Thailand Update - May

Dear Friends,
Hello everyone! We have been back in Thailand since May 10th. It seems like longer with all that we have accomplished. We came back to the end of one of the hottest summers they have had here in 40 years. And in Thailand that is really no joke. When we had rented our house they had said this area is so cool you won’t need air conditioning because it is built into a mountain in a very wooded, mountainous area. We had considered giving away our air-conditioner, but when we came back we promptly called someone to install it ASAP! Fortunately last week it started to rain and that cooled things down a lot. We LOVE our new home - that is about 30 minutes from Chaing Mai. It is the nicest place I have lived since I left America 9 years ago and the rent is only $170 per month! I feel so blessed and so thankful.
Since we returned, we have been so busy. We had less than a week to move from Mae Chaem to Chiang Mai, and Gavin and I both started teaching the following Monday. My first class was “Life of Faith” and I just finished it last week. The students are a joy to teach, and I have never had such a fun job in my life. Teaching the Bible three hours a day is hard because I have to study about 1 hour for every hour I teach, but I love it. Two of the girls who graduated from high school in March are from our children’s home in the mountains. Since they are now in our bible school, I am so thrilled to be able to be with them two more years! They are doing so great. One of them has been my girl since she was 12 years old and now she is a gorgeous, very feisty 19-year-old. I have to say I am very proud of them. I am also teaching an advanced English class twice a week. Gavin is my boss since he is head of the English Department.

It also has been great to see some of the children we had when I first worked at Zoe five years ago. Of course they are very grown up now and so changed. It is also wonderful to meet all the other little children they have. They have over 50! I met a very sweet little girl who is so affectionate with me. She won my heart immediately. She is nine years old and was being forced to beg by people who had bought her. She is from Burma. The police caught them and brought them to Zoe. After fighting for custody in court, Zoe was awarded custody by the state. She is a charmer and has already gained weight since I saw her when she first came in January. Because of the sensitive nature of what we do at Zoe, we are unable to use names or show pictures of the children except as a group. Last month three boys were brought to Zoe when the police raided a brothel. They are ages 18, 16, and 14. It was a unique situation because Zoe wanted to keep them but could not put them with the other children because they had been repeatedly raped for years and they might be a danger to the other children. So separate facilities were found for them and extra staff called on to watch them and minister to them. Since being at Zoe, the oldest one has gotten saved and the youngest one who was the most angry and resistant asked if he could go to church this week. Time and God’s love heals better than anything we could ever hope to do. Bringing in these last children brought further complications with security because they are witnesses in a court case against their abusers so security has been tightened.

God has opened so many doors for Zoe to get children like this. They are well known and respected by the government and other organizations fighting human trafficking , who are bringing the children to Zoe now. Hopefully, Zoe will be moving to our new, much larger facility in a few weeks, and we expect to have even more children as we increase our capacity to care for them. A home like this is so much different than the children’s homes I have worked in before. There are issues we never dreamed of like protecting children from each other, education – some children who are 14 are in 2nd grade because they never had the opportunity to go school -security, court cases to fight, immigration issues with children mostly from Burma and on and on it goes. There is so much to learn and so much to do. But Zoe is doing really wonderful things. When you watch the children laugh and play, being well-fed, loved and safe, it is VERY hard to imagine the horror many of them have come from. I was reading some of their stories and I had to stop reading. It literally made me feel sick to my stomach. It is hard to imagine such evil. But thank God He has saved them!

Gavin and I are having our first anniversary in a few weeks. Our first year brought as much change for both of us as you can imagine. We both changed jobs, Gavin sold everything he owned and left his country indefinitely, both of us had major surgery, we have moved three times now and that is on top of being newly married. It has been some roller coaster ride, but God has been with us and finally brought us to the place where we belong. We are hoping the time of transition is over so we can settle in and do this precious work and continue to grow together, and especially to grow closer to God. It is a turbulent time for Thailand – we had curfews and violence here in Chiang Mai in the last few weeks, but God kept us safe as He always does. God is doing something here - the current government is doing something at least in a small way to rescue children who are slaves, and more and more people are coming to be trained to spread the gospel to their nation. It is an awesome honor to be one of those who are allowed to be a part of what God is doing here in Thailand. I love, love, love teaching these beautiful young adults who have such a passion to lead their people to Jesus. Thank you so much all those who give to Gavin and I so that we can be here. We appreciate you more than words can say. God Bless You!

Love,
Candace
As a reminder - OUR DONATION INFORMATION HAS CHANGED Please now make checks payable to:
Zoe International Ministries PO Box 221510, Santa Clarita, CA 91322 Memo line #1400
or give by credit card at their website gozoe.org for the benefit of The Brailsford Family

In accordance with IRS guidelines, tax-deductible contributions designated for missionary support are requested with the understanding
that the organization has complete administrative control over the use of the donated funds. The organization will make every effort to
honor contributions to support particular missionaries.