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Protect a Child

Category: GNI International Partners

The Life of a Child in HOB

What does a typical week look like for the children in House of Blessing? During the week, from May-March, the children go to school. Amber helps them with their homework, especially their English homework. The children enjoy going to Amber’s to bake cookies but it’s also a time where only English is spoken and the kids have fun learning and laughing.

Saturday is outreach day when the kids from HOB help Josh lead kids ministry outreach in various villages and communities. The older kids are leading the Bible teaching and the younger kids like to get involved in leading worship! Sunday evening, the team gets together to plan what will happen on Saturday. Friday evening they meet again to make sure everyone is prepared before going out the next day.

Sunday is a day for Bible study and worship at church. Even after the church service is over, sometimes the little kids like to stay up front and sing their little hearts out as they continue in spontaneous worship of their risen Savior! Some weeks, they go to the local youth worship service as well. When with youth from other churches, Josh and Julie see the leadership abilities shine amongst the HOB kids.

Proverbs 22:6 says to train a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Let’s continue to pray for these children to grow in God and for the leaders as they train them.

November Birthday Celebration

Every child loves to be remembered on their birthday-even adults do, although we sometimes don’t want to count the years.  It makes us feel special to be remembered.  Furthermore, it gives us reason to pause and thank God for another year of His grace and blessings.  Everyone at the House of Blessing gathers around the birthday people and prays for them.  Often, in Thailand, they all pray at once, thanking God and laying out their requests.

This month, Amber baked special cakes and the kids were all able to go to a Korean BBQ restaurant-one of their favourites!  Each individual goes to the smorgasboard and chooses the meats, vegetables and noodles they want to cook.  On each table, a BBQ is placed-the bottom has coals and the top has a dome to cook the meat and a moat around the edge to cook the vegetables and noodles.

ENGAGING A BIGGER OPPORTUNITY FOR LIFE CHANGE

 

My trip to Thailand was both productive and timely.  It was great to reconnect with our partners in northern Thailand and Myanmar.  I had some great moments with my daughter Amber and when my son-in-law James Martin visited, we learned much about doing construction in Thailand.

One of the reasons I went was to go further with Josh & Julie in helping them purchase land for which we fundraised late last fall. After much consideration and prayer, we realized the original parcel of land wasn’t ideal for building on. The type of people the House of Blessing serves are very sensitive to spirits and being in close proximity to a crematorium is not ideal. This, combined with the scope of bringing in a road and power to the site, ramps up the cost considerably. With several other reasons for not building there added to these, we decided to look at other options.

Another big factor that came to light (which we just learned about) is that in order to get legal “foster care” status, the House of Blessing would need to move to an appropriate facility ASAP.  They are currently renting a number of small townhouse buildings to house the children. We learned that these homes, being situated in an open village will not likely pass Thai law for foster homes.  We also do want to help them find a facility that is secure as possible.  So, we looked at other fields and potential sites. There weren’t too many options available in our price range. We saw one dream site with buildings and fruit trees on it, but it has been promised to another group. We were told that even renting this facility on an interim basis wasn’t possible.

Shortly after I returned to Canada, Josh and Julie discovered another site. It was formerly occupied by a German based Christian mission. This 11 rai (4.35 acre) site has been vacant for quite a while (4 years) and there is much work to do to bring it up to speed but Josh and Julie saw beyond the dirt and mould and saw great potential. Going with the rental will help them get legal status for a foster home. When Amber saw the site, she said “Dad, this is perfect!” Maybe one day God will let us buy it! That is my hope too,  but, for now, we praise God that he has provided the resources to rent it.

This site has an existing fish pond, pig barn and chicken coop for helping with sustainability. They can plant vegetable gardens and there are fruit trees on site to help feed the kids. There is a village nearby and schools for the children remain readily accessible.   There is capacity to grow, and we praise God for his goodness!

Blessings in Jesus,

Rob Griffioen

President | GNI Ministries

New Home

With Steve* bringing 5 orphans home from the opium fields, his house was bursting at the seams.  Thankfully, Steve is not only a great evangelist but also a hard worker.  He has just built a bigger home to house the 8 children he and his wife are caring for.  With very little cost, some community labour, help from family, the house is built next to their church.  Their simple lifestyle sets them apart to make a great difference for God’s glory!

*Name changed to protect him.