The Olivers In Thailand

After a lot of hunting for resources, we came across two dance dramas to put together for the Ban San Faan Christmas presentation. The two items have the common theme of "trees".

The children will perform at 8 venues to well over 1,000 people:

• 16th Dec - Over 400 guests at a community outreach event put on by "Churches Together in Doi Saket".
• 19th Dec (am) - 350 students at a Thai elementary school. Ban San Faan have been given an open invitation to return. The head of the English program, a Thai lady, wept that she was now no longer the only Christian witness at the school
• 19th Dec (pm) - At a hospice for people suffering with HIV & TB. Four people received prayer to accept Christ.
• 20th Dec - Outreach event at a thai Church
• 21st Dec - Thai congregation outreach at our church here. It was packed and well over 40 guests came forward for prayer after being presented with the true meaning of Christmas
• 24th Dec - Ron and Mon's Christmas Party for 300+ children
• 26th Dec - At a Thai kindergarten in the neighbourhood of Ban San Faan
• 27th Dec - At the church of one of the Ban San Faan Thai teachers.

The Tale of the Three Trees

This is a traditional tale dramatised by Salt & Light Ministries. We had to make our own version of the backing track in which the House-Father spoke the narration in Thai. We chose some beautiful backing piano music; a piece called "Golden" composed by Rebecca Kragnes. (For more info about Rebecca and her music click here).

Here is the Tale of the Three Trees:

Once upon a time, on a high mountain top, three little trees stood,
and dreamed of what they wanted to become when they grew up.

The first little tree looked up at the stars, twinkling like diamonds in the sky – “I want to hold a great treasure, and be the most beautiful treasure chest in the whole world.” The second little tree looked out at the small stream trickling by – “I want to be a strong sailing ship and carry powerful kings, I will be the strongest and most important ship in the world.” The third little tree looked down into the valley below – “I never want to leave this mountain top. I want to grow so tall that when people look at me, they will raise their eyes to heaven, and think – of God.”

Years past, and the little trees grew very tall.
One day, a wood-cutter climbed the mountain.

He looked at the first tree and said, “This tree is beautiful.” With a swoop of his shining axe – the first tree fell.	Then the wood-cutter looked at the second tree and said, “This tree is strong.” With a swoop of his shining axe – the second tree fell.

The third tree felt its heart sink when the wood-cutter looked its way. It stood straight, and tall, and pointed bravely to heaven. The wood-cutter didn’t say a word. With a swoop of his shining axe – the third tree fell.

The first tree was fashioned into a simple feeding box for animals and put in a stable.

The second tree was sawed and hammered into a simple fishing boat and was taken to a small lake.

The third tree was dragged to a yard and thrown on a pile of wood.

Long years passed, and the three trees nearly forgot their dreams.

But one night, starlight poured into the stable where the manger was being used to feed the animals. A young woman had just given birth to a baby boy, and she was looking for a place to lay him. “This manger is beautiful,” said the woman. When she gently laid the child in the manger, the first tree knew that it was holding the greatest treasure of all – the Son of God.

Late one night, a man and his friends crowded into an old fishing boat.
They quickly fell asleep as the second tree, quietly sailed away.

Soon, a wind blew up over the lake, and the second tree feared that it would not be strong enough to carry the men through the storm.	But, the man stood up, and commanded the storm to be silent, and it was stilled. In that moment, the second tree knew that it was carrying the greatest King of all – the King of heaven and earth.

One Friday morning, the third tree was startled when it was yanked from the wood pile. It was hastily made into a cross, and put on the shoulders of a man who was forced to carry the cross to a mountain top, where he was nailed to it’s cross beam, and was crucified.
Thunder and lightning broke out and the fear of God descended on that mountain in an earthquake.
The tree was filled with shame and sadness.
On the third day, on Sunday morning, the man who had been crucified was resurrected and came back to life, just as he claimed he would.
In that moment, God redeemed all that had gone so terribly wrong in the past.

