What Bamboo Can Do For You

To All:

Greetings from Chiang Mai on a Sunday afternoon. What has our life been like in the past week? Well, I'll tell you. Dogs barking. Roosters crowing. But enough about our alarm clocks, I'll get to the meat of the letter. This past Tuesday morning I, Carson, left for another two-night village trip with the rest of our group. Kathy and Dakota got to have some quality mommy/daughter time for those two days. These villages were "more" modern than the first two in that they were connected to the world with their electricity. In the first village we saw how tradition met the modern world. With their electricity they operated a bamboo cutting machine. And then with the 1/8" X 1/8" X 5' bamboo pieces they wove baskets by hand. I got a series of three videos with my camera of a local women weaving a basket about the size of a bushel basket in twelve minutes. That was pretty neat to see. They also use bamboo for their homes, mats to sit/lie on, woven tightly enough they can make cups and bowls, bird/chicken cages, and they can even eat bamboo shoots. Oh, they also eat the tiny grubs that are found around bamboo. Yes, I tried one. (Just one.) Bamboo is very versatile. Plus, it is very pretty scenery if used for landscaping. I would love to grow it someday.

In the other village we visited there is revival going on. The Holy Spirit is moving through them in powerful way. People are repenting and evangelizing. They have land cleared in order to build a new church. With seventy people in the village, can you guess how many people they are building the church for? Three hundred! Talk about an act of faith in/obedience to God! The pastor dreams of neighboring villages joining us in God's Family. He is not simply saying,"If we build it, they will come." But rather,"If we build, we will have a place to bring the people we reach for Jesus. God is working and we are partnering with Him." We were there on a Wednesday night. As part of the service I gave the message. I know, I know, it may not seem normal for me to do that. But I thought it went well. It was not a testimony of my life. It was a message on being soldiers. We are in a war whether we like it or not. Soldiers have weapons, they have enemies, they actively engage in war, and they don't do it alone. That was my first "official" message. I wasn't even planning on speaking that night, but on the way to the village I felt God was giving me that message to share with those people. And when I was done, one lady came forward and shared how what I said is what she was needing to hear from God at that time. I love how He works! That one response made the whole message seem valid (not that it wasn't anyway.) There is a picture of me delivering this message with this entry.

Yesterday our group took some local orphans to the zoo. This was also Dakota's first trip. All the kids seemed to love it. Dakota also loved it. There are a couple pictures of her below this entry. What is hard to process for Kathy and me is the lack of long-lasting relationship with these kids. That has however spoken to us in a different way. We feel called to be in a place (we don't know where yet) where we can form those lasting relationships. A time and place where we can plug into other peoples' everyday lives for an extended/indefinite period of time. The kids we took to the zoo had been there before, because other groups like ours have come here, and among other things, taken these kids to the zoo. It's just a quick trip and then we may not do anything else with them. Granted, while we were still in Salem our group thought we were coming here primarily work with these kids, but when we got here, some one planned other stuff for us to do. (That's another entry for another time.)

Kathy is giving a brief testimony of her life tonight at an evening service here at the local church. It's been a while since she has had to use a translator. And it probably won't be the last. This past Friday Kathy went to the hospital again to visit children. That has been one of favorite activities here. The children enjoy the company.

Well, I could probably write for another hour if I tapped any more of memory, but I'll end this entry shortly. Please check out the latest pics before and after this entry. Oh, feel free to leave a comment. It's nice to know that people are reading this (special thanks to Jen B. and Jon D.) But we do appreciate your checking in on us and the prayers you say for us. It's not just through the internet that we feel close to you; it's through the Holy Spirit. When you find yourself in a hard time in life, remember you can try to use bamboo in one of it's many functions to solve your problem(s). Or, a more effective method of problem-solving is to rely on God and our fellow believers.

God Blesses Each of His Children,

Carson, Kathy, Dakota

New Pics

These pictures go along with the other pictures and the entry below.

(Not "The")Village People

Greetings To One And All,

Whew! This past weekend seemed to be really busy. However, what is considered "busy" by western standards and Thai standards differs. Our group traveled north to visit some hilltribe village people. We drove by truck and van for four hours to get there. The two villages were only about a ten minute walk apart from one another, but they are still considered two separate villages. What did I (Carson) expect to see there before we left? Well, I was thinking it would be primitive. Part of that is because of the information I received from our leaders before we left. So, were they? Compared to us, yes. As what we think of caveman days? Not by any means. The Thai government takes care of its people. There is a program to bring solar panels to people who live in the hill villages. So, the villages had those by almost every house. And what comes along with electricity? TV. That was somewhat hard for me to see. Why? I don't exactly know why, it just was. But the people there were very hospitable. Their main form of financial support is the crops the grow: corn, lychees, and peanuts. They harvest their crops and then sell them to some one who takes them to market. All of the kids walk down to the (paved)road and all of them cram into the truck taxi to drive about one hour to get to school. The truck taxi is one of the smaller Isuzu or Nissan trucks from the 80's. There are sides that go up from around the bed and join to form a roof over the bed, and there are bench seats along both sides. (We have ridden in several of those since being in Thailand.) In total there are about 25 kids. They enjoyed the games we played and songs we sang while we were there Saturday afternoon. That night we were in charge of the church service. I gave a short testimony followed by a brief message from another member of our group. What an experience that was! I spoke in English to a lady who went with us, who translated into Thai to the village pastor, who translated it into the local dialect. (There is a picture of a group member in this same scenario with this blog.) Sunday morning we gave another service, and then drove down the hill to another village. Sunday night we gave another service at that village church. In all we were gone for two-and-a-half days and two nights. I now have another least favorite way to be woken up in the morning. Behind a ringing phone in first place, a dog barking in second, and a vehicle honking in third, I place five roosters crowing. Oh, my word! For some reason it wasn't as glamourous as some farm people make it out to be.

