Many of you know that I have a passion for teaching and education. I love working with children and helping them explore the world around them, both inside and outside of the classroom. I was praying that this year I would have the chance to teach as ministry, and that prayer was answered this month!
We have been living and serving in a slum community of Bangkok, holding an English class for the kids as they are on summer break. When it comes to getting a job and being successful in the future, speaking English is of such high value in Thailand. The kids here all learn English in school, but it is very technical and not at all practical. If kids really want to learn how to speak English, they have to go to a private school or program. This is typically only available for the middle to upper class families because they can afford it. Unfortunately, that leaves the kids of slum communities at a disadvantage. By bringing English classes into the slum communities, we have been able to provide the students with a free opportunity that they wouldn’t have had otherwise.
However, our purpose is about so much more than just teaching the students English.
It’s about being a light in a very dark place to these children and these communities. Many of these children come from broken homes and homes that offer only false hope from false gods as their religion. Using education, we get to bring them the hope and joy of the Lord and radiate that into their lives. It’s an amazing thing to have children in a heavily buddhist community singing “I love you Jesus, deep down in my heart!” at the top of their lungs.
Slum ministry is something our hosts, Suzy, Kristen, and Sprite, are so passionate about and do so well. They have worked alongside us and poured into us so much in our time here. They have incredible dreams for the slum communities of Bangkok. Even though they are a team of only 3 people, their faith in the Lord is so strong that they have not let that hinder their dreams.
They have inspired me to have a deeper faith and dream big dreams because nothing is impossible for the Lord.
Their dreams are big. They include having their own building in a slum community for an office and to hold various education classes, including a Montessori-style preschool one day. As we know all too well, big dreams usually aren’t free. We felt led to help this incredible team as they are pursuing God’s vision for the slums of Bangkok.
We are trying to raise funds to support “Friends of the City”, which is the organization of our hosts. The goal is to raise $5,800 for the team to be able to purchase materials that will help their education programs in the slum communities. What’s so powerful about raising money for these materials is that it will not only affect this generation, but generations to come!
Please pray into donating to this amazing orgnaiztion as they do Kingdom work here in Thailand. The link below brings you directly to the donation page for their organization:
https://secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/s/xnitrenHFpUR-LfEIR6CtQ
If you want more information on Friends of the City, you can visit their website here:
https://www.friendsofthecity.org/
