Journey Notes

Prayer and Thanksgiving

2009-04-13T22:16:00.004+07:00

I'm writing this update on my phone from our hut in Maesalong as Lori is driving to the hospital with a woman from our village. A few minutes ago (about 10 pm) we were called on to come see a woman who is having severe stomach pains. It was quickly obvious she needed hospital care so Lori is racing off with her to the nearest hospital (about 45 min away) while I stay back in my recent role of night caretaker for Abi (who, we are happy to report, is night weaned!).

Please pray for this woman and for safety as they travel to town!

In other news, day 1 of our village VBS has been a huge success. For our village and surrounding area we have 40 children participating in the event! This has been a long time coming and it is wonderful to see the fruits of the labour. Please remember us in prayer as we hope to do a total of 3 vbs's in different villages this month.

Thanks to everyone for keeping us covered in prayer and for all of your love & support!

New Zealand Medical Team

2009-03-21T14:00:00.000+07:00

We always welcome guests with medical expertise who can assist us with our Mobile Clinic and help us broaden our medical knowledge in the process! Our recent medical team from New Zealand was no exception; the team consisted of 8 medical students and 1 medical doctor. They were scheduled to be with us for 6 nights and we had planned to do 4 clinic days in 4 different villages. Unfortunately, due to Abi's hospitalization we had to cut our time short a bit, which left us with only 2 full days available for clinics. However, through the teams hard work, we managed to squeeze in clinics at all four villages and we ended up treating over 150 patients!

Three of the four clinics we did were especially exciting for Paul & I because they were in villages not associated with our organization. As is the case in much of the world, sometimes, here in Thailand, church groups have trouble getting along.Unity among Christians and Christian organizations is one of the areas that Paul and I really have a heart to see improve among the Akha. So, in providing a "no strings attached" clinic, we hope to not only bless the individual receiving the medical care, but to build relationship with village and church leadership which might remind them that the body of Christ can still function even outside of denominational affiliation!

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January Travels: Bangkok, Hat Yai & Mae Salong

2009-03-09T20:13:00.006+07:00

In January we were blessed to have my (Lori's) parents in country for a visit. Their arrival coincided with the Grand Opening of the new Foursquare church and ministry center in Bangkok. We flew down to meet them in Bangkok and while there took the opportunity to see a few sights. Can you believe that this was their fifth trip to Thailand and they had never been to the Grand Palace! (We must not be very good tour guides, eh?)

After a few days in Bangkok, we headed down to Southern Thailand for a few days at the beach! We ended up staying in Songkla (just outside of Hat Yai) for 3 nights. Our little hotel was right on the beach and we had such a nice relaxing time!

Esther (who has lived with us for almost 2 years now) and one of her friends came along as well. Neither of them had ever flown in a plane or seen the ocean, so it was exciting to be with them as they experienced these new things. It was also Abi's first time seeing the ocean (Although, it certainly wasn't her first time on the plane... she's been on nearly 30 plane rides thus far and she's not even two yet!) and, of course, she loved it! (Some photos of her at the beach are bound to show up on the baby blog sooner or later. So stay tuned!)

After we made it back up north, we all headed up to the village for about a week. My parents were troopers, braving the cold showers and hard beds with ease. We stayed pretty busy pouring a concrete pathway and building a deck as the finishing touches to our "new" village home. My dad, the builder, loved getting his hands dirty, working alongside the Akha men and noticing all the differences in how things are done here. And my mom, (not so keen on getting her hands dirty) was the resident baby sitter and kept Abi and her village friendsoccupied and out of harms way.

Mom & Dad... thanks so much for coming! We can't wait for your next visit!

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Published

2009-03-09T11:07:00.003+07:00

The last few months I have been working with Aje on the publication of an Akha primer. Part of that work has meant that I have had the honor to listen in on the meetings of Akha leaders from Thailand, Myanmar, China and Laos as they discuss the newest Akha orthography.

Orthography: a method of representing the sounds of a language by written or printed symbols (Princeton Wordnet)

The books that have just been published, and are shown here, use the historical Lewis Orthography, created by Dr. Paul Lewis - a dear friend and servant to the Akha for many years, and (perhaps) the most accomplished Akha linguist to date. Most Akha texts in Thailand currently use this writing system, and it will continue to be used for a number of years in the future until a more universal system can be incorporated, and existing texts (such as the Bible, Akha histories, medical texts, etc.) can be updated and republished.

As you can see from the picture, the Lewis Orthography incorporates tone marks (such as ^ _^) in order to delineate Akha tones. However, since a unique font must be used for this writing system (making computer usage less universal) these Akha leaders from 4 countries are in the process of deciding upon a universal writing system which requires no additional font sets and instead uses ancillary Roman characters (such as q,v) to delineate tones.

OK, so it really is that dull. The exciting thing is that the Akha people are taking their language, their script, and their future into their own hands and making an effort to preserve it in a way that is relevant to the current world.

Because of those efforts, we are giving a lot of our time and energy in order to concurrently publish the primer of the unified script, and hope to see that work published and distributed by the end of May.

In other exciting news, we will also be working with Aje and Nancy on an English publication this year: the background story of Akha Outreach Foundation as it enters its tenth year of service to the Akha people.

So stay tuned!

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Akha Women's Retreat - 2009

2009-03-02T13:05:00.015+07:00

In January, I had the honor of participating in the annual AOF Women's Retreat. While any women's retreat is a blessing and allows for the women to "get away from it all," this is especially true for Akha women who labor from morning til night, working in the fields, carrying water and firewood, cooking the meals, and hand washing the clothes & dishes!

My role in the event was mostly "observer" with a little bit of "translator" and "photographer" thrown in. For one of the sessions, we were blessed to hear from an American friend, Marlene. Having been a family counselor for many years, she shared out of her expertise about the different stages in a woman's life. This is an important topic for Akha women, because in traditional Akha culture it's generally considered taboo to talk about things like menstruation or menopause, which often leaves women unprepared and scared when natural changes occur. In any case, I was elected to translate for this session.

Although I've been here for nearly 4 years, my language is not what you would call "microphone worthy". So I stumbled through the session saying things like "Do you understand me? Did I say that correctly?" and "How do you say _________?" It was like being tossed in the deep end and told "Sink or swim!" While moments like this are difficult, for sure, I'm grateful for the opportunity to step up to a challenge and find that, even if I can only doggy paddle, at least I didn't drown!

My other, less challenging, job was to take pictures during one of the craft times. My mission was to capture a picture of every woman for the slide show scheduled for the final night. As an added bonus, I got to witness the skilled craftsmanship of nearly a hundred women making traditional men's headdresses. Take a peek at the pictures to see for yourself!

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The Dye Man

2009-02-17T14:42:00.005+07:00

Well, this week marks the end of a busy season in the Vernon household. In fact, this is the first real down-time we've had since Christmas (which is why the blogs have been so quiet recently!) The past couple of months have many worthy stories of family, ministry and travel and hopefully I'll have time to tell a few of them this week. (So stay tuned!) But before I get to those, I was going through my photos today and just had to tell you about this one.

I've been trying to share glimpses of some of the unusual things that we find in everyday life here in Thailand. And this certainly counts as "unusual" in my book! Allow me to introduce The Dye Man. He rides through our neighborhood once every few months. As he rides, he plays a Chinese hand drum (as seen in his right hand) to let his potential customers know that he's approaching. He has a metal bucket hanging from a rack on the back of his bike which contains black dye as well as a fire to keep it hot. If people need something dyed they can flag him down and he will dip it in dye right there on the street in front of the house.

For months, I wondered what this guy's trade was. I thought it was SO wierd that he rode around with a black bucket of fire dangling from his bike! Finally, I flagged him down and asked him. Now I know, but I still have a hard time getting my brain around it! Why would people need to dye their clothes black? Maybe something has gotten stained? Maybe they have a funeral to go to? But are there really enough people wanting to dye things black for this guy to make an living of it? Apparently so...

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On the Road to Elephant Mountain...

2009-01-03T19:43:00.005+07:00

A couple of weeks back we had the opportunity to accompany a missions team from Singapore to the Akha village of Doi Chang (Elephant Mountain) to attend the Christmas celebration there. We had a great time and even enjoyed the cold cold weather (temperatures in the 40s), but the trip was not without adventure! On the way to the village, after driving for about an hour up the dirt road, we heard a loud "clunk". A rod used to brace the frame had jiggled loose and simply fell off. Our poor truck, it has a hard life, driving on such rough village roads all the time! Luckily we were able to locate a couple of tools and Paul with his "MacGyver-like" skills was able to re-attach it. We finally made it to the village and finished the rest of the trip without incident. Needless to say, we got the truck into the mechanic as soon as we got back to the city. Luckily, he re-attached the the rod (with all the proper tools) for free!

Here are a few pictures from our Singaporean friends! Thanks guys!

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A day in the fields...

2008-12-18T13:11:00.005+07:00

A couple weeks ago we had the opportunity to accompany a friend of ours to his family's land for the day. It was an amazing experience! There is just something inexplicably wonderful about breathing in the fresh mountain air and eating lunch that was just picked!

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Haven't We Already Been Through This??

2008-12-09T09:19:00.003+07:00

So our truck is broken again. This time it's the gearbox - gears 1,2,3 & 5 are all a wreck. The great news is that it coincided with a loose wire that disconnected the starter, allowing our mechanic to catch it (and forcing us to stop and learn what was wrong). Best case scenario it will only cost us about $100, but the constant problems have us considering upgrading our vehicle again.

So this week we will be in town, working with Aje on the new Akha reading primer. This book will be presented to all of the akha leaders (in the world!!) at the Hani-Akha conference in China around the new year.

Please pray for us!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

2008-11-26T14:15:00.002+07:00

As Lori is prepping the Pumpkin Pies, Green Bean Casserole and Jell-O Salad for our Thanksgiving meal here in Thailand, we remember all of you - our friends, family, support team, and church partners - with much Thanksgiving and Joy.

We have much to be Thankful for this year - it has been a healthy year for us physically, a milestone year for us linguistically, a growing year for us in ministry and an unspeakably wonderful year for us as we have watched Abigail discover the world around her.

We are coming out of a busy season of village travel - having celebrated the rice harvest in four villages, attended a funeral and generally traveled to Akha villages throughout the region - building upon old relationships and forming new ones.

We are currently preparing for the next year, as I am sure many of you are, and trying to get our business affairs in order as we have a short break around Thanksgiving. There is so much we still want to update you all on - medical and dental clinics, ministry direction and future plans and general life happenings - but for now we want to wish you all a happy and healthy Thanksgiving filled with friends and family.

Thanks for following our adventures here in Thailand!

Cows and Guava

2008-09-13T11:35:00.007+07:00

When we are in the city (as opposed to the Akha village) we live in a house in a little Thai neighborhood. The neighborhood has quite a few vacant lots (due to the Market Crash of '97) and so a herd of cows regularly saunters by to munch on the vegetation in the lot across from our house. In America, we just don't get much exposure to farm animals, so it's still a bit odd to see them roaming about.

Another fun part about our "city home" are the numerous fruit trees that we have in our yard. (However, I have to confess that we are fairly ignorant about most agricultural matters and it actually took us about two years and several scoldings from our Akha friends to finally become aware of all the fruit bearing trees in our yard!) We have a green mango tree, a guava tree, several tamarind trees and banana trees. Right now is guava season. Abi has learned that yummy fruit comes from that tree and so she reminds us to check for ripe fruit daily by wildly pointing to the tree and saying "mam mam" (which means "food" or "eat")!

Click the icon to the left to see the rest of the photos from the afternoon with the cows and guava.

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Yep, We're Fine

2008-09-03T13:07:00.002+07:00

those of you who have heard about the unrest / state of emergency in Thailand, please know that it is neither affecting us or our work here in Northern Thailand. We have no desire to comment on all the goings on - you are welcome to get all the information about what is going on through your various news sources.

We have been enjoying our time with a dental team from Colorado, having treated nearly 100 patients over the last two days (55 oral surgeries/extractions and 40 cleanings)

We will get some more pictures and details us from this team as we get the time, but just wanted you all to know that we are all doing well in Northern Thailand

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Spinning Cotton

2008-08-29T18:48:00.003+07:00

Living in an Akha village is a constant discovery of talents and craftsmanship. Whether it's a man making a bamboo ladder, women creating ornate Akha stitch work, or the simple, pure skill of the machete as a daily tool.

The other day while Lori was out in the village she came across another incredible sight. Our Akha grandma had picked cotton off of the tree behind her home and was spinning it by hand into yarn.

Here are a few moments of her incredible skill:

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It's truly a blessing to live among these people.

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Side by Side

2008-08-16T20:55:00.000+07:00

We're in the city this week catching up on computer work before heading back up to the village for three weeks or so. In my efforts to share a little more about everyday life, I thought I would share this picture of Paul and our Akha friend working side by side on their computers. Paul has been teaching this young man how to edit video off and on for several months now, but because the video editing program is in English, he's still not completely confident with it. So, he's set up camp in Paul's office this week (Thank goodness we purchased a new larger desk a couple weeks back!) and can ask Paul questions if he get's stuck.

This is one of the best things about living here... the spontaneity of life! We had no idea that we would get to spend so much time with this young man this week, but he had time and we had time, so here we are. We're so excited about this young man and the powerful work he is doing as he reaches out to his Akha brothers and sisters in Laos. We are honored to be even a tiny part of what he and his co-workers are doing! Join us in prayer for them and the nation of Laos!

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CMCC 2008 Missions Team

2008-08-14T16:44:00.003+07:00

We have had (and will have) visitors and teams from all over the world in these months from July to September.
We've had doctors from Singapore and Germany who offered their expertise in free Akha village clinics.
We've had an old Colorado friend who now lives in Scotland come through for a few days.
We are about to have a number of dentists from America come out to do volunteer dental care for the Akha.
And we had a missions team of international students living in Chiang Mai, Thailand who attend the CMCC youth group come spend a week with us in Mae Salong on a work project building stairs in the common path areas of the village.

Although all of these visitors deserve their own posts, notes, pictures and videos - the group that spent the most time in our village was the CMCC team - so we put together a video of their project to share with them and with the village. Take a look here...

(there's also a short moment of Abi in all her village glory ...dirty, dirty, dirty! and loving it)

Here's the clip:

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In case you are wondering. All these videos are finally getting completed because I am in the city helping teach a young Akha man who is reaching out to his fellow Akha in Laos how to edit videos. He is editing videos of Laos trips on his desktop while I edit videos right next to him on our computer. It's a strange time for the Akha world... Grass roofs, dirt floors and nicely edited home videos on the television. Pray for he and his coworkers in their wonderful work.

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How to Take a Village Shower

2008-08-13T11:44:00.008+07:00

Recently I've been thinking about how much you (our beloved readers) still don't know about our lives in Thailand! Even after three years of blogging, we haven't begun to scratch the surface of all the interesting things we see and do on a daily basis. So, I'm hoping to start blogging a bit more about everyday topics (in addition to the special events and stories that we already try to post) to help help you better understand our lives and ministry to the Akha.

I've often been asked how I bathe in the village, so I thought I'd give you a step by step tutorial on the process! When I first arrived in the village, I had no idea how to shower at the public wells and had to walk about a mile to our Akha mom's house to bathe in her indoor bathroom. Luckily, some of the young women in the village took pity on me and taught me all the ins and outs of bathing modestly in public! Of course, with our new house (We promise a video tour of the finished house is coming soon!) we have an indoor bathroom, so indoor bucket showers are also possible. However, I actually enjoy being outside and have become quite accustomed to showering like this, so I still prefer sarong showers (weather permitting).

Remember to click on the pictures below in order to read the captions and view the full size photo.

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Pray For Lori (and Abi, Esther & some Germans)

2008-08-09T14:31:00.005+07:00

While I'm stuck in meetings discussing the new Akha orthography (actually, a really cool experience that I will fill you all in more on later) Lori is much more literally stuck in Mae Salong with a broken vehicle.

You heard it right, our truck is broken again.

A very similar problem to all our other vehicle issues, actually, as there seems to be a crack in the feed from the radiator to the engine.

She has the baby, Esther and two German visitors - (one of whom is a doctor who just helped out with a free clinic in a local village, I'm sure that's another cool story that we will fill you all in more on later) - so her hands are full.

Please pray for peace for them, for safety and for a tow truck that actually can tow a vehicle (as opposed to the rope/bamboo contraption we dealt with before.)

Don't worry, we'll leave the vehicle in Mae Salong before we have Lori do anything dangerous.

