Not even a week

Yes, we’ve been in Thailand for more than a week, but we got to Sunshine Orchard only last Wednesday evening–a week ago, although it seems like it’s been much longer. Our time here so far has been highlighted by the sounds of heavy rain, gecko chirps, and lots of Karen that’s Greek to me; quickly making friends with the children at Sunshine Orchard; and a surprise visit by a VIP among the Karen Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) people. Here are a few more details…

In the last couple hours of our trip from the Bangkok area to Sunshine Orchard (SO) on Wednesday, we drove past several mudslides and places where a portion of the road caved away due to very heavy rains for several days. When we arrived at SO, the creek had already crested, but not before it forced the gardener to relocate. Here are three pictures of the creek, the first of which was taken during my visit last March (during the hot dry season). You can see that things are a lot more lush now, too! If you open each of the first two pictures you can see the gardener’s hut on the left near the creek. The second of those two pictures shows the water after it had already taken out the floor of his hut. The third picture shows the same creek as it continues past our property. (Gayle Haberkam works here, too, when she cannot access her village during the rainy season. You can find more pictures of the flooding on her web site.)

Creek last March during dry season.

Creek after flooding

The creek continues past the school.

On Thursday and Friday, we started to get some order in our new house (a temporary place until our own hut is built after the rainy season). Even though we’ll move again in a few months, it’s great to feel like we’re home again. Each morning and evening we joined the students for worship at the chapel. Rarely is something translated into English, but we are bonding with the students and getting used to those strange sounds. (There are some sounds/words that keep popping up–like poh-nee-ah) that I’ve got to ask about.

Something that made Sabbath extra special was that the sermon was given by Ehkenya, who, of all our teachers, has the best handle on the English language. He preached in Karen but paused every few sentences to give an English summary translation. It sure is nice to get a blessing and know what everyone else is hearing. My experience living with foreign-speaking people has made me much more sympathetic with the deaf and those who do not understand English. On Sabbath afternoon, I went for a walk searching for a nature nugget, and I got a mild sunburn on my back–through the clouds. I think that’s a first for me. After sunset, we were asked to show some pictures from the USA, so showed the students a few pictures of our last rental house during the various seasons of the year, a recent biking trip, winter snow outings, and other family activities. We also showed the video that Hannah made of our last hike (up Old Glory, in British Columbia, less than two hours from home). I’m sure the kids had seen pictures of snow before, but they saw plenty of it in our pictures!

Yesterday, the morning was fairly quiet for Hannah and me while Brenda and Sharon accompanied Gayle Haberkam and some sick people to a hospital an hour south of here. I had mentioned to Ehkenya that I would like to meet Pastor Phamor, the leader of Karen SDAs in No Man’s Land. Around noon, I was pleasantly surprised when Pastor Phamor paid a visit. I was quite impressed with his willingness to sit with me on the floor and discuss our school and the work for the Karen people. Truly the needs are great for dedicated, well-grounded workers and for finances to support the Karen pastors and teachers in No Man’s Land. In two weeks, Pastor Phamor is leaving on a trip to the USA to try to raise funds so that he can meet the current payroll for the pastors and teachers. I’m sure he would LOVE to cancel this trip if there are some who could donate US$25,000+.

Pastor Phamor is also getting the book Steps to Christ reprinted. (It is currently the only book by Ellen G. White that has been translated and published in the Karen language.) This printing will cost around US$3,000, and the book is at the press at this time. They have sent the final proofs to Pastor Phamor for review. Would you like to help? Our family aims to help with this project, and I pray that many of you will, too. (We also look forward to getting copies of this book for use in Bible and/or English classes.)

We also discussed with Pastor Phamor his experience that conservative SDA missionaries frequently do not work well together. I shared with him my growing conviction of the need for mission workers to earnestly seek to work unitedly. True, there are still tares among the wheat, but each of us need to seek a deeper conversion experience lest we be quarreling with each other as did the Disciples before Calvary.

I just learned today that we have at least 250 students planning to attend school when it begins in September. Right now, there are 100+ students working (and playing) and staying in the dorms.

I mustn’t close before mentioning that I went out today to pick some limes, and I saw a most interesting site.

Can you distinguish the two butterflies?

One butterfly after its mate flew away.

We aim to say little about the need to provide for our financial support, but I do want to make it clear that we are 100% dependent on your contributions, particularly since another organization decided to reassign the portion of funds they had initially committed to support a school principal. Though we have received little since we arrived in Thailand less than two weeks ago, we know God is able to provide abundantly through you and others. If you would like more information on how to contribute, please see our Donate page.