You're going to kill your pig for me??

I had a blessed weekend in Mae Yang Ha village. We left Friday and met Angela in Chiang Mai. We had a wonderful time getting to know each other over dinner and she did catching up with May and Noah. After dinner we all piled into the truck and drove the 2 hours to Noah's village. Angela and I talked the whole time :) We finally arrived at the village and Noah's mom, Muga, met us at the door. She is hilarious! She greeted us with a huge smile and a loud "Tabloo" (Welcome in Karen). I instantly fell in love with her. We met Noah's two brothers, Ahtru and Mooe, Mooe's daughter Nomyu, and Noah's sister Panee. They were all so nice and welcoming. Once we got settled in, Mugu told us it was dinner time. She had prepared lots of food for us. I had already eaten a big dinner, but I can't say no to food that's been so lovingly prepared for me, so I prayed that I wouldn't get too fat ;) and dug in. I eat too much, they're too good to me! Then me and Angela stayed up too late talking. May tells us we're both alike. We love to laugh and talk, that's what we did most of the night. Then it was off to bed.

The next morning, right out of bed, we went on a hike through the jungle to get a tour of the village from Ahtru. The village was gorgeous! When we returned Muga gave me a Karen skirt that she made for me. It was so sweet and I instantly put it on and wore it all day. I love to be Karen! This morning I had the opportunity to pray for this old Karen women. We call her Pee Pee (grandma in Karen). She asked me to pray for her health and family. The she blessed me. It was incredible. Tears welled up in her eyes and then transfered to my eyes. Noah took me and Angela to the village school so we could teach English to all the children. After we were done teaching, we ate lunch and then it was time for Angela to go back home :( Before we took Angela to the taxi, Noah explained to us that they were going to kill their pig for me. I was their special guest and they wanted to kill their fat pig for me. This pig was going to be our dinner tonight. I said "you're going to kill your pig for me??" I recorded with my video camera the death of our dinner. I covered my eyes as I recorded. Finally, the squealing and screaming from the pig was too much for me, so I had to go back inside. After we dropped off Angela, we went to Puttayan Maeto Hot Springs. They felt wonderful. I wanted to jump in and take a nice warm bath. It would've felt so nice considering I haven't had a hot shower since I've lived in THailand and won't have one until I go back to America. In the winter when I have to shower it's going to be brutal. After the hot springs I went with Noah and the girls into the fields so we could pick our vegetables for dinner. I was in my Karen skirt and flip-flops trudging through the mud and thorns laughing all the way. We picked peppers, the largest cucumbers I've ever seen, and mint leaves. It was a blast "hunting" for my own dinner. We came back and walked into the men chopping up the meat and bones from the pig. What a sight! Vegetables I picked and fresh pig for dinner. Could it get any better?? Then me and May had a cooking show. I made my favorite dish, Pat Pat Romit (fried mixed vegetables). She recorded me as I cooked it! The pig that we ate for dinner that night was delicious, once I got over the idea that I was eating their pet pig :)

The next day I went to Maw Gou, the mountain surrounding the village, with Ahtru. He drove me there on the motorcycle. It was so gorgeous. I took so many pictures, Ahtru was laughing at me. We drove up a crazy dirt road that was so bumpy and muddy. I was laughing the whole ride. It was like a Thai roller coaster. There was a couple on a motorcycle behind us and their motorcycle fell over as they were driving up the crazy road. They were ok and laughing. On the way back down I had to get off the motorcycle because it was too steep and the motorcycle went too fast. Ahtru and the bike fell over, it was so funny! He was ok, but the mirror broke off the bike. I couldn't stop laughing. I finally was able to get back on the bike and as we drove down, we ran out of gas. This just added to my laughing. We were still about 3 miles from the village, but we got off the bike and started to walk back. We walked about a mile and then two of Ahtru's friends stopped and helped us. We finally made it back to the village and we jumped right into the truck to go visit Noah's Pee Pee, Nepaw, who is 96 years old. She lives in a tin shack. The women and children who live around her take care of her.

As we went from hut to hut visiting people, I met Pastor Schuchat. He is a pastor in Chiang Mai and he was in the village for the same reason as Noah, to vote. Thailand is a democracy with a Prime Minister. They have a King, but he doesn't have any power. Pastor told me that one of the laws that passes is one that will allow people to force Christians out of their villages. He says maybe it will wake up the Christians in Thailand. He said the Christians in Thailand have been asleep for too long. They need to start preaching the gospel. I explained to him that I think Asia is on fire for God, and it is Americans that are sleeping. It is so easy for Americans to forget we need to trust in God. Here, where Christians are persecuted, they truly know what it means to trust in God. They see God provide for them everyday and see miracles. We think we do everything and we've earned everything we have and when miracles happen we think it is because we have become so advanced and we don't realize the miracles for what they are. After we were finished visiting, it was time to go pick some green beans for dinner. I felt like a farmer.....a Thai farmer.

Today we said goodbye and made our way home. We stopped at a market to purchase some food and use the toilet. As I walked past the food to get to the toilet I saw huge cockroaches that were in a dip for people to eat (yuck!), hard boiled eggs that had the baby chickens still inside them (this is a delicacy-they eat the babies feathers and all), and once I finally arrived at the bathroom I was informed that I had to pay 2 baht to use it. Then if you wanted toilet paper you had to pay another 1 baht, it was pretty funny.

I just finished reading Isaiah and it totally pertains to Asia. In Isaiah they built golden idols, wooden idols, and rejected God. As we drive around Thailand, I see large golden buddhas in front of the temples, wooden and ceramic buddhas for sale along the road. But in Isaiah, God redeems His people and blesses the ones that choose Him. They are blessed beyond their wildest dreams and they gain eternal life. I see that in Asia, in the Karen people. There is such a movement of God here, and He is redeeming His people. It's so amazing to be a part of spreading the gospel here. I don't know why God schose me but God said, "I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth" Isaiah 49:6. To help break down their no-god idols and let them see the true God that doesn't reside in gold or silver, but in His kindgom, waiting for us, as real as real can be. I start teaching in the school tomorrow. It is a buddhist school and I am praying that through my love they will see Jesus Christ. Please pray for me as I teach in this school. Pray God can use me there for His glory!