I'm not quite sure how to sum up these past 4 days with Kyle and Betty, except to say ....alot of travelling and busyness. We've literally rode on each form of transportation in my title. It is always interesting to see Thailand a fresh through someones eyes who has never been here before. We are having a lot of fun with them. Most of the last few days were spent in southern Thailand showing them our work with the Moken's and letting them present the gifts of school uniforms to all the village kids. We actually boated both out and back in horrible downpours of monsoon rains and winds. It was adventuresome at the beginning, but when we could hardly see out in front of us because the rain was so hard, it got pretty scary and I was praying non-stop along with everyone else. Mike found out today that two huge fishing boats that we passed actually flipped over and a few people died. The Bergens have been looking forward to visiting the islands for so long, that we were a bit risky in our travels, so they could finally meet the people in the villages. We thank God for answering our prayers of protection.
This is Betty and Kyle with the 10 new children staying with Somsak and Uan in Ranong. They were all given new school shoes, socks, uniforms, PE outfits and backpacks.
Betty works with the Chic-Fil-A foundation, so the children all received these cows which they loved.
We left at 5am Tuesday morning to take the boat to Phayam island. This was a very special day as we were able to give official permission for 5 families to move into their new homes that have been built this past month by teams that Mike has directed. We prayed for each family individually. Adjan Somsak is praying for this family of 6 who will live in their new one room cement home. .
We took a photo of each family in front of their new home. They are so excited to finally move out of the wobbly huts into these cement rooms.
Along with the new school uniforms these children on Phyam island also received a Chic-Fil-A cow
This is to show the progress on the next set of 5 rooms. The project that built this foundation just 3 weeks ago, will be happy to see that it is nearing completion, too.
Then we took the boat to Chang Island. This is the mothers and babies lining up to receive some clothes that we brought for them. I am very sorry to say that this first mother in line had a very sick baby that we prayed for and tried to give medical advice to and we just found out that her baby that she is holding here died tonight.
Everywhere that we walked the children followed along with us. Kyle and Betty are up at the church with their new little buddies here looking at the view of the beautiful ocean and village.
This little guy was sick all day and just sat and looked at us with the saddest and most endearing face. Hope he's feeling better by now.
Once the children got home from school, they joined us in the center to receive their new school uniforms. It may be hard to understand, but the gift of new uniforms is one of the most important and meaningful clothing items to them. Our southern Thai staff thanked the Bergen's and their home church over and over for helping the children to get these uniforms, so they would not be ridiculed at school for not having them to wear. We want to thank their Sunday School class also- (for any of you reading this) for your giving hearts to the Moken children.
We ended our time in the south, with an anniversary getaway for all of us. Since it is monsoon season, the rates at the nicest hotels are actually very unusually affordable. The contrasts between the village life one day and the tourist resort the next day- is pretty astounding- but something I can easily handle and enjoy! :)
We spent 14 hours last night on the train - so they could see the countryside from Bangkok all the way to Chiang Mai. The Thai's keep telling us that we look alike-- do you think so too? It has taken us most of today to catch up and recuperate from their first week of travel. Tomorrow, we're ready to show them more of our life and ministry here in Chiang Mai!
This is Betty and Kyle with the 10 new children staying with Somsak and Uan in Ranong. They were all given new school shoes, socks, uniforms, PE outfits and backpacks. 
We left at 5am Tuesday morning to take the boat to Phayam island. This was a very special day as we were able to give official permission for 5 families to move into their new homes that have been built this past month by teams that Mike has directed. We prayed for each family individually. Adjan Somsak is praying for this family of 6 who will live in their new one room cement home. .
We took a photo of each family in front of their new home. They are so excited to finally move out of the wobbly huts into these cement rooms. 
This is to show the progress on the next set of 5 rooms. The project that built this foundation just 3 weeks ago, will be happy to see that it is nearing completion, too.
Then we took the boat to Chang Island. This is the mothers and babies lining up to receive some clothes that we brought for them. I am very sorry to say that this first mother in line had a very sick baby that we prayed for and tried to give medical advice to and we just found out that her baby that she is holding here died tonight.
Everywhere that we walked the children followed along with us. Kyle and Betty are up at the church with their new little buddies here looking at the view of the beautiful ocean and village.
This little guy was sick all day and just sat and looked at us with the saddest and most endearing face. Hope he's feeling better by now.
Once the children got home from school, they joined us in the center to receive their new school uniforms. It may be hard to understand, but the gift of new uniforms is one of the most important and meaningful clothing items to them. Our southern Thai staff thanked the Bergen's and their home church over and over for helping the children to get these uniforms, so they would not be ridiculed at school for not having them to wear. We want to thank their Sunday School class also- (for any of you reading this) for your giving hearts to the Moken children.
We spent 14 hours last night on the train - so they could see the countryside from Bangkok all the way to Chiang Mai. The Thai's keep telling us that we look alike-- do you think so too? It has taken us most of today to catch up and recuperate from their first week of travel. Tomorrow, we're ready to show them more of our life and ministry here in Chiang Mai!
Oh I can already tell from the last picture that you and Betty are haveing way too much fun!
ReplyDeleteAwesome to have the update!