There is the president in the white house, and kings of the earth living amidst wasted luxury. There is the judge and the lawyer with all their years of knowledge. There is the doctor and nurse, educated and dressed in white. There is the business man with his briefcase and expensive suit. There is the cook, robust and full faced, preparing various dishes for hungry people. There is the engineer with small neat hand writing and a vast understanding of mechanisms.  And there you are, -owning a vehicle, a bank account, a wardrobe of clothes, shoes and socks, a job, a refrigerator, and houseful of belongings. . .

MoPo in our house that day, asking if we would help him for the second time to quit the opium habit.

. . . In contrast there is MoPo.  He lives in BYT in a broken down hut with a leaf roof that is full of holes. His few torn and tattered shirts hang over the broken bamboo wall.  His one cooking pot, only cooks his rice.  He gets chilies to eat with it.  He is just a frail, wrinkled, shriveled up, and worn-out old man who has used opium for well over 20 years.  For the people in the upper class society, this man would be ignored, detestable and unfit company for them.  It is hard for my mind to take in the contrast. Some have so much and others – nothing.

“Caste is hateful to God.  He ignors everything of this character.  In His sight all men are of equal value.  “He hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth.”       (Acts 17:26)  DA 403

MoPo has struggled once to quit the opium habit, but was not successful.  Today he is sitting in our house asking for help to try again. My entire heart goes out to this poor sufferer. Oh dear Lord, teach me how to reach him!  His wife has no desire to quit, so this makes things extremely difficult for him.  He will not go anywhere else to live while struggling to lose the habit.  He will not use our steam tent treatment or hot and cold therapy, etc. He only wants to quit because he feels too weak to continue the work it takes to grow the poppies to support his addiction!  He does not know anything about God.  However he did sit and listen intently as BletJaw and I explained to him the love of Jesus, and how to pray.  I long for him to know the living Lord. In his poverty and life in the mountains he has never heard this story.  He simply said he once heard the name of Jesus somewhere a long time ago, yet I sensed he almost wished to say a prayer himself after our prayer was finished.  MoPo is just one of many out here in the jungles of Thailand who unknowingly are reaching out for something better.  This is a vast mission project, but I am encouraged by knowing that the great need of these people vibrates to the Father’s heart of love!

Now, I contrast the love in my heart for this soul, to Jesus love!  Here is yet a greater contrast!

“The value of a soul, who can estimate? Would you know its worth? Go to Gethsemane, and there watch with Christ through those hours of anguish, when He sweat as it were great drops of blood. Look upon the Saviour uplifted on the cross. Hear that despairing cry, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” Mark 15:34. Look upon the wounded head, the pierced side, the marred feet. Remember that Christ risked all.  For our redemption, heaven itself was imperiled. At the foot of the cross, remembering that for one sinner Christ would have laid down His life, you may estimate the value of a soul.

 If you are in communion with Christ, you will place His estimate upon every human being. You will feel for others the same deep love that Christ has felt for you.”

I cry out in anguish:  “Oh dear Lord Jesus, please give me this love!”

Pastor Thashee – far left. Mariya stands next to me, the forth from the left.

Today is the holy Sabbath day!  Oh what a blessing!  As I entered church grounds, I met 5 ladies from the Catholic Church in Bangkok.  They are here to visit the Thai school this weekend and see their progress.  I found out that one lady named Mariya, (After the Catholic belief), was a very important woman.  Her rank and class brought great respect from all the teachers and students at the school.  She is very wealthy and has supported 13 schools throughout Thailand in different ways.  There on the porch of the SDA church, she told me that because she could not go to mass in the Catholic Church on Sunday, she wanted to join with us and worship in the SDA church today!  We welcomed them with open arms.

I was happy that our pastor was here this week.  He can speak most of the Thai language, English and of course Karen.  I sat on the mat beside Mariya to show her the Bible verses and make her feel at home.  (These ladies are intelligent and can all speak the English language fluently). Throughout the song service I noticed she had her prayer beads out and was whispering the rosemary prayers over and over.  I sent up silent and fervent prayers to God to be with the minister, and that the noisy babies would be quiet and go to sleep and that somehow these ladies would find Jesus and long after the truth.  What a priceless time to witness!  What are the chances that these people would ever be in a Seventh-Day Adventist church again?

