The Greater the Love

THE GREATER THE LOVE THE GREATER THE PAIN  Quotes from DA chapter 73

Were you ever in the desperate position of watching a loved one suffer physically?

Did you wish with all your heart you could take the pain and bear it for him?

Did you suffer mental anguish because there was nothing you could do?

Did you sit there and pray with a broken heart for God to please take the pain away?

Did it seem that the torture of those darkest hours would never end?

I suppose we have all been there because we live in a dreadfully wicked, wretched world. The greater our love, for the person, the greater our pain!

To be quite honest with you, I have been in this position several times in the past – all painful memories impossible to erase.  But I want to talk about the latest time with BletJhaw waking up after surgery.  He is my son you know.  We have a huge history of struggling together out in the Jungle Mountains.  We miss our families out there.  We are often too hot, too cold, too wet, too hungry, too thirsty and too weary as we constantly minister to the sick and suffering.  Going all-out, giving it all we’ve got to bring both physical and spiritual relief in all types of places, various weather conditions, and formidable, deplorable nasty roads, and nerve wracking situations with wild elephants etc! BletJhaw has always been my constant companion and support when my feet are slipping and sliding down the mountainside in the dark, when the poisonous snakes slither by, and the muddy quicksand sucks me down.  I only have love and respect for him….But now!

Surgery is always painful, but this one is worse than most.  I am beside the bed at Rajavej Hospital in Chiang Mai, thinking, why did I allow this surgery to take place?  Oh if I could just go back in time and cancel all this suffering?  Why did we go through with this anyway?  Anything to stop this pain!  But my logic has to admit that this was the only way for him to be able to continue our strenuous mission work in the isolated mountains.

Now he is writhing in pain, tears are falling unbidden and unrecognized by the silent sufferer.  I bring a wet cloth and wipe his face.  I look at Jerry, (BletJhaw’s brother-in-law), on the other side of the bed.  I see tears in his eyes.  I realize that my own face is wet with tears.  I give Jerry lip balm for the dry lips.  I am helpless.  I can do nothing but pray and wait.  We sit there on either side of the bed silent and broken for what seemed like an eternity.

*          *          *          *          *

…And then there is Jesus.

I do not want the sufferings and cross of Jesus to be this common thing that I have heard all my life.  I want to see it afresh.  Jesus is staggering, and groaning.  Twice he would have fallen to the earth if His disciples had not supported Him.  Alone He fell to the ground in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Sin was separating Him from the Father.  “The gulf was so broad, so black, so deep, that His spirit shuddered before it. . . He must endure the wrath of God against transgression… Hitherto He had been as an intercessor for others, now He longed to have an intercessor for Himself.”  What a dreadful hour!  “Satan told Him that if He became surety for a sinful world, the separation would eternal. He would be identified with Satan’s kingdom, and would nevermore be one with God.  And what could be gained by this sacrifice?  How hopeless appeared the guilt and ingratitude of men! “

Oh what torture to the Son of God!  He possessed a divine nature that He could easily use to save Himself from this agony.  But in order for Him to save us, He must bear it all in His human nature!  Oh the mystery of godliness!

“Behold Him contemplating the price to be paid for the human soul.  In His agony He clings to the cold ground, as if to prevent Himself from being drawn farther from God. The chilling dew of night falls upon His prostrate form, but He heeds it not.  From His pale lips comes the bitter cry, “O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.”  Yet even now He adds:  “Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”

“The human heart longs for sympathy in suffering.  This longing Christ felt to the very depths of His being.”  But the disciples could offer no sympathy or comfort when He needed it most, even though He had always spoken words of sympathy for them.  They were sleeping while He was suffering superhuman agony. Blood actually dripped from the pores of His skin!  When His disciples awakened at the voice of Jesus, and saw His blood stained face, they were afraid.  They could hardly recognize Him, His face was so changed by anguish.

Now there is silence in heaven.  God is suffering with His Son.  All heaven is filled with grief.  No harp was played; no voice of singing and praise was heard.  I feel like faces were wet with tears all over heaven.  Angels longed to bring relief, but no, all they could do was stand and watch.  If we could see the sight that the angels saw that day, of God separating the beams of light, love and glory from His beloved Son, we would better understand how offensive in His sight is sin!  We would not keep sinning for sure! An angel comes from heaven to do the job that the disciples had failed to do.  Without this encouragement Jesus would have died right then.  But the angel takes his head in his lap and points to heaven telling Him about:  “The souls that would be saved as the result of His sufferings…He would see a multitude of the human race saved eternally saved.”