Thanks for your prayers.

The Ladder Man

2008-07-15T12:49:00.002+07:00

Having lived in Thailand for three years, we've become pretty accustomed to some of the odd sights that overseas living has to offer. However, some things still surprise me. Take, for instance, The Ladder Man. We occasionally see these guys around town, but this one happened to be selling his wares in our neighborhood recently, so I took the opportunity to snap a picture for you!

I often wonder how he can actually make a living as a mobile ladder salesman. Although, I confesss, I'm probably looking at it from an overly American perspective....The Icecream Man is one thing, but the Ladder Man just wouldn't fly in America! On the other hand, I guess it does make sense here; most Thai families have a scooter instead of a car or truck, so they can't simply run to the local store and bring a ladder home... the ladder has to come to them!

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Building a Home with the Akha (Video)

2008-07-14T15:51:00.005+07:00

Our director is off to Singapore tomorrow to teach on the subject "Communicating the Gospel in a Pluralist Context" for Haggai Institute. I have had the privilege to help him prepare for these 8 lectures: we have been working on the powerpoints for months, and intensively over these past two weeks. The time is upon us, however, so ready or not (hopefully ready) he is off to teach leaders from around the globe.

We have visitors and teams coming beginning tomorrow through the remainder of this month, so that gave me today to get caught up on some of our communication to all of you.

We mentioned a few months ago that we were building a new home in Mae Salong. The home that was built for us upon our arrival was built to last 3-5 years. With our three years up, we decided to build a home that will last us closer to 10 years as we continue to live and work with the Akha.

Once again, our village was incredibly generous, donating their time and expertise to our need. Our new home features such ammenities as cement on the floors (it's not level, but it's not dirt!), an indoor bathroom, indoor running water (when available), and electrical outlets and lights in each room. These modern conveniences are still coupled with bamboo walls and a grass roof, which we love and will probably never go away from (it's so much cooler!).

It's a huge blessing for us as a family and also for the village who are now using our first home full time as the village community house.

We have a video of the entire construction process - take a look...

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For those of you who are wondering, the song (Big House by Audio Adrenaline) is an homage to our old Campus Crusade days at the Colorado School of Mines. Good times, good times... but you probably had to be there.

I'll get a video tour of the "lived-in" house up on the site next (who knows when, but it's my next project).

Thanks for following our lives here at the Vernon Journal!

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Where have we been?

2008-06-11T10:37:00.004+07:00

Well, we've been all around, actually, but the times that we have not been teaching at the Bible college, receiving training in community development, assisting our director as he prepares for a teaching series in Singapore or showing Tiffany and Tamara around Northern Thailand (we had a great time girls! - hope you enjoy Bangkok) we have been in the village.

It turns out that although we do have a new home (video tour in a few weeks) we do not have the ability to get DSL internet, thus destroying our great ideas for video calls, blog posts, study and work from the village. There is a satellite option, but it is rather expensive and we aren't quite ready to make that commitment yet. So, for the time being, we will do our best to get posts up as often as possible - but the will likely come in chunks like you are seeing right now.

We are off to the village again this weekend and will be there for the next two weeks. Please pray for us as we will be beginning our forays into new villages as we begin the Mae Salong Project!

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Holistic Ministry

2008-06-11T09:22:00.007+07:00

When we share about our work with the Akha, we stress a holistic approach to ministry. Simply stated, this means we seek to minister the whole gospel to the whole person through the whole church. There is a spectacular article by Ron Sider et. al. over at forMinistry.org if you would like to read more on these ideas.

This focus in our ministry has led us in surprising directions, including living in a village, the Akha Clinic, helping children receive formal education, and patience in the pursuit of definitions in our ministry as we build meaningful relationships with our village.

It has also largely kept us from preaching in church on Sundays or telling people "theological dos and don'ts" as we have observed the culture around us.

This year is the beginning of a new season for us, however, as we are now taking [tentative, deliberate] steps in the expansion of our ministry beyond our village. We are seeking to build relationships with our extended community of Akha, ultimately connecting with the 30,000 Akha living in the Mae Salong Region and assisting them in their journey towards spiritual, physical, emotional and intellectual health.

In the light of this direction we took a little time out of our village schedule to attend a training workshop that was hosted by Community Health Evangelism, an inspirational development program through Lifewind International.

The training was very beneficial to us, helping us to give more details in the way that we would like to help villages in their development as well as helping us to define and to defend why we do the work we do. Even more exciting, however, are the CHE resources which will serve as in invaluable tool as we move forward in our holistic ministry.

The total body of CHE materials now exceeds 1,500 specific lessons covering topics from A to Z. LifeWind manages and makes this resource easily available to trained CHE users. LifeWind also develops specialized materials on topics such as HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care, Maternal/Child Health, and Birth Life-saving Skills (BLISS) as cutting-edge resources addressing critical health issues. All CHE resources incorporate Participatory Learning, a teaching style proven effective in training people of all kinds, especially those with limited {formal} education.
-From the Lifewind website, italicized words are mine

So, we're excited about these tools, and these ideas. We are excited to see holistic development and lives that are characterized by health. And we're excited to see what God does with all these seeds which have been planted in our minds and hearts.

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ministry

Signing Time!

2008-06-10T10:25:00.000+07:00

This is A-Paw. She is hearing impaired. When we first arrived in the village three years ago, she was an outgoing, playful little four year old who had no idea that there was any difference between her and her friends. Unfortunately, without any exposure to sign language, in the past three years we've seen her eyes glaze over and her temper flare more and more often as she realizes that she doesn't really understand what's going on around her and that she can't adequately communicate her own wants and needs.

After visiting us last fall, our good friend John really wanted to help A-paw and her family, so he donated the first six DVDs in the Signing Time Series. Now that we have our new house built, we've brought up an old TV and started showing the series once a week to anyone that wants to come! A-Paw is a brilliant little girl and, after only a few lessons, has most of the words memorized. We're hoping that this, admittedly limited, exposure to ASL (although slightly different from Thai Sign Language) will give her a bit of an advantage should she ever end up at a school for the hearing impaired. If nothing else, we hope that she can have a few more words with which to communicate with her family and friends.

The added benefit of the Signing Time series is that it's a great way for the hearing kids to learn a bit of English. Our village has been nagging us to teach English ever since we've arrived, but we've been reticent to start official lessons, knowing that most of the kids in our village go to Thai school all day, and then head off to Chinese language school for three hours every evening. We just couldn't imagine that they would have any time or brain power left to sit through another lesson! Luckily, Signing Time seems to be a great solution because it makes learning fun! It uses songs and great visual footage to help the kids remember each new word, not to mention the, signs themselves, which are so intuitive and help the memory as well!

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We Have a Visa!

2008-04-25T18:37:00.008+07:00

We are happy to announce that we have recieved our visa for Abigail from the Thai Embassy here in Singapore. The process was amazingly simple since we already had our work permits and visas (and having all the paperwork from the foundation we work through really helped). The bad news is that outside of Thailand you can only receive a 3 month visa, so we will have to begin the 1-year application process for her as soon as we get back to Thailand. But she is on the "official grid" now and the process, though long and expensive, is achievable.

Since we had to come to Singapore anyway, we are enjoying our time here. We have some friends who have a daughter just a few months older than Abi who have graciously played host for our impromptu trip. We have seen the Singapore sights and eaten of the numerous food options here in the Lion City while little Abi and Maya have had a great time playing and interacting with one another.

We are heading back to Thailand on Sunday afternoon and plan on getting back to the village this week once we have begun the application process for Abi in country.

Thanks for all your prayers! We'll (try to) keep you posted.

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We're In Singapore

2008-04-24T07:51:00.001+07:00

Well, Bangkok would not give a visa to Abi so we are in Singapore and are about to head to the Embassy with her paperwork. Keep us in prayer!

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Technical Difficulties and Updates

2008-03-15T07:50:00.003+07:00

I need to apologize to all of you, especially our new readers from the recent issue of Foursquare's Missions Advance magazine (see article here), for the current state of the Vernon Journal. We recently had some server changes which have required some coding updates on all of our pages, and a complete overhaul of our news feeds on the right side of the page.

Unfortunately, I just do not have the time right now to completely update all of the pages on the site (the entire site has needed design and code changes for some time), but I have been able to get our ministry blog (Journey Notes), our prayer and praise blog and our personal blogs (Lori's, Abi's and Mine) up on crutches for the time being.

As for the rest of the site, our info, media updates, partner pages and the upcoming Mae Salong Project pages, they will not be updated for a little while. We are heading back to the village today and will not be back in Chiang Rai for any significant amount of time until the end of the month.

We are also waiting for some developments from the server over at Foursquare Missions which will allow us to begin receiving online contributions toward our ministry. As these features become available over the next months our site will be updated accordingly.

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Here are our current updates...

We are planning on building a new home in our village in Mae Salong:
This was actually not our idea, and was difficult at first, but as we have thought more about it we are getting very excited about the prospect. The village leaders want to move us away from the center of the village and use our current house as the village home for cooking, hosting and storing things as needed. Actually, our home has always been used for these purposes, but now that we have a growing family they want us to move to a home with a little less foot traffic.

We are hoping that we will get an internet connection in our new home:
We still will have a bamboo house and grass roof, but because of the proximity to the Chinese town of Mae Salong we might be able to put DSL into our new hut. It's still just an idea and there are a few development issues that might stand in our way, but if we are able to set up an office with full internet connectivity in our new home it will allow us to more effectively communicate with all of you as we spend more and more time in the village compiling the data we collect from the Mae Salong Project.

Visa Travel:
After we receive our 1-year visas at the end of this month we will have to travel to Bangkok to apply for a 1-year visa for Abigail. If we cannot get this visa in Bangkok we will have to travel to Singapore to purchase a visa there. We are planning on traveling to Singapore at the end of April anyway, but would love to have all our visa issues worked out before that trip.

School Break Plans:
School break has begun in Thailand and will continue through the beginning of June. Other than our visa needs and ministry travel plans (we have some exciting developments in the works that we will update you on if they work out) we have some plans to minister in our village as we build our new home and settle in again for the year.

Around the Thai new year we will treat our entire village for stomach worms (ourselves included). Although we will all be sick for a few days, the village is really looking forward to this medication as they understand that when the stomach worms are dead, the food (and therefore, the money) goes much further for the family.

We will also be "teaching english" through some sign language videos that John donated for the deaf family in the village. This way the kids will all learn sign language while learning english words and will be able to communicate with the deaf children as they are learning to sign.

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Thanks for your patience with us as we deal with the site changes and please keep our energy and health in your prayers as we enter these very busy months.

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A Visa Story (Or, How My Baby Travelled to Burma Without Me)

2008-03-01T11:17:00.002+07:00

So we have another Visa story to add to our long list of Visa stories. Apparently, we should not have left the country with the Baby until after our Visas renewed. When we returned to Thailand she was given a 30-day visitors visa. That means she had to leave the country after 30 days.

We, however, are in that wonderful month in-between the old visa and the new visa where we cannot leave the country. Therein our dilemma lay.

After speaking with the Military Police in Maesai, they told us that we had to give Abi to a Thai person, have the Thai person take her over the border to Myanmar (Burma) to get a stamp there, and then return her to Thailand.

Seriously.

Fortunately, we have Esther. So off our little 6-month old went into Myanmar with her 18-year old Akha sister.

It was a long 15 minutes for Mom and Dad, but soon that little round head popped out of the crowd of border passengers and made her way through the checkpoint. She was a trooper and didn't give Esther any problems at all.

So our little Abi is a world traveler - she's been to Taipei, America and Thailand and now to Myanmar without her parents. And she'll have to do it again in 23 days. What a crazy life we live.

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Getting Started Again

2008-02-27T07:55:00.002+07:00

Have you ever gotten further and further behind on a task that the very idea of tackling it made you sick to your stomach? That's where we have been in regards to our online and email updates over the past six months or so.

Whether you have noticed or not, our communication level has been on a steady decline. Lori's personal blog hasn't been updated since halfway through the pregnancy. This blog, Journey Notes, has not been updated nearly as often since Abi was born. Abi's blog has not been updated since we left for America in December, and we haven't written any updates about anything since we returned to Thailand earlier this month.

