Grace Refuge Outreach Worldwide

Faa in the U.S.

2010-09-14T16:42:00.000-07:00

I have been watching as God works through and in Faa during these last few weeks since she got here in the U.S. What a delight it has been to see how she connects with people through her humble story of obscure beginnings and great destinies.

Faa is in the U.S. raising prayer and financial support for G.R.O.W. She has traveled to Missouri, Illinois, Ohio and is now in Texas. Tomorrow she goes to California and returns to Ohio again on September 21. I would like to ask you to continue to pray for a successful mission for her.

Here are the priority projects Faa is working on:

1. To raise 100 prayer supporters for our ministries;

2. To raise 170 monthly supporters (who will give $35.00 per month). Click here to donate;

3. To raise $15,000.00 to buy a truck for transportation for the G.R.O.W. children;

4. To move to a better location and more spacious location before the end of this year.

Thank you for your prayers and if you have questions, please feel free to contact me.

Pastor Ivanildo C. Trindade
GROW President
itrindade@grow-worldwide.com

The G.R.O.W. Home

2010-02-05T22:27:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

I am back to blogging here after my trip to Asia. As some of you know, Faa was able to be with us during the time we were in Cambodia. It was her first time there and I believe she benefited a lot from observing the work of rescuing children in that part of the world.

Faa flew with our team from Phnom Penh to Chiang Mai. She had warned me about a surprise. When we arrived, we were greeted by her sister Ning, her niece Beam and the two newest girls who arrived at the home only on January 15. They gave us a flower necklace, which we immediately wrapped around our necks and savored the wonderful smell which was a harbinger of good things to come.

That night we had dinner at the G.R.O.W. home and then worshipped with the children. Ning had prepared a delicious meal and we ate it heartily. The worship time was so beautiful, with all of us sitting low on the floor, Faa playing her guitar and leading the singing, the children reciting Bible verses and a time of prayer of thanksgiving following. We had a little piece of heaven right there.

During the sharing time Faa's sister shared her prayer to God from a few years back. She actually read from the piece of paper where she had offered herself to God and promised Him that if He chose to use her she would dedicate her life to rescue at risk children. She spoke very specifically of her dream, including the physical characteristics of the place where the children would live. Her dream includes much space for the children to play, homes for boys and girls, a learning center and a place to worship together.

As Faa was translating, she wept and for a moment couldn't continue because she never knew of her sister's prayer and was hearing about it for the first time. What touched her heart deeply was her sister's humble assertion to God that she was nothing, only a hill tribe girl with nothing to offer. Having lived daily the pain of being rejected for being Akha, Faa knew exactly what her sister was talking about. She could relate to the daring aspect of that sincere prayer. We were all moved beyond words. As I looked at Faa, I also realized that she was weeping because her dream was an exact copy of Ning's dream. It could only have come from God!

The G.R.O.W. home is a three story building located in a alley sided by other similar apartments. Admittedly, it is still a far cry from Ning's and Faa's dream. But it is a very significant step in the right direction. A few months ago they were only using a small space in this building because other tenants were also sharing the rooms. Now they have the use of the whole apartment. They also have added some "amenities" which they could only dream of until recently, like a refrigerator, water heaters for the showers, chairs, beds and a kitchen table, among others.

The children have no room to play outside. I saw the little boy pedaling his bike from the kitchen to the small eating area and back and it made me somewhat sad. It is a good thing that they are taken to a park nearby every couple of weeks but the children most definitely need more space to play. They end up running around the house, mostly chasing Faa or being chased by her, laughing her hearts out, screaming, occasionally bumping into each other and having little episodes. But overall they are doing very well.

Faa runs the home with a keen sense of organization, being careful to keep schedules, including what is being served for the different meals -- which the children hold her to religiously. She has them rotating between different meaningful activities after they come back from school and the children react very well to the structure. The two little girls are only learning now but Faa utilizes the two older kids to teach the new ones how things ought to be. It is a beautiful thing to watch.

I want to thank all of you who have contributed to allow us to plant this little seed which is already bearing much fruit. Without your help we couldn't have done it.

