Farthest Corners Blog

To my friends, family and church,

It has been a whirlwind of activity since my last newsletter. I wish I could list everything that has happened here in the field but, I think the task is too big so I have decided to change the focus of this newsletter. Today’s letter will be more of a witness to God’s work in my life.

I remember many years ago friends of mine in Georgia would tell me “no man is an island.” Deep down I was always thinking “I’m pretty darn good at being an island.” That all changed in the Spring of 2007 when I invited some classmates from seminary to come with me to deliver some roofing for a house along the border. One of the classmates, showed me what a woman of God can be like. During the trip my eyes were opened to see her as beautiful in so many ways that my heart truly changed. A small courtship began (well, in my eyes anyway). She ever so graciously informed me that Chin women were difficult to get and I was considered a long shot at best. She used the analogy that Chin men are like hunters, always chasing women but never bringing any home. It is with some pride that I can say she underestimated my patience and my ever growing love for her. On August 8, the hunt came to a close and we were engaged in a small ceremony with her family and friends present. We are now planning our wedding on November 22. While she is in Yangon I have become the wedding planner. For many of you this is beyond funny. I wish you could have seen my bewildered face when I was told by friends that yes, she really does need a hairdresser and makeup person for the wedding. Some things I just will never understand. If she needs a makeup person…why don’t I get one?

Of course there are more important questions happening than makeup and hairdressers in our lives. The first in my mind is what does this all mean for Farthest Corners? For one I know it means I will take on the additional responsibilities of being a husband, but I am thankful this woman will be at my side to correct me when I make a mistake (which I so often do). I also know that we will be making many tough decisions together as both of us are called to serve in the building God’s kingdom. Her role as a professor will continue until February and then she will come to Thailand for at least a year while we discern God’s will together. We ask for your prayer during this time.

Meanwhile, the work of Farthest Corners continues. I am leaving for the border soon with a shipment of educational books. During the same trip, I will meet with our contact at Happy’s Home. Our locator program has been revamped by the efforts of a friend in Partners who is using our database to help update Children profiles in the refugee camps and along the border.

The situation on the border areas of Karen State has been relatively quiet with no new attacks recently. This is primarily due to the monsoons., The attacks on the people in the jungle are likely to start again when the dry season starts in just a few months. One ministry that really has taken off in the last couple of months has been my work at the Wa Hostel in Chiang Mai. I am now leading a team of seminary students every week and it has been an amazing blessing to see the children respond. I have also started to do some preaching in Thai and a couple of Karen churches have asked me to preach as well..

There is so much to write about! What I really need now is prayer to recognize that in the end God does all the work and I am just one of many he has called to do it. Please remember to change your prayers to include both of us as we plan to serve our Lord together and follow His will and way. Again, thank you all for your love and support.

In His Love,

To our friends, family and church supporters

This letter is difficult for me to write as my emotions cannot be properly expressed, especially in a Christ like way. As I witness what is happening in Burma the anger inside me has risen up that I have not felt in many years. It has driven me to a point where I have a hard time recognizing the Burma Army dictatorship as even human and I struggle with many questions. How could these dictators be human with their neglectful attitudes and their power hungry hearts trying to take advantage of this disaster in order to make them selves richer? . How can these men be worthy of the title human? Or are we truly this bad as sinners? Are these men the perfect example of sinners without boundaries or is it more? I must admit my walk in faith as of yet does not provide me with adequate answers. Or maybe it does and I am just afraid to be obedient. One thing I do know is that I must continue to pray and in this prayer the words of “How long O Lord, How long?” must be shout out.

A few weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to be able to obtain a Visa to visit Yangon and meet with friends about their relief efforts, as well as volunteer and teach at a local seminary there. Within hours of my arrival I was shuttled to a number of meetings to discuss the Cyclone Nargis tragedy with Christian Church groups. The stories and pictures that were shared were horrifying if not shocking.

The most memorable meeting was with a Karen couple. The husband had been in the delta region when the storm had hit. The well educated man heard the warnings from the government a few hours before the cyclone made landfall. Still, he said, the Burma Army gave no instruction as to what to do and never said to move to higher ground. He said that if he did not understand the magnitude of this storm that was coming, how could the simple farmers surrounding him know any better? He believed that this was the primary reason for the high death toll.

His wife told me how she had been a teacher but during that time she was suspected of being an enemy of the state and was placed in prison without trial for three years. It was during this time She met her husband who was a jail guard. Knowing that she was innocent, he took pity on her during her incarceration. After she was released they were married. Still she could not teach in her village because of the risk of being imprisoned again. It was at this time that she began serving in the church. She shared with me that her village which is on one of the many islands just off the coast of Burma’s Delta, now has nothing left. All of the houses are gone and many bodies remain afloat in the flooded fields. Yet some of the people have survived. Those that remain face problems caused by the water that flooded over the dikes of their rice fields

As the woman talked I came to grips with how bad this situation really is. After receiving perhaps the greatest strike possible in this disaster, now her people are faced with the tragedy of not being able to plant their rice this year.

