Seeds of Dedication

Bell

Because Bell is the daughter of our on site Directors, Pastors Suradet and Yupa, and because our ministry journey together began seventeen years ago already, I have had the personal joy of watching this young woman grow up since she was only two.  And that's just been a lot of fun!

She has grown to be a strong, competent young woman, with a love for Jesus and a great deal of ministry experience already.  She is now exploring further education in science and medicine, focused on a nursing degree at Chiang Mai University.

She says:

I want to study Nursing.  

After I graduate from nursing school, 

I hope to become a nurse and work in a hospital.  

My dream is to help people and take care of them with compassion and dedication.

This is a good time to explain that our Staff children are included in the benefits we offer the others who come to us from the villages.  They are full members of the family, and given the same opportunities. In some way, they share in the sacrifices their parents have made to serve at New Family Foundation.

The lifestyle tow which all our Staff have committed is demanding, and no one is in it for the big bucks.  Our approach is to offer as much support in all the ways we can so that no child, even our Staff children, go without.  While we no longer connect Staff children to specific Sponsors, we help make sure they are given all the benefits of our large family.

Like our other students, we are confident, given the drive, studiousness and academic results we have already seen, that Bell will take every advantage of our investment in her future, and succeed in her goals. 

 If you'd like to be a part of it, for Bell and the four other young women you've been hearing about this week, please take a moment to respond to the SEEDS Fundraiser mailing, that you may have received recently.

And if you are not on our mailing list, you can still donate by sending an e-transfer to donations@hcckw.ca (Memo: NFF Seeds, Password Foundation).

Thank you!

NOTE:  In Canadian Dollars it takes approximately $2,000 per year to send one student to post secondary education in Thailand.  We currently have five students.  

With deep gratitude for all the love, support and care from all those who faithfully help make these stories possible!

Ruth Anne

Rev. Ruth Anne Breithaupt, MDiv.

Canadian Representative/Missionary in Residence

New Family Foundation/Highview Community Church

The mission of New Family Foundation is to

provide a loving home for at-risk and 

orphaned children in Northern Thailand to

help them achieve their best potential in 

education, vocation and service to society.

https://newfamilythailand.org

                                            

     https://www.hcckw.ca                                                                    https://www.adventive.ca

Seeds of Curiosity

 

Da

When Da first came to us at only eight years of age, it was clear that she was struggling academically.  Such is the case with many of the children who come to us from more remote mountain villages.  They just don't have the early years learning advantages that most Canadian children have access to.  Nutrition and other stresses of poverty play a part.

It's a good moment here to pause and say that recognizing each individual child's potential, and encouraging them towards developing their innate gifts and abilities also includes the sensitivity not to expect the same achievements from all of them.  Of course!  New Family Foundation celebrates and affirms children as the unique human beings God created them to be.

Da is also a good reminder not to underestimate the effects of good nutrition, a stable environment, and personal diligence toward study.  Here's what she says are her plans.

I want to study nursing. 

My hope for the future is to graduate as a nurse 

and become a good nurse for the people. 

However, I think that if I work for a while, 

I want to continue my studies to become 

a Master's degree and become a nursing teacher.

Even with her first struggles in school, that Da would be considering Master's level education should have been my guess when I first met the sweet little girl who asked so many questions.  About Canada, about snow, about whether or not people die where I come from, and about whether or not I would ever, ever come back to see her.  That was the first time she'd met me and I hadn't had the opportunity to gain her trust yet.  But oh so many questions.

Now now...nursing.  

If you'd like to be a part of helping Da accomplish her goals, or any of the other four young women we're featuring this week, please take a moment to respond to the SEEDS Fundraiser mailing that you may have received recently.

And if you are not on our mailing list, you can still donate by sending an e-transfer to donations@hcckw.ca (Memo: NFF Seeds, Password Foundation).

Thank you!

NOTE:  In Canadian Dollars it takes approximately $2,000 per year to send one student to post secondary education in Thailand.  We currently have five students.  

With deep gratitude for all the love, support and care from Da's Sponsors in particular, and all those who faithfully help make these stories possible!

Ruth Anne

Rev. Ruth Anne Breithaupt, MDiv.

