Updates
YCF
There are many things to be thankful for everyday at YCF, and we would love to share snippets of our thanksgiving with you. In this page, we want to also share prayer request items, provide updates and to create a platform where we can showcase what we do at YCF.
Its a joy and privilege for us to keep you updated, we hope that you will delight in our sharing and do remember to keep us in your prayers.
May & June 2023
Waves of Grace
March & April 2023
Newness
There has been so many things happening in the past two months, the weather has not been the best with the worst combination of heat and haze, however we are thankful that everyone is well. March and April in Thailand are the hottest months as the Thai New Year (Songkran) is celebrated in April where Thai people enjoy all the water splashing activities to help quench the heat and it is also during the long school holidays that lasts for two months. In the month of March, it is also when we up North, are hit by the horrible haze which sees the air quality index going up to PM 2.5. It is very bad as the haze is thick and it just lasts for weeks. This is due to the irresponsible farmers who still practice the slash and burn farming methods. We can only pray for the rain to come shower down and wash away the thick choking haze to help clear up the weather. God has been good as it rained a few days, and those days were good, and we gave thanks and enjoyed them.
We have also had much progressed with the roof repair and maintenance works, the main building’s roof has been replaced, electrical wires and new paint has all been done and now we are moving to the lower building over the dining room, kitchen, laundry area and all the internal rooms’ wiring, paint job and ceiling boards will be put in soon. It is so nice to see everything coming together, the children are all so excited to have a ‘new building’ and we are also looking forward to having it completed.
As most of the children are back in their villages with their family and relatives to spend their school holidays at home, our staff were able to get their own much needed breaks and had the time to do their own things and some even went to visit family and friends. Self-care is so important, as they have to take care of all our children daily, it is good that they rest and have time to themselves too. We all had a good week to rest, clean and just recharge. Once the staff returned, it was back to work as we had to welcome the new children for this year. This year we will have a handful of new children joining the YCF family, thank God for sending them to us and we are looking forward to getting to know them better. It was a busy period for us as we had to go fetch some of them from their respective villages as their villages were far away, remote, and hard to access without a vehicle. We spent much time on the road, but we are glad that they are now with us in YCF and starting to settle in well. We also had to settle all their schooling arrangements and administrative matters. The new children are still rather shy, it will take a while for them to adjust as most of them are still working on their Thai language and do not speak fluent Thai as they are used to speaking their ethnic hill tribe language back home in their villages. However, we are confident that in no time they will pick up the Thai language and will be well settled into YCF, their new schools and will make good friends here.
As May comes about, we are all getting ready for the new school year, in which we will know the initial weeks will be rather hectic, but we know that the Lord will see us through it. More updates to come regarding our new additions to YCF in the next update and we will share about the children’s schooling.
January & February 2023
A Great Start to the Year
So quickly the days past, it is already two months in of 2023. We started this year with many things that has been keeping us busy and on our feet. If you have been following us and reading our updates and prayer requests, you would have been aware that we have been seeking financial support for repairing and maintenance works on our main building. This is because over the years, wear and tear and unwelcomed guest- bats have infested the roof and hence has led to stains and foul odor seeping through the ceiling boards and the electrical wirings were also giving way. It was a big problem as it was unhygienic, and we did not want the children falling sick from the bats’ droppings and to prevent any unforeseen dangers related to the faulty wires etc. It was a big project to take on and the amount needed for the contractor, repair and maintenance works, resources like roof tiles and new wires were too much for us to finance on our own and so we have been praying that we would be able to find people to help fund it. Thank God for His providence, He has sent help and now we are able to start the repair and maintenance works. We are so blessed and would like to share this big thanksgiving with all of you, who have been praying alongside and have given to bless us in this project. So, these two months, we have been busy moving the things and looking into the children’s sleeping arrangements to prepare for the works to start. However, it is good as there are many of us and when we all come together to help pack and move things, it gets done faster. We cannot wait for the new tiles, ceiling boards, wires and all the cracks and holes to be filled in and for us to get a ‘new’ building as we utilize and are in the building most of our time.
On top of the repair and maintenance works, we have been busy at home ensuring that the children are on track with their studies as they will be sitting for their final examinations soon, during the last 2 weeks of March. We will have a few graduating students this year and we spent some time with them individually to sit down and chart out their future paths and to talk about it. The next thing to look forward to will be their graduation ceremonies and this year it will be back to physical graduation ceremony; the children are all so glad. Graduation is such an important time to celebrate and commemorate, precious memories as everyone prepare for a new season ahead and treasure the friendships and times spent together before setting out on different paths.
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November & December 2022
Ending on a Great Note
The last two months of 2022 were really packed months as we had to prepare for many big scale events and juggle between the children school time and free time to prepare and pack. Nonetheless we are very thankful for the smooth completion of the year with the Lord’s guidance and blessings over us.
In November, we were busy preparing for Christmas, and the children were privileged to be able to learn how to sing Christmas carols in English with a group of kind volunteers who gave their time to help teach and train our children in their singing. We are so glad that they have this opportunity to brush up on their singing skills as well as to boost their confidence. They sang so well, like angels and it was all thanks to our friends from Faith Lutheran Church. We appreciate all the singing lessons and the dedication and passion they had in training the children. We look forward to next year’s caroling. The older children were also tasked with a very important job of preparing for a Christmas program that we had at a refugee camp and village school in Mae Sot, Tak Province. They were very task oriented and gave many good ideas for the Christmas activities and games for the program and it was very nice seeing them come together to plan, prepare, and try out their activities together.
In the second week of December, a small group of us headed down to Mae Sot, Tak Province and carried out the Christmas program at the refugee camp and village school. It was such an eye opener for everyone, and we really counted our blessings seeing how they lived their lives so simply with just the basic amenities and how they delighted when they received a small token of our love – towels – as their Christmas presents. Their living conditions and the village schools was something that will always be etched in our minds. It was our blessing to be able to be a blessing to them during this festive period and to show them God’s love through our actions and short time together. We hope to be able to do so again soon. We thank God as it is because of Him, we had this opportunity and He help us get permission to enter the refugee camp and really opened doors for us during this trip. We also did a community outreach in Chiang Rai with the church we are working closely with to give out some food rations as blessings to the villagers during Christmas and to remind them that the best gift that they can receive is Jesus Christ which is a gift for all to receive. It was really heartening to see the smiles of the villagers who received the gifts, and we are glad that we can bless them in small ways.
We celebrated Christmas and New Year on the last day of 2022, with a simple celebration in our open field with good food, company, and worship to thank the Lord for all His goodness over us and seeing us through 2022. 2022 has been a year of many ups and downs, but one thing we know is that the Lord is with us always and He has always delivered us and sent us the help we need during that specific time. We are very thankful to all who have helped YCF this year and we cannot do our work without your help. Thank you for all the love for the children, for all the encouragement to the staff and for all the gifts and donations to YCF. We are so blessed, and we look forward to entering the new year with big hopes for the children and anticipate a great year ahead. We wish you and your loved ones a great new year ahead too! God bless and keep you in His love always.
September & October 2022
Gone Home
We have had such a cramped couple of months in September and October. Thank God for seeing us through as we have really been back-to-back with ensuring the children are well and ready to return to school as school just reopened this month and with the new variant of Covid still lingering. Some of our children were able to return to their respective villages during the school holidays. For those who did not go back, they stayed with us, and we had many activities lined up for them to keep them occupied. The children had singing practice, as they have been practicing hard for the upcoming Christmas where they will be singing lovely hymnals. We are so blessed to have kind and experienced volunteers who can guide and instruct the children in their singing practice. We are so proud of how well they can sing now, and their harmonizing is just music to the ears. Wait till Christmas and you will see how good they are at singing now. We also got loads of work done around the house, cleaning and farming, the children had to participate and were responsible for various tasks. We also got the chance to visit the Chiang Mai Municipality to learn about fire safety and it was such an eye opener and good learning journey for the children. They got to learn how to put out fires, don firemen hats, operate the long power hoses, operate fire extinguishers and even how to do an emergency evacuation. It is good for the children to be aware and know how to react should a fire arise or if they are faced with an emergency. We are very thankful that our community has such good learning experiences for the children.
The weather is starting to get cold, as the cold season is approaching. We have been to Chiang Rai often this month and even participated in a beautiful event of one of our graduated child’s weddings. We are happy and glad we could be part of their union and may God bless and keep them. We also took the time to head down to Tak Province where we obtained permission to visit a refugee camp in Mae Sod. We also went to a few of our children’s villages in Tak Province as it is good for us to do house visitations from time to time to touch base with the children’s families. It was such a good trip as we brought along our staff and it was such a big difference seeing how the living conditions in the refugee camp was, how run down and dirty their schools were as compared to the ones our children attend and to see the state of the villages there. Pray for us as we are planning to run some activities for the children in the refugee camps and the Karen village there this Christmas season. It will be a fantastic opportunity for our children to see how others live and to be a blessing to others.
We lost a precious friend this October, Khun Sarah Mclean. She has been such an angel and a big blessing to YCF ever since the day we met her. She has provided many opportunities such as card making, swimming lessons, provided us with many wonderful story books, summer jobs for the older children, Christmas parties and even had many of her friends come visit and gathered donations and raised funds for YCF. We grieve and we will miss her so much. All praise be to God for allowing us to meet and to be loved by her, we are so thankful for all she has done and will keep her in our hearts always. Thank you Khun Sarah for always welcoming us to your house, into your heart and being such a dear friend of YCF.
Rest peacefully in the arms of the Lord. We are sure you will be smiling down on us, just as how you always greets us with your beautiful smile.
31 August 2022
Joy in Blessing
We have been busy this rainy month of August. We would like to thank God for the rain as it pours down on our lands and flood our rice fields and as it also relives us from the heat. Our rice is growing well, and we are so glad to see the fields turn into a vast span of green.
Another thing to be thankful for was that in early August, a small group of us were invited by Bethesda Pasir Ris Church to visit their church in Singapore for mission month to share about YCF and what we do. It was such an eye opener, we brought two children – our oldest girl and boy and it was their first time ever flying out of Thailand and taking an airplane. They were so excited, and it was so lovely seeing how excited they were throughout the whole journey, and we were so blessed by the people we have met in Singapore. We were well taken care of and had such a great time touring Singapore, eating the local food, and fellowshipping with old and new friends. Thank God for such a great opportunity and for blessing us.
Back in Thailand, we have been doing our community project in Chiang Rai, which we go up two times a month to conduct lessons, play games and even teach the children there some life skills like cooking and cutting hair. It is such a good learning opportunity for our children to learn how to serve, teach and give back to others who are in need. Our children are very blessed in YCF, and it is important for them to learn the importance of being grateful and to know how to love others with God’s love. We are enjoying each time we get to run our community project and we hope to see the village children coming each time and to impart some valuable life skills to them whilst still having fun and enjoying each other’s company.
Thank God for everything in His perfect timing. We are so thankful for all your love and support for us at YCF and the work that we do.
