Karen Outreach - 2011 Blog Updates

Karen Outreach — Blog Updates

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2011

10/22/2011 - Urgent, urgent, urgent…

The phone rang and a conversation followed which made my heart jump within my breast and panic was ready to seize my being.

You need to pay the final $130,000 for the property, NOW!

- "We have no money!"
- "Close down the school for the rest of the year … and use the funds you now use for the children, staff, etc. for the property."
- "We are not free to use the school funds for the property."
- "It is not the end of the month yet, we are praying."
- "Well you have to do something and do it quick."
- "We have no money and no way to produce money, only God has this power."
- "If you don't have the payment by the end of the month you will lose the property."
- "We will continue to pray and let the word out."

I got off the phone feeling like once in my childhood when hit in the chest with a football, the air was gone, I looked at Paul and together we realized our utter helplessness.

God is a very present help in trouble on Him we cast every care His love and care for this work have been demonstrated over and over again as we knew no other way but to cast our burdens on Him.

Again we have to choose to trust that God will provide and not lose faith like the murmurers of old did when wandering through the desert to the promised land over and over again they saw God intervening on their behalf providing for every need and yet they would not believe the next moment; how often do we do the same?

(By the way due to the language barrier and translation error we were led to believe that the deadline for this payment was due at the turn of the year, but it was one year from our initial down payment.)

10/22/2011 - Spent and Worn for the Master

This is how we feel at times, Maria was earnestly attempting to coach and entice me to retrieve into her bamboo hut to get some rest from the noise and hustle and bustle of our hut, "No I cannot leave the babies" "Bring them with you" "I'm too tired to even walk to your hut especially with the babies, and what kind of rest do you expect me to get anyway?" she was exasperated at my stubbornness - but honestly I was simply too tired to move…until, our friend and Bible teacher and closest neighbor Ehkanyaw stepped into the hut and announced the arrival of a 5 week old baby in need of a home … The father had come from a recently attacked area on the other side of the border, the family had been hiding in the jungle running from the Burmese in torrential rains, the mother died a week ago from the exposure …" please take the baby" … the Burmese requiring the men to be used as porters and there was no way that the father could care for the baby, Maria and I looked at each other and made the decision to take this baby on too.

We now have two sets of "triplets", two year olds and infants!

Maria has Jabez who is now one year old, she is a really good mother and is totally devoted to him, him being at an active stage finds her often absorbed with his care, yet at every moment she can spare she is by my side ready to lend a hand.

New Baby Kukupaw

The baby, little naw kuku paw "miss shade flower" was a sad sight, dirty and with devil strings in the ears, around the wrists and probably 5 different dirty strings and amulets around her tiny neck.

She was and is still not able to cry a normal baby cry but gives of a faint cry, it seemed to us that she was not getting air when hungry almost like a panic attack and as a result she was not able to feed from the bottle, we washed her and prayed for the powers of darkness to lose its grip over her life and we cut the devil strings.

She had been going without proper nourishment for a week and not able to eat we took her to the ER that night, she was admitted due to not getting enough oxygen, being septic and having a amoeba infection, a couple of days later we transferred her to Chaing mai for care where she was admitted and spent two nights, we were blessed to be invited to the Rawlings home to stay for the week returning to the hospital daily for intravenous antibiotic for the sepsis.

This was a blessing in more ways than one, to be able to enjoy the company of fellow missionary friends and in a home were I can take the time to get on a schedule … as I tenderly guide these little treasures to be safe in my care and love, this would have been a more challenging task in a hut filled to the brim with children who with eager hands want to "help".

I brought her and our little twin boy leaving the other baby for Paul and Maria to care for, she has now developed sickness and according to Gayle and Maria might need hospital care…so they might be on their way to join us here, please keep us in your prayers that we will have the wisdom and knowledge to not only train the little ones in our care for Jesus but also take proper care of them.

Yesterday on the Sabbath we were really blessed as we were joined by some dear people for the afternoon, it was not a coincident that the wife of one of the men is a midwife, and not just any midwife; a beautiful woman passionately in love with babies and in sharing her knowledge, we were blessed to not only glean much from her experience and education but even had a hands on demonstration in baby massage, we were all greatly touched not only by her but by her husband and friend as well-we serve a wonderful God.

She is praying about joining us for a few months; teaching midwifery here at Sunshine Orchard - may God's will be done!

10/17/2011 - Reflections

"Tharamoo who is the fattest, you or Tharamoo Cutie?"
"Tharamoo what is the opposite of fat?"
"Tharamoo, if you give a way the table given to you, please remember me, please?"
"How much did it cost? Oh, very expensive."

These are some of the recent conversations from my cherished helpers.

Culture adjustment, and if you may, sanity checks have been on my brain lately.

Here is a snippet from an Adams' normal day; first of all remember that we are in a home with no doors or windows, there is absolutely no where to hide. So please don't judge us too harshly as you read on.

It is 4 a.m. and a baby is crying, maybe three … they are hungry - again! It seems like most of the night has been spent with babies and bottles in Paul's and my arms - every two hours, yet sometimes they are not happy or their diapers are soiled, we have changed a dozen diapers in one single night.

Wearily we accept that 4 a.m. is our wake up to get up time, it is pitch dark outside and will be until 6 a.m. Using the light from our clock, Paul lights some candles and I find my way to the bathroom, dodging mud puddles and rain drops.

Back under the netting and sitting on the floor we attempt to have our devotions amidst baby needs, around 5 a.m. Anna, Josiah, Sawqueleh, Pahdahthu and Moawah are woken up and outside the children's village is slowly stirring, but at 6 a.m. the bell sounds loud and clear. I breathe a prayer that our second set of "triplets" might not wake up yet, please Lord just a little more time … but first Jabez is plopped into my lap for me to watch, while Mommo Maria is heading out for her routine exercise running. Jabez most often drifts back to sleep and does not cause any problems - he is the sweetest little thing, not so little any more, you might actually wonder if he is made out of lead.

Paul cooks the rice and I attempt to put together something edible to go with the rice.

The house is quiet, but the chapel is vibrating with children's voices singing, soon it is time for the younger children's simplified family worship at the house.

Somewhere along the way I hope to fit in a quick rinse and as I have slept in my clothes … hmmm … there is need for some refreshment … and a mirror … but what is that? I have not seen my face since we arrived at Sunshine Orchard a couple of weeks ago - it is true, except for two nights in Mae sot for accounting - there I did wonder who that tired looking woman was, trying to not glance too closely as I might get frightened at the sight, Paul has to be reminded too to shave and such.

At 8 a.m. the house is invaded by our two helpers, caregivers.

They used to come earlier, but I needed the sanity of at least having the house semi ours for at least mornings and evenings, so they now have an 8-5 schedule, which they protested too due to culture, but I set my face as flint and said no.

They stated today, "Tharamoo you never get tired" if only they knew …

Potty training three toddlers at one time around "helpers" who think urine is nothing but water can be a challenge for me, getting through to them that if the diapers are off that means we take the child to the potty often - but why bother if its just "water"?

Close to 9 a.m. its time to bring everyone for school worship. I'm grateful for those who come and offer to take some of the little ones for me, so I can just take one baby.

If someone out there has a bright idea on how to carry triplets - please let me in on the secret.

Almost every day our hut is invaded by little ones, medium and large children most any time there is a break. Often I have to usher them out for work periods, so they do not use our place to get away from responsibility.

At 9 a.m. school is in session around the campus and reciting is heard echoing with clear strong voices from all our kindergarteners for hours on end and all in unison.

Now its my time to be diligently attempting to homeschool amidst baby feedings and toddlers. Josiah and I plop down on the floor with his books and we place a mat for the toddlers on which they can play with toys set aside for this time only.

Nap time is quiet time, if the babies cooperate I might even be able to squeeze in a nap in the hammock with one of them sleeping with me, but most often there are interruptions and other needs to attend too, like staff meetings, discussions and decisions needing to be made.

Often villagers find our hut and make themselves comfortable watching my every move; a gallowah can be really good entertainment … and the comments flying back and forth still goes right above my head. All through the day my helpers try to teach me this and that in the Karen language, but my brain is just not wanting to remember most of it. I could use some prayers for language learning!

My helpers spend much of the day doing laundry in the creek. The amount of children's clothing and blankets to wash each day is amazing. This is mostly contributed to by having 5 little ones in diapers and two additional little ones who use those things at night due to bed wetting, accidents and leakage which are not uncommon.

The caregivers also cook the second meal and help keep the house decent, before they leave they help with giving baths. Now the house is ours and I attempt to keep it calm until evening worship at the chapel. Most often, I stay behind with the babies, setting up the mosquito nets for all the children, making our bed on the floor placing the baskets under cover there from the biting pesky insects. I snuggle in with Josiah, who leaves the worship after song service to come and join me for our special time together, most often we read stories, talk about the happenings of the day and pray.

Then comes the longest baby feeding of the day, as we try to fill up little tummies so they can sleep longer, this is their awake alert time and we might be a little concerned about them not going back to sleep.

By God's grace I can stay awake to do some correspondence on the computer, while the insects love this time I dread their presence. You might all wonder why those missionaries never post new blogs or answer letters ... now you know.

Now that I have shared an honest account of one day's activities I would like to give you an invitation, a call for some one or two who love children and who would come and help us taking turns or just giving us "a hand", we also need someone who would do substitute driving this winter, starting soon (to get supplies, go to the hospitals, and help with emergencies, etc).

We need someone to help us with students who are not progressing or thriving. We have a number of especially younger boys living in the dorms who have spent 3 to 5 years in the kindergarten program mostly in the age range of 11 to 13 who are not able to progress to the first grade. These boys are otherwise talented and bright in art, music, outdoor skills, etc., but we don't have much to offer them in these areas (except singing and working in the gardens).

Someone able to teach voice and/or one or two of the following: piano, violin, flute, trumpet or recorder would be welcome too!

We still need a computer teacher, a builder/teacher, and an agriculture supervisor/teacher.

Twins

9/28/2011 - New Babies

The news reached our ears through a brief note, no details, just twins … one day old … later came an email: Be sure to bring clothing for a boy and girl.

Our curiosity was awakened as we contemplated the news; our return within a couple of days now had a new aspect to it - care for newborns in addition to the "triplets."

We were delighted and expectantly waited for the moment when we would look into the eyes of our newly acquired little ones, not to mention the ones we so painfully had to leave behind for the last few months.

Having a children's home is like assuming parenthood at any moment without the usual nine months preparation God grants before the entrance of the responsibility of a new life.

May the Lord bless us and everyone at Sunshine Orchard as we attempt to raise a generation of children for Christ.

We arrived at the Chiang mai airport around midnight with no Maria in sight. A phone call later we realized that something mysterious was going on. It was Jason's voice that answered the phone in a rather elusive manner. Soon Maria came driving the old thing we still call our truck. I have to say that both exterior and interior of that old warrior had taken more wear and tear and we were aghast at its condition and not just a little embarrassed as the proper Thai people around all pitched in to give us a hand, helping us to cram all that luggage within its dirty bed - it had just been used to haul manure … (Maria claims that it had actually had a bath since then!)

Soon we were greeted by a tired looking babysitter - Jason together with the tiniest little baby bundles you could imagine.

We have been blessed to have Jason serving with our family and, although he now lives with his family, we still help each other. Serving together for several years we claim each others children as part of our own, especially those whom we have been blessed to get to know real well. We all need each other being missionaries in a foreign land and this was one of those times - Maria did not have enough arms to properly surprise us without Jason entering in having some fun, albeit tired fun. (It was also a good excuse for him to have the opportunity to complete some projects as well as transport some items for his family.)

The twins skin and eyes were yellow, and the next morning we took them to the hospital. We were redirected to a general government hospital; Anna with one little one and me with the other. They were quickly admitted into the neonatal newborn intensive unit, we were pleasantly surprised to find a little oasis within an otherwise very dirty and worn hospital. We were told to leave them there, but first they wanted to make sure that we were returning for them and not just dumping them there - a very common thing - this causes problems as they have to keep the little ones until an orphanage with room for little ones can be found.

In returning as we entered the hotel room were we expected to find everyone waiting for us. It was empty! With Jason around we soon figured it must be a trick, and sure enough! We found them all under the bed - even little Jabez had to join in the fun.

