May Newsletter

All of our children, old and new, will be back at Grace by May 7. It is our favorite time of the year! Twenty-nine new children are joining our family, including a boy from the Yao tribe. We now have provided education scholarships to children from every tribe in Thailand. How good is the God we adore! We will have a total of 126 precious children in our care--the largest number ever--in every grade from kindergarten to fourth-year college. With the addition of four new college students at Buriram University and one in vocational college, we will have a total of 14 college students this year. Four of our five recent college graduates have gained employment; please pray for Win Yai, that he also will find employment. We are excited to receive our children into our care once again and joyfully anticipate all that the Lord has to teach us and do amongst us over the next ten months.

Our staff visited their families recently; we are especially proud of Nice, who distributed clothes to the children in her mountain-top village in Chiang Mai province. Nice and Duan were accompanied on their short vacations by two of our little girls who were unable to return to their families because it is not safe for them.

A number of our staff also had the wonderful experience of visiting pastor Kim Swee and his daughter, Josephine, and the members of Amazing Grace church in Seremban, Malaysia. We also visited a Christian school which offers a quality education in Muar, Malaysia, and had the joy of meeting a number of our sponsors there.

Eight members of our staff recently attended a five-day seminar in Bangkok on caring for children with special needs. They benefited greatly from the expert instruction they received from the Thai pioneer of ministering to special needs children and her team. The time in Bangkok culminated in a buffet meal attended by a total of twenty of our staff and alumni. It was a joyful time of reconnecting and having a leisurely meal together. We are delighted with the increased contact we are having with our alumni.

It will be rice-planting season very soon. The hot season is coming to an end, and we are praying for the seasonal rains that will soften the soil once again and make it receptive to receiving the seed. Our rice yield provides our growing family with rice for the year and enables us to donate to some of the poorest in our area.

The new building is coming along well. We are hoping to be able to occupy it by the end of May or in early June.

Heartfelt thanks to all of our wonderful sponsors and supporters for your love and generosity. We could not do what we do without you.