As for the dreams of the three trees –
He had made the first tree beautiful again
He had made the second tree strong once more

And each time people looked upon the third tree, they raised their eyes towards heaven and thought of God – and His Son, Jesus, - the Saviour of the world.

The Perfect Tree

The second item, was also based on a resource from Salt & Light Ministries. The House-Father narrated an introduction to the song in Thai.

The ornaments are ready The place has been prepared Strings of lights and holly Are draped across the chair Families all together I know where they must be Everyone is searching For the perfect tree	The perfect tree Grew very long ago And it was not decked with silver Or with ornaments of gold But hanging from its branches Was a gift for you and me Jesus laid His life down On the perfect tree
Mother wants a straight one The children want it tall Dad just hopes that somehow He can get it down the hall Soon they’ll gather round it As proud as they can be But when they’re looking at it I wonder if they see	With all the celebrations Sometimes the truth is lost That every step this baby took Brought Him closer to the cross

Last weekend, we invited Paul and Rattanaporn to visit us in Chiang Mai. We particularly wanted them to see Ban San Faan, the children's home that we visit each week.

We had a medley of amusing telephone calls as I (Jenny) tried to make the arrangements over the phone. We kept thinking of different possible problems of mis-communication. Had we made it clear that they were to make their own way to Chiang Mai, or were they expecting us to collect them? To start with there was no signal up at Hoay Maw. Then I could only speak to Paul's mother who has a more rural accent which was hard for me to follow. Eventually I was able to speak to Rattanaporn and to confirm that they would drive down. I told her that we would put money in the account for petrol and food for the trip. She said that they would leave at 8.30am and arrive at noon. We arranged to meet at the Highway Hotel where I knew Paul had been before for a Wa Bible meeting.

Then I started to worry had they booked a hotel? I rang back and spoke to Rattanaporn again telling her not to book a hotel but that they could stay at Ban San Faan. We arranged that they would ring when they were near the Highway Hotel.

On the Friday, Paul rang and said they were on the way and would arrive at 4pm. We managed to meet at the Hotel and made our way to Ban San Faan.

Ban San Faan has a beautiful, purpose built home and so we were careful to prepare Paul and Rattanaporn not to just look at the facilities, but to look at the love and care.

Ban San Faan Dedication

Ban San Faan means house of fulfilled dreams. It was named because when the children arrived, they were asked what was their dream. They replied that their dream was to be part of a family, and that dream has come true because we would not call Ban San Faan an 'orphanage' but a 'family'.

When we arrived, Paul and Rattanaporn met the children and staff and were shown around the home. We shared a lovely meal of Khao Soy cooked by Pee Dto. After eating we chatted awhile before Adrian arrived with Jessica and her friend Sarah.

We asked house-father to lead worship that evening so that it would be in Thai. He did a great job accompanied one of the older girls on the guitar. He is teaching several of the children to play. Then Paul shared a little about the home at Hoay Maw. The children's jaws dropped when they heard that the children get up at 5.30am to do exercises. After Paul had shared, we all gathered around Paul and Rattanaporn to pray for them and for the children at Hoay Maw. House-father and one of the children prayed. We felt that Paul and Rattanaporn were blessed and encouraged.

Paul and Rattanaporn share

Prayer for Hoay Maw

Afterwards we played games with the children and chatted with the staff. It was good for Paul and Rattanaporn to see the staff playing together with the children as this is unusual in their culture but beneficial to develop family type relationships and quality time together.

We left them at Ban San Faan for the night and arranged to meet the next morning on the way to a fish farm project in Mae Taeng. Malee came with them. We met at a garage and then drove on to the farm. It was very interesting to see the fish at various stages of development from egg through to full-grown. Paul and Rattanaporn were interested in setting up a fish farm at Hoay Maw and were told that they could be helped to do that.