The next thing that happened caught me by total surprise.  The pastor decided the lesson for today would not be so good for these Catholic ladies, so he asked me to please come up and tell a story of how I witness to people!  Oh dear Lord, what a challenge!  Did You really wish to answer my prayers this way?

An instant prayer went up to heaven and an instant answer came back, “Do part of the talk you did last week at the Christmas program at Sunshine Orchard.”

I could tell that my words did not come from me.  I am no good at impromptu sermons for sure!!!  It was the power of the Saviour, present among us!  The babies were silent and the visitors took in every word.  I felt free to speak and had such joy and love for the people, as I cannot explain.  I will try to tell you just a little of what it was about:

John 15:11 “These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”

We all like to be happy.  At this season of the year, Christmas and New Year cause a lot of celebration and laughter.

I am a nurse, and it fills me with joy to be able to stop the pain, sew the cuts and watch them heal up, and help the sick get well.  However I have noticed that even more joy comes to me when I stand up and tell others about Jesus.  When I talk to the students at the border school, when I talk to you here, when I pray with a patient, or tell people about Jesus in their homes, I experience more joy than I can tell you about.  Sometimes I feel that I cannot even hold any more joy!  But always the next time I share the news about Jesus, here comes even more joy!

When others, like many people in LaGlah village, decide they want to forsake their old ways, love and serve Jesus, and eagerly learn to obey what the Bible teaches, I cannot even put into words the extent of my joy.

This joy is nothing like the celebration and laughter that the world has to offer.  This joy comes from heaven.  It indicates to me that to share what we know about Jesus is the most important thing in the eyes of heaven.  Our joy is full because it comes from God!  (Read John 15:11 again)

“These things have I spoken unto you.”  What are “These things,” that bring joy?  Go back to verses 9 and 10 to find out!  “As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you; continue ye in My love.  If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”

There is the answer for obtaining this joy.  The 10 commandments in Exodus are all about love for Jesus and love for one another.  The 10 commandments show us what God is like – He is love!  When with His help, we choose to obey His commandments we show our love to Him and receive His love in our hearts.

Then I briefly explained about Jesus leaving the perfect and beautiful heaven, where the entire heavenly host adored and worshiped Him, and came to this sinful world as a baby born in a very poor family in a manger.  The wicked men sought to kill Him the entire 33½ years that He was on earth and finally on Calvary He died a horrible and shameful death on the cross, so that He can save us from sin and take us to heaven. This causes me to really love Him and desire to talk about Him everywhere I go!  How can you not help but love Him?

I encourage you today to ask God to help you obey all His commandments and share what you know of Jesus thus experience this joy that just grows and grows.

If we think this is a lot of joy, so much that we cannot hold it all, just think about how we will feel in heaven.  It will go way beyond the joy we experience here on earth.  We cannot even imagine the joy there.   I want to pray for you now that you will have the courage to obey God’s Words, share what you know about Jesus and experience joy on this earth and forever.  Then together we will experience the joys of heaven!

Prayer

When I took my seat on the mat beside Mariya, she hugged me and said:  “I know God sent me to this place today to hear these words.  I am so glad I came!  I am so inspired! Thank you so much!”

Mariya invited us to the school that afternoon to meet their friends.   Emily, Breck and I walked over there after we treated some patients.  A teacher led us to where they were – Lo and behold there was a perfect pathway dug through the jungle, leading to a platform of bamboo in the center of a small stream.  It was indeed beautiful and made just for them.  Students were bringing them many fancy dishes of food!  There were things there that I had not seen since being in Thailand!  We sat with Mariya and her friends.  When they heard we were vegetarians, they had the students bring vegetables.  I spoke with a lady and her husband who were pharmacists, they told me that I should send them a list of all the things I use and they will send them to me!

On the “dock” in the stream, with our new Thai friends.

They taught us some Thai words and gave us Thai names!  Breck has the Thai word for sun, Emily – orchid, and mine – rose.  As we left they invited us to a program they would have later that night.  They would again have food and would supply us with lots of vegetables. We told them we would come for a short time.

(I was really shocked at how just the appearance of wealthy, famous people could solicit such a royal, lavish reception even in the midst of the devastatingly poor people in BYT and surrounding villages.  My mind trembled at the thought of all these things given to those that have no need, when the poor are falling by the wayside!  Though I was delighted that the Lord gave me an opportunity to witness to the rich that day, my heart was consequently drawn more longingly and lovingly to the poor Karen people around me, eating only rice and chilies and suffering many sicknesses from poor nutrition).