To save money and to be together we had all crowded into one small room. Paul, the twins, and I all slept there the first night, or might I say fed and cared for the twins … while the rest of the kids scattered on the floor in all directions. All comfy and happy on a hard tile floor. As well as all feeling tremendously guilty for having such nice room to stay in for about $18 a night. We could have spent a lot less, but in this place they allow us to all stay together and the rooms have thick walls which is nice when little ones are not always quiet on demand.

We ate breakfast vegetarian buffet style at a known place, we were informed that the price had changed from about $2.25 to $3.00 a person. Maria was ready to walk out had we not kept her, explaining that we were too weary to find another cheaper place, "Mom, I mostly eat where the food costs about 80 cent a person."

The twins spent 12 days in the hospital, the jaundice was severe enough that it required a blood transfusion on each baby, they also received antibiotics for infected umbilical cords- a dirty machete was used to cut the cord as they were born in the jungle by the side of a river out in the pouring rain, then transported a days journey on foot, the thin worn weary father pleaded with Maria to take them as the family had no food to feed their 8 children, not even rice for breakfast-the care of twins would add to the misery and make the mother unable to forage for food- living in a land mined conflict zone were the attack of the enemy is eminent at any time, were they seek refuge in the jungle, or are forced to be porters and their rice fields are burned and any food supply is looted is not an easy life. Sicknesses like malaria, dengue fever and dysentery claim many lives, and at the hospital we were informed that the twins would most likely not have survived had they not received medical care.

9/28/2011 - newsy bits of this and that

We are now settled into our new home, down in the lime orchard, which is the center of the existing school campus - a little children's village if you may.

Paul and I were wondering how we would find living in a bamboo hut, that seemed pretty dark from the pictures we had seen, while our children all just knew that this would be fantastic.

We love our new home, there is a nice breeze in the evening/night which makes for good air circulation, there is NO privacy … no door anywhere in the house, no entrance to close. Karen style!

No bathroom, but the 4 toilets shared with 100 boys. No private place to take a bath, unless you are creative and think ahead … like scurrying down to the creek when no one is there - most often during school hours, or in the rustic bathroom, if there is running water. And do you know what? There is no toilet paper!

The hardest part is the challenge to keep things clean and hygienic, we are "no germ" freaks and are very much aware of the need to follow God's instructions of cleanliness. Some brain storming and action is in progess, not just for our home, but for the whole campus. Gayle already has done much toward this end, we just need to make it easier.

The night jungle sounds drift in through the cracks in the bamboo walls, making wonderful sounds for good sleep, the singing around here is hearty and we love listening to the singing.

Many of the children find our home a place to hang-out at school breaks and and even early mornings, the newborn twins are attractants, they hang in little baskets where little hands love to help with swinging them.

After having spent almost two weeks in the neonatal intensive care they are now doing great.

We named them Timothy and Talitha Joy - she is such a little girl.

The first two nights with the twins, I have to confess, was something of a nightmare for Paul and me. Maria who has her own bamboo hut with Jabez, insisted to take them at night, until they are on a schedule - she sleeps deeper than us and will set her alarm every three hours. So far so good.

The Steck family have settled in and adapted beyond our best expectations, we are so relieved to have such wonderful help.

We don't have internet at our home, so correspondence might become less easy for a while, until we settle into a routine where we can get away.

8/30/2011 - By Brenda Steck

Hi Everybody,

Have any of you gone on a jungle, mountain hike? In flipflops? Friday, Sharon and I did just that. A teacher and some students invited us to go with them. They go quite frequently to look for food. Anyway, after finding a wild fig tree in our backyard (the fruit has a sweet/sour taste) we hiked on a trail that traverses on a hillside, forded a small river doing the balancing act and trying to keep our flipflops on, on the trail again going up, up, passed beautiful jungle flowers and bamboo clumps, then off the trail we bushwacked on slippery slopes to look for mushrooms and slipping in our flipflops. Finally we got back on the trail, yes, easier to walk on, down, down we went. Then we stopped to harvest some young bamboo shoots and dig for some wild roots for eating, then down the trail we went, forded the river, traversed the hillside and finally arrived back home. That was fun!

Two hours later, Gayle and I found ourselves headed for the Meta hospital 1 hour south of us taking a mother and her 2 year old daughter with malaria. Thankfully she had the mild form of malaria, p. vivax. While waiting at the hospital for the daughter's results, Gayle got a phone call from a teacher telling her that her son, Micah, was on his way to the same hospital doing an emergency run taking a village woman who is about ready to give birth. About half way, she delivered her son, then Micah put the metal to the pedal. Just a soon as Gayle and I were finished with our village patients, Micah zooms into the emergency parking area. We watched all the excitement as the hospital personnel grabbed their equipment, cut the babies cord and was carried off, making lots of loud cries, and then the mother was put on a qurney and taken to the OB area. Hospital runs are one of the normal things we do here when we can't treat students or villagers.

Now let me tell you about Moo Wah Wah. She is a little 4-5 year old girl who has alot of independence and spunk!! She seems to know what she is doing and she keeps herself very busy. Sunday, she decided that she would spend the day with us. So up our steps she climbs and goes right into our house. Principal Harvey (Thara Joe Koe) pulls out a childrens bible story book and invites her to sit on his lap. So up she climbs and sits down, and Thara Joe Koe begins to read the Bible story in English. She sits quietly through the whole story and when Thara Joe Koe is done, down she goes, out the door, down the steps, and to a small tree with edible leaves. She busies herself picking leaves, then she goes picking wild flowers, then she bounds up the steps and gives each one of us some leaves to eat and puts some wild flowers in our hair. As I was doing my lesson plans, she quietly comes over and gets my empty cup, runs to the back of the house to fill it up with drinking water and back she comes to give it me. She also did that for the others. Then shes back down the steps to get more leaves and flowers. As she is picking, she cheerfully sings her little Bible songs. Up the stairs she goes again, grabs my empty cup and fills it up again and places it next to me. She then sets her cup next to mine. Before I know it, she is dipping water from her cup to mine. Then dipping from my cup to hers and so on. By that time, I had decided I wouldn't drink my water. That was okay, because I was enjoying watching her play until one of the cups gets knocked over and spills all over my books. Oh well, we quickly got a towel to dry things up. After playing with the water for sometime, she quickly goes into the house, grabs a stool, and brings it outside and sets her cup, my cup, and another cup onto it and starts to play. She was having fun till one of the cups crashes onto the floor and the water spills all over the floor. At least it didn't get my books this time. After awhile Thara Joe Koe needed to take two empty, 5 gal. water jugs down to the church. So off he goes and when she saw him leave, she runs to him and grabs one the jugs and carries it all the way to the church. She is not much taller then the 5 gal. jug. It was cute to see that. By the time they got back, the dinner bell rang, so she followed us to get our food, came back with us and ate with us. Well, apparently what she got was not enough. Thankfully we had extra rice at home, so we gave her some rice with soysauce three times. Well, it was time to go to evening worship. So we all ended the day together at worship. It was fun having her around.

Its getting exciting here, we are having lots of workbees with the staff and students to get ready for this coming school year. The school building was cleaned inside and outside, the bamboo, firewood and lumber were cleared out of the cafeteria area and stacked neatly. The cafeteria floors were swept and cleaned, and the ground around it was swept. The ballfield was cleaned up and brush cut back, gardens hoed, watergourds planted, vocational training center is being cleaned inside and out, brush cut back, garbage picked up, bathrooms cleaned, clinic building cleaned inside and out. It will be so refreshing once this is all done. The Lord is helping us get things done. Keep praying for this school, that He will provide us with the things the school needs.

God bless,
Brenda

(Note from Lena; that sweet little girl, is one of our adopted treasures, and the Stecks house was her home until very recently).

8/29/2011 - Latest updates

Our sharing "tour" was not as intimidating as expected as we only shared in four churches, rather than the expected seven + …

We were so very blessed to spend time with God's family, learning to know brothers and sisters in new territory and meeting with those who have sacrificed for the cause of the Karen children; we are deeply touched by their love and commitment.

A special treat was to spend time with a family whose 10-year-old son, Anson, has fundraised and shared in churches and at special events - we praise God for this young boy and his family.

Maria was blessed beyond measure as Rodney and Phimpa lovingly and tenderly accompanied her for her visa run to Laos. They traveled, ate and slept together (same room) for several days and as Maria was denied a visa; Phimpa stepped in and became her advocate and now Maria holds in her hand a much coveted visa, which all of us missionaries wish we had, it is a one year multiple entry visa, with no need for border runs - praise God for Phimpa being willing to be used by God. We had asked for help from a different source for her visa, but Phimpa again was the only one coming to the rescue.

Below is a personal letter by Brenda Steck, some parts have been deleted due to privacy, but she is very happy to share her experience with you all:

By Brenda Steck
Here are a few happenings that are going on here. After morning worship, we do stretches, then go walking or running for 20 min.; do laundry by hand and hoping our clothes will dry out in less than 3 days; use squat pots; take bucket showers - quite rejuvenating to say the least, but feel refreshed afterwards; trying to learn how to wear sarongs; eating Karen curry dishes - not too bad; taking a songtow (local transportation) to Maesalit to eat out at Jeun's place; shopping in Maesalit, Meta, and Mae Sot at local store fronts, trying to put together a medical missionary class and 1st aid class; Pastor Phamor's sister, Kuhtee, is teaching us Karen - I'm kind of slow; Kuhtee lives only 30 min. north of here; having worship and Bible studies in nearby villages; getting to know the teachers names as well as the students - it's a challenge; enjoying eating the tropical fruits; squashed my first scorpion; saw my first large gecko - 10 inches long; saw my first pit viper -- at least it was on the road and I was in the vehicle -- the only way to see those things; made hospital runs with Gayle - very interesting - nothing like in the States; sleeping under mosquito nets; trying to contain our acquired pets - 2 cats - one is very outgoing and vocal, the other is lazy and quiet - they sleep all day and then they are up all night - we learned that if we don't put food in their dish before going to bed, the vocal one will for sure start vocalizing around three o'clock in the morning - ugh; storing our clothes in trunks; some of us had some minor sickness; trying to enjoy all this rain and mugginess. Well, this is all I can think of right now.

Oh, I forgot a few things: dealing with swollen feet and lower legs; learning to sleep on hard beds; and working with the students building a dam on the stream with rocks -- when it rains hard, the stream really gets flooded and it is eroding away the cliff that is close to the trail that goes to our house, so we are trying to channel the stream away from that cliff; sitting on the floor with everybody else for church, Sabbath school, and morning and evening worships -- my poor ankles and sitter; oh, and enjoying coconut ice cream as much as possible, and flip-flops are the shoes.

So far I've been doing great. Some of my problems are gone, like the respiratory part. The environment here is like a sauna day and night!

8/21/2011 - The countdown is getting lower …

Almost time to go back home to the border!

The latest news from over on the border can be found on Sharon Steck's Blog.

Gayle Haberkam also has a new post from Sunshine Orchard on her blog.

Maria travelled with Jabez down to the Sharon's place with two objectives in mind; leaving him with a trusted babysitter and visiting dear friends who have become like family to her.

God intervened and kept her and Jabez through the many checkpoints, travelling with a baby with no identification papers can be scary, the trip down to the Sharon's is long and tedious, about 18+ hours, I think.

Maria is now on her way to renew her visa and would appreciate prayers, but I just learned that she is being escorted by Rodney and Phimpa, so she is in trusted hands too, still needing prayers for the visa part though, it is getting harder to obtain visas.

We have had some recent trials, and were tempted to feel discouraged, but praise God; as usual He intervened and proved himself a faithful provider - again! When will I ever graduate and learn to trust Him fully, having perfect peace, even when obstacles are in the way and the road is dark and the clouds cover the sunlight.

This time I was realizing that we did not have the funds for the visa's which we need to apply for by tomorrow, it was Thursday and by Monday morning we had to have $2000 in the bank to satisfy the Thai consulate that indeed we have enough cash on hand to live in Thailand as a family… Lord what can we do? Our solution to this dilemma was to rent a storage unit in town, as our house is way too far out for anyone to venture out there to a sale, we made a great effort and brought lots of things to be sold, our hopes were high, but within a very short time we realized that something was wrong, barely anyone would come and those who did, wanted something for nothing, this is when my struggle started "Lord I feel so discouraged."

