This week has been very different! On Wednesday, a lot more soldiers came to our school. The parents had been instructed to come also, and each child had been interviewed, and photographed repeatedly. Since the U.N. wanted our kids to be stuck into an overcrowded refugee camp, we had to prove to the Thai government that the kids really did want to be with us, that their parents wanted them to be with us, and that their parents are actually involved in their lives, which means that we are not child traffickers! The very thought was so ridiculous that it was hard for us to imagine. But, the government takes these things very seriously, and sent about 30 soldiers, and many important people to check things out really well. The children that had parents went home on Wednesday, just to prove to the U.N. that they could. Those who could not go home, or have no home, were interviewed a lot, and allowed to stay. So, our little school is rather barren right now. The good news is that the government is very happy with us, and the kids can come back on Sunday. ( some have already started to come back since they missed school so much) We are told that we will have no more trouble with the U.N. or anyone else. We were able to prove to them that we are trustworthy. We are praising God, and very thankful that we have had good help from those around us.

Yesterday we also had a long board meeting. We had to go through and restructure the school. Our principal is a very good man, but very young and had never been a principal before. He did not even know what his job was supposed to be! When Roy wrote out his job description, and explained it all to him, he was very happy! He told Roy that he had always felt like a little dog, but now he knows that he is supposed to be a big dog. ( I thought that was a funny way to put it) Now that he knows what to do, he is doing a very good job. This next week, Roy will be explaining the school rules to the children each evening at worship and helping them to get more organized.

While all this is going on, we are attempting to do the building projects that need to be done so that our little school will be more acceptable to the Thai. We have had many new requests from parents that want to send their kids to our school. So, we need to get the dorms up so that there is room for them. This doesn’t sound too hard, but we have been searching for the past month to find lumber to build a simple toilet! We are not allowed to use new lumber, it has to be used. So, it looks like our students will be tearing down two houses to get the lumber so that we can start building. Most of the construction will have to be done with bamboo and leaves since we cannot afford to buy the materials for the other kind of buildings. We have another contractor at the school right now, and he is planning to remodel the girls dorm and make it into a chapel, with school space under it. ( it is up on stilts)

So, even though it was a rather stressful week, we know that the Lord is leading. Many miracles have taken place to keep the school going, and we are certain that God is able to open the way before us.