We are now in Thailand! Heres a blog my team wrote
Brainstormed by Team Radiate
Written by Hannah
PiSi is a shining yellow stone in a beautiful mosaic of God’s kingdom. PiSi is a light in the darkness and provides a home for those in need and those not in need. Everyone who stays with PiSi is family and will be treated as such. And not just by being a loving mother. As visitors that are now family, we do all the same chores that her kids do. We get up when the family gets up and go to sleep when the family goes to sleep and do everything in between together. PiSi is a mother to 15 kids. 2 biological kids and 13 adopted. This is no ordinary children’s home. Fountain of Hope exceeds the bare minimum of a “home”. The home she has created is more than just a place for the kids to lay their heads and get a meal. It is a place where not only do they get food in abundance everyday, a safe place to sleep, but also a place where they are encouraged to pursue a relationship with the Lord daily. A place where they grow worshipping the God that got them to where they are today. A place where their clothes aren’t dirty but a place where their clothes are clean and ironed for school.
Here’s a glimpse into a day in the life of PiSi:
5:30 am – Bible study with the kids
6 am – PiSi makes breakfast while the kids do chores
6:30 am – breakfast
7-8 am – kids go to school
8 am – begin working on the farm
12:30 pm – lunch break
1:30 pm – work on the farm more
3:30 pm – go home
4:30 – 5:30 pm – English class
5:30 pm – make dinner
6 pm – eat dinner
7 pm – worship and prayer
7:30 pm – help kids with homework
8-12 pm – finish any work left to do
PiSi works hard. Not because she has to. She could easily just make the kids food and let them go to school with dirty clothes. But she does this because it comes from the heart. She treats every child here as her own. She doesn’t give her biological kids special treatment or attention. She treats every child the same as if they were her own from the very beginning.
A small example of this is the children’s clothes. The children’s uniforms for school must be ironed so they look nice. PiSi washes and irons the kid’s clothes for school every Tuesday and Thursday (laundry day). Her husband, Aaron, is an English teacher at the children’s school. The staff told him, “your kid’s look nicer than the kids from other children’s homes.” This is because PiSi cares. She wants the kids to look nice for school. She is doing the work from the heart, not from an earthly perspective or for recognition. Because believe me, she does not receive enough recognition. PiSi often stays up until midnight ironing the children’s clothes so they look nice for school. And if she doesn’t finish by then, she will wake up at 5 am to finish. This is just one area of life where PiSi goes above and beyond.
Aaron and PiSi alone pay for school for all 15 children. Up until grade 9, schooling is free. But if you want to go to high school, it is much more expensive. However they still have to pay for school supplies and all 4 school uniforms for each child. That’s 60 uniforms. PiSi works on the farm shelling star beans to sell to help pay for the children to go to school. She told us, the Lord has provided all funding for the children to go to school so far.
PiSi has lived a life of faith. She went to Bible College for 4 years. From their age joined YWAM doing outreach in China and worked for YWAM for a number of years. After that, she worked in the village where many of the children have come from for 8 years. The Lord gave her a vision of a children’s home for kids with poor home lives. She shared her vision with her husband and together they began Fountain of Hope ministry 6 years ago. They opened the children’s home because they saw an immediate need for the kids. They started without question. They just said “yes.” They had no initial funds but started their ministry by faith.
PiSi isn’t just stopping with her children’s home. She is a dreamer with BIG dreams and full faith that they will come to fruition. She hopes to build a house on the family farm so that their is more space for the children. They are renting their current home and want to own their own home in the future. The farm they currently have and would want to live on, they hope to be almost 100% sustainable for the family. And to top it off, she hopes to build a coffee shop on the farm as well. This will be a place for her children to work someday or a place to provide jobs to those in need. This is a place of ministry first and the profit made off of it is just a bonus. PiSi has full faith that her dreams will come to fruition because she is in constant communion with the Father thus making her hopes and desires line up with the hopes and desires of the Lord. PiSi is a near and dear friend to the Lord.
PiSi continues to walk out humility in all that she does. Although the children do chores around the home, she does not ask for extra help or special attention. She does all her work without complaining because she has a servant heart like the Lord. What is most important to her is that the children are nurtured not just physically but spiritually as well. And she works hard to make sure that this is a constant reality for them. PiSi is vulnerable in her faith as well. She will speak out her fears and doubts and ask for us to partner with her in prayer. Her and her husband take the kids to waterfalls on the weekends for family fun and family movie night is every Friday. This family is bonded because they have the Holy Spirit rejoicing in them every day.
Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant. (Galatians 1:10)
I am writing this blog first of all to share a great example of a woman of Christ. What it looks like to serve servant heartedly everyday. PiSi serves from the heart. She is doing this work because she sees how it affects the children and furthers the Kingdom. She is not doing it to please people, she is solely doing it for Christ.
Something I have learned on the race is that God uses us differently for the goodness of the Kingdom. I used to get jealous when one of my teammates meshed better with a kid than I did or taught English better than I did. But the Lord has highlighted my own strengths and giftings He has placed in me so that I can help further the Kingdom in different ways. PiSi has such a strong gift of loving endlessly and without boundaries. Similar to the way Christ loves us. She has hard work and empathy, both characteristics of Jesus, and uses them to further the Kingdom.
The work PiSi does is not work that the typical human here on earth would choose to do just to do it. The Lord spoke to her and she obeyed. And she loves what she does because she does it for Christ. She constantly places her own needs and wants to the side to serve the Lords needs and wants of her. She dies to her flesh each day so that she can live whole heartedly for Jesus and do His will.
My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. (Galatians 2:20)
I am writing this to highlight a woman of God that leads by example to her children, my team, and now all of you who read this. A bonus to it is that we want to raise money for PiSi and her family (with her consent). We want to help them pay for her boys, Art and Wanchai, to go to high school. They currently do not have the funds for them to go but are continuing to move forward in the process by faith that God will provide. If God is asking you to donate even $5, please don’t dismiss this calling! We need 26,000 Thai baht or $855 by January 23rd. For the boys to go to school. If you would like to donate, we ask that you venmo my teammate, Sydney @Sydney-Eskridge. The money will go into her account and then we will pull out cash at the ATM to give to PiSi. If you have questions or whant further information, please don’t hesitate to ask! We WANT to answer questions!
We want to make known that PiSi did not ask us to post about her and her story but rather just asked us to partner with her in prayer. We KNOW the Lord will provide! We are answering His calling to share PiSi’s story and ask that you answer His calling to you as well! Whether it is providing prayers and/or providing funds, or any other calling on your life! We ask that you listen and obey simply as an act of obedience for the sole reason of God just being so good that how could we not want to obey!?
Remember this – a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. (2 Corinthians 9:6-8)
