Slow & Steady The Long Haul

 Hey everyone. I am sorry that I have not posted in a while. I have been feeling that It's best not to post when I am just doing my thing & things are just normal.

One of my favourite things to do...teach English to people who are in need of better work. But doing it together in their home.

This man is 60 years old with his wife & son.

Hungry

Between my English class ending and opening the community centre for the kids felt I needed to look in a local supermarket for veggies and meat on sale. I am glad I did because as soon as the teen girls arrived after school they grabbed my arm and pulled me to the outdoor kitchen. They said they were soooo hungry. We made rice, stir fried onion, garlic, eggs, pork and greens with all the important Asian sauces. I also took the pork rib bones placed them in water to boil with salt to make a pork broth soup. They ate their fill and the extra one of the kids took home to share with her family.

A Good Change

I want to start by saying that my son has completed his 2 week quarantine in BC. Please pray for him as he will be trying out for the Trinity Western University football team (Soccer). This has been one of his dreams.

There has been a shift for me at the community centre. During this COVID time some are still not able to work because of tourists not being allowed to enter Thailand. I took this opportunity to ask some of the families I had been meeting regularly if they would be interested in me teaching them English. I now am teaching 4 classes a week. All of my students are so excited, want to learn & study outside of class.

 

 

 

I am still with the children 2 evenings a week & they still run for a hug when I am there. I still am the dad that many of them do not have by loving them in the ways I can. I help the old kids with English homework, dance with them when they put their Thai dance music on & encourage them when they need it. I follow their lead when the younger kids roll play husband/wife, brother/sister, boyfriend/girlfriend & just friends with the Ken & Barbie dolls. I have learned so much about the kids home life, school life & Thai culture just by watching the younger kids (both boys & girls) play with the Barbie dolls. 

 

 

 

We still colour, craft & teach them cooking. But the one thing that the kids are so happy to do is show me the cool new things they can do, tell me the achievements they have accomplished or share their dreams for the future. Someone to care, encourage, watch & listen to them. 

 

 

but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me. Don’t stop them, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to people who are like these children.” Matt 19:14 NCV

Open Again 4 the Kids

I want to start by saying thank-you for everyone who has been praying for Kiel & his Dengue Fever. I is back to normal other than feeling tired late in the afternoons.

We are still waiting for the COVID quarantine plan from the university in BC & in the meantime know that they will be ready to receive students coming from international locations the 3^rd week in August. The sad thing is that Teresa will not be able to travel with Kiel to help him buy the things he will need for his dorm room. The Thai government currently is not allowing our visa type to return to Thailand so if we leave we will not be able to return. We are planning as best we can, but each week I check flights & the previous weeks flights are no longer available (probably cancelled) & there are new listings with different airlines.

I am happy to say that the community centre is now opened for the kids. Only a maximum of 15 children are allowed to enter the centre gate. Then we take their temperature with an infrared thermometer (37.0 Celsius they are sent home) record it in our log book with their name, time entered & give them a face mask to wear at all times. We the leaders wear our face masks at all times & try our best to have the kids keep a meter apart, but don’t get upset with them if they naturally forget to apart.

My ESL student has been waiting for me to resume our weekly classes for months now. She came by the centre last week to check to make sure classes would start & was so excited to be able to keep learning in hopes that it will allow her to move to a better job in the future.

Here is one of the 4yr old kids that is always excited to see us whenever we enter the community. In this photo he finished eating his pancakes, the cooking lesson that evening & was washing his spoon/bowl & placing it on the drying rack. It’s cool when you don’t have to remind him, he just knows that has to clean his dishes.

Lockdown Complete

March 18th Chiang Mai started their COVID lockdown. Yesterday June 15th (just under 3 months) Chiang Mai has completely opened back up. Everyone is required to continue wearing facemasks, have your temperature taken before being allowed to enter a store and there are no international flights.

Here are some photos around town...

COVID, An Opportunity To Give

Hi everyone. I hope you all are well and listening to what your government is telling you to do.

I want to say thank-you so much for praying for the people here. And the past jealousy issues my community centre staff were experiencing as we were giving food relief has stopped. Thailand has been on a lock down for 1 month now & has extended the measures for another 30 days.

We have been weekly going into the community visiting families (following our COVID laws here), seeing their needs asking how they are doing & giving them our food packets (15kgs of rice, bottle of cooking oil, eggs, cans of sardines/mackerel, small amount of fresh veggies & bars of soap.) They are so grateful, know that we care for them & like it when we pray for them (no strings attached on our part.)

Now people in the community have been so helpful in telling us of other families in need that we did not know, even walking us to peoples homes & introducing us. I would say that in the last 30 days my staff & I have helped approx. 40 families. Now that the lock down (partial) will continue we will continue helping new families in need, but also revisit the families we helped 1 month ago to ensure they have food while they wait to be able to work again. 

If you feel lead to give please look at the right side of this post "Support Us"