So, rather than trying to back up and catch up on everything we have missed, we are just going to get started again. Looking ahead is much less overwhelming than trying to catch up on what's already behind.

~~~~~

So here is our update:

Today we are going to Maesai to apply for our new Visa. Yep, it's that time of year again. Just when all the drama of the process should be behind us we have a baby, so pray with us that everything goes smoothly and quickly.

Next Monday we present our vision for THE MAESALONG PROJECT to the Akha Outreach Services board. We have had significant changes in our plans as the family that was going to join us has now decided to remain in Bangkok for this upcoming year. While disappointing, we are still confident in this vision to help serve the Spiritual, Physical and Educational needs of the 30,000 Akha in our target region. We will be reevaluating our goals, timetable and approach to this project over the next month and will continue to keep you updated.

2008 Akha Bible Institute Graduation. On March 8th ABI will be celebrating its graduation and will also be graduating a large number of pastors from throughout northern Thailand from the monthly pastors training school. This will probably be the largest event we have seen at Akha Outreach Foundation and we are looking forward to the event. We'll get you pictures and updates of the festivities later that week.

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Thanks for your patience with us as we adjust to the changes in our lives. We should be better at these updates over the upcoming months.

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Goodbye 2007, Hello Future

2008-01-01T00:25:00.001+07:00

Looking back at 2007 we realize what a great year this has been for us. God has been so faithful to provide for our needs, our dreams and our future.

Abi is an incredible joy.
Our house/language helper Esther has been wonderful for our language and relationships.
The Akha clinic has been a great ministry.
Our relationship with Akha leaders throughout Northern Thailand has grown.

But the most exciting thing is that God has given us a vision for serving the Akha in the near future.

Many of you have heard whisperings of future plans, and some of you have gotten the details. We still aren't ready to post the full vision of the projects before us, but want to let you know how to pray for us over the next few months.

We are about to team up with a dynamic Akha family to begin a project to help serve the spiritual, physical and educational needs of the 30,000 Akha people in the greater Mae Salong region.

This family will join us in Mae Salong in April once the father has finished his master's degree from Bangkok Bible Institute.

We are heading into this new season with excitement and trembling, and ask for you to partner with us in prayer for these specific needs:

1. Provision for staff salaries for the family who is joining us
2. Guidance in expanding relationships in these villages
3. Specific, step-by-step direction in meeting these ministry goals
4. Expansion in our language to meet the demands of ministry and relationship with this family and with the Akha people.

Thank you for your prayers, and for all of your support!

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Tick... Tick... Ticking Away

2007-11-26T08:50:00.001+07:00

Is it just us, or has everyone experienced the rapid passage of time since August 10th of this year? We have been down in the city for a week now, working on some local projects and meeting with Akha leaders (I mean really, really big-time Akha leaders) here in town.

Oh yeah, and our truck broke down.
You can get the video on John's blog. It's the one labeled "More Videos Week 2"
I guess that's what you get when you use a vehicle as heavily as we do.
The silver lining is that we actually needed to be "stuck in town" for a little bit. We have a lot of work to do as we prepare for some really big changes in our ministry and lives next year.
Beginning next year, we are looking to expand the scope and impact of our ministry in the Mae Salong area and, most exciting, we will be partnering with a dynamic young Akha family.

Consider that a teaser with more to come. But the minutes are ticking away, so now I've got to get back to work...

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Welcome John B!

2007-11-09T09:46:00.000+07:00

That's right, the founder and creative genius behind the internationally renowned Flying Hippo Project has graced us with his presence for the entire month of November.

We've had a great time with him in his first week with us - spending time in Chiang Rai, Mae Salong and Chiang Mai - and he's been documenting the whole trip on his hand held camcorder.

So, if you are looking for a fresh, new-generation interpretation of our lives here in Thailand - go take a look at the videos John has posted at the Flying Hippo Project.

*** for those of you who are quickly overwhelmed by MySpace pages - the videos are down and to the left***

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Site Update :: Partners Page

2007-11-05T09:49:00.000+07:00

Well, it's been nearly a year since we began officially running all our support funds through the FMI (inter)national office in Los Angeles, but I am just now getting around to updating our site to reflect that change.

So, for all of our partners (and those who are considering partnering with us in the future) the new information and the Partner Coupons are now up on our partners page.

We will continue to communicate with all of you through email as well, and ask that you feel free to contact us if you have any questions regarding this information.

Thank you all for your partnership and for your patience with me in getting this site up-to-date.

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Family Portrait

2007-11-02T10:22:00.000+07:00

Some recent conversations with bloggers for the NextGen Summit and writers from Advance Magazine, each part of our Foursquare family in America, have prompted us to take a new family portrait.

Being the "digital age" missionaries that we are, we thought we would share that photo with all of you:

Read our interview on the NextGen Summit Blog: Part 1 :: Part 2 :: Part 3
Subscribe to Advance magazine here

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1500 Kilometers Later

2007-10-29T14:39:00.000+07:00

For all of you Yanks (which is about 95% of our readers), that's over 900 miles that we put on our truck in this last week. We want to thank you all for your prayers, as we were able to have the energy needed to not only make all the trips, but to interact and connect while in Chiang Mai, Mae Chan and Mae Salong.

Unfortunately, because we were so overbooked last week, we were not able to enjoy any one event in its entirety, and we did not attend the missionary retreat in Chiang Mai at all.

In the abbreviated times we had, however, we were able to connect with a number of people whose relationships we value. We saw most of the Thailand Foursquare missionaries at the Foursquare National Convention in Chiang Mai. We were also able to connect with an Akha / Foursquare pastor while at the convention who we hope to work with more in the future.

The staff retreat for AOF in Mae Chan was a great time, and we were reminded again how we are surrounded by a superstar group of young Akha leaders. It is truly a privilege to work at Akha Outreach Foundation.

Finally, the New Rice Festival in Mae Salong was wonderful, as always. Pastor Ajoe and his wife Miba and sons Mose and Chalom were up from Bangkok and we had a good time with them. Remember those names, as we have some exciting visions for the future with he and his family - we'll be sharing those with you at Christmas!

We have a few days in the city before we are on the road again, this time working on some videos for AOF, helping out with a sponsor team that is visiting from Colorado, another trip to Chiang Mai to get Misa back into the handicapped school and welcoming Johnny Burroughs (who now goes by "John", but old habits... ) who will be spending the rest of November with us.

We'll try to keep in touch as best as we can during that time, keep your eye on our site!

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Super Scary Scolopendra

2007-10-14T15:03:00.000+07:00

As usual, while in the village we had to use the Akha Ambulance to take two women down to the hospital in Mae Chan.

One of the women has been having stomach discomfort for some time, and since the antacids she has been taking have not helped, she needed a more qualified opinion. She is now on a stronger antacid and will return again later this month for further evaluation.

The second woman, however, had a much scarier experience.

Early in the morning, while walking into the jungle to collect her firewood for the day, this woman stepped on something that stung her foot. As her foot began to swell, the men from the village came to explain to me what had happened and that she needed medical help. They kept telling me the name of the animal that stung her, but I was unfamiliar with the word in Akha.

Then they all remembered that one of the Akha boys, Asalo, had captured one of these animals that morning and had put it in a bottle. They ran off to his house and came back with the meanest looking bug I have ever seen. An 8"-long centipede with a body as thick as a quarter, bright red hind legs and inch-long stingers.

This is footage of the Scolopendra centipede of Thailand that I found on YouTube.
Notice the coloring in the legs and those nasty stingers.
These things are monsters!

Armed now with the general knowledge of what we were dealing with, we rushed her down to the Emergency Room in Mae Chan. After some translation help from an Akha friend we were able to communicate to the Thai nurses what had bit her so they could administer the appropriate treatment.

Since then, we have learned more about the Scolopendra: Giant Centipede of Thailand:
Though their stings are poisonous, they are not deadly if there is no allergic reaction.
The sting is terribly painful because of the depth of the puncture and the amount of poison. A painkiller, such as Paracetamol, should be administered quickly.
There is no specific antidote for the poison, but an antihistamine should be administered as quickly as possible to keep the reaction and swelling down and the person who has been stung should go to the hospital for further treatment.

The woman is now home recovering, as it is several days to weeks before the swelling and pain are completely gone, and we now have one more little bit of knowledge in our arsenal as we try to care for the physical well-being of our Akha friends.

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The Akha Clinic : Mobile Again

2007-09-24T13:09:00.000+07:00

Perhaps our most significant ministry to the Akha is the Akha Clinic. In Thailand, many of the Akha are not given Thai citizenship, even if they are born in Thailand. This is due largely to the fact that they are recently (within the last 3 or 4 generations) from Burma.
Unfortunately, this also means a lack of medical care.

The Thai government is trying to improve this situation, giving non-citizens the chance to go to clinics where they can then be referred to the government hospitals in serious cases. However, even these clinics are expensive when the daily wages of field workers are taken into account (there is also no enforced minimum wage in the rural areas of Thailand).

Beyond the issues of finance and privilege, most of the Akha do not speak much Thai, causing miscommunication and distrust between doctors and patients.

All of these issues facing the Akha have combined in the formation of the Akha Clinic. Although we have no formal medical training, we have run these clinics with Doctors and Dentists from the US and have learned much from them. We have a shop in Chiang Rai where we can purchase medicine and supplies cheaply and in bulk, and we have developed a fairly comprehensive clinic that can be packed in the back of our truck and serve in any Akha village that we are invited into.

We always have this medicine and supplies with us, and are often caring for emergency cases while in villages, but our goal is to take the Akha (mobile) Clinic on one formal village day-long trip each month, eventually incorporating community health education into the clinic days as we receive further training on the subject.

Thus far we have been unable to maintain our once-a-month goal, however, now that Abi is settling in we are refocusing our clinic ministry. Last month, inspired by Dr. Luce, who brought a dental team from Colorado to perform free dental care in an Akha village, we were able to treat nearly 100 patients from an Akha Village near Wiangpapao with medicine, care and listening ears.

Take a look below at some of the snapshots of the clinic-preparation day:

Also here is some footage from the clinic day - it's pretty raw and not very entertaining (no music, translation or special effects), but there is a little bit of footage of Dr. Luce's Dental team and also a shot at the very end of Abi in her Akha hat that is just priceless:

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Seven Wonderful Years

2007-08-05T17:40:00.000+07:00

Today we celebrated seven wonderful years together!
What a great adventure it has been.

I love you so much Lori - and I'm looking to all the adventures -
the trials and joys;
the failure and success;
the sickness and health;
the poverty and wealth... that still lie before us.

And yes, we would do it all over again.

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marriage

Feral Cats and Fake Markers

2007-07-06T20:50:00.000+07:00

I think the nesting bug has set in, as we have been frantically scraping, spraying, scrubbing and situating our home in Chiang Rai. Things that we were previously oblivious too are now glaring testimonies of how much life will have to change when we have a child. OK, so we're really not that panicked, but we are working hard on projects that should get done before the baby comes.

The only thing I'm currently concerned about is teaching our child to drive. I love Thailand and the people here, but I constantly switch between fearing them and fearing for them when driving.

In this time in the city, while working in the house, we have been hearing strange noises coming from our "attic". The other day while climbing onto the flat roof above our porch to unclog our drains, I saw three adult cats and five kittens scrambling away - the adults over the roof and the kittens into it.

Suffice it to say we are unhappy with the idea of Feral Cats nesting in our roof, but there is not much you can do to get rid of them, I tried to shoo them off but was met with the response in the picture on the right. Out of ideas, I have asked Lori to get me a high-powered pellet gun. We'll let you know how that turns out.

Amidst the shopping for furniture, organizational supplies, and tools, we stumbled upon a hidden treasure. A five-pack of Sharpie Markers for only 25 baht (about US$0.80)!?! These are impossible to find here, and are wonderful for labeling CDs. However, after closer inspection (click on the image to view) we realized that it was not a pack of Sharpie Markers, but rather a pack of Skerple Markers. But hey, they should write the same, right?

Guess what? They don't. They bleed all over paper and I've yet to try them on a CD. Foiled again.

I think we should have about two more good weeks of work here in the city getting everything ready before Lori hits that "I'm too uncomfortable to do anything" point. That is plenty of time to finish the errands on her list, then it's down to finalizing my honey-dos (crib, rehang two doors, repair all the leaking sinks, child-proof the tool room, put the fear of God into those darn cats...)

Really this has been a great time, preparing for our little newcomer, spending time together and with Esther and doing many of those projects we have been "too busy" to do for the last 2 years.

Lastly, and this word is important, there is wonderful and exciting news hidden within this post. I'm not allowed to officially say anything yet, but with very little mental effort you should be able to figure it out!

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Ministry Update : June

2007-06-23T09:08:00.000+07:00

A milestone! This is the 100th Journey Note that we have written. Of course when you combine all our blogs this is the 288th note that we have added to our site, but 100 is a much nicer number to talk about.

We just wanted to share an update on what is keeping us occupied at this point. As Lori progresses through her third trimester, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to spend time in the village. The mental drain of language, the emotional drain of medical care, and the physical drain of making a baby have all combined with the constant spiritual drain of ministry to really wipe Lori out right now : so we are only spending a few days at a time in the village.

Last weekend we went up for two nights with two gals from Colorado and had a wonderful time in our village near Doi Mae Salong. Marlene and Pam were real troopers, and our Akha mom fell in love with them. She even decided that she would be willing to go back to America with them for a month (she was only kidding, but if you knew her you would see from that statement how much fun she had with these two women).

This weekend we will be spending some time with a team from Faith Bible Chapel, going to church at a village here in Chiang Rai and then spending two or three days over the next week pouring a foundation - by hand - for a new church in Wiangpapao (about 1.5 hours southwest of Chiang Rai). Lori, of course, will not be pouring concrete but please pray for her energy levels and both of our translation abilities as we will be the only Akha/English speakers there for the group.

In between these ministry excursions we have been spending time in our home in Chiang Rai. While Lori has been recovering from / resting for the next outings, Paul has been spending time working on a number of side projects that have been piling up.

Those projects include the creation of a video for some Akha pastors who went on a missions trip in March, a transcription of an Akha evangelistic tract to a digital format, and the editing and production of an Akha literacy video which is intended to be distributed to the Akha in Thailand and surrounding countries.

Through all this we are keeping occupied and trying not to spend all our time and energy anticipating the arrival of Curious George.

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Where, O Where Did the Last 4 Weeks Go?

2007-06-13T09:17:00.000+07:00

Our goal with this site and these blogs is to keep you all frequently updated on our ministry, experiences, personal lives and general events here in Thailand. At best, we get up one short post a week, giving three or four glimpses into our lives each month. This is wonderful for us, because it serves as a record that we can (and have) review when we think back over the last two years. Some months, however, we allow too much time to pass and too many stories have gone by.

This has been one of those months.

So, we will not be sharing about the Chinese/Akha wedding with a Western twist, the trip to the handicapped school in Chiang Mai, the Akha clinic experiences nor the visits to our Akha aunt in the hospital. No, for this post we want to share three stories that are told in the following picture.

Esther

If you recall a few months ago we wrote about looking for someone to help us out with language, the house and the baby. Well, the girl standing in the far left of the picture is the answer to that prayer.

The girl we originally asked wanted to go work in Bangkok, and has since left. We thought that perhaps God had just closed the door and a helper was not going to work out for this season. But our friends in the village and our friends in the city kept encouraging us, saying that without the support structure of family in the States we were really going to need some help.

However, one of the girls from House of Joy had gone back to her village in Myanmar and told her cousin that we were looking for an Akha helper. After a couple of phone calls and a quick "interview" we had a helper, and a feeling of horror as we asked ourselves "Are we really ready for a teenager?"

Our fears were quickly put to rest however, when Esther came to live with us. She has Thai citizenship and can speak Thai well, but her education was in Burmese. She's a natural around the house and her Akha is spectacular. Surprisingly, she is fully literate in Akha and as we just finished our first formal Akha lesson in over a year, we are thrilled to be back into a learning schedule again.

We have also started her in a Thai adult education class once a week so she can eventually take the "Maw Hok" (kind of like a GED) to help her as she plans for her future.

We are amazed at God's timing in all of this, and when Curious George finally comes into this world he or she will be welcomed by our families, both American and Akha and an Akha Sister too!

Our New Truck

Continuing the idea of God's timing, and with thanks to the incredible generosity of all of our partners back in America and the missionaries who just moved back to America, we were able to purchase a wonderful 1990 Nissan pickup truck, whose nose you can see in the right side of the picture.

Transferring all the title and paperwork was less of a headache than we expected, taking only two full days in government offices. However, I do have a Thai driver's license and registration in my name to show for it.

It has been a real blessing and has already served the village as a "church bus", "ambulance / limo service" and "Akha clinic on wheels". There are a few upgrades we are looking into including a roll bar and a lift for safety and those great dirt roads, but we have been thrilled by the gas mileage, the ease of transporting so many people and the reliability.

The only thing we regret is that we don't know what to call it. Suzi was such a wonderful and natural nickname for our Suzuki (who, by the way, will continue her work among the Akha and AOF after a huge overhaul). If you have any ideas for the nickname of our new truck, please drop us a comment below - who knows, maybe we'll use it.

Hot, Tired and Hungry

