1. In Thailand we just celebrated the Thai New Year, (Songkran)
2. Also I have not been very faithful in keeping you all up to date on what is going on here, in fact I haven't shared with you since December. For this I am sorry, and there has been so many things that have happened here over the past four months that now it is impossible for me to catch you up on everything. Sadly I will have to just mention some highlights and promise to be more faithful in my future correspondence with you.
Since I last wrote to you, Akha Outreach Foundation has been blessed to host a number of different teams. During Christmas time we welcomed a team of builders and helpers from a church in Twin Falls, Idaho. Following a wonderful two weeks spent with them, we welcomed my parents and their friend Judy for a while. This was an especially blessed time for us as a family, as my Mom and Dad got to visit our new daughter Bratana Joy for the first time. My sister and her family came up from Bangkok and even though our house was full, it was still so special. We are sad my sister Catherine and her daughter couldn't have joined us, but we trust that they will get a chance to come for a visit too. While my parents were here, my Mom was able to work on loving the new granddaughter(like all good grandmothers) and my Dad was able to bless us with some much needed home repairs and additions. Including kitchen cabinets for my very patient wife, who had waited a whole year to have her cabinets put in so she could have a completed kitchen. It was such a blessing to have my parents here, and I do pray for a chance for them to come back again.
Shortly after my parents left, we welcomed the board of directors for Akha Outreach Foundation and also hosted our second graduation for the Akha Bible Institute. Three days before the graduation, we hosted a revival meeting with many Akha's attending, all caped off with the graduation ceremony in front of over 1000 people. It was a very busy day, and all the staff worked extremely hard, but we can honestly say, "fun was had by all". We are excited to wait and see how God is going to work in and through the lives of these 12 new graduates. Three of them will be working among the Akha in two very closed countries to the gospel. It is exciting to see the Akha reaching out to their fellow Akha across the boarders. Please remember all the graduates and Bible students in your prayers. Our aim is to train them through the power of Christ and then to send them with that power to train others. 
Following graduation and school break for the Bible school, we started to focus on the school break that was approaching for all our children. In Thailand the summer break starts in the middle of March and goes to the middle of May. During this time most if not all of our children return to their villages to spend time with their relatives. This is very important and a main focus of ours, to keep the children attached to their culture and their families as much as possible. During school breaks it is a great time for the children to help their families out in the fields and around the house. It is also a great time for them to share with others what they have learned during their time here. We pray that they will be agents for His glory while they are in the villages.
During this school break, is also a time that our staff gets some time off. Last year we were able to travel to the States and visit with many of you. We truly wish that this year we could have traveled back again for a visit, but the cost was too much, and we are just looking for some time to rest before school starts up again in May. We haven't had much time to rest up until now. After the schools were closed, we were busy registering kids for the next school term, and also making preparations for the children's return. We have been reviewing and revamping many aspects of the children's team and our making sure that we are doing all we can to sheperd the hearts that have been entrusted to us. It is an awesome task and none of us are capable to do it, apart from the help of God.
Please be in prayer for us as we look to the start of the new year. We will have 81 children come May, and we desire to see each and everyone of them grow in their knowledge, love, and relationship with God. And as He fills them, they will pass it onto to others.
I am sorry that I haven't written to you before. I missed wishing you Happy New Year, Happy Saint Patric's Day, April Fools Day, and also Happy Easter. But I haven't missed all of the holidays, I can wish you Happy Tax Day. Ok bad joke. Sorry.
Seriously, I am sorry that I haven't written more often, and even though I have been very busy, I still want you to know that I do take time to think about you and thank God for all of your prayers and support which makes it possible for Maam and I to raise our family here and serve the ministry. We ask you to please continue to pray for us as the next year offers new challenges, I will be leading the children's team, and with that title comes a lot of responsibility. I have a hard enough time trying to raise my two daughters, I know it is impossible to raise 81 children by myself, and so I ask you to partner with me through prayer and advice, as I seek God's continual guidance and strength to help me shepherd these lives that He has entrusted to us for His glory. I will be more busy next year then I have ever been, but I promise to take more time to update you on how God is at work here at Akha Outreach Foundation, and in our lives.
I am going to bring this to a close now. Tomorrow, my family and I are running away for a week vacation and to catch up on some much needed rest and relaxation. Since I last wrote to you we have been going full speed, but now we have some time to rest and just be a family. So please pray that we have a restful time and that we will be able to return rejuvenated for the new school year.
I also ask you to pray for my Mom and my Dad. I just received an email from my older sister saying my Mom is in the hospital with possible liver failure, and my Dad is sick also. We still don't know the extent of the problems, and my sister may be flying out to check on them. We know that they are in God's hands, and the best thing we can do is pray, but it is hard when you are so far away from you loved ones when they are in need. Please join me in praying for healing and also for strength for them and us as we are apart.
In closing, if you have a free minute, we would love to hear from you. I know I haven't been very faithful in writing to you, and I know that you are also very busy. But it is truly amazing how wonderful it feels to get emails from you. Fill free to write anything or ask anything. It is nice to know that we are missed and not forgotten.
Thanks and God bless you and keep you for His glory.
Dan, Maam, Garuna, and Bratana. 
