Dear Family & Friends,

Happy Easter to you! We thank God for sending Jesus in order that we are able to have a right relationship with God through Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection. There is nothing more important than this! Without it we would have no hope. This year Easter happens to fall during the Thai Songkran Festival. If you want to learn about Songkran go to our website www.gilbertthailand.com, click on "news" and then click on April, 2008 - Songkran. In the Foursquare Mae Sot Church we have a "blessing ceremony" where the younger people individually pour scented water over the hands of the older people and pray a blessing over them.

Bad News: The old Home of Hope house was broken into on Sunday when everyone was at church. The thieves took a lot of money and Dtaum’s debit and ATM cards. They knew that there was a lot of cash in the house at the beginning of the month, when everyone would be gone, where the money was and that there was a poster hiding the window they broke to gain entry to the room with the money. The police say it was either the previous house parents or their relatives or the children because nothing else of value was taken, it was done in broad daylight and whoever did it did not raise suspicions of any of the neighbors. This has never happened in the four years we have been there. Now the children are afraid to stay in their rooms because they think someone might break in when they are home. We also have no one staying at the new building site to guard the materials. If we are doing construction, then someone will stay there but otherwise they need to go out and find work, so our materials are in danger of being stolen, also. We really need to get the new building finished for the children’s sake – please keep praying with us about this.

Good News: We have seven new children at Home of Hope – 5 boys and 2 girls! I will attach their pictures and profiles. Nung (Bee’s sister) is staying with relatives, Peter returned to his village and Dtaan returned home and will stay at a hostel during the school year. We will only have one hostel this school year, Priaow, who is a senior! The boys are a fairly rough bunch but Visanuk and May wanted to bring them to Home of Hope and teach them God’s ways. We are very impressed with Visanuk and May with their input and suggestions and their administrative talents. They are great assets to Home of Hope along with May’s sister, Dtaum. Dtaum just graduated with a two-year degree in accounting and instead of working for much more money, she chose to come and work with the children at Home of Hope. We praise God for bringing these people to us at the right time! Another reason we need the new building completed is that we have at least 3 more children waiting to come to Home of Hope. We are now full again with 9 boys, 12 girls and three staff.

Prayers & Blessings,

Neill & Diana

 Once again we thank you for your partnership with us through prayer, coming on teams and giving. May you have a glorious Easter! Pra Jao Oi Pawn Khaa/Krup (God bless you).

Home of Hope Profiles

Lawsung – 10 yrs old. 

Father died. Mother left. Grandmother taking care but has no job. He runs the streets, does not go to school. From Ban 48.

Warachon (Libpa) – 10 yrs old. 

Father left. Lives with mother and younger sister. Mother cannot take care of both children. Runs the streets with friends, does not go to school, starting to sniff paint thinner. From Ban 48.

Warapon (Moses) – 9 yrs old.

Mother & father in jail for stealing. Lives with grandfather who cannot take care of him anymore. Runs the streets with friends, does not go to school. From Ban 48.

Wichai – 13 yrs old.

Orphan. Living with 16 yr old brother who is living with 14 yr old girl. Runs streets with friends. They often have no food to eat. From Ban 48.

Lawwiga – 10 yrs old.

Father drowned while swimming drunk. Mother cannot earn enough to feed them both. From Ban 48.

Patchara (Etu) – 11 yrs old. Father left.

Mother lives with new boyfriend and boyfriend does not want him. Lives with cousin and family. Grandmother wants him to study Bible and go to school. Often fights with other boys; cousin forced him to drink alcohol or else he could not eat. He has smoked and many children in the area (Doi Muser) have been kidnapped.

Jiriporn – 5 yrs old.

Younger sister of Mo and Jean. Father committed suicide and mother has no job to care for these children. Last year Jiriporn stayed at Ler Daw village and cried most of the time she was there. This is the Karen mountain village the Midwest Team visits and the head man has offered land to Pastor John to build a church there.