Gayle in Thailand

Do we really appreciate the privilege of prayer?!   More and more lately, the whole beautiful plan of Jesus meeting us with open arms right out of the most Holy place in heaven yearning to separate us from our many burdens of sin, hits me with unsurpassed joy.  Just to think about the door always being open and my Saviour always longing for my time and companionship is too good to be true!  Yet it is more than true!  We come to Him day by day with our burdens and He goes with us through that day without those burdens!  My total life is just hanging upon prayers.

I look around me here in the jungles of Thailand I see hundreds of people who do not even know the name of Jesus.  They are without a burden bearer.  They are hopeless and overcome by their problems.  I have an enormous responsibility to help them all!

Many times here when we pray with patients, they do not know what that is all about.  They search our faces and our posture to find out how to do it.  We see them study our folded hands and then with difficulty form their own hands in the same position.  Each time this happens my heart is filled with a deep sense of responsibility to these dear people to tell them about the One and only true God that we love so much and serve each day.  Perhaps our short time together can leave a lasting impression upon their dear hearts as they go home and receive healing from the Great Physician that they just heard about for the very first time.

Today we saw a man and wife and their small girl.  They are from PaThaMooTah village some distance away.  After their treatment we told them that we would like to pray to the great God in heaven, and ask Him to heal and help them.  Once again I got that aching feeling in my chest because I knew they had no idea what we were talking about.  The man looked up at the sky from our porch, wondering how someone could live up there.  We explained that this is the only true God, He made the trees, grass and flowers and everything around us.  He made us, therefore He loves us more than we can love our families even.  He is the only One who brings health and healing.  With this we bowed our heads and folded our hands.  The father looked real worried and quickly folded his fingers together like we were doing.  Then he noticed his little girl did not fold her fingers and he quickly pushed each of her fingers in the right position, then he concentrated on how to do his again.   This was a magical moment for me as I prayed for these dear people asking that God would reveal himself to them that day and every day.

Please help me pray earnestly for these people.   Pray also that God will help you be willing to go anywhere He sends you, so more people like this can be told the saving gospel story!   Because. . .

“How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?”   Romans 10:14

We visited MoPo and his wife, JaHe twice. We had rushed her to the hospital 2 months ago for emergency surgery. She has just returned home so fortunate to be alive. Her husband is so thankful that we had saved her life and so happy to have her back. Anna enjoyed talking with them.

Anna is 15 years old.  This week she volunteered to come and interpret for me while Blet Jaw was off!  She has a most incredible talent from God to understand and speak the Karen language .  She was willing to interpret my prayers, worships and sermons, even though she had never done that before!  Breck and I were ecstatic.  Without her we would not be able to come to BYT this week at all because our Karen language skills are not good.

The following incidents are solid proof that the Lord sent her to us this week, so that we could meet the emergencies.

1. Jah Cher, an eleven year old female from WahSueTah had a severe allergic reaction to some type insect bite on her foot.  Her face was swollen, she had a rash, her breathing was labored –chest heavy and she was not able to talk. Without immediate intervention, she could have turned anaphylactic.
2. Jah Dah, a 38 year old male came from a distant village with a badly infected foot.  He had punctured it with a rusty nail 2 days ago!  He had a high fever and was heading for real trouble! He was able to get an incision and drainage with irrigation and wick, Antibiotics, and a Tetanus Toxoid injection.
3. Three villages were visited and scores of patients treated.  One of those was LaGlah, where eager people sat and listened about God!  (See story: “The Presence of Jesus”).
4. The FIRE coming to DJ’s house, changed directions because of prayer and the village saw the power of God!  (See story: FIRE! FIRE!)
5. She interpreted our prayers with every single patient.  She interpreted a worship for Breck this Sabbath morning.  She interpreted my sermon today, and of course all the communications with the patients and the builders.

In addition to this, Anna cooked every meal!  What a good Karen cook she is!  She puts ‘love’ into every meal!  She also made quick friends with all the young girls of BYT.  Everywhere we went people kept saying, “She speaks better Karen than I do!”