The men and women I met on this trip humbled me with their efforts. Truly they are the heroes as they continue to risk being imprisoned (for some another time) to bring essential relief supplies and aid to their people. I was also amazed at how our emotions fluctuated during the meetings. One moment we would be laughing together and then in the next moment there would be complete silence. At the end of our meetings, I would lead the groups in prayer asking God to help us all to do what is right in the face of diversity. May our Lord be glorified by our meager efforts.

In the past month, Farthest Corners has been able to raise over $5,000 to help with the cyclone relief effort. Thanks to brothers and sisters like you, this has been done while we also must continue to maintain our service and ministries in the war torn areas of Burma. Our cyclone relief aid has assisted pregnant and now widowed wives who are in desperate need for care; it has provided rice and shelter for every household in one village; it has given money for church groups; and it has outfitted a relief team that as I write this letter they are attempting to reach and serve in areas who have yet to receive aid.

This week we are now looking at the purchase of farm equipment and 18 horsepower tillers that must be sent soon. By July, the tilling season will be too late and the crops can no longer be planted. Unfortunately, most villages are unable to plant or are too scared to return to the fields where there are still so many decomposing bodies. However, all decisions I believe should be made by the people closest to the problem so I await the team’s safe return and report in the coming days. But please know and be in prayer for that the next year or two will be probably the hardest this country will ever face economically and emotionally.

I continue to ask for your prayers as we as an organization move ahead in response to this tragedy. I ask for your prayers for our brothers and sisters there who are in desperate need in the country of Burma. I also personally ask for your prayers for me as I wrestle a great deal with what I have seen and how God calls me to see my enemies. The Burma Army has become the greatest of enemies in my heart and the challenge of how Christ calls me to respond is a difficult step for me. Your support as always is overwhelming and I am humbled by it. Thank you so much and may God guide us all!

Pictures received during the trip from our national network of friends are available here

Dear Friends,

I would like to thank all of you for your support and patience as we have developed a plan to provide relief for those in need from the cyclone that ravaged Burma on May 2.  As all of you know from news reports the situation continues to grow worse. Many groups continue to be denied entrance into the devastated areas and aid is severely restricted and at times the items delivered are stolen by the Burma Army. “A Network of National Friends” located within the region is being developed and, our relief efforts have taken giant steps in the last couple days.

Within the next day or two I should hear confirmation that first Farthest Corner Disaster Relief money sent  has been received through our Network of National Friends. They will use this money to purchase the very basic supplies needed for the people. Food is running out for many and they need shelter, or disease and sickness will spread. People are dying every day and each day we wait, their situation becomes much worse. Even as I write this letter the heavy rains continue to and I can’t help but feel heartbreak for the hundred of thousands of people whom need so much right now.

In my four years of service I have never sent out a need for support.  God has always provided! But this is a situation where you might choose not to give because we see reports of aid being stolen and misappropriated. I believe the support network we have created through our Network of National Friends will work. We really need to do all we can to help and I trust the money will be used appropriately. Please give how you can and pray God will multiply your efforts. We will strive to serve the people who are suffering from this tragedy, as well as having to continue in our ministries to those suffering persecution from the Burma Army in the border areas.

The e-mails below are from our contacts that will be providing relief inside the delta areas. Please note names of people and organizations have been taken out and marked with (***).

Greetings!

Today I visited one of our churches in the Delta Area. The village is composed of 50 family households. Out of the 50 families 8 of them are our own church members. No other Christians in the village. (***) members and Buddhists alone. All of the village is destroyed by the Cyclone. Today is the first time we could contact them. All the villagers came and were rescued in our church and parsonage. They have nothing now. My wife and I discussed if you can help them. We are planning to go there and donate something for them. If (***) arrives on Sunday we can go together there and (***) can directly donate to them something.  The way we consider right now is:

1) To give them 1 bag of rice (feeds around 200) to each family for their daily food. (cost $32.00 USD).

2) To give them K, 100,000 each family ($92.00) to make a shelter with Plastic roof for the time being.

Out of this, you are welcome to participate at this program as much as you are willing.

