the chuenchums in thailand
march & april 2024
SPRITE & KRISTEN CHUENCHUM SERVING FAMILIES ACROSS THAILAND WITH
dear friends & family,
Change is the only constant in life lately and we have some updates for you this month that we’re excited to share.
But first, a story...
A few years back we had a visitor volunteering with us who was a missionary’s kid raised here in Thailand He loved Thailand and had returned that summer to serve in any way he could We asked him one day how his parents had lasted so long as missionaries to Thailand – they’d been here 30+ years at that point. “What’s their secret? How did they do it?” we asked full of curiosity. He said he’d asked them this same question himself and they had a simple answer: “God provided grace to continue at every major roadblock or split in the road they encountered. For 30+ years every time they encountered a change that could have potentially sent them packing, God provided some kind of grace to keep them, sustain them, provide for them. Sometimes simple. Sometimes miraculous.”
Those words have stuck with us all of these years And every time we hit a change or a roadblock or a split in the road in our work here, we do always ask if our time serving this country is done. And each and every time we do, God provides some kind of open door to allow us to continue working here in Thailand. Sometimes simple. And yes, sometimes miraculous. I can’t quite explain it except to steal the words of that missionary couple: it’s grace.
Today we sit at yet another change and are happy to tell you all about how God has provided His good grace for us once again. And so onward we go! We are so grateful to continue inviting you on the journey with us.
in His grace, the chuenchums
building capacity of local leaders
At the beginning of March, Sprite co-trained another Family Strengthening Handbook Training with our Step Ahead teammates in Bangkok. We were so excited and energized by the diversity of the participants at this training! The 30 of them came from 13 different organizations serving 13 very different populations. We had the Lutheran Church of Thailand sitting with slum community leaders and orphanage staff. Some work with families living in under-resourced communities, others work with LGBTQ+ youth coming out of the sex industry. Most work in Bangkok but a few traveled from the surrounding provinces to attend this training. Their diversity became their gift to each other. As they sat together and learned about how to strengthen families in their own contexts, they each learned something new. Those who work with children with disabilities were able to inform their fellow participants of the tragedies and triumphs of their work. Slum community leaders shared about the difficulties of accessing resources for their neighbors but then enlightened everyone on the correct government offices to get the help their families deserve. It was truly remarkable!
One of the themes from their feedback was how no matter how much empathy you have for the population you’re serving, having a method will help you help them in the long run Empathy and compassion are a great place to start – but what you do with that empathy and compassion also matters. They loved how the handbook gave them clear and easy to learn steps to follow when working with a family. It gave a process to contain and focus all their love and compassion for their community. And in the end, it empowered them to do better once they knew better.
Resource creating and capacity building are really fancy words that we use a lot because it’s what we do and what we’ve been doing. But why? Why are these things so important?
One of the things Sprite and I always say about the way we believe missions should be done is by empowering local people to solve the problems in their own community.
We know our ministry looks and feels quite different than your typical “missionary” mission. But we have been thrilled to get to create a resource in the Family Strengthening Handbook for Thailand to use however it sees fit. Because of your support of us and of this particular project, we are confident that wherever the handbook goes, whoever uses it will be equipped to strengthen families and improve outcomes for children.
30professionals were trained in how to use the family strengthening handbook in bangkok in march
632families these professionals are serving around
1,527children and around from 13 different organizations in one training alone...
family strengthening is possible
One of the things we’ve noticed in many of the rooms we’ve been in over the past few years is that many people agree that family strengthening is important. It’s important for child development – strong families can give children strong foundations. It’s important for community health and well-being –strong families bolster the safety and strength of a community. It’s important for the country – strong families will raise upstanding citizens and create a more whole and just society.
Lots of people (including us!) also talk about how family strengthening is the answer to the orphanage crisis we’re having in Thailand. If families were strong enough to raise their own children, they wouldn’t be sending them to one of the hundreds of orphanages in Thailand.