Thank you Anna for a tremendous job!  God is with you! He has given you talent.  Please continue in His work!

I was on my way up the mountain to make a phone call when I came to DJ’s house.  I stopped dead in my tracks, because fire was just the other side of his house and he was trying to wet the thatch part of his roof with a tiny trickle of water from a plastic tube.  (This time of year we run out of gravity fed water).  DJ told me he was very frightened because someone had cleared the jungle trees for their new rice field too close to his house.  March is the month each year when they burn.  The wind was blowing in the wrong direction and the flames were leaping up into the air with a dreadful noise and coming closer by the second.  Bamboo is very loud when it burns because the air filled sections in the bamboo explodes loudly.  Quickly I ran back to our house to call Anna and Breck so we could pray together. Already the flames were making a mad dash straight for the house, driven on by an unusual heavy breeze.  As we fell on our knees in the grass by his house I pleaded with God to change the wind and save DJ’s house.  DJ loves the Lord, keeps His commandments and often does the worships and prayers in church and other homes – surely God would save his house.

Then the miracle happened!  It was just moments after our prayer the wind changed!  The fire switched directions and went roaring up the mountain side, leaving a tiny line of flames just behind DJ’s banana trees.

He was able to beat those flames out with leaf covered tree branches.  The devil was not happy, so he caused the flames to circle and come in on the other side 30 minutes later.  However, as it came close to DJ’s banana trees it stopped.  Consequently DJ’s house, his banana orchard and his pineapple plants were preserved.  Now we can see a burnt area forming a semi circle around his property, proof of God’s protecting power!  DJ expressed gratitude to God and for our prayers that were answered so incredibly that day!

“TharaMu,” (Karen word for teacher), DJ said to me, “Thank you!  God made sure you were here today, so you could pray for me, and save my house!  God answered you right away!”

Praise the Lord!!  He works these miracles to prove to the people here that He alone is God!!  He is in charge of the wind and the flames.

“Often there will come to us a sweet, joyful sense of the presence of Jesus.” (Heart Communion with God, Chapter 8).

You notice the quote says, “Often!”  It surely happened again today!  We had just come back to BYT from MaeSalit, and planned to visit 2 villages by truck the next day.  We had packed the medicine already because we had met some sick people in these villages on our way in. However DJ, our neighbor told us that LaGlah village needed us.  They had come to BYT twice already looking for us.  They greatly desired that we do a worship with them because their children would go off to school the next day.  Could we come and pray for them.  Of course we would!  Early the next morning before the sun was up we began walking.

I wish you could have joined us in the worship at DeHtu’s house!  They fed us lots of food – their best, and then called in the neighbors.  My favorite thing in the whole world is to sit in the midst of those who do not know Jesus but are hungering and thirsting for a knowledge of Him – eager to hear the truths of the Bible!  This time I told about Jesus blessing the children, and Jesus tender love and care for every detail of our lives.  A picture roll had the perfect picture to show.  Bible verses were read, songs were sung and prayers were said.  They long for our presence with them in their village to teach them and show them the way to live for Jesus.  They want to learn so they can be baptized and worship God the way we do!  A deep sense of the presence of Jesus thrills my soul today!

 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.  How than shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?  And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?  And how shall they hear without a preacher?  And how shall they preach accept they be sent?”  Romans 10:13-15

Once again I am lost for words to describe the incredible working of an awesome God!

