Dear Friends and Supporters around the world: It is almost summer time here in Buriram. I checked the temperature outside this afternoon and it was already up to 31 degrees celsius, making it a very warm day. Over the next 2 months it will get hotter and hotter here, peaking at around 36-38 degrees celsius. Rainy season is not expected to start before the end of May so we are in for some very warm, then very hot, dry weather. We are currently awaiting a five member team from Singapore to arrive within one or two more days--- all reading teachers from the national university who will spend about one week helping us to access and improve reading skills for the kids here at TOLO as well as for one or two of the local schools. To date we have had 573 foreign volunteers come to be part of what we do at TreeHouse. They represent 43 different countries of the world. We will have an Ethiopian teacher here in the coming weeks. Three other volunteers, one Brazilian, Vitor, one Dutch girl, Miranda and one Irishman, Jason, will be rejoining us this week as well. They have been off serving elsewhere and are ready to return to us. We received news that 3 more teams from Belgium will be joining us during the three month period July-September. Also a team of youth from my old home church, Tree of Life in San Angelo are expecting to visit in June. It will be great to have some more Texans out here. The children are just about finished for this current school term which will end in mid-March. Two of the older girls, my own natural daughter Tawnee Dawn, age 17, and Narumol, now 19, who stole my heart as a six year old 13 years ago will take their O-Net exams this coming weekend. It is a national test to evaluate students in comparison with all of their peers throughout Thailand. Schools often base their status on the comparison statistics. Tawnee and Narumol will be graduating in a few weeks. Then it will be off to university time for the both of them. Tawnee is planning to attend Thammasat University in Bangkok to study Mass Communications for one year. If she scores well she will then transfer into the International Studies program which is a five year program leading to an MA in international relations. Her dream is to work in a Thai embassy in France or the French embassy in Thailand. She has studied extra hard for the past two years and even had four night classes weekly in addition to her regular class schedule where she studied French. She has won two singing contests, receiving third place position out of the 145 contestants for Fantasia 2009 and just this past term she won the Regional French trophy for singing in French. 18 different provinces entered the contest and she came home with the first place trophy. Her principal called a special assembly and had her sing to the entire student body of Buriram Phittayakom (high school), all 3,600 students! In mid-July through early August we hope to complete the construction of sports playing fields at the Wat Ban Yoei Sakae School overlooking the reservoir at Huay Talat Three more month-long fabulous teams of young people from Bouworde Belgium are scheduled to arrive and assist us in this project So far over the past seven years, with the help of so many volunteers from a wide variety of nations have completely recreated the school and it is an unbelievably beautiful place for these 117 kids who live in Ban Samet Village to study. We still have quite a ways to go and 2 more very important projects on the drawing boards. We have a wall to complete (10,000 dollars for materials) at the Ban Yoei Sakae School, a boy scout camp to build, and a swimming beach. The total cost of the projects is around 100,000 US dollars but will provide a free location for all 1,100 schools to conduct their scout and English camps and for the entire population of the province to enjoy the recreational facilities, all free of charge. We raise the funds from a variety of sources, the primary one being Bouworde Foundation of Belgium who have already had six teams out here over the past two years. Three more teams from Bouworde are scheduled to be here for a month long program each WE want to get folks to support our orphans here at TOLO as well. We wish to call this campaign “Pennies from Heaven.” We know the economy worldwide has been in a tail spin and that many folks have lost their jobs over the past two years. We have felt the impact here as well. By the grace of God we are still standing after thirteen years. We are all in good health and hopeful. Please continue to pray for us and add something to the coffers to keep it all going here at TOLO if it is within your means. Go to the ways to give page and click on paypal. Folke, our trustee who lives in Thoiry France handles getting the funds to us. From all of us to all of you, may you be blessed. For constant updates go to MYSA.com (San Antonio Express News on-line. Scroll to the bottom of the page and select forums. Scroll down forums until you find the blog "Is Your Church Mission-minded?" Then open and keep up with all that is going on here at TOLO.