This section should probably go in the baby blog, but the five little kids eating their lunch in the shade in the picture above is a great insight into our last four weeks. After a great second trimester, Lori is really pushing through tough times again and is having difficulty keeping meals down. The joy is that the baby is so strong, but we have had a number of days where Lori can only be out and about for a few hours at a time before needing to get back to snacks and Air Conditioning.

Because of this, and Lori's last trip to the hospital, we have cut back the length of our stays in the village, deciding not to stay more than three nights at a time until the baby comes. This has meant a number of trips up and down, but this pace of ministry seems to do the trick for this season.

If you made it all the way down here, thanks a lot! We'll try to update more often to keep these posts shorter.

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The End is Near

2007-05-07T13:39:00.000+07:00

This is a post of an impending doom, an incredible relief, and an inevitable arrival.

First, the impending doom. Suzi must know that her time with us is almost over. Even though we just had her repaired, she dies every time we tap the brakes and has begun leaking oil as a sign of protest against the prospect of being replaced. Finally, as we were driving out for Lori's birthday on May 5th, she died a few hundred feet from our home and would not restart. Fortunately, A-je was nearby and he rescued us, so the birthday was not ruined. Today we went to our mechanic who sent two of his guys over to look at it. After some tinkering, they pulled out a rubber band from the gas line (this is the result of another long story about an incompetent gas station attendant). That got the truck running again, but they took it into the shop to deal with some of it's other problems.

Now, for the incredible relief. A-je is nearly finished his dissertation. We have one more read-through tonight before he submits it. He will be going down to Bangkok for his oral defense sometime in the next week and hopes to walk in June. Remember him in your prayers as you think of him!

Now that these two events (can a vehicle be an event?) are nearly behind us we can look forward to the inevitable arrival of Curious George.

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A New Truck

2007-04-29T15:43:00.000+07:00

We have had some very interesting vehicle experiences over the last few months. And, although our Suzuki is back in our possession, she is on her last legs - stalling every time we tap the brakes. With a pregnant wife and a future child to care for, it has become obvious that our little Suzuki is no longer a reliable family or ministry vehicle.

So we have been looking around for a "new" truck to fill our needs. Unfortunately, vehicles in Thailand (especially in Northern Thailand) are even more expensive than those in the US. The trucks we have looked at run around 470,000 baht. This number was incredibly discouraging to us, as we are just not comfortable spending that much money on a vehicle.

Fortunately, we have found a truck that will suit our needs that is much more reasonably priced. Our friends the Bazemore's are moving back to the U.S. to have their baby and have agreed to sell us their 1990 Nissan 4x4 for $7,250 (after they gave us a generous deduction in the price as a donation to our ministry). Even more incredibly, we had already received $2,500 in donations to help with this purchase before we asked for any help. God really takes wonderful care of us.

We have a little bit in savings, but if you would like to partner with us by donating towards this purchase it would be very much appreciated. You can print out a copy of our Partner Coupons or send your donations to:

Foursquare Missions International
Attention: Paulette McCammon
PO Box 26902
Los Angeles, CA 90026-0176

Please make checks out to Foursquare Missions International. Please include a note in the memo line which states “Support for Paul & Lori Vernon”.

All donations are tax deductible

No fees or administrative charges are deducted from your donation. One hundred percent of your donations are available to us for our personal and ministry needs.

It would also be helpful if you could contact us to let us know about your donation. This will help us to designate the funds correctly. To contact us, please Click here and choose "Partnership Info" in the Subject box.

Thank you all for your continued support.

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Miracle

2007-04-22T11:35:00.000+07:00

I can think of no other word than miracle to describe what happened last week as we were driving down the road into our village. In some ways, I don't even feel qualified to write about this miraculous event, knowing that my words could never aptly describe God's providence. Yet, at the same time, I cannot let the incident go unspoken, because my heart overflows with praise and thanksgiving for a God who is so good!

We had been in the village for several days and had driven into the little Chinese town of Mae Salong one afternoon to buy a bottle of children's Tylenol for the Akha Clinic. As we were returning, we turned down the steep road which descends into our village to see the road packed with about 30 of our village friends. They were a joyous group, to say the least, participating in the Akha tradition of escorting a young bride from her village to ours for her wedding the next day. Within seconds of seeing the group, our emotions went from joy to panic as we realized that the brakes on the truck we were driving had gone out. I began waving frantically and Paul was honking the horn while we both prayed desperately that our friends would understand that we weren't simply joining in the fun of the wedding procession. As the truck gained speed, everyone began to realize that we were out of control and started yelling to one another to get off the road. Meanwhile, Paul, firmly directed by the hand of God, was swerving from one side of the road to the other, avoiding the various groups of people on both sides of the narrow road, while at the same time trying to avoid sending us careening off the side of the mountain into the valley below!

The final group of people we passed was on the right hand side of the road and so of course, we had swerved on to an embankment on the left. As we came racing down from the embankment, we were filled with horror as we saw a tiny two year old girl all alone and directly in front of us. My only prayer was "Oh God, no!" because I could not think of any way that we could possibly avoid hitting this tiny child. As we passed the point where she was, time seemed to stand still and I held my breath as I braced myself for that inevitable bump... that never came.

About thirty feet later the road leveled out, the brakes on the truck re-engaged and we were able to come to a stop. Both Paul and I, running on pure adrenaline, were out of the truck within seconds and running towards the crumpled heap of a girl lying in the dirt on the side of the road. Paul reached her first, utterly relieved to find her conscious and crying. Seconds later, her uncle who was part of the wedding procession, whisked her up and carried her down to her mother in the village below.

We were left shaky and in shock, but surrounded by some of our best friends. Everyone was immediately shaking our hands, patting us on the shoulder and praising the Lord for His obvious protection as we all slowly made our way down the road to the village. When we arrived in the village a group was already crowded around the little girl examining her for signs of injury. Miraculously, she just had a few scrapes on her chest and back and a bit of a bruise on her hip. No one had actually seen what happened when our truck passed her, but it was concluded that our front left tire must have brushed against her back pushing her forward onto the embankment. Because the little girl couldn't tell us what had happened, and because no one was really sure of what transpired, we were still very worried that there may be some hidden injury. So, the mother, the little girl, Paul and I headed off to the hospital in Mae Chan (about an hour and a half away) for x-rays and an expert opinion. Ten dollars and four hours later we were home again in the village with a clean bill of health for this precious little one.

Even now as I think over the events of the day, I cannot help but see spiritual forces at work. Our adversary prowls around seeking someone to devour (1 Peter5:8), and I'm sure the wedding party looked mighty vulnerable on that steep hill. What better way to destroy a Christian community than to have such a blessed and happy event completely torn apart by what could have been such a tragic accident? But the Lord is ever faithful to protect his sheep. We are convinced that His hand was guiding our vehicle, keeping us and everyone else safe. Beyond that, we know that what Satan meant for harm, the Lord has used for good, increasing our faith in the sure, strong hand of the Lord that protects his own from the schemes of the Enemy!

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Stay tuned...

2007-04-15T14:36:00.000+07:00

We have a lot of stories to share from this time in the village. Harrowing adventures, miracles, weddings and hospital trips top the list. We are resting in our bamboo hut this afternoon after a wild week, and will return to the city on Monday to pick up our Suzuki from the mechanic. (No word yet on the extent of the damage or cost). We plan on staying three days in the city (putting together wedding videos for the happy Akha couples) before we come back up to the village.

We will fill you in on all our adventures when we have computer access, so stay tuned!

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Suzi is Dead, Long Live Suzi!

2007-04-04T09:54:00.000+07:00

We are afraid our dear little companion might have barreled over her last off-road trail. Lately we have had a number of problems with Suzi as she has been feeling the weight and the difficulty of her years. Especially hard on her tough little chasse has been the last seven years that she has served as a missionary vehicle in Akha villages.

These last few months we have had a number of problems, ranging from intermittent air conditioning, the gearshift getting stuck in third while driving down the highway, the carburetor filling with grease (probably from a bad tank of gas), and a general unwillingness to idle at stoplights. Our wonderful mechanic has been faithfully fighting to keep the old girl alive, but we have begun to ask more and more whether this little Suzuki is a dependable vehicle for our growing family.

Yesterday added much more significant doubts in our minds.

We had gone up to Maesai for a Visa requirement and while driving back heard a distinct "clunk" from the left side of the engine. Having been in two vehicles while they lost their transmissions, my heart sank at the familiarity of the sound. Moments later, I lost all power in fifth gear, then fourth, then she died altogether as we coasted to a stop about 45 kilometers north of our home in Chiang Rai.

We popped the hood and saw that the overflow tank for the radiator had rattled off, disconnecting it from the radiator itself. We checked the oil and found that the levels were ok. A wonderful little Thai man saw our plight and let us use a bucket and water to help cool down the engine. Hoping that the engine had just overheated and no further problems had occurred, we took about a half an hour for the engine to cool and to get some fluids back into the radiator.

Once we had gotten the water in, we tried to start the engine again. After a few attempts it rattled to life, but then the problems got much worse. A "chocolate milk" mixture of oil and water began pouring out of the air filter box and the oil dipstick tube, and engine fluid began spouting from underneath the engine block. Now, I do not know much more than theory about car engines, but I do know that when fluids are pouring out of the air filter that the engine is in really bad shape.

We, of course, only speak the tiniest bit of Thai, so we were severely limited in our conversations. However, by the grace of God, a young Thai mom came driving up on her scooter and asked (in English) what she could do to help. Through her help we were able to procure a "tow truck", which was really an old Land Rover that had a big tow rig welded onto it, to drag our invalid vehicle all the way down to Chiang Rai.

By the time we reached our mechanic, he had long since closed for the day, so we are waiting around this morning to get a ride over there to speak with him.

Please join us in praying for guidance in this situation. That our mechanic can advise us as to whether this problem is going to be worth fixing and that we will be able to find a suitable vehicle in the meantime or a replacement vehicle if Suzi has rolled her last mile.

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Purple Haze

2007-03-21T10:30:00.000+07:00

Last night, a loud crack of thunder followed by the pounding of rain drops on our roof interrupted five straight months of dryness here in Northern Thailand. While November through February is generally considered the cool-dry season, this year was especially dry. Generally, the winter (for lack of a better term) will see a least few rains, but this year there literally hasn't been a drop of rain since early October.

In this normally humid country, dryness does have a few advantages, like crackers that don't go soggy within hours of opening the package, or not having to use inordinate amounts of baby powder to feel dry after a shower. Unfortunately, there were also a few drawbacks to this season's dryness. The excessive dryness in the region led to increased burning of fields and wilderness areas, which in turn, led to record air pollution levels in the North. In fact, air quality has been so poor over the past few weeks that hospitals in the area have seen a huge increase in respiratory illnesses, especially in children and the elderly. Even for those of us not seriously affected by the pollution, the constant haze has been bothersome, causing minor health issues like stinging eyes and nosebleeds. For weeks the sky has been gray and the sun hidden by the smoke, and we've been praying for the rains to come and wash away the filth in the air.

Last night's rain storm hasn't completely cleared up the problem; the sky still looks pretty gray today. However, we hope that this marks the beginning of the end of the purple haze that has blanketed Northern Thailand over the past few weeks!

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The Salamander and the Sparrows

2007-02-21T19:00:00.000+07:00

Well, our trip back to the village was a very successful one, in many ways it felt like we had never been gone at all. Sure, some things have changed, like little baby Ma-Li taking her first steps, three new homes being built and many relatives returning from their jobs around Thailand for Chinese new year, but for the most part the village was just as we remember - full of people we love and who love us.

There is a really bad cough/cold/fever that is going around the village - one mother has a baby girl whose temperature is hovering around 104. We were able to get medicine to all of them, but please join us in praying for their safety and recovery as we are back in the city over this next week.

Our biggest fear going back to our village home was that it would be infested with families of rats and monstrous spiders. When you leave an empty structure that is open to the elements this tends to happen. We didn't need to worry, however, as we came into a dusty house without the telltale droppings of either of these scary little beasties (on a side note, that should show you how big these spiders are - you can actually see their droppings).

We hope that we have finally learned how to seal everything up well enough to not attract the rats into our home, but the lack of spiders is directly related to our two newest house guests: Ricky and Lucy.

These two little birds have taken up residence in our roof, and we are happy to have them. The Akha like it when birds nest in their homes, and they build little platforms under the nests to keep things clean. The birds keep the bug levels down and provide a much more pleasant alarm clock than the standard village roosters.

Lucy and Ricky are a young couple, and have not yet decided if they are going to live in our home long term as they are currently just perching in our loft. Our hope is that they get the baby itch soon and decide to build a more permanent nest. Currently they spend all their time in playful flirtations as all newlyweds should.

We also had a slightly less welcome guest: a thirsty lizard made his way into our toilet and could not get himself out. Lori found him and scooped him out, hopefully a litter wiser for the experience, but not before taking this frightening footage...

...actually, he's kind of cute. if he sticks around we might have to come up with a name for him too.

For those of you who have been to our village: No, we did not take the rough 4-wheel drive road to get there. Instead, we took the long, curvy route. This way Lori didn't get bumped around - just a little carsick. No, the shortcut is off the route list until sometime after the baby arrives. Lori did really well all three days in the village, eating Akha meals and not getting morning sick at all. She did smell fish during our after-church lunch meal and lost it, but sensitivity to smells is still better than the misery of morning sickness. Thanks for all of your prayers!

We will be heading back up again this weekend and hope to have more news from our prospective helper/language teacher. We'll keep you all informed.

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On the Road Again

2007-02-16T10:32:00.000+07:00

We have not mentioned it very much in our blogs, probably because it is not very pleasant to write about unhappy things, but there have been about 163 people that we have been missing a whole lot over these last 3 months...

However, after a long first trimester, a reasonably successful practice outing to Chiang Mai, and a surprise day off from working on the dissertation, we going home to our village for the weekend, armed with belated Christmas gifts for our village, and the permission of our baby doctor.

We can only stay for the weekend, as responsibilities surrounding the dissertation, teaching at the Bible institute and events at Akha Outreach Foundation require us to be back in the city for much of the next two months. However, we do hope to spend many of our off-weekends in the village over that span.

As mentioned, our schedule is very busy these next two months. The remainder of February will be spent working full-time writing and editing the dissertation, in early March we will have the graduation celebration from Akha Bible Institute, and during the second half of March we are scheduled to format and lay out the tables and figures to complete the dissertation, as well as taking part in some exciting events surrounding the sending out of a young Akha leader as he begins a new ministry.

We hope to be back in the village full-time for much of April and May (the Thai summer break) and are likely to spend most of June and July back in the city to help out with visiting teams from America, take birthing classes and give Lori some much needed air-conditioning before she has the baby somewhere around August 13th!

Despite the busy schedule, we are incredibly blessed that the responsibilities on Lori are relatively light in this season, enabling her to work when she can and rest when she needs to. Her health and the health of the baby is a high priority, and our AOF directors and Foursquare supervisors have really encouraged us to make this our priority. One way we hope to help Lori through this season is by taking on a helper.

Taking on a helper in the Akha cultural context is much different than hiring a nanny, a house cleaner or an assistant. Often, when a new baby is born to an Akha family, a cousin or relative comes to live with them. The family becomes responsible for the well-being of the helper and the helper basically becomes a member of the family.

We are a little apprehensive about taking on this responsibility, but feel that it will be a tremendous blessing. We have heard that one of the girls from our village is finishing school this term and wants to go to work, probably in Chiang Rai or Bangkok. We are hoping that she might be willing to come and live with us full time, helping out with the house, the baby, the Akha clinic and with our Akha language. She is bold enough to correct our Akha and to hold her own as an Akha in Thai society, so we think she would be a perfect fit for us.

We are going to talk with our village about it this weekend and will keep you informed as anything develops. Please join us in praying that the right situation works out.

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Google and Microsoft : Joining forces to make life difficult

2007-01-08T13:08:00.000+07:00

The two biggest forces in the computer world have made a New Year's resolution to make my life difficult - as if I don't have enough to worry about.

Due to Lori's rough first trimester and subsequent various stages of bedrest, I have been on cooking / cleaning / housekeeping / holding hair back and comforting duty. Please don't misunderstand, I'm having a much more pleasant time than she is right now. Between these events we've also been busy with the holidays, staff retreats and helping at House of Joy where we are needed. I would love to say that all of these things have combined to keep us from posting updates on our Journey Notes, but it's not true.

It's not busyness that has been keeping us from writing, it's frustration.

I'll try to save you the technical jargon, but our blogs are published by Google's Blogger.com. This has served us well for two years now, but things change quickly on the web and Blogger.com is changing with them, unfortunately we seem to have gotten lost in the switch.

All the blogs in the world have switched except our Prayer Notes and Journey Notes blogs. We just get an obscure error and page not found errors. There's a fix: slowly copy all of our blogs into a new blog and republish. What you are viewing right now is the attempt to do just that.

To add insult to injury, Microsoft has recently released a new version of Internet Explorer (v. 7.0) which breaks every page on The Vernon Journal. Those of you using IE7 can see our footer content falling thousands of lines down the page, making the scrollbar virtually useless. Yet another reason to stop using Internet Explorer I guess.