"With men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

Pastor Ivanildo C. Trindade

G.R.O.W. President

ivanildoctrindade@gmail.com

P.S. I will be posting more about our experience with G.R.O.W. in Thailand here. Stay tuned.

Blogging in Asia

2010-01-20T08:03:00.000-08:00

While we are in Asia, we will be bloggin here. Please bookmark this page if you want to follow us in Asia. And pray for us and our ministry to at risk children in Cambodia and Thailand.

Thank you!

Pastor Ivanildo Trindade
ivanildoctrindade@gmail.com

Off We Are!

2010-01-20T07:56:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,

Today begins a long journey for our team. We welcome you to check on what's happening with our Asia team here. We will blog as often as possible and as long as the spotty Internet connections in those parts will allow us to. We will be with Faa in Cambodia and part of the time when we are in Chiang Mai, including spending one night in the G.R.O.W. home with the kids!

We are excited to represent our church in this trip, especially because we will have the opportunity to hug the children that we have rescued in both Thailand and Cambodia. We realize that even though this is a tough trip that requires gobs of time and commitment on our part, it is also a TREMENDOUS PRIVILEGE to be able to do it.

Thank you for praying for our whole team. I am fighting a sinus infection right now. Uhgghhhh.... Saw my wonderful doctor yesterday (Dr. Fast) who gave me some antibiotics. Hesitantly, I started the regimen last night. I am praying that the meds will work or that God will cure me without the meds. Thanks for joining us in your prayers.

I am trying to finish last minute stuff before we left, but wanted to do this quick post to share our schedule with you. Please bear in mind that all times listed are local times in the city listed. Cambodia and Thailand are 12 hours ahead of us right now. We should be arriving in Phnom Penh, the Capital of Cambodia, on Thursday, 10 p.m. Wooster time, which will be Friday, 10:00 PP time, on January 22. But it won't make any difference because we won't know where we are by then! Later that day we drive to Battambang, the second largest city in Cambodia and will probably arrive there 9-10 p.m. on Friday (9-10 Friday morning in Wooster). Are you following all of that?

Okay, here is the schedule:

SE Asia January 2010 (Tentative) Team Schedule

Wednesday, January 20,1:00 p.m. – leave from the office to Cleveland Hopkins
5:00 p.m. – flight to L.A.
7:09 p.m. – arrive in L.A.
11:25 p.m. – leave for Taipei, Taiwan

Friday, January 22, 6:00 a.m. – arrive in Taipei
7:25 a.m. – leave Taipei to Phnom Penh, Cambodia
10:00 a.m. – arrive in Phnom Penh
12:00 p.m. – team goes to the hotel
2:50 p.m. – Faa arrives in Phnom Penh
4:00 p.m. – team leaves for Battambang
9:00 p.m. – team arrives at the TEO hotel in Battambang

Saturday, January 23, 8:00 a.m. – breakfast and team meeting at the TEO
9:00 a.m. – team rides to Grace Place: Battambang
12:00 noon – lunch with AH staff
2:00 p.m. – team returns to GP:BT
6:00 p.m. – supper at restaurant
9:00 p.m. – back to the TEO

Sunday, January 24, 8:00 a.m. – breakfast and team meeting at the TEO
9:00 a.m. – church service at the pavilion (worship with the orphans)
12:00 noon – team takes Kanes to lunch
2:00 p.m. – visit points of light, micro-
enterprise projects with Kanes
6:00 p.m. – team returns to GP:BT
9:00 p.m. – back to the TEO

Monday, January 25, 7:00 a.m. – breakfast and team meeting at the TEO
8:00 a.m. – leave for Phnom Penh
1:00 p.m. – arrive in Phnom Penh, go to the market, shop
6:00 p.m. – dinner
8:00 p.m. – back to the guest house

Tuesday, January 26, 8:00 a.m. – breakfast and team meeting
9:00 a.m. – visit Toul Sleng museum
10:00 - 1:00 a.m. – visit/work at the dump site, pack lunch
2:00 – 4:00 p.m. – visit the state orphanage
4:00 – 6:00 p.m. – visit other AH orphanages in Phnom Penh, meet with AH staff
7:00 p.m. – dinner at the Thmorda
9:00 p.m. – back to the guest house