31 July 2022
Growing Leaders of the future
We are proud to announce that we have another graduate in the house! Thank God for His goodness and providence in allowing us to see another one of our children through university. She has just graduated with a degree in Nursing. Each time one of our children graduates, be it from elementary or university, we can’t help but to give thanks because we know that without the Lord’s help, it would be impossible for us to see them through their education and for us to provide the means to help them attain the highest possible education. Each of our children have their own unique strengths and talents, we are humbled and privilege to journey and help them to our best to chart out their education route. Our end goal is for them to each have a good future, to get employed, be good citizens who will be independent and help contribute to the society to help others in need. We are immensely proud of their achievement and filled with great joy as we see how far they have come. So happy to see them pursuing their passion and we are always so excited to see them start their new chapters after graduation.
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The rainy season has started early this year, thankfully, we are prepared and have started on weeding, clearing, and preparing the rice fields since last month. Hence, we started our rice planting at our homes. It is always something we look forward to and we want all the children to part of the process and to learn this important life skill of planting rice. The children really enjoy being in the rice fields, we usually plant in the evenings as it is cooler, and the children can all be there to help and learn. Now we wait for more rain to fall and flood the rice fields for the rice to grow. Praying for a good harvest this year.
In the last week of the month, we had our community project camp in Chiang Rai, and it was nice to resume it after a period of break as our children had to settle back to going back to school and returning to school routines. We were happy to see everyone there well and healthy and as happy as they were to see us, we were also very glad. We have truly seen how the Lord works, He has been and is still working in the lives of our children. Our children are now more confident individuals and they have learnt to be bold and courageous to lead and facilitate the activities and guide the village children. We look forward to more of these community project camps and to raise more leaders amongst our children and to provide them the experience to grow and lead as they give back to other less fortunate than them in the community.
30 June 2022
Clearer Skies
It has been a whole month back in school and the children could not be happier. We are just happy to see them all happy and well. Nonetheless we still must keep vigilant and ensure we take care of ourselves as the Covid virus still lingers. It is juts so good that schools are open, and the children can all head back to school, to learn, play and interact with their friends and to meet with their teachers. It makes such a difference, and we can see it so clearly in their eagerness to go to school and returning home with many stories.
As we got used to the whole school routine, it was nice that the children had the opportunity to go swimming, their favorite activity, at Jasmine Hill. Thank you for having and hosting us. Anytime they can go to a pool, you will see them all getting so excited and when they are in the pool, it is always a hard time getting them out. We have also been getting the fields ready for rice planting as the rains are coming earlier than usual this year as we have had many rainy days already…even before the rainy season hits. But all thanks to God for blessing us with the rains, it is good. Good for us, good for the rice fields and the garden as well. So, we have been getting the children to help prepare for rice planting season, every day when they return from school, we get them to tend and weed the fields. It is always a nice time to just unwind and get themselves ready before dinner and schoolwork time. Our children love being together, working in the fields and just sharing little conversations and laughs with one another. Many hands help to get the work done faster.
Just a week back, our high school students had to stay home and study online as their school was closed, due to some teachers and students testing positive for Covid. As part of the school’s measures to manage the widespread of the virus, they decided to stop and close school for a week and have all the students stay home and to do online learning. We are still hopeful that things will get better, we also want to see our children happy and healthy. Please continue to pray for Thailand and for all of us here in YCF. We also pray every morning and night during our devotion time for the world to heal and for Covid to be cleared and for things to get better in time.
Onwards to the next half of the year, we are glad to see things getting better. Borders are opening, people are also more aware and know the importance of taking care of themselves and being more socially responsible. We are looking forward and ahead, we know God will continue to lead us and bless us. We are working hard to prepare the fields and we cannot wait till rice planting season hits; it will be our annually thing of rice planting together as YCF family and it is always so much fun. Hopeful as we step into the second half of the year.
31 May 2022
Back to the flow of things
We had such a good break in April, resting and enjoying the school vacation. Getting back into gear for both the children and the staff was not difficult as the children were all anticipating the day they could return to school and no longer do online learning. Likewise for the staff, it makes work easier as they can be busy with their respective work and not have to take turns to sit with the children or deal with the hassle of online learning (technical difficulties, arranging for the devices for the children’s use, etc.). So, it is a win-win situation, one that we are most pleased about. On top of that, some of our middle and high school children will be entering a new school this school year, this is because this new school offers a better subject combination arrangement and a bigger and nicer campus for the children to flourish in. The children were most excited, and, on the day, they finally could head back to school, we could hear their cries of excitement and all the buzz about meeting their teachers and friends.
This month, it was also quite a wet yet hot month. The weather has been off, of late, strangely different from the usual. Thankfully for us, we are not in danger of flooding at where we at as the rice fields help to absorb all the rainwater and it is also good for the rice and crops in the fields. Nonetheless, we will not let the bad weather stop us from doing what we need to do. We continued with our social project – where we send a group of our children up to Chiang Rai over the weekends to run day camps for the children in the village. Our children will oversee planning and preparing for the activities, games and we even do some baking/cooking activities to teach the children. It has been very well received for both sides, the village children who we know look forward to the weekends we run the camps, we see how our children have grown in their self-confidence. Our children have stepped out of their comfort zones and now without having to continuously encourage or affirm, they are able to boldly take center stage and hold the fort down. We are beyond proud. Thank God for His blessings and grace over us all.
As the busyness of school seeps in again, we are very thankful for all that we have and all that we have been through. We share in the children’s joy of being able to return to school physically and we continue to pray that they will all stay safe and well in school. The schools still are sticking to the Covid19 measures of having the children all wear masks in school and encouraging Antigen Rapid Testing for those who are unwell and also instilling the need to self-isolate or stay home to quarantine if one is found to be positive to displaying the symptoms. Slowly as we ease back to the times before Covid, we are also aware that much has changed, so we will go about it day by day and be glad for the current moment.
30 April 2022
Down by the beach
It has been such a wonderful month and one to be much grateful and thankful for. First of all, all of us – children and staff have all recovered fully from the Covid virus and we are super thankful to God for seeing us through despite it being so challenging to manage all the quarantine arrangements and having to worry about the children who were not feeling well with flu like symptoms and some who had fever. Nonetheless, God is healer, and His hands of healing were over us through out the whole ordeal and He never left us without help. Thank you once again to all who shared in our concern, supporting us in various ways and ensuring that we had ample food or hands to help care for those who were affected.
That said, it was with much anticipated joy and excitement that our beach trip to Hua Hin was made possible as everyone was much better and had recovered, so we need not stay home or had to leave anyone behind. We were also supported by a few YCF friends who made this trip possible as we needed funding for the trip’s accommodation, transportation, food and miscellaneous expenses. Through much prayer and faith, we saw how the Lord provided for us in funding and we marvel at His greatness and know that in all things we can look to him as He never fails to provide in ways we can never imagine. Praise be to Him and thanks to all who helped chipped in to make this trip possible. It has been an overdue trip to the beach due to Covid the past 2 years. You could only imagine how special this trip was, the children were so elated and extremely elated to know that we could make the trip happen. Many of the children, especially those who joined us in the last two years, it was their first time ever going to the beach as they hail from the highland mountains’ villages. It never fails to amuse us whenever these children get to see the seaside, soak their feet or rather whole-body swimming and splashing in the sea, tasting the salty sea water and enjoying all the sea creatures and of course seafood!
This trip, it was also a bible camp for our children which was conducted by some of our YCF friends/volunteers who we are so very thankful and blessed to have in our community to support us as we love and care for our children. They worked hard alongside our staff to plan the bible study, games and all other activities for the children. We also had a lovely place to call home during our days at the beach, we even had a kitchen where we could cook and prepare meals and a nice big dinning space where we all could come together to eat and share our meals. After our bible camp, the children and staff had time to chill and play. We were so blessed to be situated just right to the beach and they could just change and pop down to play ball games, dig in the sand, catch fish and just swim and splash as much as they wanted to. It was lovely being away, a different environment for a while to just dwell in the goodness of the Lord, to catch sunrises and to enjoy the sunset and to be together as a family making memories and enjoying each other’s company. We also carried out our baptism service and had our youths who stepped forward for their outward expression of their inward faith. It was a beautiful morning, and we sang many worship songs and gave thanks for them declaring their faith. Thank God for keeping us all safe and well throughout the time at the beach. We are so refreshed and of course happy to be able to make this trip possible.
No one wanted to say goodbye to the beach and leave Hua Hin for home, but as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end, we had to pack and head back but were all so glad and thankful for the time vacationing and also catching up in our walk with the Lord. The ride home was long, 13 hours drive back, and the children were all able to catch up on their sleep as every day at the beach all they wanted to do was wake up early to do their activities and play, play and play! Who would not?
A few days after we got home, unpacked all the things and rested, we went up to Chiang Rai to run a Community Outreach Camp for 2 days in a village where our older children were in charge of running the camp and planned all the activities with some of our YCF Volunteers. The main activities were teaching English and also teaching the village children how to make some desserts and treats. It also makes us so proud to see our children taking charge and leading others and helping by serving the local community. We cannot emphasize enough the importance of giving back by blessing others as we have been so blessed. God calls us to love and this is how we want to see our children loving others and being a blessing. We are so grateful for the opportunity to run this camp and to meet with the villagers, it is always such a joy. Our children got to take back many fond memories through their own lived experience and we hope it also reminds them of how blessed they are and to know always their capabilities to serve, help and love others who are of much need as compared to them. The camp ran well, and everyone had such a good time and we look forward to the next one in the near future.
As May arrives, we are soaking in all the school vacation days that are left. We may be getting some new children as we prepare for the new school year. Please keep us in your prayers, as we are seeing some big changes in the children’s schooling – we have moved some high school children to another school as this school has a better quality of education and we hope it will help our children achieve their best learning potential and enhance their school experience for better future prospects. As excited as we are for them, we know the children are also very excited. So we seek your prayer with us on this matter. May the Lord continue to provide us with the wisdom, strength as we move along the year. Thank you for being with us in all seasons of YCF.
31 March 2022
Unity in adversity
It is the shared recognition of the abundance of God’s blessings coming down to us that truly unites people.
"The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
- Deuteronomy 31:8
It has been such an exhausting, stressful and challenging month for us at YCF. We would like to firstly thank all who have been keeping and supporting us in prayer. We are truly so blessed and thankful for all the love we have received.
This month, we were faced with the worst situation we could imagine, something we have been trying our best to avoid since the pandemic started. However, we are very glad that the Lord has seen us through the ordeal, and He has seen us through and walked with us throughout the whole journey. We have always been very thankful that our home and the children under our care had not contracted the Covid virus but this month we were greatly affected as almost all the children along with some staff and adults got the virus. We are not exactly sure how the children got affected as they have been kept home from school and only went to school to sit for their final examinations and went out to get their vaccinations. It started with one child showing symptoms and then as we saw more children displaying flu like symptoms we got concerned. We immediately scheduled for everyone to get tested and thankfully we were able to secure the help of the district health care services to come in to conduct the tests for us. To our horror, so many children were tested positive and the next thing we dived our heads into were to sort out isolation and quarantine arrangements. We had to keep those who were still negative safe and well away from the positive ones. It was much to handle, we were shorthanded, and the children had to be cared for even more as some were really with bad symptoms and they had to be fed, given their medicine on time, checked on and to ensure everyone else was well. Those weeks were rough but thankfully we have emerged from that darkness and now we can stand in the light, as our children have all recovered and no one is testing positive anymore.