I quickly left for the internet and within an hour an old rusty horse trailer was sold on Craig's list, way under priced, but praise the Lord, we now had $750 … I returned with a more positive attitude. Friday morning we picked up the mail and there we found an envelope from some precious people, it was a sacrifice for sure - one check was for $950 the other one for $350, tears flooded down my cheeks, these friends had no clue as to our dilemma and need, as we had not shared it with a soul.

We rested over the Sabbath and returned to our last sale today, again the same story was repeated, barely anyone came and of those who came we made $40, the cost of the storage unit.

The sun was hot and no toilet on site so I took Anna and Josiah to get some lunch. On other days we had packed lunches, but today we were trying to figure out what to do for food "let's go to Taco bell", but we reasoned that the Chinese buffet was no more expensive and we all longed for rice … another gift from a loving God awaited us there, while eating a woman across from Anna was fascinated by her expertise with chopsticks, a conversation was entered into, we shared about Thailand. After the woman left, a man turned around and shared that he could not but over hear our conversation and wanted to know more. Anna insisted in giving him an old copy of our newsletter and a business card, he read it right then and there, he arranged without us knowing, to pay our bill, including the takeout food for Paul, he gave us back the news letter and later I realized that he tucked money into it.

Thank you Jesus for the loving caring deeds you allow to be strewn along our path.

Next weekend will be our last one before going back, we are heading to Ellensburg, Washington. Friends have arranged for us to share, not in one church, but in quite a few … Friday evening, Sabbath morning, Sabbath worship hour, two hours drive away, at two a clock, somewhere else at 5pm and again at 7pm, all in different places. We have heard that there might be several places on Sunday too. We will be professional speakers by the end of that weekend, unless we are found hiding somewhere in fright trying to get away from it all, on a more serious note - we could use some prayers for next weekend.

The Steck Family

Steck Family

The Steck Family Mission

Harvey has returned to Sunshine Orchard, now with his wife Brenda, daughters Sharon and Hanna.

They are now our team mates; Harvey our principal, Brenda a nurse, Sharon is to assist Brenda with nursing and as a medical missionary, Hanna is going to teach English and assist her father as needed.

We are looking forward to updates and reports from them as they are getting over jetlag and are adapting to the primitive living conditions and a different culture.

We understand that they are already heavily involved in ministering to the needs around them, we are thanking Jesus for them answering God's call for laborers.

8/10/2011 - Dengue fever is back!

Maria has moved down to the new built bamboo hut which will serve as a temporary children's home until we get a bigger, permanent building built.

There are Maria and Jabez, the three toddlers, Moawah(4), Sawgueleh(6), three new children who were found abandoned and eating out of the garbage dump in a nearby village, two 11 year old boys and two young girls who are trying to help, and of course the caretaker, who is by the way leaving at the end of the month for greener pastures in the asphalt jungle, it has been suggested that we pay her more and maybe she will stay, but we would rather not have staff who are here for the salary, but instead for the love of God and the children.

Maria is trying to juggle the care for Jabez, who is still having lung problems, the needs of the school, villagers and the rest of the children in the children's home being down with dengue fever.

Oh, how I want to get on an airplane and go and help, but God is calling to my heart about needing to trust and be patient, soon very soon we will be back, now we need to gather the supplies to bring back and share in a couple more churches, not to mention still praying that God will bring a buyer for our house, last minute, so we need not be dependent on donations for the last payment of the 100 acres … and so much more.

Please pray for the sick children and that those who care for them are able to keep it up, and that we will not lose anyone. Maria has spent parts of the last three days in the hospital, first it was Sawqueleh who was so sick he was delirious, then it was Ningeh who needed to be seen - he would not let Maria let go of him even for a moment. He would shriek each time anyone, including the doctor, came close. This made it a challenge as Jabez also was sick in her other arm. He was vomiting … but the kindness of the people made it a positive experience after all.

We are praying and looking for someone who loves little children with a passion, but who would love them enough to discipline as needed, to come and give us a helping hand.

We often hear those interested in mission service talking as if it is their own health, their own comfort their own priorities, that are important. It is almost as if they are seeking to go to a foreign land to serve themselves rather than the people, hoping to reap the benefits of sunshine, fresh fruits and the exotic experiences to give them a better more interesting and fulfilling life - the service and giving of themselves wherever a hand is needed appears to be an afterthought, to protect me and mine is the first objective - what follows this kind of self protective thinking is an often frustrating experience, the people can't see Jesus and the "missionary" gets discouraged when sickness comes along and the private space is invaded.

Mission service is not the romantic, idyllic life, that so often is portrayed, neither are missionaries some kind of super people, we often hear words such as "we are having missionaries among us" or find that we are thought of and looked up to as special due to serving in a foreign land … we are no different than you, we are often worn out, tired, sick, the service is often hard, the feelings of isolation of being alone, no one cares, the burden of providing and the shortage of funds … I just received a couple of letters from dear friends - fellow missionaries and the old story of no donations, no support or not enough support, the feelings of not being good enough, here are a couple of exerts from these letters, the first one is from Phimpa a Thai missionary, the next one I leave blank to protect her privacy - please do not try to figure out who it is unless you intend to donate.

Happy Mother's Day

I have been invited to speak at church for mother's day this Friday. I have been praying for direction as to what to say to His people. I still have nothing, but my heart keeps thinking about my own experiences. I know I do not have good experiences to share. The only experience I feel that is good to share is my experiences with God. The thing that goes through my mind is the children being abused by their own family. The mothers selling their daughters. The abuse of the children and the way the children are rejected when the mother remarries. The new husband will not accept the children so they are pushed away by the mother. If they are brought into the new marriage, the step father will often rape the step daughter. Almost every day I listen to many different problems and see the whole community abuse the widows and orphans. Many times I hide and cry because I do not want to see the suffering anymore. My heart just cannot take the continued abuse I see and feel. When I try to help the problem people in the community the pastors that are supposed to work with them feel I am making them look bad, so they speak lies about me to many, over and over just to try to make themselves look good.

Sometimes when I work with the victims on a case the trail leads to the mafia, because of the corruption they do. When I step on the mafia in the area, they get upset and want to kill me so they are not exposed. Sometimes I feel like I have a mental problem because the whorl of what I have heard and seen from the children and victims keeps going through my head and I cannot get it out. I get threaten and gossiped and I see all the corruption and see so much bad and suffering and working with the deep difficult problems of the abused. I pray to God to take it away from me and I ask for more love because I want to kill the abuser and must ask for more love every day. I don't know how the Holy Spirit can still support my heart by the thin thread attached. His peace is the deep peace under my heart tying me to his love.

Fifteen years already working to try to relieve the oppressed. Many times when we really have nothing. No food, no money, no way out. I still get the calls and hear the stories. I want to grab a pen and write to some of the wealthy people who say they want to help, but only so they look good. After many attempts God will not let me send the letter asking for help. He speaks to me softly, "I have called you to work and I promised to work with you, but now you want to beg humans for help? I will complete my work myself. I will use who I want to use." I only ask the friends for help that I trust in their heart. I never feel like I am special. Without the blood of Christ I have nowhere to hide. No hope, I have nothing. I don't like to speak up front and look important. But I must do what God calls me to do. I have no choice. Many think being a servant of God is important; I do not want to be important. I do not do this work to feel important.

It is Mother's day here in Thailand on Friday. Many schools will have programs for the mother and child to come together for activities. The orphans and abandon children hate this day. They cry and want to hide. In Timothy house 20 eyes will look to me. They are proud when I come to school. They are excited and jump up and down when they see me because they are happy to have someone there for them on Mother's day. I plan in my heart to buy underwear and socks and a gift for the teens so I have something to give them on Mother's day. I fix my eyes on the extra propane tank in the kitchen. Really I fix my eyes to God to help with the gift, but if on that day I have nothing I will sell the tank for what I can get. I feel the children should have a little something. I feel peaceful in doing this for them. God respects even me, so that is why he let me have a part of his work. I lived in self-pity to long before. I keep asking God why you not choose someone else better than me, smarter than me to work with you. Thank God for his patience. God knows how lacking in faith I am.

Walking on faith is hard and lonely on the world, to turn back is out of the question. But when I pass it and turn and look back I see the amazing works of God. That is what I see. What should I speak on Mother's Day?

Love
Phimpha

Hi Lena,

I am so glad to hear from you again! I am having a hard time trusting, my surroundings tell me there is no hope, especially when hardly any money came in for the month, but my mind tells me that God is faithful and I can trust him.

Your friend, ....

Pasted from Gayle Haberkams blog; RAIN!
August 3, 2011

Rain

Do you know what rain is? How much is too much? Here this week there are 2 types of weather conditions:

1) Constant cloud bursts with literal sheets of water
2) Torrential downpours

As I write this the water is just filling the skies and land. If all the clouds burst overhead, then where does even more water come from? I didn't know the skies could hold that much water. Our normally small and gentle stream is now a writhing monster. The sturdy bridge that the students built over to the garden area is now almost washed over. Its supporting posts are gone and the hand rails are gone. The gardener's house, normally 10 yards from the stream now has water swirling under it. (I am thankful that the gardener moved to the new property several months ago)! The cooking area, cafeteria and cook's house are threatened by the mad and muddy waters.

While I was in America I heard a lot from the medical authorities that most people are very low in Vitamin D. They were so persuasive that I brought a bottle here for Micah and I to use. Maybe it is a good idea because since we arrived back in Thailand July 6th I have seen the sun (watery though it looked)! 2 times!!

There are some very good points about this rain. Here they are:

Right now we are doing a lot of cleaning to get a house ready for our new principle and his family to live in. There is no water coming from the pipes this week, so we place buckets under the edge of the roof, or even out in the open and very soon it is brimming and ready to use!
This school drinks a lot of water. We usually make a trip to Mae Salit every other day to refill the big containers with pure drinking water. Just now there are no vehicles here to bring us the water, so we simply put them out in the rain, or under the roof! No one need suffer of thirst.
There are soap dispensers beside each bathroom, but no running water from the pipes. We simply lather up our hands and hold them out for a good rinse.
As I see and hear the rain and waters I think of the showers of blessing that the Lord wants to pour out on us if we are ready to receive it. Oh how I long for a continuous, huge cloudburst of the Holy Spirit in my soul. It is in plentiful supply, but most of us let go of the arm of the Lord too soon. In fact Mrs. White says that when our need of the Holy Spirit is a thing seldom thought of, there is spiritual decay and death! Oh how happy I am for the rain to remind me to think and ask for God's Holy Spirit in abundance!!

Even my umbrella in this rain does me no good. As I go from place to place receiving constant sprinkles I am reminded of wonderful text in Ezekiel 36:25 "I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean, from all you filthiness, and from all you idols, I will clean you."


Our handmade bridge is rocking and hanging on for dear life!	Swirling water rising behind the cooking pots.


The rain is no problem for football!	Running in the early morning rain - no problem!

Thai Soil
July 27, 2011

Micah and I were thrilled when we set foot on Thai soil July 6, after our 2 ½ month stay in America. The weather greeted us warmly and contrary to our expectations the rain held off until we were nearly to the Sunshine Orchard school the next day!

It was late at night when our truck rolled down the hill and into the school compound. It was also raining madly, but to my astonished eyes I saw a line of umbrellas and flashlights marching toward us in the soggy darkness. Here were students and teachers braving the bad weather and late hour, to hug our necks and welcome us back. Oh the love the dear Saviour plants in the hearts of those who love Him.

It had been a direct answer to prayer for us to come to this school to work for two and a half months. Paul and Lena Adams who run this school were in America also. They had emailed me in May, asking if I could take up the responsibility of the school during their absence July through mid September. Lena Adams thought it would be too much to ask of me, but in her kind way she did not want to impose upon me. I was delighted to do it, but it was too late at night for me answer and I must have God's approval first. I lay in my bed, asking God to please have Blet Jaw, (Our faithful Karen team mate) call me from Thailand in the morning if He wanted me to do it. The next morning at 8 o'clock Blet Jaw called me!! He had called me once in April, but since that time could not get connection to my phone in America. I spoke will Micah to get his input. He was delighted because he thought I might try to go to BYT during the rainy season, which really is impossible. I had my answer from heaven which filled me with joy. Oh, dear Lord, may I always be in the center of Your will. There is no other place I want to be, it brings peace and joy amid the storms and uncertainties of these last days.