Wednesday, January 27, 6:30 a.m. – breakfast and team meeting
7:30 a.m. – leave for Phnom Penh airport
9:40 a.m. – leave Phnom Penh
10:50 a.m. – arrive in Bangkok
12:05 p.m. – leave Bangkok
1:20 p.m. – arrive in Chiang Mai, Go to G.R.O.W. home
2:00 p.m. – lunch at Ga lae, (Thai food) , after lunch possibly to slum area for Hill tribe people

Thursday, January 28, 8:00 a.m. – breakfast and team meeting
10:00 a.m. – visit International Justice Mission
12:00 –lunch with Kaow soi (Chaing Mai food) and shopping
2:30 p.m. – visit AGAPE ministries (dealing with AIDS patients)
4:00 p.m. – Garden of Hope (street children)
5:00 p.m. – prayer walk in slum are for Hill tribe people in CM
6:30 p.m. – supper at Night Market or Palad tawan wron
9:00 p.m. – go to Flinchum’s

Friday, January 29, 7:30 a.m. – breakfast and team meeting at Flinchum’s 8:00 a.m. – leave for Weing Pa Pao, will spend the day and night there with kids at Grace Place:Thailand)

Saturday, January 30, 8:00 a.m. – dedication of GP:TH
12:00: p.m. – lunch
2:00 p.m. – return to CM, go shopping
7:00 p.m. – dinner
8:30 p.m. – team meeting

Sunday, January 31, 7:30 a.m. – breakfast
9:00 a.m. – church at Doi Soket 1 (with all the orphans)
12:00 noon – lunch
4:30 p.m. Student Center worship , Afterwards, got to walking night market (Optional)

Monday, February 1, 7:30 a.m. – breakfast and team meeting
8:30 a.m. – leave for youth detention center, do service there
12:00 noon – lunch with AH staff
Afternoon – shopping and packing

Tuesday, February 2, 8:00 a.m. – breakfast and team meeting
9:00 a.m. – leave for CM airport
1:25 p.m. – leave to Taipei
5:55 p.m. – arrive in Taipei
11:40 p.m. – leave for L.A.
7:05 p.m. – arrive in L.A.
10:55 p.m. – leave for Cleveland

Wednesday, February 3, 6:16 a.m. – arrive in Cleveland

Note: All times are local to the city mentioned. Both Cambodia and Thailand are 12 hours ahead of Wooster, OH. There is a chance Jeana, Nathan and Pastor Ivanildo will be returning to Cleveland on 2/6.

Thanks for your prayers!

Pastor Ivanildo C. Trindade
itrindade@woostergrace.org

News From Faa

2009-11-04T18:11:00.000-08:00

[Blogger's Note: I received the following from Faa yesterday].

Hi everyone,

How are you doing? I hope all of you doing so well! and enjoy with SNOWS!! i wish i should be there when it is snowing.I miss all of you so much and thank you so much for your prayers!.

The kids doing good and very excited to pray for new house, I was excited to see the kids go to school, every morning my tears came out every because of God's grace for us day by day, i don't know what i have to do but just pray to God and praise what God had done for the kids and for me.

Please pray for Seksun he have appointment to go to the hospital to see the doctor dentists on Friday he doesn't like and very scare, i understood what he feel.

I am still awake cant sleep, very hot weather for me now I need to sleep so much but i cant because of the next block with us they build contraction very noisy and the people drink alcohol everyday i am pretty scare!!!

I was happy to be home and have a lot of fun with the kids. See the people work on the street i wish all of you can see someday. I cant drive motorcycles yet cause my driverlicen gone for 5 months and i have to waiting till next week cause i have to prepare the document from the hospital i don't like to go to see the doctor but i have to.

I have some new house pics looking for from my sister took and i went to see it is good and some have to do so many thing too.