It was indeed a down time for us this month, struggling to care for each other as we all fell one by one to the virus. Nonetheless, with community and God, we pulled through. Due to the pandemic, the children’s final examinations were also greatly disrupted and so some had only sat for a few papers while some had completed all. It is such strange and confusing times. To us it was still important that we spoke to our older children, those who were graduating or moving on to choosing and deciding on their majors or subject combinations in high school, so we found time to sit them down for talks to check in and advise them. With all that is going on, all graduation ceremonies were ceased hence we were not able to celebrate with this graduating batch of children as how we usually do, by bringing the whole YCF family down to witness them receive their graduation certificates and to take lots of photos with them. It is okay as we know this will help to ease the curb of daily infections and we all want the situation to get better and so we will do our part. We have also just recovered from such a crazy month and so the wise decision was to take things slow and to ease by to life.
We pray and we know that April will be an even better month, we have emerged from this covid experience even stronger and we know that we are blessed to have each other to care for one another and we look to Jesus to continue to pave and lead the way for us.
28 February 2022
Emerging stronger because we are together
This short month has kept us on our toes, the Omicron virus has highly transmittable as it is has proven itself to be worldwide really put us to the test when we had a child who caught the virus from school and tested positive. It was nerve wrecking and stressful for the management team as we had to ensure that our other children were safe, and we had to prevent any potential spread. As we have many children staying together in one common place and we do most activities together it was really a head scratching time for us as we scrambled to find ways to help the child who was tested positive and to also monitor the other children.
Thankfully, we were blessed by receiving help from the social healthcare system as they sent in teams to help conduct the Antigen Test Kits for free to test all our children and staff. We would not have been able to afford to pay for the tests without their help and it was most necessary as we had to make sure that everyone else was well and if any of the other children contracted it, we would quarantine the child immediately to prevent the spread. We wore masks at home, ensured that the children maintained good personal hygiene and that they were socially spaced out during meal time, church services, home based learning and whenever they were doing any activities.
We also made the decision to keep the children at home from school as we are very afraid of them catching the virus. It is sad that not all schools are able to manage the situation and so the children in school have been contracting the virus from one another. We did not want to risk it and so it was after much consideration that we kept them home, even though their examinations are coming up, but we told them that they had to be responsible and hardworking to revise for their examinations. Our child who tested positive was sent to a quarantine facility and was well taken care of there until the PCR test came back negative. Thank God for His goodness in watching over us, it was a difficult time, and we were rather shaken, however, the Lord is good and He delivered us.
On a happier and lighter note, this month we celebrated the graduation of another one of our older children who graduated with his degree in Accounting. We are so proud of him and his achievement. He has currently found employment in Bangkok and has started work. Thank God that we were able to join him during his graduation ceremony at his university and we could bring some of the older children along to add to the cheer and celebration. Each time one of our children graduates, we cannot help but be filled with so much pride and joy. It is truly because of the Lord’s providence, the hard work of our YCF staff and generous sponsors who make it all possible for such achievements.
The countdown to the end of the school year has started, our children have been preparing for their examinations. Some have already sat for their papers and have a few more to sit for. Please keep them all in prayer, it is something different from previous times, but we have no choice but to embrace the new normal and to work around or some would say work with it. The children are excited for their school vacation. We hope to make a trip to the beach in Hua Hin and bring all the children.
If you would like to find out more about the trip to the beach or donate to the trip, please reach out to us at youthcharityfoundationthailand@gmail.com .
It is always good to have a getaway, especially so as in the last year, the children have all been cooped up at home and we feel that it would be good if we could head out for a short trip. The new children have not been to the sea, as many of them are from the mountains and have seen the sea before, so they are even more excited. We hope we will be able to raise sufficient funds and take the whole gang to the beach. We are excited and we are also happy to be entering into the third month of the year. Stay safe and take care everyone, God bless.
"For the LORD is good; His loving kindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations."
Psalm 100:5
31January 2022
Taking comfort in His covering
We started the first month of the year with good news that schools were reopening and our children were able to return back to school physically. Everyone was so excited with the news and the children could not wait to say goodbye to home based online learning and were all so eager to go back to their respective schools to meet with their teachers and peers. We know that it is still risky as the exposure to others will be something beyond our control and so we reminded our children about the importance of staying safe and vigilant at all times by keeping their masks on, practice safe distancing and to take care of their personal hygiene.
It has still been quite chilly on some days and we have been encouraging the children to soak up as much sun as they can and have been keeping them occupied with activities such as helping to catch the fish out from the rice fields, which the boys love and enjoy every second of and the girls have been of great help cleaning up and helping with the cooking.
January passed by too fast, every day just went in a blink of an eye. We have been trying to get back into the routine of things despite being interrupted by changes from time to time. In the last week of the month, we have been facing a few Covid19 Omicron strain scares as some of the middle school children's peers had contracted the virus and their school informed us of the positive cases. To be honest, it has been stressful, worrying about the children, worrying about the virus and just being so helpless in this situation. We have however, been fortunate to be blessed by good friends and volunteers who have been helping the children with the Antigen Rapid Testing and they have been so gracious with their time to come down to help teach and administer the ART or here in Thailand we use the term 'ATK' - Antigen Testing Kit. Most of the children were frightened just at the thought of having a long swab stick poked into their noses and were unsure of the whole procedure, but with the encouragement of their friends and the gentle hands who helped administered the test made it bearable.
Please pray alongside us, we are not sure now if or how many children may have caught the virus. We are also stressed knowing that there may be a few of them who may be affected and of course we do not want to risk the others to the exposure. Pray for the staff team as we manage the situation now and for the Lord's strength, covering and grace over us. All we can do now is to put our trust into the Lord and know that He will hold us and see us through. We want all our children to be healthy and well and we will do our best to continue to care for them despite this curveball thrown at us. Together we are strong and with the Lord we are stronger and will come out of this challenging and stressful period.
31 December 2021
Ending off on a good note
Season Greetings ~
December has been a month full of so much hope and faith in action. After 11 months of a every changing-challenging-crazy year for us, we have really experienced the Lord’s love for us each and every step of the way. We could not have asked for a better way to sum up 2021 and to usher in 2022. We have become more resilient, we have learnt to be more patient and loving to each other as we had more time together at home – not just living but also having to study home based learning for almost three quarter of the year. God is good, He never left us in despair yet He came to comfort and provide for all of us at YCF. We are very blessed and extremely grateful for all the love and support we have received. We can only do what we do because of God and the generous and kind people He brings along our way to fuel us with all their kind thoughts, actions and great help in various forms.
We started the month off with a trip to Ubon Ratchathani, we drove about 13 hours to get there – to a village school where we conducted a ‘Fun English Camp’ for the students. Though it was short, it left such a great impact on our older children who went to conduct the camp on their own and we were all so impressed and immensely proud of how they have grown to be such independent and good leader as we watched them lead the students and as they each took charge of their own activities. As our children have the opportunity to learn English in their schools, it was a good opportunity for them to impart their knowledge for the language to the younger children in the village school. With the help of our YCF staff and some YCF friends, they helped our children to plan and prepare for their English lessons and games. We thank God for seeing us through and for allowing our children to be a blessing to others. It was so nice to see everyone enjoying the camp. We even had some time to squeeze in some sightseeing on our way back home and our children had a good time exploring and being ‘tourists’, a well-deserved break and reward for their hard work.
When we returned home from the camp, the children had to go back to school. Our primary school students had home based learning while some of the older children who are fully vaccinated returned back to school. They were elated as it meant that they could meet with their friends and teachers again. It was also time for us to prepare for our annual Christmas party and our staff were all busy getting the children ready with their performances and getting them to practice. Our children love the month of December, they love Christmas and always get excited as the day draws near. This year we had our Christmas party on 30 December and it was nice simple celebration with some YCF friends who came to attend it, we shared a delicious homemade meal, the children sang and danced and did so well with each of their song/dance presentation and we also had a lovely worship and bible sharing that night. For New Year, we brought the older children up to Chiang Rai and we welcomed the New Year there.
2022, we are happy that it is a New Year. We are hopeful that things will get better. We keep praying and we know that God is working. Our desire is for all our children to grow well, physically, mentally and most importantly, spiritually. We are very blessed to have each one of them under our care and we love how special they each are. For 2022, we will continue to do our best to provide and care for them with the best we can and continue to help shape them to be better people who will grow up to help others. Thank you for journeying with us throughout, it means a lot to us. Let us continue in this New Year together, thank God for everything.
30 November 2021
Things are looking up
Our Hope Comes from Him
- Psalm 62:5
The cold season has fallen upon us and we are thankful for the cool breeze in the early mornings and at night but also thankful for the sun’s warmth during the day. We finally got to dry out the rice grains that we harvested from our rice fields, the rainy season this year was prolonged and hence, we could not dry out the rice grains after thrashing them as they would get wet and damp each time the rain pelted down. However, that is all done, thank God!
School has also started for the children this month, on the very first day of the month, our children returned back to school…yes, all lessons are still conducted online. This is because the current Covid19 situation still possess a danger as there still a handful of daily cases and so, the Thai government has decided that the school will reopen but all lessons will have to be conducted online until further notice. We have gotten better managing the children with their online home based learning. We thank God for all the support we have received during this time. To all who have donated funds for us to purchase new laptops and for all who have donated second hand laptops which are still in mint working conditions, a big thank you for all your kind and generous thoughts to help assist us in ensuring we are well equipped for each child to access their education platforms and for the learning to not cease or be disrupted. We are very thankful and feel very blessed. On another note of thanksgiving, all of our big (middle-high school, university/vocational) children are fully vaccinated.
This month, we also had more interactions with some YCF international friends who came to visit. Some came to run some programs for the children and some came by to visit us. Thank you for all the thoughts and love you have for YCF, we appreciate it so much. It also encourages us greatly to see how people want to be involved in helping us as we care for the children and to provide the best for them. The children are also very happy each time we get visitors and we can really feel all the love from each of you near and far. Earlier this year, we went to Mae Hon Song where we brought some children who hails from the village there to bring them home to visit their families. It was so heartening to see the children reunite with their families even if it was for a few days. It is very important that our children still keep in touch with their families and we always emphasize the importance of staying close, keeping their families in prayers and for them to do well in order to help their families and the society. We love such village visitations and it always brings us so much joy in seeing how their family members are so happy to see them do well.
We are setting off for a trip to Ubon Ratchathani and will be there for a week as our older children will be running an English Camp in view of Christmas with a group of school-going village children. We will also be sharing the Christmas gospel with them and be running camp activities, games, worship and visitations during our time there. Everyone is very excited as we hardly travel to Ubon Ratchathani. Please keep the team in your prayers as we head off driving there and as we execute the camp. We want our children to be able to give back and pay it forward as they have been so blessed in so many ways. This is a great opportunity for them to harness their leadership and teamwork skills. With this experience and opportunity we hope that they will grow and realize that they are very capable and talented. More photos to come in the next month’s updates, we can’t wait to share them with you. Please pray for us, for God’s protection, safety and for a great time with the people we will be meeting in Ubon Ratchathani.
