Back to School
It’s that time of year again. I can almost smell the newly
sharpened pencils and see the kids sporting their ridiculously crammed
backpacks. Or, in my case, the kids walking or riding their bicycles while sporting
their school’s required hairstyle and carrying baskets (lunchboxes) full of
sticky rice and grilled pork. The new term at the vocational training school
has commenced again and I’m happy to reconnect with old students and get to
know many new students. I have two very full classes filled with doctors,
bankers, farmers, social workers, and college and high-school students ready to
learn.
In the past couple of weeks I have been told by several
students how grateful they are that they have this educational opportunity
available to them in this seemingly insignificant place. Before this school was
established there were very few learning opportunities available to the people
living in this more remote province. They would have to travel to the capital
or to another province to receive any further language or computer skills
training which is too costly for most families in this area. Now they have a
chance, right here at home, to improve their skills and provide better
schooling and job opportunities for themselves and their families. As I was
dodging the water buffaloes and chickens on my way to school today (I love this
place!), I was thanking the Father that He has made a way to meet the needs of
these people and most importantly for His light to shine in this community. No
place is insignificant to our Father!
An Unexpected Tragedy
A week before the new school term began I was contacted by
one of my students with some devastating news. One of the young girls from my teen
class was in a military helicopter accident. Military aircraft will often carry
civilians. Due to bad weather, help was unable to reach the crash site. The
next few days were filled with unofficial news about the state of the crash and
the people involved. It is extremely difficult to get any reliable news in this
country. During this time I talked with many of my students who were struggling
with the uncertainty of their classmate’s survival.
Eventually we received word that they recovered the bodies
from the crash site and all 23 people were confirmed dead. My student’s name
was Liza. She was only 15 years old and was traveling with her mother and
cousin back home to this province.
I’ve
been very sad and am still processing this heartbreak. I was very close to Liza.
She was such a happy and caring young girl. I miss her. She was so young and,
to my knowledge, did not yet know the Father. This is just another reminder of
why I’m here doing what I’m doing. Please be asking the Father to give me His
comfort and wisdom in talking with my other students. They are all very sad.
She was well liked by everyone and such a joy to all. I want His Spirit to
speak through me as I communicate with and love these precious young lives.
I ask that His good will come from this tragedy and that His concern and love
will be seen and felt.
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| Liza with her cupcake I made for her birthday |
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| Liza is on the far left with her prize for finishing with the highest score in the class |
Visitors
Along with the rainstorms, this summer brought many
visitors! The day after our final class of the spring term, April and I began
our journey to Bangkok to welcome April’s parents. They spent almost three
weeks with us. It was so special showing them our home and community. Her dad
did several projects around our house and yard and her mom helped with our
garden and made us some delicious home-cooked meals. They were such a huge
blessing to us! We enjoyed our time together very much!
Soon after we said goodbye to April’s parents, we said hello
to my brother Christian and April’s cousin Lindsey. It was so good to catch up
with Christian and hear how his first year of university went. We had fun
introducing them to our friends and traveling around the country a bit. I’m glad Christian was able to share in my
life here for a brief moment. It was sad to see them go but I am thankful we
had such a special time together.
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| Sometimes I forget how beautiful this place truly is |
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| So thankful for these two! |
Life and Language
Daily life has
been a little different here than in T-land. My electricity goes out quite
regularly, our well dried up during the dry season so we were without water, and
the Internet connection is unstable and often goes out without warning (last
time it was out for a week). I am much more isolated in this location so
getting what I consider to be “staples” can be challenging. These are just a
few things apart from language and cultural issues that I’ve had to adjust to
over the last year. This has really allowed me to experience the Father’s
faithfulness in a whole new way. Our Father is incredibly gracious! I’ve
been learning, more slowly than I’d like, what it means to trust Him in this
season of my life. He supplies all that I need, even if I often think I “need”
more than I do.