I believe at this moment when the cup trembled in our Saviour’s hand, Jesus saw my face!  He saw your face!  He knew how helpless we are and powerless to resist the devil.  He saw the horrid destruction that would come upon us.  “His decision is made.  He will save men at any cost to Himself…that through Him perishing millions may gain everlasting life!”

“Oh dear Jesus,” I cry.  “The GREATER YOUR LOVE THE GREATER YOUR REJOICING as I choose Your gift of Eternal Life purchased for me at such an infinite price!

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Special Note from BletJhaw

“This world is not our home.”

I have never ever experienced such physical pain in my life!

However, this suffering has placed a great longing in my heart, not just to recover and continue my life in health and strength, but to live beyond this life forever with Jesus.  Already I see how God is using this experience to give me more sympathy for others.

At the writing of this message I am still in great pain, but I see God clearer and dearer as my personal friend and doctor, because He is working all things out together for good!  I am full of courage and hope because the best is yet to come!

This is a special thank-you for all your sincere prayers.

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Surgery Today!

July 30, 2020 was a day to be remembered and yet a day we wish to forget!  BletJhaw was wheeled into the surgery room at 11:20a.m.  We had put this procedure off for several years, but now it was imperative that it be done.  Hemorrhoids had set in over 5 years ago, and despite all the remedies and treatments, they continued to get worse, until his quality of life was greatly compromised, and his days were filled with pain.

I reminisce on the past 10 years of medical missionary life with BletJhaw by my side.  When God gives you a job to do, He gives you what you need to accomplish the work.  For me, He gave me much more than I asked or even dreamed of, He gave me BletJhaw who has a heart just like mine, with a passion to reach the lost before it is too late.  We are united in this work.  I marvel at BletJhaw’s wisdom, common sense, courage, preparedness, longsuffering, diligence, integrity and humility!  Together we have faced the danger of snakes and elephants as we take care of the physical and spiritual health of the people.  We have braved the impossible roads and many times barely escaped with our lives.  We have trudged for hours with medical supplies on our backs, balancing over the water on narrow logs or a bridge of 2 bamboo poles, and climbed up – up – up the steep mountains in the pouring rain, water rushing down as we made our way against the tide!  Leeches fasten quickly to our feet and legs before there is time and balance enough to pull them off, and snakes get in the way and have to be killed.  The mountains often produce large landslides which suck our feet down deeper with each step!  We have driven in the truck sometimes 4-8 hours for days on end, getting patients to the hospital and taking them home.  We have rushed to distant villages on the motorbike in answer to the call for help.  Patients pour into our clinic any hour of the day or night and usually at the most in-convenient moments, interrupting our cooking, eating, bathing, gardening, sleeping, and even interrupting our sermons – midstream at times! We meet in hut after hut, village after village to relieve the sick and suffering and offer hope and freedom from their fears and superstitions, praying and telling the simple Bible stories.  BletJhaw faithfully and accurately interprets all my sermons, putting in all the emphasis, earnestness, pleading, humor, or sadness, that the topic calls for.  He sings and plays the guitar with all simplicity and beauty.  Alone on our knees we plead for our little Seventh-Day Adventist church, the church members, the none members, the Buddhist, the Devil worshipers and those so ignorant and poor they don’t worship, don’t read, don’t write, and don’t know there is a better way!

Yes, we can count many times that our lives should have been taken,  (Eight times for me personally that I know of), yet with God at the helm here we are today!  And the privilege and thrill of this sacred work gets more and more intense as this old world plunges rapidly into it’s final hours.  We see more and more of the beautiful glory of God and feel the intense longing that He has for His children in these heathen villages to be with Him eternally!

Life has come to a screeching halt suddenly.  Our lives are in a totally new dimension.  BletJhaw’s surgery has brought him so much suffering and pain.  I see him writhing in agony.  Jerry and I just sit there and cry with him.  What can we do? My heart is torn and aching for him: ‘ThaGaNya Pado’  -is the Karen word for, ‘Great heart pity.”  We are in the city; I am a jungle girl driving in great metropolis of Chiang Mai city, out of my comfort zone!   When BletJhaw is feeling some better we can travel the 7-hour drive back to his family and wait for his complete recovery when we will return to BYT.  But until then we pray and wait on the Lord!  He has a grand purpose in all our painful situations and when we get to heaven we will see how our trials helped us and others get there.  I pray that somehow through this experience we were a shining light to others.  My sister said, “God never wastes our suffering!  It is the greatest privilege to suffer with Him!”  We are comforted and content to be reminded that God knows what He is doing.   It is time to be quiet and search our hearts.   The all-important question:  “Is my robe spotless?

