Lao Vida Newsletter October/November 2016

Recent Events

English Classes

We are four weeks into our second term here at Lao Vida. Student numbers are high, with people being turned away because classes are full. The English teachers are doing a great job, ministering to their students with love. We are grateful for another full term of teachers and students.

We are planning an English club for November 12, part quiz night part speed conversation, all to be held in the café. We trust that the higher level students will be brave and come to spend time with us, and for teachers and senior staff to be able to build deeper relationships with them. We are also planning an end-of-term event for the school with a Christmas theme. We need wisdom as we think through how to share about the wonderful message of Christmas without stepping over the line. 

Bakery

We also give thanks for a great bakery for the bakery students to do a month of work experience. It is a serious place with 50 staff and high hygiene and production standards. Please think of the students as they go to Vientiane for October (four students) and November (four students). We would like for them to grow in their work habits and bakery practices, and also for them to be a testament to their faith in a place where there may be no other like-minded people. The quality assurance manager is a Filipino who has some level of faith. May they really encourage him as they work under him.  

House-keeping Training Program

In November we started a new house-keeping training program. We have three lovely young Khmu women from the Bolaven Plateau who arrived in time. There are possibly three more students coming from other areas but they are struggling to get down from the mountains where the roads have completely collapsed with the heavy rains this season! We ask for sovereign help in training and nurturing these young lives. May He enable the trainers and the older ‘sisters’ to teach and lead well, and may we receive all we need so that we can pour out what we receive into them. 

Staff Retreat

We are very thankful for a staff retreat that exceeded everyone’s expectations. We had three days and two nights of wonderful fellowship, lots of fun, good food, and some personal and team development activities. This is ‘money in the bank’ for team-based ministry. 

New Profiles

Mr S is an old summer school student. He has been here over summer for three years in a row and now he is living in our staff boys’ house, being mentored by them, and going to upper high school here in Pakse. Lao Vida is sponsoring him through his high school years. Think of him as he settles into study at a new school, to make good friends and be a positive influence, to study hard and learn well, and to continue to grow in his faith.  

Mr A is a new staff member who is being trained in café work. We were asked by a local leader to adopt Mr A due to his tragic family circumstances. He had no prospects, other than joining the Lao Vida community. We ask that he will experience healing and joy, as he is mentored and nurtured by the young men around him. 

Volunteers

We have a maths teacher (female) from Australia and a school leaver (male) from Canada with us for the month of November. Think of them as they invest in the lives of people here in work skills training and English. It’s great for our staff and students to meet more people from around the world. They get to see that there is a big wide world outside their little communities, which are so often oppressed.