“I can’t see the road,” Paul said “Can you tell which way it goes?”
Not what you want to hear as you are following a steep and slippery track up the mountain.
The road to Canaan has such dramatic dips and sharp inclines that you sometimes can’t see the road over the hood of the truck and curves are so sharp you have to keep a close watch to make sure you don’t miss one and go over the edge of the mountain. It follows a crest of the mountain, so there is a steep drop-off on either side. The trip was made even more exciting by the recent rain that make it slick as well as steep.
But we made it and lived to enjoy the second Thanksgiving celebration of the week.
It’s Thanksgiving season here and we have been invited to at least one a week for the next month, after this week. It’s a great time to minister to the hill tribes peoples. Paul preaches, we hear lots of singing, and then we share the special Thanksgiving meal. Afterwards we distribute our gifts of baby clothes, baby blankets, and hats. Finally, we bring out the medicine and distribute it to these folks who have little or no access to medical care.
Last week we traveled to the village of Pa Sak 2. The people there have had a hard year, with a drought that destroyed most of their crops. They still gave their first fruits of their crops, small though they were.
Canaan, the second village, is probably the most isolated of all the villages we minister to. The road is dangerous, and they have no electricity there. A gift from a church in the US bought a solar panel for the church, and we were happy to see it functioning well. They had some sort of amplifier hooked up which broadcast the service all through the mountains, so even those who didn’t intend to listen couldn’t help but hear.
This is the village where the people repeatedly try to give us their kids. There is no school there, and the kids must live in a village down the mountain and look after themselves if they want any kind of education at all. Sure enough, that day a lady with five kids asked if we would take them. We can’t – and it always breaks my heart.
In other news – we received the last of the school reports. Preston, who is finishing his last year (ninth grade) at the high school, ranked at the top of his class. This is a real accomplishment for one who struggled with schoolwork – especially math. He has aged out and can’t continue at the school after this term, but will go on to the technical college where William attends next May. After the three-year course there, he can go on to the university, if he chooses.
The younger kids are involved in the sport contests at school. Andy was chosen for the school ta-claw team. That’s sort of like volleyball, played with the feet. Very interesting to watch! Molly is playing on the girls’ soccer team. We look forward to seeing the games next Monday.
We don’t have a celebration this week, so Paul and the guys plan to visit a remote village where there is no church. A few people there have heard the Gospel and professed salvation and have asked us to come.
At this time of year, we often think of our friends in America who are busy preparing for their own Thanksgiving Day festivities. We miss it, but are happy to be here in Thailand. Although our weather isn’t cold and we haven’t seen a single turkey, we are enjoying a wonderful season of Thanksgiving. God is good!