Gayle in Thailand

I love these people so much.  Oh how I long for them to find Jesus and His love.  Oh how I long to bring each one to the heavenly home promised to the faithful.

We have visited LaGlah village many many times endeavoring to give them a knowledge of the things of God.  Each time it is so hard to help them to understand.  What seems to us as being a simple Bible story, sometimes makes no sense to them at all.  We pray for wisdom.

This last time that we went to LaGlah, we met in ChaDree’s house as usual.  Many patients came immediately and we settled into the work of tenderly caring for each ones needs.

This sweet young lady and her little boy have a very hard time.  Her husband was not content to live with her because her parents were old and sick.  He did not want to stay and help them.  Life was too hard, so he moved out to the city.  He wanted her to go also, but she felt she must take care of her parents.  He left her for good.  Soon her Mother passed away.  The little tiny hut they had lived in caught fire and burned to the ground.  Her father went to another village where he had friends.  Now she is living with her Sister whose husband uses opium quite a lot.  He is abusive and sometimes scarey.  She is interested in our God and always listens carefully to the worship.  We feel very sorry for her and are presently having a house built for her.

The man on the left has a problem with his right eye.  Eight days ago he was firing a gun.  He could have been under the influence of alcohol or opium because it kicked back directly on his eye.  As I examined him I discovered that his pupil was fixed and dilated.  His vision is almost gone.  He will not go to the ophthalmologist.

This man, PahDa is NOT using opium.  He is always alert and energetic.  We cannot help but notice his intense interest in each Bible study, song and prayer.  Praise the Lord!

After eating rice and chilies with ChaDree, several interested families gathered for worship.  We sang “Jesus Loves Me,” and said a prayer.  This time I told the story of Jesus feeding 5000 people.  They all were very interested in this story, as the Karen people are prepared any time of the day to cook rice for visitors.  Their custom is to always have more than enough rice for everybody.  This miracle caught their attention for sure.  I was so grateful to God that I thanked Him all the way home for helping us make the story and its meaning clear.

This is part of the group that had worship with us that day. ChaDree is 3rd from the right.

Later that evening some people in BYT told us some shockingly and alarmingly BAD news.  ChaDree sells opium!  He is a dealer!!  It is dangerous business because it is illegal.  Soldiers and police multiply in this area every year to try to arrest dealers in particular and also any others caught working in the opium gardens. They are shot or put into prison for many years.  If we are found in ChaDree’s house when the soldiers come we would be involved in the crime.  It is good that we know this information because in the past we have spent many hours in this house, even slept there overnight.  My mind is trying to process this horrible information.

I reflect:

There are many people in LaGlah that are not on opium and have changed some of their ways.  Two families are even now doing their best to keep the Sabbath Day holy and seem eager to learn more.  Even ChaDree has heard God’s call to his heart-I just know it!  He did stop worshiping the devil, he did remove all the devil strings from himself and family.  He did take the picture of Buddha and the pope off the wall.   He did get rid of all the charms and strings from the doorpost.  He did get a Bible and he does try to pray now to the living God.  He wants to enter heaven.  I have seen tears in his eyes when we have spoken of the new earth and read:

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are past away.”  Revelation 21:4

But this is still a very rough little village.  By rough, I mean there is much spirit worship and rituals practiced that chill my bones.  Often we see chicken heads or dead baby chicks and rice laid out on banana leaves in the path to appease the spirits.

This man is calling back the spirit to someone who is sick. They believe that if someones spirit leaves them, they die. Therefore they have a long solemn procedure to try to get the spirit to come back. He has cooked rice and uncooked rice, beer, and some green leaves. He has to tap the stick on the ground for what seems 100 times while he chants a call to the spirits, then he blows on a small cup of rice quite a while before placing it under a string. This process is repeated over and over again.

In this village also several men, because of opium and its related problems have committed suicide by hanging themselves. Others have died by injecting opium, (heroin), directly into their veins with dirty needles and polluted ingredients.  I am overwhelmed at the blatant working of Satan all over this village and the power he uses to chain people down.  Oh how a presence of Jesus is needed here to dispel the darkness.

