A time to plant

At Hope Home we are praising God for the wonderful opportunity to develop the community playground further with the help of two volunteers/ long term friends who bring their dedication, skills and expertise to any project. This is their 5th visit to us over 10 years and we are so appreciative of their love and care. This time around we have been blessed with two pergolas and two smaller gateways around our main grass area, and these will be adorned with beautiful and aromatic trailling plants and be a hanging place for sensory areas as the children go around the area. We also now have a functioning wheelchair accessible vegetable gardening area - all ready for the children to begin planting. The children have already chosen what they want to try to grow and in the next few weeks their education lessons on how plants grow will become very practical too.

The children are learning how to be responsible for helping living things grow and survive. Two of the boys are becoming much better at the morning and evening watering, and they also helped us choose the plants to buy on a day when school had an extra holiday again!

We value the opportunity to help raise these precious children, and as an integral part of that teach them about God's love and care for us through creation and of our responsibility to be good stewards of the land too. In the same way we also value all opportunities to teach them, and the staff, about spiritual growth and how to become rooted in Christ as our Saviour and Lord. The seeds of God's word and I trust, our daily living example as Christians, we trust fall on good fertile soil and will grow and mature. The staff are enjoying and participating more each month in the daily devotional times, and also our monthly visits to Thai church too. Pray for a harvest in each soul, of the children and the staff, and for their hearts to be open and ready to receive the Good News.

As I reflect on the parable of the sower (Matthew 13) or of the four soils, I am challenged to consider what actions, or inactions / words or silence on my part are creating-is it fertile ground for seed to be sown and grow, or is it shallow or stony or full of weeds (distractions). I pray for the wisdom, and the courage too to speak into situations with God's love and grace, and to foster fertile places for the people I meet and work alongside to mature and be rooted and be safe.

Please pray too for the ongoing ministry areas of the Social Development Services Unit of the Church of Christ in Thailand. Despite diminshing staff numbers their 5 year planning meeting was positive and the desire to keep reaching out to vulnerable communities in all aspects of social and sustainable development remains strong. Agricultural projects remain a high feature, encouraging church and wider communities to be good stewards of the land. Pray for God's word to be spread clearly through not only the spoken word, but also through the practical ways SDSU and their partners come alongside people in their times of need.

Praise God for opportunities to speak and demonstrate God's love into the lives of the staff and children at Hope Home, and into communities through SDSU ministries and pray for new life in Christ.

Pray for open hearts and minds to hear and receive His teaching.

Pray for the ongoing health of people during the pollution season in Northern Thailand in particular.

Thank you once again for your support and encouragement of BMS World Mission. We are partners in the spread of the Gospel together. I pray that you will know His presence and joy in your life.

Let us rejoice in our opportunities to work in His service together, and seek His wisdom in this.

Matthew 9.37: The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest: ask Him to send out more workers for his fields.