One of the main nuggets of insight I walked away with from this trip is this: even in remote villages that are not completely modernized, the people share some of the same problems, emotions, and desires that we do. For instance, we saw a grandfather holding a tiny baby. As we talked with him, he told us that the baby's mother left the village shortly after birth. And the baby's father, the man's son, went to look for another mother. We didn't find out exactly why the mother left, but she did leave. Saturday night some of the village girls performed a dance for us. Instead of cheery, bright faces, half of the eight eleven-year-old girls looked like they would rather have been cleaning up after the pigs. Saturday afternoon as we were walking from hut to hut each on of our group members had a child there to hold our hand. I was doubly blessed because two boys, about six years old, each grabbed one of my hands. They kept standing real close to me and seeing how tall they were compared to me. I joked with a group member that my local village name would be "measuring stick."

Another thought that came to me on the drive back to Chiang Mai was this: as we each pursue our own idea of happiness, why wouldn't we want to take other people on that journey with us? Buddhism focuses on the self. What I do for other people is only so I will receive good from people. I wouldn't care what happened to them as long as something good happened to me. Karma. If what we pursue as happiness is soooo awesome, then why wouldn't we want to share it with others? We, as followers of Jesus, share the happiness of forgiveness and love. We do so not to receive in return, but to pass on what has been given to us. It's not just a better life for me that I seek; it is a better life for those I encounter that I seek. As each one of us has been blessed and continues to be blessed, let us pass it on to others for their well-being, not ours.

While I was away, the girls did play. Kathy and Dakota stayed behind from this village trip. Over the weekend they spent time with the local pastor, Gampon, and a long-term missionary, Anne, who lives here in Chiang Mai. (Gampon's wife, Miriam, and Anne's husband, Sean, were on our trip as translators.) Along with the helpful conversations Kathy had with both of them, she and Anne visited the "Walking Street" Sunday market. One of the streets in the middle of the "ancient" city is closed down and vendors bring out their wares. Kathy really enjoyed it. Also, Gampon and his two boys took Kathy and Dakota to a mall where there is an indoor play center for kids. Dakota absolutely loved it! We went there today as a family because we had a free day to do as we pleased. We also walked around different parts of Chiang Mai.

Along with this entry are photos and a video(hopefully) of the village and Dakota's time of fun in the pool of balls. God bless each one of you, and may each one of you be a blessing to some one else today. Thank You for keeping up with us.

Carson, Kathy, Dakota

Dateline: Bangkok

To All,

We made it! Bangkok, Thailand, here we are. Even though we are leaving for Chiang Mai at five this evening, we have been in Bangkok for the past two nights. We've gotten an excellent taste of the local food (love it!) As far as the culture as a whole, we will get a better feel for it when we are in Chriang Mai for a longer stay. Today the rest of the group went on a Temple tour in the city. We opted out because of jet-lag on all three of our parts. Yesterday was a stretching day for our little cherub, too. However, last night she got better sleep with a two-hour intermission to watch "Happy Feet" with Mommy. Our plane rides were uneventful (thankfully), but the constant security checks in the airports were just plain OLD after a while. As everyone has told us, Dakota is a very popular attraction when we walk around our little area of the city. The Thai people believe that lighter skin is more attractive than darker skin. Popular cosmetic companies even have "whitening cream" on the supermarket shelves. They don't understand why we would ever go tanning or buy those self-tanning lotions. Beauty is in many forms. If "beauty is in the eye of the beholder", then everything is beautiful because God beholds all. (I, Carson, am very blessed to behold two of God's most beautiful creations every day of my life.) It is challenging and yet fulfilling to attempt to communicate in a different language. Why fulfilling? For me it satisfies a desire in me for a challenge. However frustrating it may be, when the time comes that I successfully, in however broken Thai, receive an understanding nod from a Thai person, it encourages me to do more. Better language skills will come with time.

We'd like to apologize for not sending a newsletter lately. The last week of class seemed to fill up quicker than we expected. At some point from Chiang Mai we will get one to you if we have your mailing or emailing address. (If we have neither of those for you, then please email us that info at: hershy414@yahoo.com .)

Thank you for your prayers! When we get distracted from our purpose for these next two months we get back on the right path by remembering who we are truly serving. And we know that your prayers help tremendously to bring us back into focus. Enjoy the pictures that we post. There will be a series of photos of a stow-away that came with us. Oh, the mischief he'll get into. No telling where he'll show up. He helps to lighten our spirits, too.

God's Love To You All,

Carson, Kathy, Dakota

P.S. The one picture at the top is from our six hour layover in L.A. We took the time to leave the airport and go to the infamous Santa Monica Boardwalk/Boulevard.