A few weeks ago, the New Life Center staff and residents went to Doi Chang Mountain, about 2.5 hours north of Chiang Mai, for a special Christmas celebration.  On Saturday, we played games.

That night, we sang Christmas carols, cooked out over cement fire pots, and heard an encouraging message about the good news of Jesus based on John 3:16.  Later in the evening, we did a gift lottery, and then had Christmas karoke and a girls’ dance party.

During our barbecue it started drizzling, and the temperature went down to the low 60’s. By morning, the whole mountain was blanketed in heavy fog. After breakfast, we went to a sheep farm to pet the sheep and watched a sheep herding show.  Many of our girls had never seen sheep before in person! It was a fun adventure, and helped us connect to the shepherds in the Christmas story.

Our flood recovery efforts are going well after the big floods of September and October.  The mud has been cleared out of all three facilities, and I can now add “pressure-washing skills” to my resumé.  Thanks to many generous folks, we now have enough funds to do the required repairs/renovations.  As you may imagine, the contractors are all booked up right now.  But we have scheduled a contractor to start in February. His team will fix the floors, repaint, replace doors, windows, air conditioners, etc.

Thank you for your prayers and generous support that enable me to serve alongside our dedicated staff to share the love of God with people in Thailand.

CLICK HERE to make a a tax-deductible end-of-year donation to support Kit Ripley, or to update your donor account.