Hey y’all! I’m in Myanmar, somewhere down a dirt road where the bus dropped us off last Saturday pre-dawn. This first part is a journal entry from Saturday night:
Wow. It hasn’t been 24 hours yet and it’s already been an experience. We were hiking across the border bridge between Thailand and Myanmar, and my heart started breaking. A little girl grabbed my water bottle as it was swinging from my pack, and said “water, water, no have!”. Moms and their kids sat on the bridge going into no mans land staring at our plastic food bags. Paint covered people’s faces and their smiles were dark red- dyed by something like chewing tobacco. When they smiled, my heart was so full; these are your people, Jesus. One woman face timed her mom to show us all walking past with all of our packs. Our squad took turns using the squatty potty in the dark, before we took a bus for 12 hours to where we were dropped off. Pretty much every hour we stopped for immigration checks. The first time, we were stopped in a mud parking lot for an hour- they’d taken our visas to make copies for all the immigration stops, but we didn’t know that at the time. The bus had Christmas lights, Buddha posters, and bottled water for us. A little bell chimed every time the bus would rock. Tylynn and I sat together near the front, going in and out of sleeping, watching 27 Dresses, and watching the road. We were on the main highway headed to Yangon – highway 85? The highway was barely wide enough for two cars. It was dirt, with asphalt in the middle. The road reminded me of Forest Lakes after all the storms in 2017 (for those of you at home). Some parts we were crawling at 10 mph going through road-width potholes. At one point the road ahead was completely blockaded, so we went on a dirt bypass around it. The immigration checks happened every time we entered a new state. They’d turn all the lights on and walk the isles with flashlights. One time a few officers got on to take a photo with us. The bus dropped us off around 5 am at a Chinese restaurant. The air, like at the border, was sticky and filmy white. We walked down a paved road for awhile, lined with little stands, until it eventually turned dirt. It was dark, but people were talking on speakers and lights glowed at the edges of fields we walked past. We stopped at a three room house. My team is living here with Agape (a team of 6 gals we lived with in Thailand)! The doors don’t go to the ground, so we already have a broken chair from when the first of our two rat friends came in and someone jumped on the chair. We’ll probably be eating a lot of bread, eggs, and ramen. We have a cement room for bucket showers and two squatty potties. These are all circumstances that are part of the experience, but Jesus, I’m so excited to see what you have for me here. I’m excited for simplicity, for abandonment.
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When we woke up after being dropped off in the dark, we learned that the house we live at is on the school grounds we work at. There’s 27 students who live here, and an orphanage down the road, so kids are playing constantly. We are teaching English at a Bible college to students who are 15 to 40. Our day looks like stunning smog sunrises, fried eggs for breakfast, worship and us giving a message. Class is from 9:15-12. Camille makes us ramen for lunch. Then we have class from 1-3. We teach grammar, vocabulary, writing, and practice conversations. All of it is our own curriculum. Some afternoons we’ll walk down the road. A restaurant has wifi about a mile away. The stands are little stores with canned coffee and snacks. Little kids line the streets
when we walk, screaming hi at us. One guy handed us a baby and wanted to take our picture. Other afternoons I’ll sit in the shade and watch kids playing with a little wooden ball. In the evenings one of us preaches.
I really love life here. The days are slow and long, but filled with so much joy and little bottle up moments. This month, Jesus has spoken a lot over me and our two teams. He said this month would be full of deep joy founded in him, a lot of laughter, and deep abounding freedom. He told me this month will be written on my heart, if I choose to seek his face daily. This month is rhythms and dependency. This month is discipline and abandonment. He told me this month is investing deeply and letting myself feel my emotions and be okay with having a hard time leaving. For some of us, this month might just be okay, but with every tear, we are wiping Jesus’ feet. Jesus spoke salvation and child like faith over us.
Never in a million years did I think I’d ever live in Myanmar. But here I am!! There is hard stuff. My team cried together. It’s hot. Teaching is hard. The squatty potties don’t smell great. We don’t always know what’s going on. BUT all of the hard stuff is NOTHING compared to the goodness of God. We get to dance and watch sunrises and eat meals together and spend time with Jesus and listen to a room full of young people sing Burmese worship songs. I’d been praying for a place in the middle of nowhere, to experience not living like an American, for growing ministry, nature, and full emotions. This month is an answer to all of those prayers!!
I can’t wait to share some of the little bottle up moments, sermons, and what Jesus is doing in me in the next three weeks!!
Love, Cait
