Gayle in Thailand

June 20 is the day we moved the clinic into the new building and June 27 the kitchen began to function there!  It is beautiful to put it mildly.  I walk through looking at everything and breathe a prayer of thankfulness to God.  It is all His work.  He has again supplied every need beyond our wildest imagination!  You have to believe that this is a miracle from God because BletJaw and I do not  know how to plan a building to suit our needs.  We do not know how to find a builder or where to purchase supplies.  Step by step God has led us and arranged everything!

We were concerned about the steep bank of loose dirt going down in front of the house.  It could be easily washed away by the heavy rain.  BletJaw and I both came up with a genius plan that would prevent erosion.  We thought of it independently of each other and felt certain God gave us the idea!  Three large tarps laid down overlapping each other and secured at the top.  Rain would pelt down and flow off the tarps like water off a duck’s back, leaving the soil intact and not even allowing the weeds to grow!  God even allowed us to make it out and back in with the tarps and other supplies, one more time with the truck before we drove in to MeaSalit for the last time.  –But that is a whole other story in itself!

Elani has come to Thailand again for 2 months during her school break.  Two years ago she came for 9 months, learning the Karen culture and quite a lot of the language and falling in love with the Karen people.

She has just spent almost three weeks with me in BYT, at the right time to help me move all the medical supplies into the new clinic!  What a great help she was!  I have 3 large metal cabinets in which all the supplies must fit, that used to take up space all over our previous house!  Elani placed everything in perfect order.  I will try to keep it that way!  What a beautiful sight!

In the treatment room

In the store room

June 20 was the first day we began treating the sick in the new building!  As we settle in to the new way of caring for the patients, I marvel at how convenient and easy it is here!  Oh how simple it is to sit on a stool at a desk and take blood pressures and write on the charts.  How absolutely wonderful to open large metal doors and have all the medicines and supplies at your fingertips without opening and closing multiple plastic drawers.  It is so clean and so neat everywhere!

The treatment room

The other side of the treatment room.
The door is usually open into the house. I give patients IV’s there because I can hang the IV in the window. Someday I will get an IV pole!
It is so very convenient to have the house and clinic connected!

And to think, I was going to just move the drawers in and continue using them, thinking it would be better because we are so used to them!  Water is available at the sink!  The bathroom is accessed from inside the building.  The storeroom is chuck full of supplies.  Charcoal poultices etc. are made on the counter!  Stethascopes are hanging from a nail right beside me!  Everything is easy to reach.  I am beside myself with joy!  This is easier and more beautiful than I ever could imagine!  Just think how God has blessed this work!  I even have an oxygen tank!  I can give breathing treatments this way instead of “jogging” with an asthma patient all the way down the hill to the pastor’s house in the pouring rain and then back up again, plus they do so much better with oxygen rather than room air!  There are benches on the porch and in the waiting room.  A window is always open in the waiting room and often we hand patients things through the window.  Oh, how much fun is that?!  The view outside is breathtakingly beautiful!  You can see part of the village and all the surrounding mountains.  In the sky you can follow the clouds and watch the weather patterns.

Oh the patients are so happy to come in here and look around!  We are so happy to see them that we pull up the chairs – and then we all sit on the floor!

I want to thank you!  You have supported us financially and with your many prayers!  You listened to God’s voice calling for help in the jungles of Thailand and you have responded!  Oh thank you for making this all possible!  You are wonderful to me!  I cannot thank you enough!  I cannot wait to do this all over again in LaGlah village! And then on to other villages!  The harvest is ripe!  The people are listening and responding to God’s call all over the place!  God’s work will not languish.  We will press forward and move on, by His grace alone, fulfilling His commission no matter what the cost.  All the honor, all the glory, all the praise and thanks go to the precious Saviour who trod this path before us who alone takes care of all our needs and brings victory and success

There is nothing in the English language that can describe my joy over what just happened today, or that can portray the real significance of it all!  Tears flood my eyes as I reminisce over the beautiful scene!

DJ, our neighbor, asked us to go to NeLeeGwee with him because ShePaw wants us to have worship in her home.

Notice the devil strings around her neck and wrist

Now let me tell you about ShePaw.  She is 30 years old and has a husband and 6 children.  Two times in the past 2 years she almost died of dysentery and dehydration.  God arranged it both times that we arrived just in time to save her life.