Interested	Eggs	Tiddlers
Jenny & Rattanaporn	Nets	Aeration

During lunch we discussed the situation at Hoay Maw. We had been able to allocate some money through Open Hands, the Hyttedalens and our own project fund, to cover the market bill for Jan-Mar.

We stressed though that this would not be regular support. Paul agreed that he would speak to the "families" about contributing towards food and schooling costs.

We were able to allocate money from the Links Christmas gifts towards the pig project. Paul is going to order a cage for the big mother to protect the piglets from being squashed. This will cost 4,000 baht (£60). We have also allocated 500 baht (£7.50) for repairing the existing water nipple feeds and for extending the water supply to the remaining 2 pens. A further 500 baht (£7.50) will be used to buy nutrient food for when the mother pigs are pregnant (the small mother is already pregnant again).

We talked about the mosquito protection at Hoay Maw and the concern for the children as there are Dengue mosquitoes in the area. Pastor Joseph himself has recently had Dengue fever and is still recovering. We said that the children had damaged the screens that had been provided by the TAG children at Arun Community Church. Paul said that the children had not been taught to take care of things but that now he was going to teach them. We asked if the staff could do the repairs themselves and he said yes. We felt that was promising and so we told him to get a quote and let us know the cost of the netting but not to buy anything without agreement.

Damaged mosquito Screens

Resourceful

Paul told us about how they are very resourceful in trying to use money for food wisely. In season, the children go into the surrounding jungle and collect bamboo shoots. These are preserved using the water from washing the rice and can be kept for up to a year. They also collect bananas from the jungle and sometimes cook them.

After lunch we went on to another children's home where they have a sewing project. This home was quite similar to Hoay Maw although they are supported. We saw the sewing room but they were not sewing on that day. Malee knows another lady who does sewing training at a home in Mae Ka Chan which is nearer to Hoay Maw. Malee is going to arrange for us to make contact with the lady, Pastor Lawan, when we next visit Hoay Maw. We hope that we will be able to arrange training for the teenagers at Hoay Maw to learn to make clothes. This will be a good vocational skill and will also enable them to make their own clothes including school uniforms.

Sewing machines

House of Blessing

It was great to have Malee to help us talk to Paul and Rattanaporn and to help us build contacts to explore new projects. Paul and Rattanaporn needed to get back to Hoay Maw that evening and so they headed home from there.

We felt that it was an encouraging and beneficial time for them.

We have now spoken further with the manager of the Mae Taeng fish farm who lives very near us and whose wife teaches at Grace. We will arrange to meet up and also meet with another contact based further North who could help. The other person is Dave Summers who is already known to us through Links and who we were already planning to meet - so we look forward to that opportunity.

It has been lovely to get back to spend time with the children at Ban San Faan.

We were excited to hear that 5 of the older girls (9-10yrs) had visited Bangkok during the summer to take part in a celebration of 50 years of the Child Evangelism Fellowship in Thailand.

The children did a presentation of two dances that we had taught them. Jim Bailey's "children of the Cross" with dance and rap, and Doug Horley's "Wonderful God" with sign language and flags.

There was an article and photo in the paper. (I'll try and get a scan of it).

In our weekly "family" times together, we are looking at the life of Joseph. I asked the children if God had given any of them a dream. I was expecting them to tell me a dream of what they would like to do in the future and was almost taken aback when about 5 of them told us of dreams where they had seen heaven, Jesus and angels. Three of the children also said that they had seen "Tim" in heaven with Jesus. (Tim was a little boy at the home who sadly died in a pool accident about 2 years ago.) Little Paul told us of his dream where he saw Goliath slain on the ground. I think Paul may turn out to be a giant slayer himself one day.

Well, it does say in the Bible that "Out of the mouths of infants God has prepared praise"!