I think of Jesus words as He counted the great cost in the Garden of Gethsemane:

“O My Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done.” Three times has He uttered that prayer. Three times his humanity shrunk from the last, crowning sacrifice.  But now the history of the human race comes up before the world’s Redeemer. He sees that the transgressors of the law, if left to themselves must perish. He sees the helplessness of man. He sees the power of sin. The woes and lamentations of a doomed world rise before Him. He beholds its impending fate, and His decision is made. He will save man at any cost to Himself. He accepts His baptism of blood that through Him, perishing millions may gain everlasting life. He has left the courts of heaven, where all is purity, happiness, and glory, to save the one lost sheep, the one world that has fallen by transgression. And He will not turn from His mission. He will become the propitiation of a race that has willed to sin. His prayer now breathes only submission: “If this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done.”  {DA 690.3}

After meditating a very long time on this great sacrifice of Jesus to save man from sin at any cost to Himself.  After trying to understand a little bit of Jesus deep love for us, His power to overcome sin, and forgive sinners including myself, I feel so unworthy to be given the privilege to share His love and work for the people of LaGlah.  Hence with fresh courage that only He can give I will go forward.

“He, (Jesus) knew that the life of His trusting disciples would be like His, a series of uninterrupted victories, not seen to be such here, but recognized as such in the great hereafter.  Christ did not fail, neither was He discouraged, and His followers are to manifest a faith of the same enduring nature. They are to live as He lived, and work as He worked, because they depend on Him as the great Master Worker. Courage, energy, and perseverance they must possess. Though apparent impossibilities obstruct their way, by His grace they are to go forward. Instead of deploring difficulties, they are called upon to surmount them. They are to despair of nothing, and to hope for everything.    DA 680                                                                       

We ask you to please pray for ChaDree and the people of LaGlah village more earnestly than before and also that we will have God’s wisdom.

Together let us HOPE FOR EVERYTHING!

Today begins as every other day in BYT.  Our plans are ordinary; our experiences throughout the day are ordinary, everything about it is ordinary, but one thing about this day is not ordinary – today is my precious Mother’s 90^th Birthday!

On this day, a rooster flaps his wings and crows his loudest right outside my window. It is 4:45 in the morning.  He seems to have developed this habit in the last two weeks, but it is a lovely wake- up call so that I can spend more time with God.  Next I go for my usual morning run to WST and back which is approx. 2 miles, surrounded by nature’s beauty.  I use this time to pray and think. The exercise makes my brain work better.  Today I am thinking about my Mother.  Yes, she would love me to be with her on this special day, go out to eat somewhere nice, talk and talk to our hearts content and value each other’s company throughout the day.  We miss each other so very much.  My heart yearns to do something special for her on this day.  What would she like from me?  I have already sent a Birthday letter, but that is so small and my love is so big – – -I know!  I will take my camera with me everywhere I go today and record every detail of how I spend her day.  She would like best of all to know what I am doing and how am I feeling about the things I am doing.  She would like a clearer, personal glimpse into my everyday life in BYT.  Everything has become so ordinary to me over the past 4 years, that I do not think I am doing anything amazingly different or news worthy.  But as I think about how I lived in America, it is very different, and my dear Mother will be interested.

You must know this one thing, that though it is painful to be separated by half a world’s distance. I have peace and joy in my heart about my Mother, for I know without a shadow of a doubt, this solid and most certain truth:  -My Mother is delighted that I am here where God placed me, doing His work.  She has “No greater joy than to know that her children walk in truth!” She cheerfully relinquishes me to the Lord to do His bidding and follow His leading, even though it could mean that I will not see her again on this earth.  Today my heart basks in the sweetness of her love to me.

BletJaw and I eat our breakfast on a mat on the floor and are interrupted by a few patients.  After they are cared for we don our heavy backpacks.  They are very heavy because today we will go to BlaGlow, which is quite a large village 2 hours walk away.  BletJaw always evaluates the way I have packed our bags.  He takes out the heaviest things from my backpack and replaces them with the lighter things.

The day is sunny and beautiful.  No rain today!  We pray together, then leave at 9:05a.m.  We climb and climb, hike and sweat, think and pray.  We pass through beautiful rice fields, ripening and almost ready to harvest.

I think this is the most beautiful terraced rice paddy I have ever seen. It stretches out beyond the eye of this camera photo. This is a different type of rice than the mountain rice that is grown on the steep mountain slopes. It requires much more work.

All kinds of gates are separating the cows from the valuable rice.  The gates are all different, each skillfully built with bamboo to keep the cows out, but let the people get through more easily.  Although many in other areas are very difficult to get over, today on this walk they are fun and easy.

We arrive in BlaGlow at 11:05a.m.

There are cows with their babies, ducks with their babies, and you cannot miss the pigs, both great and small tied up under the houses like prized possessions.

