Gayle in Thailand

During this last year I joined Facebook for the first time. Often I see people post pictures of delicious food they are eating at their favorite restraunts. I want to post mine here. You see we travel to a different village 3 days a week. We treat the sick, they cook us dinner, and then we do a worship. So we get to “eat-out” quite often. You can see the “Kitchen sink,” here, as the dishes are being washed before the meal. The pig and chickens take special interest!

The “Kitchen sink”

Next we sit cross-legged and enjoy our meal of roots and noodles with rice. Usually we eat with our fingers, but this lady has spoons. I would rather have this type of eating out than any other: Hands down! Why? Not because the food is delicious, pretty or clean, but because we have developed a love relationship with the people, and they will listen to our story of Jesus. We have a far greater meal of spiritual food to pay them back with because they are longing for something better.

“He, (Christ), teaches us that the spiritual food which He provides is of far more consequence to us than is temporal food.” 17MS 1275

At least one third of our time is spent traveling – by foot, motorcycle or truck.

Tricky with two people on a motorcycle and a large bag of medicine! At least the path is dry today!

Don’t forget the picture roll!

It is so effective out here!

This past week BletJhaw totaled 14 hours of strenuous, dangerous, driving just in 1 1/2 days! Four of those hours were in the middle of the night, leaving him weak and exhausted. Some places are so narrow that there is no room for error! Try making 2 point turns around corners on steep downgrades, when reverse must not drift 6 inches forward or down the precipice you go! The Lord has continually saved us on these roads – and from the wild elephants!

Today we took a pregnant woman out and travelled through an area infested with elephants. We passed by 5 piles of elephant dung, but did not encounter them, because we prayed and trusted God.

Sometimes during the dry season we come across a crew building a section of concrete. We cannot go through and must turn around and go all the way back and find an alternate route! We get home in 4-6 hours!  Oh the Endless Endless Pathways!!

I cannot show you the most narrow dangerous places because we cannot stop and get out to take a picture, but all I can say is that I am so thankful for BletJhaw who is an excellent driver, and in spite of almost fainting from exhaustion sometimes, he is always ready to get up and go again in order to save a life or a soul!!

“Hold Thou me up and I shall be safe.” Psalm 119:117

Oh, how I long for my home in heaven where I can fall at Jesus feet and thank Him for all He’s done for us!   –And – can you imagine the beauty of smooth golden streets?!!

My Life:
My skin is beginning to sag and my wrinkles are getting deeper
My eyes are getting much dimmer and my reading glasses stronger
My memory is coming much slower and my mind is more forgetful
My hair has grown much longer and by now is very gray.

I climb the mountains slower, my back-pack has been lightened
People of the world pass me by. No one pays any attention.
There is no attraction, nothing alluring, no talent, or anything to show
I am all alone in a country not my own. All family and friends are far far away!

What then? Do I cry when I look in the mirror?
Do I sigh when I reach my next Birthday?
Am I jealous over the world’s attraction to youth and beauty?
Do I moan over loneliness, and groan that I am “over-the-hill?”

Oh NO NO Never! How could I dishonor my Savior that way!
He decided my birth date. He wants me this age at this time!
I am beautiful in His eyes – the result of His creation and power.
And I cannot fathom the amount of thoughts He has just toward me!

How could I when His presence brings meaning to life
When His hand clasp is firmer and His arms hold me tighter?
When His companionship is so palpable, so glorious and real
And His smile is upon me shedding gladness and light!

How could I when I recall how He has supplied all my needs,
When His treasure house has opened and overflowed my heart
When I see how He has saved my life again and again
And I witness so many miracles directly from His hands

How could I when He works through me – sinner that I am!
To move upon the heathen hearts and draw them to Himself.
When I see that I have some small part in His great work of saving souls
Oh lovely Savior, Oh precious friend – I give you my life just as it is…

… and will love and serve you till the end!

By Thy grace alone!

Far out in the jungle mountains, in the midst of heathenism, opium, spirit worship, devil worship, superstition and fear lies a dying man.