Micah has kept very busy driving the truck for building supplies, food, water and patients. He speaks the Karen language well and this puts him in demand for interpreting everywhere he goes. One day at Meta hospital a group of Americans came in to be treated. They seemed so frightened and new in this hospital setting. They were much relieved when Micah stepped in and spoke to the nurses for them and answered their questions. It sure makes you happy when you are serving others!

My goal at Sunshine Orchard just now is to do as much as possible to prevent sickness. The rainy season is not a healthy season here. There is so much malaria, dysentery, FUO (fever of unknown origin), skin infections and respiratory problems. In fact even my feet feel like they are rotting, my clothes are mildew, books moldy and my body wet all day! Also this season brings thousands of mosquitoes, and tiny flies that bite you everywhere! Again I get used to going to bed on a mat on the floor with dirty feet! I cannot explain it, but these things do not seem like hardships we are so happy. The students are so glad to do the simple things we initiated to keep them well. How rewarding.

1) We put soap stations at each bathroom with piped water to it. Hand washing technique was taught.

2) Soapy water was provided in the kitchen and each student washes their plates and bowels prior to eating. Our cook is a creative genius! She designed a bottle with soapy water in it, suspended on a bamboo pole with a rope going to a tilted bamboo foot piece. Just stepping on that bamboo, tilts the bottle and soapy water sprits out on your plate!

Cooks Invention Cooks Invention and Karen Boy

The cook's invention!

Bathroom Wash Stand

One of the bathroom wash stands.

3) Raw garlic and lemon grass is served often. These provide a natural antibiotic plus an insect repellent.
4) I found cheaper vitamins at the Mae Sot pharmacy and began giving them out after evening worships.
5) A 30 minute running program was started after morning worships. At first we ran only when it wasn't raining. I don't mind running in the rain, if the rain begins after I start running, but I usually don't want to start running in a downpour! However, after 3 days of solid rain and no running, I decided we must run, so I began teaching a warm up callisthenic workout first in the building and then we go out to run. What fun we have together on the muddy dirt road of the new property across the street!

Exercise

Very soon now we will welcome the new principle, Harvey Steck and his lovely family to their new home at Sunshine Orchard. Even now they are literally up in the air and headed this way! The talents of the entire family will be a great blessing to this school.

Adam's New Bamboo Hut

New bamboo hut being built
for the Adams family w/orphans

I will mention the great needs of this school. School will begin in a few short weeks, but vocational teachers are still needed in several different trades such as carpentry/building, music, evangelism, medical and computer classes. Bible teachers, and English teachers are also needed. Nothing is too great to sacrifice for these dear Karen people who have touched our hearts in such a special way.

Gayle with the children.

As soon as the rainy season ends I will take up my work in BYT. My heart aches for those dear people living there, so isolated and hard to get at and in such great need.

7/6/2011 - In a foreign yet familiar land

Here we are in beautiful Montana, up on a mountain, staying in our old home which is now a temporary place to rest and be with family. This place is truly beautiful; the ponds are overflowing and the birds sing all night. Our first evening here we were greeted by a large black bear eating clover down by the large pond. The rabbits are happily munching away and not paying any attention to our presence. Moose, cougar and lots of deer are frequent guests around here. By the way, this mountain retreat is up for sale.

How could we justify having a place like this sitting around and waiting for us to bring it fellowship and warmth for a few months a year at the best, when funds are desperately needed in the Lord's work? Life here is peaceful and alluring, it calls for self to be pampered, for self to be isolated from the needs out there …

You might ask yourself if it is a temptation to just turn from the stressful, busy life on the border to just settle down and relax and focus on our family? Yes, the suggestion was whispered in my ear and to my tired body and it sounded good … but only for a moment; here we can have peace and quiet, we can chose when to venture out, when to serve, we can hide. Gardening, cooking, canning, flower gardens, sewing, horses, hiking, camping, the fun of gathering wood, reading by the fire, sledding, canoeing, togetherness. Homeschooling and working on schedule, following the clock. Having guests, serving home cooked delicious vegan food. Going to church on Sabbath, nature walks, the monthly nursing home singing, the occasional church social and work bee … the making a loaf of bread for a neighbor … sacrifice???

Jesus said come away ... and rest ... service was the next call.

We LOVE the Karen people, we see the need and the Lord of the harvest is calling for laborers - will you go? Will you sacrifice?

Love does not count the cost, love gives all.

Our family is not naturally outgoing, we would do just fine on a mountain top, it would be just what we would like, no need to mingle unless we chose to, no need to be made to socialize with those who are not our friends, we would become self-absorbed and self-centered, unless we were thrown into a situation such as God has led us into on the Thai – Burma border, and fear of contamination from the corruption around would keep us in our mountain castle.

Thank you Jesus for sending us forth where we are surrounded by the needs of your children, where the need is so great and the thought of self is thrown off as an old garment.

I don't mean to say that all who live the secluded mountain life are self-absorbed, there are those who still are part of ministry and who reach out. For example, our closest neighbors the Rayne and Brown families from Restoration International, they have a balance of service and rest, yet for us … being that we are naturally very reclusive, and definitely not type A personalities (high energy, driven people) we need to be thrown into the sea and swim. We need the needs right at our door step. Sure, if we were on our mountain top we would reach out some, but the general thread through our life would be for us and ours.

So you see, we can't wait to return, with a gulp, but with determination we are hoping for the sale of this place and a host of other things to be accomplished first.

Would you please join us in prayer that according to God's will we would sell this place quickly? And this in spite of the poor U.S. economy.

7/6/2011 - Sorry for Being So Quiet ...

We have been occupied with many things, the most important one being intercessory prayer for Jabez and Maria, but also for the children's home and school.

If any of you read Maria's blog, you already know of Jabez's situation. But for those who do not know, here is the latest update.

After we left for America, Maria was left to pretty much care for all the needs at Sunshine Orchard. This was a most impossible task, and she soon found herself busier than she could have imagined ….

She found herself driving the long hours to Mae Sot most every day, taking people to the hospital and picking up supplies. It was getting really tiring, especially since she had been sick for some time, with no energy to spare. Jabez was starting to cry at night and was running fevers. When his fevers climbed to 106, with vomiting and diarrhea, Maria took him to the Mae Sot general hospital. There they checked him for malaria and dengue and sent him home. Maria drove around Mae Sot, feeling pretty helpless. She knew something was wrong. While driving around, signs saying "Ram Hospital" were staring in her face; she kept following the signs …. He was diagnosed with double pneumonia and admitted. Within a day, he developed an allergic reaction called Stevens Johnson Sydrome. His life was in the balance. (Maria was also diagnosed with pneumonia.) Jabez was transported by ambulance the 6-7 hours to Chiang Mai.

It was a difficult time; the doctors said that he might die, become blind, have Thallasemia, TB, and permanent liver damage, and more. This is when God's people stepped in, and we are so touched and amazed at the prayers sent up for little Jabez and for Maria. Never could we have dreamed that so many would pray so fervently and lovingly. Thank you all so very much!

Now Jabez is out of the hospital, and pretty much back to normal! He has none of the complications or diseases they said he might have. But he is still fighting infection.

He is smiling again, smiling at everything and everyone. Thank you Jesus!

Elani, one of the incredible SM's we have been blessed with this year, came and helped Maria in the hospital, and they are still together and have developed a very sweet and close friendship. Thank you Elani, and also Lisa Sharon who sacrificed Elani's help (Elani was teaching at the Sharon's at the time).

With Maria and Jabez in the hospital, and then rushed to Chiang Mai, Sunshine Orchard was left without transportation, funds, food and more …. ADRA stepped in. They picked up our truck at the hospital together with the ATM card, and they have faithfully delivered food and supplies to the children's home and school. Thank you ADRA!

We were blessed to attend Faith Camp in WA state. It was the best camp meeting ever; we were so blessed and inspired by the speakers: David and Becky Gates, Tim Maddox, Jon and Natalie Wood, Ben Sharon, Gayle Haberkam, Osborn's, and others. Many, old and young, committed their lives to foreign mission service. On the way to Faith Camp, as our family was discussing the needs at Sunshine Orchard, we mentioned our concern regarding the need of teachers for the vocational training etc, and also for the supplies for the vocational training. An email the next morning, together with several people volunteering to come teach/serve, is covering much of that need. Thank you Jesus!

6/14/2011 - Emergency runs and adrenaline energy spurts

We have all been fighting sickness, most members of our household have been found with no energy to spare.

Even Paul was on his back as much as he could, but every now and then the call would come for a need to be filled and he would lift his weary aching head to get up and go … again.

Maria is also affected by this naughty unwelcome guest - it was when we welcomed little Joseph into our family that the thought came to me "we are going to get sick" and we soon succumbed.

Joseph is well and over this thing, he even went through the hernia surgery like a little brave man.

Anna stayed with him in the hospital, I wish I had a picture to show, but words will have to do. There was Anna and Joseph cuddled close on a low fold-up kind of a cot in a very small room with only four beds, so close together that there is no room to walk. On one side there was a man in his 40's and on the other a man in his 60's and on the forth a pregnant woman; each with their family members squeezing in with them on their beds. The walls are dirty, so is the floor, a big family get together kind of.

Maria mentioned, after checking on them to see how they were doing, how she loves the casual ways of the Karen. I have to agree; here that which would never seem appropriate in America, and certainly not in Sweden, is perfectly normal, no eye brows raised, and everyone chats as if they have known each other for years.

Back to my title … emergency runs; coming home from a long day of getting food and medicines, Maria is mentioning that Sabbath is certainly a welcome rest … yet the truck still has to fit in another trip to get more drinking water, Paul enters the door, receiving the news that there is no water in the tank for a bath so he quickly puts on clean clothing and heads down to sundown worship. Maria and I stay behind hoping for some well needed rest, as soon as our charges have drifted off to sleep … it was not to be, "Maria check and see who is here" … Saw myew teh is unconscious! We are suddenly not tired anymore!

Praise the Lord for those students who were trained by Maria last year; Saw hehgey is ready and in action, his brown shirtless body is wet with perspiration - it is so very hot! He is tenderly washing down the seemingly lifeless form, trying to cool him down from a raging fever. Maria is getting the truck ready, Saw Hehgey is lifting the precious boy into the back seat, a prayer said and off they go - ready to save a life.

As I'm left with a silent house full of sleeping little ones, I find myself praying "Lord please keep the truck going, don't let it be tonight that it will fall apart, please save Saw myew teh!"

Saw myew teh is the young lad which Gayle wrote about a while ago, as she was really impressed by His faith in a very bad storm. See her website: http://gayle.jesus4asia.org/wp/

Hospital runs are our curse and joy, they keep us too busy, they wear us out, yet give us a joy that words cannot describe; joy in knowing that another life have been saved.

At this moment we have 3 patients in critical condition in Mae sot hospital. One malnourished two-year-old child on the verge of death in the local hospital. We have had several students admitted for a week at a time for pneumonia and Malaria. We have had two hernia surgeries - all of this in less than two weeks. This does not include the flu like sickness going around and neither all the malaria checks at the local malaria testing place nor all the sick children nursed at our house.

As I arrive home after a long day at the hospital, the porch is filled with villagers - a 16-year-old girl with renal failure had been carried out from Burma seeking help at our porch - what a beautiful girl was my thought, the family were in rags and as authentic as it gets - Maria takes a picture … no mamma I can't do it, just can't make myself take pictures of the people in their distress and poverty, again no pictures taken as I too share her feelings and can't make myself do it either.

Maria rushed them to the hospital. She was informed over the phone that night that the girl is being rushed by the ambulance to the bigger hospital, "Mamma I am going", "no I don't think you should you are sick and need to sleep" - "but they need me, she is my patient and they are fresh out of the jungle and know nothing including the language". A compromise was arrived at and at three in the morning she left for the four hour round trip, arriving back worn out and grateful to be alive due to extreme sleepiness behind the wheel. The girl was doomed to die if her kidneys would not start to function within a day or two, only blood in the catheter - no urine or stool passed for the last seven days. That night while in bed I kept pleading for the girl's life and for the Lord to heal her kidneys - that morning the catheter bag was full - praise the Lord!

6/1/2011 - Update

Dear Everyone,

Paul, myself, Anna and Josiah are preparing for another trip to a foreign country - that is America … we are sad to leave again, so soon.