Today the house we usually go to is empty.  A man nearby takes us to another house, quite large and way more comfortable to run a clinic out of.  I am thankful as I let my pack fall off my back. This man tells us that if we can treat his terrible headache, he will go through the village and tell everyone that we are here.  We must have done a good job on his headache because he sure did a good job spreading the news and bringing in the patients!

Someone points out a major leach that has just fallen off my foot, full and fat from my blood!  That is not fair, I think.  It has not rained for about a week, the path is dry and yet there are still leaches.  I get rid of the creature and then stretch a band aid tightly over the place to keep from bleeding all over the nice wooden floor.  No use, the blood pushes its way out of there anyway.  I run outside and grab a leaf off of a certain weed that grows all over the place in abundance.  These leaves are good to stop bleeding.  I wad the leaf up tightly and stretch another band aid over that – problem solved!

The people came in 2 groups to that house.  I told each group that today was my Mother’s birthday and I wanted to take their pictures to send her.  She would love to see them all.  Oh how happy they were to group themselves together and put on their best smile for my Mother!

First group of patients

Second group of patients

Now is the perfect time to pray for them all while they are together and before they get treated and go home one by one.  The prayer is my favorite part of the entire day.  It is a perfect time to “have a little Bible study.”  These people do not know our God.  I do not want to miss praying for even one patient. My prayer goes something like this:

“Oh dear Father in heaven, You are the one and only true God. You made everything  around us, you made us.  You can see us, hear us and help us, and best of all you love us and You love to hear us talk to You like this.  We are so happy to be in BlaGlow with these dear people today.  You know the problems of each one.  We so much want them to feel well and be well.  So we ask that you will help us to give each one the things that they need to make them well.  We also know that no medicine or treatment can do any good without You, because You are the only One who can bring about healing.  So today we ask that You will touch these people and if it be Your will please heal them and bless their families.

Thank you so much for hearing and answering this prayer today.      In Jesus name Amen.

We treated all manner of diseases today, anemia, skin infections, worms, fevers, urinary tract infections, diarrhea, vitamin deficiencies, respiratory infections, anemia, asthma, tonsillitis, ear infections, gastritis, muscle pain, joint pain, masses  and things impossible to diagnose! For example, one woman said that her blood was all messed up and going back and forth in her body, but the worst thing was that her heart was drying up.  Did I have any medicine to keep it from going all dry?  Maybe if she got rid of the beetle nut that may be a good start!

This precious one had a fever and ear infection

This poor old grandma, bless her heart, is weak, dizzy and worn out.

We have all our supplies in different colored drawstring bags. Green=stomach,    Lavender=skin
Pink=vitamins, etc. This makes things quick and easy.

As usual, one of the ladies wanted to cook rice for us.  She wanted us to go and eat right away and treat the patients later.  We insisted that we wanted to treat all the patients first.  It did take a long time, maybe 2 hours or more, by then we were truly ready to eat.

If we forget to bring the hand cleaner, we have truly done a terrible thing!

For your birthday dinner, Mother, I’m afraid there is absolutely nothing that would appeal to you here!  Nothing anywhere near like a birthday cake and other nutritious dishes.  Actually it doesn’t appeal to me either, but we need the calories to take us back up the arduous pathway home.   Let’s see now, there are mushrooms, (Hard as rocks and impossible to chew, many of them were fatally poisonous last year, seems OK this year – hopefully). There are a few very bitter pods, I have learned to tolerate them, there is also cooked cucumber gourd left over from yesterday, covered with flies,  and some fish water – which of course I do not take.  This is a very big meal.  Usually there is just one other dish with our rice, mostly just chilli paste, and we eat off of a common platter with our fingers.  So this is fancy!  Even a low table to eat off of and a spoon!  However, it is very nice that there is a good split in the bamboo floor where I am sitting.  If I cannot chew something adequately, out it goes!

This boy offered us his best!  Grubs!  I’m sure he was pleased that we declined, as he got more than his share that day.

This is beettle nut leaf. They spread a white lime substance over this leaf and wrap it around a beetle nut and chew away. This makes their teeth black after a while. Everything else is blood red.

Outside, this husband and wife are cutting thin strips of bamboo in preparation for the rice harvest. They will tie the bundles of rice and the rice bags with them.

The strips are then dried in the sun.

