Tuesday morning I woke up and got ready because we were leaving to go to Walleykee (a Karen village). I realized that I had not looked in a mirror since I got here. I don't have a mirror in my bathroom and they don't have mirrors anywhere here. It totally doesn't matter what I look like at all. Here it's what my heart is like that matters. It's amazing! I wish that's how life was in America. I also realized I hadn't had a watch on this whole time, and I just go with the flow. If Pastor Winai says "we go", then I grab my bag and go. Life is so much simpler here. It's awesome not having a cell phone too. I realize without my cell phone, I pay so much better attention to the people I am with. I am not constantly texting and there is no ringing interrupting my conversations. My focus is on the people that God has blessed me with right now. There are so many things I take for granted that I have in America, but I realize how life is without all these things. It's peaceful, stress free, and there are no worries. It's the way life was meant to be!
After I finished getting ready we all piled into the trucks and drove to Walleykee. It was about 30 minutes away. We arrived there and had a worship service in the Pastor's home. There was a woman there who is the spiritual leader over the Karen. She lead the service. After the service we ate an amazing noodle lunch and then went to the women's house to pray for her and for the village. As we all sat in a circle on the bamboo floor, we heard gun shots that were not very far away. We were right on the Burmese border, and the gun shots were from the Karen soldiers protecting their village from the Burmese soldiers trying to come and kill all the people in the village. The Burmese and the Karen are amidst the longest lasting civil war and the Karen people are forced from their country and they escape into Thailand and set up their villages there. They are a discplaced people and have been forced out of their homes and pushed farther and farther out of Burma. As the woman spoke to us tears ran down her face as she told us she feared the Burmese will come and attack her village and kill all the people in it. It's so sad what is happening to these Karen people. The tears couldn't help but stream down my face as well as my heart broke for this woman and her people. It's amazing though because through all this, the Karen people run to God.
We said our goodbyes and then drove back to the orphanage. We decided we were going to take a nap and just as we were falling asleep Pastor Winai said "we go". We had to pack our bags and jump in the truck because we were heading to Chiang Mai. It is a 6 hour drive and the back seat of the truck where we sat is not very big. Three of us crammed back there and my butt was asleep the whole drive. Once we arrived in Chiang Mai I noticed that there were so many foreigners (the thai call them farang and the Karen call them kalawa). I always know if I'm being talked about in their conversations if they say kalawa :) Pastor Winai said Chiang Mai is the second largest city in Thailand. It was awesome there! Very westernized. We stopped in the shopping mall and we enjoyed a taste of America for dinner....we ate KFC. It was pretty tasty. Then we drove to our home for the three days we would spend in Chiang Mai. We stayed with Pastor Winai's neice. She was so sweet and hilarious. She spoke English pretty well. The next day we drove to a church that Pastor Winai helped to start. They are building the church so the people in Chiang Mai can worship. The church is going to be awesome! We met with the people who were building the church and they drew up the plans for the pond that we will make for the water well. Then Pastor Winai took us back to the shopping center for lunch and we ate some McDonalds. It was actually really good. Still not good for you, but it tasted really yummy. Then we went to this mountain in Chiang Mai called Doy Sutep. We drove all the way to the top and the outlook over Chiang Mai was gorgeous. I put pictures up on kodak gallery. It was incredible. There was a buddhist temple at the top and it is also called Doy Sutep. All the monks were up there worshipping in their orange garb.
