Gayle in Thailand

. . . And most incredible God!

We were packing to leave for BYT Sunday morning when Emily came to me and said that she wanted to go with us.  I was delighted!  The weather was bad and I knew the roads would be a great challange.  Would she regret the choice?  Would she wish she hadn’t come?

It was about 3 p.m.  We were almost 1/4 of the way to BYT, painstakingly making it around each bend, each steep hill and each treacherous descent.  As we came around a very slick, uphill corner, complete with deep ruts, our hearts sank.  A truck was up ahead hopelessly stuck up to the axels in the mud.  Oh we probably could have made it if he were not in our way!  Two men were pushing and one man was stomping on the gas, sending out billows of black smoke.  They were going nowhere.

Away with such selfish thoughts of wanting him out of the way!  We felt so sorry for him.  How could 2 men push his truck, loaded with unhulled rice.  It looked tremendously heavy and so impossible to move.  At that time, our truck bogged down in the mud and stopped.  We looked at the hopelessness of our situation, knowing we could not pass this truck on this small road, nor could we turn around and go back.  Suddenly 2 men on motorbikes came slithering up beside us.  Also a man came walking up the road.  Together, Blet Jaw and the 3 men went up to push the hopeless truck.  They placed rice sacks in front of the wheels and pushed with all their might.  The truck very slowly inched forward making deep ruts, then went into a bigger rut and stayed there.  We placed the chains on our tires and considered the winch, but there were no sturdy trees close by. Just then the rain came down harder.  Blet Jaw, covered with mud came to talk to us.  The doubts that arose were as follows:

1.  Blet Jaw:  “I am an inexperienced driver.  This man is experienced, he has traveled in the rainy season before.  I cannot go up this hill, the ruts are deeper than my height!”

2.  Gayle:  “Well, you could ask the driver of that truck to drive ours up after he gets his out.  He is driving a Mitsubishi also, so he would know how.”

3.  Emily:  “I am thinking I can just walk back.”

Away with all doubt!  That quote flashed brightly into my memory: “The obstacles that hinder our progress, will never disappear before a halting, doubting spirit!”  We are working for God.  Our truck is carring medicine to serve others.  I thought of 1John 4:4 “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.”  This man ahead of us is not a Christian, we must glorify Christ to him.  We know the living Saviour who enabled the Children of Israel to cross the Red Sea on dry ground.  Where is our faith?  Surely He will take our truck up this muddy mountain.

With that we came together and prayed.  I was so happy that Emily was here.  I thought about these 2 people I was with.  I could not find more godly, Christian people to work with.  How thankful I was to God for giving them to me just now.  This means that there are 3 angels with us and 3 hearts united and lifted in prayer. 

Blet Jaw was no longer afraid, with courage he slid behind the steering wheel and with a prayer on our lips we moved forward.  On and on steadily we went, past the worst places where the other truck had taken over an hour to get through.  Steadily without slipping into the huge chasm on the right, we went all the way up the hill!  Let there be no doubt about it – this was an incredible miracle.  God heard our prayer and delivered us out of all our trouble!!

On each scary part of the rest of the journey we knew all was well -we would not fear what lay ahead, as we remembered how He had led us up that last mountain.  Constantly I thought about the “halting doubting spirit”.  God clearly speaks to us – “Go forward.”

“Often the Christian life is beset by dangers and duty seems hard to perform.  The imagination pictures impending ruin before and bondage or death behind.  Yet the voice of God speaks clearly, “Go forward.”  We should obey this command, even though our eyes cannot penetrate the darkness, and we feel the cold waves about our feet.  The obstacles that hinder our progress, will never disappear before a halting, doubting spirt.  Those who defer obedience till every shadow of uncertainty disappears and there remains no risk of failure or defeat, will never obey at all.  Unbelief whispers, “Let us wait till the obstructions are removed, and we can see our way clearly.”  But faith courageously urges an advance, hoping all things, believing all things.”