Now a young boy is calling us over to his house so we can check his Mother.  She has had swollen, burning legs for some time now.  She can barely walk. Her history is sketchy.  I diagnose it as berry berry, a vitamin B deficiency and give her the recommended loading dose of Vitamin B-1 along with other vitamins.  Many patients were seen in this house also. Once again this group was delighted to have their picture taken and once again an earnest prayer was offered for this Mother and family to get to know the living God and His love!  They seem attentive and very interested.

Third group of people. The Mother with the swollen sore legs is in the center in the white shirt.

We saw 33 patients that day all-together.  I pray that soon this village will be ready to hear more about the wonderful gospel.  I know God is answering that prayer before I even call on Him for it!

We begin our walk home at 4:20 p.m.  We go home a different way. Two people stop us on our journey out.  One lady ran to catch us just outside the village.  She needed money to get to Meta hospital.  She said her daughter, 15 years old, was just taken there this morning, unconscious from diarrhea and vomiting.  Her husband had died just a year ago, and she had no money to get to the hospital.  I happened to have just a little money which I gave her.  She gratefully took off for home.  The next day I found out from 2 ladies that lived in LaGlah, a village close by, that this lady was lying.  They know her well. Her daughter is 8 years old and she is not a bit sick.  She has a husband who works hard, and she is known to lie and steal so that she can purchase more opium for herself.  How sad. This is painful news for me.

The next person we passed wanted medical help so we unpacked all our stuff at the side of the road, just to get at what he needed.  It is a marvelous test of patience because every time we pack everything up carefully and leave a village, anticipating home, a good drink of water, a bath, food and rest – in that order, we always get stopped like this two or three times!

Although the first half of our walk home is straight up the side of a mountain, the descent through the jungle is dense and full of raw tropical beauty.  I love coming this way!  The birds are singing “Happy Birthday” to my Mother in sweet melodious tunes. The flowers growing along the path cannot be photographed to truly capture their rare beauty.  I also sing with a joyful heart, songs of praise to my Creator for all these gorgeous things and for the privilege of having such a beautiful, godly Mother that I could share this day with!

We arrive home at 6 p.m. and find out that our day is not over yet.   That bath etc. will have to wait.  Several patients are waiting for us.  One man had come a considerable distance and had waited a considerable time!  He was unable to eat or drink and needed an IV.  After the other patients left, I started his IV by the light of my flashlight and he went to sleep there on the living room floor for the night.

At 10 p.m. I read my Bible, blow out the candle and breath a heartfelt prayer – my cheeks wet with tears:

“Oh Dear Lord, please bless my Mother!”

I have not gotten good internet service for weeks, plus my computer broke down, which is why I have not written.  It is not because there is nothing to write about – that’s for sure!  I could never catch you up on all the events of the last several weeks, or tell you in the heavenly language what would fully portray their beauty!  But this one thing I know, God is working on hearts all around us.  God’s word is not returning unto Him void!!  Listen to these heartwarming events.

•  There are now three other villages that we visit where several people want to learn about our God and worship Him.  Last Sabbath some people came to church here in BYT from each of these villages.  They walked one to two hours in the rain in order to worship with us on the Sabbath day!

•  Because of one young girl, DeMoo, twelve years old, who lives in BYT and goes to church here, several of the students from the school wanted to find out where she is and what she is doing on Saturdays, so one of the teachers brought twenty seven students to our church!  What a lovely Sabbath day that was, and what a great influence DeMoo is to her classmates!

DeMoo is on the right

Thank you so so much for your prayers in behalf of DuPe and ChaDree!!!  I know you are praying – I can feel it!  What power when we are all praying!  Listen to this!

• Two weeks ago while we were having our usual Bible study at DuPe’s house, he told us that he believes in the Seventh-Day Sabbath.  He wants to keep it holy. We had just finished the story of the Ten Commandments given on Mount Sinai with special emphasis on the 4th.  He said will come to church with us and could we please come over on Friday evening and have worship with them because they do not know how to begin the Sabbath properly!  This we did, and what a blessing it was.  He and his wife also want to be baptized!  Of course they need to learn more first, but the love of Jesus is growing in their hearts.  Keep praying please.

Just 4 days ago DuPe came over to our house to get help with a sore throat.  I gave him some throat lozenges,              before he took one, he bowed his head and prayed for a long time.  His entire family now attends church               every week!  Praise the Lord.

• ChaDree and his wife also walked to BYT to go to church last Sabbath morning. His son-in-law told us that if we had not come and taken him to the hospital over one year ago, he would have died.  How thankful they are!  Sometimes other families from LaGlah come.

