DTS Orientation Camp

For the first 4 days of the DTS we held an orientation camp at Noom's village to help the staff and students settle into DTS life and build relationships with each other through team building games. After worshipping each morning we shared testimonies, DTS requirements and then ran activities in the afternoon and night. It was so fun and we hope and believe it gave the students a good start to their DTS!

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A favourite, the Spider Web Game...

Follow the Leader (which changes every few minutes!)...

Three of the DTS babies asleep during the morning meeting...

Worship together...

THANKYOU FOR ALL YOUR PRAYERS!!!

For more pics please see our album on Facebook

DTS to start next month!

This year brings us our first DTS (Discipleship Training School) in Ubon Ratchathani! It will go for 6 months, beginning on 6th March, and includes 20 students from Thailand, Ls and Mynmr. The students will go on a few outreach trips in these 6 months, the last one being to Ls. We will greatly appreciate your prayers in this time, that the students will realise who they are in God's love and will find a loving place in our YWAM family here. More to come once the school begins :-)

YWAM Ubon Community Houses

The house we have been renting since May 2010 has now become a YWAM Ubon Community House. In Ubon there are two of these houses at the moment. They will be used to house incoming teams, short-and-long-term staff, visitors, and DTS students. At the moment we are living with Pedro, Ice, Top and Sek in our community house, but this week the 4 boys will be moving into the new community house in town. This is because we, YWAM Ubon, have recently converted our internet cafe to a youth centre which reaches out to youth through music, English teaching, computer/internet services and a football ministry. The youth centre is situated in town and the boys have decided to move closer (1 minute drive away) so that they can be helping at the youth centre more often. We will continue to stay in our same house (around 15 minutes out of town) which will also be the home of around 10 female DTS students and staff from March-August 2012.

We are all excited and nervous about this new opportunity for the boys to live in a different house with more of our YWAM Ubon teammates, James and Keni. We've been taking care of Ice, Pedro and Top for 2+ years, physically and spiritually, and now it is time for them to step out and take responsibility in their own separate roles with YWAM Ubon and Heart of Isaan (which will also be known as YWAM Ubon Performing Arts). Our house is still open to them any time if they need us. Please pray for them in this time of adjusting to a new environment, living with different people and taking responsibility in new roles of the ministry.

Note: For those who have a part in supporting Ice, Pedro or Top financially, this support is still very much appreciated by them and is passed onto them each month. It will help them with food, toiletries, other living expenses, staff fees and transport in this new season as they live in the new community house. Thank you so much for supporting them as they serve God and work for His Kingdom in Isaan.

September 2011 Update

Dear friends,

Please click on this link to see our update for September - you will probably have to download it as a PDF file.

http://gallery.mailchimp.com/35829f65f381d8c3552b8e9ab/files/newsletter_september2011.pdf

News Update - A New Date for the Revival Concert in Chiang Rai

To all our brothers and sisters, 

Due to frequent changes in the weather and flooding in Thailand this season, there are many houses and roads in the mountains in Chiang Rai that have been flooded, closed, and affected by landslides. Therefore, Pastor Surachai from Chiang Rai (who is in charge of the Revival concert we've been planning) and our team from YWAM Ubon have decided to change the dates for the concert from the beginning of November 2011 to 13th-15th January 2012. By this time, the roads should be open again and the flooding gone down. This will make planning more convenient and also enable more people in the hill tribes to travel to the concert venue. We still ask for your prayers in everything that has to come together for this concert to take place, in finances, safety and God's provision.

Thank you so much

June 2011 Newsletter!

Dear friends,

Please click on this link to see our update for June. It may ask you to download a PDF file. If it does, click yes because that is our newsletter :-)

http://gallery.mailchimp.com/35829f65f381d8c3552b8e9ab/files/newsletter_june2011.pdf

Update on Noom

Thank you all for your prayers, thoughts and messages in this time. Noom is doing much better. The operation on Wednesday night was fast and successful. More so, the doctor gave a report on Thursday morning that Noom's appendix had ruptured, probably on Wednesday morning, and was lucky to be alive and well! We know that this is because of God's hand on Noom in ways that we didn't even realize.

The fluid from the appendix is poisonous but was able to be cleaned out during the operation. However, this caused Noom's stomach area (particularly the intestines) to become inflamed, causing more problems now like bloating, vomiting green and yellow fluids, constipation and pain. On Friday night the pain was very strong and Noom had trouble breathing, so he has had to be connected to a few tubes/machines. However, what he is experiencing now is all normal for the recovery stage of a ruptured appendix, so we are confident and in faith that the dangerous stage is over.

