FIRST DAY

Our friends Pi Jalay and Pi Leah live in this Lahu village

This is their church in the village

They happened to be meeting when we visited

Pi Ron and Pi Jalay

At Baan Immanuel

We arrived safely after about 27 hours in airports and planes. After dinner we slept for about 12 hours and were good to go! It's been raining here in the morning and afternoon; a welcome break from the heat. Today we visited Pi Jalay and Pi Leah, our friends who used to be at Baan Immanuel but have moved to a Lahu village to minister to them. We happened to come when they had a teacher from the Baptist foundation doing a discipleship service. That was fun even though we only had a few parts translated for us.

PREPARATIONS

We are taking gifts for the Hmong women and the kids

The Married Couples Class ladies made the jewelry

Fun and Fellowship

Everyone was happy to help

Last year we took scarves for all the Hmong wives and they were thrilled to be honored that way. This year many of the women in our Married Couples Class got together to make jewelry for them. Dwight, a brother in the class, made 'survival' bracelets for all the boys and girls at Baan Immanuel. This whole outreach is a family project - the team, the gifts, the prayer support and everyone who supports Calvary!

GOING BACK TO THAILAND!

While our time will be mainly in cities, most of the Hmong come from rural villages 

We've spent weeks preparing our lessons, gathering supplies and shopping for a hot and humid trip. Now it's just four days before we head for the airport on Wednesday.

2013 THAILAND MISSION

The Hmong can PRAY and SING! They are enthusiastic at both

This is Peng, one of our Hmong interpreters

This is Bashua, a Hmong elder and evangelist - she turned 96 this year

This is our 3rd year with the Hmong and we're getting to know some of them better and also meeting new people. Bashua, the Hmong "elder" woman turned 96 this year and she still travels around making disciples and evangelizing. She was just as eager this year, taking notes and following along. 

We got more information about the Hmong who were arrested at the border as they traveled home. It was 20 of them, not just 10 and that included women and children. Bashua was one of them. They spent about six hours in jail and had all their Christian materials confiscated. I can't imagine all the notes that must have been in Bashua's Bible. Also, it was not just 7,000 baht that got them released; it was 25,000 baht - a little over 800 dollars. The Hmong leaders felt they needed to take responsibility and came up with 18,000 THB themselves. We realized later that must have been the money we'd given them as gifts and reimbursement for their work organizing the conference. They had to ask us for the 7,000 that they were short. 

And then our brother Som Sat called and had to talk to each of us in turn at the airport today to apologize over and over for the Hmong having to ask us for the additional money. (Please! We only gave them about $200 extra for that - we were frankly ashamed and awed by their selfless care for each other.) 

LAST DAY

The Hmong women were excited to pick out their gifts

There were enough for 2 each! One woman gave one of hers to Kendra, who was  there with us  while  visiting Ron

Our official Hmong coats

Getting ready to leave Chiang Khong

Our last day with the Hmong was sweet and sad. The ladies presented the Hmong women with gifts; scarves and blankets donated by the women of Calvary and Grace. They were very happy and grateful for such a token of love. The Hmong leaders gave us all traditional tribal coats and said "now you're all  Hmong". It was difficult to get away as they all wanted to give us hugs.

Later we learned that ten of the Hmong from Laos were arrested going back over the border. We knew someone with influence (plus $7,000 baht) and got them released after about 6 hours but all their notes, new songbooks and Bibles were confiscated. The others from that region waited an extra day to cross. It's good that we had just taught them about suffering and rewards for following Jesus!

HELPING LEADERS LEAD

Pastor Mark gets help from a volunteer

Linda had a great response from the Hmong women

In their culture, there is almost nothing offered to women; they were eager to  learn

What a week! We had to rent extra rooms because so many Hmong came to the conference. Even then, they were sleeping at least ten in rooms designed for four. These are all Hmong Christian pastors, elders and leaders, and they are hungry for the Word and for help in pastoring the churches. We estimate that the 200 leaders represent over 55,000 believers in Thailand, Laos and Vietnam.

This year was very different because our wives are teaching the Hmong women. They are so sweet and responsive; they are quick to pray for each other and worship with great zeal. While the women were in their sessions, the men (mostly pastors themselves) were very intent on the teaching and direction we brought. 

This is already the morning of our last day with them (Thursday). We will have done 12 sessions total, and they do hours of worship together besides that. Last night, we asked anyone who wanted special prayer (although in a language they didn't know) to stand. Everyone in the room stood. We prayed for all of them. Then they had us stand in front and they prayed for all of us. Then they all walked past and gave us big hugs. Paul Hayes cried. 

It will be hard to leave them this afternoon. We have a couple sessions left and then we'll present gifts to them, and especially to those who have worked hard to organize the conference. It's been a rough week with the heat/humidity and all the sitting. Most of us have swollen legs and feet. The mattresses in the hotel are what we'd call box-springs, so that doesn't help, but we're so exhausted each night we sleep anyway. What a wonderful opportunity this has been to serve our brothers and sisters in Christ!

GOD INTERVENES

Former Goodyear man Pastor Paul takes charge as Pastor Mark supervises

Had to use a combination of tools from the two vehicles, but we got the job done

On our way to Chiang Khong, we were following Ron Miller, who had a load of Hmong song books in his truck. It was pouring rain off and on when we saw Ron pulling off the road. We said "oh look, he's got a flat tire!" But Ron didn't know he had a flat; he just happened to be pulling off to see if the books were getting wet. As we pulled over, the tire went completely flat. It had apparently just burst on one of the many pot holes we'd been hitting. 

Neither Ron nor we would have realized anything was wrong until the tire completely failed. Thank The Lord for intervening to keep us safe!