• Three weeks ago a BYT man, DeHe, 38 years old asked for an audio Bible.  Several other families in BYT have one.  Last week as I was taking my usual run out of the village to WahSueTah and back I heard the audio Bible in someone’s hut, speaking the precious words of life.  The next few days my heart sang for joy because I kept hearing it again and again in that hut!

DeHe, learning how to use his new audio Bible

It seems that little lights are starting to flicker in many of the villages all around us that we visit.  There is an interest in the living God! The Holy Spirit is working on hearts!

No wonder the devil wants to knock me down sick, press us down to discourage us and torture us with the thought that our all our work is accomplishing so little.  Many times we are overwhelmed with the thought that all our efforts are to no avail.  Satan really tempts us to be depressed with so much rain and difficult pathways – no end in sight, and causes us to feel lonely away from family and friends.  All of these things are his desperate efforts to side track us from earnestly working for souls, and to prevent the great harvest just ahead!  Away with such thoughts that dishonor our Saviour.  God has many people here and He asks us to press on through the dark, trusting in His promises and pleading for more and more of His Spirit, power and wisdom to reach the lost.  The results are in His hands. He said:

“So shall My word be that goeth forth out of my mouth.  It shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it!”  Isaiah 55:11

Oh praise the Lord forever!  Let us all endure until the end is my prayer – by His grace alone!

Mrs. White says that we should read and give special attention to Acts chapters 8-10.  She says:  “In them we see that heaven is much nearer to the Christian who is engaged in the work of soul saving than many suppose!”

The angel gave Phillip specific directions to go south to a certain place in the desert.  He obeyed and a soul was saved.

The Lord gave Ananias specific directions to find Saul that he might receive his eyesight and be baptized.  He then became a powerful preacher and thousands were converted because of his ministry.

The Lord also gave Cornelius specific directions so he could find Peter to come and teach them.  In the meantime God prepared Peter’s heart to go to the gentiles.  Consequently Cornelius, his family and many others were baptized.

My heart is thrilled as I ponder these accounts and reflect on how the people were sent to specific houses and responded immediately to the Lord’s requests, and as a result many precious souls are saved for the kingdom.  I prayed to God this way:

“Oh dear Lord, is heaven closer to me than I would suppose?  Could You please use me and send me out just like You did Phillip, Ananias and Peter?  Could You send me to the specific house that needs me?  Could You please help me respond just as instantly as those godly men did?  And Oh dear Lord, one more thing, could You please multiply the results as you did for those men so long ago and bring many of these people to Your kingdom?   -In Jesus name amen

            NeLeeGwee village:     (Story #1)

It was a rainy miserable Tuesday morning.  We had already packed our medical bags to go to NeLeeGwee.  The last time we tried to go to NeLeeGwee, someone saw us walking in the rice paddy and ran to call us to their house in the paddy.  We ended up treating patients in that house until most of the medicine was gone and we had no time to go on to NeLeeGwee.   So today we knew that we MUST go.

It’s OK if it rains while you are on the way, but to start out in a hard rain takes courage.  BletJaw and I both felt lazy and slow.  We had our usual prayer and ‘launched’ off.  The final mountain climb was difficult.  BletJaw said:  “I don’t remember the climb being this hard.”  I silently agreed, too tired to find my voice.  The backpacks were feeling so heavy and the rain caused rivers to flow down the path making it seem harder to ascend.  What a struggle!

NeLeeGwee at last!  We sank onto the floor of ShePaw’s front porch and what a lovely thing to pull the backpack off!  Now we are wet and cold, but no time to bother about that – there were patients to see!  So many patients, that for almost 2 hours we talked and laughed and treated all manner of sicknesses.

ShePaw is the one that asked us to cut off all their devil strings a few weeks before.  She feeds us a lovely meal of rice and greens, and then gathers her family and friends together so we can teach them about God!  I find myself once again in that most delightful position:  -in the midst of eager faces and shining attentive eyes!

“Oh Lord, may they hear You and see You today!”

Most of our worship group that day in NeLeeGwee

I told them the simple creation story, using the “My Bible First” pictures to help them understand.  They had never heard the story before.  They did not know anything about God the Father and Jesus His Son who created the world!  We are in debt to them!  We know so much and they know nothing!  They want us to come back and tell them more!  All thoughts of the hardships of getting here has melted into total insignificance, and the rewards are fathomlessly more overwhelmingly glorious!