31 October 2021
Ready , Set, Go!
It is unbelievable how the year is almost ending! This month went by so quickly, just like the rains that it brought along with it. The children have been home this whole month and even as school starts tomorrow (1 November) – they will still have to be home as even though the new school semester begins, they will all still have to learn online as schools are not physically open yet for them to return. We are glad that they will start the new school semester but we also know how challenging it will be for them and also for the staff as they have to attend online lesson, submit all their assignments online and have to manage their time well and to be extra disciplined in their learning. We hope that you will keep us in your prayers, for extra strength for all the staff as they will have to continue to watch over the children as they learn online and for the children to be focused and for them to be responsible for their own learning. Likewise we also pray that the internet connectivity at home will be good and stable, for the devices that we have to be used and shared well by the children and most importantly for the children to continue to be harmonious as they continue to be in each other presence and company 24/7.
We have three main thanksgiving to share and give thanks this month. First up, kudos to our older children for being brave as they all went to get their first dose of their vaccination. They went with their schools and we are glad that they were all well after the first dose, some were a little more tired but the day after their vaccination they all just stayed home and rested. Due to the rise in the cases, we also felt that it was about time that the older children who qualified to get the vaccination should go and get it. So thank God for their schools who helped to arranged it and it was also nice that the children had each other for moral support. Second thanksgiving item is for our harvest of the rice this year. A few months back we started planting rice as the rainy seasons was approaching and this month we have started harvesting some plots. Thank God for his grace and protection over the rice crops, we are harvesting a little by little as some days are still wet. This is because after we harvest the rice crops, we need to dry them out under the sun before we can thrash them and store them. So after we pray for the rains (for the rice planting season) we will pray for the sun (as we harvest and dry the rice grains). More on the harvest in the coming month, so stay tuned. Last but not least…the children went out for a swim! This was the highlight for them as they have been cooped up at home for the last few months and so when the opportunity came for them to head out for a swim, they were all so excited and extremely happy. We are so blessed to be able to get the chance to take the children out for a swim and just out of the house – safely that is, as we got them to mask up and also briefed them about staying safe and maintaining good healthy personal hygiene. We want to thank Pastor Iain and Centre of the Universe for allowing our children to go swimming.
As we enter the last two months of the year, we are still very hopeful that the Covid19 pandemic will get better, we pray for all our YCF friends and we miss everyone as it has been almost 2 years since we last had international friends come visit. Continue to stay strong and always look to Jesus. We will get through the hard times together and we are very sure that we will get through it. We are excited for school to start tomorrow, as the weather gets cooler and as Christmas is fast approaching, and we are glad we have you to journey with us even though we may not be physically together but always in heart and mind.
30 September 2021
Grace Given
"Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness."
2 Corinthians 9:10
This month we are extremely thankful for all that has been given to us in the form of monetary support to purchase more laptops for the children to use for their home based online learning and for the love and prayers that we have received during this challenging times to spur us on. We have been given so much by everyone’s thoughts and support in various forms and we want to thank you for that. We are super appreciative as we know that God has sent each of you to help us get through this tough time. Words of encouragements and frequent check-ins has really brighten our days and lifted up our mood. Thank you everyone for your constant support, love, generosity and most important we thank God for each of you.
We have survived another month of home based online learning for the children, it is really by God’s grace that we can get through each day. Our staff are very tired but they take much pride and joy in seeing our children learn well and putting good use of their time learning online at home. We are soldiering on, clinging on to the Lord’s extra providence of strength, patience and energy. The children are all doing well, they have been getting use to learning online daily. However, we are still awaiting for good news to hear that schools will be able to resume soon and that they will be able to return back to school. As of now, we are still awaiting updates so, in the meantime, the children will continue with their home based online learning. We will press on and continue to watch and guide them along to the best we can. Please keep us all in your prayers.
Last Sunday we had our Thanksgiving service at Youth Charity Foundation – House of Hope in our open field. We want to thank God for blessing us with a lovely weather that morning through the afternoon. It was a lovely time spent with some YCF friends who came to join in the Thanksgiving service for worship, sermon and sharing and for a scrumptious home cooked lunch to wrap up the Thanksgiving service. The Thanksgiving service was to give God thanks for the harvest this year of our crops we planted, for his constant providence and fulfilling our every need in His perfect time. Even though this year has not been an easy year with many ups and downs due to the Covid pandemic, we are still very glad that we are so blessed and we give thanks for every little thing from the rice seeds to the fruits on our trees, for as high as the heavens above, great is our Father’s love for us. Even as we enter the last few months of the year, we want to remember all these little goodness even in dark days, we can still confidently say we see the light. This is because Jesus is our light and He shines and guides our every step. Amen.
31 August 2021
E-learning
It has been a full month of home based online learning for our children. It has been challenging and very exhausting for the staff but we soldiered on knowing that God is our strength and with the intentions of seeing our children learn despite being home with the limited laptops. We had to stick to the schedule of the arrangements for the laptops to be used according to the children’s lesson time and online assignment timings. There were times that the children logged in late for their lessons and times we had no choice but to miss some lessons as there just was not ample devices for the children. There are 16 classes among them and we only have about 10 working laptops currently. We also had to be very creative in the distribution of space – for the children to be in their respective assigned places that were conducive for learning, away from the other ongoing classes. Some found themselves under the big Jambu tree, while some others found themselves in the middle of our stairs landing. Despite the limitations we are still very thankful that we have devices to be used, Wi-Fi for the online lessons and for a team of staff who are so dedicated to watching over the children and ensure they are learning well and to assist should there be any technical difficulties.
This month has gone by in a blink of an eye, we have been so preoccupied with the children’s home based online learning. I guess you can say that we are all starting to get use to this new normal of online learning from home and staying in most of the time. We still encourage our children to stay active and to keep up with their exercises and allow for them to play their sports at home in our field. It is good they have each other to play together. We are also very grateful for our committed group of YCF volunteers who are located here in Thailand who have given so much of their precious time to come in to teach and tutor our children, from Mathematics to English lesson, they have been so gracious with their time and have imparted so much knowledge to our children in their fun and creative lessons that the children look forward to. We would not be able to keep the children so well-occupied and through their meaningful interactions, we have seen the progress in the children.
The rains have started falling and we are still praying for the current Covid situation in Thailand to brighten up. We are hopeful that we will be able to send the children back to school where they can learn most effectively and where they are happy to be with all their peers and teacher. We also ask that you pray with us for Thailand, for her people and for the Covid virus to cease its rapid spread and for all those who have been badly affected by the virus to be able to pick up and get back on their feet again. God is good and we know He is near, He has blessed us greatly with many people’s love, thoughts and prayers. Thank you, we feel it and we want to acknowledge all your generous hearts. Better days are to come, and we know that God will see us through whatever that may come our way. Stay strong everyone, we here, are staying strong and pressing on!
31 July 2021
Together we are stronger
We entered the month of July with sad news as Thailand has been hit badly by the contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus. This is the worst wave that our country has faced and the daily number of Covid10 infection cases has been in the thousands. This month, Bangkok along with nine province went into lockdown that started on 12 July and educational institutes across the country were required to conduct online classes only as schools had to be closed. In our province we also have a bulk of cases and various clusters and we have also curfews set in place to ensure that people are not roaming the streets at certain timings. We have all be shaken by the news of the rising daily numbers of infections and are deeply saddened, but we have been keeping our spirits high and our hopes up.
The children were sad when they heard the news of having to stay home for online classes and to hear that schools had to be closed once again. It has been officially announced that schools will be closed till the end of August. However, we explained to them that this was the best for everyone as the country has to control and contain the spread of the coronavirus as there were just too many clusters and daily infections. Our children took it well and understood why they had to stay home and attend school from home even though they would much rather attend school physically. We organized the children in their age groups as we had to set up the devices for them to do their online lessons at home and ensure that a staff was on duty to watch over them each time. We are looking and praying to get more laptop devices as we still do not have enough for each child to use for their online lessons or for them to do their online assignments. If you have any old but still in good condition laptops to donate or would like to purchase new ones for the children, please get in touch with us and we will gladly take in the devices.
We also want to thank God that during this time, it is when we would prepare for the rice planting season as the rains will be coming soon (in August) and we have to now prepare the land by tilling it and transferring the rice sprouts into them before the rain falls and floods the field. It is good that the children are all home, they would be occupied with their online classes in the day and in the evenings we would get them to go into the fields to help with rice planting and this was good as it kept them busy and they gathered rich experiences from learning and working the fields and of course great fun as they worked together, sharing play time in the shallow waters, mini mud fights and sharing much laughter and conversations. Even in down and dull times like these, we choose to see and seek out the Lord’s goodness and we are holding fast onto the Lord’s deliverance and promises.
For this month’s thanksgivings, we want to thank the Lord for a community of people who not only helps YCF, but also loves us and supports the work at YCF. We want to thank them for their time to come and help us with the children, be it teaching them or helping to come up with fun and enriching activities to sharing the Lord’s word with us on Sundays and to help facilitate bible study lessons for the children. We are blessed to have your support and we want to acknowledge your heart and hard work. Early this month we were able to carry out our thanksgivings service for the new house at House of Grace, to thank God for His guidance and providence to ensure we have a new house that serves as the staff living quarters as well as a library for our children. We also want to thank God for blessing one of our big girl who graduated from a certificate course in dental assistance and for landing a job. She has managed to get a job in a university dental clinic and we are beyond thankful for the Lord’s providence. We pray that she will seize this opportunity to work hard to learn as much as she can. Another thanksgiving is that our girl who is entering university this year has settled into her new campus and is currently undergoing 2 weeks of quarantine. We sent her off and we were so proud to see her donning her new university uniform. God is very gracious to us, He blesses us with many things and we are very glad to be able to share our blessings with others and this month we did so in the form of helping a village in Chiang Rai near a church we often attend when we are there. We gave out some education funds to the local village children, their parents were so appreciative and we could see that the children were all so thankful for the little help we could offer. It is because of God’s love, He first loved us so we can love others.
30 June 2021
We will get through the storm
Despite all that has changed and all the usual activities and routines that has been disrupted by the virus, we have made it through half of the year and we have none other than God to thank for leading and paving the way for us. The current Covid situation in Thailand is not the best, we have been hit with the third wave of the virus with a new variant and it has been rapidly spreading across the country with the main bulk of the cases in Bangkok, our capital city. With that said, the other cities in Thailand have also been affected and we are on high alert everywhere, taking extra precautions, mini lockdowns and taking on a heightened sense of social responsibility by wearing masks out, staying at home as much as possible, practicing social distancing and ensuring good personal hygiene. We need to continue to fervently pray for the situation to get better and for the Lord’s covering over us, over the world as this virus seems to be returning in different variant strains and is quicker to spread and harder to detect the symptoms for. Our children have been diligent in their prayers and are praying daily for the virus to make its disappearance from the world and for all our YCF friends across the globe to be safe and well so that the borders will open once again for them to come visit and meet again.