Later at the evening program, they treated us like kings and queens, (Which we were not and did not deserve).  We sat with Mariya and her friends and ate fancy food. I mentioned to Mariya that we had to leave early because we had some things we had to do.  Consequently she went up front and changed the whole program so they could show us the bicycle before we left.  They put this stationary bicycle on the stage.  It was hooked up to batteries and as you peddled the bike it was supposed to charge the batteries and produce electricity.  They would use this type power during the rainy season when their solar system was not working. To Breck’s dismay, they asked him to come up and peddle the bicycle!  He was so mortified, but he went up courageously and peddled. They were delighted with him.

I feel that my prayer of Jabez has gone yet a farther distance into Bankok today!  Oh thank you so much dear Lord!

Please pray for Mariya and her friends from the Catholic Church.

The Lord has blessed TharaMu WahNeePaw and Thara BletJaw with a miracle of His creative power.

This baby was born December 26 at 1:50 p.m.   He weighs 3.1kg.   He is very cute!  We cannot tell you his name yet because that is not decided!  What a hard job!  They may give him three names:  Thai, English and Karen!  I will let you know.

This baby is very fortunate, as he is born into a family who know, love and serve Jesus with all their hearts.  He will be trained up in the way he should go.

Together, let us pray a dedication prayer for the baby and his parents!!

Thank you.

“Be thankful unto Him and bless

His name.”      Psalm100:4

Mrs. White says:  “It is just as essential to do the will of God when erecting a building as when taking part in a religious service!!” Christ Object Lessons 350

Just think about how important these 2 buildings are in the eyes of heaven!  So important that we need to pray for guidance just as much as when we speak in church!   Also think about how important each person is that comes to us for help!  The ground and the buildings that will be built are already dedicated to God.  Each person who enters them has been prayed for in advance to receive health and healing as it is God’s will, and a knowledge of the living God. What a privilege to bring every detail of the work in prayer before the God of the universe who planned the building of the ark with Noah, the earthly sanctuary with Moses, and the God who is building beautiful mansions for us in heaven!! He has full control of it all, because really truly, all 3 of us here, know nothing about building projects, especially in the far away, high jungle mountains of Thailand!!

It’s hard to believe our eyes! The bulldozer is here – and parked just around the corner from our house!

For several reasons the building site for our house and clinic has had to be changed 3 times!  The last time it had to change just 2 hours before the bulldozer came!!  I am so glad that we can be clay in the potter’s hand, pliable and used by the Lord in any direction He sends us on, because if not, our hearts would be trembling and our nerves frazzled all the time!  Our last decision came because of the problem of the water, which gushes out of the ground around our house during the rainy season.  Some thought it would be fine to build there – others didn’t.  Apparently further out on the mission compound the ground does not gush like that.  The pastor who comes here about once a month, owns this land and he told us we could use any part of it that we wanted.  So at the first streaks of dawn, BletJaw, Breck and myself went out with our meter stick to discuss where we should build.

You can see our house on the left. The place we will build is right here in the foreground.

The first phase of clearing the land.

The smaller bulldozer at work on the upper level

Shortly thereafter the bulldozer came.  He worked all morning on the first level, where the house will be, took a break for lunch and then resumed on the lower level where the clinic will be.  He had worked only about two hours and was not finished, when 3 important looking Thai men came striding up, looking like they were not too pleased.  Right away the bulldozer man did one more back-up and then drove away for good!  Apparently the Obedour, (Our man from BYT/WST that is in charge of buildings and roads.  You might call him a commissioner in America), was so eager to help us with our building and get the bulldozer to us, that he failed to go to the highest man in MeDooGlow to get permission.  (He actually knew better).  The Thai government wanted to get the roads done first, and then it seemed it would be OK to do our project.  We also found out that the bigger bulldozer with a bucket on the front was broken down still.   Two trips had to be made to Chiang Mai to get more parts for it.  We thought that was the end of the bulldozers for us.  However, we discovered that the Obedour is not at all discouraged from helping us with the bulldozer work, even though he had been scolded the day before.  He knows that we still need more work done, because this lower level of ground is not flat nor is it big enough to build the clinic on.  So, today he came and took a picture of himself standing on that piece of land.  He will now take it to MeDooGlow and show the man at the top that it is not finished.  He will ask for the bigger bulldozer to come and finish the job properly.  I will let you know how that works out.

