Chit Soe Ngae

It’s been one of those weeks. One of those weeks where I hardly touched my computer (actually, longer than that). One of those weeks where I nearly got more sleep during the day than at night. One of those weeks where I got nothing accomplished, except for teaching a special music to some of the students and singing it with them at their graduation. That of itself was a miracle, since I had a reprieve from my fever and severe sinusitis and other symptoms just long enough to get that accomplished. (Then I was back to a baking fever and hilariously strange delirium that night.)

Chit Soe Ngae

But what I really want to write about is Chit Soe Ngae. This 14-year-old Karen boy is from a Buddhist family in Burma, the fifth out of seven children, who recently lost both of his parents. I first met him on Christmas day when I ate breakfast with the students, and although we didn’t talk much (he only knew a little English), it was soon evident that this boy is special. Although he’s somewhat quiet, since that day he never passes up an opportunity to practice his English on me and nearly always asks me “are you happy?” I was very happy when last week I saw him get baptized along with 16 other students in the Moei River (a beautiful day to be sure). He’d been attending the Karen/English Bible studies regularly, and readily made the decision to follow through with the next step. His face often has a solemn expression on it (most Karen people do not smile for photos), but he truly seems happy, and every time he asks me if I am happy, I return the question to him and he often says, “yes I am *very* happy!” 

:)

After the graduation was over, many of the students returned home for the break, but quite a few of the students stayed behind—some of them have no stable home to go back to, like Chit Soe Ngae. After I noticed that some of the other students were sad, I thought that he would also be sad that his friends were leaving and he had to stay at the school during the break, but he was still as happy as always!

 

The other night I had a chance to sit next to him during chapel service. After the message was done, there was a impromptu special music period put on by the students. While one of the students started singing, Chit Soe Ngae reached over to my Karen Bible and flipped the pages to a verse, then pointed it out to me. I looked at it and then looked it up in my English Bible, and thought, “huh, maybe he’s showing me the verse for the song that is being sung in Karen right now.” But then he started showing me other verses—flipping to them in his Bible first to show me so that I could look them up in my Karen Bible. He pointed out verses like Psalm 46:1; Matthew 26:41; Psalm 51:1-2; and by the time he showed me Psalm 27:10 (“When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.”), I realized what he was doing. He was showing me some verses that were special to him—the ones that give him strength for the challenges that his life faces, and help him to be happy in every circumstance!  

Unlikely hiking buddies...these students will be
in grades 4, 3, and 9 respectively
in the upcoming year (American
grades would be grades 6, 5, and 11)

May I always be as faithful in trusting God’s promises in the small (and big) things that I face from day to day.