As for an update in finances, God has already provided through many of you about 50% of what we need for the hospital fees - Praise God and thank you so much to all those who have helped us out in this area! Because Noom is needing to stay longer than we expected, the hospital fees are climbing much higher than we thought and we would like to ask you all to continue praying for God's provision in finances. We hope that Noom will be able to be discharged from the hospital in the next couple of days.

Thank you all so much once again for all the prayers and support you have sent our way! Everything has made a big difference and helped to keep our family strong and on the road to recovery.

God bless,
Love Karis

Urgent Prayer Request

Dear friends and family in Christ...

Sorry we haven't posted on here in awhile! Alot has been happening - the soccer program went well but was cut short after Noom injured his shoulder and had to get an operation. Since then he has been recovering. We also went to Bangkok for a week-long YWAM course and then to Pattaya to help some friends in their ministry with slum children - only for a few days before coming back to Ubon. We now have a team with us for a couple of weeks. Things have been a bit hectic and overwhelming this week before the team's arrival, and now we have a much bigger need that we need prayer for...

This morning at around 5am Noom woke up with very severe stomach pains, nausea and vomiting. I (Karis) took him to the hospital at around midday where they tested him and found out that he has appendicitis. He is in the operating room as I write this so the doctors can remove his appendix. This is his second operation in less than 2 months (the first one being on his shoulder as I mentioned above).

Please pray for protection for him and our family and team in Ubon. Pray there will be no complications during or after surgery and that Noom will heal fast. Please also pray for God's provision of finances for this time. The first operation (on his shoulder) was at a public hospital and free, but this operation is at a private hospital and we have no medical insurance. We need to pay 33,000 baht (over $AU 1000) along with the fee for the hospital room, other medical bills and tests. We are expecting it all to come up to around 60,000 baht ($AU 2000+) but we know and trust that God will provide for His children. He has never let us down. Please pray for peace and strength for us in this time.

Also, another bit of exciting news which is a huge praise point and also a prayer point for this time especially: I am 3 and 1/2 months pregnant and don't want any stress or over-thinking to have an effect on our unborn baby. Please pray for protection for the baby, and pray for me that I will give to God 100% this situation, Noom, and many other situations in our lives at the moment!

Thank you so much and God bless you all
Karis Piawong

This Month's Soccer Program - From Noom

We thank God for the week that has just passed, for the football/soccer activities in the village that went really well because of the grace of God. After preparing for 2-3 months, we were able to hold a tournament to help build relationships in the village. There were 6 teams that came together to play. The results: we received great responses from the teams and people in the villages as well as the other teams that came to take part.

At the same time, younger people and children in the village observed, learnt, and even showed more interest in playing soccer. They have shown a desire to come together and develop their skills and abilities in playing soccer. They are showing an interest in taking part in the soccer program that I want to run in the village from the end of March until mid April. We want to help build these children up and reach them through soccer. In order to do this we will run the soccer program in my village and will have a schedule for soccer training in the morning from 6:30-8am and in the evening from 4-6pm. This will be for the under 16’s in the village (around 12 people are interested).

We are really excited at how God is using soccer ministry to build relationships and share His love with people who have never experienced it. This then gives us the chance to explain through both words and actions what God has done for them. This is our main goal in running these activities.

I am really thankful to God and to all of you for your continued prayers and support for us. We are very in need of this support from our family in Christ and always will be. Thank you so much!

If anyone is interested in finding out more, becoming involved or supporting this project through sending sports supplies, please contact me at numlek@gmail.com or for those in Thailand you can call me at 084-483 9883.

Bpa Tia Cup Complete!

THANKYOU everyone for your prayers and support in the last couple of weeks as we prepared for and ran the Bpa Tia Cup (a soccer tournament for youth and young adults in Noom's village). The tournament went only for 2 days (14th-15th March) but the planning and preparations were taking place for more than 2 weeks beforehand.

The tournament was a success, giving us the opportunity to build relationships as well as be a witness of God's love to the people in the village. God even gave us the grace and opportunity to play Isaan worship music over the loud speakers during the breaks. We believe that through this tournament, whether it be through hearing the music or through watching the lives of the Christians involved, Noom's village and other surrounding villages were able to see and hear more about God. Praise God for His protection over the teams as they played, and for His willingness to use us humans to take a part in His will!

Personally, I (Karis) enjoyed my first chance of being involved in the running of the tournament by taking down scores and keeping an eye on the schedule, but would have loved to have more of a chance to talk to the women in the village and build relationships one-on-one. I am praying for the opportunity to do more of this and for the courage even though I don't have too much of the Isaan language.

Praise God also that the teams who were involved in the tournament were able to experience a kind of playing without fights, seriousness and yelling, but more so they were able to just have fun.

Thank you once again for all your support and in the next couple of days we will be updating more about the soccer ministry to come in the upcoming weeks.