What you didn't know about toothpaste

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ who gave himself as a ransom for all men …” 

1 Timothy 2: 5,6

Last week I joined a group of teachers on an outing to a couple elementary schools to share about the importance of learning English.  I had such fun with the Thai teachers and loved seeing the young students. At one school the talk turned into a Heather question period as the students and teachers of the small rural school were beyond excited to see a foreigner.  I’m still not used to the instant fame and was surprised when the students lined up to get their picture taken with me. For some reason, students in Canada don’t tend to form a queue when a new teacher walks in the room. 

This past week I received my mark as a local. It is known as the Thai Tattoo and pretty much every Thai can tell the story of when they got theirs.  No, I did not go get myself inked, but rather I burned a nice 3inch red oval on the back of my calf when I accidently placed my leg on a hot exhaust pipe. Anytime someone notices my burn they smile, nod, and say “ahh, motorbike”. While walking home one day, a kind lady ran out of her shop, eager to show the “farrang” how to treat the typical Thai wound. She brought me into her store and proceeded to cover my leg with a white paste. She showed me the aloe plant on the label, but it was the other side of the tube that caught my eye. It had a picture of teeth along with the word “toothpaste”. I thanked the lady numerous times and continued on my way with my toothpaste covered leg. It was indeed a T.I.T. (This Is Thailand) moment.    

A couple weeks ago Connor and I went to a Karen hill tribe village. To hear more check out his blog entry below.  On our way we stopped at a gorgeous look off. When I took my first step on the massive staircase, the words of a song I heard two years ago in Africa came to mind: “My Jesus bled and died for my sins, He spent His time with thieves and the least of these…”* As I stood on the mountain, looking down at the valley farmlands, I couldn’t help but reflect on the awesomeness of God. Although Jesus was already with God from the beginning of time (John 1), He came down to Earth, He was born in a stable, He worked as a carpenter, He healed the sick, He cast out demons, He brought the dead back to life, He suffered and died for people of all nations, and above all that, He is alive.

The word “gospel” means “good news”. Living in Thailand has made me realize even more how amazing, the news of Jesus truly is. “Fear not,” is written 365 times in the Bible. These words from a loving God stand out so beautifully as I live amongst a people whose daily routines, purchases, and home appearances are heavily influenced by fear.  It is interesting hearing Thais speak of the spirits and watching the colour drain from their faces as they do so. The appeasing of the spirits is foundational to most Thai people. I in no way claim or pretend to have a full understanding of this culture, but rather I write simply what I have observed and learned from the Thai people thus far.  In John 10:10, Jesus says, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." How awesome it is that the creator of the universe desires us all to experience life without fear!

*“My Jesus” by Todd Agnew

Cultural Tidbits:

-The nick name for Thailand is “The Land of Smiles”

-ASEAN is the acronym for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations

-ASEAN is comprised of 10 countries: Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Brunei, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore

-ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will come into effect in 2015

-ASEAN was established in Thailand. The declaration was signed in Bangkok in 1967 by five founding nations.

-The official language of ASEAN is English 

We had a camp to teach students from 12 different schools about ASEAN. Here are a couple photos:

ASEAN will soon be here. These countries will form a union in 2015, or 2558 in the Thai calendar. 

It is so nice to see the kids stop studying and have fun!
(I know this is not a usual teacher comment, but these students are always doing school work) 

Powder makes good face paint

The jungle is just so beautiful

Canada is Big, Canada is Far, Canada is COLD!

Cute kiddos. I miss teaching the younger ones!

...and this is where I developed my stellar Thai counting skills...
from 1 to 8 anyway

Why, hello Burma!

The bridge to cross the border

"Way, hey, and away we go, elephant riding, elephant riding..."

On our way to the Karen Village:

The entrance to the temple staircase which lead to the look off. 

How Great is our God!

Buffalo bath

Dried rice fields

In the Jungle with a Rat Eating Tribe

Heather and I went on a guided hike through the jungle and spent a night in a small tribal Karen village. Life was certainly different. Every house had their own pig, there were buffalo in the road, and the men went to hunt rats for dinner.

This village was also surprisingly Christian. One man I met saw me looking at a cross that a young Karen girl was wearing and asked if I was a Christian. I told him I was. This surprised him and he got excited and embarrassed our tour guide by asking the other foreigners if they were Christians too. Our Thai guide interestingly defined Christians as those that are not afraid of the spirits. Fear of the spirit world is so central to Thai culture that they can’t fathom life without that fear. 

I would like to share with you the story of the Karen people. I hope it is as powerful for you as it has been for me. I draw the story from three books Eternity in their Hearts, To the Golden Shore: The Life of Adonirum Judson, and The Karen Apostle.

The Karen had a powerful and unifying folk religion. They believed there was only one God who was omnipotent and omniscient and who warned about the sins of idolatry. For centuries the inhabitants of Burma and Thailand attempted to convert them to Buddhism but were without success. Since they refused Buddhism the Burmese in particular abused them, exploited them, and killed them. The Karen believed the suffering was due to their transgressions but they still trusted that God would have mercy upon them. Around the campfires at night the men would share tales about the one and only God. A favourite was a prophecy that spoke of God sending a white man who would bring God’s book, a book that would set the Karen free. The Karen had no books and no written language but they spent their lives waiting for the first missionary who dared to enter the jungle with a Bible. It was like an 800,000 person welcome party.*

In 1817, the American missionary Adonirum Judson disembarked in Burma. He carefully learned the Burmese language, dressed like a monk and spoke about the Gospel, yet he received zero response from the Buddhist Burmese. He had so much time on his hands he managed to translate the entire Bible into Burmese. Then one day a Karen man named Ko Thah-byu who spoke Burmese asked Judson for a job. Judson hired him but I doubt he knew he’d hired a notorious robber with ferocious temper that had already murdered around thirty people. Not surprisingly, Ko Thah-byu turned out to be a real problem. Yet after some time the white missionary’s book caught his attention. He began to ask questions about the Bible. He then shocked Judson and the other missionaries by totally preoccupying himself with learning written Burmese so he could read Judson’s translation of the Bible. He knew he was the first Karen to learn that the ‘lost book’ had arrived and he saw it as his responsibility to tell the Karen. He was baptized and went from village to village spreading the Gospel. Many believed and went as missionaries among their own people. When missionaries first made it to a town called Bassein, 300 miles from where Ko Thah-byu was preaching, they found 5,000 Karen Christians waiting to be baptized. In roughly two decades the Karen became a primarily Christian tribe. Nearly two hundred years there are tens of thousands of Karen believers. (Operation World.com)

*The first recorded European encounter with the Karen is recorded in the An Account of an Embassy to the kingdom of Eva by Michael Smyes who calls them Carian. It was written in 1795 before the Karen heard the Gospel and on page 206, the 3^rd last page of the online pdf it describes a people that admit their knowledge of God is incomplete because they don’t have God’s book. 

http://www.soas.ac.uk/sbbr/editions/file64414.pdf 

Bamboo rafting! 

Elephant riding

Met this buffalo on a walk down the main street.

Karen Village

  

My lunch is inside the banana leaf.