Summer Camp...

This April while on a trip up to Chiang Mai we were asked to join the folks at Christian Outreach Center for one of their summer camps. This particular one was for the orphans in several of the Haven Homes. We had the most amazing time imaginable. Considering we don't really speak the language, it was a miracle that we were able to connect with the children the way we did. It was a life changing experience, and we have made some really precious friends through it.

The camp was about playing and about worshipping God. It was a typical youth camp, but not with typical youth. The age range was from 4 to 17 which is unusually wide, but great fun.

This was one of those trips that causes you to thank God for being born and discovering what the purpose of your life is meant to be. We love this place, we love this country/region/people, we are in heaven here. We are so grateful to be here!!! The best part is that the more we travel around the area the more we realize that it is true of this whole section of the world. We have a slice of the world!

Here are some pictures of some of the most amazing kids in the world...

Praise and Worship

Swimming in the River!

Reaching for something gross they can't see!

Kayaking!

Fishing!

Games!

All Kinds Of Fun!

I know! I was there! They changed my life. They are so beautiful and so full of God they are an inspiration to be around and a joy to spend any amount of time with. It is opportunities like this that make any thing I may have given up to be here seem meaningless and worthless.

This is the heart of God. If you didn't see it, go back and look through these pictures again. I have so many more, but they take forever to load. I can't stand to have used so few of them, but I had to. Thank you for making this possible for us. Thank you for making it possible for them as well. It takes the generosity and selflessness of others to get these results, starting with Jesus and then you.

Never met a refugee I didn't like...

In April we joined a team going to Mae Sot. This is a town that borders Burma. There are refugee camps all up and down the border. They are made up of people from the Karen tribe. I have talked about these people before, but this time we actually went and met them ourselves. This particular camp is called Mae La. There are 50,000 people living at this camp. There are something like 13 camps like this one.


They are simple people. Farmers who are living in camps and are not allowed to go out into the fields surrounding the camp to plant because there would be no way to control it. They make due with a stipend of rice, shrimp paste and salt. They used to get chilies but they have been cut. The rumor is the shrimp paste will have to be cut as well. Feeding the people is becoming more and more expensive as the price of rice and the shortages of food become more and more desperate. The world is not a good place to be for a lot of people. I am grateful for all that I have, but I find myself daily wishing for more to give.

Many of these people have been visibly wounded. Victims of gunshots and land mines. Victims of the genocide that continues against their people by a government that rules through paranoia and mistrust. They are abused, shot at, their houses and churches are destroyed. The villages are land mined to keep them from coming back. This government wants these people eradicated. I want you to meet some of them.

This little guy was born in this camp. They want him dead.

These are the most amazing people I have ever met. There life could not be harder, but they are warm and friendly. It amazes me every time they smile. It's not that they are poor. It's not that they don't have all the things we take for granted because they never have had those things. They can't miss what they never had. What they don't have is freedom. They don't have the ability to properly take care of themselves. They don't have the opportunity to do for themselves and their families what they would if they were on the other side of the mountain across an imaginary line that separates governments, yet they smile and love and make the best if it all. They make the best of the life they have in the camps. They keep it as nice as possible. They have churches and worship God. The pastors who are telling them the promises of God are refugees themselves, but they walk in faith. They believe God to take care of the orphans and get the kids some schooling. They find reasons to smile.

Here is a shot of some of the houses in the camp. They build these themselves from what is available. This is how they would live back in Burma except they are all squished close together and they can't farm. This picture is amazing because you might not be able to see it, but there are roses in that garden among other things. I thought it was symbolic of the spirit of these people that roses would be in this garden.

This is Pei Pei. She was my best friend. She guided me through the camp and made sure I knew the way to everywhere we were going. I gave her the fan because she was fascinated by the way it folded up. Then she kept trying to fan me with it and I felt like a monster because I wanted her to fan herself. She wasn't having it, and kept trying to fan me.

This little guy is one of the orphans here at this camp.

Here are two more. Their parents were either killed by the soldiers who prey on their people or sickness and disease that cannot be taken care of in time. The results are the same regardless of why. They are cared for by the churches, but this is a refugee camp. There is not actually much to give.

It was seriously hot this particular day. It was just the end of the dry season and the rains had not come yet. It made it all feel worse to see the dried up grass, like the plants thirst made you feel more thirsty yourself. The entire camp is the base of a mountain though so things don't get any easier when the rain does come.

This is one of the meeting houses we visited while in the camp. One of two churches we visited at this camp. This was a special meeting for the youth.

The second church was the next day. Troy and I had a chance to do children's church and we had an absolute blast. We got volunteers out of the crowd and did a wonderfully unrehearsed acting out of the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. It was silly and fun and still got the point across. We loved every second of it. I told the story, through an interpreter of course, while Troy acted out the kings part and the volunteers played the main roles and the guards. We don't have pictures because we were both doing it. It was classic.

So where was I...

"Where am I" is more like it. I am writing this blog while I sit in my apartment in Bangkok. I got here yesterday coming in from Burma, and I am currently packing to go to Chiang Mai. (9-10 hour bus ride away.) Then I am planning to come home, unpack from that trip and then pack again to leave for Burma for ? weeks.

I am trying to update the blog and I am just now realizing that entails filling you in on all of April, May and June!

So here goes...

In April we traveled to Khon Kaen. We have mentioned this place before. There is an awesome group of Swedish Missionaries in Khon Kaen and they are taking the city for Jesus. We joined them for about a week and had an amazing trip.

The highlight for me was the Khon Kaen Women's Prison. I have pictures for this so I think this will be the perfect way to share with you.

Here I am checking into prison.

Here are some of the ladies in the prison. I was very surprised to see the babies.

These women have to have all shampoo and things of that nature brought to them from family or friends. The ones who have no one to care for them simply don't have those things. Some of the inmates with children are in here with their spouses as well. The babies stay with the Mom's but the Father's are allowed to see them. That was happening when we got there. They had them lined up sitting in chairs facing each other. That was family time.

This amazing woman had written a hymn and she performed it for us.

This is the message portion of the service. All of the blond heads are swedes! Per Gisselson is the Director and Pastor of this work, his wife was teaching this day. She was teaching them about healing in the Bible and that they can pray for each other when they are sick and need help. I would have to say that it was really good news to them.

The SOS Mission, which stands for Save Our Souls, goes into the prison every week and ministers to these women. They are there for various reasons, but drugs are the biggest issue in the area. The women were obviously so grateful for the services, and the team has great favor in the prison. They called to tell me that two weeks after we were there, they went in and set up a pool for baptisms. 25 women were baptized that day and they had already done this once before then.

We really had a great experience and hope to return when we are able to. Thank you for supporting us and making these trips possible. We were offered the chance to move there and become the Pastors of the church in the prison. We prayed about it, but God has other plans and little did we know things were going to get very busy for us very quickly.