easter in northern thailand…

I don’t have many regrets. Lots of mistakes, but not many regrets. Saturday morning I slept through my alarm clock and missed watching the sunrise over the mountains of northern Thailand, and the way I can now imagine the sun hit the valleys below the peaks. That might be one regret.

We spent the last week in a remote village on a peak of a mountain in the Mae Moui National Park. You can try to google it, but apparently, there has only been one other group of white people into this village before, EVER… It was the most beautiful place my eyes have ever seen, and probably will ever see (an expectation I’d love to see shattered). pictures will come, but they don’t come close to capturing the beauty or doing what we saw justice…

Our work consisted of painting a church (which by the way is built to house about four times as many people as live in the town, how’s’ that for acting in faith), playing with the children in the village, running a service for Easter, and trying to bring the joy of the Lord into a village without many smiling faces.

Saturday night, I sat in our hut with the rest of the guys, and down the hill I heard the songs of this Karen tribe. I knew they were worshipping. You can hear the difference between worship and all other music, no matter what language it’s sung in. I snuck down the ladder and headed toward the hut where the music was coming from. I waited outside the shelter until I was invited in, and found myself alone in the middle of a Karen Bible Study. Sitting on a floor made from flattened bamboo, with bamboo rods making the entire fram of the house, covered by a roof made entirely of leaves, i sat and observed the church service. It was held under the purity of a lone candle’s light, they sang songs as a fourteen year old boy Ondid played guitar, prayed deep and heartfelt prayers, and then studied the book of Jeremiah together. It was the most fantastic church service I’ve been to this year.

It made me appreciate the role family has in my spiritual journey. It made me recognize the beauty of intimacy with a church body. It made me once again realize kids need to be leading the church. And it also made me realize how simple the idea of the church is, and how complex I try to make it. Church for them is about Jesus, and they’re his body…period.

Other things I loved about this tribal village:

The woman we were with made us coffee after each meal.
There were spiders the size of my hand sharing a hut with us.
The view was incredible…four valleys, often filled with clouds or fog, with peaks jutting out through them. Under moonlight it’s gorgeous. Even better during the day, but best at sunset… 

Easter with this group of people is something I’ll never forget, especially hearing them sing How Great Thou Art and a few other amazing hymns in their tribal language.

Tim kicking a rock about 18 inches cubed down about 20 feet and it gashing open the side of my head as we hiked up a waterfall.
Six guys riding in the back of a pickup truck for three days straight.

Pastor and Rapee are amazing people with hearts fully surrendered, and they legit have seen God’s hand do some fantastic things.

Ondid, a kid God will use to lead worship and preach to dozens of tribes around thailand…without question…and sharing a friendship with him.  

It’s been such a great week so far. Our contact has been awesome, giving us rest and plenty of fun, but making sure we understand our purpose and are being productive. I used my first squatty potty and only showered once, and it was more of a bath in the river at the base of our mountain peak.

Tomorrow things get a little more interesting, so pray for the guys as we head to a new location. You are loved, and I can’t wait to fill you in with more details.