Dear Friends,
Hello again from cool, lovely Thailand. This is my favorite season – the cool season. In the hot season it seems inconceivable that you would ever want to wear jeans and a light jacket here it is so sweltering hot but here we are in lovely cool weather again. If you ever want to come to Thailand I highly recommend this time. I seriously advise NOT coming in April or May unless you like miserably hot weather. Next weekend we are taking the kids to the state called Mae Hong Song where the mountains are full of sunflowers this time of year. Fields and fields of wild sunflowers bloom for a few weeks in November. It really is incredible and when you see it you can’t help but feel that God is just showing off for you. Most of the kids have never been there so we will go and make a day of it.
It’s so hard to believe that it is November and this year is almost over. Last month the kids had their mid year break and 15 of our kids went to minister in the borderland near Burma. I have attached our photo album from that outreach. The big, gorgeous teenagers you see are our kids just giving out all they have to help children less fortunate than themselves. You can see them teaching the children and praying for sick people and leading worship. I think this trip changed them more than anything – to see God use them to help someone else and also to see that they have so much to give. Some of children here came up with the idea of sponsoring a child over there. I couldn’t believe it. They have so little but they want to give what they have – to send 50 cents to a poor child on the border or buy them a present. They always deeply humble me with how utterly unselfish they are. So often I give out of my abundance but they give out of their need. So from this grassroots movement we came up with the idea to sponsor a children’s home over there and allow the kids to give monthly to help support that poor children’s home and I will match what they give. From the pictures you can see the bathroom we built and we hope to help more in the future.
We also got a call from a friend who has a children’s home inside Burma in the jungle. He asked that we please pray as his 55 kids had no food. Of course we pray for them but also we sent money to buy at least a month of food and rice. God has been so good to me here and I know the times when I was praying for money for the kids and God sent a miracle so this time I wanted to be someone’s miracle. I can’t stand to hear about hungry kids – it is a horrible thought. The situation with all these kids in Burma and on the border is heartbreaking – they are victims of the Burmese government’s war to eradicate the Karen people. So many are orphans, others have parents but they are in hiding in the jungles, unable to come to Thailand and unable to return to their villages for fear of being killed or conscripted by the Burmese army, some have had their villages and farmsburned. It is overwhelming problem but we pray and do what we can. The good thing is now the world is more aware of what is going on in Burma so we pray the situation will change soon.
We are also continuing our work here ministering to more and more youth and children all the time. My primary goal is to be able to minister to all the kids in the 8 children’s homes in this area on at least a monthly basis and that has started to happen. Last Friday night we had an awesome service with about 120 kids. God really touched them all and two wanted to be born again. I have noticed that even my kids have changed since that night. They are getting so hungry for God – every night they just all end up on their knees crying out for God with tears and worship. This is what we work for and pray for and have to model in our own lives.
We are preparing for Christmas now and we have several outreaches planned to bring Christmas to those who wouldn’t have it otherwise. On a sad note I had a personal tragedy in my life. My puppy Cookie died October 17. I was alone because of the school break and he was hit by a car or motorcycle – I am not sure what happened really. But he died about 15 hours after I realized he was sick. We don’t have a vet here so I didn’t know what to do. I just prayed for him but he died in terrible agony. I don’t remember a more horrible day in my life. Cookie was my best friend and mysunshine and we adored each other. He understood when I told him I was plumb tuckered. My heart was broken but God was with me and sent someone to help me bury him. My mom stayed up all night because I kept calling her and she helped me through it. God has helped me learn a lot about how to accept His comfort and what to do when bad things happen. I don’t believe for a second God took my Cookie I know the devil did it and while I don’t understand why it happened I don’t have to. I know God is still good and has ministered to me in a special way during this time and I know Him in a way I didn’t before. I love God when things are good and when they aren’t, when I understand and when I don’t. Just like He loves me in good and bad. One of the things I have hammered in to my kids heads is that God just loves them and they can’t change it no matter what they do or what happens. But it is a wonderful thing to get to a point in your life when what happens in this world doesn’t change your love for Him and your faith in His goodness.
I will be returning to America for 5 weeks for the holiday. During that time I will be setting up my schedule for when I return to the States in April and May (school term close) to travel around to speak to churches and groups about our work in Thailand. If you would like me to come and speak at your church or group please contact me and I would be happy to come. Thank you to all the sponsors who are doing so much over here. You are as much apart of what God is doing here in Thailand as I am and we couldn’t do it without you. You are all always my miracle. Enjoy the pictures. God Bless.
Love,
Candace
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