Thanks to all who were praying for us during Steve’s time in Thailand which went very well. He started with a 2-day course teaching our local child protection officers what to do where there are no social services or specialised police units to report to (true for around ¾ of the countries we work in). Although modelled on other training and experience, teaching this was new. There was a really positive response from the group of 25 delegates and it was a great help to draw on the experiences of some of them in counselling, social work, and working in law.
The next stage was our WEC Asia-Pacific Region Conference with around 130 team leaders from over 20 different countries. It was great to be part of the praise and teaching, meet up with some of our first new members from NE India, see how we can help fulfil the big vision for world mission in the Philippines, hear about the growth of the church in many countries through our drug and alcohol rehab work called Betel, and much more. Of course there are many challenges to face, not least of which is the slow down in mission recruitment from Western countries and now even from Korea.
Steve spoke to the whole conference about internet safety, and supporting children through the stresses of international moves. Most of the work though was in smaller groups or one to one discussion.
Immediately after the conference there were meetings with our staff at Grace International School and at our boarding home for teenage students. The school supports the mission work of hundreds of families from dozens of different agencies in Thailand and the surrounding countries and is a vital part of spreading the Gospel in East and SE Asia.
News for those concerned about and praying for Grace International School –
Because of the court case contesting the current main school building the plan is still to build on a brand new site. The school’s final court appeal was made some years ago, but there is still no indication when a decision will be made. Should the case be lost there could be the need to move out at short notice but there are emergency plans in place before the new site is built.