Well, since Google doesn't care if our little blog is lost, and since 60% of our site visitors are still using Internet Explorer it just means more work for us.

Happy 2007 everyone! We hope to be posting again soon.

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Podcast :: Eastern Council of Foursquare Churches

2006-12-09T12:27:00.000+07:00

As promised, the audio recordings from Pastor Jack Hayford's teaching "Anointed to Serve" to the Eastern Council of Foursquare Churches are now available for download. Special thanks to our Foursquare family at Mustard Seed Fellowship in Australia for originally recording and casting the audio. (For those of you using iTunes, please download the audio from the here)

In total, six recordings are available, one for each of the talks Pastor Jack gave.

We hope these are a blessing to all of you!

2006 Eastern Council of Foursquare Churches Podcasts

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Pastor Jack Hayford in Bangkok

2006-11-12T12:10:00.000+07:00

Pastor Jack Hayford, President of the ICFG and more commonly known as "Pastor Jack" will be coming to Bangkok this Tuesday to share at the Eastern Council of Foursquare Churches (ECFC) conference. This conference will host pastors, leaders and missionaries from all over East Asia. We are very excited to have a chance to meet and hear from these church leaders and learn more about the ministries throughout Asia, and this will be Lori's first time hearing Pastor Jack share (he has shared at Faith a number of times in the past). After the conference, the missionaries who attend will treated by FMI to a time of fellowship and teaching for two additional nights.

We will be traveling to the ECFC conference on Tuesday November 14th and will remain in Bangkok to meet and fellowship with Foursquare missionaries from all of East Asia until Sunday November 19th.

We have been busy these last few months. Lori's parents were here last month and we were traveling to Rice Festivals and around the North with them. This past week a team of sponsors has been in from Colorado and we have spent some time with them, including a long day yesterday helping and learning from Dr. Wesley as he diagnosed, treated and cared for 200 Akha villagers. We will try to get some pictures of that trip up in the next week or so for you to see.

While in Bangkok we should have internet access and are hoping to share with you some of our experiences, lessons and maybe even some media from the conference - so stay tuned!

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Stronger than Sympathy

2006-10-31T12:08:00.000+07:00

I remember an elementary school teacher explaining the difference between sympathy and empathy to our class. She said that sympathy is feeling compassion for someone in a difficult condition, such as poverty or sickness or loss, whereas empathy is the ability to feel compassion and personally relate to the same condition.

Mirriam-Webster online defines empathy as follows:

em-pa-thy : the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner; also : the capacity for this

The capacity to vicariously experience. Sympathy with memory. It is a powerful ability. It is why we chose to live in an Akha village.
We experience the lives we sympathize with.
We experience the pains we minister to.
We experience first-hand the Akha experience.

Now, we know this experience, this empathy, will never be complete. We will never fully understand all their hardships. They will always be Akha and we will always be American, there will always be a difference in backgrounds and experiences. But we desire, for better and for worse, to relate as best as we can.

Today, I'm relating for worse.

Last week, one of the leaders of our village came to me and said "You need to come down and pray for Mi Shui's dad." So, off we went to see what was the matter. It was early evening and as we walked into their home, Ado Pa was in terrible discomfort, itching his thighs and behind his shoulders. It was scabies, and one of the worst cases we had seen.

We have seen many cases of scabies in our mobile Akha clinic. Sarcoptes scabiei, that dastardly little mite, burrows into the skin and lays more little mites causing inflammation and horrible itching, especially at night. It can easily be passed by blankets, mattresses and contact in an Akha village.

We prayed for Mi Shui's dad and gave him Benzyl Benzoate cream for the mites in his skin, gave him instructions to lay out his bedding in the sun to kill the mites in his blankets and gave him our sympathy for his discomfort. Then, two nights ago, little red welts began to appear on my skin and when the evening came these little welts began to itch like mosquito bites on chicken pox.

Now I really feel compassion for Mi Shui's dad. I understand firsthand how miserable it is, and when I think of all those nights he was in such discomfort because he doesn't speak enough Thai to go to a local clinic, or read enough Thai to purchase the medicine himself, or make enough money to purchase medicine if he could.

We will always have medicine available for the Akha we meet with scabies. They shouldn't have to endure that discomfort.

Empathy truly is stronger than sympathy.

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Northern Thailand Foursquare Pastors

2006-09-15T12:03:00.000+07:00

We are in the city for a little while as we try to work out some of the details for our home. Since we have the time (and the computer access) we wanted to give a few updates on our recent activities. In Asian cultures you have to spend a lot of time just visiting, and that was on the agenda for us last week as we had a chance to get out of the village and visit two of the Foursquare pastors in Northern Thailand.

We first went down to Fang to visit our old friend Pastor Timothy and his wife (Expanding our Map, June 2005). Pastor Timothy is from Singapore, but they have been living in Thailand so long now that they are basically Thai. Pastor Timothy is the point-man for Foursquare Northern Thailand and has the heart of an evangelist and the vision of a leader and it is always great to spend time with him.

As soon as we got to Fang we got to work clearing land near a Lahu Village. The Lahu are another hilltribe in Northern Thailand whose language has some similarities to Akha. This village had asked Pastor Timothy to come up and share for a week and then will decide if it will become a Christian village (such a different world from America!). We didn't last long, it was really hot and by noon we were all ready to call it a day. We set fire to the fields (another thing that is difficult for us Americans) and went off to lunch.

The next few hours were spent just talking vision and the direction of churches and orphanage (there is a small orphanage of Lahu children run by the Foursquare church in Fang). They are building a new church next to the orphanage and need finances and prayer to see that project completed.

Next we went back towards Mae Salong to visit an Akha Foursquare pastor who just had a baby boy. It was the first time we had been to the home of Pastor Noah and we met his wife (who was shocked that we spoke some Akha) and his 10-day old baby boy Solomon. No one had visited them yet, so it was wonderful to just sit down, eat some fruit and visit with this Akha family.

Please remember each of these Pastors and the Foursquare and AOF churches in the North as they continue to minister to all the different people groups living in Northern Thailand.

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Akha - the Written Language

2006-09-07T11:59:00.000+07:00

An interesting change is occurring among the Akha as the younger generation is learning how to read and write the Akha language. While we were in the city last weekend our old pastor and housemate was up in Mae Salong. Now, whenever someone visits our village they usually sleep in our house (which is really the village's home), we are then told dozens of times by various neighbors all about who stayed in our house while we were away.

This last time, however, the pastor left us a note (in Akha) on our door. Everyone in the village saw him do it, but just didn't understand what he was doing. When we came back to the village one of the little girls and one of our Akha grandmas, who we affectionately call Mrs. Santa Claus, took us to the note and said "The pastor did this".

We then proceeded to read (out loud) what the note said: "Paul and Lori, I came and stayed at your home, slept on your mats, ate your rice and food, and drank your tea. Thank you very much, God bless you."

They really enjoyed hearing us read this message in Akha, and insisted that we do it multiple times - and we were happy that we understood the whole message so we were glad to read it over and over again. They were especially tickled to hear this message passed over time and distance in this fashion and in their language. It certainly did not replace the oral tradition of passing news (everyone in our village still told us about the pastor coming to visit), but added to the story by sharing about how a 'written conversation' was left on our door.

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My Akha Mom

2006-09-06T11:58:00.000+07:00

Some time ago I wrote about my Akha wife and how proud I am of her. Although she is my wife, she is not really Akha. Today I am writing about my Akha mother and how much fun we have been having with her these last few days. Although she is Akha, she is not really my mother.

We have shared in our newsletters and in previous blogs about the Akha woman we lovingly refer to as Lydia because of her generosity. In reality, we call her 'Atsu Kuh', and she is our Akha mom.

From our first moments in the village this widowed Akha woman has taken care of us. Feeding us, teaching us, administering painful Akha remedies on us when we are ill, and generally trying to get us to live with her. Through our time with her we have learned that her husband died nearly 23 years ago and she raised her two daughters alone. Her daughters have since grown up and now live in Korea where they sell Ginsing products for a Korean company.

Well, her daughters have come back for this week and we have been able to spend some time with them. We are the same age, 28 and 26 (not taking Akha years into account), and have had a lot of fun with them while they have been running around and fussing over their mom, buying her telephones and things for her home. And Lydia is loving every minute of it.

With their Chinese education from Doi Mae Salong, her daughters can make more money in Korea than they ever could here in Thailand and are therefore able to take good financial care of their mother, but she misses them so much. Seeing her with her daughters helps us to understand why she has taken us under her wing. It also helps us to understand how our parents feel about us living off in a distant country. But we also see the pride and love in Lydia's eyes when she looks at her daughters.

Seperation is hard on all of our families but it also reminds us that wherever we go in this Family, we will always find love, and those who need it.

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Baby Geckos and Other Critters

2006-09-01T12:03:00.000+07:00

A couple of our recent posts have talked about some of the animals common in the village (like cats, dogs, chickens and rats.) Since we've been in the city the past week or so, I wanted to tell you about some of the critters we encounter here.

While our village home is literally a bamboo hut (thatch roof, dirt floors and all), the house we live in when we're in the city has concrete walls, tile floors, an internet connection and even air conditioning in a couple rooms. Still, we run into a surprising number of bugs and critters in our city home. We are constantly fighting (what seems to be) a losing battle with the ants, cockroaches and centipedes, which is, oddly, not something we deal with in the village. Also, in the city home w e generally live in peace with about 5 geckos who pretty much have free run of the house. I say "generally", because we've gotten to the point where we don't even notice them, except for when we occasionally find a gecko dropping in an inopportune location (like on the clean dishes drying on the rack! Gross!) Geckos (at least the ones in our house) are usually about 4-5" from nose to tail, but we've noticed that July and August must be "hatching" season because lately we've seen several "baby geckos" who are only about an 1" long.

As I said, I don't really mind the geckos, but I don't particularly like them either. However, these baby geckos are so darn tiny and cute that I always find my self saying, "Oh, look at the baby gecko!" and running for my camera to snap a picture. I've taken lots of pictures of baby geckos, but they never seem to turn out because most of them lack a point of reference. You see, a picture of a baby gecko on a white wall looks pretty much like a picture of a full grown gecko on a white wall. But the other day I went to turn on the light in the kitchen and there was a baby gecko right next to the light switch, so I finally got a picture to show you how cute these little guys are! I photoshopped a tape measure in to show you the scale.

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The Joys of Illiteracy (Part 2)

2006-08-26T12:13:00.000+07:00

About a year and a half ago, on our third day in Thailand, we wrote a blog about not being able to speak or read Thai and the difficulties that come with this handicap (like accidentally purchasing a pastry with "mystery meat" filling!) By now, most missionaries would be writing about how much progress they've made and how all those little communication problems that they ran into when they first arrived are becoming a thing of the past. Unfortunately, it seems that we are not "most missionaries!"

We are in very odd situation. We chose to learn Akha instead of Thai because we are working with the Akha people, however we are still living in the country of Thailand. So, although we do great when we're in an Akha village, when we are down in the city (where everyone speaks Thai), we are not much better off than the day we stepped off the plane. This fact, was clearly illustrated by our egg experience yesterday.

Paul and I were out running errands and decided that it would be fun to make chocolate chip cookies. So we stopped by a market to pick up some eggs on the way home. Buying eggs in Thailand is very different from buying eggs in America. I could tell you all the ways it's different, but I think that's another blog altogether, so I'll just tell you the one thing that matters for this story; there are three different colors of eggs: white, brown and pink. I've always thought that the pink dye was to signify that the egg was hard boiled while the white and brown were both fresh eggs. I normally buy brown eggs because that's what they sell at the market in MaeSalong, but the vendor that we went to yesterday only had white and pink eggs. So we bought 5 white eggs and headed home.

When it came time to make the cookies, I cracked the egg only to find that it was hard-boiled. Not only was it hard-boiled, but the yolk was a funky oily orange and the egg white had an odd opaque chalky appearance (Not like any hard boiled egg I've ever seen ... And certainly not anything I was interested in tasting!) So, with the cookies half made, I sent Paul off to the market again to get brown eggs this time. He came back with fresh eggs and the cookie project was saved.

Later, I got to thinking how all of that day's "egg hassle" could have been averted if I only knew how to say "Are these eggs fresh or have they been cooked already?" in Thai. While it can get pretty frustrating to continue having these moments even after a year and a half in Thailand, we've learned to laugh at our mishaps. And I comfort myself with the fact that I can say "Is this egg hard-boiled?" in Akha (even though that didn't help me much yesterday.) All in all, we're happy with the language path God has us on ... despite the slight inconveniences it sometimes creates in the city.

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Police, Parents and Prodigals

2006-08-21T11:57:00.000+07:00

The highways in Thailand are scattered with police checkpoints. Imagine driving down a major highway like I-70 or I-5 and every few miles having to slow down and drive through a coned area with the Police stopping or searching every few cars looking for drugs or signs of human-trafficking and illegal immigrants. Being largely surrounded by Myanmar, Laos and Indonesia there is a significant need for these checkpoints. To the Akha, however, they serve as a frequent reminder that they are a people without a country and are often unwanted by the countries they are in. Even today as we drove down from Mae Salong with an Akha friend of ours we were stopped and he had to show proof (by ID cards) that he had the right to drive down to Chiang Rai.

Two nights ago, however, four of the families from our village were very grateful for one of these checkpoints. On Saturday night as things were winding down in the village and kids were heading home from playing in the village and the surrounding area on their day off from school, one of the village elders came running to me in a panic. "The police have my little boy! The police have caught my little boy! You have to go get him!" Soon the whole village was gathered and talking and we understood that five Akha boys from our village, aged 7 to 12, were at a police checkpoint thirty miles from our village.

Now, at this point, you need to understand a little bit about Akha boys. Perhaps the best American illustration that I can use to illustrate a typical Akha boy is that of Huckleberry Finn. Independent, adventurous, intimately knowledgeable about their surroundings, fearless (at least during the daylight hours) and generally unconcerned about trivial things such as their appearance or whether their parents know where they are.

Well, five of these little Huckleberrys from our village had apparently decided they were going to run away (probably to one of their relatives villages) to a town about 45 miles from Dama Gojo in Mae Salong. They gathered a few baht together and hopped in a song tau (Thai taxi/minibus system) towards Mahinte. No one from our village knew where the were until a phone call came from one of these police checkpoints.

Apparently, the policemen at this checkpoint thought it was highly suspicious that five Akha boys would be traveling on their own so they pulled them into their office and eventually got the story of what village they belonged to. They then called our village and the very worried parents sent the pastor (who speaks fluent Thai) and I down to fetch them.

About 9:00 at night we arrived to a sober group of hungry Akha boys. The police had turned them over to an Akha family who gave them a good talking-to and this vagabond group was not looking forward to going home to their worried parents. After visiting with the Akha family for a short while and purchasing some snacks for the boys to take an edge of their hunger (the adventure had distracted them from eating all day), all seven of us trudged through the rain and into our little four-seat Suzuki Caribbean.

An hour later, we were back in the village again having added another surreal chapter to our lives with the Akha.

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A Tale of Three Chickens

2006-08-19T11:56:00.000+07:00

I have been reading through Exodus, where God gave the law to Israel after taking them from Egypt. Pages of commandments about what is appropriate compensation to pay if your bull eats your neighbor's crops. I must admit, I was dragging my way through it - wanting to skip ahead to more exciting reading. But an interesting event in our village has shed new light on this passage for me, and the importance of justice in every culture.
Yesterday while we were sitting with our village enjoying fruit and conversation, a young woman from our village shouted something about a dog and ran down the hill toward her home. A short time later she came back, quite distraught, with her largest rooster dangling in her arms. Over the next 20 minutes, two more chickens were found, all three had been killed by two village dogs.
In an Akha village, dogs and chickens are all livestock for the dinner table. They are not caged up, but roam the village freely eating what scraps they can find. Although these animals often appear to be wild, they all have owners who feed them and, eventually, eat them. Generally all the animals co-exist peacefully, dogs learn as puppies that the chickens are not for them to eat.
But on this day the young Akha woman had lost three chickens, quite a large loss, meat enough to feed her family for some time. The two dogs which had attacked her chickens were owned by two different families.
We wondered how this situation would be handled. In our experience, village issues are often handled either by fists or by ignoring the real issue. But in this case there was a precedent, a village law. In front of the whole village a scale was brought out and the dead animals were weighed. Once all three had been weighed the woman was offered her choice of market value cash for the chickens or new chickens from the dog-owner's flock. She chose the money (about $12) and the dog owners were given the dead chickens. No fights, no hard feelings. Justice exists to protect those who cannot protect themselves.

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The Rat and the Cat

2006-08-12T12:10:00.000+07:00

Last year we had a bit of a rat problem. And you might have noticed in Paul's recent post, Our Akha Homecoming, that we are again sharing our Akha hut with these little rodents. Having dealt with rats before, we knew exactly what to do... (drumroll please!) Glueboard Rat Traps to the rescue! I don't think they are very common in the U.S., but they are the standard way to catch a rat here in Thailand. If you haven't already figured it out by the name, this trap consists of a piece of cardboard (about 15"x 15") on which a super-sticky-goo must be spread. Finally, a tasty treat is put in the center and when Mr. Rat goes for the food he gets stuck; the more he moves around trying to free himself, the more he gets stuck.

