Let all that you do be done in Love

This week we were taking a couple of our kids to visit their mother in prison. While we were there one of the guards asked why we had custody of the children. We explained that we have a safe house for children in high risk situations where they are homeless, in danger of being trafficked, or abused. They said, Oh! Can you help us too? There are five babies living in the prison with their mothers and they need a safe home. Wow! How do you answer with anything but Yes! Of course we will! We don't have a house yet, or the staff, but we know that this is a need, we were asked to help, and we must respond! So we have agreed to take in 5 more babies by the end of the month! Please pray that we can find a house to rent and loving and safe caregivers to take care of these children, and sponsors for the babies, and SOON! God loves to answer our prayers. :) I can't wait to tell you how He answers.

Today after our Compasio meeting, in Mae Sot Thailand, we were talking about how ultimately we exist, as people and as a group, to have a heart of love and compassion. We are called to love God and we are called to love people. Those are our two highest aims in life, everything else is just icing on the cake. Working with the poor is definitely not just a job. None of us are in it for the benefits. But each of us are greatly blessed and feel a deep reward when we are able to walk alongside someone who is discarded and overlooked, and look into their eyes and see them as a friend and fellow human. We are not any better than them, we come to serve the dregs of society as Jesus did. It's kind of mind blowing and local people are confused. Like they might warn us, watch out there's a beggar kid following you, and we would turn around and say, yeah, they're with us. And hold their hand proudly as we walk through the market to buy them some lunch. People
stare. It's just not "normal". But are we called to be normal? Is that why we were created? I think God has called us to a radical life of sacrifice and love.


When faced with a hard situation. Let's risk on the side of love. And pray for our Prison Babies!
Love,
-Rachel Snodderly

Garbage School shoes

Feb. 13, 2009
Seventy migrant children walked home from school wearing new shoes today. Last week, one of our teams donated money for shoes for the children that go to the “garbage school” (it’s right in front of the garbage dump in Mae Sot). And we got to have the fun of shopping for shoes and then delivering the presents! The children lined up by class level to try on shoes, found a pair that fit, and then happily compared their gleaming white shoes with each other.

All of the children are migrant kids from Burma . They affectionately call their school “The Garbage School.” Three of the children we sponsor are enrolled here. Every day the children pack themselves into a bamboo classroom with only thin dividers between the three levels, and the babies in the nursery sleep curled up side by side in a small room off to the side. Today the teachers woke up the toddlers to come try on their shoes, and they stumbled over bleary eyed, shirts falling off one shoulder, hair all a mess and they found a gift waiting for them that made them smile. It was kind of like being woken up on Christmas morning to open your stocking. It’s amazing what $1 flip flops can do. Now the children can walk to school down the pot-hole filled roads, with shoes on their feet and a smile on their face.

Walking with Labor pains

We have a new member of our Compasio family! This tiny little guy, who has yet to be named, was born to one of the migrant families we have begun to help. We are so excited to welcome him to the world, and praise God that he made it. His mother was very sick during her pregnancy and has a long history with illness. We have been praying for her throughout the pregnancy. The doctors were not sure if she was strong enough to have the baby, but she proved how strong she was by walking five miles to the clinic when she was in labor! (She didn’t have a cell phone or vehicle).We visited them at home today and are going to buy groceries for them tomorrow. This very family, whom we love, could still use a monthly sponsor to send their three small boys to school, and provide rice and medicine for their needs. Please contact us (rachel@compasio.org) if you want to serve and love them in this way.

A ring from a beggar girl

Feb 13, 2009
I’ve run into a ton of street kids this week and had several touching experiences. I bought water and noodles for one of the sweet little girls, Salima, 10 yrs, and she pulled out a ring (the kind you get in a gumball machine) and placed it on my finger. I said, no, no, you keep it! But she insisted, and I was touched by her act of friendship and love. These guys are our little buddies, and everywhere we drive around town we always see little kids jumping up and down alongside the road waving at us. I love it.

I’ve also had a chance to use my creative side this month. I have been busy getting things together for our new office building we’ve started renting. I’m trying to creatively use the limited resources we have to make a comfortable environment to serve and work in (with lots of pictures of the kids on the walls of course!).

