Human Trafficking, a problem even in Wisconsin

By Bruce Paull

The Hidden Valley Church recently had a guest minister at the Sunday, June 30th service. Ben Wood was originally from the Sauk Prairie area before going to Thailand with Zoe International. Ben’s wife Jenny, also teaches kindergarten at Grace International School along with working at Zoe International. All of Jenny and Ben’s kids have attended this international school.

Grace International works with over 85 different organizations in and around Chiang Mai, Thailand. This Grace International School in Chiang Mai, Thailand, is one school with others serving in over 40 other countries. In Chiang Mai the school teaches 552 students in grades K-12 from over 20 different nations. Kids of missionaries make up 80% of the student body because the parents are ministering in Southeast Asia. The school is an hours commute from Zoe International.

Zoe International serves to get the gospel to the people in Thailand with only one percent being Christians. Zoe also partners with pastors in areas that are higher in need, especially in higher trafficking rescue parishes. In the one parish, they take care of any child that makes it across the border. On a day Ben stopped to visit he saw 150 displaced children that were being fed and receiving an education, with care from just the church’s support. Ben also looked at old people defined in Thailand as any person that was injured or hurt from the war zone. They live in tents by the river...

(See the rest of this story in the July 11, 2024 Chronicle issue)