Today i went to visit a couple married they share story about rent house to staying in the city they told me a story by tears because of when they live there and the owner knew that they are hill tribe let them leaved from the house they rent between 3 hrs. and they stayed there only 8 days and payed 1,000 baht. The owner throw out the money deposit on the ground the owner did like them animals. I feel so hurt and sad so much when i heard this story make me cry and cry.

Please pray for us.

Faa Sumitra

Introducing Faa and the Ministry of Grace Refuge Outreach Worldwide (G.R.O.W.)

2009-11-03T18:46:00.000-08:00

My name is Faa Sumitra Choemue. I was born in a small village on the northern mountains of Thailand. When I lived there as a little girl, there were no hospitals, electricity or running water. I am from the Akha tribe, an ethnic minority in Thailand and I am the youngest of 12 children. Five of my siblings passed away before I was born.

Because my family was very poor, soon after my mother died I was sent to a Christian Children Home in Chiang Rai. My father had become abusive and beat me repeatedly. I had to flee my home. At the Christian Home I learned about Christ for the first time and received Jesus as my Lord and Savior when I was 15. I have great memories of that Home. It was there that I memorized my first Bible verses in Thai and to this day I still consider the Christian Children Home as “my home.”

Because I graduated from school, I had to leave the Christian Home. I had no money and no place to go, but I had one main goal in mind – I wanted to go to college. I was so determined and God placed people along the way who helped me. I worked hard and by God's Grace I got a Bachelors degree in Business Marketing from The Far Eastern University in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I was the first and only from my family to ever graduate from the University.

During my college years, I heard a lot about street children who are victims of the sex trade industry in Thailand. I felt like I needed to do something to help them. I began to spend time with these children and every time I did that I cried and cried. I couldn’t stop crying even when my eyes were open. My heart was broken for them because their story was very much like my story. I started asking God to help me to know how I could help. I wanted so much for them to stay in a safe place. I couldn’t stop thinking about this. I thought that eventually I was going to do be able to do something to help the children.

Then something happened that convinced me that my time had come. One day I went to one of the worst neighborhoods in Chiang Mai to meet children. While there, I met a little, homeless orphan who was forced to work selling flowers to tourists at the street corners. He was six years old, very small and thin, no shorts, only a long dirty t-shirt on. His body bore the markings of many beatings from bamboo sticks. He was truly a modern-day slave. I looked at him and thought he was only three. Because he spoke my language, he opened his heart to me and with many tears told me how much he wanted to go to school but was not able to because of his miserable situation.

From that time on I prayed more earnestly and asked God to help me learn whatever I could to be able to help the street children. And God did answer my prayer! By God’s grace, even though I had little money to support myself and my family on the mountains, I was able to support four children while I was in college. (Today, this boy lives in a Christian Home and he loves the Lord!).

While working with street children, my heart was broken for them and I saw the need to provide them with a safe place to live, a home where I could take care of them and invest my life in their lives as a normal family would do. I prayed that God would let me start a home for some Akha children who were at risk. I wanted to start with Akha children because I am familiar with their language and culture and can relate to their story.

God answered my prayers and gave me and my sister our first two children. I felt that God was confirming my calling to provide help and support for these children, as well as a safe place for them to learn, grow, and be introduced to the Lord Jesus Christ. Though I am still far from realizing my dream, I keep jumping out and trusting God to provide. It is very difficult to help the children without any kind of support from anywhere and that’s why I am asking my brothers and sisters in other parts of the world to help me reach these children with the love of God.

My sister and I, by faith and trust in God alone, started a home in Chiang Mai with the specific purpose of rescuing children and youth who are at risk. We now have 3 girls and 2 boys living with us. I would like to have separate homes for girls and boys and my goal is to convert our first home into a home for girls, ages 5 to 9, right away. I would like for the children to know about Christ like I do and I would like to see them become good Christian leaders and be able to help others when they get older.