On a better note, school has reopened for most of our children allowing them to return to school on a full term basis, the exception being a handful of high school students who are still straddling a 50/50 home based online learning and in school physical lessons. The children were over the moon to know that schools were reopening and starting the new school year, especially the children who graduated from grade school or middle school and were to start studying in their new schools. Excitement filled the air on the morning of the first day of school. The children were up early, back to their school day routine where they are up at 5.30am to do their morning devotion and then after their respective chores and once that is done they go shower and get changed and ready for school and have breakfast together before setting off to school. We took our annual ‘Day 1 of School’ photos of each child to document their growth as well as a form of memory to keep in the years to come…they grow up so quickly! The photo spot remains the same each year, just in front of our rustic greyish blue window and each year we see how tall they grow, just measuring their height against the window behind. It’s a little thing enjoy doing, reminiscing and sharing laughters on their growth and how they look more ‘grown up’ now as compared to their cute tiny faces in the past. Did we mention we have 11 new additions to YCF this year? Yes, 11 new children who are so unique in their own special ways. Thank God for sending them to us to allow us to help care, guide and nurture these lives while they are under our care and to give them an education which will benefit their futures. We are excited to get to know them each better and to see them grow well and get along with their new friends in YCF and we can only thank God and the sponsors for making this possible for us to take in these children to help and love them.
If you have been frequently reading our updates, you would know that in the month of June, we will annually kick off the growing rice project as the rainy seasons are just ahead (August) and we start preparing our fields to start growing rice. This is our year in year out activity that we delight in, it teaches the children so much…from being appreciative of the rice they eat to imparting life skills of growing/harvesting rice processes that they may put to use in the future. Of course, there are so many pockets of fun that they share within the whole process, which makes planting rice something that the children look forward too. Now, we have started on the first round of tossing the seeds into the fields which has been ploughed and we will transfer the rice seedling once it has sprouted, stay tune to see the entire process take place.
Lastly, in this month we had to say goodbye to a long time good friend of YCF. He succumbed to his sickness despite fighting a good fight. We type this with a heavy heart as we will dearly miss him. Khun William H Moeller, we want to thank you for loving us through the seasons, for helping us through the years and most importantly for being a real good friend through the days since we first knew you. May you look down upon us in heaven and smile each time you see us, likewise we will hold you close at heart and remember all the times we shared. We are thankful that we managed to say our goodbyes and to send you off with our hearts full of the love you have given to each one of us. We honour and we thank you.
31 May 2021
Every day a good day
This is the time of the year that we have new additions to YCF and when the children get all excited to head back to school after their long school vacation and when things around the home start easing back to our normal daily routines. However, with the spike in the number of cases this month in Thailand, the reopening of school has been delayed to the month of June as measures has been in place to stem the Covid19 outbreak to help improve the situation. Even with this piece of news, we have been happily welcoming some new additions to the YCF family despite these uncertain times. The Lord has been so good to us and He has been watching and protecting the YCF family. We are very pleased to have new additions to the YCF family and are excited to get to know them better and to love and journey with them during their time in YCF.
Out of the many other things we are so grateful and thankful for this month are especially for the people that God has sent to bless YCF. As this month, we had to stay away from crowds and to minimise exposure by heading out or bringing the children anywhere where they may be exposed we had to keep them well engaged in the comforts of our homes. Thankfully, with the help of technology the children were able to do their online learning as they had school lessons and assignments to do during their time at home as they are unable to head back physically to school in the time being. Aside from that, we have had Teacher Jean and Khun Toto so generously coming to teach our children English and Maths during their spare time. It was nice to have lessons conducted at home and it is so good that are children are constantly learning despite this unfortunate Covid19 situation that has badly affected so many people. We love seeing them constantly learning and expanding their knowledge and we are so blessed with people who are well equipped and experienced to help us do so.
Besides work, as the famous saying goes, “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” and as we are firm believers that through play, our children learns best as they gain experiences and nurtures how they make sense of the world, we also had days that the children had lots of fun. One of the days this month was when the children was sent for a little mission, they had to go collect mangos from trees that were full of tangy yellow mangos. As late March through July is the mango season in Thailand, we decided to head to a field filled with mango trees that belonged to a friend of YCF to collect mangos for our consumption and it is no secret that our children are big lovers of food and of course…mangos! They can eat it ripe, unripe and are great at climbing up the trees to get the fruit. It was a lovely day out and everyone has so much fun, it was fun collecting the mango, seeing how much we gathered, washing the mangos and of course eating and preparing some treats using the mangos. We also had a blast going swimming this month at a friend of YCF house that is nearby, he is always so hospitable and knowing that the children loves swimming, he opened his home for them to take a dip. It was so refreshing and lots of fun as everyone splashed around in the cool waters that allowed them to forget about the crazy heat. Apart from the outdoor fun, we also had activities like paper cutting, singing and helping with the chores around the homes.
A big thanksgiving this month that we want to share about is regarding one of our older girls who recently was successfully enrolled into university. We are so proud of her and we are excited for her as she embarks on her new chapter in life and further her education in university. We thank God for the support we have received for her and are truly glad that it has all come to be and she is well on her way to start her university experience.
As June rolls in, we are hopeful for the Covid19 situation to get better and for the children to be able to return back to school. They have been looking forward for school to start and are praying that the situation gets better and for the number of daily cases to decrease. We are all well and thankful for the Lord’s blessings over us daily, we know that in these uncertain days, we have to only look to Jesus and for Him to lead us in His ways. We hope that you and your loved ones are keeping safe and taking care. Our prayers are with you and we hope that you too will keep us in your prayers.
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30 April 2021
Restore Us
The first quarter of the year has passed and we have been really blessed with the Lord’s protection over us all at YCF. The children have just ended a school year and are now enjoying their school vacation even as the nation has been hit with the third wave of Covid19 and there has been a spike in daily cases. We have been very careful and cautious in order to prevent our children and staff from any exposure. Their safety is our outmost concern as we want to ensure that everyone is safe and well. We have restricted movement to minimize any exposure to the virus, hence most of the children are staying back in YCF during this period of time. As so, we have been having many activities with the children to keep them well occupied. We had a little survival skill learning trip for the children to the dam nearby with our staff overseeing them as they learned to pitch tents, catch fish in the river, cooking the fish with a fire they started using natural elements such as rocks and twigs and learning how to survive in such a terrain. The children had so much fun as they could enjoy a nice splash in the cool waters of the river and had a whale of a time having a ‘picnic’ with one another. We want to impart such life skills to the children as we see it as valuable lessons which will be very useful for them in the future. Aside from outdoor activities, we also had some activities which were based at home, we had paper cutting time where the children will come together to cut out creative figurines to be used on cards to be sold to raise funds. We have been doing this for many years and it has been such a good way to allow our children let their creative juices flow and also for them to take ownership of learning to be responsible for raising funds for things around the house. They learn that hard work pays off.
In April, we also commemorated Good Friday and Easter Sunday. We had a lovely worship service which was followed by a great spread for dinner on Easter Sunday as we were blessed with Mookata (Thai Barbecue) for everyone to delight in. The children ate so much that night and went to bed with their stomachs full. We are so thankful for the Lord’s goodness over us, the house at House of Grace is now completed with the windows installed. The house building project was made possible by the God’s goodness and providence through the help we have received from various people who have donated to this project. Thank you for giving out children a new library and our staff a new living quarter. We have moved some items in and we have been using the space in the new house well. Everyone is loving it and enjoy inhabiting it. We painted it a bright light green as we thought that it would be a nice and fresh colour to add more cheeriness to the area. As for what May holds, we are still unsure but we know that God is with us. Just an update on the beach trip to Hua Hin, we have prayed and discussed and have decided to but the trip on hold now as the Covid19 situation is bad currently now in Thailand. We do not want to risk anything happening to anyone of our children or staff and the wise decision will be to stay put at home and not head out to minimize the exposure. Please pray with and for us as our country is badly affected once again by the return of a new wave of cases and as the country tries to provide healthcare for those who have contracted the virus. We pray that this will soon roll over and things will get better as we hope that this pandemic will come to a complete end.
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31 March 2021
Much Appreciated
Time passes surprisingly fast, we are approaching the last month of the first quarter of the year. As we look back on the month of March, it has been yet another delightful month filled with God’s goodness. All our days He holds us in His hands, from the moment that we wake to the time we lay our heads, for that we are ever so thankful.
March is a month most of us would coin as the ‘worst air quality’ month as shrouds of thick smoky haze would blanket most of the Northern Thai provinces. The source of this can be traced back to a common method of slash and burn which many farmers still practice by setting lands ablaze to clear their farm land. This year however, it has been said to be the worst in all the previous years.
“It’s more severe than previous years because the fuel – all the dry leaves and plants – had accumulated for a few years without burning. This year is dry. There is no rain and little humidity. So when the fuel ignites, it’s harder to control,” said Amphon Kanchan from the Khun Kan-Samoeng forest fire station.
We have been trying to ensure that the children do as much activities as they can indoors and refrain from heading out as breathing in the haze is very harmful to one’s health as exposure to the micro particles of this air pollution can penetrate deep inside one’s lungs and may be passed into the blood stream unfiltered which may result in cardiovascular and respiratory diseases or cancer. We had a record of a very unhealthy P.M 2.5 air quality index reading recently. Please help to pray for the haze to clear out so that the children enjoy their outdoor activities as well as for the sake of our health. As it is the hot and dry season in Thailand now, having the haze around really makes it all the more worse and very unbearable. As the school vacation is fast approaching, we have also been planning to take our children to the trip to the sea in Hua Hin. At YCF, we try to make a trip down to Hua Hin once every four years so that our children will be able visit the sea - all our children are from the highlands/mountains and so for many it would be their first time to the sea and they all have the desire to be able to visit the sea and experience it. More importantly, the visit to the sea will also be a bible camp and a baptism trip as we have few children who will be baptized and also during the trip (around 10 days) we are looking at running a bible camp. It would also be good to escape the bad haze and to head to somewhere with fresher air for the children to enjoy the great outdoors and soak in sunshine and to bask in the vast nature. We are currently asking the children’s sponsors to help support their child to pay for the trip’s expenses. It will be 5000 baht per head for the entire trip, if you would like to contribute and help towards the travelling expenses (gas, food, accommodation, miscellaneous expenses) please get in touch with us at youthcharityfoundationthailand@gmail.com we will greatly appreciate any donations. Initially the trip was planned for April however, the Christian Mission Home at Hua Hin is fully booked and so we will have to push our trip back a bit and head down South in May instead of April.
Another thing to give thanks for is the house building project which we embarked on 2 years ago. It surely has taken a bit more time then we estimated, however, we are glad to share that the project is well on its way to completion. Everyone has worked hard to chip in to the construction of the house. In times that we were running low on funds to purchase resources or pay for external help to build up the house, we have learnt that as we wait patiently and faithfully trust in the Lord by committing all our concerns and requests for help, He hears and He delivers. He has blessed us through many who have stepped forward to contribute funds in many ways to help us. We are almost done with the house, all walls are up, floors are stable, the walls have been painted, and electricity has been installed. We just need a little bit more for the finishing touches – the roof! So as we wait, we pray and we know that God will provide for our needs. Thank you to all who have generously given to our house building project which is a building that will be the staff living quarters and a library for the children. We can’t wait till it is completely built, functional and furnished, all ready for the people to move in to occupy the space. Thank God for everything!
