Fillable Printable christmas newsletter - St Johns, Woodbridge
Fillable Printable christmas newsletter - St Johns, Woodbridge
christmas newsletter - St Johns, Woodbridge
Merry Christmas from
the Place of Grace
Christmas
The children
Each of the children and teenagers received a
gift bag containing a small gift, stationery,
toiletries, hair clips or a small car and some
sweets and all were thrilled! One little boy ran
up every time we called anyone’s name in
hope, and when it was finally his turn, his little
face brought a tear to our eyes. Another little
boy at the party when someone dressed as
Father Christmas held on to Father Christmas’s
thigh in a vice-like grip, and wouldn’t be
persuaded to let go until he had received his
present, so worried was he that he might go
without giving him one too.
C H R I S T M A S 2 0 1 4
Parties!
This year we held 5
Christmas parties to
include all the children
and teenagers who
regularly come to the
Place of Grace.
Presents were kindly
donated by Oundle
church and transported
for free by British
Airways, and toiletries
were given by a local
school.
The children
ildren and teenagers rec
eived a
Food
Another local school held a concert to
raise money to enable us to feed a meal to
all the children at the parties. Two local
women cooked the food and the teenagers
who were serving the food insisted on
putting aside two huge plates for Khun
John and Khun Gillian, and fought off the
other teenagers fiercely who kept trying to
eat it! (Khun is a respectful term for adults)
The teenagers
We had kept some donated blankets back to
give to the teenagers for Christmas as most live
in shacks above stale water and they were
thrilled with them. One teenage girl went out
cuddling it saying I am going to sleep so well
tonight.
The wise men
At every Christmas party we reenacted the wise
men following the star to find Jesus. We had
pictures on the wall of how they looked for
Jesus in the palace, the big house, the small
house and then found him in the stable. We
overheard two teenagers discussing who lived
in houses like the big one, (one with two
windows up and downstairs) and one teenager
said, “I don’t know, maybe that is what the
farangs (Westerners) live in!”. Then we had a
person crying because they had no present to
give to Jesus, and a wise man told them the
present Jesus really wanted was their hearts.
The Mahadthai communities foodbank at
Christmas
she had no money to buy him
another one.
The middle picture above is of a
little girl who is cared for by an
elderly lady in one of the slums
because she has no parents and the
lady felt sorry for her, even though
she struggles to feed her. This is a
story we hear often at the foodbank.
She was thrilled with her bag!
Merry Christmas from
the foodbank team!
The British Womens group in
Thailand kindly donated some
small bags for the children, with
toiletries, a cap and sunglasses in.
We started last week to give them
out as a Christmas present to the
children whose guardians come to
the foodbank. One woman, a
Buddhist, kept saying, thankyou
God, as her son had broken his
school bag just the day before and
A very special Christmas
A special meaning this year!
We asked you to pray for the teenagers
going to our Alpha away day and 12 of
the 13 prayed to accept Jesus and asked
to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Changing religion is very hard in
Thailand because Buddhism is associated
with being Thai normally. Two weeks later
we asked who now considered themselves a
Christian and 7 of the teenagers responded
keenly. When we said how has it made a
difference to your life, their answers were
amazing. They all talked about the peace
they felt, how they knew God was with
them, and some of them are simply shining!
They are simply amazing, they come with
their prayer requests, knowing God will
make a difference, and joining in praying for
each other.
Ding dong merrily on high
Tim, our minister at Christ church
has come to the place of grace to
teach the children how to play the
hand bells. He has invited the new
Christian teenagers to come and play
them at the church on Christmas Eve,
which is a special time to have their
first experience of church.
A
A
A
A
AA
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
l
l
l
l
l
l
m
m
m
m
m
m
m
m
m
m
m
m
m
m
m
m
m
m
m
m
m
m
m
m
m
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
aa
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
t
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
h
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
y
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
e
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
Please pray for these precious new Christians
after her dad died, and she felt the
presence of God on the alpha day and
wanted to cry. She now comes and asks
us to pray with her for her problems at
home and is really grateful to know
Jesus.
Please continue to pray for Mint, who is
15 and wants to be a Christian so badly,
but can’t face letting her parents down
yet by changing religion. She became
upset when she thought she couldn’t still
pray to Jesus which she has started
doing. We explained that of course she
can.
And for Mai, who writes how she loves
Jesus, but is not yet ready to change
religion, as well as Boonim and Faa, plus
Puu, who comes along to all the sessions
but hasn’t yet prayed.
We had a very moving time on the
Alpha day when we explained to the
youngsters that God loves them, and we
love them, and that won’t change if they
become Christians or not. But God
wants them to know that if they follow
him, they will never be alone again.
Here in Thailand, Christmas day is just
another day, no celebrations, and yet we
are celebrating with these youngsters this
Christmas!
For Donut, who came towards the bus
and saw the sun shining beautifully from
behind the clouds, and said: “look, God
is here with us!”
For Mo, whose face changed the day she
became a Christian, and she is so excited
to be a Christian, she is begging us for
her own bible which we have promised
to get her.
For Min, who was very unwell on the
alpha day and yet refused to stay at
home, and refused to miss out on
becoming a Christian, and loves to pray
already.
For Ten, who we mentioned in our last
newsletter, who was begging us with
tears in his eyes to pray with him to
become a Christian after he heard John’s
story.
For King, who is a real character, and
works long hours working at the age of
12, but who has noticeably changed
since becoming a Christian
For Joy, who is 19 and has had a lot of
personal troubles and yet was the first to
put her hand up to become a Christian
and is very keen to follow Jesus.
For Mai, who we know has a very
difficult time at home with her stepdad
Finally, a thank you
Thank you to all of you for walking this journey with us, praying for
us and supporting us every step of the way. We appreciate each one
of you. But we especially want to say a huge thank you to the
amazing church link people, who take the time to encourage us
regularly and pass on our news to the
churches, to ensure we receive support and
prayers. Thank you, we are so thankful to
God for each of you!
Th
us
of
am
