Samson grew up in Paday Village only a hop, step and jump from Lucee village. As Samson grew up and as his faith grew he knew he wanted to go to Lucee Village to somehow share with the Karen village the message of the Christian faith. His hope was not to persuade them from their Buddhism but to serve them and to allow them the freedom of choice in their faith. When Samson first went to this village a few years back the Karen there fired their guns into the air to let Samson and his friends know the Christian message was not welcome. Samson was not deterred and where many Christians have continued to pass by and ignore the village, Samson and others have found ways to enter again and continue to serve the Karen in the village. Now with the talk of buying land and setting up a home that would educate, embrace and empower Karen children Samson’s mind went immediately to Lucee Village. In the process of visiting the village, wondering if there were any possibilities for land there, Samson reunited with a past friend. This friend had become burdened to serve Lucee village and had begun coming to the village to teach the children Karen and some English. He and Samson talked and found their common interest to serve the Karen people. They joined hearts and minds and dreams quickly and want to work together – so now there are two leaders that Connect has ‘connected’ with! Arjarn (teacher) Ponpon (Samson’s friend) then told Samson of land that would be perfect for Baan Puk Dek Nakrean. The land is about 2 acres – smaller than what we thought but big enough. It already has a dam on it and borders a creek controlled by a larger dam – this makes water no problem for the school. It has mango trees, citrus trees, coconut trees and more all bearing fruit – it is really a great fit for the school. It happens to be in the middle of the village and at the edge is a volleyball court put up by the Thai government. As yet no money has been taken from the Connect account. Colin and I support ourselves and volunteers are exactly that – volunteers. Currently there is about $22000 in the Connect account with $6000 given specifically for a car for Baan Puk Dek Nakrean. That leaves $16 000 and how much does the land cost? $15 500. This land originally had a price tag of $25000 but after Samson spoke to the owner, explaining its use, the cost was reduced. The step to buy this however did not come easily, on Tuesday (handover day) we will own land but won’t have much in the way of funds to begin building. So, we ask again for continued generosity to this work. All of your gifts will go directly to building. (Except if you are sponsoring children - that money will be used to set the students up when they arrive and will continue to fund their schooling and living expenses). Thank you so much for all that you have given, we have been humbled by the support for this project. We understand that we will go slowly in this project. We will begin building with bamboo to keep costs as low as possible and add onto buildings as funds come in. We hope to at least build a girl and boys dorm and possibly a kitchen/eating area, as well as toilets this month. We will only need a few thousand dollars to accomplish this. Samson and Arjarn Ponpon are very excited, as are many in Lucee village. We spent a night out at the village on Saturday and helped Arjarn Ponpon and Samson with teaching the children. The parents and grandparents in the village are ecstatic about the hope this teaching and the school brings to their children and now don’t mind that bible is taught also. The villages are coming to listen and learn as well. We were brought gifts of pineapples and coffee, flowers and papaya, sometimes given by people who didn’t smile, look very apprehensive, but wanted to express thanks. It was absolutely mind-blowing! Next week we will go and live on the land – we will begin clearing the land, trusting that God will give the money to buy materials to start building.
A note on sponsorship. We have had a bit of a change in the timeline and students that will come in our first year. Sorry – but this is pioneering work and that often means confusion until things find a rhythm. Some of you have not received the photos and details of your child - even though I have sent them. If you have not received your child’s details, please send me a quick email. Added to that- due to the fact that our students are refugees in Thailand they are reliant upon ID cards to allow them to travel outside their province. Some of the students have applied for ID to allow them to travel but this has not been granted. We have to do a reshuffle with students and will have to possibly resend photos and details. We suspect we can not do this until the end of April. The students will come and camp on the land with us and work alongside us (building their school) on the 5th of April and then we will begin to know exactly who has been able to get ID or not. Please be patient as we sort this out. Feel free to write letters or send photos, but these may need to be general for now rather than to specific students.
Above all.....please pray. Pray for the Karen of Lucee village. Pray for the students to recieve ID cards. Pray that the sale of the land will go through on Tuesday. Pray for Colin and I and our children and pray for David, Lexie, Janet and Ken - all in Thailand building with us during April.
The photos below show you ‘our’ (yours, ours and the Karen) land. There are also a couple of photos showing you the people of Lucee Village. Arjarn Ponpon is teaching and Samson is translating for me as I preach
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