This month in Thailand we’ve been working with Life Impact, whose mission is to prevent children from being sold into slavery, and rescue and heal those who already have been sold. The children are from Thailand and Burma, with children’s homes in both countries. The children’s home here currently has approximately 20 orphans (with a total of 59 children in their care), but they are in the process of building family-style homes on 25 acres of land where these children will be able to live with foster/adoptive parents. There are already several occupied homes on the land, with more on the way. We’ve spent our time this month working on various projects to improve the land for those who live on it. To me, the land is already so beautiful and has so much potential. I can’t imagine what it will look like in just a few years! The most amazing thing about this land is the story behind it.
Lana, the founder and CEO of Life Impact International, told us this story after church one Sunday. She was living in Thailand, struggling to make ends meet and provide for all the children- she didn’t even have enough money to buy rice to feed everyone. She used the last of her money to buy a plane ticket to the States to see her friend and current Life Impact missionary graduate from Bible school. She stayed with some friends of hers that she hadn’t seen in 10 years – the last time she saw them, they too were struggling to make ends meet. However, when she went to stay with them, they lived in a huge, custom-built house. Turns out the guy was the sales manager for the largest custom house-building company in the state! They began asking her questions about her ministry and vision, and she grew frustrated that they were asking so many questions when she had just gotten there and didn’t even have money to feed all the children. She requested not to be woken up the next morning and went to bed.
However, they did wake her up- the guy had shared her story and set up a meeting with his boss, who wanted to find her some land and build her houses for the kids. She met with three businessmen that morning- all extremely wealthy, all Christian. She left with three checks that totaled $65,000 to be put towards purchasing some land.
After land searching, she found this property of 25 acres – she went to look at it 5 times before the owners told her if she wasn’t going to buy, not to come back. Turns out that the owners were some of the biggest Chinese, Thai, and Burmese mafia members. They had planned to use the land for building a casino and prostitution center.
God told Lana that this land was her Promise Land- that she would see much fruit from this land and her ministry. She bought the land, and today it is worth 3 times more than what she paid for it. Also, the main road that the land is on is being turned into a new highway that will run from China to Singapore, meaning that it will be a huge transport route for trafficked women and children. Life Impact’s land will be a safe haven in the midst of chaos. Only God can take something meant for such evil and turn it into such a beautiful promise for so many people.
God’s hand is all over this ministry. I’ve seen Him at work so much this month and seen the fruit of this organization’s work. I can’t wait to see how Life Impact grows in the coming years!
For more information about Life Impact and their vision, visit lifeimpactintl.org.