Yours in His Service,

(***)

About the relief program

I forwarded (***)’s mail to you. There is one place in the delta area that needs help, but I am not sure about the other places. The other remote places still need help and (***) is trying to help them. They have tried once but because of the bad smell of the dead bodies and they also have to cross the big river that is very dangerous, they could not get there yet. They keep trying and they are planning to go there again. But they send men the most, not women much. That is what I have heard from (***) wife. For right now we only have one place to help. I would like to hear your opinion if we should help only the place that (***) told you or you want the money to go to other places too? If you do want the money to go to other places I can contact them. (***), may be some other teachers, and me will go to the delta area on Wed. morning after I get the money.

God be with you,

(***)

Last week’s cyclone in Burma has left over a million people in need of some form of emergency assistance. Food and drinking water are limited, housing is scarce and disease is spreading.

As a response to this disaster and following conversations with our missionary this week, the Farthest Corners Board has established a special fund for disaster relief donations.

Our missionary in Thailand is in touch with a minister in Yangoon who has expressed an immediate need for fuel and rice. He will most likely be one of our main conduits through which we distribute aid.

While we wait for the proper avenue to open for distribution of the aid, we would like to have money available to send when he informs us what he will actually be able to get and do for those in need. If you wish to donate to this fund, please make checks payable to Farthest Corners with “disaster relief” in the message line.

We ask that you continue to pray for the people of Burma, especially those who were in the path of this terrible storm.

Thank you all for your concern,

I would like to ask for everyone to please pray for those who are suffering from the devastation that recently struck Burma. I know God weeps with our brothers and sisters and I believe He calls us to respond with love and wisdom!

For us in Northern Thailand and along the border areas the cyclone brought little if any damage. I was also encouraged to receive a call from my Karen friends three nights ago saying they and the children at Happy’s Home were okay. The cyclone hardly impacted their area, although the southern and southwestern parts of from reports, appear to have been devastated.

Patience is needed as things could go very slowly as there is little ability to contact anyone inside the areas where the cyclone hit hardest.
Again please be in prayer!

To my friends, family and the churches whom support our call,

I just returned from a wonderful trip along the border to a village where we had a camp for children. The team consisted of myself,  a Vietnamese friend, two of my Karen students, and about eight other Christian Karen friends. We visited the village of Ley Tah Kuh which I have been visiting for the last couple of years. Allan Eubank has been doing evangelism in the village there for the last 45 years and just a few weeks ago he was able to witness and see some fruit of his labor when he baptized three Tey Lah Kone Karen people. He will return shortly to encourage and share the message of Jesus Christ to the people there some more! Please be in prayer for this because there are many in the village who believe but are scared to make an open testimony for Christ as it goes against the very strong religious beliefs in the village. Still, what is happening is an amazing testimony to prayer. Recently, the village leader (who was a believer but never received baptism) was assassinated. Many of us were concerned as he was one of the main keys to sharing Christ there. But we prayed and trusted God… and as always, God is faithful! Yes, the village leader was the key, but it was his death that triggered many people to see the saving message of Jesus Christ.

Our trip started off with our truck getting stuck in a river after hitting two submerged trees I was driving and there was no question that my pride was hurt. After some struggle, we were able to drag the trees out from under the truck and then winch ourselves out. By this time the battery was dead, so we spent much of the day charging it with a generator. Pastor Samuel, one of my Karen friends, and I spent the day on the river fixing the truck and we sent the rest of our team ahead to start games for the children in the village. Samuel and I got to the village later that evening and washed up at the waterfall. That night we set up the generator, an Ipod, portable projector and a projector screen that we borrowed from my friends at Partners. We then watched Mr. Bean and the Noah’s Ark (in Pwo Karen).

The next day was full of games and encouragement for the community. I was able to teach the message of Christianity with pictures to many of the village elders as well as the children too. Later Pastor Samuel and I attended a meeting with the village leaders. The question was poised about how the community should deal with the Christians and if a church should be allowed to be built in the village. However, the real point of discussion was whether or not Christianity would change the customs and culture of the Tey Lah Kone people. They believe they can only eat meat which is hunted and therefore they will not eat any domesticated animal (I.e. Pork, Chicken, Beef and etc.). After a great deal of discussion and infighting it appeared that all of the leaders were satisfied and decided they would ask the village to vote (please be in prayer for this). Samuel shared how in Leviticus the Israelites had laws similar to theirs and I (with Samuel translating) pointed out how 1 Cor. 8 teaches us as Christians that we should never come in and change their traditions, because it would cause them to sin in their own eyes, and that was the last thing we wanted.

That afternoon Samuel and I came back and saw what the rest of our team had done with the children’s games. I was able to then join in the fun playing water balloon, ball and tug of war games. That night as we set up the projector system, I thanked the villagers for allowing us to show them how much we, as well as God, loved them. I took that opportunity to explain a little bit more about Jesus Christ. We closed the evening with a two hour Jesus Film (in S’gaw Karen). Many came away thanking me. I hope many more seeds were planted for all of us here to build upon.

