CQ

Our first day in the hill tribes of Thailand took us a few hours from Chiang Mai to an obscure tribal village. We were on our way to a dinner that was being provided by the pastor and a few from his congregation. The meal would cost them the equivalent of a month’s wages. Before we arrived at the dinner feast we stopped for what later would appear to be a divine appointment. Sarah our interpreter was aware of a desperate situation and she thought we might be able to help. We were traveling with Charles Harvey who runs a home for children at risk of exploitation (Grace Ministries), typically children coming from extreme poverty who are abandoned or orphaned.

We stopped our vans at Sarah’s request to meet a woman dying of AIDS. Her husband gave her the disease. I can’t imagine what it must feel like to contract AIDS from my spouse. In this situation it was likely that he got the disease from drug use or visiting brothels. The situation was sad enough, but what put it over the top was that this woman had a little girl. She was also caring for three other children (a girl and two boys) whose parents had already died of AIDS. Sarah brought us here so that Charles could meet the children and determine if he could take them in. The children were in school and Charles asked Sarah if she would be willing to bring them to the house. She left for the children while we waited with the woman. Our students walked around this very simple stilted bamboo home. Chickens walked around picking blades of grass from the ground. A humble garden was in the front of the house and a very basic kitchen with a cement floor and few amenities was separate from the two-room home. The woman was sitting on the raised bamboo porch making simple crafts to sell. Our team bought everything she had made and some partially made items as well.

It was at this point that one of the students from our team collapsed on the street near one of our vans. As she fell she vomited and hit her head so hard that it made a sound I could hear from fifty feet away. We rushed to her side and began caring for her. This created a little commotion within our team and the village. We put her in one of the vans and had to make a decision. At first the plan was to pack all of us in the vans and go back. Then we remembered the dinner that had already been prepared and the children we had not interviewed. We sent one van back. Miraculously the student had no head trauma - hardly even a bump. Within a day she was back with the team.

When the woman’s children came, our team gathered around and listened to the interchange between Charles and these precious children. Charles asked one of the girls, who was about nine years old, what she wanted to do when she grew up. The girl replied, “I want to do what you are doing, I want to take care of orphans.” This brought us to tears. After Charles was done speaking to the children a few of the adults spoke to the mother. Marta walked over to the woman and asked Charles to translate. I am sure she was empathizing with her situation. I can’t imagine what it must feel like to know you will never get to see your children grow up.  The mother said that she was at peace knowing she would be going to heaven, but she was worried about her children.  Marta spoke to the woman and said, “In the Bible it says that we should rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn (Romans 12:15), and I want you to know that I rejoice with you because you know you are going to heaven and I mourn with you because you have to leave your children.” Marta stepped forward with tears and gave the woman, also teary, a hug. Our students are observing ALL of this. All I can say is - LIFE CHANGING!

Charles said that he would probably take these children into his home next spring. One of the boys jumped in the van with us and escorted us to the village dinner. Before dinner and on the way back, Marta and I got a chance to talk with him. His English was basic yet he was courageous in trying it out on us. He also had a brightness in his eyes that I interpreted as hope and resilience.  Now that he is connected with Grace Ministries there may be hope for this little man and the other three children. I pray that when we go back to Grace Ministries we will see these four children. Grace Ministries is a place of hope and a place where God touches lives and makes them whole again, we saw proof of this.

I am thankful we had people praying for us and that we did not leave before God’s work was done. When I got home I learned that our “send team” of prayer partners met close to the time of the these events. They prayed specifically against spiritual warfare. I am convinced of God’s faithfulness. We experienced a moment when four children were saved from an uncertain future and now have the opportunity to become Christian leaders who can change the history of Thailand. Watch and see. 

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