Okay, well so much for keeping you guys posted throughout the trip. We’re back and have been back for more than a month. Woops. After the last blog, the internet in country was scarce and we found ourselves too tired to put much effort into finding it or paying for it. So, my sincere apologies. But here’s what you missed:
After Vietnam, we went back to Bangkok to apply for visas to get into Burma/Myanmar. That was pretty uneventful and frankly boring for most of us as JC and Autumn were doing the bulk of the work. The man behind the counter asked what they were going to do in Myanmar. Autumn said we wanted to site see and spend money. And the man told them to make sure that’s all they did, and advised them not to take pictures or write articles. (I can only imagine that he simply didn’t want us to know how absolutely worthless the Burmese government is. Well I guess they’re not actually a government they’re just a few guys with guns. Mick described them as pirates. Their own people hate them and everyone is just waiting for this current system to self-destruct) Or maybe the guy just had to say that because it was his job. Anyway we left there and went to Mae Sot to wait for the visas. We stayed at a CFI school with a bunch of kids who were awesome. They were disciplined and polite and helpful and joyful. They were such a blessing. Not at all like American kids (that’s mostly a joke…half…we’ll say half a joke). It was awesome to see them pray together in the morning under no supervision…it was also a little surreal, but mainly awesome.
While there we crossed the border twice and went into Burma once to visit soldiers and a school in an IDP camp. We set off only one land mine and no appendages were lost. Not even Mike got hurt! Then we played volleyball with people who were in much better shape than us. The school is where my true talents as a Simon revealed themselves. There wasn’t a kid that could go the distance with me in a game of Simon Says. Take that, foreign kids! Seriously though it’s harder than you would think. The next day we visited another IDP camp which was a three hour car ride across the windiest mounts I’ve ever been on and a 45 minute tractor ride. It was here that we had the grandest duck, duck, goose circle of all time with more ducks and geese than ever before seen by these western eyes. They did a Karen dance for us that we pretty stellar (particularly compared to another Karen dance we saw a few days later where the kids weren’t really quite sure what to do). This part of the trip was much less personal as we had less time to develop individual relationships. But there were a few brief connections made.
Our last night at the CFI school, the kids put on a program for us. They sang for us and recited their testimonies. It seemed like both their songs and testimonies were all about suffering or some atrocities committed by the Burmese military, but about how there was hope in Jesus. They gave us all handmade cross necklaces. It was a beautiful moment. Then we sang for them…that moment was much less beautiful. We made up for it though I think. Afterwards, we had ice cream over sticky rice which was surprisingly delicious. And then we had free time with them and played games. I played ping pong with one particular boy who beat me many times. He’s twelve and it was embarrassing. A couple kids took it upon themselves to teach me their language and ironically enough called me “Teacher” as they did so (interesting note on names, they deemed Mick “Mr. Bean.”) They also had a particular fascination with my arm hair and I found myself frequently petted.
The next day we went to Chiang Mai to buy the Bibles we were going to smuggle into Burma. Skip ahead to JC in Bangkok barely getting our passports and then on top of being sick having to push his taxi half a mile uphill. Nevertheless we made it to Myanmar, smuggled Bibles and all. Rangoon/Yangon was kind of a sad place. There were so many evidences that this was once a pretty city that the current condition was depressing. The government simply abandoned the city and left it to the care of the under paid people there. Consequently, everything was dirty and falling apart. After half-heartedly pretending to be tourists for a day, we went on to visit a seminary and an orphanage. We spoke with a class at the seminary. We asked them questions they asked us questions it seemed mutually encouraging. The orphans we visited that day were very bright and fun. We taught them a very noisy and obnoxious game called zip, zap, zop which, to the chagrin of the teachers, they loved. That was probably one of the saddest places to leave because they were so happy to see us. We gave some money (I’m not sure if I’m allowed to say how much) to the orphanage and a greater sum to be taken to the Delta region which was the hardest hit by the cyclone and the most neglected. There are still dead bodies floating around. The junta opted not to clean it up because there are a lot of Karen there and it’s easier to let them die of disease than to go kill them with their under-aged soldiers.
Our last day in Burma, an Asian Jack Palance told me I looked like a girl. And then we spent the rest of the day at another orphanage where we saw more dances with dancers that weren’t quite sure about the dances they were doing. Many of them were animists, but were well on their way to becoming Christians. The seemed a little more skeptical about us than the other places we’d been but I think they enjoyed themselves anyway.
All in all I’d say our time with the Karen was really about being fathers to the fatherless. We spent most of our time among the Karen with the kids just playing games and giving them little gifts. Check out Psalms 68: 5-6
Like I said at the beginning of this Blog, we’re back. And for me this trip was really about God’s faithfulness. How it’s all about His faithfulness not mine, though I’m not to be without faith. Psalms 91:4.
Please pray for the Karen and for the governments surrounding them (the Burmese, the Thai, and even ours… We relocate many of the Karen here but tend to neglect them once they’re here. That’s what I’ve heard anyway) Pray for the ministries of the Karen Baptist Theological Seminary students. Pray that no one got in trouble because of us (many confessed that they would questioned just for talking to us) Pray for Freedom in Burma. And please pray for us as we come back to this place to minister to our country and our people.
Kahle
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