Today, we packed just a few medicines and took off with DJ and his wife, greatly looking forward to seeing ShePaw and all the other beautiful people of NeLeeGwee.  I call it the village of children because for such a small village it has over 30 children!

After treating all the patients and enjoying the beautiful children, ShePaw asks us to come into the inner room where the cooking fire is.  We will have worship together in there, but first of all she hands me a large pair of scissors and asks me to cut all the devil strings off her and her children!  No longer will they be chained to the devil and his ways of superstition and fear.  No longer will they offer food to the spirit house and keep the good luck charms and strings above the door post.  No longer will they give chickens and pigs to the witch doctor and worship the devil.  They want to serve the same living God that we worship.  They want to learn about Him and learn to pray!

I cannot tell you how many strings I cut off of those precious people that day!  They had strings around both ankles, both wrists, neck and waist.  Even the one month old baby was completely tied up in knots – but not anymore!  All I know is that when I was finished with the cutting, there was a pile of strings on the floor and all of heaven was rejoicing.  God has His strong arms around them all!  Oh this is a big step for these people.  All their lives they have believed they must have the strings to ward off sickness and calamity.  They believe terrible curses come true if they do not worship the devil this way.  Oh please join me in praying for these dear people as they try to live a new life with Jesus.

DJ cutting all the devil charms and strings off the door post

Can’t you see, that just like LaGlah village, this village also is hungering and thirsting after righteousness?  One after another these villages are opening up!  Oh where are the workers who will dedicate their entire lives to live amongst these people and take care of their physical and spiritual needs and prepare them for heaven?   Oh how I want to, and need to live in every single village full time and take care of all their needs, but I cannot do it all.

Please pray as never before that these people can all receive the light of the gospel, during the short time that is left in this earth’s history so that they can be ready for Jesus to come!!!

Mrs. White says, “Our work must be done quickly.  We must put forth every effort in our power to save souls from death.  Soon the Lord God of heaven will set up His kingdom. … The work will increase more and more in earnestness and intensity until the end.  We need an increase of faith.  We must watch unto prayer.”  TDG 198

Sunday, June 9

“I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”  John 10:10

Today is only one day, but seems like two.  Any one thing that happened this day could be a story all by itself, but I chose to tell it as it happened – all in one day!

It began early with a tooth extraction before breakfast.  This always wakes me up because it takes strength and concentration.  It is still my worst favorite thing to do, but it is so necessary.  I know it is all God making it successful – not me.

Our new building is not quite ready to move into yet because we are still doing touch-up painting, cleaning varnish and paint spills off the floor and putting together PVC pipe for the water lines and installing the big plastic water holding tank out back.  This requires a cement pad.  The rain is showing us exactly where our problem spots are on the high bank behind us and the descending bank in front.  In fact it seems we must put another cement drainage ditch in front of our house to keep the soil from washing out.  We have purchased the bags of cement and hopefully after watching the builders do so much cement, we can do it ourselves?!

On this particular day BletJaw and I started to work, but there were constant interruptions as we ran down to care for the patients as they trickled in.  A man from NeLeeGwee came asking for us to see a sick lady, ShePaw, in his village. We had saved her life 3 years ago and now she is very sick again with breathing problems and is getting worse each day. Strangely enough a truck goes to MeDooGlow  every morning due to a building project on the school at NeLeeGwee and she could go with them to the clinic there, but she refused to go with them!  Could we go and help her?

We decided we could not take the truck, as it is a difficult descent into NeLeeGwee and the heavy looking clouds that covered the entire sky looked saturated with rain that would dump its load any minute.  It seemed the motorcycle would be the fastest, safest way in, and we could still bring a sack of medicine to treat all the other patients there.

Going back in time:  We had visited ChaDree in LaGlah village Sabbath afternoon, (yesterday), and found out that he was ready to go the Chiang Mai hospital if I would go with him.  I was happy because he really needed surgery on his left lung, as his cancer has metastasized there.  Up until this point he had been unwilling to go.  He said someone he knows had 3 surgeries and died on the third, so this will be his third surgery and he did not want to go through with it.  We had talked with him at length about the dangers of doing nothing, and asked him to come to our house when he was ready and I would go to Chiang Mai with him.  Now just as we were leaving on the motorbike to NeLeeGwee, he came in, so we must make it back in time for me to drive to MeDooGlow with him before dark.  (I was praying that God would hold the rain back until all this took place).