The other night we set our trap, and sure enough around 3 o'clock in the morning we woke to a commotion in the kitchen. We weren't particularly excited about having an execution ceremony then and there, so we left the rat alone and said "We'll deal with it in the morning", (...secretly hoping we could get one of our Akha friends to kill it, since we're both a little wimpy about that sort of thing.) We tried to go back to sleep, attempting to ignore the intermittent thumping and whining coming from the kitchen.

About 30 minutes later, we heard another commotion. The thumpings were much louder this time and we thought, "We must have caught a second one, a 'biggun' by the sounds of it!" However, after a few seconds, we heard the sounds move quickly towards the main room of our hut and it was obvious that this was no rat! We hopped out of bed and turned on the light. It turns out a village cat had heard the cries of the rat and assumed he'd get an easy meal, but he didn't plan on getting his tail caught in the super sticky glue! When we found the cat, he was tearing around the hut at near-light speeds with the piece of cardboard (rat and all) still stuck to his tail. While our hut has many cat-worthy escape routes, this terrified cat with the large piece of cardboard stuck to its tail was having a hard time getting out. Finally, armed with a couple brooms, we were able to herd the cat out into the night.

Although we're not keen on having a good night's sleep interrupted by a rat and cat fiasco, we have to admit that we still love the adventure in our lives! But even more than the adventure, we love living & working with the Akha people. By sharing in these simple day-to-day experiences, we come just a tiny bit closer to understanding the life that an Akha leads, allowing us to share the love of God in a way that's relevant to their lives! This is why we're here in the village!

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Learning to Share

2006-08-07T11:55:00.000+07:00

Without children's church or nursery, church services in an Akha village tend to be a bit nosier and more "active" than in America. Little ones roam about during the two hour long service, toddling up and down the aisles, playing as quietly as can be expected, sometimes sitting down to play a little game, or landing on mom's lap for a quick nap. Some of my readers, especially those with small children, may wonder how this system works at all. What I haven't mentioned yet, is the widespread use of bribery during those two hours. Every Akha mom makes sure she has a few sugary treats in her bag on Sunday morning to keep potentially noisy mouths busy with other endeavors.

All parenting philosophies aside (not to mention dental concerns), the candy does seem to accomplish its goal beautifully. As an added benefit, it makes going to church a really special event for kids who don't normally get the luxury of snacks.

Yesterday at church, I snapped this priceless picture of two brothers (ages 1 and 3). They were sitting quietly at their mother's feet eating their lollipops contentedly when they realized that their own lollipop tasted best just after they'd had a taste of their brother's different-flavored pop!

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Years Go By

2006-08-07T11:54:00.000+07:00

One of the favorite jokes in the village is my age. Sometimes it's me joking aroung saying that I'm getting old because the Akha kids run circles around me, sometimes it's my Akha friends who say that since I don't have black hair I'm obviously one of the tsaw maw (the best translation we have is elder or grandparent). But the joke became a little closer to reality when I learned - much to my discomfort - that in the Akha account of time and age I'm 30 years-old. Yikes!

This recent revelation that I've reached the big three-oh has inspired some thoughts of days gone by. Now I know many of you reading this blog have seen 30 come and go. Some of you have even seen 30 years twice over. You're probably reading this and thinking I'm insane for writing about my old age, but you have to realize the shock is not just from turning 30, but from hitting that mark 2 years early!

How did I get these extra years? Well, as best as I can tell, here's how:

In the Western world we count from zero. This not based on natural truth as much as it is based on a philosophical idea. Our sense of time and mathematics, however, depends heavily on this idea so the first 12 months of our lives are spent in the zero^th year, not turning one until twelve months after we are born. (If you know much about interest and finance the idea is simalar to interest being accrued at the begining of a period vs. the end of a period.) Children have an acute understanding of the problems this system creates which is why we have so many six-and-a-half year-olds running around. In fact that system is not used in school. We do not say that a child in the first year of school is in the 0^th grade, we say they are in 1^st grade.

So it seems that traditionally the Akha say that a child is one-year-old throughout it's first year of life, counting ahead rather than behind. That accounts for one of the extra years added to my life, but still would have made me only 29 years-old. As my discussion with our friend MiNah proved, the Akha accounting of years is even more involved. Traditionally the Akha say that when a baby is born it is anywhere between 8 and 10 months into it's first year. Naturally within their culture the Akha seem to believe that life begins at conception. This being the case, three months after a child has been born it is beginning its second year - or as the Akha would say two-years-old.

This accounting of time seems to have changed as birth certificates and the western calendar have made their way into Akha culture. But, based on the zodiac (12-year cycle of animals) calendars familiar throughout Asian cultures including the Akha hilltribe, the 28 year-old friend of mine in our village was born two years after I was, making me 30 Akha-years-old.

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Our Akha Homecoming

2006-08-05T11:53:00.000+07:00

This has been a very enjoyable homecoming to the village. Sure, we have some rats again and all of our snacks were eaten by some Akha boys with too much time on their hands, but it is so good to see our Akha family again.
Especially nice has been the chance to spend some time with the current Pastor / intern. With our traveling and his schedule and responsibilities we haven't seen a lot of each other since he started in May. Last night we were able to spend some good time with him, just sitting around talking over the delicassy of the season - corn on the cob.
There is something wonderful about village life. Time moves differently here. Right now, sitting in our bamboo hut listening to the kids on the salah outside chatting about their treasures from the Saturday morning market, I'm struck by how far removed we are from the rest of the world, the wars in the Middle East, even from the political issues in Thailand. It reminds us that this Akha village is where our hearts are, and though we are often pulled and distracted by many good things that require much of our attention and time, this is where we feel most at home.

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In Memory of ...

2006-08-01T12:08:00.000+07:00

On June 20th, we joined a long list of couples who have suffered a miscarriage. You'll have to bear with me as I find it a little odd to write about this . Most people don't write about their miscarriage for all the world to read, but then again most people don't live 8,000 miles away from their friends & family. However, we know many of you have been praying for us and are anxious to hear how we're doing.

It's been a long time since we've done a blog update and that's mostly because we've been occupied. I know that's a weird way to describe it, so let me explain. We've been in the city for about a month and while our daily lives have progressed in pretty much normal fashion (no more or less busy than normal), our minds have been terribly busy with the unusual task of working through emotions that don't behave as they "should" (otherwise known as grieving.) Unfortunately, all this emotional & mental labor left little room for blogging.

And now that we're feeling ready to write blogs and move on, it seems wrong to just pick up where we left off with out acknowledging the loss of our unborn child and the process that brought us to this point. There are so many lessons and experiences from the past month that we'd love to share (and maybe later on we will, as we're leaving our Baby Notes Blog
active), but we really just want to share with you a spirit of rejoicing. As an Akha woman in our village recently reminded us, our little Bean is in God's country; he skipped the struggles of this world and all he knows of life is the glory of heaven.

(Note: To read a more detailed story of what has happened in the past month, you can download our most recent newsletter.)

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A Very Long Month

2006-07-14T11:52:00.000+07:00

Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement over this last month. We have gone through tremendous extremes both emotionally and physically and are just now assessing our surroundings again. Please continue to hold our lives in prayer. Also, because it would take so long to respond to each and every one of your emails (we have well over 300 emails in our inboxes right now), I want to thank all of you for your kind words.

We are learning a lot about God's faithfulness and have seen first-hand His sovereign love for us, but are not through everything yet.

You all should receive an email with more updates in the coming week as we hope to process this past month and get some of our thoughts written out.

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Slowly but surely

2006-06-03T12:07:00.000+07:00

I think it's always hard to gauge language acquisition - but it's especially difficult without the measuring stick of classes, teachers or tests. Unlike our friends in Bangkok taking Thai lessons, we can't say, "Well, I passed level three, they say level four is really hard!" Since we returned from America, however we've had a renewed endurance in the area of language. Many things are starting to seem more natural and I just wanted to take a minute to share a few victories.

We've started teaching English every Tuesday evening in the village. While a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggethis may not seem like an "Akha Language Victory", let me assure you, it is. Speaking in front of a group in English has never been an issue for Paul or me, but speaking in front of a group in Akha can leave us terrified. Even just introducing ourselves can be botched due to nervousness. So this opportunity to start out with the kids and teenagers (who tend to be a very forgiving audience) has been great! The fact that our Akha is far from perfect makes for a pretty relaxed and interactive learning environment and allows them to correct our Akha as we correct their English (which is very different from the super-structured-rote-memorization teaching style found in the Thai schools). All in all, it's been a good experience thus far and we're happy about how comfortable we are using Akha to teach English.

It's funny how the little things can be so encouraging when learning a foreign language. Like for instance, the other day we went to visit our friend (who we often call our Akha mom), Lydia. She wasn't out front when we arrived so we proceeded yell, "Hey Aunt-ie are you home? We've come to visit you!", which is the standard Akha custom in a situation like this. After a minute we heard her response from within, so I let myself in to greet her. When she saw me, she was visibly surprised, apparently she had not recognized that it was me from my initial greeting. If you're wondering why this story is so significant, it's because in some small way I must have sounded like an Akha because she thought I was someone else! Of course, the fact that she's rapidly losing her hearing could be part of it, but either way I'm going to count it in the Win Column!

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A(nother) Good Hair Day

2006-06-02T11:51:00.000+07:00

Do you remember MiBya? She is one of the hard stories in our village. Back in October 2005 we wrote this story:

She [Mi Bya] is a particularly tough case, and lives in a difficult home in our village. We never see her smile and although she is intrigued by us "pa la" she usually observes us from a distance. Like many children in Akha villages she has very short hair (lice & scabies). She was watching all the girls and their fancy hair braids and was just stoic in her observations. Our hearts were broken and we knew we had to do something for her. Lori remembered she had a handkerchief in our house that she might be able to use. We pulled her aside and made a big deal out of her new "hair". Once it sunk in that we really thought she was a beautiful little girl, she ran off. When she came back she had cleaned herself all up and had put on a dress! This little girl who never smiled was grinning from ear to ear for days - knowing that she truly is lovely.

Well we have since grown to know both MiBya and her little brother much better. They have a really difficult home life. Their mother is mentally ill, we are guessing the mental equivalent of a six-year old, and their father is flighty - often leaving for days at a time. We watched and helped as best we could this past summer as MiBya was taking care of her little brother all by herself. We even tried to get them into a home to care for them but the family has no paperwork, no record of any births.

As we struggled through that difficult summer, we were encouraged to see the village step in and care for the family. On one occasion when the father had run off, a girl from the village invited the kids to stay with her. This is one of the joys of living in a Christian Akha village.

Things have stablized a little, and although things are still rough at home, MiBya is able to go to school in Mae Salong. She loves school and is very bright.

The other night, she came to our home and said "My teacher says I need a haircut". In Thailand all the schoolchildren wear uniforms, the boys have very short hair and the girls must have their hair cut above their earlobes and collars.

Lori, being the incredibly skilled woman that she is, pulled out her scissors and hair clips and went to work. An hour later (it was the first schoolgirl haircut Lori has ever given) MiBya was a different girl. The little crewcut girl from our Good Hair Day is growing into a beautiful young Akha. We literally don't recognize her anymore as she walks up to us with her great haircut and an even better smile.

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A Blogging Baby

2006-06-02T11:50:00.000+07:00

OK, so our baby is not exactly blogging - yet. But the little bean does have a blog!

Created to keep your email inboxes light and our newsletters full of more than just updates on the pregnancy (it's our first child, we can go overboard if we want to), Baby Notes is the place to go to read everything baby and about our experiences having a baby abroad. You can even bookmark our Baby's Blog if you feel so inclined.

The updates to Baby Notes will also be viewable in the "Personal" section of the right sidebar (down at the bottom of the sidebar on the right -----------------> )

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Rainy Days

2006-06-01T11:49:00.000+07:00

What an amazing experience this life is! Here, on the very edge of 'civilization', leaning back against the woven bamboo walls of my home, listening to the interaction of three Akha mothers sewing and sheltering from the rain and the peeping of baby chicks learning to find their supper I can hardly remember the busy life outside of the village. In Northern Thailand the rainy season and the school year start at the same moment, making for a quiet time in the village.

The Akha have their difficulties, they live hard and work hard to put food on their tables and to care for their children, but in moments of peace and light rains on the mountain they know how to sit and take in the world around them. It is so natural in them, but it takes so much effort for me.

All of our little friends have just walked back from school, so no more writing (no more quiet either) - it's time to play in the rain.

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Flexibility has it's rewards

2006-05-24T12:05:00.000+07:00

For the past couple of days, Paul and I have been trying to get up to the village. However, it seems that every afternoon when we should be loading up the car to go, something delays us and we have to put the village off another day. While we've certainly learned the value of flexibility in the past year and a half, it can still be rather frustrating to have our plans and expectations constantly "thwarted". Yesterday, as per tradition, something came up which prevented us from getting to the village, however as it turned out we were not frustrated but blessed by the experience.

One of our friends, a national Foursquare pastor who lives a couple hours away was at a hospital here in the Chiang Rai with his wife. We were glad to find out that she had not been admitted, but simply had an appointment with a specialist. His wife has a thyroid condition and would appreciate your prayers.

In Asia, if someone is in town, you take the time to see them despite your own "plans and expectations". So we hopped in the car to join them at the hospital. We had a great time catching up with them while they waited for her medications and offered to give them a ride back to the bus station.

They gladly accepted the ride, but politely asked if we could stop by Big C on the way. Big C is kind of like Super Walmart or Super Target in The States. However, instead of being a stand alone store, Big C's are usually located in a mall (for lack of a better word) which also has many smaller stores and restaurants. When we are in Chiang Rai, we frequent Big C and indulge in KFC, Dairy Queen, or even Auntie Anne's Pretzels.

When we stepped through the automated sliding glass doors, it was obvious that our friend's wife & 9 year old daughter had never seen anything like it. They live in a small rural town with nothing even resembling the "big city" atmosphere of a Big C. The little girl's eyes popped and sparkled as if she were at an amusement park and the mom's eyes glazed over at the frenzy of lights, noise and crowds. As they approached the escalator both mom and daughter viewed it with trepidation and wonder. Luckily, dad knew his way around and led his family proudly through the exciting chaos. We left the family to their shopping and grabbed a Lemon Frost from Black Canyon Coffee while we waited.

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Really Tiny News

2006-05-22T11:48:00.000+07:00

It's love, of course, that makes us fathers do it - love for the woman we've married and love for every baby we've ever seen, except the one that threw up on our shoes. And so, in spite of all our reservations about this scary business of reproduction, we must admit that people look happy when they're carrying babies. - Bill Cosby, Fatherhood

We had grand plans of keeping the secret much longer than this, but we are terrible secret keepers. We also wanted to call each and every one of you and let you all in on the news personally, but living in Thailand makes that task very difficult. So this announcement will have to do. We are excited to let you all know... We're going to have a baby!

We found out for certain on May 14th, which was a wonderful Mother's Day present both for Lori as well as for the newly expectant grandmothers (who, we might add, are very excited). We have bounced from very excited, to very scared, to utter disbelief. In fact, to help convince us that we really are pregnant, we went out to buy Lori her first maternity outfit. This task was much more difficult than you might think, because pregnant women in Thailand wear "tarp like moo moos" (this quote thanks to Lori). As much as we desire to blend with the cultures around us, Lori has put her foot down regarding Thai maternity dresses. However, we were able to find one outfit in Chiang Mai that met her standards for cuteness and with visitors coming soon we have more American maternity clothes on the way.

We know you will have lots of questions and comments, and we encourage you to leave us a comment on this page. Since we cannot have these conversations with you individually, we will now list the most frequently asked questions and answer them accordingly:

When are you due?

The "official" due date is January 15th. Although the ob/gyn said it could come as early as Christmas.

Where are you having the baby?

We will have the baby at a hospital here in Chiang Rai.

Do you have a doctor?

Yes. Our doctor speaks English very well and has delivered many of the missionaries' babies here in Chiang Rai. We have already had one appointment with him and really liked him.

Are you going to find out the sex of the baby?

Yes, We think.

How fat are you? (boys) or Are you showing? (girls)

Not showing (fat) yet.

Are you scared?

Sometimes. A little about the pregnancy, a lot about the parenting. But we have been given a great verse that encourages us:

Psalm 78

5 He decreed statutes for Jacob
and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our forefathers
to teach their children,

6 so the next generation would know them,
even the children yet to be born,
and they in turn would tell their children.

7 Then they would put their trust in God
and would not forget his deeds
but would keep his commands.

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Journey Notes Updates

2006-05-18T11:47:00.000+07:00

Here is a quick update to our Journey Notes while we are in town:

Tomorrow Mi Shui returns to the hospital for a check-up on her broken arm. We are hoping things have healed well and a new cast will be all she needs. If she needs surgery we will update again in the next day or so.

A Wa did not return to the deaf school in Chiang Rai. We are unsure as to the specifics of why (it is difficult to communicate with him) but about a month ago his father was arrested for smoking opium. His father is a pillar in the community and since his arrest A Wa has been struggling against his mom. This might be a cumulation of those feelings. We picked up his paperwork from the deaf school and will try to get him into school in Mae Salong. Please remember this family in your prayers.

We did bring two other children to school in Chiang Mai. The first is a girl from an Akha Village in Mae Salong. The other is a young boy from an Akha Village in WiangPapao. Both are handicapped and there is a special needs school there for them.