It’s important. It’s the answer. We need to strengthen families. Most people here agree with that.
But very few people can tell you how to strengthen a family. That’s when the room gets quiet, and no one knows where to even begin. How do you strengthen a family – especially families in vulnerable situations?
And it’s true – the problems a family could be facing could be huge Just think of your own family problems (I don’t believe there is a family on earth that doesn’t have some problems – we are all human, after all!). Now add poverty, threats of violence, demands of a drug trade, risk of exploitation, lurking traffickers, abuse, neglect, stress, trauma, natural disasters, instability, lack of resources, health problems – the list could go on and on! Families facing just a handful of these problems are the kinds of “vulnerable families” we talk about who may reach a point of such desperation that they leave their child in an orphanage to be raised by a stranger.
So how do you strengthen a family when the problems are that dynamic?
One thing we believe whole-heartedly is that family strengthening is possible.
That’s why we wrote a handbook and developed a training – so that more people could either read the book or attend our training and walk away feeling like strengthening families in the most difficult of circumstances is actually possible
One of the things we’re celebrating this quarter is how participants in our Family Strengthening Handbook Trainings walked away from spending 3 days with us feeling just that – that strengthening families is possible.
One group who attended the training later sent us pictures of her teaching her own staff from the Family Strengthening Handbook the simple process we use for strengthening families. We love that she felt so confident that she could share it with her teammates!
All of this is a testament to YOU. Because of your investments, we are now able to equip professionals from all walks of life and all types of backgrounds with a simple tool and process for strengthening families in need of help.
stepping ahead
We have been SO encouraged by how this resource is helping people help families. Every time we share it or train it we get the feeling that it really does help practitioners feel like they can do this. They can help families in need. They can walk alongside even the most vulnerable families. Family strengthening is possible.
We’ve been amazed – 11 trainings total since just last JUNE! Hundreds of compassionate workers equipped with a tool to help them strengthen families in their context. We aren’t ready to stop or slow down anytime soon This resource is NEEDED and is WORKING for children and their families
But we’ve hit a roadblock – or maybe it’s more of a lane closure.
As many of you know, this Family Strengthening Handbook project has been supported by a generous grant that helped pay for the research as well as the printing of 1,000 copies to be distributed all over Thailand. This same grant was also supporting the work of the government pilot project we’ve been involved in for the past few years with Step Ahead.
This grant was cut this year and we have made some decisions in light of that cut that we want to share with you all. Because of the cut in funding, we have decided to step away from Step Ahead. You will notice on our Partner Page (here) that our name will no longer be “Step Ahead” but just “Sprite and Kristen Chuenchum”. We felt that though the project funding being cut was unexpected, it gave us an opportunity to re-evaluate what we were doing, how we were doing it, and what God was inviting us into next.
We reflected on these 11 trainings we’ve put on or co-trained in the past year and how encouraged we were to encounter such excitement among folks with big hearts serving communities and families facing big problems. We also reflected on all we’ve learned as we’ve worked with the government pilot project. We have gained so much knowledge on how to navigate the various government mechanisms and leadership structures in place here in Thailand. We’re asking God to show us where the gaps are –and in particular, where the gaps are that we can fill with the skills, knowledge, tools, and gifts God has given us.
Most importantly, we are being reminded that our calling remains to serve children and families living in under-resourced communities.
When Sprite and I started to really examine what we were doing and who we want to serve, we were brought back to Samakki and Pipat 2 and Photong – the names of the slum communities we used to serve (pictured above). We thought of our old neighbors, the parents of our scholarship students, the moms and grandmas of the library kids, the grandpas of the soccer boys. These are the true heroes –the caregivers raising their kids in a poor community and doing their very best to give them the brightest future possible. These are the people we feel called to equip, empower, walk alongside, and invest our time and energy in.