It was a fast motorcycle ride taking approximately one hour to get to NeLeeGwee.  BletJaw is becoming a more confident driver and I always enjoy bouncing along behind! We prayed constantly for dry roads.  Though it sprinkled a little here and there and got quite cold, the motorcycle stayed right side up.  ShePaw now seems to be impossible to deal with.  She is very sick with stomach and lung problems, dizziness and for almost a week she seems worse every day and cannot eat or drink much of anything.  Her color is bad and needs hospital care.  I do not have time to start an IV and watch over her today. She had traveled in the school truck 2 days ago, but got almost to MeDooGlow and decided she could go no further so she made them turn around and go all the way back, which was 3 times further than if she had continued on the MDG!  Now they asked us if we could take her.  Nothing is making sense, but we agreed to come back with the truck and take her ourselves if she would only go! -even though we would be quite late with ChaDree.  Before we left they all decided not to go at all!  BletJaw and I prayed with them begged them to take her in on the school truck first thing in the morning.  Then we treated all the other patients who came to us.  Poor ChaDree and ShePaw, how we pray for them.

The Lord still held the rain back for us to make it home.  I took a quick bath and had a tiny bite to eat and then left with ChaDree and his caretaker.  BletJaw would go the other way to MaeLa Camp on the motorbike to do some business. I would leave the truck in MDG and we would take the bus all the way into Chiang Mai.  (This is not an enjoyable trip) I did not know when I would return.

Only 15 minutes into the trip, a heavy rainstorm broke upon us.  How I wished BletJaw was behind the steering wheel!  Careful as I was in four wheel drive low, the truck swung here and there and did more or less what it wanted to do.  I prayed constantly and told my companions that God would get us through, do not be afraid.  On one descent we met a truck that was trying to come up, but got hopelessly stuck crosswise in the road.  It took me quite a while before I attempted to pass in the narrow tilted strip of road beside it.  I know the angels of the Lord that excel in strength, did a lot of work just then to get us through.  The rain continued until just outside of MDG, where there is a concrete road.  This one and a half hour trip had just turned into 2 hours or more.  Now it was getting dark.  How glad I was to park that truck and leave it there!

Now I am in a Karen home with a dear little grandmother and her 3 grandchildren.  that Breck, Emily and I had stayed once before.  We have to sleep the night here and leave by bus at 5:00a.m.  Bang is a 19 year old boy that lives in this house with his grandmother. Breck and I both love him.  He is learning English at a fast pace and wanted an English Bible.  He is a Christian and wants to learn more about God.  Breck had left a lovely little Bible for me to give him because he did not have a chance to see Bang before he left.  Now I am sitting on the floor with Bang and we are talking about God.  He said to me, “You go to church on Saturday and I go on Sunday.” I told him that I do exactly what the Bible tells me to do, and it tells me to worship on Saturday the seventh day.  Later he is reading out of the little English Bible.  He begins in Genesis chapter one.  He reads a verse in English and then reads it out of his Thai Bible so that he understands it.  Now he arrives at Genesis chapter 2:2,3!  When he finally understood it in the Thai Bible, he said, “You’re right, that does say the seventh day!”

Bang with his new English Bible from Breck

Oh isn’t God wonderful to take care of me all day long and then give me this heartwarming experience with Bang!

By now it is 9 oclock, and Bang suddenly asks us if we are hungry.  I am actually starved, but I didn’t say anything.  I don’t know what the 2 other men said, but anyway, Bang is suddenly going out to buy eggs and fix us a meal.  He asked if I would go with him, so away we go on his motorbike and find some eggs before the store closed down for the night.  Bang cooked a lovely meal.  He told me to sleep in his room, which would have been nice all by myself, but just then the grandmother came in who seems to really love me.  She wanted me to sleep in her room in the next bamboo hut, so she ushered me out.  I found myself with several others under the same mosquito net, lined up in a row – blanket provided!

Next thing I know the little lady is pounding me in the back telling me to get up the bus will soon be here.  I looked at my watch:  4:08 a.m.

