Good heavens! I feel like it’s been forever since I’ve “mass e-mailed,” and I’m starting to get some complaints and concerned e-mails! :-) Never in a million years did I think my ramblings would reach so many people beyond my contact list. Those of you who interact with me daily know I simply write how I talk.
Thank you to those who donated to the Children’s Home. That was never my intent, to try to get people to donate, but some of you did, and it is appreciated more than you know. To those who need an address from me, I’m sending it out tonight.
Well. We’ve been on quite a few adventures since my last e-mail. I’ll try to catch you up, only hitting the high points and spending some extra time on today.
Sunday we visited Pa Sak:
Pa Sak…where to begin? Pa Sak. I seem to have been in quite a fog that day, and don’t remember too much. Thank goodness for pictures.
The village is poor, and the people are quite meek, but we received the same thankfulness, hospitality and “aw bu ui ja’s” that we always do. The Lahu’s always extend their right hand, and hold their right elbow with their left hand to show they come with no weapons. I thought that was interesting. Our Purell hand sanitizer has now been dubbed “a bu ui juice” :-)
It was incredible to worship with people of like faith, but of a totally different culture. The hymns were beautiful. The same ones we sing in the States, but sung in Lahu. Amazing Grace brought tears to my eyes.
What I remember the most, and the Lord used this simple thing to impact me greatly, was what happened at meal time. We were all ready to eat (rice, bananas, bamboo, chile and mango) when Anond’s sister (Pa Sak is Anond’s home) brought in “purple rice”. Yes, the rice really is purple, as you can see from the pictures, and it really is called, simply, “purple rice”. Of course, this loud-mouthed American asked why it was purple. Well, God made it that way. Purple rice is very rare and expensive. This little group of villagers was putting their best before us. For some reason, that humbled my heart into a million pieces. I come from a church where people plop down a Cool-Whip container and consider that ok to feed guests out of. But here, these precious people, put their absolute best in front of us. What more can I say?
Pa Tong Eh (Pay-Tong-A):
I just like to say that name. These people won me over instantly. The village, however, was extremely poor. All you need to do is look at the pictures.
A little background: Bro. Lee’s church spent a lot of money getting clean water to this village. Surrounding this village are other religions that have an extreme hatred for these people because they are Christians. Recently, some of these “religions” dumped harmful chemicals into their water supply. The people were sick, but I honestly expected worse.
The people there are not reserved at all! I want you to note the man standing between Bro. Lee and Rebekah. He’s decked out in his best “suit” with the colorful pom-pom buttons down the front. This man, Jah-jah, is from Pa Tong Eh, and was saved there in 1998. He heard of Bro. Lee coming to Pa Sak and walked there (over 50 miles) to be baptized, and has been a faithful member of the church at Pa Tong Eh ever since. That’s what I love about the hilltribe people; if they are shown something in God’s word they accept it and submit to it. No questions asked. I wish I were more like that…perhaps God used that to teach me some things. This man was the first to greet us and the last to tell us goodbye. He was my last patient at Pa Tong Eh. His complaint? Achy knees. I wanted nothing more than to hug this man, but their culture seems to be slightly reserved in that (trust me, I tried).
They fed us lunch, as all the villages do. Oh, how I wish you all could have been there! The food was some of the best I’ve tasted (Karen: clearly, we’ll have to start our diet again when I get back). Each bite burst with flavor. Even my corn had a kick to it that resembled…some sort of wine? Perhaps I was just wishing for a glass of wine…
The primary focus of this medical trip is to help the church members. Remember, we’re the only medical care they receive all year. I was so disheartened to see Spirit worshippers coming into the church and crowding out the church members. Before I knew it, there was a line of them, and their babies. The man in the yellow shirt, with the keys around his neck, is a Spirit worshipper. He was the only one there for a while, and I was going to “get him out of the way” first. I did, and then more came. Bro. Lee and Ricky did a great job of subtly “blocking” the spirit worshippers so Janice and I could get to the church members. Other than the “spirit bracelets” (please see the picture of the close-up of the baby, he has spirit bracelets on), it’s quite easy to tell a Spirit worshipper from a Believer. Their mood is very cold. And they are nasty people. Their babies came with dirt caked on them. The majority of the problems we took care of could have been prevented with good hygiene.
Bro. Lee knew how much I love the hymn “How Great Thou Art” and requested the church sing it. An impromptu acoustic version, in Lahu, was performed in front of that little church. It was beautiful.
