Mae Salong...

We mentioned that we would be moving to an Akha village in our last journal update. At that time we had no idea when we would actually be moving. The Akha there had agreed to build us a bamboo house, and we were planning on going up and helping them build it. So we were just waiting to hear when they wanted to start. Well, just a few days later, we heard that all the Akha had taken a couple days off of work in the fields and had already finished our house! We've spent the last day or so getting everything ready to move, and we're actually leaving today! WOW!

We drove up there for church this past Sunday to check things out. The house is enormous! It's almost twice as big as the houses of our neighbors. They have really honored us & blessed us! Our living room is so big that probably everyone in the whole village can fit in it... In fact we're sure that they will!

Now for a little back ground on this village. Doi Mae Salong is a Chinese tea farming community. It was founded in the 1960's by remnants of the Chinese Nationalist Army who were fleeing communist influence. In the 1980's a road was built into the area and since then there has been an effort to incorporate this mainly chinese city into Thai society. The city is quite developed, but still maintains a very Chinese feel. Now you're probably wondering where the Akha play into this story. The Akha have settled in traditional Akha villages just outside of the city and work in the tea fields for the Chinese plantation owners. You can see some pictures of the area and our house by visiting our Photos page .

There is a fairly large Akha church in the Village, but they have had no resident pastor for some time. So far, someone from the bible college generally drives in on Sundays to preach. However, in May, one of the 4th year Bible students will be coming up to live and do his internship with this church. We've heard that this village has quite a bit of spiritual warfare, so definately keep us in your prayers.

Tags:

• Akha
• village
• culture

Sending out the Twelve

How appropriate that the first Bible Institute has twelve graduates! Yesterday we celebrated the sending out of these 6 men and 6 women to various internships as pastors and leaders. It was an amazing time - you can see some of the moments in our photos section. Hours of Akha singing and celebration - it was a great day.

I've been stuck on a passage for days now, and it gained so much more strength watching the graduation. The passage is in Mark 1, quoting Malachi:

"Behold, I send My messenger,
And he will prepare the way before Me.
And the Lord, whom you seek,
Will suddenly come to His temple"

How wonderful that the God who created the universe loves every one of us! It's amazing, he sends messengers to love people and to talk about Christ so that when they seek Him and encounter the Living God they have already seen what love for Christ is.

It was as if we saw the embodiment of the song "Did you feel the Mountains tremble" yesterday...

Here we see that God you're moving
A time of jubilee is coming
When young and old will come to Jesus...
Fling wide you heavenly gates
Prepare the Way of the Risen Lord!

Be encouraged, the message is going forth. This is an exciting place to be, because God is already moving so powerfully from here.

Please continue to pray for us. We have decided to move to an Akha village about an hour and a half from here. One of the men who graduated yesterday will be going up to pastor the church there and we are hoping to move there to concentrate on the Akha language and way of life. We are confident this is where the Lord is leading us, but please pray for us in this process. We will let you know more as some of the details come together.

Don't forget to see the pictures!

Tags:

• AOF
• devotional

Oooops!

Did you know that they drive on the left side of the road in Thailand? It was for this reason that I was rather surprised when Nancy asked me if I was ready for to try my hand at it this afternoon. Apparently everyone was away or busy and I was the only person available to pick up her two sons, Zion & Silas, from school. So, being the adventurous gal that I am, I agreed. And after finding a suitable co-pilot and some quick directions, we were on our way.

Now, there are a few main differences aside from the obvious. For one, the driver sits on the right side. So, you must change gears with the left hand instead of the right (which requires extra attention if it's a stick shift.) Another difference, I figured out as we were pulling out of the driveway. I flipped on my turn signal on and my windshield wipers started going full speed. You guessed it, the turn signal and windshield wipers are opposite, too.

Other than those small adjustments everything seemed to be going well. After about 10 km on the same road it was time to make my first turn (really more of a "Veer"). As I turned, I was really focusing on NOT hitting the cars on my right (it's quite an adjustment to have oncoming traffic to the right) and apparently I didn't pay enough attention to my left and well... I hit a pole on the side of the road! Now before you get scared, let me clarify. I really only nicked the pole with my side view mirror. But unfortunately, it was just hard enough to shatter the mirror! You'll be happy to know that the rest of the trip was quite uneventful. After we arrived at the school to pick up the boys, they thought my little mishap was quite funny and couldn't wait to tell on me. I ended up bribing them with candy to keep quiet until I had a chance to tell Nancy myself.

Everyone here had been very understanding and they all say, "Don't worry, it happens to everyone!" It doesn't seem to be a big deal, especially since the repair costs are so cheap out here. (It will probably only cost $25-50 to repair the damage). All in all, We've had some pretty good laughs about it and it's a great story, One that we'll tell for years to come.

Tags:

• humor

Home, Sweet Home!

After months of "nomadic life" we finally have a place to call our own. We arrived at the Akha Outreach Foundation (A.K.A. House of Joy/H.O.J.) on Monday afternoon and promptly began settling in. We spent our first night on very hard twin beds and decided that it was time to invest in a softer double bed. Dan (another American here at H.O.J.) and his Akha wife, Maam, took us shopping for a bed, and we were lucky to find a great deal which included a mattress pad, a set of sheets and four pillows for free when we purchased a mattress.

So we've had our new bed for one night and now we're off again. We are heading out in just a few hours to spend the night in an Akha village called Doi Chang (or Elephant Mountain). I guess we're not completely done with our "nomadic life" yet... but at least we have a home base! We'll be sure to send out another update with all the details of our first night in an Akha village when we get back!.

Tags:

• AOF