A letter from Amy Davisson Galetzka serving in Thailand
october 2014
Dear Family and Friends,
Well, it’s been a while! I am constantly feeling "behind," including not communicating as often as I would like to those who are a huge personal, professional, spiritual, financial and complete support to me. If that has in any way been a disappointment to anyone reading this, I do apologize. I am thankful for the huge blessing of support and the partnership with you.
It’s been so long that I need to do a summary of the last few months of 2013!!
October-December:
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Visit to Burma
• Just a reminder: I am the Deputy Director of the Pan Rak Foundation. We support the relief work that I have done and written about for many years, and many other projects as well. Pan Rak means "sharing love." This foundation provides nonprofit legal status in Thailand. The foundation was dedicated August 5, 2013, by the board, the staff and many who receive grants.
• I went with my coworker Benjawan, a Thai Christian leader and a longtime Danish ministry partner, to visit an amazing organization in Rangoon, Burma (also known as Yangon, Myanmar). The organization is doing amazing work among Karen communities inside Burma on a wide range of issues including microfinance, women and children’s protection, trafficking issues, and women’s learning centers (among many more). (Please contact me for more details about this organization and trip.) Our Thai and Danish friends gave a communication workshop for the microfinance participants.
• Our beautiful daughter, Nadia, turned 1 in October 2013, and during those last months of 2013 and first months of 2014 she started walking and started communicating with us in new and fun ways with her first words! She has a lady from Burma who takes care of her each day and teaches her many wonderful things, including the Karen language, to be a loving person, and to pray and thank God each day. I’m so thankful for "Naw Naw" (older Sister) Mu Gay, who is precious to us and a huge positive influence in Nadia’s life. She meets us at the office every day and we drop her off on our way home each night. What a huge blessing for them to be at the office with me and our lovely Pan Rak staff.
• We spent a blessed time with family in the U.S. during Christmas and New Year's.
And, the first few months of 2014:
January 2014:
We usually start the year out with audits! Exciting? Well, we think it’s exciting when the auditors give us a good report and don’t have many suggested changes for our process or records. YAY! Good report for 2013.
PLUS, the process of reporting and reviewing all of the records that back up the financial records bring to mind all of the amazing stories of the people that we support and are in partnership with.
I am so thankful both for the many people working to build up communities in some sort of need and for those communities themselves. What rich lives to be working with. One story in particular stood out to me as we looked back at what happened during 2013 and reflected on those lives we were a part of. It was actually a story of the lady I work alongside at the Pan Rak Foundation.
STORY:
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Benjawan and Nadia
Benjawan. She was a student at the Bueng Klueng Hostel* (See the note describing this hostel ministry.) She studied and continued a relationship with the leaders of Pan Rak and the relief program, was a scholarship recipient of our work, and graduated with a Bachelor's in Accounting. She came to work for the relief program and while working full time she graduated with a Master's of Business Administration, again supported by our ministry. She has become an amazing leader in the newly established Pan Rak Foundation and a support for all of the ministries with which we work. I am blessed to know that she was so determined and that her faith in God was motivation for her to continue serving God and sharing God’s love. She is an amazing person who works with integrity, faith, determination and a grace and gentleness that makes working with her a privilege and blessing for me. Please visit us at the Pan Rak office in Thailand!
* Story background: Bueng Klueng Ministries on the border of Thailand and Burma (Myanmar). The Bueng Klueng Hostel was established in 1996 to support the ministry of Pastor Samuel Wichitphonpaiboon with the vision of providing a loving Christian environment, elementary and early secondary education, encouragement, and cultural appreciation for young people from the village of Laytonkhu.
However, the hostel soon became a place of refuge for children whose families were displaced by the conflict in Burma. Their families were either in refugee camps that emerged in 1997 close to Bueng Klueng or internally displaced inside Burma. People responded with the formation of relief efforts to this area and the hostel grew from support for just a few children to support for over 50 today. Pastor Samuel helped the Bueng Klueng church emerge in 2001 and the outreach from this church on the border is tremendous.
Support for Bueng Klueng ministries comes through local community efforts, The Thai Christian Foundation(TCF), Jericho Alliance, Free Burma Rangers, Snowqualmie Valley Alliance Church, Swedish Baptist missions, and Burma Vision Alaska.
Burma Update: PRAYER
Prayer is precious and such a blessing. Thank you for praying with me for these things going on our lives. I also really ask you to share your prayer requests and concerns with me if you need prayer support. I would love to pray for you.
Personal and Professional issues often blur together, so I’ll list the concerns as they come to mind:
• My husband Johnny’s job transition. As of March he is now based in Colorado and working in Mexico. We both travel quite a bit for work and are working to be together as much as possible.
• My continued transition to the Pan Rak Foundation. We want to share God’s love in the most clear and effective way. I ask for prayer to do that consistently in every opportunity I have in my life.
• Thank you for prayers for my mom. She went through radiation for lung cancer in October and has had reports clear of any recurrence of cancer to date.
With love and thankfulness,
Amy (for Nadia and Johnny too!)
The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 224
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