What a wonderful life with these people, what opportunities everyday to really help them and to experience God so close up and awesome.  He takes us through every situation with tender care.  I feel just so covered up in His love that I want to sing and praise Him with all my being!  This is truly REAL LIFE and it is MORE ABUNDANT every day!

“To the end that my glory, (soul), may sing praise to Thee, and not be silent.  O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto Thee for ever!”  Psalm 30:12

(The only way to do justice to this story is to tell it in her own words with a little help on the English language).

Ready to cross the river into Burma.

NawDahBlet is a 10th grade student at Sunshine Orchard school.  She is 19 years old.

I had school break for six weeks, beginning in March.  I needed to use my time wisely for God.  Two years ago when I attended a camp meeting south of here, I felt in my heart that God was calling me to prepare myself with a knowledge of medicine and the story of Jesus and help the people in my village.  I told the Lord that I would go and do whatever He wanted me to do.  Since that time I have gone back to my village two times.  It is still dangerous in this part of Burma and I have had some real scary experiences, but God has come to my rescue each time.

This time I went in alone.  It seems like nobody else wanted to risk the danger of the soldiers.  I had more than I could carry on my back, but I was not in my village very long, before I had used all that medicine up.  During my 6 weeks I had to come back 3 times to get more medicine!  Finally by the last trip in, DeGwah, a 14 year old friend from school came with me.

I was very busy because other villages around me heard about what I was doing and begged me to come to their village.  These villages are high in the mountains.  Medics would not go up that far to see these people because they would not climb the difficult pathways, and there is great danger in these mountains because soldiers are hiding in the jungles.  You are never too sure when and where they may appear and what they will do to you. They also hide land mines all through the jungle, so you must keep you feet right on the pathway so you do not accidentally step on one.  The difficulty with this is that sometimes it is hard to figure out where the pathway is.

CHA BRAY

My Father went with me when I went to the other villages, because my medicine is too much and too heavy for me to carry, and he also wanted to buy beetle nut in these villages.  On May one we hiked up an extremely difficult mountain pathway to a village name BaDooPoo.  This village has about 13 houses.  I went to rest in one of the houses.  A lady told me that the chief’s daughter was very sick, could I go and visit her.  I told her I would go, I wanted to see her.  When I entered the house and first saw this lady, my breath caught in my throat.  She is 28 years old.  Her name is ChaBray. She looked near death.  Her eyes were closed. Her BP was 80/40!  Her breathing was very difficult and slow.  She was very dirty, so dirty that it scared me, because her arms and legs were in strange positions and she moved them around in a strange way.  She was unconscious and they told me she had been sick for one week, but was unconscious for 4 days.

I discovered that her illness had begun with a headache, vomiting and a high fever.  Right away I thought about malaria.  These people had no medicine and could not even give paracetamol, in fact they don’t even know what paracetamol is, they only tried the witch doctor, who was in her house the whole time I was there.  He had put devil strings around her wrists, and had given rice, and water to the spirit’s house outside, but she had only gotten worse.  I was very sad because I know this girl needed an IV and IV medications, but I do not carry these nor have I learned how to use them yet.  I felt overwhelmed because I didn’t know what to do.  When this happens I just pray pray pray.  I know that God knows what I should do. I want to do my best and really help her.  I asked her Mother if she could swallow, because I needed to give her medicine.  She told me that maybe she could, so I took the paracetamol, artesunate and doxycycline and pounded it up.  I managed to somehow get it down her throat.  I really prayed hard in my heart all the time.  I had to leave to go to another village, and I really did not think this girl could live until I got back.  I was really scared to go and scared to come back because if you are the last one to do anything to a patient and they die, they believe it is your fault.  My Father was sure she would die also.  He did not want to return, but after really praying with all earnestness, I told the Mother that I would return tomorrow afternoon.   I went to another village that afternoon and slept there that night because there were many patients there needing medicine.   I prayed for them all.