Feb. 2, 2009
I'm so blessed to be back in Mae Sot. I have had awesome times with the street kids and safehouse kids this week! I am adjusting back to being in Thailand and trying to remember how to drive the Land Rover, and stay on the left side of the road. Tomorrow the other staff and I are taking the safehouse kids to where they call "The beautiful place" a reservoir/dam area where we go for picnics. Tonight we just played in a field chasing each other around til the sun set. I loved seeing and remembering how carefree childhood can be, and was so SO happy to see these kids enjoying it. I've loved every minute with them.
Please be praying for one more staff member for the safehouse (because one of their live-in caregivers is getting married next week) we need someone with a loving heart and a LOT of patience. :) And please pray for my re-adjustment and for friendships here and a sense of community.
Love,
Rachel

Jan 20th, 2009

I can't wait to get back to these little cuties in Thailand. These little girls are two of the eight children that live in our safehouse along the Burma border. They used to live on the streets and beg for money but now their lives are transformed and they are in a safe place and being loved and cared for. I'm used to seeing them every day and spending at least a few hours coloring or playing with them. When I heard my friend was smothered with hugs when he came to see the kids I was very jealous, but in a little over a week I'll be ambushed with hugs too. :)

I've been back in the states for the past month and go back to Thailand on the 19th. It's been a wonderful time at home and catching up with friends, but it will be hard to leave (as it always is) but will be great to be back for another term.

Jesus was a refugee

Dec. 20, 2009
Merry Christmas!
I hope you are enjoying the Christmas season. I've found myself back in Pasadena for the holidays with my friends and family but am also really missing the street kids out in Thailand. I wonder if they are warm, if their stomachs are full, if they are safe.
Tonight I'm reminded of a child who was born without a home, in a dirty room, surrounded by animal feces. He was born a refugee, destined to wander from town to town. I wonder how often he went hungry, didn’t have a roof, or became exhausted and just laid his head on a rock and cried. He deeply identifies with us in our hurt and weaknesses and this gives me hope. It's incredible to me that Jesus, God of the universe, understood what it was like to be like you and me. This same child also became someone who brought hope to the world. I’m glad that he knows and cares for each life, and these children are precious to him. I’m glad to know my friends that work with Compasio will be looking out for these kids and feeding them every day.

Hoping your Christmas is filled with moments of hope and joy.

Rachel

Kissed by a prostitute

So I've been really really bad about posting on here, and it's about freaking time I guess. So I'm going to post all of the updates I've sent out via email over the past few months to catch you all up.

Pattaya Praise
Nov. 15, 2008

God is taking over Pattaya City!!!
I have just returned to Mae Sot after a couple weeks of being down in Pattaya (where I worked last year with Randy and Edie Nelson). I attended Pattaya Praise and helped to take a couple teams around the city to different events. It was a completely awesome experience to worship God with amazing worship bands in bars, in front of malls, in school auditoriums (with the city Mayor attending and being prayed for), They even let us hand out bibles in a public school assembly and play concerts there for the kids. And even in a huge venue called Tiffany's (a transvestite show that attracts many to the city). We crowned Jesus king over Pattaya in that place and even got to pray for the owner's wife. It is a very significant place in the city as one of the original places that started bringing sex tourists.


Kissed by a prostitute:
It was amazing to see God being worshipped and praised in the places in the pockets of darkness that exist all around the city. We got to pray with students, bar girls and owners, and recovering prostitutes. I ran into a lady that I'd seen in the bars last year and got a chance to pray with her. Her name is Pen. I hugged her and said God loves you very much (in thai) and she beamed a smile at me and kissed me on the cheek. It was so sweet. I think she just felt loved there that night (a pure love unlike what she's used to receiving from crude men), and I think something touched her soul. There were other ladies there that listened to the concert and testimonies but hung back from being prayed for. One had very sad haunted eyes and she was wearing black. I didn't catch her name, but please pray for her and all the women like her.

A glimpse into the city:
We went on a prayer journey and prayed at the gate of the city, and at key places, and on the mountaintop overlooking the city. There were teams of thai dancers that performed, some breakdancing teens too.