11 girls this year!!

Name: Keam Seayang
Age: 15 years old; 9th grade Birthday: 25 September

She has 4 brothers and 3 sisters. In the future she wants to be an evangelist or a teacher. Her parents are Christians. She is very quiet, but hard working. She accepted the Lord before coming here, which is a very rare thing here indeed. I’m not sure why, but Hmong Christian parents usually don’t teach their children about the Lord. This is her first year here.
Name: Nam Seali
Age: 14 years old/8th grade Birthday: 30 May
She has 2 brothers and 1 sister. In the future she wants to be a high
school English teacher. Her father was selling drugs and was arrested
over 2 years ago. He committed suicide in prison. Her mother was pregnant with her youngest brother at the time. Her mother is a new Christian. She just came to know the Lord about 6 months ago. This is her first year here.

Name: Sai Saeyang
Age: 13 years old/7th grade Birthday: 1 December

She has 2 brothers and 4 sisters. In the future she wants to be an elementary school teacher. Her parents are Christians. Even though she comes from a Christian family, she knows very little about the Lord. She’s interested in the gospel. She’s also homesick – this is her first time away from home. School is a struggle for her. This is her first year here.

Name: Peace Sae Syong
Age: 15 years old/9th grade
Birthday: 25 August
She has 1 brother and 2 sisters. In the future she wants to be a tour guide or a flight attendant or a missionary or a boxer.  Her mother is a new Christian, but no else in the family is a believer. Her father wanted to send her to a Buddhist temple to study before she came here. This is her 3rd year here.


Name: Nee Seayang
Age: 17 years old/11th grade Birthday: 16 February
She has 2 brothers and 6 sisters. In the future she wants to be an architect or an accountant. Parents are Christians. Father is an elder in the church. This is her 5th year here. She is the student leader in the house. God has gifted her with some incredible musical talent and the other girls look up to her.


Name: Newt Seafa
Age: 14 years old/9th grade
Birthday: 30 July
She has 1 brother and 3 sisters. In the future she wants to be an artist. Parents are divorced. Mother remarried, lives in the same village and refuses to speak to her daughters. Her older sister, Mone lives here as well. This is her 3rd year here. She had prayed to accept the Lord, but I think now that she was just something she did because others were doing it. She wants to be accepted, but she doesn’t really understand the gospel.
Name: Mone Saefa
Age: 16 years old/10th grade
Birthday: 27 December
She has 1 brother and 3 sisters. In the future she wants to be a doctor or a policeman. Parents are divorced. Mother remarried, lives in the same village and refuses to speak to her daughters. Mone’s younger sister, Newt, lives here as well. This is her 3rd year here and she is the “assistant” student leader.

Name: Crème SaeSyong
Age: 14 years old/ 9th grade
Birthday: 31 July
She has 3 brothers and 3 sisters. In the future she wants to be a nurse. Parents aren’t Christians. She lived in a Buddhist temple one year before coming to live here. This is her 2nd year here. She is very quiet and her feelings get hurt easily.
Name: See Saeli
Age: 16 years old/10th grade
Birthday: 26 March
She has 1 brother and 2 sisters. In the future she wants to be a nurse. Parents are Christians. Father is an elder in the church. This is her first year here, and she also accepted the Lord before coming here.
Name: Nai Seayang
Age: 13 years old/8th grade
Birthday: 1 November
She has 1 brother and 2 sisters. In the future she wants to be an
astronaut. Parents are divorced and she has no contact with her father whatsoever. This is her 2nd year here. She hasn’t accepted the Lord.

Name: Paew Saehur
Age: 18 years old/11th grade
Birthday: 8 Sepetember
She has 1 brother and 2 sisters. In the future she wants a nurse.
Parents are divorced. Both parents have remarried and neither parent wants the children. The children have been living on their own in the village before Paew came here this year. Her 2nd day here she begged and pleaded for a Bible and upon receiving one reads it constantly. She says she doesn’t really understand it, but she’s reading it everyday, even taking it to school with her.

Kia's wedding

Thursday, April 7th was Kia's wedding. It was held in her home village of Chaang Khiang on Doi Sutep, a famous mountain in Chiang Mai. The last 5 or so kilomters of road leading to this village is a steep, winding one way road that has 2 way traffic on it. There are many signs along the way in both English and Thai to inform drivers that there is a steep S curve ahead and to honk one's horn to let anyone coming the other direction know you are there so they can pull over a little to let you pass. Parts of the road get washed out in the rain, so it's a little treacherous in the rain. I prayed for no rain, and I was confident that the Lord would answer my prayer. It was, therefore, much to my surprise to see that as we were ascending those last few kilometers, it started to rain. Not just normal rain mind you, but cats and dogs raining. I started to freak out. I had 8 girls in the truck with me and I was the only adult. I prayed and asked God why He didn't keep it from raining. His reply to me in that still, small voice, was "my grace is sufficient for you". I said ok, and started singing praise songs in my heart to God. I know the girls were praying also. At one point, it was raining so hard that I couldn't see 1 foot in front of us, even with the headlights on. I started to get freaked out again, but God reassured me that since He had caused it to rain, He would also get us safely to our destination. We were almost at the village when right in front of the road was a downed tree from the storm. We couldn't go over it, couldn't go around it, and it was too heavy to lift. I just stopped, not knowing what to do. Then Nee gets out of the car with this long knife that is kept in the truck for emergencies and starts cutting the tree branches away. Three of the other girls went to help, and then another truck with 3 men came up behind us and they helped clear the tree away. They then went on ahead of us and led the way. I was so grateful to the Lord when we finally arrived. What did God say to me? "Oh ye of little faith!" I just want to say that when it looks the bleakest and there doesn't appear to be a way out, God will make a way out where there is no way. Our God is a great God!!!

This wedding was the first Christian wedding in this village. When the marriage vows were said, there was a gaggle of laughter from many of the people there as vows aren't said at a Hmong wedding. But it was a huge testimony to God's love and saving grace. There were 3 flower girls all dressed in traditional Hmong clothes. A Kodak moment that slipped away from me! What was so interesting about the ceremony is that it was such a great blend of traditional Hmong culture (bowing and receiving blessing from both sets of parents, clothes, etc.) and western Christian traditions (exchanging vows, candle lighting ceremony, teaching from the Word, etc). After the ceremony, the pastor in charge of the service invited the happy couple to stay up front and anyone and everyone who wanted to take pictures with the couple could. After that, he had Kia and Song (her husband) in different poses and anyone could take photos. It was hysterical because the pastor had them pose like they were kissing, and Kia was so embarrassed she kept laughing! FYI: Hmong couples NEVER show affection in public.