On December 27th, we went to the Abundant Life Home in Ang Sila which is two hours southeast of Bangkok. It is an orphanage that is sponsored by our church denomination - Mennonite Brethren Missions and Service International (MBMSI). Way back in the year 2000, the Mennonite Brethren denomination sent out 3 families who committed themselves to ministry in Thailand for 10 years. They were known as 'Team 2000'. They did not necessarily know ahead of time what their mission work there would involve; they just knew that God was calling them to Thailand for 10 years. Since then others from our denomination (some from our own church - Central Heights) have joined them for mission work in Thailand - Rob and Judy Griffoen, Cynthia Friesen, the Ouellette family, and others. And over the years some of the Team 2000 missionaries have presented in Central Heights about what they have been doing. Part of our desire in going to Thailand, beyond just going for a vacation, was to look up this orphanage and see if we could connect with missionaries connected to it. We are very glad we did. We were able to visit the orphanage for about 2 hours. At the time there were only two children at the orphanage as the rest of the children were in school. The children are referred to the home by the Thai government. Each of the 4 homes has a Thai "mother". Some of the children have HIV and some with other health problems. There was a fridge full of medicine and vitamins to prove it. There are about 22 children in the orphanage - ages 3 to 18.
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| Ricky Sanchez (one of the Team 2000 members) in front of one of the houses at Abundant Life Home |
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| Abundant Life Home from the road - one house at the back and three on the right. There is the plan to build two more homes on the left |
After our time at the Abundant Life Home we went back to Bang Saen Beach, where we had spent Christmas Day, which was about a 15 minute drive from the orphanage.
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| Aimee in the water |
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| Kate and Elizabeth playing in the sand |
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