Thursday was a long, long day. We spent most of the day shopping for speakers, guitars and a sound system. Pastor Winai wants to use this when he does evangelism and during worship for the children. Then we met this man named Uncle Bob. He is from America and he is doing work with another orphanage in Chiang Mai. He majored in linguistics and teaching english to foreigners so I was very blessed because he shared his knowledge and some tips with me. Then we went to this one school that a woman started. It used to be a government school that wasn't being used and she got the government to give her 5000 baht per student per year to her. She got the school running and it is a Christian school. The government knows it's a Christian school and they still send support. That is unheard of for the Thai government to support a Christian school, so Praise God for that! That's incredible! On our way home from Chiang Mai Pastor Winai stopped in the middle of the road. I was wondering what he was doing and he put the car in neutral and then told us to watch. We began to roll up hill. It was the craziest thing. I took out my video camera and started recording. It's the weirdest thing, from a dead stop we were rolling up hill. It was so cool. To the Thai people it is a mystical thing. Pastor Winai told us that "there was a woman who had to go pee pee so she stopped her car at this exact spot and put it in neutral and got out to go pee pee. When she came back she saw that her car was driving up hill. She thought a ghost was driving it. So that is the story that has been passed on". It was the coolest thing! After we started our journey again back to Mae Sot, Pastor Winai stopped at a market. We all went in and he bought fried caterpillars, beetles, and crickets. I tried one of each. They actually weren't too bad. I just psyched myself out so much, that it made me think they were nasty. They just tasted like fried saltiness. I never thought I would have eaten a caterpillar, beetle, or cricket and I ate all three :) I also put pictures of that up. When we arrived back to the orphanage, it was strange how much I missed the children. I was so glad to be home. All the children rushed up and hugged me and I realized how much I missed them, and I was only gone for 3 days. I have no idea how I'm going to be able to leave after I have been here for a year!
Today, was a sad day. Carl and Leslie left this morning to go back to America. It made it very official that I am here for a year. I am in love with it here, but you don't get the same type of conversation from the people here as you do with Americans. So I so appreciate all the comments and things everyone leaves. It gives me peices of English still :) The day ended up still being amazing! I taught the children conversation that you would use if you went to the market and conversation about weather. I had them act the conversations out. They loved it! Tonight we had two missionaries come to lead worship, visit with us, and give a message. Their names were Anthony and Jon and they were both from Denver. They were both in their twenties and really nice guys. Anthony was checking out the orphanage because he is going to be doing a documentary with YWAM about the child sex trafficking that is going on here and about the displaced people. Jon was just here with his friend but he will be going to an orphanage in Chiang Rai that houses children with AIDS. The orphanage is called Baannamjai and if you want to check it out the website is http://www.baannamjai.org/. I am hoping to make it to that orphanage sometime this year and serve there. It was nice to see American faces tonight since Carl and Leslie left. I was able to talk to them about everything God is doing here and Anthony is going to be coming back to this orphanage in March. It's amazing all the people God has introduced me to and the amazing things I have experienced and seen and it has only been two weeks!! This year is definitely going to be a journey.
I have added more pictures and you can still check them at:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=9g2wdfq0.81wlq2oo&Uy=-915v4m&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0
Also if you want to look at the website for the orphanage here the website is:
www.blesselca.com
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5 comments:
Andrea! I am so happy for you in this experience thus far :) You are a really good photographer! I love the shirts you got the kids, too. Im sad to hear Carl and Leslie are gone now...what a huge step this next part is: going alone. You are in my prayers everyday and I hope you are having such an awesome time :)
love, abby
Hey! If you get lonely and need american voices call me! I'm SOOOO sad. you were literally in my backyard and I missed you! I live on the same street as that mall you were at! Kudos on the bugs. I've turned those down every time. you're a true missionary! Prayin for you!
The country sure is beutiful. The temple was really ornate. It is hard to imagine a god with the head of an elaphant. I believe the Budists are Hindus with a different slant on things. The children look nice in their new shirts. Say hello to the Pastor and his family and all the children. I keep them in my prayers. They say that variety is the spice of life, but I'm not sure they included insects and bugs. What a brave girl.
should have proof read my comment, it would have been funny for you to have to correct my spelling of elephant.
WOW, i just looked at all of your new pictures. Amazing. I can't believe it. All of it is just so different from here. I appreciate ALL of your pictures of the bugs, the food, the city, the people.. I feel like I am there.
I admire you so much for what you are doing. It's only the first month and I am so inspired. I am very glad you have this blog!
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