“The rapidly diminishing space of time between us and eternity should more deeply impress us.  Every day that passes makes one less left us to complete our work of perfecting character.  Mar. 220.5

(Now it is Friday, August 7.  I drove the long way back to Khane Chue 2 days ago. BletJhaw handled the trip quite well.  Each day finds him improving!  Praise the Lord!  We both want to thank you with all our hearts for your lovely prayers)!

We will not forget the Rajavej Hospital in Chiang Mai. We thank the doctor who gave an improved life to BletJhaw.

 

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BletJhaw’s Surgery

I have missed many stories here in my web page.  Time has flown by and internet is unavailable.  If I find any of the stories I have written I will put them in, even if the dates are not chronological.

As you know BletJhaw and I have worked in this part of God’s vineyard for over 10 years now.  God has clearly renewed His contract with me to continue on in BeYoTa year after year.  I have not been released from this work by any means!  My biggest test was this year when I visited my 96-year-old mother.  God came even closer to me than ever before to lovingly tell me that He wants me to continue in BeYoTa, putting Him first before my family.   I did not know it but that was my last time to see her well.  She passed away last December 22.  Feeling my deep loss, and in my grief and sorrow, I am thrilled to know God’s will for my life and to have the assurance that my mother understood also, and agreed that God was vividly telling us both His will.

For every loss I have experienced in my life, I have felt more love for others.  Now that I suffer my biggest loss, I feel an all-consuming love and passion to reach the lost.  By God’s grace I will carry my mother’s torch and cling to Jesus heading His instructions in just how to do my work.

Since my mother’s death the work here has shockingly opened right up, and I know I am carrying her torch to the finish line by His grace alone!!

For ten years I have been running 2 miles almost every morning to WaSuTa, (WST). There is a Baptist pastor there with a small Baptist church, so I pause in WST and pray for that pastor and those church members almost every day that they will come to the truth!!!

Oh how true is Galatians 6:9  “Let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”  Because:  LISTEN TO THIS!!  Just now there are 4 families that have been members in that Baptist church, who are eagerly studying with us to join the Seventh-Day Adventist church!  In one family, the wife is the Baptist pastor’s wife’s sister!

I could not do a stitch of work here without BletJhaw by my side.  He is musically talented and his conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole!  His faithful perseverance through thick and thin clearly shows that his heart is one with mine in reaching the lost.  At times we each have felt the pangs of keen disappointment and suffering.  “Days when troubles harass the soul, till death seems preferable to life.”  PK 162.1 But God is faithful!  He is saying, “I will hold thy right hand, fear not I will help thee!”  Isaiah 41:10 He is enough!!

Tomorrow we drive to Chiang Mai and BletJhaw will have hemorrhoid surgery.  (Hemorrhoidectomy).  He has been plagued with this problem for over 5 years, but now it is so much worse that he cannot put surgery off any longer.  We request your prayers please.  I know God wants us back to work in BYT quickly, especially as we want to continue our Bible studies with these 4 families, treat the sick and preach the gospel!   We will be so encouraged to know you are praying!  Love to all!

 

 

 

