Beach Clean-Up

Saturday the boys and I participated in the Regent's School annual beach clean-up. It is amazing how much difference a large group of people working diligently for a short amount of time can make. We worked only 1 1/2 hours along the small beach at a pier in Sriracha and really tidied up the beach nicely. The volunteers students from our school worked beside a local Thai primary school to get their local beach spit-spot. A job well done!

Ice-cream was enjoyed by all after our labors, I wanted to include a picture of a friend of mine, Lynn with a Thai ice-cream sandwich. It was a large piece of bread with several dips of ice-cream and topped off with chocolate syrup, quite different from an American ice-cream sandwich for sure!

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Outreach to Koh SiChang

This past weekend we travelled to the nearby, small, island of Koh SiChang where our church has a Thai church plant. This is our third visit to our fellow believers congregation for outreach. It's great to be able to continue to foster relationships with the Christians there as we are now beginning to recognize some faces and names. We arrived on Friday night and delivered special bags of personal care items to some of the ladies from the Koh SiChang church. On Saturday morning, Marina, our pastor's wife had planned a activity for the island children to make a new creation doll from a tube sock followed by lunch before departing. We ministered to and helped over 70 children that morning. What a blessing to be involved with the work that God is doing on this small, Thai island!!

Saturday afternoon we drove into Bangkok for some shopping in Chinatown. On Sunday we attended church in Bangkok and then picked up a friend from Muleshoe that is currently living in Cambodia. What a treat, our first visitor from the states-kinda!!She will be staying with us until Wednesday.

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Family Fellowships have returned in Thailand! Every month eight families here are setting aside time for food and fellowship. We are likeminded people from all over the world that happen to be living in the Banglamung area at this time. We had our first fellowship of the year after the summer at the Clarkson's where they had organized a father-son basketball tournament while the ladies played Sequence. None of our guys were hurt and a good time was had by all!

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Ploy has been living with my dear friend, Carole and family for the last 6 months. Ploy was left at the Mercy Center, a home for unwanted or abandoned children in Pattaya. Ploy was just an infant at that time and the smallest child at the center was 2 years old, the Center really isn't equipped for infants, because of that the Center approached Carole and all the "Chocolates" about taking Ploy into their home as a foster child. Ploy's mother has already released a son years ago for adoption and left Ploy at the Center because she was unable to care for her financially, emotionally or physically at the moment. Her only means of support was bar-tending in a Pattaya bar at night. No one is sure who Ploy's natural father is.

After much prayer the Schoklitsch family agreed to take Ploy into their home loving her as their own in the hopes that one day that might be allowed to legally adopt her.(Do you remember that I was one of the hostesses for the baby shower we held for Carole and family as they had no baby items, Max, their youngest son is 14 yrs. old.) The Center encouraged Ploy's natural mother to come for weekly visits, she has been undependable and a few times that she has come for visits with Ploy at the Center she has fallen asleep. It has been difficult for the Schoklitsch to continue to show up for these weekly meetings but have tried to help Ploy's mother to learn some mothering skills-asking that she be sure to change Ploy and feed her during their visits at the Center...

About a month ago she showed up at for one of the weekly meetings and stated that she wanted Ploy back. (This last Tuesday she didn't come to visit Ploy) She is now not only bar tending but is being allowed to dance on the pole at the bar and her income has improved. She will be able to pay a small amount for a nanny during the night and attempt to care for Ploy during the day while trying to sleep. She has also stated that she might take Ploy to her mother's in Northern Thailand.

I'm coming to you to join us in praying for this situation. The Schoklitsch's want what the Lord wants no matter how painful it will be to have Ploy taken from their home. We have all grown to love this little girl very much. It has been an amazing transformation over the last 6 months. She's walking now, has gotten some toothies, is laughing and smiling and seems quite happy with the Chocolate's! I would describe her as having a flat affect initially and she has really blossomed into this very expressive young lady. Mostly they want Ploy to be safe, child trafficking is a big problem in this area. They are unsure if her mother's decision is financially based, God forbid but she can make some money by selling her. Please pray wisdom to be poured out on all parties involved. Pray for protection of Ploy and Carole and family. Also pray for peace for the Chocolates.

Rayong Prison Bakery

I'm so excited about a great project that God has allowed me to be a part of here while we are in Thailand. Last Spring, Molly was contacted by the Pattaya International Ladies Club about an opportunity to oversee the Rayong Prison Bakery, as the director of the last 4 years was returning to her homeland of Australia. She asked me to join her in this most worthwhile endeavor. This bakery was originally established by the Pattaya and Rayong International Ladies Club some 8 years ago, they provided the funds for industrial ovens, work tables and refrigerators. The young women that are residents in this prison are between the ages of 16-22 and they have to earn the privilege to cook in the bakery. They have approx. 20 recipes that they have perfected and our major role is to provide the outlet for their goods to be sold. Over the last two weeks Molly and I have been taking samples to the surrounding International Schools, re-introducing their baked goods to the community (the bakery had only been half functioning last spring because the coordinator had some health issues.)and compiling orders. Once a week we will initially go out to the prison on Tuesdays to cook and introduce new recipes. On Wednesdays we pick up the orders of baked goods and deliver them to specific drop off points in the area. The project is so great because it teaches each of these young girls a marketable skill, helps their time in prison pass more quickly, and all the money returns to the bakery providing a 'nest-egg' for each of the girls upon their discharge to better help them adjust to living outside the prison AND we have the permission of the Ladies Clubs to make this whatever we desire, it can become our ministry!

Today we travelled out to the prison to taste test the blueberry muffins and to teach the girls how to make pumpkin pie. They already have perfected a homemade pie crust because they are known for their yummy quiches. We will take special orders for the upcoming holidays and now we have pumpkin pie for all of our American friends here in Thailand! While the pies were cooking we played a simple game to help us better learn the girl's names, we explained that we are Christians and that we look forward to getting to know each of them better and will pray for them. We also tried to teach them some simple English while they attempted to help us with our Thai skills. We will continue to visit the bakery at least once a week teaching them, helping them and convincing them to let us love on them some. They seem to be hesitant and not very warm, no telling the pasts and experiences they are coming from, the stories they could tell about the paths that led them to be in prison at such a young age. I'm excited about this door the Lord has opened for me to serve Him here. We are trusting that He can overcome the language barriers and help us shine His light there.

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