Updates for June

Well, here we are again over a month since my last update. So what has been happening with the Brittans since April??

During the first week in May we helped out with an English Camp (This is a VBS camp with English being taught) here in Mae Sai. The children that attended the camp from our neighboring country. All of the children live in a children's home of some sort. More on types of childrens' homes later. The camp was attended by about 30 children ranging in age from about 9 years old to 15. The camp was held at the ARLDF training center, and the children also slept there. Everyday there was an English Bible Lesson (with some language translation), and in the afternoon was crafts and games. It was really fun to help out this year.

Pattie's mom came to visit from May 9th through May 28. We really enjoyed having her here. We loved showing her around our home. We were able to go see Doi Tung, The Goldren Triangle, and all the local sites. She was here to help us celebrate Little Harry's birthday also.

Mawmaw at the milk shop in Mae Sai.


Also, during this time Harry and Nellie started in a local Thai private school. It is a great opportunity for them to work on their language while having a time to work on relationships also. It was a hard start for both of them, but now they are both doing great. Both of them are so happy to be with their friends, and they are doing great with their language and culture. It is not an easy thing for children (no matter how flexible they are) to go to a school where you can not speak the language like the other children. They are learning fast, but it does take alot of work for them. I am very proud of their progress, and I am praying that this experience will continue to help them grow.

Nellie's first day of school

So now we are getting ready to attend a meeting in South Thailand. We have this meeting once a year to reconnect to other workers in the region. The kids are so excited about all the possibilities to play and have fun. I am excited to connect with some friends that I haven't seen in a year. Please pray for our travels. We will drive for two days to get there. We will be returning home to Mae Sai on July 2nd.

So more about childrens' homes in this part of the world. We are all too familiar with orphanages and what they are. We do have these homes here also. We have also homes for children called hostels. These homes are created to help the village children to be able to go to school. Most villages will not have school for their children, so in order for them to get an education the children must go to the nearest town to go to school. There is no school bus system, so they usually go to these hostels for their schooling years (from age 5-6 until 16). The hostels are usually done by a people group (Lahu, Wa, Akha, etc). The parents of the children usually do not have enough money to send their children anything, so all the costs for the clothes, books, food, and education are given by the hostel. If you are thinking...."where do these hostels get their money?" Alot of them do not have enough provisions for these children. The children often share bedding (blanket and mat), and food is sparse. Many of the children do not ever return home either. They stay at these hostels until their schooling is complete. Many of these hostels are run by believers, and God does provide for them by means of support from outsiders. There are a few stories that I will share from time-to-time about these homes in our area. One story specifically that is on my heart is about a home that started about one year ago. It is a branch to another home that is located about 5 hours north of here. The home to our north houses about 50 children the last time I heard, so they knew that they needed to plan for about this many children again. So many villages were losing what teachers they had to teach the kids. The parents are really seeing the value of an education also. When the hostel opened, it took in 24 children for the first year. They were able to find a house for the children. The facilities are spacious with rooms to sleep the girls in one room and the boys in another room. There is even a couple of huge rooms for activities. These buildings use to be a day-care. With many different provisions they were able to get enough bedding, tables and chairs, and some needed kitchen items for the house. I know that it was adequate to get through the school year. As the new school year was beginning (school starts in May), I discovered that the number of children had jumped to 42. The hostel was short bedding and basic supplies for 12 students. We also discovered that they could not take the children to church more than once a month. We are praying now that God will provide for these basic supplies, and we are praying how God can use our family to reach out to these children. We have been preparing games that we can play with this large number of children, and we have been thinking of ways that we can go to the hostel to serve these children. The future of this country are these children. Please pray along with us how God can use our family in reaching out to these children.

Thank you so much for your prayers and emails. We are so encouraged when we hear from you each time. Please keep us posted how we can pray for your also.