Here is the Obedour standing on the unfinished lower level.

Do you see how all these things have been orchestrated by our God?  We have not asked or worked to get any of it done, but these huge government bulldozers are here getting it done!

“. . . For the Lord is good; His

mercy is everlasting!”  Ps 100:5

I pulled a tooth yesterday and it was so rotten that the root broke off!  The lidocaine was not good enough.  So I used another bottle and because of prayer that root was dislodged and pulled right out!!  I realize now how far up in there the roots really are!  You are sure working in the dark!  God is so good.  This man would not go to MeDooGlow to get it done.  These people usually do not go to dentists.  If I do not pull it out, they get a knife, chisel away, and pull their own tooth out!  Think about how painful and unsterile that is!  This gives me confidence and good courage to do the dental work because it is way better for them than what they do!!!

The perfect little patient

This little patient, Broo Moo,  is one year old.  He suffers from frequent attacks of asthma.  He is so used to us and the good results of this breathing treatment, that he does what I have never witnessed before in one so young – he takes care of the procedure all by himself!  He did finally get tired of everything before two treatments were completed.

Truly we don’t understand a thing!  The key is to “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.” Proverbs 3:5

On November 22, Wednesday, I was ready to head out to the main hwy by myself.  My visa was due on the 24^th.  I planned to walk out, leaving before dawn, then I would have time to get a song tow into MaeSot and do my visa at the immigration office before 4p.m.  I could then spend the night in MaeSot and get a song tow in the morning to drop me off at the road to BYT and walk back the following day.  That is a LOT of walking in 2 days, but I was excited about doing it none-the-less.  The following Sunday was a big day because the builder was going to visit us that day!  We certainly all needed to be present.

At the last minute Breck and Emily decided to go also.  Their visas were due within a short period of time and if we could synchronize our runs, it sure would help.  That is a long way to go in truck or on foot, every week until all of our visas are handled every 3 months.  So it happened that we all drove in the truck to the border, and took care of our visas together.

BletJaw, in the meantime, heard that the bulldozer was coming, and heading straight to BYT!  We should leave very early Friday morning so we could direct them to our piece of property that needed leveling.  As we turned to come down that last one hour stretch of road to BYT, we could hardly believe our eyes!  The bulldozer had indeed come and the road was beautiful!!  Instead of one bulldozer there were Three!  Over half the way was completed, and it was just 9:30 in the morning!

Now a new concern entered my mind.  It looks like they will be finished and ready to start on our project Sabbath morning.  We thought about the importance of this bulldozer:

1. Now, while the government had these big bulldozers out, it would be almost free for us.  It seemed like another golden opportunity like this would never come again!
2. Also this was a perfect time for us as I had prayed that God would please send the bulldozer right away before the builder came.
3. And, let’s not forget that we had been disappointed about the bulldozer not coming four or five times  in the last 6 months.
4. Finally, the entire time I have lived in BYT, this road had not been touched by a bulldozer.  And by the way it looks, it hasn’t been worked on even longer than that!  It is a very terrible road to travel on.  Indeed it was a miracle that it was here at last!!

-But now we must tell them that we could not allow them to do that job on the Sabbath day.  The Bible tells us not to do any work, this is not only for us to obey, but for “The stranger that is within thy gates.”  I became overjoyed for an opportunity to show others how important the seventh-day Sabbath, of the Lord our God is!  To me it did not matter whether we forever missed our golden opportunity to get this work done.  This whole project belongs to God.  He will see it through to completion through whatever means He sees is best.  This land had already been dedicated to Him.  He could never bless our work if we allowed such disobedience to His law.

Another disappointment

As we entered BYT we had another disappointment.  The pastor told us that the villagers of BYT were not happy with us building up on that hill above their homes.  They thought the dirt and water would come down on them.  They also thought that toilets would smell and that somehow our living up there would contaminate their rice crops on the other side.  They also thought that I  must have a problem with the pastor to be moving out  in that direction.  Quickly another insult came upon my work.  Someone had said that the baby I delivered 2 years ago that did not breath, and had multiple problems, was my fault.  It could have been normal if I had let the women press on the Mother’s belly during the delivery.

The pastor said that I should think about building here behind our house, but we had been told that we couldn’t do that, the water pours out of the ground here during the rainy season.