28 February 2021
Overflow of Gratefulness
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This month our cup overflows with His great blessings. “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19. We have been receiving much support and are so thankful to all who have reached out to us in this difficult time when the pandemic is still a clear and present danger around the world.
February may be the shortest month in the year with just 28 days but these 28 days has been filled with so much love garnered from many who have given so much to us in their time, love, support and even financially. We started this month bidding the cold nights and early morning goodbye. However, though the days are hot out, the nights are cool but hotter days are approaching as the cold season ends. Fast on the heels of the hot season, we have started planting vegetables in our fields and the children have been nothing but helpful as we get work in the field done. The boys are the ones who are in charge of the ‘tougher’ and more laborious work of tilling the soil and ensuring that the soil is well broken up and loosen up before we can start planting. The girls on the other hand are tasked with the job to plant the seed of the vegetable that is to be planted into the soil. With their delicate hands and eye for detail, they work well together and get to seeds planted well into the soil. Once the children are done with their assigned tasks, the overseeing staff will then do a final check to ensure that all the procedures are done well and will finish the job by spraying some water over the soil to make it damp and moist enough for the seeds to be nestled in to start their growing.
In Thailand, 10-12 percent of the population is Chinese and so we have many who celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year in Thailand. Our children were blessed this year to receive a red packet (Ang Bao) each. They were all so thrilled to be getting red packets and were also educated on how the Chinese would greet their elders upon receiving a red packet and what some customs and practices were like for the Chinese Lunar New Year. We love having our children learn as they are exposed to such rich cultural learning and it also helps to broaden their knowledge and world view.
After many months of not being able to see some of our foreign YCF friends who resides in Chiang Mai and who frequently volunteers and spend time at YCF, we had some who were able to return from overseas. We held a simple welcome back party to celebrate their return as well as to lighten the mood as they had all served long 14 days quarantine upon arrival back into Thailand. We are so happy to have them back and we await the return of more foreign YCF friends. Everyone at YCF is hopeful and praying for the Covid19 pandemic to ease up so that international travel will resume and also for things to be able to go back to as it was before.
We are really so thankful for all your prayers, thoughts, love, support and donations for YCF. It is truly by the grace of God that we get by each day, He provides and He meets all our needs. All of us at YCF have been mightily blessed with many good food and being able to meet and get to know kind souls who have volunteered their time to visit, teach, support and love our children.
31 January 2021
The Gift of Newness
It has been close to a year living with the Covid19 virus pandemic, who would have imagine the grave impacts and changes it has brought about to all of us. 2020 went pass quickly and in a blink of an eye we entered 2021 still feeling a little unsure of what the new year would have installed for us but also knowing that we could always look to the Lord for His direction and to lead us as we stepped into 2021.
We started the year with a time of prayer and thanksgiving, in that time the children shared about their thoughts and feelings of the tumultuous year that Covid19 had impinged upon them. It was with big hopes that we welcomed the new year that it would be a better year than the year that has just passed. It has been a good start of the month as we continued to pack blessing care packages to be distributed to our neighbors and a village in Mae Hon Song, Mae Sariang. In January the children also celebrated Children’s Day in Thailand and this year we had fun and a very interesting experience as the children had the opportunity to make Japanese Mochi in the tradition way of having to pound the rice cake from scratch and to add in their own preferred fillings to their own taste buds. The children were all so excited and had a whale of a time pounding and rolling their home made mocha and of course the best part for them was to eat their mochi as it was so light, sweet and tasty! As the second wave of Covid19 virus has struck Thailand, the country had to enforce more measures put in place this month and school was close for a few days as we needed to do some social distancing in order for the situation to get better. During the school closure, our children were kept busy with chores at home and they also had some online learning to catch up with their school work. Thank God, school resumed on 18 January, and all our children are now back in school, preparing for their upcoming examinations.
Xin Nian Kuai Le (新年快乐), that is how we greet each other ‘Happy New Year’ in mandarin and we know this because our children had some online mandarin lessons with some kind student-teachers from Feng Chia University in Taiwan. It is so fun and also really good for our children to be picking up and learning more languages, they also enjoy the interactions with their teachers and are so keen to learn new things. We are very fortunate to have these Taiwanese university students help to teach our older children Mandarin even though we are far apart but meeting online and having online lessons has proven that distance cannot put a stop to learning and communicating. When there is a will, there will always be a way! We are so thankful for their time, patience, love and high spirits to teach our children and impart not only their knowledge but also extend their friendship to us.
Since are blessed to receive, we are also blessed to give to others close to us, in our local communities. Hence, we have continued to prepare and pack blessing care packages to be distributed to some lovely people and families. Our children really love this activity and they know the importance of giving and blessing others, so they really look forward to packing the blessing care packages with food items and to also head out with the team to meet and give the packages out to the families and to just check in on their well-being and show care and concern for others. All this is only made possible as we have received funds to be used in this project and it is a great privilege for us to be part of it.
We ended the month by celebrating our January babies’ birthday with a mini party in our field with some cakes, a loud cheer accompanying the birthday song and prayers, prayers for our beloved January babies. Everyone had a blast and we could not ask for a better way to say goodbye to the first month of the year which we will face with much hope anchoring our hearts and hope to guide our steps.
31 December 2020
Peace, Joy and Hope for the New Year
Oh December, how is it that the month just came and went back so quickly? It was not too long ago that we were all getting excited for Christmas at the end of November and the children were all starting to practice their song and dance performances for Christmas. This year it has been cold but everyone seems to be enjoying and busking in the cool weather. Thailand has been hit by the second wave of the Covid19 virus and we were so sadden to catch wind of it and will continue to pray for the Lord’s covering and protection over all of us and for the situation to get better for Thailand and for the whole world.
December was a month of much fun and treats for the children. The first week saw us finishing up the last bit of rice harvesting and thrashing with the help of all the children, staff and God’s grace we have wrapped it up and have stored the harvested rice safely away in rice sacks in our store room and will only polish it when we are going to consume it. This year’s harvest was not the best out of all the years we have been planting rice as some of the rice stalks had fallen and were quite scarce, so we did not use the big rice cultivator to harvest the rice but instead had to get down and dirty into the hard work to harvest all the rice by hand. Nonetheless we got the job done and we give thanks for this year’s harvest and also it was so lovely seeing our children at work and picking up all these life skills, the new children all had a great experience in the whole rice planting process and we all had fun.
As we moved on in the month, the children had a short school break and that gave us more time to prepare for the Christmas season and for the children to work on their paper cuttings for Christmas cards and for the to practice Christmas carols in English as we went carolling. It is always a good time when we come together, even though this year has not been an easy year for us all and we did not have any international friends come to YCF to visit us, we still wanted to do a Christmas celebration at home for our children to enjoy and for friends who are with us here in Chiang Mai. However, before our own Christmas celebration in home ground, we had made plans to head up to Chiang Rai to run two Christmas programs for Song Pranee Church and a Children’s home in Sriwichian Village. This was so as we wanted our children to know how blessed they have been and are so it would be a good opportunity especially this year as the pandemic has cause much distraught to many. We got the older children to plan the activities and programs and they were in charge of getting their younger friends to help execute the programs. We went to Chiang Rai for 4 days to run the programs and they both were so well received and well done. We were so proud of our children for working hard and putting their hearts into running the Christmas programs to bless others. Back home our younger children who stayed home were also occupied and they had a chance to go out to do some carolling. Everyone was together at heart despite the distance.
Today, 31st December, the last day of 2020 we will be having our Christmas and New Year Celebration at home and we are going to have a nice chill evening together starting off with dinner and then moving into a time of worship and thanksgiving. Even though this year has been challenging and nothing like we have ever experienced, we are still very thankful and glad to have gone through each day of this year with God’s love, peace, joy, grace and strength. We are praying and looking forward to 2021, where we know will be a better year and we entrust all things into the Lord’s hands and look to Him to guide us every step of the way. May you be blessed, step out of 2020 with a grateful heart and step into 2021 with an even more grateful and hopeful heart. We are so blessed and loved by all the support we have received and we hope too that we have been a blessing to all of you. Let’s go 2021!
30 November 2020
Golden Grains
November has brought about the cool season in which the children were able to enjoy two weeks of short school vacation when they could wake up an hour later than their usual wake up time. It has been an eventful month as we have been anticipating the school vacation as well as the day to harvest the rice that we have planted in our fields. It has been around 3-4 months and it was time to harvest the rice and to thrash it to get it ready for consumption. We always get so excited during harvest time and it was perfect timing as the children had their school vacation during that period and everyone was able to help out and harvest and thrash the rice.
We also have good news to share, one of our university boy has graduated with a degree in accounting and we can’t be prouder of him and his great achievement. Thanks to his sponsors and his hard work, he has completed university and gained a degree. We now pray that he will be able to find good employment and be able to work and start saving for a better future. It is always such a touching moment when our children graduate, we have seen how far they have come and we look forward to seeing them grow and live their lives independently and meaningfully.
During the school holidays, we also squeezed in some time to bring some children up to Chiang Rai to our house there to help build and construct a small sheltered hut. This is because we are planning to bring the YCF children up to Chiang Rai during the week of Christmas to run a Christmas programme for the church opposite our house and for a children’s home in Chiang Rai. We believe that it is important for our children to be leaders and for them to help others especially so much so when we have been recipients of many people’s love and support. Our children have to learn not only to receive but also to give. Even though this year we may not have our friends from other countries come to visit and spend Christmas with us, we still want to spread the Christmas joy and cheer, hence, we will be doing so by heading out to conduct Christmas programmes for our fellow neighbours and friends in Chiang Rai. The children are excited and we have started planning the programmes and activities, please pray with us as we prepare for the Christmas week in Chiang Rai. It is something different from our usual Christmas, however, this year has been nothing but changes, so we are going to embrace it and do our best.
It is just about a month more till Christmas and soon it will be the New Year too. Time is flying by too quickly so we want to seize every day. The children are starting to return to school and will only have a break during the Christmas period. Thank God for watching over us and keeping us safe and healthy. Please continue to pray for the Covid19 situation as recently we have had a few cases in Chiang Mai. We have faith and trust that the situation will get better and we miss all our YCF friends and can’t wait to meet with them again soon.
We can't wait for Christmas already!
Every time we love, every time we give, its Christmas.
31 October 2020
Always Something To Be Thankful For
30 September 2020
Community Blessing
“I will enter Your house with thanksgiving I will sing of Your goodness to me.
For my heart is eternally grateful.
I am blessed abundantly.
You have given me life in all it's fullness.
And joy no words can describe.
But I know it's for more than me.
It's for those.
Those you sent me to reach I am blessed, blessed to be a blessing.
I am blessed, I live under open heaven.”
- Blessed to be a Blessing by LaraMartin
In a blink of an eye, the year is coming to an end. Everyday is a blessing and we have been doing our best to take in the days and being grateful and enjoying each day as it passes us by. October has been such a quick yet eventful month for us at YCF.