I'm having problems with my Resident Alien status in America, having been away for such long periods these last few years. On entering the U.S. last time, I was taken to a room and told that next time I'm out of the country that long they will take my card away.

For some time I've been thinking to just let go of it, but we have decided to go back and apply for permission to be away for at least a year next time - that is if they do not confiscate my card on entry. We would appreciate prayers for this.

Maria is staying behind caring for her little Jabez and taking care of the children's home, accounting and medical as far as she is able.

We still needed someone more to help keep it all together and again asked Gayle Haberkam if she would please pray about helping out when she returns in July. She laid it before the Lord and asked Him to have her faithful translator and helper, Blet jaw, call if this was God's will. That morning he called and she had her confirmation.

The Steck family is on their way and hoping to arrive later in July.

School is starting later than planned, now in August, due to complications with building the dorms; it looks as if we need to go through another season in the existing dorms and we are trying to repair them as best as we can.

The mosquito's are here and so is the malaria, the dreaded malaria. We are having lots of hospital runs and lots of sick children, it is really hard to take proper care of them all, it is not unusual for our children to run fevers above 106 degrees, although I was told once that you would be dead if you have a fever that high. We have not lost anyone, but had some that were close calls last year.

Naw dah blet, one of Maria's medical students who wants to become a doctor - a doctor to her own people inside of Karen state, had to go back and care for her sick father. She brought lots of medicines, including malaria testing kits, malaria medicines, charcoal, antibiotics, bandaging, and lots of things found in our medicine cabinet, as much as she could carry.

She had an incredible experience in meeting the needs of the people; she shared in sadness that many children had died within the last few months, from malaria and diarrhea due to no medicines available.

She wants to return on each school break, bringing health and healing to her people. They have no toilets. She said they just go to the bathroom wherever they are, not covering it up or anything. They don't have mosquito nets, mats, or blankets. She said they are steeped in superstition and are really in need. I pray that we will have the medicines available that she will need to bring with her.

Her Father is with us and is having a hernia surgery today.

We are broke, no funds are coming in … but God is blessing, the bills gets paid. This time I refuse to get anxious, just going to trust the Lord! Sweet peace, like a river.

We have, at times, been criticized for using more funds for the operation of Sunshine Orchard than other missionaries use, yet multiply the number of people that are dependent on us for everything from a roof over their heads, to a paycheck, to food for their tummies, and clothing for their bodies and the never ending medical needs - we are living a daily miracle!

I am amazed at the children we have here at our place, they are amazing workers, cheerful and happy in doing whatever their hands find to do with all their strength. We seldom hear complaining or murmuring - Naw dah blet shared that in the mountains even the little children have to carry very heavy burdens and work very hard to help their families survive.

Our teachers and staff are a wonderful team, all serving together and getting along beautifully. Without them we could not do this work. It is due to the children and staff that this place is a sunshine orchard and a very blessed place to be.

One of our old students brought his little brother and cousin back with him from the mountains. What precious little ones, but they were coughing blood and were sick so plans were made for a hospital run, and the next morning Paul left with a truck full of patients and 8000 limes to sell at the market. Our limes are becoming popular and God has blessed us with limes in abundance and of extra ordinary quality and size. This helps when our wallet is empty, it is the rod which we do have in our hands.

The new property is filled with fruit trees; jack fruit and mangoes are in season, so praise the Lord that we can now have fruit every day for the children.

I have really had my hands full with little ones and that together with managing this place together with Paul, all alone; building, staff meetings, supplies, planning, grounds, and so many more things like cooking, cleaning and caring for the sick.

A couple of days ago our lives were enriched with another toddler Jojo and Ningeh's age, that makes for triplets, his name is Joseph and he is really sweet and easier than the other two - it could be due to being malnourished and not yet having the strength to move about much. He mostly sits wherever you place him. Joseph is also having hernia surgery today and Anna is staying with him in the hospital.

Bangkok is a parent trap which is earning my dislike more and more. The little ones are left behind, often never learning the fate of their parents.

That is all for now, but we are planning to make a newsletter as soon as we have time - I don't use my camera as much as I should, but will do my best to get lots of pictures included too.

God bless you all,

Love from your Sunshine Orchard family

5/14/2011 - Over the half way mark

We finally paid the first half of the property, amazing grace!

We would like to thank those who contributed to make this possible, it really is a miracle, each time a payment was due we had no clue as to how to get the funds needed, all we could do was go to Jesus and ask Him to supply the need.

The Stafford's put out the newsletter and DVD's, almost all the funds came from no more than a handful of people impressed by the Holy Spirit to contribute … thank you so much for your sacrifice!

ADRA has decided to start constructing our new boy and girls dorm's on the new property. They came to assess the situation and said that there is not room enough to build on the existing property.

It is mind boggling when we realize that within one and a half months we are supposed to not only be ready for school to start, but also be ready for the vocational training.

Please pray for us as we are in need of so many more miracles:

• 20 sewing machines and accessories
• 20 weaving looms and yarn
• 20 computers
• School books, notebooks, pencils
• Sleeping mats, mosquito nets and blankets for 150 children + (some already have one)

The need of teachers:

• Medic/nurse - to teach anatomy/physiology, first aid, CPR, wound care, suturing …
• Medical missionary - to teach massage, hydrotherapy, natural treatments, charcoal, herbs etc.
• Agriculture - to teach, but also to oversee the gardens and orchards.
• Building
• Weaving - need a Karen, as this is a traditional weaving method
• 2 English teachers
• Kindergarten teacher(s) to teach all subjects, except Karen, Thai and Bible in English …

(These teachers will teach no more than 2 hours per day, except the English teachers and kindergarten teacher(s). There will be translators as assistants for most subjects).

The good news is that we have found a principal, school nurse, sewing teacher, Burmese teacher and a care taker to help me with the little ones.

We have most of the regular subjects covered.

Do you feel the Holy Spirit calling on your heart to fill any of these positions?

Do you want to step out in faith for God to use you?

We would love to hear from you today! CONTACT US

5/14/2011 - Tribute to a daughter

Maria just turned 20 years old and there was no one present to acknowledge this event of entering adulthood. No phone calls, no nothing! No one knew (she would not tell) and those who knew where to far away or too busy …

She came with us to Thailand in 2008 with a resisting spirit. This was not her plan for her life, she was heading to Alaska or South America as a bush pilot - this was a solid dream of hers for many years. She was going to take emergency medical training and pilot training - her heart was set.

We insisted that she join us, she was but 17, and we wanted to be together as a family.

Early before dawn we headed down the muddy bank of a brown river. Rain was pouring down on us and we were drenched to the skin. A wooden canoe brought us over to Karen state and we spent our first night in a bamboo hut that was leaking. There was the sound of little voices singing and soon we were sitting cross-legged among children who were singing heartily and praying fervently - this was a war zone, this was a military base, it was also a mission school. This was to be Maria's home for a time. She insisted that God wanted her right there and it was confirmed by the teachers asking, could she stay to teach 45 kindergarteners?

Sharing the life and joys, but also the fear of these children -- hearing the alarm of a threat of attack, the occasional landmine explosions and artillery, was a life changing experience.

Maria returned, true to her former desire to gain medical emergency training, to America - she was away for 9 months, and returning to Thailand and the Thai Burma border meant that her new found love for the ambulance was behind her, piloting was not to be, what was she to do? … No more a mission school in Burma … it was with us in Thailand. Maria wanted adventure …

Again and again, I watched as she would lay aside her dreams and gain victory in just being where Jesus would lead.

Now, with a little one in her arms, saying with conviction, that she would rather be here with him, than anywhere in this big wide world.

Emily asked her this morning if there are any regrets in being tied down with a baby. The answer was steady, sure and joyfully "No regrets! I would be miserably lonely without him." Lonely in following God's plan for her life, climbing the mountain tops and hiking through the valleys; for now, she is here with us, caring for Jabez, taking care of sick children and studying to be a paramedic online.

Her life is full and she is a nightingale in more than one way, in service and in singing the praises of a loving Saviour as she goes about her daily chores with a sweet soprano voice.

3 Year Old with Water on the Brain

4/19/2011 - Just when I need Him

It has been a long day! It started at 1 a.m., not able to sleep, being too afraid to sleep-in past 2 a.m. … I was taking a 3 year old boy and his mother to the hospital in Chiang mai and Emily joined me as she needed to go to Laos for her visa renewal.

Last night we received word that someone else, who needed to go to the hospital, wanted to come along, someone with Thai papers and who only needed a ride. I was assured that they needed no help, just a ride. The 3 year old boy and his mother were going to stay with a relative who was going to help them in the hospital. Great! Let's go …

Why was it so important that they had help or were able to do things on their own? Well, I have to confess to you all, that my linguistic abilities are still very limited and the hospital is a huge myriad with things written in a script unknown to me. To find a Thai who can speak English is not easy.

At 3 a.m. we were ready! Paul did his last minute checking of the car and then we prayed. Our little patient and his mother were snuggled into the car. The little one had a boil the size of a mandarin on his arm and had not slept a wink due to the pain, but this was not the main reason we were heading to Chiang mai. It was because of him having water on the brain. At the local hospitals they had told us that his only hope was surgery in Chiang mai, he having suffered much from convulsions and even been unconscious several times lately. A week ago he was hospitalized due to a life threatening allergic reaction to a medicine that the doctor had prescribed. … This was an answer to a wish and prayer for a long time, that we would be able to help him before we would hear the awful words that it was too late.

In another village we picked up our next patient. I did not think much of it, but realized that there were more people than I had been told about and where was the father who was going to the hospital? Well it was dark and they wanted to ride in the back of the pickup. Soon I noticed the form of two mothers and two small children; everything is always so interesting around here …

As we started the steep climb up the many curvy mountain roads for our 7 hour drive, I started to feel uneasy. Why was the car feeling different? Why was there a warning light on the dash? We had 3 hours ahead of us of VERY steep roads to climb, but we were losing power and the engine was getting overheated. Should I turn around? No, we had already gone too far and we could never give up. Lord, you have worked miracles for us before, we have had empty fuel tanks running for hours while praying, please bless the truck. Emily, check the phone reception. No, you're right, there will be no reception for the next three hours … Lord, please keep us going! Don't let us be stranded on this desolate road with these mothers and little ones. Please!

Believe it or not, but after hitting a hill, were I had to get the truck into 4-low gear to get up it, we went smoothly along. The Lord blessed our little crew and we finally arrived in Chiang mai.

Where are the relatives? I don't know! The truth dawned upon me that I had 3 women and children on my hands, depending on me. … There were no relatives and they had no ability to take care of things by themselves and Emily had to go elsewhere… Lord would you please send me an angel or …

I am here to proclaim that, within the next few hours, that prayer was answered in more ways than one, from glory to glory. I had to keep myself from weeping due to my joy and thankfulness.

If I could take you for a journey, like I took with these women and children, what would you see? You would see a concrete jungle, a never ending confusion, the traffic would be so intense that the word crazy would be the only fitting word (in my vocabulary). We have given the motorbikes nicknames; fireflies at night and a beehive in the day – they weave in and out of the traffic, they come at you from all directions just to buzz at you … it's unbelievable! You should see the Thai ladies sitting side-saddle on back of the motorbikes with miniskirts and dangling bare legs, with little dainty sandals or high heels, no helmets, no protection, weaving in and out in back and cutting through right in front of you occasionally, while the music is booming out of the bars and hang outs with a volume that is a Thai specialty, as loud as you can make it.

Since we all survived my first-time driving in Chiang mai, I figured that since I have learned to tackle Mae sot market I can now go anywhere, but only with God. From one place to another, in the hospital, shuffled around and ending up at the wrong office … Lord I need a miracle! … Hi Lena! Ying! Can you help me? This was the perfect person for the hour; this was none other than Tharamo, Gayle's very own translator, who used to serve with us on the border. … A coincidence? That she just happened to walk by us, in a hospital the size of a small town, filled with people as if it was an ant hill? I don't believe in coincidences, I believe in providence. She works for the Lord in a small mountain village several hours north from Chiang mai and she was in the city to visit someone in the hospital. She was supposed to have left the day before, but after praying, felt that God would have her stay one more day. She had just decided to pay the sick person another quick visit, then she was to head north. A hospital volunteer, without English skills, had taken pity on our little boy's sad condition and through the crowds directed us to this very place. I was amazed at her persistence, this hospital has 14 stories, with doctors offices and wards on each level, and consists of many buildings like it. … We had been shuffled and directed from one to the other, each time learning that we were on the wrong track.