I went to bed bewildered and unsure about what God had planned for me here.  The way the human brain wants to work in situations like this is self pity, discouragement, and doubt.  It seemed that all my hard work through every day of my life here was unrecognized, unappreciated and unwanted.  But God does not want us to sink into doubt.  What a dishonor to Him, when He has always blessed us abundantly!  Now is the time to praise His name. He says: “Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.”  My understanding is worthless.  I certainly did not want to lean that way!  I knew nothing of what was going on just now.  All I know it that I will NOT dishonor Him with doubts and fears.  Through His strength, I will trust.

The good news is, that now it is Sabbath, and we had these sacred hours to pray and spend time with God.  Prayer is so powerful in the Christian’s life!  I had just sent a prayer heavenward that the bulldozer would break down or something, so that they would not be ready to do our work on the Sabbath.   One of the bulldozers did brake down and they would have to drive to Chiang Mai to get a part.  We now had no Sabbath problem!

The Sabbath – a delight!

Sabbaths here always bring delight and this one was not exception!  Today we fasted and prayed to know and do God’s will.

In the afternoon ChaPoe came over from WST for a visit.  Remember him?  You have been praying for him and his friend, BeeHtu.  (And your prayers have been answered)!! ChaPoe stopped smoking November 14.  On the 16^th we had gone to visit him and encourage him because he made it for 2 days!  We also encouraged his wife to stop smoking along with him, because her smoking would be very hard on him. Together they could be strong. She told us that she would stop later, right now she had just purchased a large package of tobacco and she just could not throw that away!  After she finished that bag she would stop smoking.  We had prayed with them and left.

ChaPoe told us that his wife had indeed stopped smoking that very day after we visited them! She had thrown away that large package of tobacco and God had helped her quit the habit.  They both have not smoked this entire time and they were determined to keep up the good work!!  He was just beaming with joy.  Praise the Lord again and again!  BeeHtu’s wife however, has not stopped smoking.  Let’s keep praying for her and that her husband will stay strong.

We had other visitors that Sabbath day, besides patients.  DeePoe and her husband ChaHtu.  We had given them an audio Bible about 6 weeks ago.  She is the one I told you about who played the audio Bible over loud speakers for all around to hear!  We had told her at the time that we wanted to take a picture of them with the audio Bible, because the people who gave them to us asked us to.   Well here they were proudly holding the little audio Bible and ready to have their pictures taken!!  Breck has a lovely camera and he had no problem getting this lovely picture of these 2 precious souls who are thristing after the Words of truth!!

Sunday is here!

Mrs White says that when we have a bitter drought to drink that God holds to our lips a cup of blessing!  You might have called our situation a bitter drought – I don’t know.  But I do know this one thing, that whether it was bitter or not, we sure got our cup of blessing!!  Our neighbor, DJ came over and ate breakfast with us.  He told us that the people in WST are now finished harvesting their rice.  They had a meeting with the head man and decided unanimously that every family in that village would give us a big square tin full of rice, because they were so appreciative of all the medical care!  Tears just wanted to spring out of my eyes! Then he said BYT wanted to do the same, and other villages that we walk to and visit routinely also wanted to show their appreciation by giving us as much rice as they could!!  Surely God’s windows in heaven had just opened up and poured us out a blessing that there really is not room enough to receive it!! (Malachi 3:10).  We would not ever be able to eat that much rice, but could sell it and use the money for God’s work  here.   The idea that all the people all the way around would want to give, out of the love in their hearts is too much joy and gratitude for me to handle!  Truly the temptation to be discouraged over some few comments, is ridiculous.  It is from the father of lies and must be squelched as fast as it tries to enter the heart.  God can protect our reputation, as we quietly trust Him! How wonderful it is to be able to put our full weight on Him and cast all our cares upon the lovely Jesus and see how beautifully He carries out His will!

Our decision is to build right here behind our house.  We certainly do not want to offend the villagers by building on that hill, because we love them and are here to help them.

Today the builder came.  We showed him the areas behind our house that we had chosen to build on.   He looked over our blueprints and after much talking with BletJaw and the assistant head man, he told us that he could begin working near the beginning of January.  He could have 2 buildings up in one month!  However we must transport the supplies.  The people of the village will collect much sand and gravel for the concrete.  I know there will be many problems but let’s GO FORWARD!!