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Visiting Church Members

I know why God did not give angels this work of soul saving!  Because it brings so much joy into your heart that cannot be described by pen or words!  The heart is too full!
Sabbath, May 23, dawned bright and sunny!  What a gift from heaven, as rainy season has already begun with all its difficulties and struggles!!
Today is a special day!  Church in BYT was well attended.  I preached on the trinity, even though I am so unworthy to try to explain something that none of us will ever understand even throughout eternity!!  But God has given us what we need to know and may He bless the hearers of this word is my prayer!
After church we are inundated with patients, and have no time to eat because our friends are already waiting for us to go to MooDooKee village for a special worship with Bli and his family.
I had purchased a cheap hearing aide for Bli.  (1000 baht). People in America would would hold up their hands in disgust saying how archaic it is!  But not Bli and us!  He put on that battery powered hearing aide and a smile came over his whole face!  What a special moment to see and remember!  He can hear!
DeeMoo is with us.  He is the BYT boy who attended a 2 year seminary training in MaeSot.  He has comeback all excited and motivated to work for God in his own area!!  He can play the guitar and sing well!  His voice is loud and clear as he presents his worships etc.  God is certainly working here.
Also we have just purchased a ukulele!  BletJhaw practiced on it this week because it is different from the guitar.  Now he can play it.  We cannot bring that big guitar with us on the motorbike to the villages, but the ukulele is so small. I can easily carry it on the back of the motorbike and we can praise god with richer music!
We went up to Bli’s little church and had worship.   DeeMu did the worship talk and Bli could hear every word!  My joy was so intense, I had to work hard to stifle shouts of joy!!
On our way home we stopped at a church member’s house in GeGhah village.  More songs, prayers and Bible study.  When we arrive home, patients were waiting.  Also people in WST wanted us to come and teach them about the state of the dead!  We studied with them, their families and friends until late in the night!  When we arrived back home more patients were waiting!
We are so busy now bringing the glorious light of the gospel to many eager people!  The Holy Spirit is working on the hearts of the people in answer to our prayers of eleven years!   Time is so short we cannot slack our efforts or faint for a moment!  We have eternity to rest from our labors and enjoy the company of those we have worked for!  I must tell you that I do have the most glorious job in the world to be right where God wants me to be, doing His work, in His way, and He has promised to bring success!
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Let Us Not Be Weary!

Dear Friends!

You are all very special to me!  Your love, prayers and support greatly help me to keep pressing on!  The pandemic has not been felt in a big way over here.  -Of course we are deep in the jungle!  We now can continue to treat the patients, pulling teeth, doing sutures, removing injured toenails, as well as many medical problems and skin problems.  Thailand has been very careful with their COVID-19 rules and regulations, and the people here have been very obedient!  (Probably because they will receive a large fine and/or prison for 2 years if they disobey)!

I have removed more toenails lately. People use very sharp hoes and sometimes they slip!

I have personally felt the attacks of the devil in so many ways recently, till I could hardly hold my head up, but I have learned that when this happens it means God is about to do something great!  My part is just to keep hanging onto the hand of God.

The light really did break through though, let me tell you!  Three families who had been members of the Baptist Church in WST are studying with us and want to keep the Seventh Day Sabbath and join our church!  I have been praying for that Baptist Pastor and all the people of that church to turn to the truth for 11 years!  I run almost every morning to WST and there overlooking the Baptist Church I pray for them!  Therefore this verse is very dear to me:

“Let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not!” 

By God’s grace there shall be no fainting here!!  The people we are now studying the Bible with are all eager to learn the truth!  There is no greater joy!!

MeLoDa and SueDa

MeLoDa is a 23-year-old BYT girl who is close to nine months pregnant with her first child.  She has become very large with this pregnancy and I am concerned that she might have a difficult time in delivery, especially as she plans to have the baby at home and not go to the hospital.

On Friday evening her husband came to our home asking for a hot water bottle, stating that she was experiencing a little pain.   He was unconcerned and thought her due date was still not up.  However the next day I was told that her water had broken the night before prior to the time her husband asked for the hot water bottle!  Now she still has not delivered the baby, and states she cannot feel the baby moving anymore!  Immediately we prepare to take her to MeDooGlow hospital.  The roads are better now, so it takes less than 2 hours to get there.  The hospital took her immediately to Omkoi hospital.

As soon as we arrived back in BYT, SueDa’s husband chased us down, asking if we could please take his wife to the hospital.  She was worse.  We must turn around and go all the way back to MDG!  We drove to her house in WST to check her.  It is exceedingly hard to get the truck in to her house.  The road is dreadful and such a small space on the side of the mountain to turn around.   As I told you in the last letter this girl had sustained a fever and very intense leg pain for over two weeks since her delivery.  When I checked her I found that she was in such terrible pain she refused to go to the hospital.  I told her I had a strong injection I could give her for pain, just enough to allow her to make it out of her house in into our truck.  She consented to that and her husband took me home on his motorbike to get it.

 After the injection we waited 20 minutes and then proceeded to attempt transferring her onto a “Hammock” attached to bamboo.  My heart goes out to her.  It was very difficult for her, but BletJhaw and the husband did a great job of carrying her down the difficult bamboo steps and steep descent to our truck.  I felt so jubilant to finally see her settled in the back of our truck.  Though she still suffered quite a lot during the transfer, she would not have made it without that shot.

