Chiang Mai Visit
We have just returned from our visit to Chiang Mai. Jet lag has slowed us down, but we are gradually adjusting.
We were able to see the improvements that have been made at Gethsemane Home, especially with the new land purchase. Titus also shared with us his vision for outreach to several Lahu Sha-leh villages in Northern Thailand in the upcoming year.
We were excited to celebrate Christmas and New Years with our family at Gethsemane Home.
In future newsletters we will share several of our experiences during the past two weeks and upcoming projects.
If you would like us to share the work of Under the Son with your congregation or organization, you can contact us by email or phone.
Thank You!
We want to thank everyone who donated money and supplies for us to take to Thailand. We filled five large suitcases with jeans, shoes, school supplies, and other Christmas gifts.
The children at Gethsemane Home were excited to receive Christmas gifts. Backpacks and school supplies were also distributed to many children at Huai Pong village.
Evangelizing to Ahka People
One of the many things Donella and Steve have learned about Titus is that he is a spiritual leader among many of the hill tribe people. In December Titus was asked to go to the village of Su Rut Thai because seven people wanted to become Christians. Su Rut Thai is an Akha village 160 km north of Chiang Mai in the Fang district. Before the baptisms could be performed, the stream had to be dammed up to make the water deep enough.
Huai Pong Renovations
Over the past year, Moses and Yuree have put a great deal of effort into telling the children of Huai Pong village about Jesus. The building they use for teaching is also where they sleep when staying there. It became evident that a partition was needed to give them a bedroom and some personal space. A new ceiling was installed and a bedroom created with the addition of an interior wall.
Friendship Intensive English Week
The article below was written by our friend, Robert Reagan. Robert works with Payap Christian Zone. The Zone travels to Gethsemane Home each week to provide English tutoring. Casalyn is one of the children at Gethsemane Home.
I’ve been helping teach English to Casalyn at Gethsemane Home for the past six months. The university students I take there each week to help teach English are simply continuing to build on the great foundation laid by Steve and Donella before they moved back to the US.
Casalyn is brilliant. She is such a fast learner and her sweet personality is so endearing. When I realized that her comprehension level was really high, I decided to ask her to join a one-week intensive English week that I lead twice a year with high school students who are from the people group called Karen. These students are from Myanmar, but have fled over into Thailand to seek refuge and to seek an opportunity to further their education. 
These students are precious and they are highly motivated to improve their lives. So is Casalyn. So it seemed like the perfect match to ask Casalyn to join all the activities of the week.
Recently Casalyn joined about 20 other students for Friendship Intensive English Week at the Christian Zone building in Chiang Mai. It was great to see how quickly she fit in with the other students and to see her determination to do well. She also shined when we did a special outreach for orphan children. The whole week she kept a great attitude and was always willing to lend a helping hand. By the end of the week, I could see that she was more confident and comfortable when speaking and singing in the English language. Since Casalyn had such a good experience, I hope that other high school students at Gethsemane Home can join this event in the future.
– Robert Reagan, Christian Zone, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Made In Thailand
We are pleased to announce that several items made in Thailand can be purchased at The Nesting Place in Maryville. A special thank you to Teresa Hayes for making this possible. Stop by and check out the products. All proceeds will go to Gethsemane Home in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
