Well, the Christmas party was awesome. Thank you for all your prayers.
We had about eighty or ninety kids show up, maybe more. I didn't actually get the final tally. And being that we were only thirty minutes behind schedule for our part of things, that's doing it pretty well I'd say.
We had opening speeches and then sang songs with everyone. Up on the house top and Rudolph. Then we got in to groups and played bingo, and pictionary, sang carols, and made ornaments. After a short break with snacks, we did a small skit of the birth story, watched a great video that Rob made asking people what they thought Christmas was, or what it meant to them. Then P.Sinn and I got up and he translated for me as I explained why Christmas is so important and told them about the new group we are starting.
After that the English department gave away like 20 gifts and we took a final group picture. BK gave away bags that had Hope videos, pencils and other things in them. And that was it. We had like 30 kids give us their email addresses for more information about the group. And speaking of that, I will be referring to the new group by name from now on.
Ton Kla (sounds like tohn glah)
It's the name for seedlings that are grown up for the purpose of being transplanted to grow somewhere else, usually trees. It comes from the various parable about seed, especially the one about having the faith of a mustard seed. It also has meaning in that we are an off shoot of BK (which kanoon is also a type of tree), and that our primary goal is to train up Thai leaders to go out grow where they land. It also means brave or something, I'm unclear on that meaning.
Here is where we stand on with the group right now. We have put a request into NCU to use some of their facilities, and we would probably rent them so that the school isn't endorsing religious organizations, so that we could potentially meet on campus for the first couple of weeks.
We also went out and started looking at houses and townhouses to rent (or if need be, buy) so that we can have a permanent location in Hang Dong.
People have been asking me what kind of support we need. Right now prayer is at the top of the list.
Financially we're going to need some support as well. But I don't know what that looks like just yet. I'm trying to find out what the best approach there will be.
I want to keep this legally legit. I should know more about that side of things by the end of this week.
But praying, that's the main thing we need now. Pray that the doors will open where they need to and slam shut where they need to. Pray for us as our first meeting will be this coming friday.
I'll also be starting up a couple of facebook groups, one for people in the states to stay abreast of developments and changes. One for people here who want to go to the group, which will be updated with events and such.
I'm crazy excited right now. The places this could go are astounding. Pray for le that I don't try to run ahead but keep the pace set out for me.
Love yall. More updates more often these days. It's very much needed.
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