Heaven is much nearer!!

*     *     *     *     *     *

LaGlah village:   (Story #2, three days later)

PaGee is 24 years old, and lives in LaGlah village.  He has a wife and 2 adorable children.  Yesterday, he walked to BYT to ask us if we could please come to his house the next morning and have worship at their home.  Certainly! We were delighted to do just that!

When we arrived at their home, we discovered that they had gathered other family members and friends together to attend worship also.  What a lovely group of people! PaGee told us that he and his family are now keeping the Seventh-Day Sabbath!  My joy knows no limit!!  Once again I find myself in that most delightful position:  -in the midst of eager faces and shining, attentive eyes!  I breath a prayer:

“Oh Lord, may they hear You and see You today!”

I told the simple story of Jesus.  How He created this world, came to live in this world, died at the hands of wicked men on a cross to save us, then was resurrected and now is preparing a place for us.  I showed the “My Bible First” pictures to illustrate and told them how much I love Jesus for doing all this for me and for them!  Unbelievable amazement and awe were written on their faces.  Next we sang the song:  “Tell Me the Story of Jesus.”   As I looked into the sweet faces of the children and adults around me, I could feel the presence of Jesus and with tears in my eyes I thought to myself – yes indeed!   -Heaven is much nearer!                                                                                        

Please save them dear Lord.  Thank you so much!

Tears flow freely from my eyes.  This time they are NOT tears of joy!  NO, I have just found out that DuPe is using opium again!  My heart is broken!

This picture was taken last Monday evening after worship. DuPe is in the back, far left. His wife is in the center back, and his oldest daughter’s husband is on the far right.  All the children range from one year old to 16.

Now let me refresh your memory about DuPe.  He has a wife and 6 children.  Two years ago he shot himself in the right ear, wishing to die. He had been using opium excessively for years.  That day the Lord had providentially held us back from our previous appointment so that we would be available to help him.  We rushed him to the hospital.  The bullets were successfully removed from his head in Chiang Mai.  The doctor told him it would take one year before he would be able to do any work at all.  However, after just 6 months he began working in his gardens and is very strong and healthy.  His promise to God after recovering from this horrible self inflicted wound was that he would never use opium again.  He has been true to his promise until now.  His life is a miracle and he has brought us the most joy of anyone since we have been working in BYT!

Every Monday night we go to his house and have worship with his family and friends.  They are hearing all the Bible stories for the very first time, and are so happy to welcome us every week.

Oh how dreadful are the chains of the devil, how overwhelmingly strong and overpowering.

*    *     *    *   *     *

The next thing that happened to make my tears flow some more, was that the last time we went to LaGlah village to see ChaDree and his family, BletJaw saw him smoking opium also!!  He had not been using it for over 4 years.

Thinking about it later, we can see that ChaDree is sick.  He had cancer removed in Chiang Mai one year ago and underwent 2 surgeries.  The last time I took him to Chiang Mai it was for surgery on a metastasis to the left lung.  However, he refused surgery that day and now he only has to wait and see what will happen to him.  We know he is having a hard time.

I ask for you to please do us a huge favor and pray like mad for these two dear men, that they can find God personally and gain the strength outside themselves to overcome.  God is not finished with them yet.  The story is not over.  Pray for a miracle of healing for ChaDree also if it is God’s will.  It would be very encouraging to these people if they know our friends all the way around the world in America are praying for them.

Each day we feel more urgency in doing God’s work here. We press on with more determination than ever to show Jesus to this opium saturated part of the globe.

Since I started for the Kingdom

Since my life He controls

Since I gave my heart to Jesus

The longer I serve Him, the sweeter He grows

Every need He is supplying

Plenteous grace He bestows

Every day my way gets brighter

The longer I serve Him, the sweeter He grows

Chorus

The longer I serve Him, the sweeter He grows

The more that I love Him more love He bestows

Each day is like heaven, my heart overflows

The longer I serve Him, the sweeter He grows.

My precious Sister, Lynn, came to visit for one week. She was on her way to China for a 3 week tour, to present “My Bible First” lessons in all the major cities of China.
Oh how good God is to bring two weary pilgrims together for sweet fellowship and edification! I never saw one week disappear so fast, however God’s presence made each moment special. There is nothing sweeter than a godly big Sister!

