The Crawford Chronicles #23

Praise and Prayer items

1) Good Kids Preschool - Please pray for the School Directors (Tom and Amy) of Austin’s Preschool (Good Kids Preschool). Pray that they have the strength to remain faithful to the work the Lord has for them. Pray that children and members of the community would see Christ and follow Him.

2) Austin’s Kindergarten Application - Please pray that everything goes smooth for Austin’s kindergarten application to Grace International School. Pray that the transition to a new school would go well.

3) Duncan Begins Preschool - Please pray for Duncan as he starts Preschool. We are praying that he will enjoy school and makes friends his own age.

4) Graham’s Sister visit - Praise the Lord that Lori (Graham’s sister) was able to visit us in Chiang Mai. It was the first time Aunty Lori was able to meet Duncan. We are thankful to the Lord for this special time.

4) Summer trip to Canada - We are thankful to the Lord that we were able to find affordable plane tickets back home to Canada. Please pray that the boys would travel well and that we would have quality time with family, friends and supporters.

Good Kids Preschool Testimony

Greetings everyone!  We wanted to do something a little different in this edition of The Crawford Chronicles.  We wanted to share the testimony from the directors of the preschool Austin has been attending.  We hope you enjoy it. 

Over the past year we have had the privilege of sending Austin to Good Kids Preschool.  It is a Christian Thai-English preschool about a 15 minute drive from our house.  We were nervous at first about sending Austin there as he didn't know any Thai and he wouldn't know any of the other students.  At the beginning, he didn't want to have to go to school but he quickly settled in.  This past week, I picked him up at lunch time and he asked why he had to leave early.  We have been so touched by the genuine love of the School Director and the teachers.  We are thankful for Austin's time there and are excited as Duncan will start attending next school year.  I wanted to share the testimony of Good Kids Preschool with you, at least in part, as it is amazing to see what God has done in and through them.

Teacher Tom and Teacher Amy (Teacher M) are the ones that run the school on land that was once part of Amy's family farm land.  Amy grew up in San Pa Tong and was the first Christian in the community.  Amy's dad passed away while she was still young.  Her Mom worked hard as she wanted Amy to attend school and do more with her life.  Coming from a Buddhist background, she felt that the struggles she and her Mom went through were because of karma.  It seemed that people didn't want to help her because her karma was bad.

BUT GOD...He continued to provide for her needs and she was able to continue to attends school.  Eventually, she went to university.  That is when she first heard about Jesus and she wanted to know about this Father she could have.  A Christian friend invited her to cell groups and a church camp.  She was overwhelmed by the people's love and openness to her despite her past.  The leader challenged her to honestly seek God for 3 months so she joined a church and church camps.  She started reading the Bible on a regular basis.  She knew something was different and people continued to care for her.

God became the Father she didn't have growing up and she became a Christian.  Once she finished university, Amy and Tom ran a children's home through the Itapon Foundation.  They were able to teach the children about God and watch as He worked in their lives.  Eventually, the foundation was able to help Amy and Tom build what would become Good Kids Preschool.  Children from all backgrounds are welcome at Good Kids.  They are taught academics as well as practical skills for life.  Last year, the classes planted and harvested rice by hand.  More importantly, the children were shown God's love and were taught His truth.  The teachers help the children prepare food for the elderly in the community.  The love and care that the teachers show to the children leaves us in awe.

The Good Kids Preschool campus is used for church meetings every Sunday.  God remains faithful as the attendance has increased and they now need to build a larger meeting room.

Amy and Tom also work hard at investing into their community by teaching people skills that will allow them to make extra income.  They are active in the Grace International School community as well as Amy is on the school board and Tom helps coach sports.

Please pray for them to have the strength to remain faithful to the work the Lord has given them.  Also pray that people in the community, young and old, would accept Jesus as their saviour.

Family update

The beginning of this year has flown by so quickly!  Kathleen was able to attend a child safety conference in Malaysia for 5 days.  It was the first time Kathleen has been away from the family that long and the boys did well while she was gone.  Graham's sister, Lori, was able to visit us the last week of February.  It was great having her here and showing her a bit of our life in Chiang Mai.

Austin has graduated from K2 at Good Kids Preschool.  In Thailand, preschool is usually about a 4 year process which includes Kindergarten.  We are currently going through the application process for Austin to attend Kindergarten at Grace International School next year.  He is excited to be attending the same school that Mom and Dad work at.

Duncan will start the summer program (Summer break is from March to May here in Thailand) at Good Kids Preschool later this month.  We are excited for him to be able to be with kids his own age.  Please pray that his transition into school goes well.

We have finally been able to book flights home for this summer (May 27-July 18).  The plan is to arrive in Alberta in May and then travel to New Brunswick in June.  From there we will fly back to Thailand in July.  We are excited for this time with our family.  Graham's sister is the only member of Graham's family that has ever met Duncan.  Its been 4 years since Kathleen and Austin have seen Graham's family.  We will plan to visit as many of our supporting churches as we can.  Unfortunately, we won't be able to visit all of them since we only have a few Sundays in each province.  I'll try to send out a more detailed schedule once we know what churches we'll be visiting.  If you'd be interested in seeing us please let us know so we can schedule a time with you.  We'd love to see as many people as possible.

Blessings,

Graham, Kathleen, Austin and Duncan Crawford

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The opinions expressed are our own opinions. They are not necessarily the opinions or views of SIM (Serving in Mission).