Latest count of people living in he Timothy House: 29....lots of people, each with a story to tell! Unfortunately, they usually tell it in Thai and I don't have the time to tell you all of them. Sorry!
But when I get home you can always pick my brain if you're interested. :)
By the way, I tried again to upload pictures but it didn't work. I will have to get to an internet shop to try again...sorry! If you have facebook check out the pictures there or find someone who has facebook and steal their password.
That's all for now!
Have a happy day.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Life in Thailand
Hello all,
thought I'd write another update cause I have time...and that doesn't happen too often!
Life here has been pretty busy with lots of people needing help, English classes, travelling, etc...
I think the biggest change recently has been the amount of people staying at our house. Rodney and I just did a count, and it's up to 24-26 people depending on the day. We are back to 13 kids plus two families of a mother and two children...and then our two Thai workers, Phimpha, Rodney, myself, and a lady that sometimes stays with us and a Pastor that comes and goes...so it's a very full house! Makes life very interesting--seems like there's always a baby crying or kids wanting to play soccer or basketball or dishes that need washing or laundry that needs to be done...oh, and English lessons that need to be written. I've been procrastinating on that one lately! (It's so much more fun to play basketball!!) It's funny how you can fly to the opposite side of the world and find yourself doing a lot of the same things you would have been doing back home...just in a very different environment! (and with different people...)
The story for today is about one of the families that I mentioned: the lady and two kids who came to us from a nearby province a couple weeks ago. This lady is running from her abusive husband. She had been living with him in a small apartment in the city, working and taking care of the kids while he spend most of her money getting drunk all the time. Her daughter became so scared of her father that she peed herself when he called her name. (She is almost 5 years old...) The son (who is 2 or 3) is slightly behind developmentally because this lady was hit by her husband while she was pregnant. Not a good guy at all. But still the lady stuck with him, hoping he would change for the better.
Finally, it became too much. Her sister-in-law heard about Phimpha and moved in with us, and soon she took her kids and followed suit. She called Phimpha and we drove over, helped her pack all of her things into the car, and adopted her family into ours. Her husband now has no income and no one to pay rent on the apartment that he lives in. He has found another girl, but who knows how long before she realizes what a bad man he is and kicks him out as well.
The first week or so in the Timothy House was a little hard for this family: the kids did not know how to play and have fun. There was a lot of crying and not much smiling. But praise God: there are more smiles than tears now! The kids are learning to be children again...they play with the other kids and laugh and run around and give hugs. Of course they still cry sometimes--they're young still--but they are learning that they are safe. It is so cool to see the change that real love can have in the lives of kids. I don't know what the rest of the story will be for this family, but I know that God has it all figured out!
So the moral of the story is...love a kid. ;)
well, I've got to go teach some kids how to speak English. In the meantime, please pray for a girl who is with us--she is 13 and due to have a baby in May. She's doing pretty well, but still could use some prayer.
Thanks everyone!
thought I'd write another update cause I have time...and that doesn't happen too often!
Life here has been pretty busy with lots of people needing help, English classes, travelling, etc...
I think the biggest change recently has been the amount of people staying at our house. Rodney and I just did a count, and it's up to 24-26 people depending on the day. We are back to 13 kids plus two families of a mother and two children...and then our two Thai workers, Phimpha, Rodney, myself, and a lady that sometimes stays with us and a Pastor that comes and goes...so it's a very full house! Makes life very interesting--seems like there's always a baby crying or kids wanting to play soccer or basketball or dishes that need washing or laundry that needs to be done...oh, and English lessons that need to be written. I've been procrastinating on that one lately! (It's so much more fun to play basketball!!) It's funny how you can fly to the opposite side of the world and find yourself doing a lot of the same things you would have been doing back home...just in a very different environment! (and with different people...)
The story for today is about one of the families that I mentioned: the lady and two kids who came to us from a nearby province a couple weeks ago. This lady is running from her abusive husband. She had been living with him in a small apartment in the city, working and taking care of the kids while he spend most of her money getting drunk all the time. Her daughter became so scared of her father that she peed herself when he called her name. (She is almost 5 years old...) The son (who is 2 or 3) is slightly behind developmentally because this lady was hit by her husband while she was pregnant. Not a good guy at all. But still the lady stuck with him, hoping he would change for the better.
Finally, it became too much. Her sister-in-law heard about Phimpha and moved in with us, and soon she took her kids and followed suit. She called Phimpha and we drove over, helped her pack all of her things into the car, and adopted her family into ours. Her husband now has no income and no one to pay rent on the apartment that he lives in. He has found another girl, but who knows how long before she realizes what a bad man he is and kicks him out as well.
The first week or so in the Timothy House was a little hard for this family: the kids did not know how to play and have fun. There was a lot of crying and not much smiling. But praise God: there are more smiles than tears now! The kids are learning to be children again...they play with the other kids and laugh and run around and give hugs. Of course they still cry sometimes--they're young still--but they are learning that they are safe. It is so cool to see the change that real love can have in the lives of kids. I don't know what the rest of the story will be for this family, but I know that God has it all figured out!
So the moral of the story is...love a kid. ;)
well, I've got to go teach some kids how to speak English. In the meantime, please pray for a girl who is with us--she is 13 and due to have a baby in May. She's doing pretty well, but still could use some prayer.
Thanks everyone!