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God surely knows what is needed to make His work go forward! I am so thankful for BletJaw working here with me. He cares for every person he meets with the same concern and love whether they are young or old, dirty or clean, rich or poor.  (Mostly poor here)!   He plays with the children and speaks boldly for God and His truth to the older people. He prays earnestly for the patients.

He has gotten to know the patient care routines very well. He draws up IM injections and sets up for many procedures. We can work together smoothly and efficiently.
BletJaw works diligently wherever and however he is needed, whether it be patient care or the never ending work around the outside of our building. I have seen his faith in God  grow each year.  Just the other day he said: “There is no doubt in my mind at all that God built this building. It was clearly one miracle after another all the way through.  I know for sure that God has a plan do great things here!”Thank you BletJaw for all your dedicated service. Your work will be rewarded in that great day when God makes up His jewels!! 

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This is MooNa. She has 2 adorable children and has become a good friend of mine. Recently she made the usual trip up the mountain to make a telephone call. I go up there often myself. This particular day on the way back down she suddenly met a large cobra face to face. She told me that the serpent was bigger around than the top of her arm! You can see by the picture just how big that thing was. But that is not all, she had gotten so close that he raised up its head and spread its hood, which fanned out bigger than a dinner plate!  She was so shocked and frightened that she dropped her umbrella, and bag and fled, leaving even her shoes behind. These type cobras chase people sometimes and there is no getting away from them. God protected her that day – I am so thankful!

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We were on our way to another village when we heard this man call loudly to us from far across the rice field.  Here he comes running….

He led us across the entire rice field to where his son was sitting on his motorbike. He had fallen several days ago and received 15 sutures to the top of his head in Chiang Mai. He was supposed to get a medical person to change the dressing every day and then take out the sutures….

This is the first time I got to do clinic on a motorbike!

Finished! I only got one faint smile from this precious boy the entire time! Next we did clinic in the house that you can see in the background, for 2 hours. This house is where the workers stay when they work in the rice field. It is quite a distance from their village, but they would run back and bring the sick people in to see us…

I am thankful that God changed our plans that day because there were many bad infections etc. We also got to pray with them and tell them some things about God.

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SawTi and BuChee. Each one said: “Ya Batha Tee Breck!”
(I want to see Breck)!

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Here are the precious twins in NeLeeGwee! Their parents both abandoned them as soon as they were born and moved to Bangkok. Now their Grandmother takes “care” of them.

…This is the grandmother.  She does not take care of the twins at all.  She smokes opium! It is the first time I have actually seen it happen. Usually the people scurry around desperately to hide all evidence of opium as soon as I arrive. This little lady looked quite proud of her bad habit. Oh that she may find the Lord for herself and her grandchildren.

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This is DeHe. He lives in BYT. He recently stopped using opium, alcohol and tobacco! I have given him a pair of glasses because he can read a little bit. We gave him a Bible and taught him how to find and read 2 texts to give him strength from heaven to stay off these bad habits.
Presently there are two more men who have come asking for help to stop opium tobacco and alcohol. It is a terrible struggle at first, then later the temptation keeps returning. But God is working on hearts here and some are responding! Praise the Lord!!
Just two days ago, QueeLooey 38 years old living in BYT, told us that he had been baptized into the SDA church 3 years ago. However, he began to do opium, tobacco and alcohol. Every day he said he felt terribly guilty and wanted to return to church, so he decided to quit.   Now he has been off these evil things for 10 days. His muscles were tight and aching and he could not sleep for trembling and fits. We worked on him and helped him use the steam tent etc. to help his body get rid of the toxins.
Please pray for these men that they will find the power outside of themselves and be over-comers in the Lord.

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Three miracles

1.  Just last week an older man came to our house in terrible pain.  He said that he had eaten a certain seed for breakfast and shortly afterwards experienced excruciating pain in his bladder and could not pass much urine.  Two hours later he had diarrhea that continued all day.  Now at 5p.m. he decides he must come to us for help. But as he came he began to throw up violently.  He was pale, diaphoretic and bent double with low abdominal pain.

What exactly was going on I asked myself?  The symptoms do not follow in the right order.  There was many things I could do.  I was perplexed and sent an urgent prayer to heaven.  Suddenly I was impressed to give the man charcoal only, and wait for 30 minutes to see the results. As I was fixing the charcoal I saw the man driven to tears because of the pain.  Oh how I wanted to fix the problem.  He drank the charcoal and we prayed together.  It was less than 5 minutes afterward that the pain suddenly left him and did not return.  “Oh,” said the man, “If I had only come sooner. I did not know that you could heal me so quickly!”  How happy he was.  We told him that God, the One we prayed to, He did the healing, not us.