Canadian Representative/Missionary in Residence

New Family Foundation/Highview Community Church

The mission of New Family Foundation is to

provide a loving home for at-risk and 

orphaned children in Northern Thailand to

help them achieve their best potential in 

education, vocation and service to society.

https://newfamilythailand.org

                                            

     https://www.hcckw.ca                                                                    https://www.adventive.ca

Seeds of Dignity

Tae

If we're planting gardens this Spring, we can be thinking of Tae.  She's one of our University students and she writes:

I want to study horticulture. 

My hope for the future is to work as a civil servant. 

I hope to work to save money and support my family 

and not cause any problems for myself (i.e. be self-sufficient).

Tae has been with us at New Family Foundation since 2013, which means we have had the chance to watch her grow and learn and develop into a kind and steady young woman with hopes for the future.  

Like many of our children, Tae has a strong sense of care for family members that remain in difficult situations in her home village, wanting to use the opportunities she's been given to make life a little easier.  You can also see reflected in Tae's own words, the understanding that being successful in her studies, and then later in her chosen vocation, will provide her with a degree of dignity.  This is the meaning behind the translated words 'not cause any problems for myself,' as indirect at it might sound in English.  

This is such an important part of helping kids with early memories of trauma and poverty launch into  adult lives that allow them to stand up tall with quiet confidence.

If you'd like to be a part of it, for Tae and the four other young women you'll hear about in the next few days, please take a moment to respond to the SEEDS Fundraiser mailing, that you may have received recently.

And if you are not on our mailing list, you can still donate by sending an e-transfer to donations@hcckw.ca (Memo: NFF Seeds, Password Foundation).

Thank you!

NOTE:  In Canadian Dollars it takes approximately $2,000 per year to send one student to post secondary education in Thailand.  We currently have five students.  

With deep gratitude for all the love, support and care from Tae's Sponsor in particular, and all those who faithfully help make these stories possible!

Ruth Anne

Rev. Ruth Anne Breithaupt, MDiv.

Canadian Representative/Missionary in Residence

New Family Foundation/Highview Community Church

The mission of New Family Foundation is to

provide a loving home for at-risk and 

orphaned children in Northern Thailand to

help them achieve their best potential in 

education, vocation and service to society.

https://newfamilythailand.org

                                            

     https://www.hcckw.ca                                                                    https://www.adventive.ca

Earth Day, Planting Seeds, and Sending Our Students to University

 

Chalon

On this Earth Day 2025 I'm thinking about seed-planting.

Just on a basic level, that makes sense, of course.  Doing something good for the planet is what this day is set aside for.  And in Spring aren't we all looking forward to the flowers?

But this year, right now there's an extra layer to this for us here at New Family Foundation.  I'm talking about the current efforts to raise funds for our University Students, and the recent mailing of small packets of seeds to all our Sponsors and Supporters.

Maybe you've already received yours.  At least, that was my hope, that it would arrive before Earth Day.  Maybe you're not on the mailing list, in which case, we can rectify that in a second.

But first I want to introduce you to the Students themselves, the ones we are focusing on in this particular effort.  Over the next several days I'll be posting a picture and a profile, along with some personal thoughts from the young women themselves, so you can get to know them better.  

Today, here is Chalon.

Chalon arrived to live with us at age 16, much later than the normal 6 or 7 years old.   Her life story has had its darker chapters in a series of complex events that required her to be tough and determined.  In some ways, the environment of trust and nurture we foster in our family was suspicious territory for her.  It's taken a while to build trust.  

She recently graduated from High School, and has already been accepted into her (equivalent) Humanities studies program at University, so these are new days of optimism and hope for Chalon.   On graduation day, which I had the honour of attending with Yupa and Bell, it was great how much it meant to her that we came.  And overall, as she interacted with her teachers and classmates, she was smiling and enjoying all the attention, something we hope will be more and more part of her future.

In her own words:

"I want to be a history or social studies teacher, so I thought that if I graduated, I would take the civil service exam to become a history teacher because I like this field and am interested in it. I also want to be with the children so that they can have fun and be happy."

Graduation from High School

That last statement expressing the desire to help other children 'have fun and be happy' is significant.  This was not her own childhood experience.  Yet she wants to change things for others.  And now she has that chance.

This is totally what we are about at NFF, redirecting the trajectory and affecting change for better futures.

If you'd like to be a part of it, for Chalon and the four other young women you'll hear about in the next few days, please take a moment to respond to the SEEDS Fundraiser mailing.

