Whoa…today was only our 2nd day here but I feel like we’ve done a whole weeks worth of work already. We started our morning grabbing breakfast at a local thai restaurant. The funny thing about these place is that there are no signs or menus anywhere. So apparently these types of places are supposed to serve whatever you want. And they’ll tell you if they can’t make it.
After some grub, we went off to the airport to meet with Pastor Danny who started Elijah Foundation. Elijah Foundation had already been working with Khaodee, so we had a meeting to discuss what all of our roles would be in helping Khaodee. More of these details will be out soon.
Now we were off to Ratchaburi, which is southwest of Bangkok. It was about a 2 hour drive. We arrived at YWAM Ratchaburi where we were met by P’ Noi, who runs the ministries there. We were able to talk to him for about 30 minutes while he shared His amazing ministry here.
He and his wife run YWAM Ratchaburi with no staff, no salary, and very limited support. His has 4 main areas of ministry that he does here in Ratchaburi. The children, the youth, prison ministry, and a ministry to unite all the churches in Ratchaburi. I will go into much greater depth later. 2 things struck me about P’ Noi. The first was the his faith. As P’ Noi shared story after story, it became evident that it was his faith in God that brought him through so many obstacles in his ministry. The 2nd things that struck me was his love for Jesus and the people of Ratchaburi.
After our chart, P’ Noi took us to the slums of Rachaburi to see the children and families that He worked with. So, this community that he took us too was made up of Burmese families who over the years had migrated over to Thailand to work. Because they are not Thai, they have no Thai citizenship and are extremely disadvantaged. The kind of jobs these families can get are limited. Where they can live is limited. They cannot even move freely throughout Thailand. They are confined to Ratchaburi. All these things creates a situation of poverty that I was about to experience firstand.
We pulled up next to an area with a small lake and a lot of trees. P’ Noi explained that this is where he started a small church for the Burmese people here in Ratchaburi. I thought to myself…this doesn’t look so bad. You can even baptize here in the lake. From there he took us down a small winding path. As I walked down this path, I saw small children on old broken down bicycles. And at the end of the path was a small community of shacks. Each house was made of wood and metal. Each shack was probably the size of maybe small office. There were no beds, no bathrooms, no showers. I was shocked at their living conditions. Yet, as P’ Noi walked down and visited each family, it was evident he had spent much time loving these people.
Children would run up to us and just hold on hands. I had never met them before but they just wanted someone to hold their hand and be there for them. P’ Noi took us to a small room where he started a library for the children. Inside were a few books and some broken toys.
P’ Noi explained that he had started the Rice Seeds ministry for the children in this community. The children would all almost expected to forgo school somewhere around the age of 10-12 to start working and helping out the family. But the Rice Seeds ministry was started to raise support to send these children to school. To give them better opportunities in life and break this cycle of poverty. These children were the very definition of being “at-risk.”
After some grub, we went off to the airport to meet with Pastor Danny who started Elijah Foundation. Elijah Foundation had already been working with Khaodee, so we had a meeting to discuss what all of our roles would be in helping Khaodee. More of these details will be out soon.
Now we were off to Ratchaburi, which is southwest of Bangkok. It was about a 2 hour drive. We arrived at YWAM Ratchaburi where we were met by P’ Noi, who runs the ministries there. We were able to talk to him for about 30 minutes while he shared His amazing ministry here.
He and his wife run YWAM Ratchaburi with no staff, no salary, and very limited support. His has 4 main areas of ministry that he does here in Ratchaburi. The children, the youth, prison ministry, and a ministry to unite all the churches in Ratchaburi. I will go into much greater depth later. 2 things struck me about P’ Noi. The first was the his faith. As P’ Noi shared story after story, it became evident that it was his faith in God that brought him through so many obstacles in his ministry. The 2nd things that struck me was his love for Jesus and the people of Ratchaburi.
After our chart, P’ Noi took us to the slums of Rachaburi to see the children and families that He worked with. So, this community that he took us too was made up of Burmese families who over the years had migrated over to Thailand to work. Because they are not Thai, they have no Thai citizenship and are extremely disadvantaged. The kind of jobs these families can get are limited. Where they can live is limited. They cannot even move freely throughout Thailand. They are confined to Ratchaburi. All these things creates a situation of poverty that I was about to experience firstand.
We pulled up next to an area with a small lake and a lot of trees. P’ Noi explained that this is where he started a small church for the Burmese people here in Ratchaburi. I thought to myself…this doesn’t look so bad. You can even baptize here in the lake. From there he took us down a small winding path. As I walked down this path, I saw small children on old broken down bicycles. And at the end of the path was a small community of shacks. Each house was made of wood and metal. Each shack was probably the size of maybe small office. There were no beds, no bathrooms, no showers. I was shocked at their living conditions. Yet, as P’ Noi walked down and visited each family, it was evident he had spent much time loving these people.
Children would run up to us and just hold on hands. I had never met them before but they just wanted someone to hold their hand and be there for them. P’ Noi took us to a small room where he started a library for the children. Inside were a few books and some broken toys.
P’ Noi explained that he had started the Rice Seeds ministry for the children in this community. The children would all almost expected to forgo school somewhere around the age of 10-12 to start working and helping out the family. But the Rice Seeds ministry was started to raise support to send these children to school. To give them better opportunities in life and break this cycle of poverty. These children were the very definition of being “at-risk.”
Continue to pray for Bo and myself. I’m still trying to take in and process all that we have seen today. What do we do with this? What does it mean? What I do know is that God continues to humble me and shows me how little I think I know. My heart aches for these children. What would Jesus do?
CJ
Thanks for sharing. We are praying over here.
ReplyDeleteWow, its great that God is still reaching out to these areas that seem to have been neglected.
ReplyDelete