I’m still working hard at learning this language. Language is
such an intrinsic part of our lives as human beings. And human
language is unique in being a symbolic communication system that is learned
instead of biologically inherited. I was watching a mother speak with
her child the other day and along with her basic spoken vocabulary she was
using hand gestures and exaggerated facial expressions. I thought to myself, “I
am that child!” Not only do I often look like that mother when I’m speaking (to
adults!) but people have to act like that mother when speaking to me. This
stage of language learning is often frustrating but at the same time remarkable.
A year ago I could not speak using full sentences but slowly, like a child, I
learned how to form basic words, string them together, and use them correctly.
Our brains are amazing!
The Father has provided amazing language helpers who are
incredibly patient and encouraging through this process. We just started Stage
Two which means we’re learning to communicate more fluently about daily life,
family, work, everyday activities, etc. I look forward to the day when I don’t
have to grasp for every word but when the language flows more freely. In the
meantime, I keep plowing away and ask for His diligence as He teaches me more
about Himself in the process.
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| Our awesome language helper Sing - she's a senior in high-school this year |
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| Practicing my writing |
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| Studying with our language helper Champa. She is likeminded and refers to us as her daughters. So thankful for her! |
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Learning vocabulary about rice planting and harvesting - very much a part of daily life here
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Rice planting time around our home
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| People that work in town will go to their family's farm on the weekend to help with the planting |
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| It's amazing how quickly they can plant a field |
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Visiting our language helper's home and farm
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They raise pigs, and they have a lot!
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| When we walked by this pig popped up to say hello |
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| Isn't he cute? |
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| Last term I taught a beginning Taekwon-do class in my home |
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| They did great and it was a lot of fun |
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| Our garden full of corn - it felt like home :) |
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| Weddings, weddings, weddings! I've been to six weddings this past year. |
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| The colors of this wedding were bright pink, red, and orange. |
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| Some pics from around town |
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| Village gas station |
Future Opportunity
Over the last year my co-worker April and I have been
pursuing an opportunity to move up north with two of our other co-workers. The
northernmost province is home to many minority ethnic groups and is currently
one of the least reached places in this country. Presently, there are no other
westerners living in the main town and job opportunities for foreigners are
extremely limited. The only way for us to be able to get a visa and live in
this area would be to start a business and get that approved by the local
authorities, but we had no idea what business would be both acceptable to them
and also viable long term.
Our co-workers made several trips to this province to
talk with local business people and meet with different government
departments. During one of these visits we
were invited to lease and operate a hotel. The hotel owner will arrange work
visas and residence permits for us and our two co-workers. This
hotel is in the provincial capital, which has a population of about 10,000
people. Villages of different minority ethnic groups surround the town, each
with their own language. The town itself has a mixture of people who speak the
national language, various ethnic
languages, and Chinese. So we will be well positioned to build relationships
among those different people groups and get a good foothold in that community
and region.
The
government would like to see tourism grow in this region and having a decent
place for tourists to stay is a significant part in seeing this happen. Tourists mainly come for trekking, as
the area is very rugged and mountainous as well as to see the villages of the
local ethnic groups. There is also a 400 year-old tea plantation located just
outside the town that attracts visitors. The hotel needs significant refurbishing to bring it to a
standard that is comfortable for western tourists but we are excited about the
challenge and opportunity that lies before us. We would love for you to be a
part of this as well. I’ll share more information in the months ahead on ways
you can be involved.
We just finished the final stages of contract
revisions and the contract is officially signed! After living in this country for
the past year we realize that nothing is a sure thing until those visas
stickers are in our passports. We appreciate your continued thoughts that the
remainder of the paperwork and approvals go smoothly. If all goes as planned we
should be living and working in our desired location this time next year. April
and I have one more year on contract at the vocational school and will be
finishing up at the end of next May. Then we will be free to move up north and
begin investing in that community. As far as we know, there are no likeminded
people in the town and very few in the entire province.
Please be talking with the Father about the many people who
need Him in that region.
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| The road up to the town |
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| View from the hotel rooftop |
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Another view from the roof
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| The cobblestone streets in the older part of the town |
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| The local market |