This month we continued with our community blessing and handed out many more blessing packs which contains daily necessities and some food commodities to our local neighbors around our vicinities and in the neighboring districts. It has been such a humbling and impactful experience for all of us. Not just the YCF staff but especially more so for the children. They get to go along with us to distribute the blessing packs and as they do so, they get to meet and greet the locals and our neighbors. We get invited in to their houses, often times we are able to hang out and have a short chit chat session with them and to get to know them better. For many of them, Covid19 has hit them and have deeply affected their jobs, families and well-being. We may not have much to offer to help them, but with the little that we can give in terms of the blessing packs, our time, company and prayers, we hope that it helps to cheer them on and lift their spirits. With such encounters, the children learn to reach out to the people in the community and by the conversations shared we hope that it teaches them to have empathy and compassion towards others who may need it more than they do in this current times. We have also seen how these people that we have reached out too have been blessed by our visit in the smiles and laughter shared. We want to thank God for this great and humbling opportunity to be His vessels and to fellowship with His people even in tough times. This month, we had Khun Sarah who just returned from her travels back to her home in Chiang Mai, join us during one of the days we went out to distribute the care packs. Her giving spirit and energy to reach out to help others inspires us greatly and it is our privilege to have her as our dear YCF friend. She has done much to help us, she loves the children and we in turn are super grateful for her. It is true how, "we are more powerful, when we empower each other".
On the note of YCF friends, we had a lovely Sunday having a thanksgiving service with All Saints Church of Chiang Mai. The children had a blast and we all ate so much after the service as there was food of all kinds that were prepared. We are pretty sure that the children enjoyed the make-your-own pizza station the best as they could freely create their own pizzas and be amazed at how it cooked in the oven...but of course, the best was saved for last...when they could finally taste and consume their own pizzas! After the thanksgiving service, we had the opportunity to set up a small table to sell the paper-cutting Christmas theme cards and could display the beautiful Christmas wreathes that the children made by hand. It is unbelievable how Christmas is just round the corner. We can totally feel the Christmas vibes all around and without guessing...you would already know how excited all the children are. Just having them jumping about, going on and on about Christmas which is really fast approaching is already making us all excited and on our toes getting ready and preparing for our Christmas celebration this year, though it will surely be a little different as compared to previous years before. But, nonetheless, we are so very thankful for all things and for every blessing.
September was a month filled with His abundant blessings, over YCF and to many more who we were able to bless during this month. Almost every weekend, everyone at YCF would come together to pack the food items that we distributed to the local community and our neighbors and friends. Together with Girl Rising Thailand, we have been blessed with the great opportunity to reach out and extend our love to the people and communities around us by given out some food rations and daily necessities which will be of much relieve to the people.
Covid 19 is still lingering around and we have seen some cases in the country and known of many more around the world, our hearts are sadden to know that even as we near the end of the year, the virus is still active and affecting many. We have missed the good old times of having the liberty to go out without much worry and fear but most of all we miss our dear friends from overseas who would come frequently to visit us. Our hearts and prayers are with all of you, no matter where you may be during this time, we have been keeping you all close and giving thanks for our friendship.
Nonetheless, we are staying strong and keeping our chins up and trying to make the best of every opportunity we have to bless and help others around us who have suffered or been badly affected by Covid19. At the start of this month, Girl Rising Thailand approached us with some funds to help respond to Covid19 and we have been able to use these funds to help YCF as well as many others like our neighbors in the village-which consists of many elderlies, some churches in the nearby towns and villages as well as some churches and villages in Chiang Rai. Being united in His love has helped all of us get by and to fight this pandemic together.
We have this privilege to teach our children the importance of sharing and being empathetic as they grasp to understand this virus which is rapidly widespread across the world now. By reaching out to help the local community, the children learn that even in tough times, we can be a blessings to others even in small ways. They have fun packing the food items, transporting the items and meeting the people to give out the blessing bags. Through this experience, they have been impacted and they realize the importance of helping others and extending God’s love to everyone. We are humbled to be able to have this opportunity to bless others as we ourselves have been much blessed.
2020 has been such an interesting year, 3 months more till we reach the end of it. Slowly but surely with God we will get through each day. Let us continue to unite in prayer and we cannot wait till things goes back to normal. We encourage you to take heart, stay strong, stay safe and to continue to be a blessing to those around you.
31 August 2020
Farm Living
Our days in August has been of us working and playing in our fields, be it for rice planting, planting vegetables or preparing the land for growing crops we have been spending so much time out in the fields. The rains came and it when just as quickly. But we want to thank God for allowing the rain to fall over our land and the crops in it, watering and dampening the soil to help to nurture the crops. The children enjoy the times out working in the fields. They get to not only learn or pick up new skills but they have a blast in each other’s company and you will never fail to hear their loud giggles, childish yet adorable conversations about anything under the sun and of course their little hands and feet that are so eager to just get into everything.
We want to thank God that we have been blessed by being able to afford to purchase a new cultivator to till the land. The cultivator machine is so useful and we can’t ask for a better time than now to get it. As we need to till the land (mix up the soil) in the land before we can start planting vegetable seeds in it, it is very tiring and time consuming to do it manually by hand and farming tools. So with the new tiller that is mechanised, it will take less time and it gets the job fastest across the vast landscape. Our older boys have been taught by the staff on how to work the tiller and they have been loving it and have been diligently tilling the land for us. The other children help out by tossing the seeds into the soil or by cleaning up the weeds, if any. We have now planted some groundnuts, cabbage and corn. In no time, the crops will start growing and everyone looks forward to harvest day where we can all enjoy the fruits of our labour.
Other than farming work around the house, the children at YCF have been much occupied with school. School has now resumed to a full 5 day week, before it was on a 3 day rotation basis due to the Covid19 virus. Nonetheless, safety precautions are still well taken care of in schools. The children have to be masked when in school and they are to practice good personal hygiene and maintain social distancing. The upcoming term break will be in November as it has been pushed back due to the delay of school reopening this year. However, the children seem to be loving going to school every day and we delight in their joy as well.
We also celebrated Mother's Day on 12 August 2020, it was a day filled with so much food! We were treated to delicious pizza, fried chicken, french fries and soda at The Duke's. It has been a yearly affair for us for the past 3 years and we have been loving and looking forward to it every year since. The children also gave thanks for their mothers and said a prayer for their mothers - remarkable women who brought them into the world. Our hearts and tummies were filled that day. The children are looking forward to Mother's Day next year...thank you to The Duke's for your generosity and big blessing. Our new children were fascinated with all the 'new food' as they never experienced having pizza, tasting french fries and being in a big restaurant. It was such a treat!
As fast as the days are passing, we are learning to be even more thankful for the little blessings and to see the Lord’s goodness and grace in all that we do. The children are growing up quickly, we miss all our visitors and friends of YCF. The children have been praying for all our YCF friends and for the Covid19 situation to get better so that things can go back to normal. We are taking it slow and steady but of course praying and hoping for all to pass over and for the normalcy to return, in the mean time we will all do our part to stay safe and well. Take care everyone, we send our love and thoughts.
31 July 2020
Blue Skies, Muddy Fields & Green Fingers
It is rice planting season again! However this year, the rains are not falling as much as it should and we have been praying for the rain to fall to flood the rice fields as we are planting rice in our fields and so are many other Thai farmers in Thailand. From the start of the month to the end of the July, everyone at YCF have been helping out with rice planting, preparing the rice, the fields and working hard to ensure that all things are in place for our rice planting. Let us show you how we prepare and carry out our rice planting at YCF,
We start by planting rice at House of Grace where we throw and scatter the rice grains into the fields and give them time to grow and sprout into little seedlings then we will transplant the rice seedlings into our rice fields after we have harrowed and tillage the land. As we had a few public and school holidays this month, the children were all home from school and there could be no better time than those days to gather everyone to help work in the fields. We worked hard and toiled under the hot sun, but were rewarded with nice cool drinks and yummy sweet snacks and a good meal each time we were out planting the rice. All the children helped, from our youngest to the oldest and it was truly so much fun despite the hard work. Our children got down and dirty in the muddy waters, bending over to plant the rice and making sure it is firmly secured into the damp soil, some of our boys had little running competitions, we splashed and played in the cool waters and the girls were able to share little chats and laughter during their time spent working in the fields. We were able to finish transplanting the rice seedlings into our fields during the school/public holidays and on some weekends and now we pray and wait for the rice to grow. Nothing beats reaping the fruits of our labor, it is so fulfilling and brings us all a great sense of achievement and joy. As much as we all love eating rice, it is important that our children learn the importance of how and where rice comes from and how it is grown. They learn that they should be thankful for each grain of rice as so much hard work goes into planting the rice, and they also get to learn from such a rich first-hand experience of being part of the rice planting process, which will be useful for them in the future as it serves as an important life skill.
We pray that the month of August will see the rain falling as we need the rain water to fill and flood our rice fields, it will also be nice to enjoy the coolness that the rain brings with it as it has been very hot these days. Thank God for keeping us all healthy and well at YCF, the children are all settled back into their school routines and have been doing well in their respective schools. We are also praying for the Covid19 situation to get better, we would love to send our love and misses to all our international YCF friends. Please stay safe and take care, we have you all in mind and in heart and have been praying for your well-being and safety.
Rice and Shine, it was a Rice Day
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30 June 2020
Returning to the 'New' Normal
We are entering the next half of 2020! June has been such a fruitful month for us at YCF as we soaked up the last few days of the long extended school holidays this year. From the start to the end of the month, we have been on our toes, busy with many activities and having a whale of a time each day.
Let’s start June’s update with the most exciting news…we have 6 new children who have joined the big YCF family. We are so pleased and privilege to have them join us and to be able to journey with them and watch them grow. They have settled in very well and have befriended the existing children very quickly, which for us is a big blessing and joy to see them interact, play and live well together. We have also been getting to know them better these days and likewise they are also getting to know us all better, but from the smiles on their faces we are sure they like being at YCF. We now have a total of 42 children in YCF with 2 more pursuing their degrees in Mae Fah Luang University in Chiang Rai, and 1 who is in vocation school in Chiang Mai city. It is such a great joy to see our children growing well and becoming young adults, with each passing year it makes us realise how fast the children grow and how fast time just goes by. We need to soak in all the little precious moments and take great delight in the little things with each of them. We had a nice cosy welcome party to welcome and induce our new friends as well as to celebrate the end of the school holidays as we look forward to the new school year.
In June, we also had some time for a staff retreat as the staff needed a break, they have been hard at work for the past few months since the school holidays started, staying in and taking care of the children 24/7. It is very tiring and it is good that they can catch a breather and for them to take a break somewhere else away from YCF. This is good time to relax, be refreshed and to recharge and spend quality time with the Lord and time for them to rest and reflect. The staff retreat was a week’s trip to Hua Hin at a Christian Bible site. This time round, some well-deserving children had the opportunity to join the staff retreat and they absolutely loved their time at the seaside. It was all day-everyday out at the sea, swimming, playing in the water, fishing, picking shells, running about, enjoying fresh seafood and having so much fun. We thank God for the staff retreat as it was a good one, a much needed one in fact. When we got back from the retreat, everyone seemed to be well rested and ready to prepare for when school reopened.