 

I feel so thankful to God because both of these girls got the proper care.  We heard that MeLoDa had to be transferred to the large hospital in Chiang Mai, but she finally had a healthy baby girl and may be returning home in 3 days.  SueDa is also in a larger hospital undergoing treatments.

Please pray for wisdom to do healthcare and the Holy Spirit to reach the lost in this area.

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Exceedingly High Sabbath

May 9, 2020

Bli is 74 years old.  Here he is with his Bible!

Sabbath morning dawned clear and bright.  The rain we had experienced a couple of days ago had significantly cleared the smoke away that had overwhelmed us for the past 3 months.  It also took care of the thick layer of dust that always penetrats every pore of your body!

Before rainy season begins, we wanted to have a special dedication service of the little church in MooDooKee village that Bli built. He has put so much work into it and he and his family have become solid SDA Christians!  We wanted to make this event memorable, with a visiting ordained pastor and great attendance.  But an ordained pastor here in these parts is hard to come by, because we are so difficult to get to.

So cute! Bli has been a builder all his life.

God answered our prayers!  Just last Thursday, May 7, I was able to get in contact with Pastor Phamore.  I thought he would be too busy to come way out here to this remote village, especially as there was only 2 more Sabbaths before rainy season, but to my astonishment he asked where I was and could I meet him the very next day.  He would come!  He would bring 4 of his students with him.

Four trucks followed each other to MooDooKee village that Sabbath from BYT and WST.  The little church was packed with people.  They crowded the porch, underneath the church, and all around the shady places of the nearby trees.   I doubt anybody outside could hear everything that took place, but the service was incredible.  Bli, (Even though he is quite deaf.  I’m trying to get him some hearing aides), sat there smiling the entire time, with his family around him.  Even some Baptist church members from this village were there.

Walking up up up to the church

Pastor Phamore

So many people all over the place, and no chance to count them all!

Afterwards that dear family fed us all! They brought bowls of food to each person outside, and inside the small house.  They had cooked tons food and everybody ate to capacity with food left over.  (We later paid them for all that food that they had purchased)

The blessings of this day were not over yet.   Read on:

A seven-year-old child, BaJaw, came into my clinic that afternoon almost in anaphylactic shock!  I was instantly alarmed because a hornet had stung his left ear and almost immediately he had broken out in hives, suffered chest pain, shortness of breath, and had swelling around the eyes!  I needed to act quickly.  This was an emergency!  I quickly administered two shots, Adrenalin and CPM, praying that they would bring immediate relief.  At that same time someone came asking us to check a WST girl, SueDah, two weeks post partum with chronic fever and severe pain in her right hip and leg.   She had been screaming and crying out in pain for two days.

About this time also BeeHtu from WST told us that he and his family wanted to join our church and keep the Seventh Day holy.  Could we come and have worship in their home that evening!  I am thrilled beyond description.  This is the man who, five years before, had attended many of our Bible studies in WST, and many church services here in BYT.  However he had suddenly stopped coming because his family were all against it.  I had been heart broken because this man had shown great interest and had earnestly listened to every word!  Now 5 years later he is coming back and his family with him!! This is the third family wanting to leave the Baptist church, and follow their convictions to keep the seventh day holy!!  Pastor Phamore was able to do that worship.  Many people attended, and I sensed that several more were looking for the truth!  The Spirit of God is moving hearts here in these jungle mountains.  Surely we are at the very threshold of eternity!

Pastor Phamore with BeeHtu

After this worship BletJhaw and I went to check on BaJaw.   I know I will be able to sleep well tonight, because to my great relief that little boy was much better!  He is going to live!  The swelling had gone down in his face, his skin was smooth and his breathing was not labored!  So many times God brings drastic healing to these dear jungle people!  My heart is filled to overflowing with gratitude!

BaJaw, after the medication worked!

SueDa was very puzzling!  They told us that she had  surgery at MeDooGlow, (MDG), which we asked if it was a C-Section.  They said yes.  But MDG does not do surgery. It is just a clinic. Then they told us that it was done without anesthesia and that she was screaming in pain.  We thought how could any facility in the 21st century do a big surgery like that without anesthesia.  I was trying to figure out why her hip and leg were so painful.  She had not been able to move much and always stayed in this one position.  She had a fever this whole month and at this visit it was 101 degrees.  After asking multiple questions and examining the patient we found out that she had a regular delivery.  Not a C-Section.  There are always so many misunderstandings here, which require a lot of research, questioning, and investigation.  We will take this girl to the hospital tomorrow if she allows us.  Right now she is refusing to go.