When we got in the truck to leave, I asked Bro. Anond why the church members were so patient with the Spirit worshippers. Bro. Anond said “they want to show them love, so they will come to church and because it says in the Bible”. Again, I felt so stupid and humbled all at once. Of course….love.
Today (Pa Sak #2…no, they’re not close to each other).
Today I finally had my thinking-cap on and took my Zofran pills before we left (I pop those suckers like candy these days). After being slung around the back seat like a rag doll yesterday (you haven’t really lived till you’ve ridden with Anond), I figured that was best. I also chose to ride with Bro. Lee.
We weren’t that far into our journey before I made a new discovery: I get car sick. Actually, I think it’s because of the mountains. And altitude. And breakfast.
I did what I could to hold everything down, and was successful. I made them pull over though, because I felt queasy all over, and wasn’t sure what was about to happen. Of course, no photo op. is wasted with me, so I took a picture of the “toilet”. You can imagine how excited I was to see it. You can also imagine how my heart leapt for joy when I had to “dust off” the bugs…and then I got even more of a thrill when I was in there and a dirty mop was flung under the door for “cleaning”. Welcome to Thailand . I’m still not sure how my pants got wet. Oh, the metal “handicap bar” on the left side of the pic? I’m pretty sure it was placed there for Americans. One will turn into a tiny gymnast when trying to figure things out in there.
I digress…
We finally arrived at Pa Sak #2 before my untimely death was about to occur. We drove to the very top of the hill, where the church building was. At Pa Sak #2 they chose to have their church built at the top, above their houses, as a sign of respect. The pastor’s home is across the…er….grass from it.
I’m trying not to cry as I type this. I would give anything for you all to see this view (no offense to my NC peeps, but the mountains here are something to behold), and the people! There is a picture of the pastor, Joshua, and his wife Lina (Lee-Nah) at the end. Every person here had the sweetest disposition. The pastor spoke for a while and had one “complaint”; the church building was too small. The seats are crowded each Sunday and people have to stand outside. As it was translated to us, “many people saved here”. By tithes and offerings, this little church has saved $34,000 baht. A little bit more than $10,000 US dollars. I can’t imagine… all these people do day after day is work in the rice fields and they were able to save $10,000. I brought more in cash than what I would make over here as a nurse. There was a lesson in finances for me, right there. Joshua and Lina are one of the sweetest couples I’ve ever met, and the people there are so good to their pastor. I couldn’t get over how loving everyone was (this group of people hugged!).
We were invited to lunch in the pastor’s home. What an experience! We’ve had people in and out of our home, and rarely are we guests others. Never did I imagine I would be sitting on the floor of a bamboo hut eating with a Lahu pastor and his wife. Actually, they all sat around as we ate. Again, their custom.
Today we “did medicine” outside. It was HOT! We had few people that “needed medicine” and others were out working in the rice fields. Again, same problem with spirit worshippers. At one point Bill said “they’re crowding in…” and Janice and I turned around and saw a crew of them standing over us. This visit was cut short. We tried to get to the church members and get out. I had one patient who plopped down in front of me, cutting off a church member on her way to sit. This patient’s “problem” was that her husband had died, he was the leader of the spirit worshippers, and she now had no where to worship. Well. Problem solved. Bill suggested they go to church there. You can see a picture of Ricky cutting off her “spirit bracelets”. I asked her if she would come on Sunday, and she said “hurt knee, can’t go”. I took care of that real quick. I gave her ointment for her joints, arthritis medicine, Tylenol and vitamins that I explained was “for energy”. I told her take them daily and a double-dose of Tylenol before she hikes up to church each Sunday. Guess we’ll find out next year what happens! I did, however, get a chance to have Anond translate for me to one of the spirit worshippers. I asked “why the bracelets?”. The bracelets are to “keep the spirits away”. Interesting. The spirit worshippers worship what they’re afraid of. It’s more like a religion that appeases the spirits. If they keep them “happy”, they leave them alone. How sad. Again I was reminded “only by the grace of God…”
Whew. Didn’t mean to ramble that much. I hope you all enjoy the pictures. I can’t upload each with a caption (or can I? Does anyone know?), or I would explain what’s going on in each. While they look like they’re in no particular order, they’re actually in the order of what I see each day as I go along. Kind of like you get to journey with me, right? Well, maybe not. But I wish you could.
Thanks again for your reading time. I love you all, and wish you could be here to experience this with me. It’s a blessing words can’t describe. Once again, what a privilege to serve.
Love,
Rachel
To view the pictures, please click here.
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