And if you are not on our mailing list, you can still donate by sending an e-transfer to donations@hcckw.ca (Memo: NFF Seeds, Password Foundation).

Thank you!

NOTE:  In Canadian Dollars it takes approximately $2,000 per year to send one student to post secondary education in Thailand.  We currently have five students.  

With deep gratitude for all the love, support and care from Chalon's Sponsor in particular, and all those who faithfully help make these stories possible!

Ruth Anne

Rev. Ruth Anne Breithaupt, MDiv.

Canadian Representative/Missionary in Residence

New Family Foundation/Highview Community Church

The mission of New Family Foundation is to

provide a loving home for at-risk and 

orphaned children in Northern Thailand to

help them achieve their best potential in 

education, vocation and service to society.

https://newfamilythailand.org

                                            

     https://www.hcckw.ca                                                                    https://www.adventive.ca

A New Piece of the Puzzle - Introducing Adventive Cross Cultural Initiatives into the Picture

Our kids love the puzzles.  Mostly we are all over the 65-piece snowman, but some of us have mastered the 100-piece solar system.  They come after school or on a Sunday afternoon and ask for the 'jeeg-saaw' and then drop down on the cool tiles and get at it.

Or you can take a puzzle and get right up there on the tables under the dining shelter.

It's an activity especially good for getting to know new friends.

There's just something about the quiet concentration required to spread out all the pieces and begin to sort it all out and put it all together.  To have the picture on the front of the box, and watch it come together gradually.  There's the patience of it.  The trusting that this mess will actually come together to form a picture in the whole of it.

I have often compared the process of puzzling to the formation of a strategic plan.  Usually the components of the plan come at first in the form of separate pieces that get put down on the "table" of a leaders' awareness.  Then there comes a gradual understanding of repeating themes or threads between the separate components.  This sparks a curiosity to see how it all fits together into one picture, if it even does at all.  The big difference is that there is no picture on the front of the box to tell you how it's supposed to look in the end.  What takes its place instead is the deliberate upward reach of prayer asking for the guidance promised.

"In all your ways submit to Him, 

and He will make your paths straight."  

Proverbs 3:6 NIV

There is a sense for us at New Family Foundation, that we've been given a brand new puzzle to open, and a new picture is being spread out before us on the table.  Nothing dramatic, not at all.  The mission remains the same (see below).  But it is curious to us how some of our long-awaited dreams for the development of a new property AND the current global economic situation AND some aspects of our own personal and professional lives all seem to have converged in this moment in time.  

A few new puzzle pieces are coming into play, and we're wondering how it all fits together.

One of those pieces for me is my recent acceptance into the family that is Adventive Cross Cultural Initiatives.  

"ACCI serves pioneering Christians, empowering them to proclaim the gospel, fulfill their God-given visions, and advance the kingdom of God."

The choice to seek out a sending agency was the result of the suggestion of a trusted missions mentor who observed a gap in the specific kinds of support someone in my unique place of ministry requires for optimum effectiveness and well-being.  While I deeply appreciate the oversight I receive from my local church, Highview Community Church, and the love and interest of my close friends and ministry associates, there's nothing quite like being with folks who are doing what you do and 'get it' in ways others simply cannot.

Also, there is a sense that a wider base of both general awareness and financial support is essential at this point in both my own development as a missionary-pastor, and in the future of New Family Foundation.  This is especially true if, as we are starting to believe is the picture forming before us, we are on the cusp of really moving forward with the plans for our next property.  This is also equally true as we all move into uncertain economic times and my own travel and ministry costs rise proportionately.

At this point, as I prayerfully come before God and include the circles of accountability I am blessed with, I anticipate many more years of engagement with this beautiful work He's invited me to on the other side of the planet.  It is also a time in our lives when Ken and I are moving into a different financial set up, one for which we have made significant personal changes to remain good stewards of all God has given us.

It's that time in the working of the puzzle that calls forth the quiet concentration required to spread out all the pieces and begin to sort it all out and put it all together.   Without the picture on the front of the box, to even so watch it come together gradually.  There's the patience of it.  The trusting that this assortment of realities will actually come together to form a picture in the whole of it.

We will need to move into an intense period of fundraising as soon as we get the go ahead on the property.  [And another piece of this puzzle is a proposal in the writing to an association in Thailand who is favourable to these kinds of projects.]  More on that as it unfolds.

