Hidden Treasures

Earlier this month 9 Hope Home staff and 8 young people from Hope Home joined in a Thai Family Retreat up in the clear, and somewhat wet and rainy mountains. The Christian retreat is put on yearly for families caring for special needs individuals, and invites mostly non Christian families to attend and be blessed. We, due to being such a large 'family' attend every 3 years only but it is such a time of blessing and encouragement to our young people who have a LOT of fun, and to our staff too. The Bible teaching this year reflected on the hidden treasure we receive from knowing Christ -true Shalom- true peace in all circumstances. The verse used was Isaiah 45.v3 - I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who summons you by name. Our staff were able to listen and absorb the teaching because every young person attending was assigned at least one 'buddy' to be their caregiver. Each buddy was matched perfectly with our young people, and brought with them a quiet peace and respect to love and care for their new buddy. These are mostly students studying at the Bible Seminary. Pray that the teaching of true Shalom, true peace through knowing and accepting Christ as their personal Saviour will take root in the lives of our staff.

Along the theme too of hidden treasures, the buddies were encouraged to look for hidden treasure, special moments in their new friend, and find ways to demonstrate that in a 'talent show' on the final evening. This was such a precious moment for us all to see the inventive and caring ways they included nearly all the young people. One buddy for our youngest girl, despite the fact that she sleeps a lot, gently had her sitting next to him, hands resting on the piano, while he played a rendition of Let it Go, and expressed how he could see beauty, not the external type, in her life. Our more energetic boys sang, danced and played musical instruments and were the stars of the show. The rock-and roll version of the song 'Hallelujah' may take off, you never know!

Life had not been without its challenges prior to the retreat, with one of our children requiring emergency surgery only 2 weeks before. Thankfully his recovery was such that we could all still attend, and I am sure the distraction of all the events at the retreat aided his recovery process. We praise God for His healing and protection during this time. This period also tallied with training new staff for both nights and days, but they too have settled well and are beginning to gel into the team. We particularly praise God for the return of a previous staff member who missed us and wanted to return.

At the Social Development and Services Unit we are recognising the hidden treasures, which at times seem at first like a challenge, of new donor opportunities and new project opportunities to serve the wider community and church in Northern Thailand. The staff, especially our two newest and younger staff, are bringing enhanced IT skills, new ideas and an extra burst of enthusiasm which enables the SDSU team to embrace these bigger challenges and reach out to more people in new and old ways. it certainly keeps my colleague Mary and myself busy and also blessed to see how much their input in communication and reporting processes is being enhanced. We are appreciative of the extra trainings offered to us all through these new global donors with a wealth of experience.

Praise God for the peace, and love that we can and do experience when living in Him. and pray for that peace to become a reality in the lives of those with whom we serve.

Pray for the ongoing health and development of the young people at Hope Home, and for the new staff to grow together well as a team, providing true family care to the young people.

Pray for the staff of SDSU and those they serve in community for energy, wisdom and opportunities to keep sharing the Good News of Christ to all they meet.

Thank you for all your support and encouragement , and for the great love and commitment you show to BMS in order for these and many other ministry areas to flourish. May you continue to experience and know the hidden treasures found in Christ, and in Christ alone. May we all continue to endeavour to seek out His treasures, and make them known to those we meet with in our lives.

With love and prayers

Judy