February 3, 2015
There hasn’t been a lot of internet where I have been, but I’m glad people with smart phones are able to connect to facebook and post updates and pictures, so that you all know what is going on!
Our ministry last week, after we left Zion café, was up in the mountains. My team of six took a Song Tao with 10 other people (I wish you could envision the cramped space, people sleeping against you, other people hanging outside the vehicle, and even on top of it!) for 6 hours, not counting breaks. The ride was really bumpy, but had contained beautiful scenery. A few in our number got sick on that ride and on the ride back, but it was an adventure! Ten people in a Song Tao is nothing to us now! 😉
The first thing I saw when we arrived at the “Risen Son Children’s House” was a man wearing a big warm smile, an expression that didn’t really leave his face for our entire stay. His name was P Chai and he was the founder and leader of the home. The “Risen Son Children’s Home” is a kind of boarding house where kids from various villages in the mountains can come and stay while they attend school. This village has the only high school in these particular mountains, and some children may see their families during summer break, and some may not go home in a year at all. That is why it is so important that the children have a good home, a safe place to stay as they go through their education.
I guess on that particular mountain was the only remnant of the “Kirien” people in Thailand. They are originally from Burma, but fled to Thailand when they began to be abused and persecuted. The interesting thing is, the first time I had ever heard of this name was when we were at David Eubank’s house, the leader of the “Free Burma Rangers”, and he had pointed to several people groups who were trapped in Burma and needed help.
P Chai is Kirien and really wanted us to get to know his culture. He taught us some words in Kirien, and on the first day we got to make two traditional Kirien dishes. One was called “MedoPek” (I am not sure of MOST of the spelling on this blog ha ha, so sorry if I offend anyone), which is rice and sunflower seeds pounded together until it makes a sticky, but good substance. P Chai said that the Kirien people were and are very poor and Medopek can keep a family sustained for a week.
We also learned how to loom shirts and weave bags. Well, at least we tried! At the end of our trip, P Chai’s wife presented us with Kirien bags to take home, two of which we helped loom, and one some of us helped weave!
We also helped build another bathroom for the boarding house. Our first time mixing and using cement as a team, woohoo! Every night, our team would split up. One group would take the boys and teach them guitar, and Victoria Baker and I would take the girls and teach them English. These six girls, whose ages ranged from middle school to high school, were so sweet and ready to learn anything we taught them!
On our last day there, P Chai took us to some of his favorite places around the mountain. Every single place reminded me of how beautiful mountains are, and how I miss them when I’m home, just like how I miss the ocean. One such place was the Pason Wadjun Retreat Center, a BEAUTIFUL place, where the scenery looked like paintings, trails can be up in the tree tops, and where royalty comes to stay. P Chai told us the King of Thailand’s daughter comes here often, and when we were there, the center was preparing for a very important official to land there in a helicopter.
P Chai then took us to a lake in the mountains that had these beautiful blue fish that we could feed. Some of us enjoyed feeding the fish almost individually, and then petting their slimy cold backs, and others of us liked to chuck food in the water and let the fish fight gladiator style for a crumb. 
It was an awesome and special experience.
P Chai also took us to the first Kirien church in Thailand. He said that an American Missionary came a long time ago, lived among the Kirien people, told them about Christ, and helped build them a small church and school. Little did that missionary know, that years later it would be the biggest Kirien church in Thailand, a place where 15,000 people will come and gather once a year to worship God in their own beautiful language! Nor could he have anticipated that the little school he helped build would turn into a very large, successful school where kids from other mountains and villages come to learn. It is amazing to know that such an amazing harvest was started by one man’s little act of faith—a harvest he never saw in his lifetime, but one that God blessed long after!
At end of the week, P Chai and the kids made us a bonfire and sang worship songs that he wrote. Even though I couldn’t understand Kirien, I would tear up listening to them sing. It was just a powerful reminder that Jesus was there with them, just like He is with me. He is in every tribe and nation, every language, and every isolated place. He forgets no one and is faithful to all.
Our teams hopes that “Risen Son Children’s House” becomes a place that the World Race and other organizations will return to. They would really like people to stay there for a year to teach English, so if anyone is interested, I have the contact information….just saying. J
Thank you all for reading and supporting me. I have around $11,600 now and I still need to get to $16, 245. These numbers may be off as I cannot get online at the particular moment. Thank you all again! God bless!
~Tori
Interesting food I’ve eaten: A dried maggot, Pad Thai (which is HEAVEN!), Noodles in a Banana leaf, Tapopo (pork, cilantro, rice, and Lussah melon all together in a stew), and Medopek.
Random fact: Victoria Baker and I got to ride on the BACK of a Song Tao on our way down the mountain and to Chiang Mai!
Prayer requests: Health, P Chai, David Eubank, and Emmie’s ministries, safe travels, for our coaches who are mourning the loss of someone, that our team would know Jesus more and more each day, and that we would be good servants.