ChaDree.

Not just any man.  We have a huge history with him.  He wanted to worship the God we worship six years ago.  After a few Bible studies he stated:  “Yesterday we worshiped the devil, today we worship God!” We had cut all the devil strings off.

He almost died from cancer and an acute abdomen after that. To get him to the hospital back then during rainy season was extremely difficult.  (You’ll have to read about it in a previous story).  Since that time we have spent hours walking to his village to do Bible studies, in the heat, in the rain, in the dark and past many snakes and wild elephants.  He is slow to understand.  His initial enthusiasm over worshiping God seemed to wax cold, but we kept on.

Now it seems he doesn’t have long to live.  He has been lying in the same spot on the rice bags and rags for over 2 weeks.

My agonizing question before God is:  “Have I done my best to help this man receive eternal life?  Is there anything more I can do? . . .  I must go back!”

BletJhaw, explaining basic Bible teachings.

One more visit just in the past week seemed rewarding.  He is alert and responsive this day.  I lean over him and say:  “You know God loves you.  It’s not too late to give your whole heart to Jesus.  He will take you.  You just need to ask Him to please forgive you for your sins and save you for heaven.  We don’t want to live forever with Jesus in heaven without you.  Will you do it right now?”

ChaDree said:  “Yes.”  He looked in earnest and intent.

Then BletJhaw explained the basic truths to him.  He responded.  We prayed.

God knows his heart, he knows the ignorance and simplicity of these people.  I may not see him again on this earth.

“They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined!”  Isaiah 9:2

After this week I must say that every ‘speck of a shred’ of tender regard that I ever had towards the elephants in this area has been forever banished from my heart.

Satan has had his way with these brutal beasts, and has used all his sophistries and cunning to turn them into sadistic, destructive, threatening, and cruel, giants in order to block the gospel message from going out and destroy the people before they can hear it.

They surround us now, making our work most difficult. It is not safe to travel to any other village. One elephant is so large that his footprint spans over one cubit in diameter! They can run much faster than the people when they are angry and charging. As you know, people have been killed or maimed around here because of them and their motorbikes ruined. People are terrified and not going out. Perhaps the most dangerous place to go is LaGlah. You can be over 90% sure that you will meet one of these monsters if you go that way. The government is trying to put in a water system to that village and they have had to stopped all work on it because of the danger.

The forrest service here does not give permission to shoot them unless they are about to kill you, because now the worth of some of the elephants when tamed is up to 2 million THB (Thai Baht)!  Also the fire crackers will not work any more because these guys are really smart.

Listen carefully now to this: After killing a person, the people will go and bury them out in the jungle somewhere. These elephants know where they are buried. They wait several days, until the body is already decaying, then these evil beasts go, dig the person up and eat them! Hard to believe, but it is the revolting truth. It has happened all around here and in Burma many times.

Now LaGlah is exactly where we MUST go. PaJew came to attend church with us in BYT on Sabbath. Even though he was scared to death, he came. He and his family have tried to keep the Sabbath for a long time now, but don’t know how. He told us that he really wants to be baptized into the Seventh-Day Adventist church! We told him that it is important to know what the Seventh-Day Adventists believe and that he get to know Jesus. We made arrangements to visit him once a week on Thursdays to teach him the truth.

PaJew

I am so thankful for BletJhaw because he has courageously joined me in going ahead and working for God in the face of grave danger, trusting in God at every bend in the road!

I am confident that we are protected with an army of angels, and no elephant will be able to harm us. Precious souls must be saved. It is overwhelmingly evident that it is God’s will for these dear people to understand the Bible and join God’s remnant church! If it is not God’s will for the elephants to kill us right now, than nothing can in any way harm us. I do believe that God is not finished with us yet in this area. The road blocks along the way only prove that God has a great victory ahead for His people and His church.

“Whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.” Proverbs 29:25

“I will make with them a covenant of peace and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.” “Neither shall the beasts of the land devour them but they shall dwell safely and none shall make them afraid.” Ezekiel 34:25, 28

What a week of blessings just poured out of heaven on us!

MONDAY

I will begin with Monday evening at DuPe’s house for Bible study.  We were late because we were detained by treating more patients than usual.  But because we were late the little ones all went to slept and the Mothers were able to stay and listen.  This was one of those divine and sacred meetings, with the people straining to hear each word and struggling to understand!   I spoke on how to have a relationship with Jesus in a living way and not just obey without love.  This practical loving relationship to Jesus is what many people miss.  Their obedience just comes from head knowledge.  Oh how we prayed before delivering these words!!  There are 4 people there who desire to follow God all the way and be baptized!

“Remember that the Lord Jesus is the Master Worker.  He waters the seed sown.  He puts into your mind the words that will reach hearts.”  CS 258  (Please read this entire chapter – it all needs to be copied here)!

TUESDAY

We went to MeDeLeGwee village, far away with only 12 houses.  These people are very ignorant, helpless and needy.  Oh if only we could live here and help the people on a daily basis.  We treated the sick, then brought everybody to our truck and handed out blankets and mosquito nets for everyone.  The happiness and smiles were such a blessing!  Oh let us give and give again!

“A continual imparting of God’s gifts wherever the cause of God or the needs of humanity demand our aid, does not tend to poverty.”   Acts of the Apostles 345  (See Proverbs 11:24)

Now we invited everybody to come to one of the houses for worship.  Most of them came. Oh may God give them the light of understanding is my prayer.  Jesus says:
“The worth of a soul!. . . The soul that has given himself to Christ is more precious in His sight than the whole world.” Evangelism 489

“Whatever is done out of pure love,… be it ever so little in the sight of men, is wholly fruitful.”  2 Testimonies 135

WEDNESDAY

We are now doing Bible study on Wednesday evenings in BYT because 2 people there wish to be baptized!  This week was our 3rd study on the devil.  This meeting is progressing slowly because the people don’t always attend.

THURSDAY

This is our Bible study day in LaGlah.  Two people are interested in being baptized in this village.  As you will read in the next story our safety is in great danger when we go to this village.  It is over 90% certain we will see elephants and they are really terrible to say the least.  Another man has been killed north of us and a bamboo house destroyed. However we go with full assurance, for aren’t we promised protection?

When God grants us His protection and says of us “Ye are laborers together with Me,” If you keep the way of the Lord, you are safe in the midst of the greatest dangers!  (This Day With God 199)

We went on the motorbike, treated the patients, then invited all for worship.  We explained the importance of the Bible.  Oh if you could only have been there to see the complete amazement and intensity on the people’s faces.  God’s spirit is working!

FRIDAY AND SABBATH

Friday and Sabbath were filled with patient care, prayer and worships.  Also I preached on giving.  There was a great attendance and a more reverent spirit.  What a blessing and how powerful is the gift of the Holy Spirit!

I am so excited – the people are turning toward God that I can hardly contain myself! BletJhaw and I are wide awake and earnestly working to reach these people before it is too late. The dangers only make us press forward more eagerly.

“As those who have an understanding of Bible truth try to seek out the men and women who are longing for light, angels of God will attend them. And where angels go, none need fear to move forward. As a result of the faithful efforts of consecrated workers, many will be turned from idolatry to the worship of the living God.” (Prophets and Kings 171.2)

Before they call I will answer and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” Isaiah 65:24

I prayed earnestly for help with my dentistry skills.  I felt that I was doing my patients an injustice because even though I got the teeth out, I knew I was not doing it right.

I am sure that even before I said that prayer, a lovely dentist way up in Alaska heard God’s call to his heart.  He watched a program of our work in BYT on Mission TV and found out about Faith Camp in WA.

