Thailand is so beautiful! These four words describe the beauty inside!
Bamboo: On the border of Burma and Thailand, is a village of about fifty Burmese people tucked in by a Burmese Refugee camp and a bamboo jungle. This village is so beautiful with homes made of bamboo, smiling children singing and playing, a soccer field made of bamboo goals, captivating people, a school, piglets, chickens, and an amazing place called the grace house. The grace house is a church within the village that gathers each evening to worship, read the Bible, play games, and pray. There are about twenty children who gather here each day and worship with all their might and passion! A bamboo hut has become our home for the month and it is so fun! I love the front porch made of bamboo and sharing a sleeping mat and mosquito net with two of my teammates who have become sisters!
Burma: Ten miles from this village is the border of Burma. Due to a civil war and ethnic groups sought to be wiped out, many people have fled to Thailand. Burma has been closed to foreigners entering up until about five years ago. On one of our first days in Thailand, we arrived at the Burma border. The Army men let us enter the country! Amazing! We explored and took in the beautiful scenery when we came across a woman who we got into conversation with. She brought us to her home and was so welcoming! Though we weren’t able to communicate, our friend and ministry partner, speaks her language. She translated as we communicated and we got to pray together before saying goodbye, even though she was Hindu! God is so amazing to bring people together!
Beauty: The Burmese and Thai people are so beautiful! Beautiful in every way. They are so kind, generous, and so humble and willing to care for their communities. One of the special memories from this week, was going into the bamboo jungle with the children! Each Saturday, they go up into the jungle and collect vegetables, fire wood, and bamboo shoots. It was so much fun and an adventure I will always remember! We hiked up the mountain and slipped a couple of times on the muddy and steep way up, so much laughter! Bamboo and lush green trees are all around and it is beautiful! Once we reached the top, the children cut the fire wood with saws and machetes and collected the bamboo and then we made our way back to the steep and muddy part of the jungle! This was the funniest part! As we were making our way down, it was like a slip and slide on a long steep hill! We decided to slide down the jungle! We sat down on the jungle floor and went for a wild ride down to the bottom! It was such a blast and we giggled and squealed the whole way down! I love that memory! Beautiful and so muddy all at once!
Beholding: “Behold your King, Behold Messiah, Emmanuel.” -Lauren Daigle.
I love this song so much because it is filled with so much passion in the way she sings “Behold your King.” It is sung in a way that always makes me think that she is singing it to the world that may not know that Jesus is their Messiah and King. Or in another way, those who do know, yet are now beholding Him in awe of the depths of God. The children is this village are so amazing! They sing to God will all their heart and it is so touching! They behold God each day and seem always aware of the depths of His love and mightiness. I am so excited to watch them worship, pray, laugh, and share their stories this month!
This week we are excited to teach English in the village school, share bible stories at the grace house, and visit villages that are unreached. Thank you so much for reading! 🙂
