愛門徒之家
2018 Year End Report
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. James 1:27 NIV
In 2018 we pressed on to carry out this teaching stated in James 1:27. FOLD is thankful to report that we were able to support the boarding cost for 60 children at Home of the Blessed Orphanage for the entire year. One of the greatest blessings on the mission field is witnessing the beautiful and innocent laughter of these precious children during our visitations. And with each visit we witness their growth and maturity in the stature of Jesus. Nine of these precious souls have started junior high school this year. Praise the Lord! We are thankful to be able to take care of all their educational needs as well with our supporters’ loving donations.
FOLD is also pleased to report on the progress of our college students. One will be graduating with honors from Rajabaht University’s Chinese major at the end of this school year. Two 2nd year students are braving their semester finals at the same university. Two more students are finishing up their 2nd and 3rd year of training at the Chiang Rai Technical College, respectively in culinary arts and hotel management. Then there are three students who are completing their 2nd year of training at the College of Agriculture.
In the upcoming year we are hoping to support five more college level students. We already know of three hill tribe young people who would like to go on to higher education but has neither family support nor the means to do so. There are also two students who expressed strong desire to attend seminaries to prepare themselves as ministers. The hope of training up godly disciples of Jesus is great in the coming years.
In addition to financial provision, spiritual guidance, and academic support, meeting the various daily needs of our students is what takes the majority of our time. Taking them to have their vision examined, accompanying them on dental appointments, tutoring them on school work, be there for their citizenship hearings, or even trying to find their lost cell phones with them...helping the hill tribe young people involves anything and everything one can imagine. FOLD is trying hard to realize our mission statement, “To form a spiritual family that come alongside the poor and underprivileged young people in Northern Thailand area by providing guidance, counsel, practical and spiritual support based on the teaching from God and generating young disciples of Jesus Christ.”
This type of mission work is a long-term commitment that requires persistent prayer and support from brothers and sister all over the world. In 2019, may we seek your prayers for:
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Our family to grow physically and spiritually stronger for this mission work.
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Our supported students to find success in schools and draw closer to Christ.
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Stephen to be given more opportunities to train up disciples of Jesus using systematic teaching of God’s Word.
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Wendy to affect students at the Chiang Rai International Christian School on both academics and spiritual fronts.
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Adequate funding to continue our mission work to help the hill tribe young people. Our funding goal this year is to be able:
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To support 5 more college level students (including 2 Bible college candidates ), bringing our college level students’ number to 13.
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To support the 60 orphans at Home of the Blessed orphanage (including boarding and educational costs)
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To send students on retreats, trainings, and foreign exchange programs (for those in foreign language majors) to further their trainings.
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Our 2019 funding estimate comes to $60,000 USD
We are also extremely thankful for the chance to purchase a much needed vehicle for our mission work in 2018. We were able to purchase a reliable 2003 Isuzu Dmax pickup truck. Even though the age of this vehicle seems longstanding, but its previous owners have driven it very little and have taken very good care of it. With a rear passenger conversion, the Isuzu can carry 13 people in comfort on the mission field. This pickup has been put to very good use taking students on outings, school trips, yardwork, hospital visits, even border crossings.