In order to do that, I need your help. You can help us by praying and also by giving financially to this ministry. While we are in the process of incorporating G.R.O.W. in the U.S., you can start contributing right away. It takes resources to combat the evils that child prostitution has wrought in my country, but I believe that God’s people are already rising to the occasion and making a difference. Checks can be made out to G.R.O.W. and mailed to P.O. Box 1862. Wooster, OH 44691.

Thank you for your interest in the ministry of G.R.O.W. Feel free to contact me with any questions you might have. Please know that my commitment to this ministry has roots that go deep inside my soul. Even if everything around me changes, I want you to know that my dream about helping these children will never die. As God enables me, I will do everything within my power to help these children find hope in Christ and hope for the future.

Should you have any questions, please call Pastor Ivanildo at 330-466-8055 or e-mail him at itrindade@woostergrace.org.

Thank you!

Your sister in Christ,

Faa Sumitra Choemue
sumitrafaa@gmail.com
P.O. Box 1862. Wooster, OH 44691
P.O. 254 Muang Chiang Mai 50000, Thailand

Faa arrives in Thailand

2009-11-01T21:59:00.001-08:00

I just got a message from Faa saying that she arrived in Thailand. I was not able to speak with her but at least I know that she is safe at home now.

Thank you for your prayers!
Pastor Ivanildo C. Trindade, Associate Pastoe of Outreach Ministries, Wooster Grace Brethren Church - Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

What I Have Learned from Faa

2009-11-01T18:32:00.000-08:00

After spending some extended time with Faa, here is my top ten list of things I have learned from her:

10. You don't have to be "powerful" to become powerful. Faa came from the hill tribes on the mountains of Thailand. As an Akha young girl, who lost her mother before the age of 13, and with an abusive father to boot, she was at the bottom of the totem poll, but this did not stop her from becoming the woman of influence she wanted to be. Today she is admired by one and all in her village and is offered as an example to the Akha world.

9. Real power comes from having faith in God. For the longest time in her life Faa had no one to talk to her. Her questions could only hit a silent wall and fall back to her. But then she discovered God through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and from then on she became unstoppable.

8. You don't need money to be happy. Faa is one of the happiest people I know and yet she is one of the most detached from money persons I know. She only notices money for a single reason: to help rescue children from suffering.

7. You only need the Bible to become wise. To hear Faa talk about some of the toughest decisions she has had to make, you would be tempted to think that she has a doctorate in conflict resolution or personal management. But you would be wrong -- for the greatest part of her life, Faa has only had the Bible and the wisdom she has acquired from reading and memorizing it.

6. The more you suffer the more you yearn to rescue those who are suffering. One of the reasons the church in the U.S. is drowning in a big pool of indifference is because people have it too easy here. Try being physically beaten for three years in High School because you refused to pray to a false god. Try going without food for days, being forced to live in squalid conditions and doing all kinds of menial jobs to survive and you will begin to understand Faa's passion for those who suffer.

5. Courage is NOT related to size. Faa is tiny and appears very fragile, but she is one of the most resourceful and fearless people I know. I have found myself at the other side of a disagreement with her and without going into details, let me just say: I didn't have a chance...

4. Poverty does not have to lead to corruption. Faa has on numerous occasions been offered tons of money to do things that are contrary to her convictions. To date she has refused every time even when she desperately needed the money or her life was in danger for refusing to take it.

3. Bitterness is never invincible. Faa's deep pain from her past has not driven her away from those she loves. Her reconciliation to her father, whom she loves deeply, is a tribute to the power of forgiveness that is only possible through Jesus Christ.

2. A cause always has names and faces. Even before Faa was able to articulate her vision in English, she could talk about the children she was already helping. She knows their names, their history, their aspiration, their desperation and she breathes and yearns to break the chains that have kept them from achieving their God-given potential in this world.

1. When you know God you can take on even the most vile industry in the world. Trying to rescue children from the sex trade industry in Thailand is a gigantic undertaking. But just like David Faa is bringing down some menacing giants, with God's help.

P.S. I am not ready to canonize Faa yet -- first you have to be dead (which will not happen in a long, long time, Lord willing) and then people have to pray to you and show incontrovertible evidence that their prayers have been answered. That is, if you are Catholic... So that's not happening any time soon. The point being, she is obviously not perfect, but I am casting my support with her and her cause because I believe in her calling and in the power of the God who called her for this work.

