It is my pleasure to introduce you to our ministry for this past month – Life Impact International! What an honor and a blessing it was to work with this ministry! I don’t know how to express my joy in being on this journey, meeting other believers around the world that are serving the Kingdom of God but strangers to me; yet because of Jesus Christ, we are actually all a part of the body of Christ. Then that allows us to partner with and connect to the heart of our Father together. It’s like waking up one day and suddenly discovering you have this other arm that you didn’t know existed, but it is a part of you. Is that weird? Does it make sense? Maybe it is weird…but it’s so cool!
The heart of this ministry is to prevent, rescue, and heal children that are at risk or already being sold into slavery – sexual or for work (which also eventually leads to sexual). They have a home in Thailand and one in Myanmar. The home we worked at in Thailand has 75 kids or so. Around 20 of them live in a girl’s home, and the rest live out on 25 acres where we spent the majority of our time. The founder, Lana, calls it their Promise Land. The story of how they got this land is so amazing and something only God can do. I wish you all could hear it directly from Lana as it causes nothing but awe and wonder and worship for our God.
Here are a few highlights of the story though: God sent the words “we need land” out of Lana’s mouth when being questioned about their needs when the ministry did not even have enough money for rice for the children. Lana was in the states with no funds and exhausted in every way. She was awakened one morning by an excited friend who introduced her to millionaires who were intrigued by Lana’s heart and vision. She left the states with a significant chunk of change and a reminder from God of “I did it all while you were sleeping.” Soon, those investors met her in Thailand to visit properties; and before she knew it, the land was purchased. This land was owned by the mafia and they had plans for building casinos which would be used for drugs and prostitution through sex slavery. Isn’t it just like God to take such a large piece of land that was intended for evil and turn it around to bring freedom and healing from the very thing it would have produced. Not only that, but the main road that this land sits beside will become the new “Silk Road” of Asia. I don’t remember the specifics, but that basically means it will be the main road between Thailand and China and Myanmar and other countries and will be a major road for human trafficking between all these countries. Wow! That fact wasn’t even known when they purchased the land. This land will be a self-sustaining land that will pour back into the ministry. They have tons of fruit trees, an organic garden and a vision for even more possibilities. Big picture, I think they plan to have 20 or more homes on this land. They desire for the children to be raised up in families, so there are Thai and Burmese couples (and even some single women) who have dedicated themselves to join their community and raise these kids.
I don’t really know how to portray how my heart was touched this month, but it was in a deep way. Most of our time was spent raking leaves, cutting/chipping branches for the compost pile, scraping calcium off of and painting concrete water tanks, painting a bathroom, picking up trash, cleaning up dead coconut branches that were cut down, and more. More opportunity for me to experience what it might look like to live on a ranch! We also got the opportunity to teach Bible stories, sing songs and play with the kids in different outreaches of Life Impact’s ministry. One more amazing thing is that the kids that have been rescued by this ministry have received such healing from God that they go back into the same type of communities they were rescued from to love on and teach other children. They lead some of the outreaches that are a part of the ministry. It’s really a beautiful testimony of God’s redemption and love. Disciples are being made and they are taking steps of faith to share their story and be used by God in tremendous ways. The ministry has been laboring hard for a while and has been through some pretty rough times; but this year has been a season of bearing fruit, and it’s been such a blessing to witness and be a part of.
Please pray for continued favor with the government in both Thailand and Myanmar. Pray for long term workers. Pray for the men and women that are stepping up to love on and train up these children. Pray for Lana and her team as they press through with little staff over the next several months. Pray for an increase in faith as they trust God to provide all they need!
Check out their website at http://www.lifeimpactintl.org
And check out pictures from the month at https://www.facebook.com/TheFunderama/media_set?set=a.10152344215167856.1073741836.507187855&type=3
