For our Month 10 Ministry we were told to Ask the Lord where He wanted us to serve Him in Southeast Asia. In July, I had a dream that we were back in Thailand, but in a different area. This time we were going to the north of Thailand. After much prayer into this and confirmation from my teammates we set out to find a contact to work with in that area. During this time we also found out that the men of our team would not be joining us this month. They were going to go off and do MANistry in a different location, so it was just us 4 girls. After MANY emails we found an “aunt’s aunt’s friend’s friend” (aka a God connection) who seemed interested in letting us partner with their ministry in Chiang Mai, Thailand. They suggested a girl’s home about 20 minutes outside of the city in Baan Mai Sawan.
The home was initially started by Compassion, but when the Thai government announced that schooling was free in their country (which it is not), the home was closed. By Compassion policies it cannot be in a country where the education is free, their services are needed elsewhere, even if the country is lying about it. In 2002 the home was reopened with the help of a Canadian church and the children that live there are supported through their ChildCare Plus program.
The girls’ home is now home to 87, 5-18 year olds who come down from mountain villages to receive a better education. It is a Christian run home on the same grounds as the local church and was restarted by a very loving woman named Lak (which means love in Thai) and her husband the pastor, Pastor Ton. It is run by some amazing women of God as well as the brother boy’s home of 80 boys run by amazing men of God.
This is a glimpse of our amazing time spent there with the girls and a little piece of my heart.
If you want more information about helping these girls stay in school click on the ChildCare Plus.
