SNAKES IN MY BED! Greetings from Thailand, About 6 weeks has flown past since we left Utah to begin our journey back here to Thailand. We pray you all have joy and peace in your hearts, (kun me quam suk gup me san dee suk nigh chai). Sorry it has taken so long to write this first update. It is often difficult to put into words all the delightful, wonderful, touching and sometimes difficult things of being totally submerged in an environment and culture so very different from our own. It is also difficult to write in a room full of about 50 kids doing various high volume activities, as well as, crawling up on my lap and checking out what I am doing on the computer. However, here I am now to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and to push through such barriers and give you a picture of our lives here. Before arriving in Thailand, we heard these words being sung and prayed over and over again in a worship set; “first we fall in love and then we change the world.” With that, Judah and I arrived here determined to do just that. With myself about to turn 50, and Judah already 60, our lives seem to be in a major transition. We recognize the need to “come away” with Jesus once again, put our trust in Him and allow Him to direct our steps. We put all of our belongings in Utah in storage once again and ventured across the Pacific Ocean, with no idea yet of where on the globe we will settle when we return. We are in the midst of a 21 day Daniel fast, eating only the fruit of this beautiful land. This is both difficult and wonderful. Thai food is so delicious and abstaining from it is definitely a sacrifice. But, we are discovering the healing and energizing properties of fresh coconut water and other local fruits and, most importantly, our hearts are drawing close to the Lord once again, while a deep peace is settling into our hearts. God is so good! Just now, as I am writing this, my beautiful daughter, Nicharee, brought me some fresh squeezed, ice cold, passion fruit juice. Surely this is the nectar of heaven!!!! I was thinking this morning that a little passion fruit would help me to press on through this 21 day journey. God so loves and takes care of all of us. In spite of the Daniel fast, we still have been working fairly hard. We began with funding, cleaning, painting and preparing the room that used to be the kitchen, into a new dorm room for YWAM and church teams. There are 6 teams coming beginning December 23rd, which will require more housing to host them. Hosting teams is a major income stream for Sila and Ruth’s home, so we are happy to help with that. We were able to mostly fund the building of a new kitchen last year and it was completed when we returned this year. We also funded the building of a new homestay last year, which was not completed by the time we returned, because of underestimated cost of the project. So, we thought it wise to invest in its completion, under the condition that we could move into it when finished. We have had quite a few challenges with the hut we have been staying in for the past 3 years, which I will share later. We are in need of a creature free upgrade. As the homestay is being completed, we are also working on beautifying and upgrading the whole homestay area. This is my favorite part. We were able to install a fountain and create a rock garden and more pressed tile artwork. On Saturday, I ( Katie) was able to finish the garden and restore 2 other garden areas with the help of 6 girls. There were many laughs and attempts to speak Thai and English from both myself and the girls. These moments are so special to me. Judah took 10 boys to the new land that we purchased last year. They cleared away all the vegetation around the fish pond to prepare for the new aquaponic project we started this week. The boys worked hard and about half jumped in the pond and went for a swim before lunch. It was a good day’ s work and our hearts were full of joy. Judah has begun sprouting some vegetable seedlings that will be placed in our aquaponic project on the new land, once the beds are built. We will also be building a home for one of the staff to live in on the new land. To the best of our understanding of this culture, you can’t get water rights or electricity unless someone is actually living on the property and produce often gets stolen by neighbors, unless there is someone living on the property. Our goal is to help get Sila and Ruth’s home to a place of being self- sustaining, and then to help to prosper the surrounding children’s homes as well. We also hope to help with some work up in Fang at Kingdom Kid’s Ministries, as well as, spending some time at the original “Mercy House” in Chiang Rei. As I have said in previous years, bringing these children’s homes to a self-sustaining level seems takes longer than we think it will. There is an expression about, “taking one step forward and 2 steps back”. Well, I think it is more like taking 2 steps forward and 1 step back. It is still progress, just