PEOPLE WE MET AND THEIR PRAYERS

 

How do I begin to communicate my heart after a trip such as this? I pray the Lord helps me convey what I'm thinking. I was going to tell you about what we did, and how we ministered, and every detail about the experience. That can wait. I want to tell you about the people we met because it's all about them, and I think it's important that I introduce you to some of those whose lives we will be involved with in the future...

Noh Bo Academy

In the midst of a remote jungle area along the Thailand-Burma border, in a peaceful clearing surrounded by mountains and covered with a thick, warm cloudy mist, sits a long, low wooden and bamboo school building. There are no walls, only bamboo dividers about 4 1/2 feet tall between each classroom attached to poles stretching up to the teak-leaf thatched roof. The floors are hard packed dirt and each classroom has old-fashioned big wooden school desks for each student.  In the front of the room is a blackboard that has been used for so long that the "black" is almost worn off the "board".  The students who live here are Karen refugees who have escaped genocide and the brutal regime that controls their home country of Burma.

On the rear wall of one particular room is a handmade wooden plaque upon which is inscribed, "The duty is heavier than the mountain". What a perfect statement for understanding what is apparently going in this place...the Noh Bo Academy. I have decided to call this place God's Incubator. By the hand of God these young Karen men and women, boys and girls, are being cared for, nurtured and educated. They put me to shame. Most speak at least three languages to some degree and each plays a musical instrument, primarily the guitar. In the quiet evening a piano begins to play and echoes across the center field. It's located in a hut on stilts which is designated as the music room, and beautiful music comes out of nowhere. The students who live here cannot physically go out of the walls of the refugee camps they live in, or leave the school grounds.  Under the current conditions they will never be able to, yet the Lord is bringing the things they need directly to them. I believe they are being formed as the future leaders of their people. They seem acutely aware that "The duty is heavier than the mountain" and they are in the process of becoming who they must be.

Meet Htooler (pronounced Tula) Mgraygray. Tula is a 23 year old Karen man and a born-again Christian. He is an ex-soldier and now a refugee sent to Thailand from Burma by his family, who holds him up as their only hope.  He lives and studies at Noh Bo Academy. He aspires to be a pastor and he dreams of being able to be on the other side of the camp fence one day earning a living. Everyone in the school already "sees" him ordained and his reputation is clear. Tula has earned the spot of being the chief cook and helper for the two British women missionaries who are live-in teachers at the school. He also cooks for guests, and he supplied our dining table beautifully. There is no refrigeration at all, no oven, no BBQ grill...just a little charcoal fire-pot, a big frying pan, a rice pot and white candles for light. Dishes are washed in a dishpan on the wooden-slatted floor with food bits falling to the ground below for the geese. Tula is on fire for God. He prays for the funds to go to Bible School and Discipleship Training School, which is located inside the Mae La refugee camp. He also prays for a Thai ID card so he can exit the camp and earn a living one day. Much like those on Schindler's list, the ID card that can give freedom to exit the camp must often, and at risk, be purchased.

And then there is Eh-wa. He is 19 years old and in personal turmoil. His given name is Eh-wa but in the Karen language he had renamed himself "Lazy Old Do-nothing Man", and is on the border of suicide. When he was introduced to us he used this disparaging name as his own. In fact, he is very handsome and full of sparkling personality, yet feeling the immense burden of that "mountain". I hope we were an encouragement to him. He was reminded that in the Bible God sometimes gave people new names when they came to Him, and after a long discussion, with his permission, John gave him a new name. He is to call himself "Strong Man" from now on, because God is with him, and he at least did so for the next two days until we left. I will never forget the night Eh-Wa and Tula, in response to a recording of a classical Karen song, spontaneously demonstrating for us a dance that their parents and grandparents had taught them to do. For a moment they were transported back to happy times and it was wonderful. The teachers said they had never seen this occur before, and we thanked God for this slice of happiness. Eh-Wa prays for an exit from the camps and a new life in Norway. Norwegians had been teaching at the school for three years and he has saved a picture of snow-covered mountains with his teacher standing in the middle next to a pine tree. His heart longs for this relationship. He even has learned to speak some Norwegian.

