice planting as the rains are coming earlier than usual this year as we have had many rainy days already…even before the rainy season hits. But all thanks to God for blessing us with the rains, it is good. Good for us, good for the rice fields and the garden as well. So, we have been getting the children to help prepare for rice planting season, every day when they return from school, we get them to tend and weed the fields. It is always a nice time to just unwind and get themselves ready before dinner and schoolwork time. Our children love being together, working in the fields and just sharing little conversations and laughs with one another. Many hands help to get the work done faster.

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Just a week back, our high school students had to stay home and study online as their school was closed, due to some teachers and students testing positive for Covid. As part of the school’s measures to manage the widespread of the virus, they decided to stop and close school for a week and have all the students stay home and to do online learning. We are still hopeful that things will get better, we also want to see our children happy and healthy. Please continue to pray for Thailand and for all of us here in YCF. We also pray every morning and night during our devotion time for the world to heal and for Covid to be cleared and for things to get better in time.

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Onwards to the next half of the year, we are glad to see things getting better. Borders are opening, people are also more aware and know the importance of taking care of themselves and being more socially responsible. We are looking forward and ahead, we know God will continue to lead us and bless us. We are working hard to prepare the fields and we cannot wait till rice planting season hits; it will be our annually thing of rice planting together as YCF family and it is always so much fun. Hopeful as we step into the second half of the year.

31 May 2022

Back to the flow of things 

We had such a good break in April, resting and enjoying the school vacation. Getting back into gear for both the children and the staff was not difficult as the children were all anticipating the day they could return to school and no longer do online learning. Likewise for the staff, it makes work easier as they can be busy with their respective work and not have to take turns to sit with the children or deal with the hassle of online learning (technical difficulties, arranging for the devices for the children’s use, etc.). So, it is a win-win situation, one that we are most pleased about. On top of that, some of our middle and high school children will be entering a new school this school year, this is because this new school offers a better subject combination arrangement and a bigger and nicer campus for the children to flourish in.  The children were most excited, and, on the day, they finally could head back to school, we could hear their cries of excitement and all the buzz about meeting their teachers and friends.

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This month, it was also quite a wet yet hot month. The weather has been off, of late, strangely different from the usual. Thankfully for us, we are not in danger of flooding at where we at as the rice fields help to absorb all the rainwater and it is also good for the rice and crops in the fields. Nonetheless, we will not let the bad weather stop us from doing what we need to do. We continued with our social project – where we send a group of our children up to Chiang Rai over the weekends to run day camps for the children in the village. Our children will oversee planning and preparing for the activities, games and we even do some baking/cooking activities to teach the children. It has been very well received for both sides, the village children who we know look forward to the weekends we run the camps, we see how our children have grown in their self-confidence. Our children have stepped out of their comfort zones and now without having to continuously encourage or affirm, they are able to boldly take center stage and hold the fort down. We are beyond proud. Thank God for His blessings and grace over us all.

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As the busyness of school seeps in again, we are very thankful for all that we have and all that we have been through. We share in the children’s joy of being able to return to school physically and we continue to pray that they will all stay safe and well in school. The schools still are sticking to the Covid19 measures of having the children all wear masks in school and encouraging Antigen Rapid Testing for those who are unwell and also instilling the need to self-isolate or stay home to quarantine if one is found to be positive to displaying the symptoms. Slowly as we ease back to the times before Covid, we are also aware that much has changed, so we will go about it day by day and be glad for the current moment.

30 April 2022

Down by the beach 

It has been such a wonderful month and one to be much grateful and thankful for. First of all, all of us – children and staff have all recovered fully from the Covid virus and we are super thankful to God for seeing us through despite it being so challenging to manage all the quarantine arrangements and having to worry about the children who were not feeling well with flu like symptoms and some who had fever. Nonetheless, God is healer, and His hands of healing were over us through out the whole ordeal and He never left us without help. Thank you once again to all who shared in our concern, supporting us in various ways and ensuring that we had ample food or hands to help care for those who were affected.

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That said, it was with much anticipated joy and excitement that our beach trip to Hua Hin was made possible as everyone was much better and had recovered, so we need not stay home or had to leave anyone behind. We were also supported by a few YCF friends who made this trip possible as we needed funding for the trip’s accommodation, transportation, food and miscellaneous expenses. Through much prayer and faith, we saw how the Lord provided for us in funding and we marvel at His greatness and know that in all things we can look to him as He never fails to provide in ways we can never imagine. Praise be to Him and thanks to all who helped chipped in to make this trip possible. It has been an overdue trip to the beach due to Covid the past 2 years. You could only imagine how special this trip was, the children were so elated and extremely elated to know that we could make the trip happen. Many of the children, especially those who joined us in the last two years, it was their first time ever going to the beach as they hail from the highland mountains’ villages. It never fails to amuse us whenever these children get to see the seaside, soak their feet or rather whole-body swimming and splashing in the sea, tasting the salty sea water and enjoying all the sea creatures and of course seafood!

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This trip, it was also a bible camp for our children which was conducted by some of our YCF friends/volunteers who we are so very thankful and blessed to have in our community to support us as we love and care for our children. They worked hard alongside our staff to plan the bible study, games and all other activities for the children. We also had a lovely place to call home during our days at the beach, we even had a kitchen where we could cook and prepare meals and a nice big dinning space where we all could come together to eat and share our meals. After our bible camp, the children and staff had time to chill and play. We were so blessed to be situated just right to the beach and they could just change and pop down to play ball games, dig in the sand, catch fish and just swim and splash as much as they wanted to. It was lovely being away, a different environment for a while to just dwell in the goodness of the Lord, to catch sunrises and to enjoy the sunset and to be together as a family making memories and enjoying each other’s company. We also carried out our baptism service and had our youths who stepped forward for their outward expression of their inward faith. It was a beautiful morning, and we sang many worship songs and gave thanks for them declaring their faith. Thank God for keeping us all safe and well throughout the time at the beach. We are so refreshed and of course happy to be able to make this trip possible.

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No one wanted to say goodbye to the beach and leave Hua Hin for home, but as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end, we had to pack and head back but were all so glad and thankful for the time vacationing and also catching up in our walk with the Lord. The ride home was long, 13 hours drive back, and the children were all able to catch up on their sleep as every day at the beach all they wanted to do was wake up early to do their activities and play, play and play! Who would not?

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A few days after we got home, unpacked all the things and rested, we went up to Chiang Rai to run a Community Outreach Camp for 2 days in a village where our older children were in charge of running the camp and planned all the activities with some of our YCF Volunteers. The main activities were teaching English a