Leatha Project

Malawi is a country in the southern part of Africa where The Leatha Orphanage is located. Pastor Thomas Tambula, along with the help of women in their village, care for 31 full time orphans. Not only is Thomas caring for these orphans, but he is consistently traveling throughout villages, sharing the gospel and planting churches.

The Leatha Orphanage was established in 2006, and Thomas’ ministry has been supported financially by Mark and Leatha Arant since 2003. Along with The Salt Company’s yearly donation, this is the orphanage’s only source of financial support.

The Leatha Project was established in order to meet the needs of the orphanage that The Salt Company supports. We want this to be more than a yearly donation. We want Salt Company students to be able to take part in the work God is doing in Malawi. The Leatha Project is a way for students to provide financially and prayerfully as the body of Christ.

Since the Leatha Project began in the fall of 2009, students have come together with generous hearts and have raised over $10,000 for this ministry.This past summer, The Leatha Project Team, made up of 5 college students, traveled to Malawi to get a first-hand look at The Leatha Orphanage. This team spent 4 weeks in Malawi, learning about the culture, how the orphanage works, and how The Leatha Project can move forward in assisting this orphanage in achieving self-sustainability.

Check their blog Here. (Tons of Pics)

James 1:27 — Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Prayer: 31 kids can get expensive, even in Malawi. We need to pray that this group’s faith in God’s provision would continue to last, and that they would be able to see the money and volunteers come in to properly raise all of these children. Also pray for the safety of the kids, as Malawi is found in Central Africa, which is not recognized as one of the safest places on our planet. Finally pray for the leaders and volunteers. They have their hands full, but they know that they are living up to God’s plan for them. Pray for constant endurance and satisfaction in God’s work at the orphanage.

Action: These guys are not just talking about action, but doing it. They believe that God is faithful to provide. Pray your socks off, and see if you think God is leading you to give. I know someone involved, so if you are interested in supporting the 31 orphans shoot me an email at xmilanojx@gmail.com, and I will help you get in contact with the right people.

Child Porn

as we strolled along beach street, we passed plenty of vendors selling pirated dvds. as jordan was looking through some stacks, we soon realized at least half of the selection was pornography if not more. what was even more disturbing was most of it was really young girls. apparently ‘lolita’ is the new rage..child pornography of girls under ten years old.

makes you kind of sick to your stomach doesn’t it? we read an article in the thai news about it. some reporters went undercover to investigate and realized that police know about it, they just don’t enforce any law against it. it’s all out in the open, for tourists and locals to see as they walk down the streets of thailand. i don’t get it..do those policemen not have daughters of their own? do they not realize that they are promoting one of the saddest things that could ever happen to a kid by ignoring the problem..

it’s not fair. i know i can’t expect life to be fair, but this?.. before they’ve even gone through puberty, they’re being treated as a sex object. they’re degraded to nothing more than a momentary pleasure. they are worth so much more than this…and they may never know it.

how do we combat such an evil? jordan and i did some research on how to go about such a thing, and from other reports, oftentimes the people who try to shut down child pornography end up getting in trouble for being involved with it. it makes no sense. it’s all so corrupt and so secretive. but we can’t just let it continue.

i know talking about it and raising awareness helps a little, but honestly—it’s not enough. telling people isn’t going to make it stop. we all know human trafficking is a huge problem. we’ve heard there are more slaves today than any other time in history. we see the commercials with the sad little kids in africa with flies in their eyes. we know it’s out there. so why aren’t we doing more.

these girls need someone to fight for them. they can’t do it themselves. i want to fight. they are worth everything.

By Honor Heindl

For more info, and the articles that we have seen about child porn here in Bangkok, check the links below.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/199391/child-porn-on-streets-stirs-outrage

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/200579/child-porn-on-sale-despite-crac

http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/200707/get-rid-of-the-porn-displays

Rice Seeds

Location: Small village in the middle of a field not too far from Ratchaburi, Thailand.

Leader(s): Noiy and Bronwin Prommathat, the sole long term staff of YWAM Ratchaburi.

Background: Located only a short distance from the Thailand – Myanmar boarder, Ratchaburi is the home of some 30,000 Thais, as well as a small population of Mons, the original people of Myanmar. The Burmese people, currently the powerful majority in Myanmar, have made a habit of discriminating against the Mons, especially in the hiring process. The Mons face similar discrimination in Thailand, but instead of being left jobless in poor Myanmar, they are just given the jobs that are considered the worst of the worst in Thailand.

Mons also are not allowed to ever get citizenship in Thailand, making it impossible to go about everyday life without facing trouble from the Thai government or police. Mons often tell tales of police stopping them and demanding money in order to be able to carry on. One Mon woman I talked to explained how she couldn’t get a proper license for her motorbike due to her background, and how the police will stop her just to repeatedly take her 100 Baht payment for freedom.

Mon children also face discrimination, even through the education system. The majority drop out after sixth grade, largely due to the fact that the Thai education system refuses to give a certificate to Mons after completion of high school. They figure they have learned enough by sixth grade to get by in the working world, so they join the rest of their families laboring to make enough money to get by.

Mission: Noiy and Bronwin have spent countless hours with the Mon villagers, and they understand the troubles they face. The see that dropping out of school is not a sign of negligence or laziness from the Mons, but actually just a means to make it. At the same time, they know that completely high school isn’t just about the certificate of completion. Although the certificate is important, they want to see this children at least complete school with a higher level of education as well as more developed life skills. Noiy and Bronwin have set up the child sponsorship program, Rice Seeds’ goal is to see the students continue past grade six, and not be a financial burden to their families. The supply the students with enough money to cover their transportation, meals, and school supplies.

Each week Noiy also goes and teaches a Bible lesson to the students, and they are required to attend the lesson each week in order to receive their sponsorship money.

