Chiang Mai Aquatic Development Farm

Since arriving in Thailand, George has developed an intense interest in fish. He loves to catch them, raise them, and sometimes eat them. Aquariums and fancy fish are very popular (and cheap) here, so George fits right in. A few months back, I learned that one of my student's parents run a fish farm as part of their ministry. We jumped at the chance to go and have a tour. 

Chiang Mai Aquatic Development Farm is a business as mission project that has been around for 15 years. It produces 2 million tilapia fry per month! The fry are sold and are ready for the frying pan in about six months. Fifty families are supported by the farm, as well as Thai music ministries, church planting and a youth camp. 

It's so cool to see the amazing and creative ways people are making God's name known here and around the world!

Yesterday & Yesterday & Yesterday

We sat down to write an update tonight and couldn't remember much from the past six weeks--it's been a blur! Luckily, our phones had a few pics on them to tell the story. 

One year of service=one flower.  Nice job, Stew!

International Day. An American and a Canadian representing Brazil in Thailand.  What? 

Hot days of over 100 degrees require makeshift pools.

George Sawyer and Huck Finn

Hair cut = happiness

Stew helped organize a service project for the 10th graders, sweeping the neighborhood.
BYOB: Bring your own broom. 

Happy Thai New Years! They celebrate with a countrywide water fight. 

  "Are these grasshoppers fresh?"

Jill & Juni getting to know the Thai staff at school. 

Stew's hosted a satirical coffee shop for class one day. Who says high school English is no fun?    

Write On! The annual poetry and prose night at a local coffee shop for students with contest-winning entries. 

Jill worked on fixing up the guest house.

Red welcome mat is out; come on over....it has AC!

The kids are doing well with  life here in Thailand.  At the moment they are all healthy.. hooray! 

Thanks for your emails, your support, and the prayers you say on our behalf...love you all!

trust

  We've had a rough go the past few weeks:

• Extra bouts of illness and trips to the hospital.
• Air pollution this month: face masks, cancelling PE/Recess, cough drops by the kilo, and hacking around town is the new norm. 
• A friend back in the US was killed in a car accident. We've had to grieve this huge loss while being so far away.
• Our fridge decided to freeze all our food for a few week (a repair man convinced it to stop.)
•   Living in a foreign country catches up to us and we get so tired.

You have your list too; the tough things, the way life goes sometimes without making a lick of sense. In the midst of this, we choose to trust. We take the time to pray for everything and anything, because we know God wants to hear it all. He wants us dependent on Him. So we consciously make the decision each day, each minute, each second, to trust in Him.

He has proven himself faithful, and even in the midst of the smoke (literally here) we see the sun burst through.

Surely God is my help.  The Lord is the one who sustains me.

Psalm 54:4  

Thanks for the prayers and encouragement,

The Stew Fam

Ministry Day 2013

We sang, we prayed, we listened to challenging messages from Monday through Thursday of Spiritual Emphasis Week at GIS. Then came Friday, the culminating event--app time! All the middle and high school students deployed to various orphanages, schools, and nursing homes across Chiang Mai to spread the love of Jesus.
My group, 25 students from the 10th grade and my sister Evangeline, loaded into songtaews (the truck/buses of Thailand) and bumpd our way to Hope House--a home and school that serves 50-60 orphaned children from various hill tribes. Hope House is run by the parents of one of George's classmates.
We spent the school day with this radiant bunch of kids--leading them in crafts, songs, games, and activities. As is often the case, most of my students commented, "We came to be a blessing but left feeling more blessed and thankful ourselves."
It was a privilege to play a small part in the amazing work the Lord is doing at Hope House, not to mention to see teenagers engaging in acts of love.

For more info on Hope House: http://www.projectsforasia.com/hope-house-childrens-home-thailand/

Thanks for reading!!!