Akha Village

As promised, here is an update!

As with most of the outreaches I've been a part of, our hosts really started to see our hearts toward the end and now they want to utilize us as much as they can before we leave. So... we've had the opportunity to teach several seminars to church staff and pastors, and we just went for 3 days in the Akha Hill Tribes.

We stayed in a village that was breathtaking and beautiful (caves, streams, houses like Samoan Fales), but the landscape was not nearly as beautiful as the people. I know that sounds cliche, but God just connected our hearts with theirs. I had the opportunity to teach Colossians finally, and though we had double translation (from English to Thai to Akha, and the reverse for response) I think it went well.

Something that was really neat and I think is why I connected so much to the family there was some not so neat things we hold in common. Our Akha translator and host, Dao, lost her brother 3 years ago, just like me. His family's house burnt down and he didn't make it out. She shared that she still couldn't believe that he really died, and I could definitely relate. I was able to pray for her and the rest of her family (most of the church is all part of the same extended family) and I was also just encouraged to see how real they were. They didn't pretend like it didn't still hurt them with the pat "God is good," but at the same time, the way they lived, served, and smiled, it was easy to see that they still believed this to be true. In Thai culture there is this thing of "saving face" which is very important, so I have not seen much real emotion here - anger, rediculous joy, sadness, etc. So being among the Akha was a blessing because they were very genuine and not held back by the culture of saving face.

Now, we are back in Chiang Rai and this weekend we will be teaching the staff of the Dormitory where we are staying (about 30 staff who are in their late teens or early 20s.) We are doing a theme of Identity, so first Emily is sharing an overview of the entire Bible, then Jeremy and Ange are teaching Genesis and Exodus - the birth of a nation and it's identity as God's people (Israel) and the next day Mike and I will be sharing Ephesians - the identity of individual believers in Christ. Our host, Pastor Suphot, has seen what we've been teaching and wants more of it! He says his people know the basic concepts of the New Testament, the Gospel and Salvation... but they don't know the Old Testament and how it all fits into this ONE STORY. Soooo... its pretty cool that we get to teach this weekend!

And after that, its DEBRIEF for 3 days and back to the US of A!!!

Love to all,

Jillian