2.  It seems that this rainy season is the time for appendicitis!  Three ladies have come with the typical rebound tenderness in the right lower quadrant and all the other symptoms accompanying it.  This makes me extremely nervous because it is an emergency and in this rain, nobody can go anywhere.  We gave antibiotics and prayed earnestly for each one.  Do you know, that two of the ladies got well and the other lady must have gotten well because they told us she walked quite a long distance back to her village the next day.

3.  Another newborn baby had sepsis!  They don’t call me right away, but wait until things get a bit worse.  Infants do not show signs of infection dramatically.  Only 100.4 temperature and perhaps rapid or irregular breathing or just not nursing too well, or just a little cold and unable to get warm.  You have to examine them closely.  This baby had all these symptoms and I was totally concerned.  As usual, I am the ONLY one concerned because I know what is really going on and they don’t, even though I try and try to tell them.  The parents and family members are not a bit worried and do not see any danger at all.  They are talking and laughing and having a good time, when in actuality their baby could die!  I give the 2 types of antibiotics and wait anxiously. There is no way to get the baby out to a hospital.   The baby gets well!!!  Praise the Lord with me!

There are many stories like this one and not time or space to tell it all.  All I know is that we serve a mighty God who is ready and waiting to answer every cry for help.  He has done so much healing here in these villages that we will never know the extent of it until we get to heaven.  He is always by our side tenderly guiding us in the way!  How can we thank you enough dear Lord!

I hear His voice on the porch.  I know it is MooWah the 50 year old man who makes the 2 hour walk from MeDeLeeGwee quite often looking for medicine or anything else he can find!  Often he seems to come while BletJaw is not with me.  This makes it hard because this dear man likes to try to get everything he sees, from medicine to spoons, onions, garlic, yellow beans, machete, salt, candles – you name it!  The Karen people are usually not like this, but MooWah is different.  Today when I see him I feel deep pity for him.  I look at him and can tell that his teeth are very painful.  Upon inspection I see infected gums.  Two teeth may need to be pulled, they are loose and very painful to him, but no tooth can be extracted while infection present.  I put oil of cloves on the two teeth.  I take care of his many health needs and then he wanders into our living room.  You see, we do not keep our house closed up.  The front door and the inside door separating the treatment room from our house is always open.

The oil of cloves has taken affect on his aching teeth and now he is feeling no pain.  He walks through to our living room and clicks his teeth together sharply, stating, “I can chew beetle nut now!” He is happy and no matter how we try to tell him that the pain will return and he must use the things we have given him to keep his teeth very clean and perhaps save his teeth from needing to be pulled, he can only think about this moment and his freedom from pain.

MooWah has now wandered over to the bookcase and stares at the awe inspiring picture of Jesus by Nathan Green that my Mother bought for us.  It commands reverence and fills the room with a presence of Jesus!  BletJaw follows MooWah towards the lovely picture, points to it and says:

A most precious moment!

“Do you know who He is?”

“No.” came the answer.

“That is my Father – not my Father here on earth, He is my Father who lives up in heaven.  He is your Father too.  He is the only One who can give you peace and happiness.”

MooWa stood and looked at the picture for some time, and then he went outside and sat on the bench on the front porch.  I followed him out there and stood looking at a little square pouch that was tied around his neck with string.  The man fingered the square and told BletJaw that it was rice and salt.  He said that it keeps him well.  A black string was also tied around his neck.  He told us that this string is there to keep his own spirit with him.  He believes that if his spirit leaves him, he will be sick or some terrible calamity will come upon him.

“No,”  BletJaw told the man.  “That square of rice and salt, and that black string cannot do anything for you whatsoever.  Only Jesus can do these things.

At this moment MooWa, with a determined, firm grip, ripped both the strings off his neck!  Suddenly a big grin crossed his face! “These things are nothing,” he whispered.

MooWah told us that he has terrible dreams at night.  He sees people who have died and they scare him terribly.  He cannot sleep.  Also he is sick a lot and has pain.  BletJaw told him to pray to God about these things.  He said, “I know you do not know how to pray, but you only need to say:  “Help me God, Help me,” when the scary dreams come.  And when you have pain, just ask God for health and strength.  He will hear you and help you.

I watched him begin his difficult hike home – long bamboo walking stick in hand.  A seed had been planted.  Another precious soul has heard about Jesus for the first time!