So life goes on in this isolated area of the world.  The time rushes on bringing us nearer and nearer the end of all things and trouble as we have never seen or imagined.  We have a precious little time to reach the lost.  Let’s rejoice in the hardships along the way.

“Let every word we utter and every line we write be fraught with encouragement and unwavering faith! “ MLT 174

 “How much more precious is heaven to those who have been faithful in the work of saving souls.”  5Testimonies 621.1

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Rich Rewards!

Here in the jungle we are isolated in our houses.  Our roads are blocked.  Our clinic is silent.  Our church door is shut. Our fields are burning.  The air is filled with smoke.  The ground is parched and the intense heat of the mid-day sun is suffocating as it mixes with smoke and thick dust stirred up from our feet or motorbike.  The hand-washed clothes hung on the bamboo dries in 20 minutes, as opposed to rainy season when it NEVER dries.

Isolated in our houses

Freshly burned rice fields everywhere

Dusty travelers

We are in a difficult position because the people still depend on us when they are sick.  How can we turn them away.  We just made a house call to a very sick young man almost in a febrile seizure.  We cannot take anyone to the hospital right now.  Some of our patients cough and have fevers.  Our full weight is upon the dear Saviour, who hears our cry and heals the sick!

Just last week a young man, PePoo, 25 years old, dropped a post on his foot leaving it quite dirty, swollen and mangled.  I cleaned and trimmed as best I could and sutured it together with 8 sutures.  We walk to his house every day to clean it. At first it looked like one end was getting infected even though I had given him antibiotics, but I found out that he was walking every day down the steep mountainside in all that dust!   BletJhaw and I prayed with him and his family as we cleaned and dressed his foot.  This man is an opium addict and does not treat his wife nicely.  Now I have a chance to plead with God for him physically and spiritually!  Just yesterday his foot was less swollen and appeared to be healing nicely.  How can we ever thank God enough for His miraculous power in our behalf.  Please pray for PePoo!

Not looking too good!

So much better just in one day!

Beautiful family!

Through these most difficult times when the outlook is bleak and our work seems to be at a stand-still and we wonder how God wants to use us to save souls when we have to be so isolated in our houses – the light breaks through!  I want to jump up and down and shout and scream:  “All glory to God!”  All the oppressions of the enemy, the difficulty of our surroundings and the impossibility of our situation is forgotten and we are delighted to bear even more burdens for the Lord!  And here is the reason:

A couple from the Baptist church in WST, came to visit us last Sabbath. They had chosen not to work on that day because they feel they should obey the Bible and keep the Seventh day!  They asked if they could come over in the evening and learn about the Seventh-Day Sabbath and also they want to know what things they should and shouldn’t eat.  So that night I was able by the grace of God to give a wonderful Bible Study on why we keep the Bible Sabbath.  This next Sabbath they want us to have a worship in their home and in the evening give them another Bible study!  The beauty of it all is that nobody can take the credit.  It is solely the working of the Holy Spirit upon the heart!  This couple have attended some of our Bible Studies we used to have in WST every Monday night, and they also have attended a few of our church services.  Please pray for this couple!!

If you want to taste real unadulterated joy, just experience a true conversion of the soul to the truth as it is in Jesus!  This will carry you through the dark burdensome days and lift you closer and closer to the glories of heaven!

Oh lift up your heads dear people because Jesus is on His way.  All of heaven is longing to help us win precious souls for heaven before our way gets blocked entirely.  Oh that everyone could experience this joy!!

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“Occupy Till I Come”

“Occupy till I come.”  Luke 19:13

Our situation in BYT is very good compared to what I have heard about America and other areas around the world. Yet many of our mountain villages are locked up with big gates across the entrances.  Nobody is allowed to enter or exit. Various provinces are shut down.  Here in Thailand they have a rule that there will be no social gatherings.  The soldiers and police will put offenders in jail as well as demand a high fine.

