the past month, my team and i have been in hakha, myanmar. hakha is a cute little town located in the mountains of chin state. our time here has been refreshing for me. we spent our days helping out at mount carmel international school, where we taught english. my teammate, natatlie, and i had 7th and 8th graders. i ended up loving my 3 weeking teaching career, and i’ve realized i really love middle school boys. i never thought i would hear myself say that, but here i am, saying it.
on the first day we were here, we were exploring hakha and wandered into a gym a few blocks up from our guest house. we met a man there, named pasui. pasui asked us if we would be willing to help him learn more english, and of course we said yes, assuming the chances of us seeing him again were not that high. pasui ended up meeting with two of my teammates, natalie and helen, everyday to practice english. one day, natalie was sick and could not go meet with pasui, so i volunteered to go with helen. i was intrigued and wanted to get to know pasui a little.
he picked helen and i up and asked us if we wanted to go a strawberry farm nearby, of course we said yes. so we drove, for about twenty minutes to the strawberry farm. it was there, in the back of basically a strangers car that i was reminded of what a gift this life is. how little gifts are scattered throughout everyday. nothing quite makes me feel more alive than a drive through the mountains. heres an exert from my journal:
‘yesterday was such a good day. there wasnt anything extraordinary about it, but i was reminded of the joy in graditude. i was reminded that soon enough, these days, this season, will no longer be what i once dreamt of but memories and moments that i hold onto. it was one of those days where you know as it’s happening that THIS moment is what you are going to miss. i still wake up most days and wonder how i got here. i dont deserve this. i dont deserve this. i dont deserve this. helen and i went with pasui to the strawberry farm. it was locked, so we couldnt even go in. the drive though, in the back of basically a strangers car was just right. it seems as if i am often trying to tune my heart to beat in rhythm with the father’s, but it was so effortless in those few moments. He gave me His eyes. it was like everything he wanted me i was seeing, and i wasnt missing anything. lost in wonder! i couldn’t help but continue to mutter ‘thank you jesus’. these are the moments i couldnt dream up. these are the times i know that God is right next to me because i couldnt have ever known i needed it until it was happening. i never could have dreamed that my soul would go leaping and bounding, as i sat in the back of this mans car with a girl who had become one of my closest friend as we breathe in the mountain air impressed with pine needles, somewhere in myanmar. we talked to our new friend about Jesus and why we are here and what we like to do. i NEVER could have ever imagined this for myself. He is good! In those moments, he reminded me to keep dreaming. right before i left for the race, i heard a sermon about dreaming. the pastor spoke on how God desgined us to dream, and dream with Him. He wants us to dream our best dreams, put it away for safe keeping, and revisit it in a few years. and we look at how He had met and blown our expectations. I was taken right back to that sermon while we were driving through the mountains. the world race was a dream of mine, i’ve been living it and it’s coming to a close. BUT, that doesn’t mean I have to stop dreaming. this is as good as time as any because I get to dream.’
Pasui has become a good friend for some of our team. He was so kind as to invite us to his house for dinner one night. He is one of the most hospitable people i have ever met. He goes to great lengths to make sure that we are doing better than okay. He has made our time in hakha so special, by the way he has loved us.
I’ll have one last blog coming very soon, but we have about hit the end of this road, folks. thanks for reading. love you! keep dreaming!