I must tell you the news about this faithful warrior, (Our truck).   Blet Jaw said he would like to get the truck checked over to make sure everything is good and strong.  I agreed with him because just a little while ago a truck malfunctioned on one of those 20% grades and crashed down the ravine, killing 2 people.  (Not the first time something like that has happened).  Our truck seemed to be driving well.  It didn’t appear to me to have any problems other than the loose CV joints on the 4 wheel drive.  They are never tight enough and always making a bad noise.  Therefore, that was all I expected when I took it to the mechanic in Mae Sot.  I was surprised to find out that there were so many things wrong, that I cannot mention it all here. Many seals, ball joints, springs, joints, ties, bushings, gaskets, etc. were found to be worn out or totally broken.  The brakes were bad and even the steering column had a problem!  This work might save our lives!  I asked if it was because the truck was weak.  The man told me that it was a good truck, just that the roads were so bad we must expect things to wear out quickly.

Next we ordered a winch and chains.  These are things we needed to get for a long time, but now because the conditions are so bad, it seems imperative.

While the winch is being put on, I stock up on medicine and supplies. It is difficult to keep enough medicine, in stock for just one month let alone 3 or 4 months of rain.  God will stretch it out and help us make it. 

OK.  The winch is on, the truck is ready and I am driving back to the school.  Suddenly I realize that the truck has lost power, it barely goes through the gears!  As I try to think about what might be wrong, I glance out the mirror and to my horror see billows of black smoke!!  It surely looks like a serious fatal disease to me.  I call the mechanic and have to limp back, stay the night and bring the truck in the next morning.  To my relief it was not a fatal disease at all, but only warn-out flattened hoses coming from the turbo that needed replacing.   Providential that it happened now and not halfway up the mountain!

We will leave in the morning!  Though the roads are bad, but God will make a way.  I just read this quote:

“Often the Christian’s life is beset by dangers and duty seems hard to perform.  The imagination pictures impending ruin before and bondage or death behind, yet the voice of God speaks clearly, “Go forward.”  We should obey this command, even though our eyes cannot penetrate the darkness, and we feel the cold waves about our feet.  The obstacles that hinder our progress, will never disappear before a halting, doubting spirit.  Those who defer obedience till every shadow of uncertainty disappears and there remains no risk of failure or defeat, will never obey at all. Unbelief whispers, “Let us wait till the obstructions are removed, and we can see our way clearly,” but faith courageously urges an advance, hoping all things, believing all things.”  Patriarchs and Prophets 290

                    . . . to the obedience of Christ.” 2Corinthians 10:5

 I have noticed this to be my constant need.  How quickly my thoughts can send me spiraling down in a crash course with the rocks.  This is not God’s plan.

 One day, not too long ago, in my room in BYT, I was sorting through my few belongings, cleaning and whistling, when suddenly I saw my little photo album.  I have just a few choice photographs in there of my precious boys, my dear little Mother and my devoted, lovely Sister.  As my eyes gazed at the faces of those I love so much, an arrow seemed to pierce through my heart as suddenly as if it had  just been released from the bow.  Tears sprung to my eyes uninvited as I thought about how much I love them and how far away they really are!  How can I go on and on without them?  At that moment, a song swung sharply into focus in my mind.  It was playing on my computer.  Now this is a rare treat to get enough charge into my computer to be able to play music.  Also God’s timing is always, to the very instant, -perfect.  The words of the song like a powerful light, burned right into my very soul, they came directly from heaven saying:

 “Every day the Lord Himself is near me,

 With a special mercy for each hour.

All my cares He fain would bear and cheer me,

 He whose name is counselor and power.

 The protection of His child and treasure,

  Is a charge which on Himself He laid.

 As your days, your strength shall be in measure,

 This the pledge to me He made.”

 Now these words are encouraging and inspiring every day of the year, but when the dear Saviour personally spoke them to me that day, at the very instant when my heart was broken, and when I felt Him wipe my tears away, – my face was wreathed in smiles, and my heart was thrilled with His presence!  We simply cannot remain miserable when He abides in the soul.

Oh the Lord is true to every promise!  Truly He “Binds up the broken hearted…appoints the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.”  Isaiah 61:1,3

 Mrs. White says:  “Satan cannot touch the mind unless we give it to him.”  Let’s allow God to bring our every thought into captivity of obedience to Him today!

The Hill view before any leveling done

Comparison shot. It was all done by hand in the hottest season! A work of love!

