Dear World Challenge,
On January 5th, our orphanage in Thailand received your annual donation. As always, it was a great blessing. This year it was especially helpful, and I would like to explain why.
For eight years, we have rented a property in the village of Um-phang on the Thailand-Burma border, using it as an orphanage, mission school and church for the children of refugees who have fled the civil war in Burma. This arrangement has worked well for us, and we have always managed to pay the annual rent.
In January 2016, however, everything changed when the owner of the property put up a "FOR SALE" notice on the orphanage gate. At first, we were shocked. Then later the full extent of the terrible situation started to settle in. We had 30 orphans, 129 mission school children, and a church congregation of 120 people, all facing the prospect of being made homeless. We had no money with which to buy the property ourselves.
A lot of prayers were said within the next few days by our children, our staff and our friends around the world. Then something wonderful happened: The annual World Challenge donation arrived! Not only this, but other donations came in as well. And, incredibly, the owner of the property lowered his price by 50 percent.
So, last year, on January 29, 2016, we bought the orphanage. This year there is still a debt that needs to be repaid to a brother in Christ who lent us part of the total cost. Once again, the World Challenge annual donation arrived at the right time so that we could pay a large part of that debt. THANK YOU, WORLD CHALLENGE!
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Peter Willis
Founder / Chairman, H2O (Help to Orphansry - Finland)
Founder / Chairman, Help to Orphans Foundation - Thailand)