The Mays’ Weblog

Dear friends,

We returned yesterday from a cold but wonderful trip up north to the border to visit the children in Joseph’s orphanage near the Burmese border. I say cold, but what I mean is about 6 deg C at night and 22 in the daytime but our blood is thinner these days and, without going into the science of it (which I confess I do not understand anyway) we were, to put it bluntly, freezin’.

Well bejumpered, where available, we drove over the mountain to the orphanage to arrive for lunch, for which they sacrifice much as we are always served meat, which they have little of. Over lunch we chatted with Joseph and he was telling us of some Christian guests from over the border who had planned to join him several days ago but got stopped by the police at a checkpoint in the village. They had no papers for either Burma or Thailand and were arrested and would be sentenced to the usual extremely harsh punishment of 400,000 Baht each (£5,600) or 10 years imprisonment. In conversation they mentioned Joseph’s name to the police who not only let them go without a fine but unaccompanied, with the resriction that they could stay one night at Joseph’s house and cross back into Burma at the border crossing the following day! The police had never met Joseph but his name is known and respected among the tribal groups there. Real evidence of God blessing those who are faithful to him!

see here for bigger pics.

On a more sobering note we were talking about some new toddlers that Joseph had taken on and asked him about babies. He is from time to time offered babies who are for sale, usually from tribal groups in Burma. The top price is about 3000 Baht (About £40) and he has been offered them for 800 Baht before now, about £12! This is the price of a human life? You can buy a dead pig for 5000 Baht….. Please pray for these children and for those who are spreading the message of life here, that the spirit of God will brood in this place and give birth to a new way of thinking here and a new value for life itself. Joseph always has to turn these babies down as he does not have the money to buy them with and nobody to help him look after them if he did buy them as he cannot afford workers here. I am forced to stop typing for a moment as the appalling nature of these circumstances trouble me again. The fate of these babies if he does not buy them is not good to think about as they become another statistic in the Asian child trade/industry.

It was however a joy to see the 180 fortunate ones who he looks after with his wife and several others who come and go. They have had a double redemption in some ways as they have been saved from a physical death and are being trained in eternal things by Joseph and his wife. What will God achiev with them as they reach adulthood one can but wonder. Perhaps we will have the privilege of seeing one day.

We were sung to and some of the girls danced which was beautiful to watch. Our own children then handed out blankets to the children. They are more like duvets as you can see and a vast improvement on the thin covers they have at present. The blankets were jointly paid for by ArunCC and The Open Hands Foundation in Norway, via Thomas. In addition, we bought food to give them enough to last through new year with meat and vegetables on most days, hopefully.

I hope that the photographs help you share something of the joy there is in the giving and receiving of these things. Your support is making a real difference here and is appreciated more than I can express.

Happy Christmas, we miss you all,

With much love,
Andrew and Esther, J, L, M & I XXXXXX

Dear all,
We have neglected to give any news over the last few months for which we are sorry. We don’t feel like we have done very much to tell you about.
We had the grannies (Loraine and Ouma) staying with us back in November for about 4 weeks. It was great to see them..it seems so long ago now.

We finished school yesterday which is an immense relief. We all worked hard helping Jacob to learn to locate all 58 countries in Africa on a map and name their capitals! (you try it).
You can see that we are starting to relax here and the Christmas stockings went up about half an hour ago. Esther and Mollie finished making them this evening. They are certainly spacious and rather daunting to fill. We will have to stuff newspaper in the bottom I think, or use sawdust for a kind of lucky dip kind of effect.

Anyway, we have enjoyed a lovely glass of port, many thanks to Loraine as it was a Christmas present that I just could not wait for (see - I told you I was glad that she came).

It is 10.30 and we are waiting for Jacob to come back from a friend’s house (Paige) where he is watching a movie/film. This is really the start of a new era now we are waiting up for him to come in and he is not even officially a teenager. Hmm.

Well, we will try to report again much sooner with photos, but will sign off now.

With much love,

Andrew and Esther XX