Life in a Northern Town

(of Thailand)

My name is Shayne Rochfort and I am a servant of God,

volunteering in Hangdong, Thailand.

I am helping support The River Team in their work in the

local schools and community.

My main role involves everything and anything.

Please consider supporting me in my work here in Thailand.

Welcome to the new

format of my

Newsletter “Life in a

Northern Town”, I

hope you enjoy this

new format. There are

a few more changes

to read about too.

I would like to wish

you all, “A very Merry

Christmas and a

Happy New Year!!!”

May God continue to

bless you throughout

2013!

Highlights -

River Team

hitting the

Hangdong

Schools

A Melbourne

School visiting

The River

Kids Club

Making Prayer

Cards for 2000

special Thai

people

I have been working on this newsletter for 6 months. A June

update turns into a Christmas review. I am so sorry for not getting this out sooner, but I will be explaining these reasons to you over subsequent pages. Please continue to pray for me through this time as I am facing new and exciting challenges over the coming months and things will never be the same, as they were before!!! My journey in Thailand is not ending but being redefined and the chance to see many more people coming to Jesus through the foundations I am working for. Praise God!

The River is flowing into 2013 bringing some

exciting change! An Open Letter from Erik Klar. Dear valued supporters and friends,

God is already starting to reveal to us that 2013 will be a year of

change, growth and incredible blessing.

As you know, our work in Thailand is not confined to Hang

Dong. God continues to bless our work on the mountains,

doors are continuing to open in the South, and we are excited

by the new developments that are taking place in Bangkok.

Regarding The River Centre in Hang Dong, we would like to let

you know that the "landlord" will be taking back the running of

the hotel and restaurant buildings as of the 31st of December

for an undefined period of time. We will, however, still have

use of the rest of the property. We are excited by this new

development and are walking forward in faith and anticipation

to the next season we have in God.

Please join us in praise and prayer as we enter into 2013. The

best is yet to come!

We hope you and your family have a safe and blessed

Christmas.

Erik Klar

The times are a changing! In the new

year, I will be changing jobs, changing

accommodation and all things will be new again.

As I have always said, I love Thailand, I love Chiang

Mai and I love Erik, Mariaana and The River Team in

Hangdong most of all.

These last 6 months have been challenging

personally. While working for The River, things have

been steady as she goes and I have been continuing

to get things done and seeing God doing awesome

things. However, inside, there has been a reflection

and refocus and I need to follow God’s leading to

another season of my life here in Chiang Mai.

I will always be a passionate supporter of The River

Team and I pray that I have the opportunity to

continue connecting in some capacity with the work

of The River Team. Nothing bad has happened, that

is forcing this change, it is just a timing thing and a

time for me to say goodbye to The River Team, in a

full time capacity.

Change

Dear valued supporters and friends,

God is already starting to reveal to us that 2013 will be a year of

change, growth and incredible blessing.

As you know, our work in Thailand is not confined to Hang

Dong. God continues to bless our work on the mountains,

doors are continuing to open in the South, and we are excited

by the new developments that are taking place in Bangkok.

Regarding The River Centre in Hang Dong, we would like to let

you know that the "landlord" will be taking back the running of

the hotel and restaurant buildings as of the 31st of December

for an undefined period of time. We will, however, still have

use of the rest of the property. We are excited by this new

development and are walking forward in faith and anticipation

to the next season we have in God.

Please join us in praise and prayer as we enter into 2013. The

best is yet to come!

We hope you and your family have a safe and blessed

Christmas.

Erik Klar

Source - http://theriverteamthailand.blogspot.com

One of The River Team's weekly activities in the

community is to support the English Department of the

local Government. This is accomplished by teaching

English at local public schools, by running English camps

during school breaks as well as by holding teacher

training seminars for the entire district. With our current

capacity, we are able to cover eight schools, but the

demand is for much more! We need more native English

speakers to volunteer!

The partnerships with the Education Department and

with the local schools is far-reaching. About 140 kids are

now regularly involved in our The River Kid's Club and The

River Youth. On weekly basis, the kids and teens have an

opportunity to engage in fun activities, as well as

meaningful moments of learning about God. (cont next page).

SCHOOLS ARE A KEY TO REACHING THE

YOUNG GENERATION!

Clockwise from above left ...Baan Kuan

Fun Day, In school, group activities and

one of the little ones at Summer school.

Clockwise from above...At a migrant school in Mae Sot, lunch at a

Government orphanage, at a primary school English camp and

more at Summer school.

The River Team visits their homes and helps the families

and their communities to identify the needs of the most

vulnerable and to discover ways to find viable and

sustainable solutions to break the cycle of poverty and

abuse.

Recently, the Education Department publicly

commended The River Team for its outstanding work in

helping to raise the standard of the local schools by

bringing transformation to the lives of the students.

Thank you for partnering with us and please consider

volunteering with us!

Well after nearly 3

years teaching at Baan

Kuan school, I taught

my last lesson. Over

that time, I had been

welcomed as part of

the Baan Kuan school

community and have

joined in many events

outside of my weekly

classes.

I had teared up a couple of times in class and it was

hard to get the words out, I have made some special

connections with the students and staff there. I will see

them again for sure, I even have an opportunity to say

something next week at their Christmas celebration, so

I want it to be good, meaningful and useful. The whole

day was going really well and lunch was yummy and

it was all awesome until the whole school came

together and thanked me - I cried! It was special!