Sorry to be so factual - we'll get you some more fun stories as soon as we can - but we wanted to keep you all in the loop.

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Foursquare Missionary to Poland

2006-05-09T11:46:00.000+07:00

We wanted to point out another Foursquare Missionary - Denise Johnson, Missionary to Poland. Lori and I had the pleasure to meet her for a very short time when we were training at the WorldBase in Los Angeles, CA. Denise has been a missionary since 1986 - and full time since 1996 and has an incredible passion for the relationships she has in Poland. When we met her, we were so green (still are) in ministry and we were very excited to go to Thailand, but her desire to return to Poland blew ours out of the water - we pray that our passion continues to grow as hers obviously has. When you hear her share you realize that in her heart, Poland has become her home.

Denise has been updating her blog, Journey of the Heart, since July of 2004. Her most recent post My Sunshine / Son shine Room is about the attempts to convert part of her basement into a meeting area - now that's commitment! Take a look at her site when you get the chance and pray for her ministry in Poland and as it extends throughout Europe.

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The Akha have Allergies Too

2006-05-08T11:45:00.000+07:00

We actually used to wonder if the Akha were allergic to anything. They all seem to be able to eat anything, and we have yet to meet an Akha with hay fever (at least, we haven't met one who was willing to complain about it). Anyway, in the last year of doing minor medical exams we haven't run across a single significant allergic reaction - until this morning.

When we arrived for church this morning, we saw one of the girls from our village - 5 year old A Mi. This precious little girl had a swollen cheek like we had never seen. Immediately, I assumed it was an abscessed tooth and began examining her teeth, but they all looked fine. As I was looking in her mouth her father came up and told me what happened.

Apparently, A Mi was in a tree this morning (a common place to see Akha children) when she was stung twice by a bee. Once in the arm, once in the cheek. We still haven't figured out if the stings were inadvertent or whether she was attempting to get some honey, but that is neither here nor there. When I heard she was stung, I looked at her arm and found a nice swelling welt there as well, confirmation that she was definately allergic to bee stings.

The swelling was so severe that we were afraid her breathing might end up being affected. Fortunately, she was breathing fine and other than her obvious self-consciousness about her cheek she wasn't in any pain. However, our anti-histamine did not immediately help the situation and her cheek continued to swell.

Off we went again, another Vernon Ambulance trip - this time to the local clinic in Mae Salong. They were able to prescribe her a liquid anti-histamine for her to take over the next day or so.

Please remember A Mi in your prayers as she continues to heal.

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A Look at a Great Summer

2006-05-01T11:44:00.000+07:00

Broken arm, rain storms, house construction, an Akha clinic, Song Kran, youth camps, new pastor, English lessons, Akha songs, bi dza's, kids, kids, kids.

There's the five second update from our past month. We have had an incredible time in our village, building relationships and building language. The big news is that my heart has been really stretched and challenged in viewing our ministry calling in this time in the village.

We have a heart to see a healthy Akha church that is characterized by discipleship and our ministry model is to serve the Akha in love whatever our formal roles. Simple enough on paper, but how this vision and ministry works out practically is like nothing I ever imagined.

Village life has become so important to me. For so long I viewed our village as a temporary time (years long, but still temporary) while learning the Akha language and about the Akha people while my heart was for formal training environments in the future. Though I still see the value and the economy of leadership and pastoral training and will be involved wherever we are led, it is the average Akha man and woman who makes the Akha church. In fact, it's who I have always been in the church. There are amazing men, women and youth in our village who I hope to serve, to disciple and to grow with for many, many years to come.

The emotional needs of children and the physical health and care needs of the Akha are the practical ministries I never imagined having a passion for. Once again, what began as part of a learning process has become a ministry tied to my heart. Although we still have our best life conversations with the ya goo (youth group age kids), instilling value in children and ministering to the physical health and care needs of the Akha are becoming permanent tools in our ministry.

Our vision to serve the Akha is becoming a holistic vision, seeking to minister to the emotional, physical and spiritual needs of the Akha in Southeast Asia. They are the foundation stones of a healthy church. It was Christ's ministry, and as we grow and learn (and fail and fall) it is becoming ours.

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The Akha Clinic

2006-05-01T11:43:00.000+07:00

There are many English words which the Thais have adopted as their own by adding Thai tones. In our limited observation these include: mustard, computer, battery and clinic. A clinic in Thailand is a step up from a pharmacy but quite a few steps down from a doctor's office. It is a place where people go to get a minor diagnoses and medicine or a referral to better facilities.

We have shared a little about our roles providing medical care and as the village ambulance and our ministry in this capacity has really begun to expand. Every evening beginning around four o'clock people trickle in from the fields and towards our home, visiting for a while and then turning our attention to a child's fever, a cut or wound from working in the fields, arthritic joints, colds, boils, stomach flu, absessed teeth or chicken pox.

Those of you who know us know we have no formal medical training, but it is amazing how much we do know about medicine. Even more amazing is how much we have learned, largely due to a wonderful book which every missionary should own: Where There is No Doctor (available at Amazon or for free online at HealthWrights). The Akha have their natural remedies which include teas for stomach ailments, honeycomb used as medicine, massage techniques, and a bruising technique which brings the blood to the surface of the skin. These techniques are often effective, but have their limitations.

The biggest health issues with the Akha are often results of misdiagnosis in the home or in a clinic. In the clinic, the misdiagnosis often comes from a lack of understanding (nurses speak Thai, the Akha mothers don't) or a lack of finances (the nurses know the Akha do not all have the benefit of health privileges in Thailand). In the home, a serious injury or illness is often mistaken for something minor. For example, Mi Shui's arm was first assumed to be nothing and was cared for in the Akha way which unfortunately included shaking and squeezing the injury and spitting on the arm. In America we have our American way as well (when did a kiss ever heal an injury?) which is appropriate at times, but innapropriate at others. In the end, we hope to educate the parents to confidently treat minor illnesses and injuries before they become major ones.

One step in this direction has come from an unexpected source. Our intern Pastor ATu who was our housemate all of last year has moved on and a new intern has come in and taken his place. They have built a new home for him which leaves us with an empty room. In a pretty short time, the medicine boxes had moved in (along with a sleeping mat and a plastic chair which serves well for our examinations) and all the teenagers were walking around talking about the "Akha Cleeney (Clinic)". Since we have further formalized this treatment area we have had a severe burst wound (we think a girl was caught stealing and was shooed off with a stick), an absessed tooth, a dozen colds and a stomach flu (we were very happy for our dirt floors with that one).

There are still many things we have to refer the Akha to real doctors for, but it's been great to meet the physical immediate needs of our village. They have given us so much, it's great to be able to give something back.

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Did we mention IT'S HOT!

2006-04-13T12:01:00.000+07:00

Yup, it's still hot here! Today the "real feel" temperature was 108. Thank goodness today was the beginning of Song Kran which is the celebration of the Thai new year during which the whole country engages in a week-long water fight. We're off to the village today (with a possible visit to the Mae Sai later this month to visit some friends) and will try to keep you updated from the village as much as possible!

'Til next time!

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My Akha Wife

2006-04-06T11:42:00.000+07:00

Please do not take this title as anything to be concerned about - I'm just bragging on Lori a little bit. As we wrapped up our time at the youth camp yesterday (a time which we often felt more in the way than helpful) we were off to the hills to bring some kids and bible students back to their villages. When you go to an Akha village you cannot just drop someone off and leave. You have to catch up on life and drink something (water, tea, coffee... depending on the area) with the villagers.

We had never been to this particular village before and were enjoying the obligatory stares from the children when some of the Grandmothers came up to greet us. Immediately one woman looked at Lori's Akha Bag and shouted out "This foreign girl sewed an Akha bag" - it was quite obviously not a purchased petung. All the grandmothers came around to examine it. It was a great opportunity to brag on Lori a bit so I told her to get the bag she was working on now. She pulled out her most recent Akha needlework and the women were so proud of her. One of them said "This foreign mom has an Akha heart" (she was called 'mom' because of her age - we are not reporting any new family additions).

The women in that village sell Akha bags, bracelets and other handicrafts to tourists who come through the area, so we spent a short time teaching them some key English phrases (numbers, "come look", prices) while we drank the water they offered. Then we were off again - but not without the Villagers asking us to "daw de ga la de" (come back and visit again).

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Notes from an Akha house

2006-03-30T11:41:00.000+07:00

We have had a relatively quiet day today after a very active day yesterday and had a chance to catch up on some of the household chores that just needed to get done (and a chance to email in a blog entry from our phone). We needed to 'rewire' our kitchen - which means extension cords and metal tiebacks (thank God for the leatherman!), sweep / scrub / scrape / burn / and otherwise clean all the surfaces in the kitchen and arrange everything back again. These tasks are significantly increased in difficulty by the miriad of children who flow through our home like a mountain stream.

We also took the time to do the less traditional chores of mosquito net mending (we're still paying for our adventures with the rats) and land planning (portions of the land our home is on are crumbling/eroding away), but both of these jobs will take a few more efforts to complete.

It was great to get some work done indoors and in the shade, because it was hot again today. But after a lot of heat, we finally have some rain this evening (which is adding to our chore list - our thatched roof needs a little tie-down work). Our dirt floors also need some more work, but we will likely have to wait until the rainy season before the village has an excess of water for that job.

We are really enjoying our time with our village, but we are also looking forward to next week when we will be at a camp with Akha youth from all over Chiang Rai.

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New Friends

2006-03-22T11:59:00.000+07:00

We just returned to the village on Sunday after picking up A-Wa from the deaf school on Saturday. We were surprised to learn that our roommate (or rather housemate) who was interning in our village has moved out. He graduated a few weeks back which ended his internship and now he's looking forward to a more permanent position. It was a bit odd to come home to an empty house. Luckily our loneliness didn't last long; on Monday morning we woke to find a whole truckload of Bible students had arrived to help the new intern move in. (Incidentally, this was the first we had heard about a new intern... Such is life in an Akha village.)

The new intern is not from Akha Outreach Foundation; he's from another Bible college in Phayao which was started by OMF. He had been to our village several times this past year and we're really looking forward to getting to know him better. We had met a several of the his fellow students at various events and camps as well, but it was fun to spend time with this new crew of students and make some new friends.

Shortly after they arrived, everyone piled back into the truck to go fishing (Akha style) and we jumped at the chance to hang out with these new friends. Also, although Paul has been fishing with the boys in our village, I have never been, so I was itching to see what all the fuss was about! We had a great day fishing and feasting. And to make a great day even better, that evening 8 more friends from Chiang Rai came up to show the Jesus Film in a village near ours. It was really fun, and we even understood quite a bit of the Akha (it might have helped that we kinda knew the story), but by the end of it we could barely keep our eyes open. Needless to say, we slept well that night and were blessed to have gone from an empty house to a house full of friends.

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It DOES feel like 106 Degrees

2006-03-22T11:40:00.000+07:00

In Chiang Rai, we are doing the best we can to beat the heat. Although the weather up in Da Ma GoJo Akha was relatively mild, it is hot down in the city. April is the hottest time of the year in Thailand. Lots of sun and not much rain or cloud cover. It's the "Dry Season", but this has been an especially hot and dry March.

This last week has been especially warm, so we have been seeking out air conditioning to stay as cool as possible. While staying indoors and working on the computer the other day, we found a great website which helped us to justify our holing up. Although it was only 95 degrees outside, it felt like 106. That's hot. Other phrases like "Unseasonably hot with sunshine" have further prompted us to stay indoors and not cook. (Which really isn't bad since we can buy our lunches for fifty cents apiece).

In other news, we picked up our Work Permits this afternoon! We are really excited about this step, which will make all our visa processes much easier in the future. Thanks for your prayers in all of this. Please continue to remember us as we continue in all of our applications and the visa process.

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Akha Fishing...

2006-03-21T11:57:00.000+07:00

Akha fishing is like nothing you would imagine. In fact, the Akha phrase would literally be translated to something like "fish catching" or maybe "fish grabbing" which are both better descriptions of what we did yesterday.

We arrived at the creek and began walking up stream. After about 10 minutes we came to a place where a small island divided the stream in two, so we began the process of building a dam in front of the right side to direct all the water over to the left side of the island. We used a combination of rocks, tarps and mud to make the dam almost completely waterproof. After the water had stopped flowing to the right side of the stream, we all started searching in the little puddles and under the rocks for all sorts of little fish, shrimp, crabs and edible water bugs. Paul and I were not very good at this task... it takes a trained eye which we do not have! Never the less, we had fun and got better at finding fish as the day went on. After the first section was picked over, we pulled up the tarps, set the water running again and kept moving up stream. We ended up repeating the process two more times before we finally settled down to feast on our catch.

As the final dam was being built, about half of us started gutting and preparing the fish for lunch. The only thing we brought for the meal was a bag of cooked rice, some salt and dried chilies. We didn't even bring any pots or pans to cook in, instead our clever Akha friends found everything they needed from the forest around us. They made trough-like bowls and chopsticks on the spot out of bamboo. They even found wild herbs and greens (which were very tasty I might add) to add to the fish soup. About half of the cooked fish were left whole in the soup, while the other half was mashed up with salt and chili to make a paste (which sounds a little gross but was actually quite good!) For desert one of the guys risked life and limb climbing up the mountain to procure some fresh honeycomb for us! What a treat!

When the day was done, we were not only left with sore muscles and full bellies, but with food for thought. What an amazing experience we've been blessed with! I wonder how many people can say they've been Akha fishing (besides the 1.5 million Akha in SE Asia of course!) We are constantly amazed at the resourcefulness and amazing skills that our Akha friends posses. As one of the girls was teaching me how to gut a 2 inch fish with just my fingernail (is that too gross to post?), I was thinking how I would most certainly starve to death if left alone in a forest; but leave an Akha in the forest with only machete in hand and he'll never want for food! It made me ponder the value of my own skills, like being able to type at 30 wpm or create a nice Excel spreadsheet with linking formulas. They didn't seem so special as I was standing there watching a veritable feast materialize out of the forest. I'm sure there's a very deep anthropological lesson here, but this blog is certainly long enough already so I let you ponder that question for yourself!

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Six Hours to Nowhere

2006-03-19T11:40:00.000+07:00

After driving to Chiang Mai and back with A Ju's Mom and sisters we decided to spend one more night in Chiang Rai before heading up to the village. I had driven for six hours, and all the Akha had been in vehicles for over nine hours yesterday so no one was looking forward to another two hour drive.

We also found out last night that our work permits have come in. We have to come back on Wednesday to pick those up, then we will begin processing our new visas.

In other news, there is a village up near ours that has been wanting to view the Jesus film for some time. It's a great process, the entire village gathers in an open area at night and they project the film (in Akha) onto a large sheet. We are hoping a group will come up in the next day or two to show it. We do not know if this village is Christian or not, but please pray that they will be open to the message of the gospel.

That's all for now, we'll keep you updated as all these stories develop.

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Hit the Mi Tsa Running

2006-03-12T11:56:00.000+07:00

After a blur of a trip we are back in Thailand and have hit the ground running. Greg Ressler and a small team from Flatirons Community Church were here for the graduation and we spent some great time with them at Home of the Open Heart, House of Joy and just eating Mangos and Sticky Rice while looking forward to the big event.

And what a big event it was! Although no invitations were sent out, over a thousand people arrived for the graduation and dedication ceremony - all from word of mouth! I saw more Akha Headdresses yesterday than I have ever seen in one place. Fifteen people from our village came down to see our Pastor graduate. It was wonderful to see our friends again! We really missed them, and are hoping to get back to Mae Salong as soon as our schedules allow.

It is amazing to look back a year ago when these students went into their internships; and now they are going into their ministries. We have had the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the hearts of many of these men and women and are very excited to see the Lord release them into the ministries and callings before them. The Akha Hilltribe, even the world, will be impacted by this group.

As far as our lives go: we are hoping to show the Jesus Film in an Akha village later this week and are hoping to unpack and get settled in again in the next few days - we also will be hammering out our schedule for the next two months. The Thai "summer break" is beginning, which means a busy time for us. Youth camps, kids coming home from school, and an enormous water fight are a few of the things we are looking forward to in the next couple of months. Please pray that we can take care of everything we need to before the "summer break" kicks in.

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Bamboo Shoots and Girl Scout Cookies...

2006-03-11T11:54:00.000+07:00

Right now America's supermarkets are overrun with cute little girls in green and brown uniforms selling one of America's favorite treats... Girl Scout Cookies! We were so excited to be around during Cookie Season because the year just wouldn't seem complete with out a box or two of Samoa's and Thin Mints.

Really, I mention Cookie Season because it reminded me of a conversation Paul and I had a few months ago. We were talking about what an amazing experience it has been for us to live in an Akha village. The Akha life is so intertwined with the natural world and the changing of the seasons. For example, most of the people in our village earn a living by picking tea, but we observed that at various times throughout the year many opt for other more lucritive opportunites which nature presents to them. One day we found that instead of going to the tea fields everyone had gone to the bamboo forests around our village to harvest wild bamboo shoots (the edible root of a certain type of bamboo) which they sold to someone who came around in a big truck at the end of the day. And just a few months ago, we experienced broom season when everyone harvested wild grasses to sell to broom makers.

