The Friendsgiving event, officially called "Giving Thanks in the Valley of the Hearts Delight," was an idea concocted by Forager’s Heinz Jones and John Kim. Heinz graciously opened up the Forager lounge to different homeless populations within San Jose.

The purpose of the event was to share a meal with individuals who are currently living unhoused, with the intent of giving them back a sense of dignity and connection to the community. “Our hope was to not only send a bit of love to our homeless friends, but also to bring awareness to their struggles, and to connect them with the appropriate resources,” shared one of the event coordinators.
​
An event like this certainly brought the community together. It was a joint effort with Pastor Scott and Larry Johnson from CHAM, Justin Immamura with Trash Punx, Forager’s staff, and South Bay Church. South Bay Church, which is an Agape Fish Fund partner in homeless ministry, provided leaders to help coordinate, supplies to be donated, and volunteers to serve.

​This is a letter from a Vietnamese inmate in Taiwan, Do Thai Sen, who is a hearty convert and is taking the discipleship program with the ministry intern, Mr. Thai.

​October 17, 2017

Greetings with happiness and love!

My first prayer to Jesus is that our Father gives as much grace as he wants to the pastor and the brothers and sisters in the church so it can be a healthy and happy church. Amen!

Today I am so glad that, thanks to the grace of Jesus, I have met with the pastor and heard the sweet, sweet words of the Lord. Thank you, Pastor. Thank you for your love and good food sent to us. It is encouraging and helpful for us to overcome the challenges. Since I’ve believed in Jesus and let him be Lord of my life, I can feel that I’ve been growing, changing, and getting more confident. I feel proud to have God own my life. I have a joy in my soul that is hard to express in words.

I am thankful that the church brought the love of Jesus to us, which gives us hope. I hope that everyone can soon return home as good people who will benefit their village, their family, their society, and people around the world.

We praise the Lord for His faithfulness and guidance in the ministry of the Adonai orphans. We express our heartfelt thanks to our sponsor Agape Fish Fund for their generosity and heart of love for the poor orphans. And we also express our sincere gratitude to all our prayer partners and private donors, both local and abroad. We pray and wish that our God rewards them abundantly.

​Our main goal is to train the orphans in the way of God and the Christian faith, and God is helping us incredibly in our service and activities. Compared to last year, the orphans have really changed and are equipped by the word of God.

Mrs. Rev. Thang is taking responsibility for the daily Bible class, and she has covered the curriculum from two children's teaching books. She has taught all the Bible stories from both the Old Testament and New Testament from a lower level and a higher level. Now she is preparing to teach them deeper lessons from the third book in the curriculum. 

The children love singing and motion, so we teach the songs and lessons together. The children are rooted in the word of God in their lives. They all are very active in singing, praising God, and doing the Lord’s will. We hope they will surely become men and women who serve God and are involved in God’s kingdom works in their future.

​As we gather with family and friends this Thanksgiving holiday,
we rejoice over our blessings, and we remember those in need.

We were delighted to receive Soklang's drawing and letter. With your support, we are helping Soklang receive loving Christian care, nourishing food, and a good education.

This year we are pleased to sponsor two children who live long-term at the children's home in Thailand: Peen and Fone. Here's a brief introduction to them.

In order to nurture a passion and cultivate prayer for poverty alleviation and missions among the Christian community in the United States, we are offering these programs: 

1. PovertyCure Training: Educates the Vietnamese community through 3 courses on how they can effectively help alleviate poverty for missions, so they will have an increased desire to join the cause of empowering people to become self-sustainable.
2. Financial Literacy Training: Empowers the church in East Palo Alto to model Jesus’ heart for low-income families in the area through practical and supportive classes that incorporate Christian principles with financial stewardship. 
3. Asian Christian Stewardship Training: Creates a network and platform for Asian Christian philanthropists to share best practices, common challenges, and innovative solutions, which will encourage more Asian Christians to donate and get involved.

​Unmanaged diabetes in the Vietnamese community is a potentially life-threatening issue that needs to be addressed. ​A 2015 study found that about 1 in 17 Vietnamese adults (1 in 15 men and 1 in 20 women) has diabetes. The World Health Organization said that the prevalence of diabetes in Vietnam has almost doubled in the past 10 years, and across the population there is a lack of awareness about diabetes.

​When diabetic patients are unaware of how to manage their diabetes, the disease can threaten their lives. There is a dire need for the low-income, diabetic Vietnamese population in California to have practical support in managing their diabetes.

Children who come from rural villages in Vietnam usually don’t have the opportunity to go to school if they stay in the villages. One reason is that the schools are located far away from their homes. The children would have to travel a distance to get to school, and then board nearby. 

​Another reason is that the impoverished parents prefer the children to help out with the farming work or to help provide family income in other ways. If the children aren’t helping with the farm work, then they run around unattended, or their parents have them go into town to sell lotto tickets, postcards, or homemade desserts to earn money. In some cases, the children might even have to beg on the streets for their family. These rural children need a way to have an education to break the poverty cycle for their family.

Our partner missionary trains his disciples and is a tentmaker. He and his team have already been supporting the church in Lashio, helping 40 children, for about 50 cents a day. However, this year there are over 50 children that came from the countryside, due to the increased need. Although the parents are supposed to fund half the food budget, many couldn’t afford to this year because of their fields being ravaged from the war.