Pastor Ivanildo C. Trindade
ivanildo@vzw.blackberry.net

The Story of Faa

2009-09-20T07:29:00.000-07:00

Sumitra (“Faa”) Choemue is a 27 year old woman who was born into a destitute family of twelve children on the mountains of northern Thailand. Five of her siblings died before Faa was even born. Faa is from the Akha tribe and like many other minorities in Thailand, she belongs to a class that is despised and rejected by the majority population. Humanly speaking, Faa was destined to a life of crawling, craving and crying with no possibility of redemption.

Faa escaped being sold as a sex slave several times. On one occasion, when she was about 5, she remembers her dad crouching on the dirt floor, completely drunk, holding a bottle in one hand and a cigarette in the other while talking to a stranger. Though she didn’t fully understand it at the time, it turns out the man was offering her father the equivalent of ten dollars to buy her. By God’s grace, even in his drunken stupor, her dad refused.

Faa’s Mom died before she turned 13 and her father became so abusive that one time his beatings landed her in the hospital. A friend intervened and that’s how Faa found herself in a Christian home for children at risk in Chiang Rai. It was there that Faa found Jesus and it was there that she learned for the first time what it means to be part of a real family. To this day Faa still considers the Christian home her real home and two years ago, while visiting the U.S. for the first time, she was able to locate and spend a week with the family from Virginia who sponsored her while she lived in that home.

With God’s help Faa graduated from High School and then went on, with great sacrifice, to complete a university degree in Marketing. But through all of this, she never lost her faith in God and kept praying that God would help her and use her for His glory. Well, God did.

During her fourth year at the university Faa was finally able to get a full time job. But that didn’t last very long because at her job she heard about street children who sold flowers to tourist on the streets of Chiang Mai and were at risk of becoming sex slaves. Faa says, “The Children touched me and broke my heart and God gave me a supernatural love for them, so I left my job to work full time with them.”

Faa worked for several years with an organization in Chiang Mai called “Garden of Hope.” Their mission is to go into the most dangerous areas of the city and seek to rescue children who have already fallen into the net of unscrupulous thugs who sell them for sexual pleasure. Faa’s dedication became obvious to everyone. Her love for the children is unparalleled. Her faith in God is remarkable.

Though Faa appreciates the impact that a Christian Home with a rather large number of children had in her life, her vision is to start multiple small family units segregated by gender, where 5-7 boys or girls would live with Christian “parents” who would lead them to Christ and guide them in life.

Faa and her sister have started “Grace Refuge Outreach Worldwide” (G.R.O.W.) and they have a prototype of such a home in Chiang Mai. They have 5 children living with them. These children have all experienced severe abuse but they are now safe and are slowly being transformed by the love of Christ exemplified by Faa and her sister. Their needs, however, are still great, including the need for food, clothing and education, as Faa and her sister have no outside support to care for these children.

Faa’s love for God is infectious and everyone she meets is immediately impacted by the supernatural elements of her story. She is a natural missionary to her own people, as she already knows the language, the culture and is very passionate about this work. Faa is an example of an emerging group of missionaries who are coming out of the two-thirds world. She is worthy of our prayers and financial support.

If you want to have more information about Faa and her ministry, please contact Pastor Ivanildo Trindade (ivanildo@blackberry.vzw.net or 330-466-8055).

To send a contribution write a check to GROW and mail it to P.O. Box 1862. Wooster, OH 44691. Please notice that at this time your gift is not yet tax deductible. We're still in the process of incorporating GROW in the U.S. However, you will get an acknowledgement of your gift as well as periodical reports about how the funds are being used.

To contact Faa directly, please e-mail sumitrafaa@gmail.com or growworldwide@gmail.com. Regular mail: P.O. BOX 254. Muang Chiang Mai. 50000 Thailand.

We are initially looking for 100 contributors who will give $35 per month to allow us to fully fund our first home in Thailand. Would you consider being one of them?