A few days before we fly out!

Just 4 days until we fly out to Thailand (Sunday 3rd Feb) for the next phase of MAB’s journey with the Hill-tribes communities. As we now know, our earlier plan to assist with an improved water supply, tank and tap stands is not happening, but have the opportunity to begin building a school building in the same village. We understand that the Thai king is using the only suitable nearby source for an irrigation scheme and ITDP (and we) are praying that they will be able to connect into this scheme to provide a better source of water for Krey Mo Kee at a later date. As we read in Proverbs 16:9, with much prayer we’ve “made our plans” according to the need God provided, but in the end “the Lord determines our steps”.

 

Please pray with us as we make our final preparations. Praise for God’s faithfulness – funds, opportunities to connect with the MAB community and our friends/colleagues. Pray that God would continue to build His kingdom through our offerings. Pray for energy, good health, wisdom and safety – for the team, ITDP, our hosts and families back in NZ. Pray that our eyes would be open to God’s prompting and guiding.

 

Please join the team for a final informal catch-up and opportunity for prayer on Thursday 31st January in the blue room at MAB. Come and go anytime between 7:00 and 9:00pm.

 

Finally, there is still opportunity to donate to team members personal expenses if God has prompted you to – and to support Zara Brown in her 9 month stay, teaching English and working with university students in Bangkok.

Thank you for partnering with Krey Mo Kee

We had another training day on Saturday 19th Jan 2013 at MABC. We started with a fantastic pancake breakfast - the Harknesses have a very good family-secret recipe! 

Pancake Breakfast  - note the connected Fundraising Pipes in the background!

 The team members met with Kevin Honare & Mark Stokes from Bright Hope, and David Allen came and joined us for part of it. We were reminded again that this is the start of a partnership with Krey Mo Kee. That our visit is about breaking down barriers & building bridges into their lives, of partnering with them in both physically and spiritually. That it is not just the 10 people on the trip who are "going on a mission trip" - it is also about Mt Albert Baptist Church and everyone who's part of MABC joining together in a partnership with this village. 

Partnership means to

1. understand more about the people & their lives & what their needs are
2. support them with some of their needs physically such as the water, sanitation & school building projects
3. pray for openness to the gospel
4. uphold the Christians already in the village that they will be emboldened and encouraged through our caring for them

We did a few team exercises - some photos below. The aim of this particular exercise was for us to stand on the ledge as shown & for the 5 people on the right to swap position with those on the left in a mirror image position - without touching the grass behind or the concrete in front. Confusing???

 

 We succeeded with 1 fall which meant we had to start again. 

What did we learn? 

• The importance of communication
• The need to have a plan/strategy
• The need to work together as a team - supporting each other; utilising our different strengths ( & physique- eg: much easier for a tall person to go over a crouching person!); when we fall- the issue is  not WHO's fallen but that the TEAM has fallen & what will we do next time that's better.
• There WILL be obstacles along the way but we can work through it
• There can be different rules in a different culture & we need to go along & be okay with it

There's also a slight change in what we will be doing - it's like a slight shift in time frame. The initial timeline was for water pipes & sanitation to go in, followed by a school, then eventually micro-enterprises. However, we will now be building the sanitation system and starting on the school building. This is because the Thai King has started an irrigation project in the area, and we will not be able to access the water source until that project is completed.We will still provide a children's programme whilst there & provide some primary health care either at this village or a neighbouring one.

Praise Items:
God has been faithful in enabling funds to be raised!
Preparations for the trip have been going well.

Prayer Items:
Health & safety for team members leading up to the trip & whilst away
That final preparations will be completed smoothly
Pray for the villagers at Krey Mo Kee that hearts will be open