On Sat 3rd Feb was the dedication of the new Ban San Faan home. A team of about 30 came over from the Calvary Church, Longview, USA. This church has underwritten funding of the new home. Owning their own building (rather than renting) allows the children to be resistered at that address and so Ban San Faan becomes officially a home (as opposed to a house). Individual members and families of the church fund the living costs of their sponsored child and keep in regular personal contact with the children. 12 of the 16 children's sponsors were part of the visiting team.

The new home

The children are taught in English by a New Zealander, Averill, and in Thai by Thai teachers Pat and Ro. The teaching staff and educational costs are funded by Averill's home church in New Zealand.

Housefather Preacher welcomes us

Thai teachers Ro and Pat with Mollie & Jessica

At the dedication, the children were dressed in traditional Thai costume. They sang, performed Thai dancing and played their Thai instruments.

The children sing

Hope!	Thai dancing
Traditional instruments

The home is the result of the vision of Malee (the manager) to help Thai orphans. Malee, supported by her husband Brian, teamed up with Bill and Janis Wood, a couple from Calvary church who were living in Chiang Mai. Bill and Janis and Malee were honoured for their vission and hard work in establishing the home.

Malee with Jenny and Bronwen

Bill & Janis honoured

Ban San Faan meand "House of Fulfilled Dreams". Our prayer is that the children will go on to fulfill their dreams and potential as they grow up to be influential in their own nation and the nations.

Esther May teachers art at the home. Our family visits on Thursday evenings to lead a time of "family worship" with the children and staff. Our friendship and love for these children and the staff has grown during our time here and it is truly a privilege to know them.

The crisis has been averted! Jenny mum, Jillian, has safely arrived with our supplies of real English tea! And other stuff too.

On Monday afternoon, the Ban San Faan did another great performance of Hosanna Rock to a Thai children's church.

Below are some "interviews" with the stars before the performance.

"Interview" with Abi

The Boys

Bill with some of the children

Extract of the Hosanna Rock performance

Straight after the performance on Monday evening, we had to rush Jenny to Chiang Mai's airport to catch a flight down to Bangkok so that she could meet Jillian at Bangkok's airport on Tuesday morning (she stayed with the Wong's in Bangkok).

They both arrived back here Tuesday lunchtime after a little incident in the new Bangkok airport involving an escalator, a trolley, and Jillian's toe. She is okay, and did make the flight, but needless to say she was not very happy at the time.

One more performance of Hosanna Rock on Thursday to the elementary children at Grace International School - then on Sunday at C.O.C. (our Thai church) in both the Thai and International services!

Just before Christmas (i.e. next week!!!!), we are planning to go up to Joseph's orphanage with Niti, Jillian and the Mays to take up some things for Christmas and do an activity with the children.

This will be a complete contrast with Ban San Faan, where they have really great and loving carers and wonderful facilities. We are hoping our children will be able to do a little Christmas performance for them.

Meanwhile, slow progress on getting all the documentation required to bring all the clothes that have been collected by Arun Community Church and St Margaret's Primary School in England. Fortunately the weather is still relatively warm at the moment. But it is due to get colder...

Adrian

Meanwhile

We returned the 16 tired children back to their new home on Sunday afternoon.

View from central garden

The house is square, with a garden area in the center with all the rooms accessing onto the this garden.

Kitchen, including space and access for children to take part. Look forward to sampling their produces!

Class Room - their are home schooled in both Thai and "English"

One of the girls bedrooms. Each of the four children's bedrooms has an ensuite bathroom with three hand basins, and three WC/shower rooms.

The children with some of their helpers, including one Kiwi teacher who apparently teaches them "english"! Have not yet noticed any sign of Kiwi accent through their strong Thai accents.

Oh yes, the children range from 4 years old (spot her...) through to 8 years old. And they performed Hosanna Rock in English, their second language.

More photographs here.

For your information, Ban San Faan is supported by Calvary Community Church in Washington State, USA, while another church in New Zealand supports the children's education, including paying all the teaching staff and educational resources.