Ying, came at a crucial moment, because it was our turn to speak with the nurse - the most wonderful thing was that Ying already knew about this boy's condition, as I had suspected we were in the wrong place again … as Ying took us for a hike, dodging people, to some obscure clinic down in the unknown parts of this hospital, she left us there to wait our turn - thank you Ying! Off she went, but soon she was back to spend the rest of the day with us, taking charge of the situation. Due to the patient not having Thai papers nor referral papers, it was a hassle and we ended up going to a private hospital out of desperation, where they were treated as valuable human beings, where the tired twosome (mom and son) could peacefully be directed to the MRI, to the emergency room for the sores and boil to be dressed and cared for. We found a female Thai doctor who took the time to listen, to evaluate the situation and who graciously, genuinely cared. We will have to pay much more for this boy's care in this hospital, but he is treated with respect and not as an outcast. What was a confusing hide and seek game in the other hospital, turned into a quiet, peaceful experience with qualified care. Tomorrow we will meet with the neuron surgeon and find out what can be done.

Picture the mother with a torn, soiled sarong and a little one in a torn, old sling, the sling trying to cover up an almost naked body full of sores, a bandage made out of a dirty piece of cloth, and pus and blood leaking out from the now draining boil, a staph infection due to dirty water and lack of sanitation, the mother handling this bandage and touching the bloody, puss filled area with her own hands, occasionally wiping the excess onto a piece of her clothing and she has no clue as to why these city people are staring at them …

Ying helped settle her into the Adventist church for the night. It was a nice little room, with mats on the floor, something to make her feel more at home. Ying also juggled the care for the other women and babies. … What can I say, but PRAISE THE LORD!

Was it an angel in disguise? No, it was a real, flesh and blood person, willing to go the other mile, willing to let go of her plans to help one of the least of these. … She stayed by us from 10 a.m. to after 7 p.m. Just when I need Him, Jesus is near, just when I falter, just when I fear … He is ready to help me, ready to cheer.

I needed some cheering up as I had been struggling with an unresolved situation with someone who I really want to be close to. Ongoing rumors, unresolved conflict; an ulcer not wanting to heal, my heart needed an extra dose of God's blessing and presence, showing me that in spite of this wound, HE is near, He is leading, and although we might lose our earthly friends, He will never leave us nor forsake us, He is our true judge and He will bring justice and healing in His time.

Please pray for this mother and child, that although they live in an abusive situation, with an alcoholic father and in utter poverty, although their lot has been hard and in spite of coming from the conflict zone in Burma; that they would not only find healing from disease, but that they will come to know our loving, living God, who never sleeps nor slumbers, and turn from the idols made out of wood and stone.

4/19/2011 - Adaptability

Young people never cease to amaze me; they are so adaptable, so willing to adopt new ways, to live like the people, to mingle with the people, so happy to be challenged, and to rough it.

Some very special ones coming to my mind, would be Marianne and Jennison, and of course our own Emily, Maria and Anna, not to forget Micah and Elani. …

Marianne and Jennison are doing an impressive labor of love, they have gained an entrance into everyone's heart, much due to a true commitment to fit in with the culture, mingling with the children and native staff in a very dedicated way. You should watch them descending the hill from their small bamboo hut, which they seem to have come to love and treasure as a home away from home. They are on the way, somewhere … to take a bath in the creek or to do laundry on the rocks … dressed in the sarong - it takes a brave soul to go swimming or bathing in a sarong, you must learn a new skill. Emily, one time lost hers in the river, while having a happy time swimming. The good news was that she still had a shirt on top and shorts underneath, which is not the custom. Marianne and Jennison, have a following most places they go, little children wanting to be near them, due to their warm loving ways. Often you see them meandering down to eat at the cafeteria with the children, eating the simple food of a Karen … food most often served without extras, just simple curry and rice, the dining situation is lacking something - tables and chairs, this does not intimidate them, they will just join the children in finding a suitable place somewhere; a pile of wood, a rock or … the ground. As you follow Marianne and Jennison, you can find them busy teaching English, making up their own lessons, as we are lacking materials and after their regular classes they are found in the staff huts, meeting with each one individually, for a "private" lesson! Piano lessons, worship times, special music, choir practice, playing games, socializing and this is not done the way you might picture it, with a group of other volunteers or friends from back home, but rather with the children and native staff and they get to practice their newly acquired Karen language and culture skills.

Marianne and Jennison spent their first 3 weeks in Thailand with the Sharon family, focusing on learning to read, the local customs, culture, cooking, how to take a bath, do laundry, etc. These were valuable skills taught as an immersion experience, such as described above.

Micah Haberkam, who has spent almost two years among the Karen and who is now one of the most fluent in speaking Karen, has asked to please do this immersion training here at Sunshine Orchard in the future, this he would like to do as he continues to teach part-time and assist his mother with bringing up building materials for the building of clinics in the mountains.

Thank you Jesus for everyone so willing to serve.

4/5/2011 - God is so good

Mom, are you really going to America this week? You can't go without Anna and Josiah and daddy! Do you have to go? "I'm praying and waiting on God; we did promise the property owner that I would go to America to take out a loan against our house and try to sell it - this week!"

God bestowed us with a large donation which satisfied the bank; we negotiated a new arrangement for paying the remaining funds, which included a large sum within a very short time and then a larger sum within a pretty short time … then the second half as we are able, with free use of the property, buildings and half ownership until paid in full.

As we were trying to come to grasp with the thought of me leaving, my heart kept aching, I don't have anyone able to commit to care for these precious little ones, they won't understand why I'm gone. I found myself leaving the house every moment I could, just to get them used to my absence … they would cry their little hearts out each time they saw me with my Karen bag, thinking I was going again. If at least there could be someone who would love them and take good care of them …

Emily and Maria, not wanting me to go without Daddy, Anna and Josiah, meant that there would not be anyone to drive the truck for supplies and emergencies, no one to supervise the building so soon to start (our bamboo dorms are falling apart from so many feet and bodies living in them). Lemon Tree Foundation in Singapore are donating for this very need through ADRA, so soon we will start to tear down the existing buildings and we will build concrete dorms of the most basic sort. Not to mention the keeping of the work together financially, we found ourselves concerned about other things like honesty in our native staff. While we were gone last time one of our staff who we depended on for most everything was guilty of deceit and theft, as it's been confessed and a desire to change have been expressed, we decided to give him another chance, not in leadership, but still as an important part of our team, what would, could happen this time?

After praying, praying and more praying … I was able to check our email and found that a couple who we barely know, had decided to donate the very amount needed for the first payment. It made both Paul and I shed tears and marvel at God's care for this work, using ordinary people who are willing to sacrifice for God's work, this is amazing! Most people would start to make-up dreams and plans for what they could purchase or do for themselves with such a large amount of money - we stand in awe at God's goodness! And I don't have to leave the children this week - PRAISE THE LORD!

4/5/2011 - That our project might be yours too!

What joy, what delight, to have fellow believers join us in service.

"We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed."

Laren and Donna left, with their precious children, to return home to Montana — they are missed greatly. We are amazed and so grateful when we hear them use the terms our, us, and we, about Sunshine Orchard. Even now, back in the 'comforts' of home, they have not forgotten us. Their continued labors and faith in Sunshine Orchard is touching our hearts - our project became theirs, how blessed we are to have such faithful friends.

It is painful to see volunteers and fellow missionaries go, not only for us, but for the children who makes themselves vulnerable in letting you into their hearts, knowing that soon you will be gone … thank you God for the blessed hope; forever together in a land with no pain nor fear.

While here, our volunteers and missionary friends have, at times, heard the sound of mortars and gunfire and we would ask, "Are you afraid?" Amazingly enough, each one said, "No!" As the sounds would vibrate off the mountains, the children in Sabbath worship would sing the louder, and sometimes glance at the white faces among them to see if we were afraid. But, praise be to God, our trust and dependence in Him stood the test.

William left this week, he can never be replaced. We wish he would not have needed to go; it was self restraint and a realization that he has other commitments, that was keeping us from pleading with him to stay. But we know that our project has become a part of him, his heart has been touched and we are sure that he will remember both us and the children in His prayers and by God's grace we pray that he again will serve with us, Lord willing.

Harvey Steck is back with his family in Washington state. The parting was made easier as we grasped hold of faith, faith in his soon return. Little did we know how perfect Harvey would fit into the role of principal. From the moment he arrived, his days were spent in meetings with the teachers and staff, there were no stones left unturned, Harvey could with assurance return to his family knowing that he had done a work well done laying the foundation for the coming school year, with much prayer and effort. Even now, with the use of a phone and long distance minutes, he is helping us by directing the work needing to be done and set in place before school year starts again.

May God bless each of you who came and went - we are so glad that you came. Thank you for blessing Sunshine Orchard with your time and talents - you are dearly missed!

Children Swimming in the River

3/29/2011 - Blessings

We have had many recent blessings, here are a few:

Dentist on Porch
Dentist Clinic on Our Porch

A dentist came and setup her clinic on our porch, she spent 2 long, hot days examining, repairing and pulling teeth. She saw over 200 of our children + villagers. The wonderful news was that most of our youth, who have been with us for a long time, had no decay. They have bright white smiles, which is so uncommon in these parts, where most people show an almost toothless black or red smile … praise the Lord!

Jabez, Maria's baby, is thriving in her care. Here are some before and now pictures … amazing!

Jabez Before Jabez Now
Jabez - Before Jabez - Now

Our older youth and some of the staff were invited to attend an organic gardening seminar at a Reach Switzerland project. It was exceedingly well done and professional, they learned so much and had lots of fun! Here they are piling into the truck and later receiving their certificates.

Receiving Certificates
Going to the Gardening Seminar Certificates

We have added some new photos to some of the older blogs ... scroll down and see.

3/29/2011 - Important Notice: regarding the 100 acres property purchase

The deadline for the first half of the payment for the 100 acres is almost upon us, and we don't have the funds needed! Would you please join us in prayer for God's will to be done?

At this point it will even be tricky to get the funds here to Thailand in time for the March 31st payment window.

The owner is a very devout Buddhist who has displayed immense faith in our God providing us with the funds. Due to our sweet friendship, we believe the deadline to be flexible within reason.

If you are moved by our mighty God to donate, here are some ways to make it easier:

We removed the Jesus for Asia donate link on our website, and Jesus for Asia, for a time, had removed Isaiah 58 from their ministry donation page. Awhile back, Jon Wood (of Jesus for Asia), mentioned to us in a letter that we are big enough to be our own non-profit, therefore we pursued this direction. Now we are incorporated and have our EIN number, the application has been turned in to the IRS for the 501(c)3, and we are still working on giving the IRS additional info requested regarding the last few years of revenue and expense.

Our non-profit name is Karen Outreach. God sent us a godly devoted woman, Sandie Olsen from Fortine, Montana to be our bookkeeper and accountant. Sandie also has the experience of serving as a church treasurer for many years.

Funds can be sent to Karen Outreach, PO Box 223, Fortine, MT 59918, and these will eventually get to us, after a possible delay, since Sandie broke her foot and there has been delays in setting up the bank account. Jesus for Asia has been gracious and has put us back on their donate page. There is a PayPal™ donate button that can be used with the name of Isaiah 58. This method of donating through PayPal™ may get the funds to us faster than those sent to our Fortine, MT address.

A faster way yet to get the funds here before the deadline is to make a wire transfer directly to our Siam commercial bank here in Thailand:

Siam Commercial Bank Public Co.
Chiang mai 50100 Thailand
SICOTHBK011
Acct # 501-404818-9
Mr. Paul Eugene Adams

We would like to apologize for the confusion and thank you all for your prayers.

Harvey Steck at Graduation

Another important update is that Harvey Steck has spent the last month with us here at Sunshine Orchard. Harvey has answered the call to shoulder the responsibility of being a principal here at Sunshine Orchard. As the Lord continues to lead, we are looking forward to having Harvey and his family join us in service. While Harvey was here he spent much time and initiative with our staff and teachers in meetings, he revised the vocational training schedule made by Donna Stafford, and he gained the valuable beginnings of an insight into Karen culture.