We are not too sure how many more trips we can make into MaeSot to purchase supplies.  We are living together with BletJhaw’s family in BYT.  Our clinic is officially closed.  Our head man has notified the surrounding villages, however the local people are coming.  Our census has dropped from an average of 20 patients a day to about 5.  Yet we are taking a risk to even do that because many of the young people have been in schools or at work in the big cities, and they now have returned home!  Nobody in the entire world is safe, unless they are clinging tightly to Jesus!  And what a comfort He is!
“Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me!  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me:  it is high, I cannot attain unto it!!!”  Psalm 139:5,6
As a nurse, and even more so as a child of God, I simply cannot refuse treatment for a sick patient that comes to me for help, and so I continue to care for all who come to my door.  These 2 verses keep ringing through my head with more meaning now than ever before:
 “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself.”  Luke 10:27
 
“Let us not be weary in well doing:  for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”  Galatians 6:9
My time now is spent doing that which lies nearest!  I really miss the constant flow of patients, even though it was terribly tiring and inconvenient at times.  However, I have a splendid opportunity to help teach BletJhaw’s 2 little boys, age 7 and 4, the “My Bible First” lessons that my sister wrote, and in any way lead them to Jesus!  They bring joy to my heart as they have brought a small keyboard piano to practice on, ride bicycles, swim in the river, and guess what?  BletJhaw found a small puppy in the village that nobody owned!  What huge blessing.  I sure hope she survives!
Our little church has closed down, but BletJhaw and I began to invite ourselves to different homes to have a worship.  Now several families are inviting us!  It is so sad not to have 50-60 people come to church on Sabbath. I really miss preaching the sermons, because it was my only time to really earnestly tell the people present truth, but last Sabbath was such a blessing!  We told one family that our family would meet under the church at 9:30a.m.  Well word seems to travel fast and 30 people came, eager to hear the good news about Jesus!  My topic:  “Watch and Pray!”  We also met in 2 other homes for worship.  There were 15 in one group, and about 10 in the other.  I will try to let you know if we get arrested and put in jail for these gatherings, but truly I felt the power of the Holy Spirit, and at this unprecedented time in which we are living, I know God is working on hearts and working this all out for good in our jungle mountains!  I truly feel that if we did not work in this way that even the rocks would cry out!

Sabbath under the church!

BletJhaw and I came out of BYT today to purchase much needed food and supplies, so I am making the most of a short time of internet.
Be of good courage everybody!  Our paths may be thorny, our journey rugged and our friends few, we are entering the last great conflict, and every bitter trial we go through with Jesus, brings us closer to that great day when we see Him face to face!!
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A Day in MauGoKey Village: February 20

So happy to be exactly where God placed me, ministering to these dear and precious people every day, with BletJhaw at my side!

A lady in our village asked us to please go and help her daughter and son-in-law in MauGoKey village, who were suffering from stomach pain and other things.  By the second day we were ready to go.  I had decided to bring the entire medicine bag because there are 50-60 homes in this distant village.  It is terrible to be caught without something important because we will not be coming back very soon.  I packed way more than usual because we drove the truck and had lots of room.

BooChee, age 16 from BYT came with us and the lady.

We drove almost 2 hours – 27kms.  The road was terrible, as you might imagine!  The body gets really shaken up, but the scenery was so beautiful – the day warm and clear!

What a wonderful day, meeting new people – all so sweet and lovable from the very youngest to the oldest!

Probably because it is just a large sprawling village with so many people, and this was our first time visiting – the people seemed to come in shifts.  First a group of ladies and babies, second a group of men, third a group of families with children, then the elderly, but they kept coming – each one sweet and abundantly thankful.  What a joy to serve them.  I gave all my vitamin shots, all my PO vitamins finished up many types of antibiotics, eye drops, gastritis medicine, and of course most all the baby syrups.  But we had what we needed for everyone!

They cooked us a meal, but had nothing vegetarian.  I am always causing people trouble because they never knew a white person or a vegetarian.  Finally they found a package of  MaMa noodles.  BletJhaw told them not to put the powder in it because it was pork!  So I had rice with just noodles swimming in hot water!  I’m very used to strange meals, but very thankful for the people’s effort and any food that takes the gnawing hunger out of your stomach!!

It is now getting late.  We have been here all day.  We pack up all the medicine and head out, but here come more patients.  This happens every time we try to leave!  Pack – unpack – pack – unpack. Finally someone asks if we will do a worship!!  I will NEVER refuse that request, so we go back in for the best part of the entire day!  I tell the story of the 10 lepers, drawing the clear lessons of obedience and thankfulness to God!!  The people listened with stark, and rapt attention.

We travel back to BYT in the dark, in silence, reflecting on the  busy day, and all the patients, praying for each and every one.

May the seeds sown bear precious fruit.

 

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