August Newsletter

Dear Friends and Sponsors,

We begin this newsletter with a testimony from one of our young staff members, Nice.

Hello. My name is Nice. I come from the Karen tribe in northern Thailand. I have a large family; I have five older brothers, one older sister and two younger brothers. My father died when I was 8 years old, and my older brothers had to stop going to school and work odd jobs in order to provide for the family. They did their very best to help Mum, but it was a hand-to-mouth existence. Eventually, Mum told me that I, too, would have to stop going to school and work, as she could not afford to pay for my school expenses. I was heartbroken, but I did not give up easily. I went to my teacher and sought an education scholarship in order to remain in school. It was very hard to get one, since lots of children had applied for the few scholarships available, and they only chose the best students.

After school each day and on the weekends, I worked at anything I could get my hands on in order to help my family a little bit. When I was in grade 9, I began to pray diligently, and I asked God to make a way for me to remain in school.

After a year passed by, one of my brothers went to work in a Christian foundation. It provided education scholarships to poor children like myself. I was so happy to hear of it. I thanked God with all my heart, and I decided to go there. When the time came to go to Grace Ministries, it was very hard for me to leave my mother to live 18 hours away from home. During the overnight journey to Buriram, I felt lonely and afraid, and I cried a lot. I will never forget the many emotions I felt during that long, lonely journey. It was very painful to leave my mother and my village for the first time. When I arrived at Grace, I burst into tears, as all that was familiar to me seemed like a world away. Yao was there, and she embraced me, telling me that I did not need to worry about anything. She said that I would be much loved and would be safe, and that I would be looked after very well until I graduated from college. She then said I would grow to love living at Grace. 

This became my personal experience. I was loved and safe, and I did graduate from college.

I grew to love living at Grace! I am free of debt, unlike my classmates who are even today desperately trying to pay off their college debts. I thank the Lord for preparing the very best for me. I have the joy of working at Grace in our home for little boys. I have worked here for three years, and I know this is God’s perfect plan for me. I want to thank the kind couple who have sponsored me through high school and college and still do so. What you have done for me has helped to equip me for life, and I want to thank you both with all my heart.

Our aim is to offer a loving, nurturing environment to every child in our care, so that they can be equipped to cope with the challenges they face in their young lives. No two children are the same. They come from a wide variety of backgrounds, and each one has their own personal history. We pray a lot for our children, and our wonderful sponsors do the same. Our staff works very closely with each child. They discuss each student with members of our senior staff, and Yao, our counselor, offers them the professional help they need. We are very encouraged by the enthusiasm of more and more of our children as they participate in this process; they are being transformed by it. It is a joy to see our children who come from extremely deprived backgrounds receive the healing they so badly need and acquire the tools they can use in their everyday lives to understand themselves better.

How can we ever thank our sponsors for making all of this possible? We look forward to many more of our children being able to share about the goodness of God and the benefit they received through living at Grace, just as Nice did at the beginning of this newsletter. Charles and Yoke Fong are enjoying their time in Ireland very much. Yao and Ewe will attend the Grace Ministries Open Day in the River of Life Church in Athlone on Saturday, August 24, commencing at 10:30 am. We are looking forward very much to catching up with many of our Irish friends and sponsors.