That we should be blessed to have such a mature, godly man at the head of this work is an answer to prayer, may God continue to lead the Steck family as they go forward.

Anyone wanting to help make it possible for Harvey to return with his family, please mark any donations: "Steck Family".

Also anyone NOT wanting their donation to go toward the purchase of the new property please make that clear in the memo area.

William Teaching Student to Build

3/29/2011 - "Have you prayed about it?"

This is the reply you learn to expect from our volunteer - William, "Have you prayed about it?"

Missionaries are exposed to many ailments and dangers and we are not exempt. Again I am down with some kind of flu that is unmercifully going around among the children and volunteers, yet there are some who seem to be immune to these harassments. What is their secret?

There is William and Taramoo Gayle … they have something in common, a passion to drink water, water and more water. There is another common factor, exercise - early morning exercise, all through the day exercise, in the form of hard physical labor according to the days need.

Untiring service is another common factor. William is our great inspiration toward healthful living. He greets me early in the morning with the words, "Can I do kitchen duty, so you can go for a walk?"

Healthful living, without being fanatic or extreme, seems to be a key factor. The ability to eat the local food, yet at the same time, making choices through the day that tend toward natural, raw and unrefined.

One little story I wish to share about William: When he first came here the young people all went camping and the area chosen for the weekend did not have a creek. William came down the mountain for supplies and Emily joined him on the way back up … on returning Emily chuckled heartily and shared that William had looked a little tired toward the end of their ascent, she asked if he was okay and if his back pack was heavy, his answer was simply, "Oh just some water, not too bad."

Later she realized that he had carried a 5-gallon water tank in his backpack for the whole, 2+ hours hike up steep mountains in the blazing sun - this was so that all could have water at the camp …

"Have you prayed about it?" - I could not sleep at night, due to the heavy feeling in the chest from endless coughing. Yes, I have prayed a couple of times that God would help me sleep, and yes, that He would give me a couple of hours of rest, but no, I have not prayed about what to do about it. We prayed and the answer came in the form of personal experience shared from William, what do we have on hand?

Lobelia tea, fresh garlic, honey and an orchard full of limes … God answered and a much better night followed, even the toddlers enjoyed the brew!

Property update and more - 3/7/2011

We have not made the March 1st deadline for the property payment. The good news is that the deadline was moved to the end of March.

The owner, had contacted us, with an urgent need; could we make an early payment? The bank had heard through the grapevine that she had sold the property and was now insisting that she make another payment on her debt - that very day! Though we did not have the amount for the payment, which was soon to be due, we had the amount that the bank was asking for, therefore we agreed to deposit it into the bank account which is set up especially for this debt, if she would consider moving the deadline to the end of March. So God blessed again!

How God is going to provide these funds, we don't know, we only know that everyone who knows our situation - no room for staff and volunteers, nor for vocational training, and have seen the property agrees that this must be God's will. We have heard negative comments about us purchasing this property, but so many more confirmations in the form of local people who know the market and property values around here, who tell us that it is a very good deal. We believe that God has prepared this property, ahead of time, for this very need.

At the entrance of the property there is a sign; "Buddhist Vocational Training Center" … On the hill by the building where the Buddha used to be, a sign reads; "Buddhist Meditation Center" … This is where we will do medical missionary training - the right arm of the gospel; there will be a light on this hill - a light in the darkness of heathen worship.

This is going to be God's Vocational Training Center, a place set aside for the God of heaven, a place of prayer; not to an idol made of wood and stone, but to the God who never sleeps or slumbers, who holds the universe in His hands.

When we first came here and we were told that we would most likely be killed, robbed or kidnapped living here, we had already committed to one year of rent for the house we still occupy, I was often afraid and night after night I would wake up my poor husband with the words; did you hear that or what was that or how close was that gunshot?

In spending a week up in Chiang mai, due to some health needs, I dreaded going back to the beloved border; it was so sweet to sleep at night free from fear. I told Paul that I dreaded going back down. I told God my ever present Father and Jesus my best friend about this too; as I was reading the Bible a verse jumped out at me, and it was highlighted not with a pen, but with a thus says the Lord, it was for me and it was for this situation and I KNEW THAT GOD HAD SPOKEN, to me.

Acts 18:9-10, "Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee for I have much people in this city."

God has a work to be done right here, He has people right here who are going to be open to HIS voice, who will one day walk on the streets of gold.

Stafford Family

Many things are happening here right now, the Stafford family have blessed us with their fellowship, how we wish that they would not need to go, we really wish that they could stay here. Laren has imparted so much in the agricultural area - the gardens are beautiful, we are eating more food from here and able to tell the veggie lady at the market, "no we don't need that, we are growing it ourselves."

The Osborn's and the Rawling's spent about 4 days with us, working on a DVD, especially designed to show a little of what is going on here and the need of the new property. It was a hectic time and we did not have time to make it what we wish, but by God's grace Bill's efforts will be blessed as God will lead him in the editing of it in spite of fighting a cold and nasty cough that is going around among our children.

We have met with a wonderful devoted couple from Switzerland, who have worked in this area for the last 18 years. Due to our need of new dorms, we went to see their dorm in a local project. Well, the dorm cost almost as much as the new property … may God bless us to make do with something simpler, and we will use the three brick rule - faith! See Maria's blog.

Mortars and gun fire, there has been recent fighting across the town of Mae salit, but nothing to make us afraid, it is to be expected at times. What is the reason for peace above the storm? The calm assurance to be in God's will and place.

A villager from Burma is our patient in the hospital, he needs a lot of prayer. He has carcinoma, a large tumor on the neck, and was admitted for surgery, but the surgeon said that he has to go to Chiang mai for the surgery, as they don't have the equipment needed here. They will only send him if he has a sponsor … please remember him and us in your prayers, it is going to be a big bill. We need wisdom from above, making a decision that would mean life or death for another human being. We need grace to continue this labor of love and are praying that the love in it will be felt and that these people, not only the children, will come to see and know Jesus through this place.

One of our students, a boy of 13, had two front teeth knocked out. We have opted to have the dentist make him a bridge, instead of false teeth that will have to be removed and cleaned daily.

Last night, our son Josiah called for my attention, being thoroughly tired after a long day of service and at last having the toddlers off to sleep, in spite of the noisy house full of little voices, I longed for some rest, but he was intent "mamma, one of the boys is hurting terribly. That was enough for me to stir. What happened? His father, far into Burma, was drunk and smashed the house to pieces and some heavy teak wood fell on him. He's been in pain for a long time, but now with the watering of the garden he is hurting so bad, I was about to weep at the thought of the things these children have suffered, memories from my own childhood and a drunken father, the fear, the gun holes I remember seeing in the walls from a father in a drunken stupor wanting to kill his own … a mother trying to end a miserable life and we as little children trying to take care of her almost lifeless body.

The pain of human suffering, Oh Lord Jesus come soon, but please let these people come to know you; a faithful Father the children's best friend.

As I made my way down the dark trail to the school to make sure the teachers knew to not have this boy do physical work, until we have had him x-rayed and he feels better, I heard Marianne, one of our student missionaries, call my name "thramo Lena, Sawgueleh is vomiting with blood." This made me run back into the house, our little sweet 5-year-old orphan, who we care for in our home, was laying down in vomit mixed with blood! A hospital run is on the agenda early this week.

Marianne and Jennison Nafie
Marianne & Jennison Nafie

The Nafie girls, Marianne and Jennison, our volunteers, are having their mother and sister joining them for a week; they brought needed clothing for the children. Marianne and Jennison are bringing a troop of coughing children up to the house each morning and evening for herbal tea and treatments. This I used to do all the time, but due to being overloaded with toddlers and more, I have not had the strength to keep up with the needs of all the children. We are so grateful to them for taking this upon themselves, on top of teaching.

A table for the spirits - 3/7/2011

As we came walking over to the prayed for property; something was going on, what was going on?

There was lots of activity, a fellowship meal get together, was my first thought, but instantly I realized that this was no picnic, this was a spirit ceremony; a table laden with wonderful food and opened bottles of fast drinks, more and more was brought out until the table was laden.

My thoughts were, "What a waste!" Were they doing this for the sale of the property? If so, would God get the glory as the funds would come in, if they were asking the spirits to provide? This bothered me a lot!

But soon the real story came out, and the truth is pretty amazing; sacrifice for the spirits to leave the property, the food provided for them for the journey to find a new home … the property is sold and the new owners have their own God, so the spirits have to go. ...

This woman is displaying more faith in our God, than I presently have, God help my unbelief - I do believe! She had already removed the golden, sitting, huge Buddha from the Buddhist meditation center - God's future medical training and treatment facility. She removed the pigs from the property a couple of weeks ago … and now she is asking the spirits to go while providing for their journey in finding a home … I have witnessed this woman in public giving homage to a human being, a Buddhist monk, I have seen her prostrating herself before this man, him, seated in her restaurant smoking and chewing betel nut.

Just today she told a group of people that we are good good people, she pointed at Paul and said that he drives and drives to the hospital with the sick, not eating or sleeping, she pointed at our little Karen children and said that these children are trained to be good, not like Thai children. She, a Thai, said that our Karen children are good, but the Thai children are no good … Paul and I, humbled and embarrassed, lowered our faces, because we are not doing this work, God is doing it, He is using our staff and volunteers and we are just simply instruments in His hands.

God is so good, just when we need it the most, words of encouragement, sometimes I can't see beyond my nose, it sticks out and gets in my way, I feel like we can't do anything right, so much lack …

This morning as we were showing the buildings to some visitors, I was so ashamed and terrified at the real state of living conditions for our dorm children, torn mosquito nets, floors with holes, roofs that need to be replaced before the rainy season, our guests simply stated that our structures won't stand more than one more season and that roofs, floors and walls need to be replaced now … just the posts will last another season - this is building with bamboo, it's cheap, but needs to be constantly redone. Children are tough on things, especially when there are 100 of them, in a building made out of material that we "gallowah's" tend to break with one step of our big feet … we were given mosquito nets last year, but they tear and don't last due to not being of good quality.

God grant us the wisdom to make decisions that are for the furthering of your kingdom and are the best on behalf of these children.

With no love in it - 3/2/2011

When Emily and Maria were quite small we worked for a time at a self-supported mission school in Sweden. While there, the person who prepared the suppers did not go to any effort to make it special, Emily said "mamma there is no love in the food".

This became a family standard; "no love in it" would describe things lacking thought and care.

Just the other day Emily mentioned in a letter that "there was no love" in something. She mentioned the need to be treated as a person, for performance being the key object, not learning and serving.

This caused some reflection on my part. Is there love in my service for the Lord? Do others feel and see that love in action? Does my faith, my Christian walk, have a sweet smelling aroma or is it sour, rancid, decaying ?

Oh, Lord Jesus, my prayer, my aim, my plea is please let others feel your love and care through this place, may my presence here bring a warm sweet feeling to a child, to a sick person in need of care and encouragement.

Is the Lord's hand shortened that He cannot save? - 2/16/2011

As I was sleeping, I woke up with a start! "Is the Lord's hand shortened that it cannot help?", rushed into my mind; what is this all about I wondered? And then the thoughts bombarded my mind, thoughts of our new next door neighbors and the fact that although we have decided to not compare ourselves with them or to feel threatened by their presence, why is it that in a couple of months they have been able to erect beautiful cement buildings which are not only closed-in but also painted? Why is it that their property is already beautifully cared for and landscaped? Why are they asking to buy the property we need and feel the Lord has prepared for us? Why is it, that through the last few years, this group has been able to step in and provide God's SDA suffering mission schools with all kinds of things needed and wanted in abundance? Is the Lord with them, but not with us?

I will tell you what the Lord told me; He said, "It is the lack of My people; it's the Laodicean church sleeping to the need in foreign fields, the unwillingness to sacrifice both with monetary fund's and personal involvement."

Here is a "Hallelujah Group" as they call them over here, which has lots of volunteer manpower, their volunteers come and sleep in tents, while they erect the needed facilities! Among our people, we are told that we have to prepare nice places to stay before our volunteers are willing to sacrifice, (not for all, but we have been told that we don't have adequate buildings for volunteers and this is true, yet Hallelujah's come willing to live in tents … and with one accord go to work …) They come in droves, ready and willing to work, while we have one lone volunteer doing building. And although willing and able, can't do it all, because the project is in desperate need of completion and next on the long list are too many others yet to complete. Will God's people arise and stir?