In the morning, we returned to BaDooPoo village.  My Father hung back because he did not want us to be blamed for letting the girl die.  But I prayed to God and said, “Oh God, I give this all to You.  Without You I cannot do anything, this is all up to You God I really need You.” My Father all the while was saying, “Do not go! Do not go!”  I glanced at the bamboo pole outside and saw the dress that the girl had worn yesterday hanging there.   Now I really thought she had died. But I knew I must go inside.  I asked God to please give me a happy message here.  Then I called to the people, and climbed the bamboo ladder, asking the Mother, “How is ChaBray?”  “Oh,” Said the Mother, “She is getting much better, come and see!”   I entered the house and ran over to ChaBray, She looked 100% better.  They had cleaned her up and she was sitting up.  She had eaten rice and drunk the ORS I had given her.   I asked her if she was feeling better and she said, “Yes so much better!”  But she did not remember me because she had been unconscious the day before.

Now I prayed with them again before leaving, and explained how to give her the medicine.  They were all so very happy.  In my heart I felt so unexplainably happy.  I had never felt the power of God close-up like this in answer to my prayer before.  Now I know that God really really has the big power, He really can work fast to heal.  I sometimes do not read my Bible enough and my prayers are sometimes short, but in spite of this God did this big thing for me!  How could He be so good to me? I love God more each day and I give all of myself to Him.  I see now for sure that what the people cannot do, God can do.  I am so thankful.

Later my Father told me, “If you were not here this girl would be dead.  You gave the medicine and she got well! You have treated many patients in many villages and they have gotten well!”  Then I told my Father. “Father, everything comes from God, I pray and God helps me.  He has the power, and answers my prayers and helps the people get well.”

MY PARENTS

My Mother and Father are Buddhists, When I got baptized in 2009, my Mother was very angry and she cried and cried, saying:  “My younger daughter is getting baptized and she is cursed.”  Then she cursed me with all the curse words she could think of.  She is still angry about it and curses me. She does not want to know about God.  She does not want me to talk about Jesus.  Every time I do, she runs away and does not listen.

Both my parents try to make me eat pork and all other meats every day, but I do not, even though there is really nothing but rice for me to eat here.

One day my Father asked me, “You say your Father in heaven is coming soon, but He is not back yet.”  I said, “Father, He has not come yet because many people do not know about Jesus and God and He is waiting for them.  He is waiting for you too, Father, You do not know Him yet and you are not ready for Him to come.”  I also told him that nobody would climb these mountains and visit these villages to help the people unless they are Christians and have the love of the Lord in their hearts for these people.  I know my Father is beginning to pay attention to me and the way I live.

Every morning and evening I had worship with the children of my village. I had a picture roll, and the children loved the Bible stories.

When I told the story of heaven and showed them the picture of Jesus welcoming the people into heaven, they were all so happy.  “Do you want to go there?”  I asked.  “Do you want to walk on golden streets and be with Jesus?”  Oh they want to go right now.  I also taught them how to pray.

They are very reverent and fold their hands and close their eyes. Every morning and evening they come to hear more.

Sometimes when returning from long hikes up in the mountains to treat the sick in other villages, I felt too tired to do the worship, but my Father would remind me.  I said, “Father, do you want me to do worship tonight?”  He said “Yes.”  Now every time I do worships my Father sits and listens.

I am also asking that all who read this message could please please pray for my Mother, Father and 3 sisters.  When God comes to take me to heaven, I do not want to be without them all.  I love them so much.

SOLDIERS:

Even though the government of Burma has called for peace, the soldiers inside do not care.  They still have hate and they continue to fight.

The last time I went back to the school to get more medicine,  DeGwah, age 14 came with me. I noticed that she went to sleep at night without praying or reading her Bible.  I told her how important it is for her to spend time with God.  Later she began to have her own worships and I let her tell the Bible story to the children sometimes.