a little slower than we might like. We find that the law of entropy is in greater operation here. Things decay and break down at a faster rate and materials are not of the same quality we are accustomed to. On the other hand, our dollar goes a whole lot farther here. Every culture has its issues and strongholds, including our own. This area of Thailand has a poverty mindset. They have been doing things a certain way for hundreds of years, while yielding the same results that keep them in poverty. They don’t tend to think about saving or investing. When they run out of food or school fees for the children, they pray and hope that people like MHM and our justice partners will come along and take care of such needs. About a fourth of the money we have raised over the past year has already gone towards basic food and school costs. Humans in general are reluctant to change and do things in new ways. So please pray for wisdom for all of us to know how to take 3 steps forward and 0 steps back. Sometimes, by Gods grace, it happens. With all that said, there isn’t a day that goes by that we aren’t deeply touched by something. Yesterday, during worship in church, Judah and I were both brought to tears. It was so powerful and anointed. We could only understand only a few words like; Jerusalem, Shalom and pray. We were compelled to pray with the Thai church for the peace of Jerusalem. The previous night, Pastor Kiat showed a youtube of starving children in Africa. We looked around the room to see several of the children crying. Pastor Kiat then led them into praying for the poor and hungry children of the nations. We are constantly floored by the way these kids worship and pray. Next week, 16 of the children are getting baptized up at the reservoir. We were able to pray for them a week ago. Many of them wept as their hearts were touched in preparation of giving their all to Jesus. One girl who has been living at Ruth’s Home for a year told me that she was so happy living here because she has come to know the love of God. Judah and I are so happy to serve as your arms and legs and play a small part in bringing the Kingdom of God to Thailand and these children. I will leave you with the story of our need for a “creature free upgrade”, as many of you have shared that you enjoy such stories. Last year, some of you may remember that I came face to face with the most poisonous snake in Thailand when I was painting one of the bathrooms, so I have been a little wary of snakes since then. Evidently, the rainy season this year was a little more intense than usual, which has brought in an abundance of various creatures into our living space. When we first arrived here, I began getting settled into our hut. The first thing I saw, as I entered the hut, was the largest cockroach I have ever seen in my life. He scurried down the hole in the corner. Then I began to move our mattresses in the direction we like to sleep in our 8 foot by 9 foot bamboo hut. As I lifted up the mattress, there was a snake coiled underneath it. He then slithered down the hole in the other end of the hut. I then summoned Judah and we looked over the hut. There were many spiders, spider webs and various other insects living in the crevices of the bamboo. We decided to take everything out of the hut and give it a thorough cleaning. Although, old bamboo is difficult to clean. Upon putting the bedding back into the hut, I felt a long, cold,moving, rubbery thing between the mattresses. Another snake had crawled into our bedding! I was assured that these were harmless snakes, but, I certainly have no desire to have them in my bed. For the first several days, Judah did routine snake checks of our bedding at night. Then there is the river of ants that march up and down our door on the inside and outside and the geckos who eat them. Then there are lizards who eat the mosquitos and moths. Finally, there are the frogs who come into the outdoor bathroom to eat the strange suicidal insects who come in by the hundreds each night and die on the bathroom floor. I am thankful for the frogs that eat them, But, I do tend to shew them out before showering. But alas, the rainy season is over, the cool season is upon us and the creatures are starting to dissipate. When confronted by such problems, I remind myself that I love camping and often choose to take camping holidays when at home in the US. Here, I get to camp for 3 more months, Yay! Well, that pretty much sums it up. We would love to hear from you and we do hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are certainly thankful for all of you. God bless you all! In His Service Judah and Katie Becker mercyhouseministry.org PO BOX 712374, SLC, UT 84171 Sponsor a child mercyhouseministry.org/?cat=1 253-861 5715 Facebook- https://facebook/…/Mercy-House-Min…/1460017254248271 Our Ein for your tax deductible donation is 35-2380335
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 10:21:32 +0000
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