Today, I am back at Seminary preparing to wrap up the semester and planning for a longer trip next month. The work is tiring but so fruitful. We are thankful that blessings from our Lord continue to abound for us in large and small ways. I particularly want to thank all who came to the Farthest Corner’s Annual dinner. Being able to be with so many of you online was amazing. Thank you for coming and supporting our call to see God’s love expressed in the world’s farthest corners.

Perhaps, next year I will be able to attend in person with all of you and share with you what God is doing here. Until, then I hope this letter encourages you all and know that I and many others here are praying for you!

I would like to provide additional details regarding the trip reported on in my January newsletter. Laurie Dawson (FBR) coordinated the trip. Chris Dolan (Partners), Kate and Tiff (two Thai women hoping to help support Bung Klung Hostel), Dr. Bob, his son Andrew, myself and a number of other Karen friends went along. It is great to be invited and travel as a group, all working together to help our brothers and sisters. I would also like to clarify details of our support for the clinic at the village we visited. Currently we are helping to build the nurses a home, and we plan to bring a roof to them next month. We have also assisted the nurses with living allowances. My hope is that Farthest Corners will be able to help pay during this next year, for the purchase of the quarterly medicine this clinic receives from Partners. I have been in discussion with Partners about my desire to serve in this way and have built many relationships. I would like to apologize if I was unclear or misleading in any way.

To friends, family and our supporting churches,

Today, I think about blessings. When helping others we are giving blessings and in return for those gifts we receive many blessings ourselves. I feel fortunate to be here where I can both give and receive.

In my January letter, I shared news of a man we helped evacuate from the Burma border. He remains in the hospital here in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The infections from gout had become so bad that there was no choice but to amputate part of his foot. He also has now developed a bleeding ulcer which causes him a great deal of pain. We were able to buy him some milk, bread and other food and we spent most of a day feeding, praying and even singing for him and the other patients. During our time he shared his nightmares with me. He dreams that he is back in Karen State as a soldier. The Burma Army is shooting at him, mortaring a village and they fight for hours. The man cried as he shared his dream. What could I do but listen and pray? I ask for you to please pray for him. I will keep you updated on his progress.

Another patient I met at the hospital is a Karen boy named ‘Shining Star.’ He was blinded last October by a Burma Army landmine  and was then treated and brought out of Karen  State by the Free Burma Rangers. Unfortunately the doctors can do very little for Shining Star. His sister is here with him, but will soon go back to their home in Karen State (where there have been more recent attacks). Shining Star will propbably need to move into one of the refugee camps as it is not safe where his family lives now. We were able to talk and share stories and after a great deal of coaxing, he shared how he loves Karen music. I also learned from his sister that he was learning to play guitar before he was blinded by the mine. So yesterday while purchasing some milk, bread and oranges for the patients we also purchased Shining Star a guitar. . We played together and he quickly showed me how much better he was at playing guitar then I ever will be.

To be able to bless and make a difference in people’s lives and hearts is always humbling. But even more humbling is how we’ve been blessed in the past couple of months. Last year Jeff and Jan, two friends of mine from Australia were able to spend a little time with me. They had served beside me four years ago while I was a volunteer teacher in Udon Thani. They were always so loving and supportive of me during this time. Recently they returned to Thailand to assist with the making of a video for an Aids ministry. During that time I was able to take them to a refugee camp to see the work and ministries of Farthest Corners. They saw how I used public buses and taxi trucks to get around and they felt called by God to help me with the purchase of a truck. It was such an amazing gift and I am humbled by it.
A additional blessing has been an opportunity to bring two refugee students to Chiang Mai to study English, computer and other subjects. The two stay in my village and have been warmly received by my neighbors. In addition to attending an English language school, they spend time every day with me working on homework, tests and quizzes that we develop for them. The students are also helping with many of our ministries. They are an amazing blessing.

Finally this week I was called by a Karen brother telling me he and his wife just had their first child, a boy.  He asked me to name his boy.  It is the Karen custom for a good friend or family member to name one’s child.  I was humbled to be chosen.  After a great deal of prayer, I decided on the name Micah.  Micah was a prophet for justice and peace.  He saw visions and preached about a world without war, where the Christ would lead us all in peace and joy.  My prayer is that Micah will assist in bringing this vision to his people and country.

Our work continues. In the past couple of weeks attacks by the Burma Army have displaced about 2,000 people.  We recently were able to help purchase medicine to assist our brothers and sisters.  I cannot thank all of you enough for putting me here in this place to love those around me.  I can not thank all of you enough for putting me here in this place to love all those around me. We thank you for of your love, prayers and support as we at Farthest Corners continue to respond in love to our brothers and sisters.

May Christ’s Love be our Guide,