As Paul and I were discussing this aspect of Akha life, we were having a hard time finding the right words to explain this phenomenon to Americans. Even agricultural endeavors in America have become a science. Something as simple as planting some tulips can turn into a major research project. Which type of bulb is appropriate to my region? What type of fertilizer is best? When should we plant them and how deep? Can I buy tulip bulbs on eBay? What will shipping charges be? And the list goes on! In the end, we decided that the best American equivilant to Bamboo Shoot Season was Girl Scout Cookie Season.

It does seem a bit silly to speak about Akha culture and Girl Scout cookies in the same breath, but hear me out and you'll see what I mean. Cookie Season is one of the only things in American culture that we don't plan for. Ask anyone (except, of course, for a Girl Scout) when Cookie Season is and no one will know, but almost everyone takes part in this honored American tradition. One day those cookie tables appear in front of the local supermarket and you say to yourself "Oh, it's cookie season again.... They haven't discontinued Samoas have they? Phew! I'll take two boxes!" From our observation, that's how bamboo shoot season comes about. The Akha do not plant or tend this crop, nor do they worry about when it will arrive. One day they see that the bamboo shoots are ready and they take advantage of this God-given harvest.

I can't help but think of what Christ said .

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Video Download and LA Send-Off

2006-03-07T11:38:00.000+07:00

We're completing our last stop and are looking forward to heading back to Thailand - and to hitting the ground running! To finish our time in the States, we caught up with *almost* everyone at the Foursquare Missions office today, dealt with some business and just debriefed from the last year.

One of the coolest things was when we saw an Akha village when we were walking out of the offices! One of the churches under Pastor Timothy (Fang, Thailand) was on the television in the office and seeing Akha huts, Akha kids and Akha believers stirred something in us to get back home. If you are interested, you can download that video from the FMI website.

Speaking of things that were stirred in us, we were reminded once again of what struck out hearts when we first came to Los Angeles about Foursquare. It is the cornerstone that Angelus temple is built upon:

"Dedicated To Interdenominational, Worldwide Evangelism"

That's what this is about, this Call, this Christianity. This is what drives us. To give every ear the opportunity to hear the gospel. Beyond denominations, beyond tradition, the Truth of Christ to the world. That's why we love Foursquare. That's why we do what we do.

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Hello Sacramento, Goodbye Sacramento!

2006-03-03T11:35:00.000+07:00

Sitting at the Lincoln, CA It's a Grind enjoying the free wi-fi and free coffee (thanks Pinky!) we're able to take a breath after a whirlwind of a time in Denver and Oregon.

Where do we start? The time with family and friends and ministry partners was incredible. It was great to connect again with people with a heart for missions at Salem Alliance. We had an amazing time with our new Pastors Ryan and Mandy Scheller and enjoyed sharing with the people who laid hands on us and sent us out from Hope Chapel. It was a special blessing to share at my alma mater Faith Christian Academy at their chapel - which was also the most nerve-racking of talks! :) Our class with the World-Changers at Faith Bible Chapel was a special honor, and the men, women and staff of that church have continued to be a tremendous encouragement to us. We also were blessed to hear the new vision and direction of Doug Burroughs' new church Hope Boulder and to share with our foursquare family there.

We are now in Sacramento for a very quick "Hello, Goodbye" with some family here then we are off to Los Angeles to catch up with our supervisor's supervisors at the FMI headquarters.

Those of you who we have seen, it has been a real blessing to catch up with your walks, ministries and lives. And those of you we missed, we are sad not to have been able to spend time with you, but appreciate your continued support and partnership. We could not have a better body of exhorters around us in our ministry. Thank you for all your love and support.

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The Akha Language

2006-02-26T11:34:00.000+07:00

For those of you who might be wondering what the Akha language sounds like, Global Recordings has put together an evangelical recording called Words of Life which is available for download. Also, to give you an understanding of our language level, we can understand perhaps 15-20% of the Akha in these recordings, and although they are speaking clearly and slowly it is very difficult to keep up with the speed of the conversation. (I'm getting tired just listening to it) We hope to record people from our village over time and make available songs and stories that they like to sing and tell (walking up and down the mountains, our friends make up songs about walking up and down mountains, it sounds slightly like Native American story telling songs). Keep checking back here and on our downloads page for these updates.

We must be getting a little homesick for our village, it's really great to hear the Akha language again, even though it's obvious we have a long way to go! Well, off to our next commitment... we're looking forward to seeing many of you tonight and tomorrow in church!

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A first look at Second Chance

2006-02-19T11:32:00.000+07:00

DenverPost.com - Movies

In a growing stream of Christian-focused features, "Second Chance" delivers its parable of spiritual growth with enough tender nuance that it doesn't merely preach to the choir.

In this tale of two young ministers - one white, one black - trying to figure out what Jesus really would do, money and power square off against poverty and social justice. Personal and institutional arrogance wrestle compassion and humility. Race stands front and center, speaking to the evolving demographics of many of America's Protestant churches.

I don't know much about this one yet, but it sure looks great, and even more encouraging is the "growing stream of Christian-focused features". It looks like this is a little bit of a smack-you-in-the-mouth movie for the Church to address head-on issues of race and social needs in the growing atmosphere of disconnected, "corporate" churches. A wake-up call to the body of Christ that we are to be doers of the Word and not hearers only.

Perhaps you all have heard the radio broadcasts or read the magazines or seen the trailers advertising for Second Chance. Maybe we've been running around so much that we are out of touch with current movies, but if you haven't heard of this movie yet, we encourage you to check it out - we sure will when we get the chance.

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Busy-ness and Blogging

2006-02-14T11:30:00.000+07:00

Technology available at every turn. Wireless, hi-speed internet connections. No nine-to-five to take us away. You would think we could be more consistent at updating our Journey Notes about our time in the States. Well, we have found that "computer" time is hard to come by. Hopefully most of you who check our site regularly have had a chance to catch up with us so far, but we know there are many of you we haven't had the opportunity to see yet.

For those we haven't seen, we hope to amend that in the next week and weekend. For those of your who attend Faith, we are hoping to be there this coming Sunday and are looking forward to seeing you then! Until then, we'll try to keep our blog(s) up-to-date for you to catch up with us here.

Thanks for visiting.

Refreshed and Weary

2006-02-14T11:26:00.000+07:00

Our time in the States has been a real whirlwind, especially this last weekend (and the days ahead) where we have caught up with old friends and partners with us in our ministry while building new relationships with new friends. Between sharing and hearing we have been very busy, but this has also been such a refreshing time and a constant reminder that God is good. Sharing at Hope was wonderful, and even more encouraging was the buzz over the next days as people told us how they are telling their friends and family about the faith of our Akha friends.

Thank you all for praying for us as we have shared - and thanks to all the friends and family who have come (to churches, open houses and dinners) to hear us speak about our love for the Akha and our village. Over this next week we will be sharing with a school chapel and meeting with our pastors as we look to build vision for our next time in Thailand. Please continue to hold us in your prayers.

My sister and her two children (Junior and Tish) just arrived this evening. Also in town from Kassel, Germany are my Brother and his wife with one of their friends. Later this weekend, my sister's husband will join us as well and all the kids will be back under one roof. It's really wonderful to have everyone from all over the world back "where it all began".

Thanks again for all the support and encouragement here in the States, we have had such a wonderful time with you all (and look forward to time with those we haven't seen yet). We hope you all enjoy a great Valentine's Day!

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Hear us share!

2006-02-07T11:24:00.000+07:00

We wanted to invite all of you in the greater Denver area to come and hear us share during the services at Hope Chapel Northglenn this Friday and Sunday (the 10th and 12th of February). We will share some Akha music and pictures and will speak shortly about our experiences living with the Akha this past year.

This will be a wonderful opportunity for us to see many of you and also a great chance for you to come visit an incredible church. Our time in the U.S. has been very enjoyable, especially being with family and friends. Also wonderful has been the chance to hear sermons and teaching in English for a change! We look forward to seeing many of you in the next couple of weeks and thank you for your partnership with us as we look forward to our continued ministry among the Akha.

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church

Hot lips...

2006-02-05T11:45:00.000+07:00

Have we ever mentioned how spicy Akha food is? Most Akha meals are an upper-lip sweating, nose running, mouth burning, wonderful culinary experience. However, we didn't realize how much we had adjusted to the "spicy-ness", until we went to Taco Bell yesterday. Before we left for Thailand, my Taco Bell sauce of choice was "mild." Of course, Paul has always loved spicy foods, and before we went to Thailand, his sauce preference was one packet of "Hot" and one packet of "Fire." Well, yesterday neither of us could get enough hot sauce to satisfy our new spice-loving tongues. In one meal, the two of us used 6 packets of "Hot" and 10 "Fire" and walked out with that familiar comforting burning on our lips which has come to mean a tasty meal.

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food

Foursquare Missionary to Africa

2006-01-25T11:22:00.000+07:00

Here is a blog worth taking some time to view. Great pictures and simple perspective from (other) foursquare missionaries. Greg and Margaret Fisher have been missionaries to East Africa for 16 years and are now making a transition back to the States - check them out when you get the chance.

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Software for missionaries

2006-01-18T13:11:00.000+07:00

This blog is mostly for other missionaries who might be reading this at Missionary-blogs.com. With the start of the new year, I'm sure many of you ( like myself) are scurrying about trying to get your financial information in order for 2006. Whether it's gathering information from the past year for taxes, or just trying to start fresh with a new budget for the upcoming year, sometimes the task of financial organization can be overwhelming. (Gosh, I really sound like a commercial don't I ?) Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know about a free program that I recently found. Donor Manager is a program written by a missionary for missionaries in order to assist with fundraising and financial tracking. I've just started inputting my information, and it seems very helpful so far (also, very user friendly) and I'm actually excited to sit down and work on finances now! The features are many and I would do the program an injustice by trying to name them all.... So check it out for your self! Hope it helps you as much as it has me!

Since I'm already doing "advertisements", I thought I'd share about e-books as well. We weren't able to bring many books with us when we came overseas, but e-books have allowed us to delve into a good book and escape a little from the pressures of life on the field. With a quick download of Microsoft Reader or Adobe Reader (both free programs) you can read most e-books on your computer or pda. Of course, you can purchase e-books from many sources, but there are thousands of free e-books available from places like Gutenburg.org.(And let's be honest, who doesn't prefer free?) I've heard people say, "I just couldn't stand reading a book on a screen". I have to admit I used to be one of those people, but I've really become accostomed to it. Just this year I've read Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Little Men, and Jo's Boys in e-book format. Many Christian classics are available in free e-book format as well, like The Confessions of St. Augustine, The Imitation of Christ, and Concerning Christian Liberty to name a few. So give it a try !

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"Forever China In a Corner of Thailand"

2006-01-17T13:10:00.000+07:00

I just ran across this excellent Time: Asia article about Doi Mae Salong. It gives a great description of the feel and history of Doi Mae Salong "proper". Of course, we actually live on the outskirts of town in an Akha village, but it's still a very interesting part of our experience here. Sometimes when Paul and I are coming down the mountain, it feels like we're re-entering Thailand after being in the "little China" that is Doi Mae Salong.

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Back in the saddle

2006-01-13T11:20:00.000+07:00

Well, we finally shook off some of our crazy-ness (see our prayer request) and are back in the village. It feels wonderful to have an Akha meal (four-bowl of rice minimum) again and it's good to see all of the friends we have made this last year one more time before we head back to the states.
My computer is, as we tell our Akha friends, "in the hospital". The hard drive is gone. However, by a miraculous opportunity (it booted up twice after its initial problems) I was able to back up most of my data onto the external hard drive that FBCI so generously gave us.
After all we went through in "the modern world" it's actually quite a relief to get back to "the simpler life" (blogging on a cell phone in a bamboo hut - I guess we have limits on how "simple" we get). We ate dinner with Lydia and some of the village women and just laughed and laughed. Mostly about language (Lydia has known us so long now she claims to speak "lots" of English, but we've never heard her say a word) and silly things like fear of the dark and eating too much food. We've dealt with a lot lately and it's really nice that we are at the point in language (even though our pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar have a long way to go) where we can get some comfort from our Akha friends.
Well, our Akha pastor is dragging us up at 5:30 tomorrow morning (it's about 10:30 pm now) for a Bible study from Romans - at least that's the best we could understand from him - so I better wrap this up. Pray that we have understanding and alertness, it's hard to sit through conversations in another language at any time - much more so at 5:00 in the morning! See (many of) you all soon!

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hardware

Narnia was just the beginning...

2006-01-08T11:19:00.000+07:00

Most of our contact with the Western world is through media, and the loudest voices seem to attack the foundations of Christianity. However, we have found yet another example of how powerful the truth is. We were just perusing the missionary-blogs website and came across a blog advertising a new movie coming out January 20th in America. The movie is called "End of the Spear" and is from the story of missionaries who worked with a tribe in Ecuador. We were so moved just by watching the 30 second trailer. The filming is beautiful, the music is reminiscent of Ennio Morricone's The Mission soundtrack, and the storyline (even from a non-missionary perspective) is powerful.

Narnia (a thinly veiled allegory of the Redemption of Christ) and The Passion of the Christ were two recent blockbusters that have brought Christ into the focus of the movie industry. Why the sudden interest? To watch a movie is to engage in a story, and the story of Christ is the story we were created to live.

End of the Spear is opening in theaters all over America on January 20th. It is produced by Every Tribe Entertainment which has already produced one movie based on Jim Elliott and the Auca tribe of South America (not to be confused with the Akha tribe of Southeast Asia). They are currently in pre-production of a new film called Chandra's Mirror. We encourage you to support this effort and to learn more about the heritage of Christian Missions.

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Travel Plans

2006-01-06T11:17:00.000+07:00

A year ago we prepared to move to Thailand "for a long time". Since "a long time" is a very difficult period to plan for (how many pairs of socks do you pack for "a long time"?) we received a wonderful piece of advice: "plan on going for a year". Well, our year is up and our return ticket is waiting for us so we're heading back to the United States to visit friends and family and to reflect on this first year in Thailand.

Now that we have more understanding of the Thai calendar (school dates, breaks, etc.) and what it is like to live here in Thailand we will certainly do things differently in the future. We will be getting our work permits when we return which will allow us to renew our visas in Thailand, also we will not have to leave the country every three months to get our passports stamped which will save in time and travel costs. We will get Thai drivers licenses (so we can fly within Thailand without our passports - the US license and International Driving Permit have been fine for driving in Thailand so far) and have opened a Thai bank account to manage some of our finances from here.

We are moving forward as we become more familiar with Thailand and the way things work here. This trip to the States, however, is coming at the perfect time for us. Despite the wonderful support team around us (here in Chiang Rai with the Akha and with Foursquare friends in Thailand) we have been doing a lot of this "on our own". A time in the states where we know (culturally) how to behave and what to do will be a much welcomed mental change for us, and we hope to take that time of refreshing back to our work with language and learning when we return.

We have changed so much in the last year. We have eaten things that we cannot even describe. We speak (some) Akha. We even speak a little Thai. We drive on the left side of the road in the right side of the car. We've become more compassionate about the social needs of those around us.
But for all that change, we are still looking forward to Chipotle burritos, Red Robin hamburgers and steak fries, snowy mountains, watching an NFL football game live, speaking English and high quality cheese.

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travel

Happy New Year!

2006-01-01T01:06:00.000+07:00

Well, it's 11:38 pm as I write this. If we were in America, right now we would be gathering with friends, probably pouring some sparkling cider and turning on the TV to watch the ball drop. But this night, we are observing a much quieter night. Of course, we are staying up until the stroke of midnight, but instead of games and snacks, we are keeping ourselves awake by watching Star Trek puttering around on our computers!
I went into this holiday season with very strict expectations of how traditions should be observed. I have to admit that our recent holidays were hardly within my expectations, but oddly enough I'm not disappointed. I guess, I secretly thought that after you took away all the American traditions that I know and love, the holidays would seem empty, but just the opposite has occurred. Each holiday has come alive on it's own merit. The birth of Jesus is just as powerful without eggnog and New Years is a wonderful time to remember our new life in Christ whether we have sparkling cider or not!

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Merry Christmas from Thailand

2005-12-26T11:16:00.000+07:00

Merry Christmas everyone! We hope you all had a great Christmas with friends and family. We had a wonderful Christmas here in Chiang Rai - or should I say a number of Christmases. Besides our village Christmas, we also had an evening with House of Joy and a missions group who were visiting from Singapore - Akha food, skits, singing, Akha dancing (simalar to what you might think of Native American dances - a lot of percussion and synchronized dancing around a fire) and roasting Hot Dogs over a bonfire. There is nothing like Christmas with seventy children!
Christmas eve was spent with friends at a local hotel in Chiang Rai which puts on an American-style buffet every Christmas, and we spent Christmas day at home as "just Paul and Lori". We watched White Christmas and had a generally relaxing day. Also, thanks to the convenience that is Skype, we were able to speak to our families.
For those of you we haven't called, we just wanted to send you our Christmas greetings as well and send along a picture of our Christmas decorations.
We hope you all had a blessed holliday & look forward to seeing you in the coming months!

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