Side view

It is so true that you can never out-give the Lord.  You give all your time, you give all your money, you give all your talent, you give all your energy, you give all your thoughts, you give all your love, and oh joy of all joys – more comes back to you!!!  True, these things that you are giving are your all, but they are so small and puny compared to what the dear Saviour gives back!  “Oh taste and see that the Lord is good!”  Psalm 34:8

This building project began in my mind almost 3 years ago.  I had no money, but I thought I could someday have a very small and simple room to treat the sick in, because it is not good to treat the patients in the center of your house.  Later I thought this room could be a separate building with perhaps 2 rooms.   Now we have a blueprint for a house and clinic built together to save space on the mountainside, but with 2 bedrooms in the house and 3 rooms in the clinic.  Still it really seemed impossible to do, because of the tremendous cost involved to build in such a remote area.  Builders don’t want to go that far out and materials are so hard to bring in.  I knew it would have to be plain and done as cheaply as possible.  However, I gave it all to God and said, “Oh dear Lord, make this building however You want to, because it must glorify Your name!”

Today I stand and gaze at the building as it develops into something most beautiful!  I ponder the events leading into the purchase of all the materials. In my mind I have not a shadow of a doubt that God is glorifying His name here!

1. At first we had an architect draw up plans for 2 separate buildings.  This blueprint stated that the labor cost was 659,000 baht for the house and 450,000 baht for the clinic.  That is 10,059,000 total, not counting the materials!  This was definitely too much money.  Two other builders would not come because it is too far away and there was no cell phone service or electricity here.  We changed the plans many times and kept looking for a builder.  We cried out to God because we did not know what to do.   It seemed that at such times a hand just guided us through the difficulties and found a builder for us.  He only charged us 80,000 baht to do this large building!  We have fallen in love with him and his 3 helpers.  They work very hard, and take pride in their work.  Praise the Lord with us!!

1. MeDooGlow is the town closest to us on the east side.  The building supplies are a little more expensive, but it is worth it not to travel so far and so steep on the other side.  Consequently we ordered our roofing tiles there.  The tile that came in was a horrible green color, the worst I ever saw!  We told them that we had asked for the turquoise/teal color.  They ordered again and found out Chiang Mai did not have it.  They got it from Bangkok, and when it arrived we discovered that it is the very best quality and most striking color!  Praise the Lord!
2. The builder told us that if we did the roof the way we drew it, – plain and straight, it would look like a warehouse and wouldn’t look good.  He had his own ideas and built us an incredible roof!  I have not seen another roof like it.  It is beautiful.  More praises to God!
3. The builder asked us if we wanted a ceiling and we told him “no” because we thought it was too expensive to buy and for him to put in.  He told us that the fiber kind is simple, and just has to be hung with metal brackets and he could do it quite easily.  OK, we went to Meta on the west side for other things and ordered the ceiling that the builder recommended.  When it came in, wonder of wonders it was very good quality, fancy, and so beautiful!  Praise the Lord  with a loud voice!
4. We went to MaeSot for floor tile.  Secretly this was what excited me the most – picking out floor tile!   We found the prettiest one.  Shiny, with a little bit of turquoise in it to match the roof.  Our hearts were set on it.  Come to find out that ended up being the only one that this store could not order!  We went to another tile shop and there found a tile even more lovely than that one and it was cheaper, but higher quality!  Our hearts sing praises to God!
5. We planned a very small bathroom, but ended up with 2 bathrooms.  One for patients and one for us.  The tile for these bathrooms is too beautiful to explain to you.  You just must come and see for yourself.  Praise the Lord a note higher!!
6. There are dangers in this area that I am not allowed to even mention.  God has protected!  Thank you dear Lord, so much!

I could go on about everything else, like the windows, doors and counters, but it is all too good for words.  I feel a sense of God’s presence during this building phase. Thankfulness, peace and joy fill my soul. Truly God’s name will be glorified.  His gospel story will be told.  His healing works performed as His perfect will directs. What thrills me the most about how God has taken control of this whole thing, is that it proves He has great plans to reach these people and show them His love!  I can feel the love He has for them!  His work is always a success!