And I need more funds to accommodate the rising costs of living and travel.  

That's just a bottom line reality for me right now.

Today I'm making an ask only for this last piece, my personal support piece.  And I'm opening up the avenue for contributions to be made through ACCI.  If that's something you'd like to be part of, and if you are NOT already making donations through other means, here's the link to help make that happen.https://www.adventive.ca/all-project-list/ruth-ann-breithaupt/

I am excited to be part of ACCI, encouraged already by the warmth and interest and professionalism.  I'm curious to know what God has in mind for the bigger picture, not just for my own ministry, but for what it means for us at New Family Foundation.

Thank you to everyone who has faithfully walked me through this journey starting in May of 2018.  As I come up to marking six years as a full time missionary-pastor, it has been an honour to serve God together with you.  I look forward to seeing the picture He has in mind unfold before us.

“The mission of New Family Foundation is to provide a loving home 

for at-risk and orphaned children in Northern Thailand

to help them achieve their best potential 

in education, vocation and service to society.

Earthquake Update

I am happy to report that our family at Hot Springs are all safe following a significant earthquake in Thailand (and surrounding countries) that happened at 2:20 a.m. our time.

We continue to pray for those who have lost loved ones, for the families of those still missing, and for all those involved in the recovery efforts.

Bridge to Redemption

One of the more boldly interesting places we visited while in Chiang Rai earlier this month was the famed White Temple, aka Wat Rong Kuhn.

It's truly difficult to capture its visual impact in pictures, especially if you visit it, as we did, under the  brilliant sun of an early March day in northern Thailand.  The structures, gates, walkways are not all just an almost-painfully pristine white, but there are countless pieces of glass embedded along the edges of almost every surface.  To describe it as "dazzling" hardly comes close.  Stunning.  Breath-taking.  Beautiful.

It is meant, in part to be a depiction of heaven, a sinless eternity.

I will leave it to your own curiosity to read more about its background and history, which is an intriguing story in itself.  What I will remember most vividly is how stark the contrast was between all the brilliant purity depicted in the structures as we approached from a distance, against the disturbing rendering of hopelessness and despair that greets you as get up closer and walk across the first bridge of entry.

In the picture above you can only begin to make it out, just beneath the white rising tusks.

When you get closer, you can see the rendering of what I understand to be the Buddhist idea of eternity without redemption, as depicted by skeletal remains with faces animated by expressions of agony and horror.  

The unsettling effect is enhanced by a recorded voice, in several languages including English, instructing visitors not to linger on the bridge, but to keep moving.  There is a warning tone in the recording.  Or did I just hear it as such because I already felt uneasy?

All in all, my visit there provoked a sense of respect and awe.  The artist who has taken it upon himself to reclaim and restore this original place of worship has indeed demonstrated an incredible commitment to his own faith, and an honest rendering of good verses evil.  The walkway into the wat wasn't the only place where we were reminded of the horrors of sin.

If Christianity and Buddhism overlap at any point of doctrine and theology, it would be here.  In both understandings, sin is a big problem.  It's in the concepts of redemption and forgiveness where the two faiths differ.  Some have tried to distill it into the idea that Buddhism might spell forgiveness as "D-O", and strive for a redemption that is earned.  Christianity spells forgiveness "D-O-N-E" and looks to the cross to receive the redemption offered by the sacrifice of Jesus.  I don't know.  Maybe that's too simplistic.  But it has been said that if Buddha, who was intensely aware of his own sin, had met Jesus, he might have been so relieved.

Intriguingly, my visit to the White Temple has pressed me a little deeper into the Christian observation of Lent, as I look on the tormented faces below the walkway and realize my own sense of powerlessness to ever pay my way to redemption.  I find myself reflected in both the contorted images and the meditations of Paul on this when he says, "What a wretched person I am!  Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?"

And then, in a sudden pivot towards joy, he exclaims, "Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Christ Jesus our Lord!"  (Romans 7:24025)

While in Thailand, it is very important to demonstrate a great respect of places of worship and the practice of Buddhism in general.  I want to continue to express that respect here back home in Canada, and anywhere I am, of course.  I also find it intriguing how the intersection of faiths play out, and how it makes me more and deeply glad for Jesus.  

I am grateful for the opportunity to visit the White Temple.