Saying Goodbye

I used to think

teaching in

schools was hard

and I found it

challenging, but I

have really

connected at

Baan Kuan and

everyone is just

awesome. I know

now a little bit how hard it is for real teachers losing

their students every year, I only get to see these guys

once a week!!! Teachers are really special people.

I will never

forget

Baan

Kuan

School!!!

Thank

you!!!

Highlights -

Panasia

Conference -

A Time of

refreshment

and connection

during

Exciting

personal times

Sharing

Mother’s Day

with commu-

nity Mums and

their families

Mother’s Day in Thailand -

We all have mum's!

In Thailand, mums work very hard in

their every day life, they take on a

greater burden for raising their kids,

looking after their parents and trying to

make ends meet with meagre sums of

money. They never stop in serving their

families and communities. They

sometimes have challenging family

situations which complicate this even

more.

Thankfully, one day each year they get

a chance to forget about the world

and have some "me" time. That day is

Mother's Day and in Thailand, it is

celebrated on the Queen's Birthday,

the 12th of August. The River team

worked tirelessly to make this day

special and it was really nice to see

how much each mum enjoyed the

day. Nearly one hundred mums joined

us to celebrate and we hope they

enjoyed a day of laughter, love and a bit

of pampering.

We began the day meeting together and

having a few laughs with some crazy

games, then Marianna shared a touching

story of a mother's love, after that the kid's

club kids performed a drama for their

mums and it concluded with each child

singing to their mum, "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for

always, As long as I'm living, My mommy you'll be."

We all headed over to our special lunch which chef Nu and

his crew had prepared. We have some fantastic cooks in

our team and Nu is just one of them. The mums were so

happy with how everything had been so far, but the best

was yet to come!

The afternoon activities, included massages, some fun

cooking classes and also the chance to receive all natural

facials and beautiful make up done by our team. Each

mum will soon receive a stunning photo of themselves. Well

done River Team!!!

In the new

year, I will be

transferring to the Christian Outreach

Centre Thailand and “The Haven Project”

which is also based in Chiang Mai.

Complete details of my role are still to be

finalised, but my day to day

responsibilities will be with coordinating

visa and work permit processing, Thai

laws regarding NGOs and labour,

communications and reporting about

the foundation and various other duties. I

am believing that this new year will be

one of great challenge and learning,

great personal growth and also one that

will help God’s kingdom to grow in

Thailand and south east Asia.

I would be grateful for your prayers over

these next few months of transition and

getting my head around all the new

things that will be going on. I pray for

God’s leading through this transition.

New Year, New Role

How can people have faith in the Lord and ask him to save them, if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear, unless someone tells them? And how can anyone tell them without being sent by the Lord? The Scriptures say it is a beautiful sight to see even the feet of someone coming to preach the good news. Yet not everyone has believed the

message. For example, the prophet Isaiah asked, “Lord, has anyone believed what we said?”

No one can have faith without hearing the message about Christ. Romans 10:14-17 CEV

Over the past few months, The River Team has been in a

focused time of prayer for individuals that we are

connecting with in all our communities around Thailand.

Now we have the opportunity for people all around the

world to join us in this endeavour. If you would like to join

us in praying for a person in the community or someone

in The River Team please send an email to

prayer@theriver-hd.org and we will send you a picture

you can print and put in your Bible for your personal

prayer times.

Just think, currently we have about one thousand people

praying for Thailand and our community people, what

kind of prayer tsunami can we create, so that Thailand

will come to know Jesus?

Prayer Bookmarks! (See opposite)

Clockwise from above...At Sang’s Karen

Wedding, In the pool, at Kid’s Club

camp and with some lovely Karen kids.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO PRAY:

Praise for God’s blessing through The River Team and myself person-

ally - It has been such an exciting time during these past few months

with many more people coming to know Jesus, including a mother and

son just yesterday. We also had an amazing Mother’s Day connecting

with many new mums in the community.

Please pray for the whole River Team - Please pray regarding The

River Centre in Hangdong, as we have many challenging times coming

up and are in need of new volunteers. The River Team is constantly

changing, so please continue to pray for unity in all these changes.

I would like to Praise God and thank the people who have started to

support me. However, I still need to raise more support to continue to

serve here in Thailand.

Any questions please do not hesitate to send me an

email, schoolies2@yahoo.com or give me a call.

2 And He said to them, The harvest indeed is abundant, but the farmhands are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

3 Go your way; behold, I send you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Luke 10:2-3 AMP

PO Box 11

HANGDONG

CHIANGMAI 50230

THAILAND

Phone +66801202074

Email -

schoolies2@yahoo.com

Skype - shayneinthailand

The River Training and Convention Centre

I am committed to being

in Thailand. I would like to

let you know that if you

are able to support me in my work, then you can do so through

One Mission Society. There are many ways you can support me,

through prayer as well as financially.

My prayer card with all the details is available at http://tinyurl.com/shayneprayercard .

Please include my missionary number #803833 with any donations.

You can support me financially by :-

Cheque - Please make cheques payable to: OMS International,

PO Box 897, RINGWOOD, Vic 3134. Include a note with my name.

Direct Debit - If you wish to make a payment directly through

your bank, pay to: Westpac.

Acc Name: OMS International Australia- Inc.

Acc Number: 733172 BSB: 628724.

NOTE: In the transaction details please be sure to include your

name and ROC.

Credit card donations - can be made

through the website.

http://www.onemissionsociety.org.au

OMS phone – 03 9872 4209

Supporting Shayne

Thank you for

reading this,

thank you for

encouraging

me and I want

to especially

thank you for

supporting

and praying

for me and The

River Team!

The End