All of the faces, and hearts, and spirits of these young people living in Noh Bo Academy, God's Incubator, brings hope to my heart for them, their futures, their country and the Gospel we share. Witnessing how God's hand is upon them was inspiring to me. They may be inside a fence, but in their minds tomorrow is definitely on the way, and they are accepting the burden of fulfilling their destiny.

Mae Sot Baptist Church

Now meet Pastor Newton and his wife Bhumpo. They are Thai Baptists who pastor the Mae Sot Baptist Church which is located in a small village at the end of a long, orange clay road that winds itself up through acre after acre of cornfields. It is monsoon season now and the raindrops are as big as fat raisins and very warm. The red clay makes a slippery surface and stains your feet as it slushes through your shoes. As we pull up to the driveway Pastor Newton comes out with his umbrella to escort us up the slippery slope to his home. He is a very wiry, thin man with the smiliest face you've ever seen. He was in his fancy sarong. His wife Bhumpo is a plump good looking woman who is definitely in charge of her direction in life.  While Newton pastors the church, Bhumpo is a great believer in Christian education and operates the Mae Sot Baptist Church School. The school building is up on high stilts with the play area built underneath so it's protected from the rain.  There were about 35 pairs of little plastic multi-colored sandals lined up at the bottom of the stairs when we arrived. The school is set up for 2-4 year olds and they come from the church families and surrounding village homes. Pastor Newton and Bhumpo speak the language and services are held in Karen.  We were there on field trip day, when the teachers take the little children on a walk through the clay pathways, through the brush, where it ends at a small freshwater lake. Bhumpo dug this lake herself by hand, and filled it with water. The rainy season keeps it full. It's stocked with catfish that mature every three months, providing food for the school, money from sales of the extra fish, and fun field trips for the kids to feed the fish and watch them grow. Pretty enterprising.  We were each asked to teach during the Sunday service and the Lord gave us our theme and our words. It was humbling in the face of these people.  Bhumpo prays for funds to attend the Baptist Women's Conference on Christian Education.

Bangkok

In Bangkok we met Nop Chopkittikhun. We planned to hire a taxi for two days for a flat rate, so it was arranged for us through the Bangkok Christian Guest House. As the Lord would have it, the driver was Nop, a Thai of Chinese ethnic origin. He is a born again Christian and a member of the Bangkok Gospel Men's Choir.  His taxi is filled with gospel tracts and Thai Bibles to be handed out to passengers. He worked for eight years with the Mennonite Church office in Bangkok until they were forced to close due to finances. Before 9/11 the Choir had been invited to a huge church in New York City to debut their first CD, called Unify Us As One, but when the towers went down so did their ability to keep their visas. For security reasons the visas were cancelled and they still cannot get into the country. Nop and his prayer group pray every day for the King of Thailand and his salvation. He told us the King has allowed the Gospel Choir to sing Christian songs to the Queen on her birthday. The king loves music, has written his own compositions, and plays the saxophone himself.   As we drove through the streets of Bangkok Nop serenaded us with Onward Christian Soldiers and The Lord's Prayer, and we joined in on those.  God is so good.  We went to Wat Po to view the reclining Buddha, and got into a discussion with the guide. He told us that Buddha was the only human to enter  " Nirvana” to date. We replied that Buddha must be in a very lonely place, and it didn't sound like heaven.  We treated Nop to a dinner buffet in the Royal Orchid Sheraton on the Chao Praya River the first night.   He pulled up to the front to deliver us and we invited him to join us for dinner so we could bless him. He was now our brother in Christ.  Nop prays for entry into the United States to do the concert and then return home, and he prays for the soul of the King of Thailand.

We could go on about the Buddhist environment, the chants which rang throughout the towns daily at 3:30 AM and at sundown, the military checkpoints, etc.  But the important part is the people and how the Lord is working in their lives, and learning how we can be used by God as a helping tool by utilizing the freedom we've been given.  Suffice it to say that The Lord had us well equipped in advance of the trip, and when we got there we were, for the most part, ready for what He put before us.  We'll be returning again to Thailand in 2004 to continue our new relationships.