Christmas in July: Day 1: Please Pray

Seven Days of Christmas in July

Day 1 Please Pray

Before I start, I want to give a little introduction to what has brought about these posts that you’ll see over the next seven days or so.

As those of you who know me know, I’ve been in Thailand a majority of the past four years. The first two years with the Peace Corps, and the last year and three quarters with the Church of Christ in Thailand teaching at a rural Christian school that is made up of about eighty percent Karen Children with the rest being Thai, Mon, Hmong, and Burmese. The students at the school are very poor, about a quarter live in children’s homes or the dorm because their houses are too far away from a good school, or their parents can’t afford to send them to school. At least seventy percent of the students either live at a Children’s home, or are sponsored by VisionTrust, Compassion, CCF, or one of several other organizations in order to be able to attend this school. If I had to guess the average household income, I would guess it to be less than $2,000 per year. I would also guess about half of the students don’t have Thai citizenship, and 40-50 have no citizenship in any country at all.

Yes, I’ve written it this way to tug at your heart, to give you an idea of where my students are coming from. I could write more, but I’ll stop at that for now and move on to the positives. Of the 27 schools under the Church of Christ in Thailand (CCT), our school has one of the highest rates of students who are Christians at about 50%. So, we are teaching the students who in the future will lead the local church, run the hospital, teach at the school, open shops, etc… They have an opportunity to learn in a Christian environment where the Lord’s Prayer is recited daily in Thai and English, as well as learning one bible verse per month as a school. We have a chapel service every Monday morning, as well as all holidays and special events. Even the opening of the school bank last week had a local preacher come and give the sermon to dedicate the endeavor. Teachers have devotions every morning at 7 before school to pray, hear from God’s word, and encourage each other. There is often homeroom after the morning assembly, before classes start in which they are lead by their homeroom teacher(Buddhist teachers are partnered with a Christian teacher who doesn’t have a homeroom) in singing, praying, and hearing a story from the Bible. Personally, I pray at the beginning and end of every class out loud. What a blessing that is!!!

The community has also been so warm and welcoming. I’m a part of the Karen cell group that meets in the area next to my house on Saturday nights. They often include me by having me recite a bible verse, singing the offering song, praying for the food, and this last week they asked me to give the message(in Thai as I still can’t speak Karen). I’m often invited to birthday services (really, it’s a church service for someone’s birthday), personal thanksgiving services, and other events. I often feel like this community lives much closer to the early church I’ve read about in the Bible than my church and community back home. (Sorry guys…) Within an hour of someone’s death, you can often find a group of people in their home helping to get ready for the services that will take place over the next few days. It’s amazing to me how even with so little they have so much to give to others in their times of need.

So, over the next 7 days I am hoping to post one area in which you can help in this community. I’m calling it the Seven Days of Christmas in July. I figure December is the 12^th month and there are 12 days of Christmas, so to celebrate Christmas in July which is the seventh month, we should have 7 days (maybe more if I think of something else…) These are all things I’ve either been asked to find money for, or have thought of on my own that I would like to help out with. Today’s request is free, others could be a donation as small as $10, and others are a little more than that, maybe something you can get a group together to donate to, talk about with your church, small group, help me get in contact with an organization or business that would be willing to help, etc…

Finally, I’ve gotten to the request for today, Please Pray!!! The Karen people will often say they don’t have much, but they do have prayer. Never in my life have I been told so often that people are praying for me. I’m even often told by my students that they are praying for me, or requesting me to pray for them.  Here’s a list of things to pray for:

-      Thailand: In a country that is around 95% Buddhist, and 1% Christian you can surely imagine the challenges. However, having previously lived in a Buddhist village where the children were taught to go through the motions of being Buddhist without learning the why, I can see where the harvest is coming. It may still be many years, but Thailand will soon be ripe for picking.

-      Huey Malai: Please pray for my village, and the outreach it has to other communities. If the school is an indication the community is at least half Buddhist if not more. Many of the people are alumni of the school, and grew up with a Christian Education, but never made the conversion. Please pray for those who are still seeking, and that the Christians can continue to reach out to them even after they leave the school. You can also pray for the Christian Hospital next door as it works to provide healing to the sick,

-      The School: There are over 600 precious children at the school this year. Please pray for the impact we are making on their lives. That it will be a good foundation for them for their futures. While many things may not sink in now, please pray that seeds will be planted in each of their lives on a daily basis. Please pray for the teachers, that we would have wisdom and guidance as we nurture these young lives, that our words would be used to build them up and encourage them. Please pray for the teachers who aren’t yet believers, that they would be impacted by the teaching as the students are and would come to know their Father one day.

-      Me: Sometimes life in the fishbowl is tough. Sure, most of the time its great, sometimes manageable, but to be honest, at times it can be tough. They are constantly watching to see what you will do, your actions and words are criticized more than others, you are expected to follow cultural norms (which you don’t know) and life can sometimes be draining. However, you can also pray for the impact I’m having in the community. More than the fact that their conversational English is improving, pray for the Christian example I can be for the students and people in the community.

-      You: Please pray for yourself as I’m hoping you will come back and read this over the next 7 days. Pray for God to speak to you and ask what it is you can do to help this community and the work being done here. Who can you send this along to? Who do you know that has the means to take on a bigger project? What smaller project can you get a group of friends together to help support? What project have I not mentioned that you are wondering if the community/school could use? My request is that you not read the first days request and jump on that one, sure, it’s important, but I would like if you would prayerfully read each days request and see what God is calling you to do. Maybe you can help in several areas, that would be awesome. Maybe you can post this so others can read it. Sharing this with you has been on my heart for a while now, and I’m praying God will put a special place in each of your hearts for this school and community.