I am sure you all know we have started our work caring for families affected by HIV/AIDS. We have been able to care for many families. We have also had 2 babies born to HIV positive parents live with us.

Dukada, now 16 months, is still living with us & has tested HIV negative, so she will be adopted by another family when her documents are all in order. It will be very difficult to say this goodbye, she has been with us since she was 7 weeks old. What a change we have seen in this little life! God is showing us more & more His heart for the poor & the orphans & it is exciting to be a part of what He wants to see happen.

There are so many opportunities around us everyday to share the Lord with people who are searching & I cannot doubt God’s goodness & the way he prepares the ‘field’ before us! We want more harvest!

We both continue to study language, that is hard work but rewarding too! Pray for our minds to ‘get it’! We really need that. J I (Penny) am applying for a workers visa, pray that I will get that. Visa’s are becoming difficult to obtain.

It has been great to see God open doors for Paul to have more input with both discipleship & training YWAM staff & with local pastors. Paul begins a training program with a local church next week, training the pastor & his leaders. It is exciting to see them hungry for more of God. Paul loves to do this kind of thing & I reckon he is really good at it too.

Luke finishes school on the 28th of September, he turns 18 the same day he graduates & he plans to leave Thailand on October 5th, to find work in Adelaide for a few months, save for the Youth Ministries Discipleship Training School he has applied for in Newcastle, which begins March 2002. We will miss him a lot.

Our co-workers & very good friends, Kenny & Vickie, have been through a very difficult time during the past 6 months as they have faced many trials relating to Kenny’s ill-health. Two weeks ago he had a liver transplant in the US & it has been a rough road, as a family. Please pray that they can return here soon.

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Did you know…?
Close to one million people in Thailand are registered with the health department as HIV positive, this does not account for anyone who has registered privately or not registered at all!

It is estimated that 2 million people are employed in Thailand’s sex trade. In 1988 4.3 million people visited Thailand, three-quarters of whom were unaccompanied males. But it is local patronage that makes the greater demand. Half of all Thai men have their first sexual experience with a prostitute, 3 out of 4 have visited a brothel…that is 75% of all Thai men!

Almost 10% of pregnant women in Chiang Rai province are HIV positive.

Less than 1% of Thailand’s population is Christian.

There is much to be done. The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few….
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We are nearing the end of our first term, we are planning to return to Oz for about 6 weeks in March/ April, 2002. If you want have us speak to your church or group about our work, please contact us directly, sooner rather than later, as we are beginning to plan our itinerary NOW! Please write to us if you want more details on anything!

Box 121, Bandu Post Office
A. Muang. Chiang Rai, 57100
Phone: 66 53 705 845
Email: pwilcox@lannalife.org

We are grateful for your prayers,
Thank you,
Paul, Penny, Luke, Jaci, Zac & Caleb