Chiang Mai

Once again I find myself in the lovely Thai city of Chiang Mai. I was here three years ago with my sister and my friend Mariah. We stayed with a missionary family here, and at that time the mom of the family was back in the States. So my sister, Mariah and I inherited her car and their two year old adopted daughter, Emma, while her daddy was at work. We bopped around the city with Emma on our hips!

This family, the Dunhams, decided to foster Emma so she could eventually be adopted into a permanent family. However, after taking her in, she became very sick. Through repeated tests, her original blood-work (which showed her HIV-negative) was proved false. Emma was HIV-positive, and adopting agencies will not accept these children. The Dunhams decided to adopt her themselves. And so she has become part of their family. It’s is exciting to see her again! Running, talking, and enjoying life with her Mama and Papa!

Well, Sally and I are here in Chaing Mai at a conference that the Dunhams are hosting for church planters in the area. There are planters here from Burma, Thailand, Nepal, Japan and other countries. This morning as I was sitting in the back of the conference hall, I was surrounded by the Lahus – a people group of 1/2 a million who are scattered throughout Laos, China, Burma and Thailand. Their pastors have come to this conference to learn, and at each session while the speaker is being translated into Thai, the Lahu people gather in huddles around the Lahu men who speak English to listen to the words translated into their own language. It was amazing to listen to the speaker amidst a buzz of Thai and Lahu translations. God is at work in South East Asia! It is so exciting!

Pray for the Church in South East Asia! Especially for unity among the believers and perseverance in a difficult work.

Outside Kathmandu

We’ve been back from Dolakha for a few days now…but I’m only now getting around to writing about it. Sometimes it takes some time to process. I think I’ll start with the drive out there, as it was as lovely a drive as ever was. As soon as you leave the city the air clears (my sinuses were very thankful) and the buildings make way for rice fields. Even from the road we had some amazing views! The way the fields follow the natural contours of the land is stunning!

Rice Fields outside of Kathmandu

The rice harvest is now, so as we were driving we would see some fields cut down, drying in the sun. Others had sheaves of rice bundled up and standing at attention all throughout the field. Those were my favorite. I imagined the sheaves bowing down to Joseph in his dreams.

There were more amazing views all along the 5 hour ride. We arrived in the town of Charikot at night. We had one spectacular view as we climbed a ridge as dusk, just before all went completely dark.

Ridges at Dusk

Each time you come to the top of a ridge you are met with a 360-degree view. From where I was standing when I took this pic, I could turn around you see this same sight all around me. (Minus the setting sun, of course.) Breathtaking!

We arrived in Charikot late at night, and the hotel in which we had reservations was closed for the holiday of Tihar. Yes we had reservations, and yes they were closed…But thankfully the owner of the hotel we were supposed to stay in had a brother who owned another hotel in town. So we stayed there for $5 a night. It was small and cozy with a single communal indian toilet at the end of the hall, but it was clean. Thank Jesus it was clean! I’ve stayed in many a worse place in my life. Sally and I were quite cozy in our beds. And there was a happy absence of bed bugs.

So the next day we walked up the road to the top of the hill in Charikot and were met with this lovely view of part of the town. (I can’t get it upright! You’ll all have to turn your computers to view it!)

Charikot Village

While in Charikot, we met with the pastor there that’s connected to Vision Nationals. This pastor was a weathly man with 200 pigs. In the span of two months they all got sick and died. Without his livelihood, he had to pull his children from school. His two sons got into bad company, drugs, and gangs. He was at his lowest point when he met a VN pastor, heard the gospel, and came to Christ. In the next two years he was discipled by this VN pastor and came to have a burden to plant a church in his village. The rest of his family came to Christ when God healed the oldest son of a painful medical condition.

Now back in his village, we met his cow which was a gift to him from the pastor who led him to the Lord. With this cow, he can support himself and his family by selling the milk. Pastors who live off Western support are not respected. The locals assume the only reason he’s preaching the Gospel is to get money from the West. So…If we supply them with a way to earn a living, they gain the respect of the locals, have a place/role in the community, and the power of Gospel is not diminished! Praise God!

Pastor and His Cow (she's a water buffalo)

There are more stories from Charikot and Dolhaka, but we are packing up to head to Thailand today…So I must leave you here. With one last pic of Sally and I next to the Buddhist temple that was next to our hotel.

Sal and I at the Temple.