 Do you remember the last comment on the building project?  We had lost the hill and then through a marvelous answer to prayer, God gave it back to us.  Now it is twice as valuable to us!  Our next question was, “How are we going to get the people back again to level this land?”  We didn’t have to worry, because God had it all planned…

 … I stood amazed at the news I was hearing!  The 3 closest villages were going to do our leveling for free!  The villagers in BYT were going to work as a team on day one, to level the land.  On day two, WahSoTah would work all day.  On day three  –  GeGhah village!  (This village, however was late in coming.  They had a wedding which includes a lot of drinking and slaughtered pigs.  Also it rained for 3 days in a row).  It seemed we must move quickly because the rainy season will soon be upon us. We wanted to hire that original group of men to finish the job, but when the head man of our village heard about that he said, “No, all 3 villages will finish it tomorrow.”  Sure enough the next day over 70 people were there at 8a.m. moving dirt!  Blet  Jaw and I worked shoulder to shoulder with them .  It brought me the greatest joy to work with those women, who were all just about as short as me.  We became fast friends that day, hoeing dirt onto rice bags with wooden sticks on either side, then 2 people would carry it to the low sides and dump it.  In the heat of the day, hoeing and lifting, our hearts were bonded by the living God in heaven who was the One who had orchestrated all these things.  Because the people put in their own time and effort, they will be more thankful for the clinic and more receptive to the sharing of God’s Word and health messages taught within its walls!

Leveling crew hard at work

 God honors His commandment keeping people!   Because we asked the other men not to work on Sabbath, they had left, this enabled us, (Unknowingly), to wait for the location on the hill and then get it leveled free, thus saving 7000 baht! I am singing praises to God who showers us with benefits. 

I began to see piles of small rocks around BYT, collected from the river.  I also began to see piles of sand.  Blet Jaw and I thought it was for the school to use, as they are doing some building.  I thought to myself, “That is just what we need too, I wonder how we will collect that stuff for all the cement we will be using on the clinic?” Then I was told that the villagers had collected it for US!  To think they want us here so badly that they are willing to work hard in the hottest season of the year, even though they are tired from planting all their rice on the mountain slopes.  My cup is simply brim full and running over with gratitude to God and the precious people of these villages.

 Can you notice anything wrong with this beautiful two and a half month old baby boy?   Maybe it is not so noticeable in this picture.  What about this picture?

EhJsua was born with a 90 degree club foot, (Right foot).  He will be a cripple for life without corrective surgery.  His Mother and I would like to plead for help.  We can do range of motion exercises, but that won’t correct the problem.  The children’s hospital in Bangkok can perform the surgery.  The cost is much lower than in America, but I cannot get an estimate from this hospital.  We will begin by asking $2000.00.  If that does not cover it I will send out an emergeny plea for more help. 

This baby lives with his parents in the center of BYT.  I would love to see him run and play when he is older.  If you feel impressed to help please send donations to “EhJsua – Gayle’s Project” 

I felt like making a face like this also when I saw the bag of opium on the floor and when the man tried to take my syringe used to inject Lidocaine  into his wound.

 KryCo village is a remote, poor village.  It is the village farthest away from BYT that we travel to see.  We had just treated 33 patients there on the small porch of a dirty hut.  Weary from the trip in, the heat, and from struggling with supplies, and proper understanding and treatment of each patient, I climbed onto the back of our motorcycle looking forward to the breeze which would cool us as we drove home.  The way out of the village is quite steep.  Halfway up the steepest part we were flagged down by some people living in the last hut.  We want to cringe and groan inside our hearts because:

1.  We do not want to stop on a steep hill. 

2. All our medical bags are packed neatly and bungee corded onto the bike.  And,

3.  Why hadn’t these people come to the house where we were treating people for the last 2 hours?    . . . But we stopped and untied our bags.

I entered the small crooked bamboo hut carefully.  There was no ladder in, so I “gracefully” pulled myself up inside. These people were from another village.  We had not seen them here before.  The woman, WahTha, was lying on a mat, feverish and hardly able to walk.  Her history is one I do not like to hear because I do not understand it!  She said her blood is all messed up and running up and down inside her body.  When it gets to her head she cannot walk and sometimes passes out.  The blood rushes back and forth inside her making a whirring sound.  Now how do you treat that?  She was obviously sick though.  I took her vital signs and treated her as best I could with what I had and determined to come back and follow up with her.  As we repacked our bags and prepared to jump out the side of the house, a man, DooCher, 56 years old, shows us a horrid infection on his right forearm that he had had for one week.  I had him take off his jacket so I could see his entire arm.  My heart ached inside my chest as I saw the all too familiar needle track marks up his arm -another opium addict. His infection was probably caused by a dirty needle.  Numbing medicine really won’t help this, but I do it anyway to help the man understand that I do not want to hurt him, but must remove the puss.  Blet Jaw captured the moment by taking this picture of DooCher’s face as the puss was removed.  I want to make a face like this also as I see a bag of opium on the floor and the man tries to take my syringe and needle that I had used to numb his arm. 

