Integrated Ministries for Ethnic Minorities Foundation (IMEMF)

Prayer and Praise for January, 2011

 

Happy New Year to you!  I trust this year is off to a good start.  In Thailand, we officially celebrate three New Years (the western one on January 1, the Chinese one in February, and the Thai New Year festival in April) so if you feel like you want to start the year again, remember those other opportunities for another new year!!  All of the children at the House of Love (HOL) had a great start to 2011.  The housefather rented several movies to watch during the day, the children had a special meal, and we enjoyed a time with games and lots of eating (yummy snacks like popcorn, fruit, and grilled treats).  We were also able to have a time of prayer—to give thanks for God’s blessing and protection in this past year (with highlights like the boys’ dorm opening) and then also to pray for the new year.  I invite you to join in continuing to pray for all the ethnic minority people that I work with here in northern Thailand.  You are valued for your prayer support!

                                                                                                                                                                               

Praise and Prayer Points:

·         The House of Love students are now working through mid-term exams, and finishing many projects.  For them, the school term will end at the very beginning of March, so they have 2 months to do their very best in school.  Please pray for continued good health and good attitudes towards finishing well. 

·         The House of Love has started this New Year off with something very new—two new puppies!   Pinkie and Donal (named by the children after Thai movie stars) are Thai dogs with unique looks and very patient characters as they learn to have 30 children loving on them!  The children will take turns feeding and doing the chores associated with dogs—and they are very excited about these new responsibilities!

·         Thank you for your months of praying for The Center for the Development of People with Disabilities (CDPD) grant for its new building. We have received the grant—which is a huge praise!! This building will be a welcome addition to the prevocational and vocation al training program.

·         January is also the month that we welcome a team from Coos Bay—and they are bringing hand bells to teach all of our kids at the House of Love and House of Blessing.  Please pray for good interactions with these special visitors—and our goal is to have the children do a concert at the end of the week.  The CDPD will also be welcome the group and enjoy this new way of making music 

·         The Health Project teams are now working with focus groups in the urban communities here in Chiang Mai as they work on developing a new proposal.  Please pray for this process.

·         I am happy to report that with the boys moving into the newly finished boys’ dorm, we have been able to move the IMEMF offices into larger rooms on the ground floor.  It is wonderful having the room to have a real office again!  Besides shuffling our physical space, the administrative staff has also been working on a new organizational chart.  Our goal is to give more responsibility and oversight to the staff—pray for this process!

·         I would also value prayer as our foundation (IMEMF) seeks to be recognized on a new level by the Thai government.  This process of registration is lengthy and requires a lot of work, but we feel that it will be beneficial to have a more official legal status within the eyes of the government in the future.

·         This past week, I attended a funeral here in Chiang Mai of one of the long-time missionaries here—Helen Morse.  She was an amazing woman—and a mother to several of my missionary friends here.  This loss to these families made me feel afresh the loss of my mom.  Please continue to be praying for me as I grieve her.