2020 Wrap Up

Imagine we are giving you a memory test.  You have 30 seconds to look around you.  Memorize as many blue objects as you can.  Everything counts.  Ready?  Go!

30 seconds is up.  Now close your eyes.  Out loud, recount as many RED items as you can remember. 

What?!!  You think, “I don’t have a clue.  I wasn’t looking for red, I was looking for blue”! 

And blue is what you saw.  In those 30 seconds all the other colours faded away.  That’s how our brains are wired.  They see the essential, the immediate, and the pressing.

This past year, 2020, we saw covid, covid and more covid.  Just the blue.  But consider the following:

IN MAE SOT we

— performed maintenance on 80 water purification systems - 69 in Thailand, 11 in Burma

— installed 8 new water systems that will provide clean water to over 3600 children and their teachers

— distributed 22,500 drinking cups to school kids (so important that kids don’t share a common cup and spread diseases)

— taught welding, woodwork, soy milk production and water system maintenance to 4 students from a local children’s shelter

— provided 268 batches of soy milk (that’s 24,120 cups!), 2000 cans of fish, vegetables, blankets and over 360 toothbrushes to migrant schools, children’s shelters, needy communities and hospitals

— provided special lunches to 8 migrant schools and 2 children’s shelters

— gave out 11 teaching kits (that will resource 33 teachers in both Thailand and Burma), and 120 kits of pens, pencils and erasers

— installed 2 urinals and 2 wash basins at the New Jerusalem Children’s Shelter

— installed drains and renovated the kitchen for extremely needy migrant school

— ran 3 English Camps - 2 in migrant schools and 1 in Karen school 

Note — we have now installed a total of 111 water systems on both sides of the Thailand/Myanmar border.  5 schools are currently waiting to receive one.

And in response to covid:

— made and gave out masks, alcohol spray and hand gel to schools, hospitals and communities which impacted over 1500 people

— provided much-needed hope, encouragement and blessings (spiritual as well as physical) to countless people overcome with fear, uncertainty and darkness

IN BANGKOK we

— hired Graysen Ortega to assist our campus pastor Taepal at Chula University (lots of recent growth = the need to hire = lots more opportunities to come.  Woohoo!)

— hosted English Corner nights, games nights, ultimate frisbee matches and park & plays, all designed for university students and young professionals to gather, create community and inspire each other to fully realize their God-given purpose

— initiated Sam Yan New Gen, or SYNG, an education program that brings together Chula University students (the privileged) and children from the Sam Yan area of Bangkok (the underprivileged).  Our desire is to give kids without hope of higher schooling and fulfilling careers an opportunity to transcend their backgrounds.  We and our volunteer teachers have logged over 150 hours tutoring these kids

— trained and developed 8 students: a Swedish intern, Chula Christian Club leaders, and a church youth leader.  They and we mentored over 100 Club attendees, some of whom have now graduated and are directly impacting over 70 others

— hosted and mobilized 3 teams to engage in English Corner, community Christmas parties and educational initiatives

And in response to covid:

— provided teaching when schools in the Sam Yan area were closed

— distributed food to area families

IN TAKUA PA we

— continued to average 50 kids at the Lighthouse Learning Centre from Monday to Friday 

— ran 32 Saturday Kids programs, with 18-22 students each week

— hosted 2 teams from churches in Canada.  The teams replaced/enhanced the property’s drainage system to prevent flooding in the rainy season, completely renovated the Centre’s kitchen and conducted 3 English Camps (2 in Buddhist schools, one in a Muslim school).  An inspirational note — the Muslim school now plays the Christian song “My Lighthouse” before classes each day.

— conducted vocational training (largely in educational techniques) to schools and others in the community

— completely renovated the Centre’s bathroom facilities

And in response to covid:

— assisted the municipality in making over 12,000 masks

— in partnership with the local church, provided rice, oil, eggs and rice noodles to those who lost their jobs and families that were struggling

— baked goods twice a week and delivered them to community workers (over 400 total) at the Takua Pa covid checkpoint 

— became a vital and much sought after source of God’s love in the midst of the darkness and worry

— became increasingly recognized by community leaders, local families and school officials as a centre of care, hope and blessing

IN HAT YAI we

— continued to teach English at Prince of Songkhla University

— in partnership with the Sela English Centre, provided free or low cost English language learning for university students.  The students, and our staff and volunteers, have formed a close community and activities take place 6 evenings a week

— ran Camp Together 2020, a weekend adventure retreat conducted during Thailand’s covid pause.  In addition to rafting, exploring and competitions, there were deeply powerful and transformative discussions about transparency, vulnerability and personal struggles

— conducted a leadership camp for high school students at the Faculty of Liberal Arts

There really was so much more to 2020 than the “colour blue”!  There was, in fact, a myriad of colours.  For that, we are inexpressibly grateful to the One who provides the brushes, creates the colours, guides our canvas strokes and produces works of exquisite beauty.  May that be what we truly see.