By the time I finished my last presentation last year at Faith Camp, I met him and found out he was a dentist!  I was embarrassed and apologized that I was pulling teeth without any instruction because the people had terrible pain and there was no dentist.  He and his lovely wife Katie showed me instruments they had brought and answered all my questions.  I asked them why they brought the instruments, did they think they would need to pull some teeth.  They laughed and he told me that the Lord had impressed him to bring them because someone might need them!  He gave them to me that day!  Besides all that, they said they would like to come visit me for a week and help me learn more!!!

That week was last week!  He brought loads of instruments and supplies.  By the end of the week he gave them all to me!  What a blessing, what friendship, what lovely encouragement and support!

In BYT we only had 2 teeth to pull, but I learned so much about teeth and gums, procedures and precautions, medications and the use of instruments.  I am sure we would have had many more patients that week, but the wild elephants had moved right into our area and into our village and nobody was brave enough to come!  One man had been killed and a female elephant had been stomped to death!

We went to Sunshine Orchard the next week and found many students that needed dental help.  

This one must come out.

Dr. Hamilton patiently instructed me, watched me, guided my hands and loosened up the particularly difficult teeth.  We pulled about 13 teeth that day.  I am forever thankful to them for the great sacrifice they made of their time, energy, and money.  They left their busy office come to the hot and humid weather of Thailand to help me.

I miss them now and will never forget them. They are angels of mercy.  Praise the Lord with me!

It is incredible how it came to pass that Jonathan Hill, Mission TV video producer for JFA, came to BYT to make a video of our work!

They needed to make mission videos, and what better time than the week that Dr. Jack Hamilton and his wife from Alaska would be here!  There was just one small problem – he had purchased his airplane ticket to come to Thailand, but did not have a camera or the equipment that he needed to take videos!  Everybody was praying!

Just a little over a week before his flight, someone donated all the money needed and he purchased everything, then jumped on the plane!  This was super encouraging to everybody because he knew this was God’s divine plan for him, and we knew that God had great plans for the beloved people of BYT and surrounding villages!

This gigantic camera stared at me from morning till night!  Jonathan did not miss a trick.  If this video doesn’t give you a perfect description of our work here in the jungle, than nothing will!

I am so happy to get to know Jonathan over this past week.  God has given him many wonderful talents and he is using them for God’s glory.

Friday, February 5, SeeHe from CooDooMa village came to visit.   This village is near the big pagoda.  Though we never visited this village before, we know most of the people because they have come to us for medical treatment.  SeeHe told us that his house burned to the ground 5 days previous.  They had lost everything.  He had tears in his eyes as he showed us pictures that someone had taken of the terrible blaze.

These people didn’t have an awful lot to begin with because both he and his wife are addicted to opium.  They are usually going from village to village finding work to do for people so they can earn money for opium.  They have 3 children in grade school.

BletJhaw and I immediately gathered together some of our own warm clothes and blankets to give SeeHe.  They were walking, so we couldn’t give a lot of things.  CooDooMa is almost 2 hours of walking uphill.  Elephants are all around that area, in fact they had met one on the way down, and hid behind a tree!

The following week BletJhaw and I made a trip to MaeSot and purchased everything that the family would need to start a new home.  We also purchased 100 blankets to give out to all the poor families who are suffering from the bitter cold up here in the mountains this time of year!  (I simply cannot bare to think of people being too cold).

On Wednesday we braved the elephants again and drove our truck with all the supplies to CooDooMa.  SeeHe’s sad story is true.  Here’s what we saw.

                       Nothing remaining

They are living with his Mother right now along with her daughter and her husband and 3 children!  So now 11 people are living in this small wood home!

The Mother and daughter with husband and baby

The new items brought joy to their hearts.

We will help them build their new home, if the government, or school does not assist them.  We must wait and see.  It will cost 7000 baht just for the elephants to haul in the posts. We must be careful though and pay the workers directly, otherwise it may go to buy more and more opium.

We talked to them about their opium habit and explained the dangers.  I really pleaded with them to stop.  We explained a little about God and prayed with them before leaving.

I really love these dear people!  Won’t you please help us pray for them?!