Vocational Training:

In January, 2007 we secured a grant that will provide specialized vocational training (which results in real, viable employment) to 60 tribal women! We have 22 women in the program already with more and more applicants for the next training cycles. Most of the applicants are in their mid-20's and are already supporting their families full-time, they never had a chance to finish their education or get vocational training. The purpose of the program is to provide the women in this target group the chance to develop a marketable skill, secure employment, and decrease their vulnerability to human trafficking and other forms of labor exploitation. The program has started with a bang and the staff and I are just thrilled!

Education:

As some of you may know, the New Life Center Foundation operates the only adult school available to non-formal learners in Chiang Rai province. At the start of the new term this past May, we launched a completely new system for this school. Instead of studying at night, the students are in classes from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
New teachers were hired, new books and supplies were purchased, and everything has been very successful so far!

What a joy it is to see New Life Center residents learn the Thai alphabet, increase their functional literacy, and develop life skills such as knowing how to access the local public library. The main teacher for the school brings a wealth of enthusiasm to her work and several years of teaching experience throughout Thailand; her positive attitude is contagious!

And it is easy to see that the new system is already producing good results and bearing fruit. We praise God for the opportunity to run this school and provide so many teenage and adult students the chance to become literate and develop needed life skills.

Guests:

As of September, 2007, we have received over 500 guests at the New Life Center. This is a record, even for us! The guests come from a variety of different groups; church mission teams, international NGO's, university students, foreign and local government organizations.

On August 30th we were delighted to host another group of Thai government representatives through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. These RTG representatives are responsible for processing visa requests and immigration documents at Thai embassies throughout the world. They visited us to learn about ways to identify victims of human trafficking and hear more about our work.

The staff and I remain grateful there is more and more interest in learning about these issues, and will continue to share our experiences with guests and visitors as needed.

Prayer Requests:

1. Please pray for our upcoming strategic planning meetings, scheduled for October 1- October 5th, 2007 that God would lead and guide all our decisions about the future of His program!

2. Please pray for our 20th anniversary celebration scheduled for November 17th, 2007. This will be big! We are thrilled that Rev. Lauran Bethell and others significant in the history and development of the New Life Center will be able to join us.

3. Through a most generous donation through the Holland-based company Beter-Uit Reizen, we will be able to move our office to a permanent, rent-free location in mid-December. The house will also double as a temporary emergency shelter for some residents. The house is in need of major repairs. Please pray that we could secure funds for the renovation of this property and that the big move in December will go smoothly!

I just finished eating lunch with three staff here at our current office. I brought in a vegetable calzone for lunch. The other staff were eating brown noodle soup with bamboo shoots and big chunks of congealed chicken blood in it. They laughed at my calzone and said it looked awful. How could I eat it?! And they laughed especially at the cheese in it. What a mysterious food product cheese is! And didn't I think it smells really bad?

I, on the other hand, laughed at the ingredients in their soup and said that I could eat a lot of things, but not congealed chunks of chicken blood!

So we ended up laughing together as we ate, laughing at the folly that God in His beautiful grace and wisdom allows us to work together, build His Kingdom together, extend His love to orphans and victims of violence and sexual abuse and human trafficking together. We who are so different can do this because of mission, because of you, and because of the fact that we are all a part of the family of God.

Your support and prayers, love and friendship have sustained me over the past year, and I thank you. Thank you also for your generous support of the World Mission Offering at this time of year, which enables me to do this work to which God has called me.

I pray that in this season God will continue to surprise you with His generosity, His grace, and His presence in your life!

With gratitude,

Karen