One day DeGwah wanted to go visit her aunt in another village 5 hours motorbike ride from my village.  Four of us went on two motorbikes:  my cousin, my friend, DeGwah and myself with all my medicine.  We slept at her Aunt’s house that night after treating all the patients and in the morning we were riding back home.  We were so happy to be almost home, when suddenly we saw a Burmese soldier, standing in the middle of the road ahead of us signaling us to stop.  We were all immediately very scared because there were many soldiers with him and we knew about the terrible things these soldiers do.   They asked my cousin if he was a DKBA soldier. (Democratic Karen Buddhist Army). He said, “I used to be, but now I am not a soldier.” The soldier then looked through his bag and saw a DKBA scarf in the bag.  Now the soldier is very angry and hit my friend in the face with his fist and kicked him in the side.  I am very frightened as I see them tie my friend’s wrists together and take him into the soldier building.  Then they asked my cousin the same question and searched his bag also. They found a DKBA paper!  They took the rope and tied his wrists together and put him in the building, taking the motorbikes also.  Now DeGwah and I are left.  I look at DeGwah and she is crying.  Now the soldiers look in my bag and see the medicine that I have with me.  They ask me if I am a nurse.  I say, “No, I am only a student, but I am on school break and I come here to treat the patients in my village as best I can.”  They did not ask me any more questions, but they told me to wait for a taxi to take us the rest of the way home.  They gave us food to eat and were very nice to us, but I am very worried about my friend and my cousin.  I am praying all the while for them.  The taxi did not come for a long time, so the soldiers said we must sleep the night there if it does not come.  It is getting late.  Now I am really afraid because DeGwah and I would be in great danger to be there with them over night.  I prayed, “Dear Lord, please send one motorbike to take DeGwah and I to my village safely.”  Just moments later a motorbike came!!  It was a man from near my village!  The soldier asked me if we wanted to go now.  I said, “Yes.”  So DeGwah and I were able to get on this man’s motorbike and he took us to our village.

Now I am really praying for the Lord to please send my friend and cousin safely back, because I am so concerned about their welfare.  These soldiers don’t care about people’s lives.  They have killed so many, plus all the people in my village are saying it is my fault that these 2 men were in trouble.  I told the Lord, “If you send my friend and my cousin back safely, when I come back to my school I will tell all the students how great God is and will give my testimony of His power any time I have the chance.  I will tell others wherever I go about how great a God You are!  Nine days later, just one day before I must leave and return to school at Sunshine Orchard, my friend and my cousin returned!  They told us what had happened to them. They said the soldiers almost killed them.  They hit them many times. My cousin was kicked many times in the face.  His eyes were filled with blood and his face was black and blue.  My friend was hit in the ribs so hard it was very painful to breathe. Then they were told they only had 5 minutes to think about one thing they wanted before they died.  Both of them said they wanted to see their parents. They had not been given any food or water, in fact they were each given a hoe and told to dig their own graves!  They were asked if they wanted to be soldiers and their reply was “No.”  The soldiers told them if they ever tried to become soldiers their parents would be killed. This was a terrible time for them. Though they are in pain, I know they will live and I am very happy and thank the Lord over and over again, because I know that if I had not prayed so much, my cousin and friend would have been killed.

Back at school just one week later I was given the opportunity to tell my story to all the students and teachers at my school!  I was so thankful God gave me the opportunity to keep my promise to Him.  I was able to show my pictures and share with the students what a very present help God is in trouble.  Psalm 18:6 says:  “In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God, He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry came before Him, even into His ears.”   I know God keeps all His promises to us, all the time and I love Him so much.

I feel like I am not a very good person, and that even if I do not make it to heaven, I want to help these people of my village get there, but then I think about how He answered all my prayers, and I know He really loves me. It is hard to believe.  I have a new walk with God.  How very special He is to me now.  I know He has called me to work for my people in my village when I finish school.  I am very happy.  I always want to serve Him and work for Him.

I zoomed in to a group of the ladies and then this group of men.

It was May 12, 2013 at 9:00a.m.  Words cannot do justice to the love I felt in my heart for the people of BYT, WaSueTah, GeGhah, MooDooKee, MeDaLaGwee, NeLaGwee, LaGlah, BlahGlow, KwiCo and others, as they streamed into the meeting hall.  All the preparations, and all the contortions, we had gone through leading up to this date was more than worth it! Here are the dear people that we had treated for so many different illnesses and injuries! Here are some whose lives have been saved.  Here are the ones who have fed us so many meals and given us so much rice.  Here come the dear ones from LaGlah, with smiling, radiant faces and nice clean clothes, so anxious to hear more about Jesus. Here are the little children that we had stitched up, cleaned up, given breathing treatments, taken to the hospital and given balloons!  Each one so precious with the sweetest smiles!