With Solomon, on our knees we cry out:  “Oh Lord God of Israel, there is no God like Thee in the heaven, nor in the earth, which keepest covenant, and showest mercy unto thy servants, that walk before Thee with all their hearts.” 2Chronicles 6:14

SoLoChi is 4 years old. He lives in MeDaLaGwee village, almost 2 hours walk from BYT.  We met him about 6 months ago and immediately fell in love with him and his winning smile. His legs were raw and bleeding from a fungal infection and eczema. At least that is what we treated him for.  He healed up beautifully.  However several more months of poor hygiene and SoLoChi was seen at our door again accompanied by his Father, HtuLie.  This time his poor skinny body was totally covered with sores.  He was shaking at times due to the extent of the itching wounds.  The Father told us that his sister, who was older than he was died from the same problem!

Breck did wonders at mixing an oatmeal, betadine, and fungal cream bath for him.  After scrubbing in that for 15 minutes he was slightly relieved, but we knew we must take him to the hospital for IV antibiotics and skin care.  The next day we took him to Meta Hospital on the border.  After 3 days of care there he looked a LOT better.

We bought him new clothes and lots of nurishing food.  Oh how he smiled!  Breck and I wanted to keep him with us, we could hardly part with him, but the boy missed his home and the Father told us that he knew how to keep him clean and apply the medicine.   It was the hardest thing for us to just leave him there today!  It is difficult to heal chronic eczema and fungus in the cleanest environment, but his house is not clean his village is not clean and they are not used to using soap of any kind to wash their clothes or their bodies.   Tomorrow we will visit his village and give them laundry soap and bar soap.

Please pray for him.

Stories will come later, but right now I have had 10 beautiful days with my son Micah, who came to visit!  We have had the most wonderful time together!

What a blessing he is to me! Thank you Micah!! You are in my heart and in my prayers always.

Dusty, weary, truck and driver!
I tried to keep track of how many trips we were making in every direction, but I lost count!

The builder made the posts straight with a home made plumb line. It worked perfectly every time.

Filling the posts with cement.

perfectly at home up there!

Easy for him to get moving on the very top board!

Just as easy to get around up here as it is for us to walk in the living room!

Progress from the back view

The builder cut his thumb deeply with a chisel. The very day I sutured his thumb up, he worked as if nothing had happened.

For the most part only 3 young men work together with the builder. Everything is done by hand. They do a very good job.

Here is how the building looks right now!  So beautiful!  Thank you Lord!  “Oh how great is Thy goodness. . . which Thou hast wrought for them that trust in Thee!”  Psalm 32:19

Please go to Brecks blog at: www.experiencethailand.tumblr.com  and read the most incredibly alarming story about Buddhism in BYT and all of Thailand!      Please keep praying for these people.  They must learn the truth!

Do we truly love each other?

Who is your worst favorite person in all the world?  Do you have the name?  I am sure it came to your mind in an instant.  Now get on your knees and pray earnestly that God would give you His divine love for that person, enabling you to throw your arms around them, truly love them, and go all out to help them to come up to higher ground.

But wait a minute, let’s back up.  First things must come first.  God’s ten commandments show us first to love the Lord with all our heart, soul and mind.  Matthew 22:38 says: “This is the first and great commandment.”  Then:  “The second is like unto it.  Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”

Unless we take the first step in really truly knowing and loving God, we cannot receive from Him the love for our fellow men. Certainly this love from God is of utmost importance to us because Mrs. White tells us to read 1Corinthians chapter 13 every day!  Nothing we do is of any use without it.  Of all the gifts of the spirit the gift of true divine love is the most important. This is one gift that we all can, and must have if we desire Jesus and heaven at last.

Many many times Mrs. White tells us we must have faith that works by love and purifies the soul.  So this tells me that in order to have faith and a pure heart I must own this divine love.  Here are three quotes:

1.     Revelation 3:17, 18. “The gold tried in the fire is faith that works by love. Only this can bring us into harmony with God. We may be active, we may do much work; but without love, such love as dwelt in the heart of Christ, we can never be numbered with the family of heaven.”

