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Meeting the Rescuer and Sewing for Hope

In September GNIM helped enable the rescue of three more children; two in eastern Myanmar and one in Thailand. To us, each of these children represent a way for us to demonstrate the love of Christ in practical ways.

The children in Myanmar were recently orphaned and at great risk of exploitation. A Christian lady was nudged by the divine hand of God to intervene in the lives of two orphans she had heard word about. Their mother had died when they were young. Their father died in June. We aren’t sure of the details of how this lady found these kids, but she knew they needed help, and fast. The militia army is actively recruiting young kids and the woman was well aware of this. She knew that the fate of a young girl of 13 could be much more horrifying than just a generous cash opportunity for the army. Through a relative, the lady heard of our ministry home doing gospel driven prevention of human trafficking and that they had a safe house. As soon as our leader was contacted, he made us aware about this situation, seeking counsel and prayer. God had stirred their hearts hugely. Discerning the danger the children were in, we agreed. The rescue swiftly got under way and the children are now doing well in their new home.

Similarly in northern Thailand, Chiang Mai province, our Thai partners saw a need in two tribal villages that they had been connecting with. These villages are encountering a plague of drug addiction and abuse. Children as young as 7 are seen sniffing glue and gasoline. Others are caught up in dealing methamphetamines. They also discovered a young 12 year old girl being constantly exposed to sexual predation. By God’s grace, they have been able to remove this girl from this predicament and, with GNIM’s help, have placed her in their own safe home.

For us, these precious souls are not just more mouths to feed. By God’s grace, we hope to help them stay safe, gain identification, go to school and best of all – learn first hand about who their true Rescuer is – our Lord Jesus Christ.

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Last month, through support from GNIM, our Thai partners started up a project called “Sewing for Hope.” In this, they are providing training for women and young girls. This sewing project initiative seeks to empower vulnerable women and young people in a rural village by equipping them with practical skills, protecting them from exploitation, and opening doors to a sustainable future. The project is guided by two primary goals:

  1. To equip the most at-risk women and youth with sewing skills, opportunities for healing, and pathways toward income generation.
  2. To create a safe, supportive community where women can gather, learn, build trust, and encounter Jesus through authentic relationships.

The program will unfold in two stages: a general group open to all interested women, and a focused group dedicated to mentoring and long-term empowerment.

By combining practical sewing training with personal support, prayer, and Christ-centred mentoring, the project offers both immediate community benefits and long-term opportunities for independence. With an investment of approximately $350–$420 CAD per month, plus one-time equipment support, this initiative can change lives by providing dignity, hope, and pathways to sustainable futures.

If God leads you to help support this ministry, please click or press on this link ➡ SEWING for HOPE

Miracle 25 Success!

A Great Day for a Miracle!

God gave us a beautiful day for the Miracle 25 triathlon bike-a-thon, walk-a-thon and Kid’s Fun Triathlon. By the end of the day over $21,800 was raised for refuge. This came up to $26,725 in the week that followed. These donations help to advance our cause of gospel driven prevention of human trafficking in Southeast Asia, providing funds especially for refuge for 24 children in the Uncountable Grace Myanmar home.  This came in addition to a generous provision of $25,000 (a matching donation) early on for the Turning Point Youth Centre in Meadow Lake.  

We couldn’t have done this without the generous support of many people and volunteers from the Lower Mainland of BC to Alberta, to Saskatchewan and even Manitoba.   Thank you! It also took many volunteers to help make this a fun event for the people. 

We also are deeply grateful for the prizes donated from these Meadow Lake businesses:

  • Home Hardware
  • Co-op
  • No Frills
  • Meadow Lake Golf Club
  • The General Bait and Tackle Store
  • Fields
  • Red Apple
  • Giant Tiger
  • Geek’n Out
  • Madills
  • Solitude
  • Abundant Living Health Food Store
  • Parkland Dental

We want to give a special shout out to two participants from the Meadow Lake area (Dwayne Voth and Trevor Howell) who raised up many sponsors.  Dwayne completed the 10km walk on stilts (no easy feat!).

Every participant walked received a custom cut medallion.  Big thanks to Darren and Lynda Letkeman for helping us make these custom cut awards. 

