Merry Christmas!

A few years ago, Irislee and I had an epiphany about how we celebrate Christmas.

Living in North America, it’s hard to resist the pull of materialism, the obligation of gift-giving and the hectic peace-less lifestyle.  When we first heard about Operation Christmas Child, we wanted to give, but didn’t know how we would afford one more thing during the Christmas season.  After a few discussions, we realized we wanted to make Christmas better reflect what we believe about the birth and message of Jesus.  He gave up heaven to come to earth and live among us.  Surely we could make some sacrifices too!  We could use the money we would normally spend on each other and give it away instead.  Over the years, we’ve sent boxes to Operation Christmas child through Samaritan’s Purse, Project Seeds to Guatemala and Boxes of Love to Zambia.  Some years, we’ve even chosen Christmas giving gifts from Samaritan’s Purse, Gospel for Asia and World Vision for our extended family members.  No one has ever complained, but instead thanked us for giving to those in need on their behalf.

Have you ever heard of Advent Conspiracy?

It’s a great idea that has changed the Christmas season for thousands of people!  Check it out here.

One fantastic idea for this Christmas specifically is the Christmas Giving Catalogue idea developed by Omega Global.  Omega Global is a one-year discipleship program (directed by Zach Wylie) from Summit Pacific College, and students in this program are coming to Thailand this spring to volunteer in various parts of the country.  As part of their pre-trip planning, they want to raise money for some of the projects Imagine Thailand is currently running and so they’ve put together a fantastic Gift Catalogue.  I’ve attached the link below:

Christmas Giving Catalogue

Follow the instructions on page 4 and make an impact in Mae Sot, Bangkok, and Takua Pa!

On a personal note, thank-you for your interest and support in all things Imagine Thailand.  This has been another significant year in Thailand and Burma.  The Thai elections, the continually changing politics of Burma, and the devastating floods would top the chart in events followed by the international media.

 It has been a significant year for Imagine Thailand as well.

• The many missions teams that visited 1 or more of our 4 regions of involvement (Bangkok, Takua Pa, the Deep South, and Mae Sot) and our interns have been important in creating momentum for our team on the ground.
• We hosted our first Discovery Tour – a humanitarian tour of Thailand for those concerned about social justice and interested in how Imagine Thailand responds to social justice issues throughout the country. Deeply impacted by the experience, some of the tour participants raised thousands of dollars for water systems in Mae Sot upon returning home.
• We began training our first full-time community development directors who will move to the Deep South in 2012.
• Kelvin Chan who interned with us in the fall of 2011 is revamping and expanding our educational process for our tutoring center in Takua Pa…more on this in the spring.
• We established The Pie Shoppe in Bangkok (providing good English meat pies!) to help raise funds for Imagine Thailand.
• We continue to develop the The School of Leadership in Mae Sot, preparing it for a launch in 2012.

These examples illustrate that our directors Peter and Cavelle Dove and our Imagine Thailand team are constantly creating new ways to deepen Imagine Thailand’s commitment to the people of Thailand and Burma.

For our family here in West Kelowna, we have enjoyed another full year of training teams, creating support for projects, and spreading the word on what is happening in Thailand and Burma.  We’ve established relationships with a number of schools, churches, and colleges who have graciously allowed us to take away “regular programming” time in order to hear our stories about the thoughts and dreams of people we’ve met in Southeast Asia.

We’re already looking forward to a full slate of plans for 2012 that we will keep you informed about through our blog.  By way of reminder, it’s not too late to sign up for Discovery Tour 2012 (January 17-29th).

From us…the Koch Kamotion…

Derek, Irislee, Ellie, Isaac, Hannah, and Olivia…

we wish you and yours a Merry Christmas, filled with the peace, joy and love of Jesus, and a Happy New Year!