Stan's Challenge for PPJ group

I am hoping you will all meet someone in PPJ. The person I want you to meet is yourself. By this I mean that I am hoping you will see your self in a new light.

We are suggesting that for our time in Thailand we should be "unplugged". Switch off your ipods. Turn off the phone. Put away the 3g games, and don't use the hours looking at screens big or small.

What you then see may surprise you. You will see young people that do not have a cent to bless themselves with brimming with happiness. It may dawn on you that happiness is not about having.

We in NZ are conditioned to think that our toys are the conduits through which pleasure and happiness comes. We assume that the person with the most or the latest toys must be supremely happy.

The community at PPJ puts the lie into the notions. We are forced to wonder, "have I been going in the wrong directions?". The PPJ experience gives us the opportunity to ask "Who am I?", "Where am I going?", and "Who could I be?"

Frann's profile

Hi from Frann...

This will be my second trip to Pakpingjai. To officially open the Girl’s Hostel was one of the purposes of our trip in 2008. Since then, 17 young girls age 6 – 13 have been welcomed into the community of Pakpingjai where they are receiving Christian care and a sound education. Visiting the Hill Tribes from where some of these girls have come puts their plight into perspective. We take treats such as lollies and balloons and essentials such as basic medicines. To see the delight in the eyes of the children as they play with the balloons and taste the treats - to see the tears in the eyes of an old man when told the medicines will bring relief from the pain in his arthritic knees – it personifies the words of Christ “I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me” Matthew 25: 40. I don’t go to relive my experience of 2008, but I go with the expectation that we will return satisfied that we have made a difference to those whose lives we touch.

Stan's Profile

Friends, this is my third visit to Pakpingjai. I count myself very blessed to have had hese opportunities. It is like going to the other side of the moon. Forget about cheeky children and bored teens. In the gentle atmosphere of the Hostel and the communities that surround it unwinding is easy. The picture shows me doing something we all will do - engaging high school students in conversational English. My hope is that our group will become lasting friends and that we all will feel the love of God and be personally challenged.