March 2023 Update
Dear Family and Friends,
Even after two weeks here in Thailand, we’re still waking up each morning pinching ourselves, incredulous we’re finally here after months of waiting and our 60-hour trip. I’ll admit to a teensy amount of anxiety beforehand about maneuvering all our “regulation” (yah, right!) luggage without Peter’s muscle, especially when switching airlines, but all went swimmingly, and help abounded. Thank you for your prayers for a trouble-free trip! We did have two 12-hour layovers; the first spent in a posh AMEX lounge in New Delhi (courtesy of using Lizzy’s card to purchase the tickets), and the second far less comfortably in Bangkok’s train station where we had to zealously guard our (considerable) luggage until we could board the sleeper, and the only seating was metal benches. When we did finally board…boy, did we ever sleep, despite the proximity of other hot, odiferous bodies and primitive facilities…the commode was simply a hole through which you could see the tracks flashing by!
No international trip is complete without a security incident (those who’ve traveled through an Indian airport will nod knowingly). Despite our TSA Pre-Approved Status, our silver hair, and our innocent demeanor, every single item was removed from our carry-ons, unmentionables included, and examined in front of God and man. In many cases, I was even asked to explain the item’s use. Since Peter’s case contained a large deep-muscle massager for his leg (which the security men took out, turned on, and tried on each other), blood-pressure cuff, oximeter, Communion elements (try explaining that in a Hindu country!), a packet of Pray First rubber bracelets, and my favorite pair of tweezers which all were convinced were a deadly weapon (and over which we nearly came to blows as they planned to confiscate them), there was a lively discussion with a great deal of pantomiming. The female guard, delegated to pat down the women privately, was in hysterics over my charades while the rest of the queue looked on balefully, knowing their time would come.
Our short time in Chiang Mai was glorious. Our favorite home-stay owners remembered us fondly, we were able to meet with several long-term missionaries and friends, as well as bless Bobby Avilez (House of Hope Children’s Home) with eight new piglets, transported from the refugee camps by motorcycle, as are many things in Thailand. He, his wife, and the kids in his children’s home are the hardest working group you can imagine, raising most of their home’s food themselves.
One GreenBus trip later, we arrived in MaeSai, staying temporarily with Brazilian missionaries whose precious family includes two kids, two dogs, a bird, a rabbit, and eight fish…all of whom were most welcoming. Sometimes it feels like we never left Thailand, so familiar are the smoggy skies obscuring the mountains, the unrelenting heat, the uneven sidewalks, bare feet in the house, steep steps so narrow my giant American feet hang over the edges, rice fields everywhere, motorcycles upon motorcycles upon motorcycles, roosters announcing the morning, eye-watering spicy street food, left-hand drive, and tuk-tuks. And then there is the hard stuff you don’t want to remember; the needs everywhere, the poverty, the rampant desperation, this border town filled with illegal Burmese refugees and their children, living in the shadows, hiding from both Thai and Burmese police, jumpy as cats. Their own country is in shambles, bombs dropping, villages destroyed, thousands of internally displaced people and thousands of those who’ve fled, all needing help. Our hosts live an up-close-and-personal existence with these disenfranchised, doing all they can to alleviate suffering, help with schooling, and preach the Truth. They took me to a “village” of refugees here in MaeSai, families living in abandoned storage units, without electricity or water, the doors propped open with sticks, all the worldly goods of several family units stuffed inside each.
But there are rays of Light. Let me tell you a story…one of many.
Our host missionaries met a Burmese refugee, perpetually drunk and abusive to his family, who for two years would show up at church services and cell groups, intoxicated and noisy, interrupting the worship. His own community scorned him because he had shamed them by his behavior. Now, this man had an accident and was badly smashed up. The missionaries found him close to death, took him to the hospital and agreed to pay the medical costs, as Thai hospitals won’t treat Burmese who can’t pay. He recovered…and returned to his drinking ways. The third time this happened and he landed in hospital at the expense of the missionaries, he had a miraculous encounter with the Lord and was instantly delivered from his alcohol dependency. He returned to his village, a Person of Peace, opening the door to the missionaries to teach the Gospel, a living and convincing testimony to all in his village of the power of the Lord, clearly a modern-day man from the Gadarenes. Most of this village is now Christian, and he’s introduced the missionaries to many other villages whose people had known him in his drunkenness; he now invites his former drinking buddies to come to the house church.
As we look with amazement at the enormous strides various missionaries here have achieved in the short time we’ve been elsewhere, we’re reminded that our God “is able to do exceedingly abundantly more than we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20) and are encouraged to push on with training disciples to make disciples. Since arriving, we’ve hit the ground running (or, in Peter’s case, hobbling), meeting with several pastors, starting discipleship training with six potential leaders, and setting up a “Come and Taste” preview for Burmese pastors on March 18th to see who is keen to commit to six weeks of Discipleship Training.
n the Dominican, the new Haitian pastors’ congregations are growing, and they are baptizing weekly. Pastor Jaime is helping build a small chapel, as no place was available to rent in the new church plant area. They’re sending pictures of each stage of the building as it progresses.
As always, we covet your prayer covering, as EVERYTHING starts with prayer. For March, here are our urgent prayer requests.
1) Please pray for our dear Nan Htike, pastor of a Children’s Rescue Home over the border, who is in a hospital in Yangon. I’ve written over the past seven years of her devotion to her rescued kids, her flight from the city, and the establishment of a new compound in the mountains. We thought she had a DVT (serious enough) but sadly, we’ve recently learned her diagnosis is SLE, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (which I had to look up and is definitely grim.) She sent some deeply troubling selfies of the ravages of her disease, so difficult to view I can’t share them. She is still in a hospital in Yangon and medical costs are heavy and compounding. Trusted co-workers are taking care of the children, but the situation is difficult without their leader, and frightening for all concerned.
2) Please pray for Kingdom Mission International’s missionaries who’ve responded to the desperate need to look after children across the border, setting up a small rescue home in Taikkyi Village, two hours North of Yangon. More and more parents are coming to their Christian leaders begging for help for their children whom they can no longer feed or protect. What a horrible situation in that war-torn country but we thank God for faithful believers who see the need and say, “Yes, Lord.” Pray they will be able to find the financial support they need for the children they take into their home.
3) As the borders open and desperate people stream across into Thailand, pray for safety for all concerned, Thai and Burmese alike, and for a spirit of unity rather than enmity. The Thais are overwhelmed and the Burmese are traumatized and not always easy to work with. Pray for protection for the missionaries who have a Learning Center for the children of Burmese refugees, that the children will be hidden from any authorities who seek to harm them.
4) Pray for Dominican Republic Pastor Jaime and Haitian Pastors Lucien, Meremy, and Roges as they labor to complete the chapel, grow their congregations, and continue Discipleship Training.
5) Pray for safety and smooth passage for the Burmese pastors and leaders as they cross the border to learn how to train Disciples to make Disciples.
It’s hard to express how glad we are to be here doing what we feel we must, and at the same time how much we miss all of you who sent us off with such kindness and care! Thank you for the water filters you allowed us to purchase and which arrived safely, and thank you all for your prayers and your support; they mean more than we can say.
Much love always,
Peter and Joan
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. Ephesians 3:20