 We prayed with these people before we left and tried to tell these dear ones something about the lovely Jesus and His power to save.

I pray again now:  “Oh dear Lord, I pray that your death on the cross and the way You were lifted up from the earth, will draw ALL men unto You, even DooCher – Please Lord set this captive free!”

 Matthew 10:29 was on my mind Wednesday morning. “One of them, (Sparrows), shall not fall to the ground without your Father.”  I thought about all the sick people that I had treated. How much He cares about all these aches, pains, fevers, traumas, lung problems and weaknesses. He is with these people.  I finished cooking the curry which would go with our rice for the morning meal, when a young man came to our door, asking us to check a girl that had eaten something that made her sick.   Upon entering the house I realized that I had a full blown case of anaphylactic shock on my hands! Apparently all of them had eaten boiled baby bees for breakfast. *  Nobody reacted to it accept a 14 year old girl, BahBlue. I quickly ran back to the house and grabbed Adrenalin and IV supplies and dashed back.  Her blood pressure at that time was 70/40.  There was no time to lose.  After taking emergency measures we loaded up in the truck, Blet Jaw driving and me standing up in the back of the truck, holding the IV bag.  We made the one and a half hour trip to MeDooGlow clinic where BahBlue would stay until stable. 

We were extremely hungry as we entered our house again at 2 p.m.  Our food, though shared with the ants, was still waiting for us, but we only cast our eyes upon it one time, when another young man showed up on the doorstep saying, “Two men are poisoned by mushrooms, could you please come and check them?”  Of course we would! They were located on different sides of the village, so it took us a while to check them both.  Two days ago both men were in the jungle and ate wild mushrooms.  One man ate leftovers for breakfast the next day.  Both men became intensely sick yesterday with much vomiting and diarrhea.  They were both dehydrated and suffered with abdominal pain.  We managed to get them both to our house where IV’s were started and charcoal and electrolytes given.  As I write this they are both sleeping and receiving much needed fluids — And we had our much needed breakfast at 3p.m.

The "In Patient Department" in the center of my house.

Oh Father in heaven, if not one sparrow falls to the ground without You, then I know You are holding these 3 people in Your hands today!  Thank you so much. 

*This sounds outrageous to us, but the Karen people as well as the Thai, are in the habit of eating anything and everything that moves.  I will not mention the list of things here!

The Meyer's family in BYT. Left to right, Preston, Denise,Kelly and Landon.

During the 2 years we have been in BYT we have had only one group of visitors out here.  Just lately we have had many visitors!  This time the entire Meyers family ventured up to spend 9 days with us.  (March 26-April 3).  The purpose of their visit is to video the work here and make a presentation to show in churches and groups in America, to increase awareness of the great needs.

I became quickly aware that Preston, the oldest son, age 17, was the skilled  media person.  He had learned a lot from different groups in America and was excited about putting his knowledge to use here in Thailand.  I came to know him very well, as he videod everthing that we did for the entire 9 days. 

A usual sight - Preston hard at work. I looked into this camera for 9 days!

 If he includes all the video clips that he took, you will know exactly what we do from day to day.  The only exception is that Blet Jaw has hardley recovered from his appendectomy and we used the truck and went to more easily accessed villages, instead of hiking with the back packs.  One day he drove the motorbike with the supplies and we hiked.

We greatly enjoyed the Meyer’s  family and their motivation to help God’s work progress in this country through awareness of the desperate needs seen in every village.  Their hearts seem to ache with the needs of the unfortunate as much as ours do! 

Since that visit Preston has been up early to edit these videos and to bed late.  It seems like an endless job.  I would be more than overwhelmed.  He however is thrilled to find different ways to present each scene.  I thank you for your energy, creativity and hard work Preston!  I pray that God will direct all that is said and done to truly show God’s plan here and rightly represent the people that He died to save.

Thank you Meyer’s family – we appreciate you.