Newsletter, Vol. 4, No. 1

Dear Brothers & Sisters,

Laurie and I pray your year has gotten off to a good start. Remember Nhu (R-Nhu) started the new year by opening our first children’s home.

Upcoming Trips

It looks like we will have several teams going to Thailand and Cambodia this summer. Trips may start as early as June 20 and go through August 12. If you have interest in going on a trip please let me know right away so you can be included.

Partnership - Westside Christian High School and Grace Ministries

Shalom House, a home on the Grace Ministries property to keep boys out of the sx trade and give them an opportunity for a bright future, is almost complete. Westside has provided a good deal of financial support toward the construction.

In June of this year Grace Ministries will give back to Westside as they host a team of almost 30 high school seniors and juniors on their property in Buriram, Thailand. The Westsiders will live with the boys and girls from Grace Ministries for two weeks learning Thai culture and various life skills.

This partnership is a good example as to how the body of Christ can join together to mutually benefit both parties and show the love of Jesus to the world. The partnership that Grace Ministries has with R-Nhu has been used in many positive ways within the Buriram community. Also, many in the States have obtained significant spiritual benefits from Grace Ministries.

Christian Service International (CSI)

I received a call on January 4 from Dave Thompson telling me about Wally Yeager, who is the Executive Director of CSI www.christiansvc.org. In 1959, Wally’s father and some business men founded Christian Service, Inc. and their organization has sponsored a large church in Korea.

Wally told me he was leading a group of about 20 people on a vision trip to Cambodia to view various ministries in action. He asked if they could visit Haven of Hope. This seemed like a great opportunity to give a group of CSI Board members, Pastors, business men, and Christian leaders exposure to R-Nhu, so I said they were welcome to visit our home.

Thinking about this caused me to come to the conclusion that I should meet Wally’s team, so I booked a ticket to leave ten days later. Dave Spring, a retired insurance agent and friend of mine, joined me on the trip. Dave may be called to use his skills as a photographer to help communicate R-Nhu to people via photography for R-Nhu.

Haven of Hope

You may remember in our last newsletter that we wrote about Haven of Hope, a Safe Home for Girls. During the last three years we have done a good deal of research and visited many ministries to learn the best way to keep children out of the sx trade. We have come to believe that the best tactic is to take children that are at risk of being sold into the sx trade and offer the children scholarships. R-Nhu offers to take the child into a children’s home and provide for their physical, emotional, educational, and spiritual needs.

In the case of Haven of Hope, most of the girls have a first or second grade education and they are aged 12 to 18 years. Most of the girl’s families have said they must start providing income for the family. At this point the girls could either collect recyclables, earning $10 to $20 per month, or be sold into the sx trade to earn money for their family. Therefore, the 18 girls we received into Haven of Hope were in a high risk category for being sold.

Because the girls are older and expected to contribute to the family income an education for most of them is unfortunately unrealistic. Due to this factor, R-Nhu made a decision to provide a scholarship for the girls of $15 to $25 per month while they learn a vocation, Khmer, English, and computer skills at Haven of Hope.

Haven of Hope opened the first week of January in a temporary location. We opened with 17 girls and one more a few weeks later. The girls are aged 8 to 18 years. I got to visit the home for the first time on January 17. When our team met the girls in November to interview them we only had a few minutes with each girl and we needed to collect a good deal of information from them, so I did not really get a chance to know them nor was I able to let them get to know me. This made me uncertain of what to expect when I walked into the home.

I wish each of you could have seen their faces as I walked in the door. Each girl had an ear to ear smile and in that moment they gave me a great big “thank you” with gratitude in their eyes for what R-Nhu was doing for them. I was reminded of Mark 9:37, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in My name welcomes Me; and whoever welcomes Me does not welcome Me but the One who sent Me." Their “thank you” reassured me that everything everyone has invested during the last three years has been more than worth every effort. When things get difficult, that mental picture makes it all worthwhile.

During the next few days I got to interact with the girls on several levels. Theresa, the director of the home, had asked me to bring American games so I brought Pit, Uno, and Nerf basketball. Pit is a high energy loud card game about the stock market. The girls and I had a blast as they learned to yell and grab cards trying to corner the market to win the hand. We sat on the floor and laughed as we played the game.

The next day I shared a testimony of my life before accepting Jesus and after that how God quietly spoke to my heart about girls that were sold into the sx trade. The girls listened intently as they heard how God was using good and bad things that had happened in my life and the gifts and talents God had given me to help prevent girls from being sold into the sx trade.

Later that day, we had the girls pick out their two favorites from the Beanie Babies I had brought that were donated to R-Nhu by Randy Fox’s (R-Nhu board member) dad. The girls were also allowed to choose from perfumed soaps, shampoos, conditioners, lotions, and other miscellaneous items people had collected for them.

Then it was time to take the girls out to lunch. If you want to have your heart filled with joy take a group of 18 children out to lunch, many of whom have never eaten in a restaurant, and just watch them. We gave each girl $2 in coupons at the mall food court and let them choose what they wanted. Dave and I had our hearts melted as the two youngest girls brought over ice cream to us – they had used their money to give to us.

Wally’s team had their hearts stolen by the children as well. Several of their team members were impressed with Theresa and Haven of Hope. Their team included a fine young lady, Kristin, who planned to stay in Cambodia with another ministry to do an internship for a few months. As it turned out that ministry did not turn out to be a good fit. They did ask R-Nhu if Kristin could intern with Haven of Hope. So, we have our first intern! Kristin is working with Nhu and Theresa to teach English and high end hair styles which Kristin learned in cosmetology school here in the States.

Haven of Hope has an immediate need: We need a van to transport the girls back to visit family members, go to our computer school, shopping for food, church, etc. R-Nhu received an offer from one family to pay up to $6,000 toward the van on a 50% matching offer. The family offered to give R-Nhu $1 for every $2 dollars we raised up to $6,000. So, here is your opportunity to be part of Haven of Hope in a tangible way. If you would like to donate toward the purchase of a van please send a check to R-Nhu 5030 Manchester Road Akron, OH 44319 or make an online contribution at www.remembernhu.org. Please send a note with your contribution that it is for the Haven of Hope Van.

Please join us in praying for R-Nhu to gain NGO (Non Governmental Organization) status in Cambodia. We have applied and continue to be asked for more documents. This status gives us the legal right to run the home. This is why we have opened up temporarily in a church.

Nhu’s Grandmother

We went to visit Nhu’s grandmother we took some fruit and thanked her grandmother for allowing Nhu to move to Haven of Hope. Nhu’s grandmother told Theresa that she was getting old and could no longer care for Nhu and she would like Theresa, my wife, and me to care for Nhu from now on.

So, for all of you that have cried out to the Lord for Nhu it seems to me that on Saturday, January 20, the Lord said, “I have remembered Nhu!”

May Jesus Christ, receive all of the honor, praise, and glory for the Lord alone is worthy.

I pray for Jesus’ grace and peace to abound in your lives.

Agape,
Carl Ralston

P.S. Nhu now calls Laurie and I “Mum” and “Dad.”