2.    “My brethren, the Lord calls upon you to examine the      heart closely. He calls upon you to adorn the truth in your daily practice, and in all your dealings with one another. He requires of you a faith that works by love and purifies the soul.”  Counsels on Health 355

 3.    The powers of darkness stand a poor chance against believers who love one another as Christ has loved them, who refuse to create alienation and strife, who stand together, who are kind, courteous, and tender-hearted, cherishing the faith that works by love and purifies the soul. We must have the Spirit of Christ, or we are none of His.”  Sons and Daughters of God 36

Oh dear fellow pilgrims, we have a lot to learn about true love for Jesus and for one another!! Without His love we are none of His!  How many believers in our very own church are upset at one another, unable to work together, holding grudges, and irritated.  Oh dear ones, as we dwell upon the mistakes and things we don’t like in others, we lose sight of the Saviour and His love!  Our vital connection to Him is LOST!  What a tragedy!

In Paul’s day, “The believers began to look for defects in others.  Dwelling upon mistakes, giving place to unkind criticism, they lost sight of the Saviour and His love.”  Acts of the Apostles 548

Mrs. White states:  “It is not the opposition of the world that most endangers the church of Christ.  It is the evil cherished in the hearts of believers that works their most grievous disaster and most surely retards the progress of God’s cause.  There is no surer way of weakening spirituality than by cherishing envy, suspicion, faultfinding, and evil surmising. . . In the church of God today brotherly love is sadly lacking.  Many who profess to love the Saviour do not love one another. . Let Christians not make it possible for the enemy to point to them and say, Behold how these people standing under the banner of Christ, hate one another!” 

1Corithians 1:10 “I beseech you therefore brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”

Mrs. White had a dream one night.  She “seemed to be standing before a large number of people who were not united.  One would stand back while another desired to go forward.  They were not standing in unity one with another.  She saw a heavenly being appear before them, and heard him say:  “Come into line! No one is fighting a battle on his own charges. The Master of assemblies says, Come into line!”  ….The Lord sees that it is not best for His children to be allowed to do as they please, and refuse to unite with their brethren who view matters somewhat differently from the way in which they may view them.   ….God can never use anyone who is seeking to humble someone else.  Humble yourselves, brethren.  When you do this, it is possible for holy angels to communicate with you, and place you on vantage ground. Then your experience, instead of being faulty, will be filled with happiness and then you will be susceptible to the moving of His Holy Spirit.

The Lord is coming.  The end of all things is at hand.  There remains but little time in which to develop character.”   This Day with God 35

Claim John 13:34 “A new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”

It was a new commandment to the disciples after they witnessed Jesus death on the cross. It seems like a “New” commandment to me each day as, my heart keeps opening to see a new dimension of God’s beautiful, spotless love.  As I consider the sufferings of Jesus, the crucifixion and resurrection and ascension to heaven, the gift of the Holy Spirit given out at Pentecost, and as I pray for a deeper understanding of these things, I have a clearer conception of the love of God and of the nature of that love which I must have for others. Actually, I have the feeling that I am at the very edge of something huge and beautiful. It catches my breath.  I am amazed at His love. I am lost for words to describe it.  My joy is overflowing.  Certainly it is huge.  It is exhaustless, endless and beautiful. The love of God will be our theme of study throughout eternity!  Oh what a precious and wonderful Saviour!

If you see something in someone else that you do not like and you are tempted to feel negative or criticize, may it cause you to search your own heart, humble yourself and turn to Jesus pleading with Him to take away the contention and help you step into line with Him.  We must help each other and lift each other up.  Tears come into my eyes as I see the lateness of the hour and the success of the devil in causing divisions among us.  Let us plead for His love and stand together dear friends!

“The strongest witness that God has sent His Son into the world is the existence of harmony and union among men of varied dispositions who form His church.”  Acts of the Apostles 549

 “In heaven their fitness as workers is measured by their ability to love as Christ loved and to work as He worked.”  AA551

“Only the man who has unselfish love for his brother has true love for God.” AA 550

May each one of us will be filled to overflowing with this true love for God and all others is my constant prayer.