We don't like, and get turned off by, ministries who are always asking for donations, and really wanted to do this work in the spirit of George Muller. Our stomachs tighten in a knot, when we read our precious friends, the Stafford's, blog and newsletters asking people to donate to this work, and yes we ourselves have shared the need on this website, but it has not been an easy thing for us to do. Yet, studying God's word and the Spirit of Prophecy, we have realized that we need to make the needs known and God has seen fit to ask His people in the past for their involvement, not only in prayer, but also in a personal sacrifice; sometimes until it hurts. "Sell all and give to the poor." are the words to some of us, even today.

God's people need to arise to their duty - we can't do it without you. God is not going to step in and use angels to finish the work, He desires to see His people rally together in sacrifice.

If someone feels God calling them to help with their skills in finishing our buildings, you don't have to live in a tent, there are a few bamboo huts that could be used; and if someone wants to come, but cannot stand the thought of staying in a bamboo hut, there are a couple of guest houses in the village. We will not judge anyone for not wanting to stay in a bamboo hut, you will just miss out on the experience, we often wish we had a bamboo hut.

Student Presenting Truth4Youth Program
Truth4Youth Presentation

Recent updates - 2/16/2011

Our volunteers, teachers, and students are together presenting the PowerPoint evangelistic program Truth4Youth™.

When we told the staff that we were going to do this, they were hesitant, wondering if it could be done. We had told them that we wanted the students to do much of the presentations, well they did not expect much of a response and where humbled when they realized that this was something the young people were excited about! So now the staff are presenting it too! Praise the Lord! This is primarily for the students, but we hope, in the future, to use the skills now developed, in the surrounding villages.

Emily is leaving this week to go for some much desired medical missionary training at Aenon, in Malaysia. She will leave a great hole and will be greatly missed, how I will manage without her is still to be determined - may the Lord be merciful to me. She kept coming back here, to help me, as she could see the constant need.

Emily had to leave Thailand, due to visa complications, otherwise she really did not want to go anywhere, but was going to educate herself here on the border with the help of books, internet and apprenticeship. But God opened this door as she found herself in a tight spot in need of a visa that cannot be obtained in Thailand.

No pictures again, every time I'm ready the camera is not willing … so maybe I can get some pictures from Donna.

The Osborn's, from the media studio in Chiang mai, are coming to make a DVD. Please keep this project in your prayers.

Birthday for All Our Children

A birthday for all our children - 2/16/2011

Anna had a birthday, we spent it with missionary friends. Anna was real hesitant about leaving the school and her precious friends and schoolwork. We actually had to insist she come along to pick up Laren and Donna in Chiang mai where they had turned in soil samples for analysis and went for follow up doctor and dental appointments. Donna needed some time, where the internet is dependable, to update her blog and also to work on our Newsletter Vol.1.

Anna's birthday was spent in the company of the Knecht family, the Rawling's and the Stafford's. How wonderful to spend time together.

Anna's heart softened when she realized that white "gallowah" children can be fun to be with also. Just recently Anna wept and shared with me that she no longer is a "gallowah," a white person … she said I'm a Karen; I do things like the Karen, I talk like them and act like them - I'm different!

It is hard to describe how the Karen are different, it has to be experienced. Maria has a new blog describing the things she loves - it's worth reading! (http://jungle-journey.blogspot.com) In her blog she shares some of the special things about the Karen.

We returned with fruit for an army of children, candles and more. Paul had already ordered 280 ice creams and 280 cakes, a candle was placed into each cake, we prayed, sang Happy Birthday, the children each got to blow out their own candle - the singing, beautiful - we love when they sing with their heart and might.

I shared about Eddie, my late husband who died of cancer, how he had a birthday the year before he died, he was grateful for having been given another year with us, his family. His brother had sent money for the birthday; I don't remember the exact amount, I think $60. We were so very poor and after going to the store for a shopping spree, spending $20 on food, there was $40 left. I claimed it for my two little children, Anna and Josiah, as we needed diapers for both of them - well this part of the story is hard to understand, for a Karen, as their babies go without diapers, so some explaining was needed.

We lived without electricity and the propane washer was broken and so the need of diapers was, in my mind, a necessity, but Eddie stood his ground "no you cannot have the money, I'm giving it to the Lord."

I was very frustrated with my "stubborn" husband, although I could not help being impressed as usual, by his devotion to God.

That evening I attended an evangelistic meeting; turning to a local Adventist physician, asking him if he enjoyed the presentation, the amazing answer was, "I could not listen to a word, all I could hear was God telling me to give you all the money I have in my wallet - I only have $40!"

God honored my devoted husbands desire to give to Him, who is the life giver, but He also saw a mothers need to care for her children. I had not mentioned our need to anyone, so it was clear that a miracle of God's providence was performed.

Today I need to remember this; as we are going forward toward purchasing additional property for the children's home/school, with a deadline, not having the funds in hand - but we have nothing to fear for the future, unless we forget how God has led in the past.

A meal, a special treat, of tofu and tvp was served. Afterwards each was given fruit and a balloon, I had wanted to purchase a gift for each one, but could not figure out what I possibly could buy that would fit in the car with the rest of us, and that would be affordable. Sometimes I wish there would not be so many children - it's so hard to care for them.

Ehknyaw, was very excited about the blossoms on the mango trees, as last year there were none. He told us that he will keep the kid's from picking them early. Around here mango is relished in its green state. Well, he then shared that one tree will feed the children for one meal … these are big trees laden with fruit. … This is our life, trying to feed and care for a little army of children who are just like our children in America, but without murmuring and complaining.

A future army of workers for the Lord, spreading the gospel of good news?

Important Property Update! - 2/5/2011

A new dead line - "Nothing is impossible with God!"

It was with a little trembling that we committed to pay half of the money for the property within a month - $135,000 by March 1st. (*** NOTE: Deadline Moved to End of March 2011***)

The property owner, a devout Buddhist, is also our landlord for the small property that houses our home, which at this time functions as office/clinic/children's home/storage.

After explaining to her that although we don't have this money, we do believe that our great God in heaven is able to provide the money by the deadline.

We decided together with the Stafford family and Phimpa to accept March 1st for payment, due to the great need for this additional property. We really cannot go forward with the vocational training program without this property - we have no room to expand. There is a very short window for building, we have until May at the best, and then the rains pour for a solid 6+ months. We were also informed that another denomination wishes to purchase the property.

Please ask the Lord if you have a part in this need and please remember to pray for God to be glorified, and the funds supplied.

We have no clue as to how this could be done - only faith that with God all things are possible.

Children in Traditional Dress

Happy Home Life - 2/5/2011

Little children need lots of attention and those who have lost their earthly father and mother need even more loving tender care. Little Moahwah, our 3 year old girl, came to us with her siblings after her mother died. She was addicted to betel nut. It is not unusual for very young children to be addicted to betel nut, because of their smoking and drinking at such an early age in these parts, the smoking keeps the mosquitoes at bay, the betel nut makes them feel good and together with alcohol lessens the feelings of an empty stomach.

Our five year old Sawgueleh shared the other day that he used to get candy and other things from the store without money - he was stealing!

Yet these are the sweetest children, yes we did have problems with deceit and stealing when we first had some of the children, but they rarely cause us any grief these days.

The toddlers are wearing my nerves thin at times, but how lovable they are, how precious! We are endeavoring to teach them to not cry so much, to be sweet tempered and obedient.

William, our volunteer from Canada, is blessing us constantly with his polite helpfulness. He is building beds for our home and the children's home. There was no place to keep everything organized, this is the place where other missionaries keep their things that they no longer need or until they need it … it's the storage unit for school supplies, medical supplies, donated items and office things. How do we make it a place of rest and honor for the Lord? Well, I brainstormed and asked Jason if he would help me build bunks and toddler beds, with storage underneath, in our small bedroom which houses up to 10 people. He said yes, but busy as he is with Memewah, William offered to take it on … he is a really good builder - I felt guilty about borrowing him from the needs of the school, he is to build cafeteria tables and make and install sinks for hand washing, and a host of other things in his limited time here. But he is insisting that this gives him the practice needed for doing a real good job at the other things awaiting him. I said yes and thank you, much due to my very sore back (this is an occurrence that happens every year as we return to sleeping on the hard wooden floor). I spend several months in agony adjusting to the hard surface, but with my duties this year, including caring for toddlers, I have come to the conclusion that it is okay to have a bed + the storage space under the beds is a wonderful bonus! I did not expect such nice work; praise the Lord for skilled, young people willing to use their talents for God.

Check Points - 2/5/2011

Praying, praying, praying … taking the people to the hospital is one thing, but what to do when our staff needs to go through the check points for other reasons - we pray! Hard!

We get a small taste of what it would be like being a refugee, we take a chance to get fined, lose our car or be thrown out of Thailand.

But with the Lord, we go forward, ready to help those in need, not afraid as long as we know we are about our father's business and doing only that which is right in the sight of a holy God.

By God's grace we have found grace in the eyes and hearts of most of the soldiers and border police guarding these roads and with a smile they most often wave us through, but once in a while, like the other day, someone new is on duty, and we could see the anxiety on the faces of those soldiers who are our "friends" and feel the tense stern authority of this new officer, but God intervened for us, after he asked the others pointing to the side of our rusty and old car, wondering why we don't have a ministry name or logo to show who we are, he waved us through - praise the Lord!

Young People Fun - 2/5/2011

The younger members of us missionaries have been enjoying hiking and camping in the mountain jungles behind Sunshine Orchard. It all started with Jason taking Memewah, Sawqueleh and Moawah. They returned for more drinking water the next day and were joined by the Stafford youngsters; Miles, Lexi and Davis, together with Josiah, Anna, William and Emily. Sawqueleh and Moawah did not want to go up again as they were terrified by the monkeys they had seen the previous evening and heard at night. Monkeys, many monkeys, jumping in the tops of the bamboo trees making them bend and swing back and forth. The news of the monkeys was great news to us all, because we don't get to see much wildlife around here, the poverty is such that anything that moves is considered a delicacy and we mostly see buffalos, cattle, goats, hens and roosters, elephants and an occasional bird. Snakes are quite common, even though they also are considered a food, and I forgot to mention the lizards who come small and big.

They found this special spot last week as they went camping, and could not wait for the Stafford's children to join in the fun. They tell us that the rock formations and caves are amazing and like nothing they have ever seen in America - they are thrilled!

Adjustments - 2/5/2011

Not understanding the worships, the conversations; anything, this can be very hard for missionary kids, the crude surroundings; a rough cement tank and floor for a wash room, the same with a squatting toilet for your bathroom needs … the grime and unsanitary surroundings … hard floors to sleep on etc. Tender skin and the customary rough wool blankets, the difference in custom and habit. The heat, the cold with nowhere to heat up but a fire outside …

In our efforts to fit in and be sensitive to the poverty that surrounds us, not only trying to find comfort and live like home in the mission field among those whose lives are so much simpler and oh so very poor, we have endeavored to immerse ourselves as much as possible into the culture among those whom we have come to serve. What an experience we can gain as we commit ourselves to taste a little of the privation and discomforts of our poorer brothers and sisters. Is this not what Jesus, our great example, did for the fallen human race? He the king of the universe stooping down to become one with a race steeped in sin, at a place and time in earth's history when the hygiene and sanitation was similar to what we encounter here today, when the comforts of life were simple. He our great example and shepherd had often nowhere to lay His head, like Him we have come to serve, not ourselves, but the poor and needy - are we willing to count the cost, to lay down our lives and give ourselves and personal comforts away for the cause to help gain an entrance into their hearts and lives? Or do we hold on, complaining, trying to make it as comfortable and cushy as our lives used to be in that other world back home? Can we step down and gain the experience of immersion, of friendship and trust. We find that just as we cannot comprehend what heaven is like, our friends over here have no clue as to what we have left behind, and we like to leave them clueless as we don't want to make them feel that we are from another planet, so we don't show pictures of the comforts in America, we want them to keep their simplicity, their innocence, the joy and freedom from complaining and murmuring. Do you know that the art of gossiping, complaining and murmuring must be a trait of having it all, but never getting enough, these children get a bewildered look in their sweet faces at the presence of murmuring and complaining, or unwillingness at working.

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