Oh the wonders of missional living….
My squad and I left Thailand at midnight on Tuesday. We slept on the floor of the bus, and arrived a couple feet from the Myanmar boarder around 6am. After getting through customs we walked a mile or two in search of the bus station. After blood, sweat, and tears were shed we found transportation that would take us, and our big packs to the bus station. Around 10 am my team got on a 12 hour bus to Yangon, Myanmar.
( SIDE NOTE: when we got to the bus station near customs there was a Christian baptist church on the other side of the road. Myanmar is one of the most persecuted countries in the world when it comes to Christianity, so it was really an awesome surprise to see the church. Jesus was welcoming us to Myanmar. A couple of us went over to “use the restroom” but most of us were just curious to see what was going on. )
When we arrived in Yangon, our ministry host picked us up. We pilled into the back of an old pickup truck. The drive was long, and after driving past small shacks, and dry fields for over 20 minutes, he pulled into a motel. LOL. Literally a motel In the middle of nowhere!!
We got settled into the motel on Wednesday night. Henry our ministry host told us to rest, and to be ready to work on Sunday.
On Friday, I couldn’t keep anything down, I was extremely sick. Im still not sure if it was food poising, bad water, or a parasite. Either way it completely ruined Burmese food for me on.
The next day, Saturday, we got a call from Henry saying that one of the Orphans died. He had been at the orphanage for 11 years. From age 6-17 he died in a motorcycle accident. Henry picked us up, and took us to the orphanage. There were flowers everywhere. The women gave us baskets, and asked us to make the flower arrangements for the funeral.
The next day was the funeral. We were taken to one of the only cemeteries in Myanmar. ( Myanmars main religion is Buddhism, and they believe in burning the bodies.)
We mourned, and celebrated. It was beautiful, and I’m thankful we were able to be apart of it.
What I found most beautiful is over 100 people showed up to this boys funeral. ( name won’t be mentioned for personal reasons)
Heres what we do on a daily basis: 4 of the girls on my team teach English to the older orphans, and the other 4 of us spend the day with the younger kids. My days look like musical chairs, tag, head shoulders knees and toes, and duck duck goose. If you have any suggestions for fun kids games drop them in the comments below. ( we are running out of ideas! )
This is kind of all over the place, but I just wanted to keep you guys updated on whats been going on. If you have any questions about the World Race, or what I’ve been up to, or what my new favorite food is leave a comment and I will answer your question in my next blog!