This is really going to happen!  It makes my breath catch in my throat as I stand staring with amazement at the piles of sand, cement blocks, cement bags, rebar and other building supplies!

The builder has arrived with 6 workers!  I am cooking for them and it seems overwhelming. We bought what I thought was a lot of food to feed them, but I noticed that my food supplies are reduced drastically with every meal, and even then it seems the quantity is not enough!  Nor is it the right kind for them.  They want chili paste with every meal and that requires MSG and other ingredients that I never use.  This morning I cooked an even larger pot full to the brim, but then discovered that the workers all went to another village for the day and now I have all this food!

The builder spoke with us and looked at our plans.  We had put the two buildings together because on this hillside there is not enough room to space them apart.  He told us that the way we had it was not going to look good.  It would look more like a warehouse!  I am puzzled to know what to do.

Money is leaving my hand – that always is nerve wracking.

The roof that we ordered came in the other day, but alas it was the wrong color.  Now they tell us this type roofing will take quite a while to get it in if they can get that color at all.  The only solution is to go west to Mae Sot.  The roofing is cheaper there, but it is such a long way over very steep and rugged roads and we also must go there for the pre-made doors and windows.  We don’t want to take the heavy things that way anymore than we have to.  It seems quite dangerous.

Sometimes the front wheels loose traction when going up the steep places!

The truck is taking a beating.  Thanks to sound advice we had two more leaves put in the rear suspension, the clutch fluid replaced and new brakes.  This week or next we will have a scoop put on the hood to cool the inner cooler, and a fan placed beneath the turbo so it runs cooler.  Did I say that right?  I don’t know.  –But – I never knew this truck was capable of working so hard!  I know the angels of the Lord are holding it together.  I honestly do not know how it takes such heavy loads up places that were never intended for trucks to drive.  Four wheel drive low is a wonderful gear!

I also never knew we could work so hard, but our Heavenly Father sustains us moment by moment!  Today we hauled truckload after truckload of sand from the river where the villagers collected it, up to the building site.  Actually Breck and BletJaw did way more heavy lifting than I did, but I sure do love to work outside.  We have enough sand now we think, so tomorrow we haul the gravel!!  Oh how I love these people that I live amongst!  Every time they hear the truck returning from a trip to MDG with cement etc. they come running to help us unload the truck.  All day today many people pitched in and helped us move sand all day long including the children!

The three of us really do not know much about what we are doing.  We have never built like this before, especially in Thailand. We cannot speak Thai to deal with the shops when purchasing supplies and communicate our needs. We are not mechanical and do not know how to keep a hard working truck up and running safely either, but listen to the heavenly promises written by Mrs. White:

“Today men from the lower ranks are to take their place in obeying the command, “GO FORWARD.”  By faith they are to meet difficulties, not daring to yield to the strife and babble of unbelieving tongues.  They are to press forward from one degree of success to another, praying always, and exercising that faith which answers prayer.”

“The Lord’s hand can keep in perfect order that which appears to finite minds entangled and complicated.  Those who are called to responsible positions in the work of God often feel that they are carrying heavy burdens, when they may have the satisfaction of knowing that Jesus carries them all.  We permit ourselves to feel altogether too much care, trouble and perplexity in the Lord’s work.  We need to trust in Him, believe in Him, and GO FORWARD!” Rh Jan. 11, 1887 on Ezekiel 1:8

Oh how beautiful to trust in Jesus!  He is carrying the weight.  We will GO FORWARD!  We have no reason to worry about anything.  Already DJ’s wife has agreed to do all the cooking for the work crew!

“All our troubles we may take to God.  His hand of infinite love is moved to supply our needs.  How thankful I am that we have only one day to live at a time.   One day to keep our souls stayed upon, one day to watch, one day to progress in the spiritual life and thus our days may be fruitful, precious days to us!”    “This Day With God.” January 19

I am at perfect peace.   “My day today is in Your hands dear Lord.   You are in perfect control and You bid us simply, ‘Go Forward!’  Yes, precious Saviour, we will go forward!”