PERSONAL THOUGHTS:

I thought about all the answers to prayer and miracles leading up to this dedication day.  I thought about the day they let us drive over wet concrete to get our supplies home.  It was providential that an army truck full of important soldiers had just “happened” to be coming from the opposite direction at the very same time.  I thought about the day that God did not let the rain spoil our truckload of concrete, and later how God kept our truck full of concrete blocks from falling over the cliff when it slid in the rain. I thought about the day I had taken the truck in for repairs, thinking the four wheel drive had a problem, which it did not, but instead they found the steering mechanism underneath broken, and told me that at any minute it would go, and there would suddenly be no more steering!  I thought about the road we had just driven – sharp turns on steep, rutted descents.  I thought about how God had linked the hearts of the builders with ours.

From left to right: SawDaBee, OhNyo, BeJaw. Other builders came and went, but none of them were able to work as hard or for as long as these three!

One of them was particularly interested in our God, and even now they are coming! We were so happy to be together again!

I thought about the people in America that were praying for this occasion, my Mother, my Sister, Breck and you!!!The thought of this lifts my heart and gives me calm assurance. I thought of my agonizing prayers in the jungle as I poured my heart out to the Saviour asking God to prepare hearts ahead of time, for His words to be put in my mouth, and for His Spirit to be poured out.  I thought about the immense importance of this worship.  Never again would I be able to talk to all these people together at one time.  All our work so far had pointed to this specific day and I knew God wanted to do something big!   Oh these dear dear people, “May all see and know Your power and Your love today dear Lord.” I whispered, “This is the great longing that You have placed in my heart.  Oh please bring streams of brightness from heaven to dispel the darkness inside the hearts of these people.  I know it is Your will. I know You will do it!”  Gratefulness to God floods my heart that He had sent me here to this very place at this very time!!  What a privilege to work for God!  What a joy to see the different situations He puts you in so that you can glorify His name!!

THE STUDENT CHOIR:

Singing from the heart! That is the only way these dear students know how to do it! What a blessing!

Another miracle was in getting permission from the soldiers to transport the students from Sunshine Orchard all the way up to BYT. You can only understand this if you live on the Thailand border! If we couldn’t get permission in TAK province, we would not be able to take them.  Once again I felt the power from heaven as permission was granted.  The soldiers took photos, and the next day, Friday, three trucks transported the students in the choir along with the cook and many teachers.  Praise the Lord!  Because not only did they sing many beautiful songs with all their hearts, but they helped cook, serve the food, clean up and do anything and everything that needed to be done!  We would have been a disaster without them!

THE FOOD:

Meet MooDah, who is the Sunshine Orchard cook. She is an exceptional blessing to us this weekend!

Talking about the cook? Truly the cook was a prized possession!  She had ordered all the food, and we had taken it up to BYT ahead of time.  As soon as she arrived she got the students to lay the rocks down for the pots, find the firewood and start the fires.   She fed us every meal, and then on Sunday, May 12 she cooked a huge meal enough for 400 people.

Outside cooking is the only way to feed a big crowd and MooDah is a genious at it!

We had no idea how many would actually come. It turned out there were about 200 people not counting the students and teachers from Sunshine Orchard. After the worship service those students did something wonderful.  I had no idea how they would go about feeding all these people, it seemed impossible to me, however, they placed all the plates of rice in 2 long lines on the mats, then they put the different bowels of curry down the center.  People came and sat opposite each other in long lines.

Some of them were disappointed that there was no meat, but when they ate of the cook’s delicious vegetarian dishes they were delighted and couldn’t believe a meal without meat could taste so good!  There was lots of food left over, so we bagged up large quantities of curry and sent them home to every village.  The people were so delighted to take it.

HERE IT IS – FULLY DEDICATED TO THE LIVING GOD!

This building occupies the highest spot of the village.  A light on the hill to all who come for help!  We join our prayers with King Solomon,  “Lord God of Israel, there is no God like Thee in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with Thy servants that walk before Thee with all their heart. …Moreover, concerning a stranger, that …cometh out of a far country for Thy name sake.  For they shall hear of thy great name, and of Thy strong hand and shall come and pray toward this house, hear Thou in heaven Thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to Thee for, that all the people of the earth may know Thy name to fear Thee as do Thy people Isreal.”  1Kings 8:23, 41-43

Preston Meyers has videoed this entire dedication service and we will post it here on my web page as well as on their web page as soon as he has edited it!