Current Situation: There are 18 students total as part of the sponsorship program, and it costs $30 a month per student. That means that about a dollar a day provides their food, transportation, and school supplies. The trouble is that only four people have pledged to $30 a month for the sponsorship program. Noiy and Bronwin have a strong desire to see these children succeed, so they take the deficit of the sponsorship program out of their own budget each month, even though neither of them have income since they are full time missionaries.

Noiy and Bronwin have already seen three students choose to continue on through high school and hope that more will follow.

Prayer: The obvious prayer request is that more people would be led to sponsor these outcast children. This is very important as it would take a huge financial burden off of Noiy and Bronwin, as well as the families of this Mon village. Another request is that the schooling would turn into a future generation of Mons who are financially stable in a way that their parents had no opportunity to be. The final prayer request is that Noiy and Bronwin’s hospitality, along with the weekly Bible lessons, would be an open outpouring of God’s love to these people. God loves them, so we pray the through Noiy and Bronwin they would start to tangibly feel that love.

If anyone is interested in getting involved in sponsorship, email me at xmilanojx@gmail.com

Little Dress For Africa (Repost)

me – “Wanna write a little blurb about it for Bring The Kingdom”

erika – “Uhhm. Sure, but I’m a horrible writer”

me – “Write it anyways. It is a sweet story.”

Erika – “Alright.”

and a couple weeks later still no story. Either way, she has made up for herself by making this dress. Here is the rundown, as I understand it.

Erika Smith is a fashion major at ISU, and in one of her classes she was given the opportunity to make a dress for a little African. The mission: Instill worth in this girls heart. That is pretty rad. She worked through an organization called Little Dresses for Africa (http://www.littledressesforafrica.org/blog/). Being that Erika is a fashion designer extraordinaire, it is obvious that whatever little girly gets this dress will be quite pleased.

This organization keeps things about as simple as possible, just the way I like it. The best way I can think to pray for them is as follows.

1. Pray that they will continue to gain recognition, not for their gain, but for the gain of the children who need pretty clothes.
2. Pray that the children will see this not as a pity handout, but as a true token of their worth.

Ruth Center (Repost)

Strange as it may seem, the elderly are one of the most forgotten people groups in Thailand, as well as other places around the world. More than one million elderly people reside in Bangkok alone, without most people raising an arm. When a spouse dies, what used to be just enough is suddenly gone, leaving many of the elderly working extremely hard just to get by. The Ruth Center focuses on how to help these people on both a physical level and a spiritual level.

From another angle, when a rescue worker has to choose an order to save three trapped people, they would start with the one who’s situation is nearest its climax. They want to get the most endangered out as soon as possible, and then deal with the rest. As morbid as it may sound at first glance, that is a strategy behind the Ruth Center. Although they may have been on earth longer than most, these peoples souls are eternal just like the rest. With this in mind, it is important to start focussing on how to bring the elderly to Christ sooner, rather than later.

To reach their peak performance, the Ruth Center sneaks in one last bit of strategy that often goes overlooked. During their time of helping the elderly, they make possible a way for the younger generations to learn important skills. A prime example of this: Jeremy, a Ruth Center worker, brings along Nat, a young boy he mentors, to many of the job sites. He not only wants to help the elderly, but he wants to give Nat knowledge and example that he cant learn on his own.

Basically, and unprofessionally, the Ruth Center rocks. They are reaching between generations to show God’s love.

Their prayer requests are as follows:

• Pray for God to keep transforming the lives of the elderly in Bangkok.
• Pray for more people to come and help Ruth Center reach out to the elderly of Bangkok.

King’s Kids Thailand (Repost)

Yesterday Honor and I had the opportunity to visit a ministry called King’s Kids here in Bangkok. Essentially it is a program to help poor children who’s parents have no interest in teaching them about life.

We went to their neighborhood to pick them up, played with them for a bit, sat and listened as they got talked to in Thai, and then helped distribute milk and vitamins to them. Apparently the way the program works is by giving the kids and incentive to attend, study, and apply what they learn. If the kids ace all of those categories at the end of a three month period they get to go on a field trip to a zoo or amusement park. That is pretty sweet.

I didn’t get to hear very many of the stories, but the ones I did hear were quite heavy. One of the boys currently lives with his mother and step-father, and because he isn’t the son of that marriage, they chain him to a wall while the younger children play. His parents let him leave for King’s Kids because it takes them off of their hands.

Another one of the boys, at age nine, tried to kill himself to get away from his messed up home life. He was unsuccessful, and shortly after his attempt, he met Ek. Ek is the man who runs King’s Kids, and through a little love he convinces the young boy his life was worth living.

These are just two of the multiple hope stories coming from King’s Kids. Here is what they say about themselves.

“King’s Kids Thailand was started in 1999 by people who had a heart to minister to Thai children, youth, and families by helping them to grow deeper in relationship with God; and to see them bring joy to His heart. Through our programs and activities we have seen any lives changed. Some individuals have become leaders of ministries in churches.

We blieve God’s desire is for all young people to discover their destiny and fulsill their potential in Him – to have a hope and a future. God’s heart’s desire is to release young people of all nations to go to the ends of the earth to make a difference.

King’s Kids has 4 main goals in reaching out to the youth of Thailand:

• Mobilize them through camps and outreaches, giving them opportunities to share and live their faith
• Disciple them through discipleship programs
• Share the love of God with youth that have never experienced that love.
• Care for them

Please pray for:

• The staff members – That God will fill them with wisdom, and strong sense of unity
• Ministry planning for King’s Kids, for the PCYM school and for the ongoing camps that King’s Kids runs.
• Inspiration for new and exciting ways to minister to the youth of Thailand”