We believe God is inviting us back to our roots and where we started our service 12+ years ago. We want to focus on serving caregivers and leaders at the community level. And we want to invite you to come along with us. It will not look the same as it used to. We have some fresh ideas, new knowledge, and a growing network that will make our ministry look different than anything we have done in the past. We have some big ideas that we can’t wait to share with you.
But for now, we just want to simply invite you to join us for the journey. We want to extend the invitation back to the dirty floors of the community centers, the slum soccer pitches, the garbage dump playgrounds. Pray that God would use us in any way He sees fit to empower and equip the tired grandmas and aunties and mommies and daddies raising their babies in difficult situations all over this country. Pray that God would strengthen and restore families, give children the family they deserve, and let all people regardless of their background reach their fullest potential.
It’s true! With the loss of the grant funding this project and our departure from Step Ahead, we need your support now more than ever to continue this work of building the capacity of local leaders to strengthen families.
If you are not yet giving a monthly gift, would you consider starting one today? Even $10 a month goes a long way! You can start giving here: thecause.org/partners/chuenchum
WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT NOW MORE THAN EVER!
We are also planning to travel to the US this summer/fall to connect with all of you and share more about this vision we have of bringing family strengthening tools to the community level.
We want to sit over a good cup of coffee and tell you the dreams God has placed on our hearts and how your support will make it happen.
BUT MORE THAN THAT…
Would you consider hosting a small group of you and 3-5 (or more!) people in your life who may share a heart for the poor, the vulnerable, the “least of these”? We would gather and share a snack or simple meal and chat about how you as a small group can dive deeper into supporting children and families and communities here in Thailand.
As the African proverb says, “It takes a village to raise a child.” The world we live in today means that “village” can span across the whole world connecting families and people to each other in surprising and very uplifting ways. We want you and your village to become part of a village here in Thailand that helps raise a child in need by strengthening their family. Email krmathes417@gmail.com and we’ll get started planning your small group gathering! We could meet in person or online – whichever you prefer.
We can’t wait to connect!
praise God with us...
For the Family Strengthening Training having an impact far beyond us. We praise God for how these training participants have felt empowered to train their own teams and use this tool in their work with vulnerable families. We’re amazed at how many children and families are impacted by each training we put on!
For the ways God continues to give us grace to continue on. He continues to ignite our hearts for the communities we used to call home. Pray that we may move forward and step into a new but fruitful season of ministry that continues to impact vulnerable families and their children.
God has opened some doors for Sprite in particular to partner with our former teammate and former Step Ahead staff member to help facilitate trauma informed care trainings within the government. This past month he helped facilitate a training for sign language interpreters that work with the Department of Anti-Trafficking In Persons. We’re praying he can be a part of a future series of trauma informed care trainings with the government children’s shelters as this would be a great opportunity to serve, learn and also expand our network!
Asher is growing and crawling and babbling and doing all the normal baby things! It is a JOY to watch him grow.
we couldn’t resist adding a picture of this cutie’s smile for you all! we praise God for Asher every day!
pray with us...
That God would lead us forward in His grace. That we would be open to hearing His voice and following Him boldly into the next season of ministry.
For those who have participated in any of the 11 Family Strengthening Handbook trainings in the past year – may they continue to find the courage to strengthen families even when the problems seem too big to handle.
For God to lay the groundwork necessary for us to continue equipping local leaders with the tools they need to strengthen families so children can be raised in their own home and their own communities. Pray that God would connect us to the people necessary to start something new.
Continue to pray for our adjustment to the other most recent changes in our life: moving into our new home and becoming parents! Life looks different in this season and we’d love your prayers that we’d fully live into and breathe into this new season.
I (Kristen) had a bit of a visa scare that is mostly resolved but we’d still love your prayers. Pray that we may find favor with the immigration office here in Rayong and I can get eventually get permanent residency now that we have a house here. This would not only be more secure than a visa but it could potentially lead to a pathway to citizenship for me!
But he said to me,
“My grace is sufficient for you... ”
- 2 Corinthians 12:9