Apart from the staff retreat, the children’s days were also packed with lots to do. As the Covid19 situation has gotten much better in Thailand, the restrictions have lighten and we have been able to head out, but have to practice social distancing and avoid large crowds. The children while at home had to do their daily chores, they did paper cutting and also helped out in the fields. We have been planting vegetables in House of Grace, and we have also recently started weeding the rice fields to prepare for rice planting season. There are also times when we head out, just so the children who are staying in YCF for their entire school holiday can have a different environment. Thank God for holding back the rains that day, it has been raining these few weeks. The rainy season is fast approaching, hence, we are preparing to plant rice. The children also had the chance to go swimming this month at Vivo Bene and had too much fun splashing around and soaking in the cool waters. We also have news on the progress of the house that we are building in House of Grace- the house is now coming alive, we have some rooms done and the children have all been helping to paint those rooms. Just a little bit more till we can say for sure that the house is done, we can’t wait.
Due to the Covid19, the government extended the school holidays and the children have such an extremely long break this year, from March – July, 4 months! However, we have reached the end of the long 4 months stretch. The children who have returned from their villages have all returned. We had to check to ensure that the returning children were all well and for some, we quarantined them to ensure that they were well before they started mingling with the other children. God has really been so gracious and have watched over all of us and keeping us safe from the widespread, and even in the times where we had to stay home, He has provided and just kept us in His keep. School will reopen on 1 July 2020. The children are all so excited and they look forward to returning to school. Many of them have commented that they miss their friends at school, miss their teachers and for most, they are very thrilled to be entering the next grade. May the never lose their sense of excitement for school, and may they all continue to love school and to do their best in their studies.
Please keep us in your prayers as we get ready to step into a new school year. Things will get busier as the children return back to school, pray for strength for the staff, pray for the children to be healthy and strong and pray for the Lord to continue blessing YCF and keeping us all in His goodness, filled daily with His mercies and love.
31 May 2020
Day by Day
"Day by day and with each passing moment,
Strength we find to meet trials here.
Trusting in our Father's wise bestowment,
We have no cause to worry or for fear.
Everyday the Lord Himself is near us,
With a special mercy for each hour."
Another 31 days has passed us by, how quickly time slips by. We have been home most of the days as we are adhering to the current rules that has been imposed. Nevertheless, there has been some precious days which we have been able to be out to help our neighbours, YCF friends and also do some work around the homes. Days like those are special days for the children, as they get to be out to soak in some sunlight as well as to expand their energy and enjoy time together doing meaningful things. It really benefits all of us, to be able to have a little change of environment and to stay active. This month exciting activities comprises of the children and staff going fishing in Khun Keiko's massive pond. As the water in the pond is drying up, we had been tasked to fish up as much fish from the pond. It was such great fun, the children worked together to catch the fishes and were rewarded by having freshly barbecued fish for lunch to savour their hard work. When it comes to fishing, we can proudly say that we at YCF, do quite a great job! Regardless of the boys or girls, we truly enjoy fishing, getting into the cool waters and getting the fishes. The current Covid19 situation is getting better in Chiang Mai and Thailand as a whole, so we are very thankful to God for that and we pray it will get better completely so that things will be able to function again and there will be less restrictions.
School was supposed to reopen this month, but due to the pandemic, school has been rescheduled to reopen in July. However with the aid of technology, we are thankful that our children are still able to continue with their learning. They have been having online lessons and we have been blessed to have P'Toto coming to help provide extra lesson for our older children and to assist them with their school work and learning if Mathematics. Our children have learned to take turns and manage their time as most of them need to share the devices due to us not having enough for each child, it is good as we have seen how they have responded to the new arrangements. We have to make do to the best with what we have and it important they learn to share and be thoughtful towards their peers. If you have any old devices like laptops, computers, desktops or tablets that you no longer have use for and are in good working conditions we would be glad to take them for the children's use. It would be very useful as currently we only have 4 devices that is being shared amongst 22 children at home currently. With more children returning to YCF soon, we will need to start to arranging who gets to use the devices first for their online learning. On the topic of children returning to YCF, we will have new friends joining YCF in the coming days too. As of now, we have two new additions. We will formally introduce them when all have entered, we are excited to meet them and have them join our big family.
For now, we are taking it day by day and being thankful for His daily goodness over us. With all that is going on around us in this world now, there are many uncertainties, but we are certain that God is with us every hour, every minute, every second of the day in our lives. We have been praying and being even more grateful for being safe and having our basic needs met. The children are reminded even more so now, that God is truly in control. The world may shake, it may shake us all hard but with Jesus we can rest assure to know that He will keep our footing firm and that though we may be shaken, he will never forsake us.
30 April 2020
Filled with Hope
This month we have seen how the Covid19 pandemic has been such an intensely challenging period for all of us in this world. However we are so blessed to have Jesus Christ as our peace, hope and strength during this tough season. We can have the confidence and trust that in the midst of all the pain and struggle during this crisis that God will use these difficult times to build our perseverance and hope in us His children. We can fight any fear with faith. Our response to this pandemic is to allow God to strengthen our souls as we acknowledge His sovereignty over all. We also pray for our fellow Thai countrymen as many of them are going this time of uncertainty with much struggle in terms of their employment, being financially stable to support their families and also their mental well being.
As we have been staying home, this year we are not able to celebrate Songkran due to the Covid19 situation, nonetheless, the children were well occupied. We had gone on-board with Home Based learning at home for a few hours every morning right after breakfast. We split the children according to their age and they sit in front of a computer to learn from watching an educational video with the guidance of a staff or an older child for the younger ones. It has been really good and we are glad the children can still enjoy learning from the comfort of home and they are able to put their time to good use. As Thailand has extended the lock down period to end of May, we will continue our home base learning for the children under our care as we want them to be able to use their time well and continue to expand their knowledge and develop the joy for learning. Schools will only reopen in July, so this is a great way for them to learn in the meantime.
We have also been getting creative, we have done lots of crafts this month like paper-cutting, finding recyclable materials or things like branches, leafs, flowers in our garden to come up with creative artworks just for fun and for the children to build on their imaginative creativity to express themselves. We also had a chance to learn from P’Knot how to make a homemade air purifier. We successfully made two! If you are keen to purchase one or two from us, get in touch with us. It can be a little fun project for the boys, as they enjoy getting their hands on fixing and building things. We also want to thank God for sending the rain, with the downpours we have had recently, the haze has gotten better and the weather is much more cooler, making it more bearable to stay at home and rest.
The progress of our House building project at House of Grace has been coming along very well. We have done up one room on the first floor, which will serve as the room for one of our staff. We are still praying that the entire house will be built to finish as soon as possible. Thank God for all His goodness and seeing us through each little step.
Let’s continue to stay strong together and take care of ourselves. We pray that in the midst of all that is going on in the world, we will continue to be filled with hope knowing that He is in control over the situation and He loves us so much.
 So creative! |  Flowers and leaves |  House Building Project |
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 Wedding the crops |  House Building Project in Progress |  Digging the soil |
 House Building Project - Roof is up |  Mixing the cement for the House |  Getting crafty |
 Cement and Bricks |  Homemade Air Purifiers |  Re-cementing our Fish Pond |
 Lovely artwork |
31 March 2020
Take Heart
This month has been a hustling month for us all, as we have seen how the recent covid19 pandemic has affected not just Thailand but everyone globally. Due to the recent widespread of the virus, we have an important announcement to make, please refer to the image below.
Despite all the fear, uncertainty and uneasiness that covid19 has brought to us this month, we want to thank God for His goodness and protection over us all at YCF. As you know, it is the long school summer vacation in Thailand and schools will only reopen for the new school year in May. Many of our children have returned to their respective villages and we have informed their parents or caretakers of the measures to ensure the wellbeing of not just our children but their families’ to make sure they maintain good personal hygiene and keep track of the people they come into contact with and we have also encouraged them to not travel much and to stay home during this period of time. For the rest of the children who are staying at YCF during their school vacation, we will also be taking extra measures to safeguard their wellbeing. In the meantime as they would not be able to go out much, we have been keeping them busy with little chores around our home, cleaning, cutting paper, learning new skills, relaxing by allowing them to watch movies/television and to just play some sports in our yard. The children have also been informed of the virus and they are aware of it and we have been praying for the halt in the widespread and for the people who may be affected by it.18
In Thailand now, the country has set in place many precaution measures to ensure people are staying safe and maintaining good social distancing and practicing good personal hygiene. There has also been a curfew set in place at our village. However, thank God before the lockdown began, we were able to celebrate the graduation of one of our Grade 6 boys. He is the only one graduating Grade 6 this year, as compared to our large group of 10 children last year. He has done us proud and we are so pleased to see him advance to Middle School, he has also grown up so well and is now towering over the other children. We foresee that he will grow to be a tall man, and we continue to pray that the Lord will watch over him and guide his every step as he continues to grow and to stay close to the Lord.
We pray that the covid19 will get better, stay safe everyone and let’s continue to be united to fight this tough times together.
28 February 2020
Sweet Moments
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Some precious shots of Khun Yupin & Khun John's wedding and of our boy graduating from Bible Seminary School. (Scroll to see more pictures)
We started the month by celebrating the holy matrimony of Khun Yupin and her husband, Khun Jakchai. Khun Yupin is one of the staff at YCF and she has been with us for so many years that she is so dear to us all. Being able to attend her wedding was a day of much joy and for us, it was a day we have been waiting and looking forward to for a long time coming. It was truly a joy witnessing the union of the two of them. We travelled to her village in Lampang to take part in a traditional Karen tribe wedding. It was such a beautiful day, the village church was decorated so elaborately with flowers and pictures of the couple and the bride looked stunning in her Karen tribe wedding attire and the groom looked handsome in his hand-woven Karen tribe costume too. The children were all so thrilled to be able to attend the wedding even though it took a 3.5hours drive to the outskirt village where Khun Yupin’s family resides at. We had such a scrumptious home cooked meal for lunch after the church service and we also had some of our YCF friends join us for Khun Yupin’s wedding, it was a really wonderful day. We are so happy for Khun Yupin and Khun Jakchai as they start life together as man and wife in Christ.
February was also the month where we also had another important event that we had been anticipating. It was the graduation of one of our big boys who has been in Bible Seminary School in Prachuap Kirikhan in Hua Hin. He has been studying there for the past 3 years and on 22 February 2020, we had the joy and privilege of being there to see him graduate and to receive his certificate. So proud of him and his achievement, and we are excited to see where the Lord will lead him and how the Lord will use him for His kingdom and his people.
Even though February is a short month, we did so much and also celebrated many things. One another thing we did this month was with our dear YCF friend, Edgar, Toto and Teacher Jean. They organised a bible study trip to the Hot Springs, where the children were about enjoy the outdoors and also to have a fun time learning more about the bible and our great Father in heaven. It was so fun, the children had so much fun and they enjoyed the learning aspect of the trip. Even for the older folks-the adults, they had a good time soaking their feet in the natural hot springs and we even had time to boil some eggs in the geyser. We are so blessed to have such great YCF friends who not only love us but also want us to continue to grow in the Lord and have our spiritual well-being in mind always. Thank you dear friends.
The children are looking to one thing in March, and that is the school holidays! Can’t believe that school will be out for them so soon again. Thank God for all His goodness and grace over us in everything. The world may shake and change, but Jesus our Lord, He stands firm and he is unchangeable.