Other organizations who provided assistance and a lot of fun we are grateful for are:

  • Meadow Lake Fire & Rescue
  • Meadow Lake Ambulance
  • Meadow Lake RCMP
  • Flying Dust First Nation
  • Meadow Lake Aquatic Centre 

The fire department and ambulance crews brought out their mascots, Sparky and Trauma-Sorus .  With Dwayne on stilts they formed part of the Kid’s Fun Triathlon.   The United Church volunteers and Flying Dust First Nation helped our bike-a-thon participants safely cross the roads and highway. The fire department’s slip-and-slide was a huge hit at Lion’s Park. 

Many volunteers helped make the Kid’s Fun Triathlon a special day in the Meadow Lake Aquatic Centre and with games, face-painting, and tons of activities at Lion’s Park.

Martin Bishop provided excellent service with sound and music. Live praise and worship rang out from the Pineridge Ford Theatre. Rob and Judy Griffioen spoke on how God led them into the cause of gospel driven prevention of human trafficking with GNI Ministries. Stories were shared of hope for broken lives and marriages .   The Good News of Jesus was proclaimed. 

All in all, we count this the Miracle 25 fundraiser a great success and thank God and all who participated and gave for this provision.  – Rob & Judy Griffioen

Join us for the Miracle 25 “Raise it For Refuge” Event

Save the Date (August 23, 2025)

In 2022, my wife Judy, who suffers from Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), carefully trained for and ran a half marathon to help raise support for GNIM.   She ran the course with our four children and 2 other friends and was doing well until the final kilometre.  Extreme pain set in on a downhill section and just about took her out of the run.  She managed to finish on her feet with her son Jon and daughter Amber propping her up. Amber made a video of this run that you can access here:  MIRACLE 21. Her goals were met, including raising over $21,000 to help keep kids safe through our ministries in Thailand and Myanmar.  But something new was happening, the unrelenting pain of CRPS was now in her legs.

Judy has suffered much since then. She’s been advised (following x-rays and and MRI) that she needed hip surgery, only later to be strongly warned by her orthopaedic surgeon not to go the surgical route (due to CRPS).  She’s had much prayer and even periods of healing in answer to prayer since then.  However, the pain is never far away.  Most evenings she massages her legs to help manage the fiery pain in nerves.  

In the fall of 2023 we moved to Saskatchewan with Judy’s mom, who was in need of full care and found a good care home there.  The stress of the move weighed heavily on Judy and in the months that followed the pain only seemed to be getting worse. This was complicated by a serious bout of pneumonia in the fall 2024 while we were ministering in Thailand.   But, even so, Judy wants to help.

This spring, for her birthday, she asked God for a special present.  She asked if the Lord would let her run a triathlon, train 25 weeks for it (under medical supervision) and raise $25,000 to help keep our kids in Myanmar in refuge.  That’s a BIG ask!  Even so, Judy has faith in our God who is much bigger than this.  

We also made this a fun event for the whole family to participate in (see poster below).  Now that the event is done and the funds were raised, we want to thank God for all of you who donated and/or participated in this event.

Rob Griffioen, President of GNI Ministries

In Awe of How God Works!

He is the "Way Maker, Miracle worker and Promise Keeper!"

Our first “MIRACLE 25” campaign miracle!

Excitement and bewilderment rang through the voice that had just called me. I tried hard to make out what was actually being said. The church we are attending had just received a cheque for the full amount of 25,000 dollars, to be our GNI Donor match going toward supporting our Youth Centre in town. The woman on the phone told me they had never seen such a miracle like this in all of the church’s history. You see, where we live in Meadow Lake, we don’t have a lot of wealthy people, or have businesses that donate toward Christian charities. The next miracle was that the anonymous donor had responded through word of mouth, and didn’t even live in this province. They knew nothing of GNI, or the Youth Centre, but God prompted them to be part of our MIRACLE 25 campaign.

The exciting thing about when God shows up and does a miracle in a small town, the news spreads everywhere! Please keep praying for our community, God is up to something far greater than we can see right now. Every where I go, and every connection I make, I feel God’s favour and smile. We trust God without a doubt that He will provide everything we need to keep our GNI kids in refuge, for He is the one who rescued them and placed them in a loving, God fearing home. God is the way maker, miracle worker and promise keeper!! -JudyG