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Urgent Calls for Help!

The Global Nomad tells me his friends David and Wendy Keith are urging help for other friends, Peter and Michelle, who operate the Swaziland Pasture Valley Children's Home, an Orphanage. They are in serious need of funds these days. If you would be prepared to send them some money in a hurry, please get in touch with me via my Reach Me page, and I'll give you their email so you can correspond with them directly.

Thailand is a land of amazing contrasts, high rise buildings, sky trains, underground networks, fascinating canals, intriguing market stalls all along major streets and colourful rural villages where life continues in tune with the rice-planting and harvests as it has done for countless centuries. It is an extended family orientated culture reflecting the principles of the major faith. In one delightful rural community in the south of country not so far from Malaysia, the generous hearts and alert initiative of a couple has resulted in the size of their "family" being accelerated overnight as it were.

  Pastor Prakop and his wife took eleven young Thai children into their care. Their neighbours Rommel and Janene were able to help them in small ways through donations received. They will no doubt be very much involved in all their lives in the coming months. Rommel plans to start a small Sunday school for them in the next few weeks. The children need your help!

  Pastor Prakop's house is at capacity with their elderly parents and teenage children. This has meant that the children have to be housed at the church nearby. The pastor and his wife are sleeping in a small room at the church to supervise them during the night. The children rise at 5am on school days and are ready to leave by 7am loaded on the back of the pick-up.

  These Thai kids are using a make-shift kitchen at the church. It is an old leaky storeroom without plumbing or fixtures. The meals are simple and cooked on a single gas burner. Already a donation has been offered which will enable materials to be purchased to create a real kitchen for the children. Janene and Rommel need a handful of workers to come and help construct a workable and certainly more hygienic kitchen area. Do you know of someone who can come at short notice to help? We expect the work to take about one week or so. Many other tasks await volunteers too but this project will take priority. Please contact asap for more info on this project or the children and their situation. (Please contact us for their email)

This is the colourful context in which Rommel and Janene from Philippines and Australia, are seeking to establish a creative initiative called "Eagles Rest" for Asian National church leaders who need a time of refreshment and recreation.

The vision of Eagles Rest is to provide Christ-centred, physical and spiritual care and hospitality, as resources allow, to those Asian people who labour in a Pastoral capacity and who indicate a need for restoration and/or other forms of help.

Pastors and overseas personnel, by nature, are pioneers. "The tendency is just to push, push, push, to the point where burnout is a fairly common thing. They're doing it out of dedication, a love for the Lord, a passion for the lost, a love for people, but often, don't know how to put necessary boundaries in place and have balance in their lives." As the target group will be God's wounded Asian labourers of ministry, these verses from the pen of the prophet Isaiah 40: 28-31 hold beautiful promises of hope. Eagles are known for their strength, they are mighty 'warriors' but they still need a place of rest far away from danger, a place where they can evaluate things from a distance. While waiting, an eagle has time to meditate. Verse 28 tells us that no one can fathom the understanding of God.

Janene and Rommel have both been discarded and rejected by those who thought they were beyond redemption. However there were those who extended Christian grace, as did our Lord, who restored them for the ministry to His Glory. Here is an endorsement of Janene's unique book called: "The Healing Road to Thailand"

"It is a story of insight, warmth, compassion and rare honesty. It reveals a journey in learning to submit to a loving Father God, and finding healing, restoration and a new depth of ministry from a personal journey of pain and self-discovery. As an outside observer, I never guessed the depth of inner turmoil as exposed in this honest self-assessment. Composed, dignified, eloquent, a compassionate, insightful counsellor; I watched Janene with quiet awe, used of God despite her self-doubts and fears. Janene writes with great honesty and integrity. I found myself being ministered to as I shared her journey through the pages of this book." by Val Zerna, Personal Assistant to the Executive Director, Australian Churches of Christ Global Mission Partners. You can learn more about these special folk on their website.



Can you help us Network?
The Nomad says: "I heard from a friend I met on the ship a little while ago. This friend has invented the new water treatment plant and sent me a note asking if I could assist him in placing one of these with a project somewhere. The units cost a couple of thousand pounds or more. The recipients would just need to pay the freight to their base in the developing world. Have written to two or three potential folk. Value your prayer for the right placement. Another kind and generous donation. He may well donate several. I know that he was thinking along those lines." Do you know of a worthy group that needs a water treatment plant?