Friday, March 2, 2012
Things I Took for Granted Back Home
In case you were thinking of coming to Thailand, these are some things you might not find as easily as you would back in the states:
-Hot Showers
-Toilet Paper
-Doors
-People Who Can Speak English
-Milk, Cheese, Pasta...lots of food
-Internet Access
-Cold Winters
-Frisbee Games
-Indoor Kitchens (without chickens running around in them)
-Automatic Washing Machines
-Dryers
-Crackers (snack food in general)
-Hot Showers
-Toilet Paper
-Doors
-People Who Can Speak English
-Milk, Cheese, Pasta...lots of food
-Internet Access
-Cold Winters
-Frisbee Games
-Indoor Kitchens (without chickens running around in them)
-Automatic Washing Machines
-Dryers
-Crackers (snack food in general)
A Story
Thought I'd just share a random story with you all since that's what life is made up of over here: random stories.
About 12 years ago, Phimpha was busy following God by taking care of children and other random ministries. Well, some people in the area where she was living decided that they didn't like her and what she was doing. So they started badmouthing her to everyone they met. At this time, God told her that the people who were spreading lies about her would one day come and bow at her feet and beg for mercy.
About two weeks ago, Phimpha went with Pastor Randy (the guy from California) to a large church meeting in order to translate for him as he spoke. After the meeting, some people stayed in the church so that Pastor Randy could pray for them. With them was a woman who just sat there for a while and then eventually came and started clinging to Phimpha's feet and weeping. She cried and cried and said sorry over and over again. Phimpha, not knowing who she was, tried to comfort her and Pastor Randy prayed for her and did his best to help as well. Eventually this lady's story came out. Twelve years ago, she was one of the people who spread all the lies about Phimpha. After this, her (not Phimpha's, the lady's) whole life turned to shambles. The group of people she was working with turned on each other in the middle of a business deal, and this lady lost everything: her money and even her house. She has nothing and her family is going through a lot of issues. But she could see that God was working in Phimpha and that is why she got on her knees and begged for Phimpha to forgive her. Crazy how what God says comes true, right? Even if it takes 12 years.
But that's not the end of the story: right now, that lady (Her name is Sree) is living with us here at Timothy House. She needed some time to talk to Phimpha and hopefully work through some of her problems. Some of her family members are with us now too: on Thursday we got a call from her cousin asking us to come right away because she was afraid that her husband would come home drunk and beat her or her children. So we drove to her house, arrived as she was finishing packing her few belongings, and drove her here. We now have two more kids hanging around and a couple extra ladies helping out. I don't know how long any of them will stay--Rodney always says that everyone stays longer than they planned originally. So keep this family in your prayers! They could use it--as could we all :)
Oh---another thing that could use some prayer: we are starting a shelter house for women and girls who need a place to stay. It will be for people like the woman I mentioned above who have abusive family members they are running from or girls who want to get out of prostitution/the bars. We already have four girls who need a place to stay, and maybe this lady is another! We have found a house to rent, we just need to get the money to rent it, time to clean it up and fix a few things, and someone to stay there full time with the girls! That's all....glad we have God on our side!
Well, that's all for now, folks! Enjoy your day! :)
About 12 years ago, Phimpha was busy following God by taking care of children and other random ministries. Well, some people in the area where she was living decided that they didn't like her and what she was doing. So they started badmouthing her to everyone they met. At this time, God told her that the people who were spreading lies about her would one day come and bow at her feet and beg for mercy.
About two weeks ago, Phimpha went with Pastor Randy (the guy from California) to a large church meeting in order to translate for him as he spoke. After the meeting, some people stayed in the church so that Pastor Randy could pray for them. With them was a woman who just sat there for a while and then eventually came and started clinging to Phimpha's feet and weeping. She cried and cried and said sorry over and over again. Phimpha, not knowing who she was, tried to comfort her and Pastor Randy prayed for her and did his best to help as well. Eventually this lady's story came out. Twelve years ago, she was one of the people who spread all the lies about Phimpha. After this, her (not Phimpha's, the lady's) whole life turned to shambles. The group of people she was working with turned on each other in the middle of a business deal, and this lady lost everything: her money and even her house. She has nothing and her family is going through a lot of issues. But she could see that God was working in Phimpha and that is why she got on her knees and begged for Phimpha to forgive her. Crazy how what God says comes true, right? Even if it takes 12 years.
But that's not the end of the story: right now, that lady (Her name is Sree) is living with us here at Timothy House. She needed some time to talk to Phimpha and hopefully work through some of her problems. Some of her family members are with us now too: on Thursday we got a call from her cousin asking us to come right away because she was afraid that her husband would come home drunk and beat her or her children. So we drove to her house, arrived as she was finishing packing her few belongings, and drove her here. We now have two more kids hanging around and a couple extra ladies helping out. I don't know how long any of them will stay--Rodney always says that everyone stays longer than they planned originally. So keep this family in your prayers! They could use it--as could we all :)
Oh---another thing that could use some prayer: we are starting a shelter house for women and girls who need a place to stay. It will be for people like the woman I mentioned above who have abusive family members they are running from or girls who want to get out of prostitution/the bars. We already have four girls who need a place to stay, and maybe this lady is another! We have found a house to rent, we just need to get the money to rent it, time to clean it up and fix a few things, and someone to stay there full time with the girls! That's all....glad we have God on our side!
Well, that's all for now, folks! Enjoy your day! :)
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