Post-rainy-season update

Written mostly on Saturday night and Monday.

Lone pagoda built on a not-easy-to-access mountain-top

I like windy days. Or more specifically, I liked the wind today (Sabbath) while I was clambering up to the pagoda on a mountain ridge behind the school. It felt cool in the heat of the day, and better yet, it blew around the mosquitoes enough that they didn’t land on me too often. It was nice to visit the viewpoint up there for the first time since before the muddy floody rainy season.

Don't grab this tree while sliding
down the steep hillside!

While literally sliding back down the steep (perhaps nearly 60-degrees) slope of the mountain, I found that you really have to grab onto trees and bamboo to slow down your descent without tumbling. But then I nearly grabbed something that would have been bloody. (See the photo of the spiky tree.) The jungle isn’t exactly a friendly place! Again I found this out moments later when I stepped on something that got on my flip-flops, which was invisibly small but caused strange piercing pain throughout parts of my foot as I hobbled down for the next few minutes.

*************************

Friends resting on a hilltop

Now as I sit here watching my student/friend SLG resting in the hammock nearby, as he suffers with malaria along with another infection (thankfully he didn’t vomit up the medication this time), I think back to the end of July when I had malaria for the first time (and only time, so far). I praise God that with the early use of artesunate pills which cost around $3 here, I only had malaria symptoms (high fever and chills, nausea, etc) for less than 24 hours. I think God wanted me to go on the mission trip to the remote mountain villages that we went to (see Brenda’s blog here for a little taste of that), because even though I came down with malaria only three days before our departure, I had my full strength back within less than two days! I’d say that’s a miracle for this blood disease and its common effects, considering my usual recovery times for other illnesses!

*************************
Loud scuffling sounds come from the kitchen of the principal’s house, where I’m housesitting and doing more clinic work for the week. Thinking I might have another rat problem on my hands, I step into the kitchen and see on the floor a

Don't mess with me!

bloody dismembered tail of a tokay (a very large type of gecko). Nearby, there are two tokay geckos on the floor. One tokay is biting into the other’s flank and won’t let go. The attacking tokay is the one that is freshly missing his tail, so perhaps it is an attack of revenge? (These aggressive house animals can bite humans too if cornered, and I’ve heard that they have a strong bite and may not let go unless you kill them! They also eat the smaller geckos for dinner!)

*************************
What do all the things that I just wrote about (above) have in common? Look carefully. This wasn’t intentional, but the answer is blood. 

I recently watched an amateur video that was put together by one of the military factions across the border—graphic footage of when they took over the old school a few years ago, and subsequent battle preparations and firing mortars, artillery and antiquated machine guns, along with bloody footage of fresh injuries including landmine amputations and deaths, etc. Much of the video footage was shot just a couple of miles from here, if that. (One military base is just across the river from us.)

One of our gardens out there
in the flooded river...that was the highest
the river has been in decades

As I reflect on the reality of life in this part of the world, with the tremendous difficulties to overcome in so many areas--due to lack of resources, lack of clean water and medical help in many areas, difficulty of local travel, complications of multiple languages, confusing politics, ethnic conflicts, and deep religious and cultural disconnects--it is easy to think overwhelming thoughts at times! In the past couple of months especially, the enemy of souls has been hard at work to dismantle and discourage progress here and in our further outreach efforts. Lately it’s been harder than usual for me to come up with a blog post, not only because of the usual challenges I have with writing, but because most of the things that have occurred to me to write about are not things that I can fully post on an open blog, whether personal or otherwise. (Although many of you are aware of some of the local recent events, relating to the government actions and property issues that have consumed some of our attention.)

November 1 mission group ready to launch
(unfortunately we couldn't join the students and
Karen teachers for this trip).

But it seems for every discouragement, there’s an encouragement waiting if we are faithful and patient. (Seeing some of the students’ evidence of dedication to service is one of those encouragements here!) And even if trials begin to overwhelm us, we should remember the words in 1 Peter 2:21 – “Hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.” If you think about it, what did Christ’s example of suffering entail? Blood, of course. How many of us have really suffered unto blood in His service? Christ's life itself was full of constant self-sacrifice. “If we only realized how earnestly Jesus worked to sow the world with the gospel seed, we would...labor untiringly to give the bread of life to perishing souls...Something must be done to cure the terrible indifference that has taken hold upon us…When we are converted, our desire for ease and elegance will be changed.” (The Upward Look, pg. 330)

*************************

Part of my growing group of piano students.
Yes, there's not much in the way of chairs in these parts,
but everyone is used to doing everything on the floor!

Meanwhile during the past few months, I’ve also been busy with other things which I could have perhaps mentioned more of if I’d had the time--such as my fast-paced trip to America which included last-minute speaking engagements, moving the rest of my stuff from Spokane to my parents’ new home in Kentucky, and then establishing a nearby Tennessee residency address since that is where my nursing license is held. Then as soon as I got back to Chiang Mai, Thailand, I had to work on getting my extended driver’s licenses and renew the tax/insurance for my motorbike, which wasn’t too hard to do once I figured

A little bit different than rock climbing...such as
the lack of safety gear and the need to climb
with a machete with you!

everything out and where to find everything I needed this time. Back at the school, I then got busy with my now 11 piano students along with helping sub in other areas as usual, and also had fun with the mountain rice harvest and learning to climb coconut trees. During the current school break, I spent nearly a week on a big painting project and then got busy with a lot of patient-care and hospital runs this week since I was left in charge for the moment.

Language learning more than ever is becoming a part of my life—at least when things aren’t too busy…I have several student friends now that periodically challenge me with phrases or sentences in the Karen language, which I usually have to break down word-by-word but it’s very rewarding to surprise them occasionally by actually understanding something that they said in Karen. Understanding the spoken language is

Thara Ehginyah leading the mountain rice harvest crew

definitely the hardest part—it’s easier to learn the vocabulary and try to speak it (which is hard enough for me right now) than it is to understand the things that they say to me, especially since they usually talk fast and have various different accents from different areas! Right now I’m also trying to memorize some Bible texts in the Karen language…talk about a challenge (see the text below)!!

*************************
 

John 15:20 – “Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.”