PahCoo, a young monk, 16 years old, came to see us several days ago with a deep, jagged laceration on his left cheek.  It was certainly a mess. He said something about killing fish with his home made spear.  However he said the laceration was caused from glass.  The story did not fit together very well in my brain, but praise the Lord the jigsaw puzzle type laceration on his face did fit together really well!  I really enjoy doing “plastic surgery,” and getting the pieces together perfectly. Using many fine sutures close together is the key to little or no scarring.

(This paragraph does not explain the title of my story). . .so. . .here it comes!

After his wound was sutured and dressed, I told the young man that I wanted to pray for him.  He did not understand my Karen, so Anna, who was working with me that day, told him again that we wanted to pray for him.  I was kneeling reverently with my hands folded, so he could see how we position ourselves for prayer.  But PahCoo evidently had misunderstood our words, because, the next thing I knew, that young man had quickly gotten up off the floor.  His hands were raised in some sort of blessing and he was repeating a monks prayer in the monks special language!! (Which nobody else can understand)!  With horror I realized I was kneeling with my hands folded right at this monks feet!!!  If someone had taken a picture at that moment, no telling what people would think of me!  I left no time for pictures, however, because I instantly leaped up on my feet, saying “de may ba, de may ba!  Ya ga ba toe ga pa ler na gau na.”  Meaning, “No, No, I will pray for you!” This dear monk boy then copied us respectfully by knelling down and folding his hands while I prayed for him.

Our last day together

BletJaw and I were driving back from MeDooGlow with a load of concrete one day.  The early morning sun was beautiful as it lit up the different color leaves in the jungle, and in passing, you could even hear the beautiful songs of many birds.  I always try to see the birds that are behind those lovely solos.  They are beautiful!

BletJaw’s next words jolted me out of my serenity, and though they were spoken softly and gently, I felt them with reverberating loudness in my brain.  – “What are we going to do when Breck leaves?”

Oh no!  That was something I did not want to think about!   “I don’t know, I answered.  But God always knows how to take care of us.”  I thought about all the help Breck was with patient care, the restocking of medicine and supplies for our backpack trips, the worships, the hand stands and back flips, the miles and miles of driving and heavy work he had done for the building project.  I thought about the quiet consistent Christian that he is.  I could always depend on his positive, cheerful, 100% support in all that I was involved in.  I thought about his ability to counsel and advise others, his overwhelming love for the people and the work here.  I thought about how we laughed together over many funny things that happened, for example, when I bit into a bar of soap someone gave me, thinking it was a sweet orange treat!

Now, tonight, the first night in BYT without Breck, I sit under my mosquito net wondering with amazement how our human brains work.  Why is it that everything was fine before Breck ever got here, but now, after working with Breck these last 7 1/2 months, it is NOT fine anymore here without him?  My eyes are filled with tears right now, and my heart hurts.  I hurt for him as well because it seems so much harder to be the one leaving.

Anybody looking on when the three of us said our final good-byes would not understand the weeping that took place.  We miss Breck more than we can explain.  There is a big empty hole everywhere we look.  We are not the only ones who feel this way.  There are many young little boys and older bigger boys all over the place that feel so very sad also.

One thing is absolutely clear to me, whenever I feel a loss and my heart aches, God ALWAYS gives me more love for others.  “Nothing is too hard for the Lord.”  He alone can fill the empty holes in my heart with His own lovely presence, and with the loss, He gives me a deep yearning for the time we will never part again and bright hope for the future life with Jesus.  May all those boys that Breck has witnessed to and who are missing him now, find the love of Jesus and the same joyful hope for the future is my prayer.

Standing on your head class. Though they were not too good at this, they sure were good at laughing!

None of us know what God has in store for Breck’s future, but one thing we do know for sure, wherever he is sent, he will give his whole heart, and bring untold blessings to those he works with.  —but— BletJaw and I can’t help but pray, “If it is Your will, dear Lord, send Breck back here to work with us.” still again we add, “We only want Thy perfect will alone to be done in all things dear Lord.”

Breck, you are still a part of the team here.  We value your ideas and need you to share our experiences.  We miss you so much and we will always love you!

BletJaw and Gayle