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Valentine's Day - A Day to Celebrate Others! | Peggy Wright
February 14th

We started the day with worship and prayer with the Mighty Oaks Staff at the ministry centre. Gan and David brought a little gift of chocolate for each team member and a blossom from their tree. It was a lovely beginning to the day! Then we organized gifts to bring to one of the hill tribe villages where some of our sponsor children are from. At my the Celebration of Life for my Dad, we had donations given to honour his life. It was that money we used to bless seniors in Thailand. We presented some food gifts to the seniors in the village along with the donation. We shared t-shirts with the villagers and gave dolls to the children that were home because they are too young to go to school. The dolls have exquisite dresses made by some of our sponsors. 


Pastor Sirachi and his wife have been active in caring for this village community for many years.  The people spend much of their time outside under an awning they erected to enjoy time together. Steve was instructed to be seated there. 
Most of the people in the village speak Burmese. So when Steve and Mom spoke, Gan translated to Pastor Sirachi in Thai and then he translated it into Burmese.


I saw tremendous changes since I last visited in 2015. The houses that used to be made from bamboo and reed matting are now mostly sturdy cinder block homes which is helpful to prevent damage from flooding and erosion. 
The pastor and his wife live simply with bedrolls on the floor with a mosquito net over them since the ceilings are left open to allow airflow. There is an outdoor toilet shared between a few families. 
 
The two pigs that were donated to help with food insecurity have become a successful enterprise. Two pens grew to eleven with 5 large sows and several pens of 1-3 month old piglets. The piglets can be sold to bring income into the village. 


We visited the home of Bo, one of the Agape girls who moved into Fang to go to the State school which offers a much higher standard of education than the village area. Bo helps with the younger girls in Agape home driving them to school and helping them with whatever is needed until the house mother, Pree returns home from teaching. In the village, Bo's Mom proudly displayed her three room home with one bedroom for Bo's siblings and one for her parents next to the cooking room with a small cooking area on the floor. Bo's Mom is wearing one of the t-shirts we brought to share! 

The water filtration system has been upgraded and the gardens have grown over a larger area and look healthy and prosperous. 

They fed us lunch in a communal eating area. My husband would be proud of me for branching out into new vegetables and flavours! I don't ask too many questions. Everything was delicious or 'aroy' in Thai. 
The community reflects a deep love and concern for one another, a generous hospitality for guests and a deep abiding faith and trust in God to meet their needs and make them a blessing to those whose lives they touch. They offered to pray for us before we left. They pray all at once with their voices mingling with ours in three languages. 

They gifted us each with a hand crafted bag with their unique tribal influence made by the pastor's wife. 

And then of course we had to gather all of us into the photo! 

We formed a great bond with these loving friends. We are pleased that they are finding ways to thrive as refugees living on the mountainside without the benefits of Thai citizenship. They have shown a beautiful resilience and reflect God's love in the way they live. 

As we drove away, I snapped a few photos of the houses that are still reed matting and tin. I hope they hold up well in the rainy season that is coming soon. 

I also enjoyed seeing how bamboo grows in the area!
The orange groves are beautiful as we drive along. 

After lunch, Sylvia's sponsor child's mother came over to meet with us. It was an emotional meeting. Sylvia sponsored Meow all the way through to a post secondary education. But she started to show signs of ill health in her last few years of school. She graduated and gained a position working in Bangkok in the government. Her mother was so proud. But just a month after starting her job, she was admitted to hospital for a long fight with liver cancer. Meow's mom shared her memories of that time and the photo's of Meow as she declined. She was the first of the Mighty Oak's children to pass away. It has been a year and a few months, but Meow's mom has been heart broken and unable to work. She asked us to pray with her and before we knew it, Gan was helping her to ask Jesus to be her guide and help as she chooses life again. 

We had some down time before our plan to meet the Agape girls and MOGI staff for a Valentine's dinner. Our team wrote an encouragement on Valentine cards for each staff and presented them each with a box of chocolates that survived the trip in our checked baggage. Sylvia brought a large box of chocolates that went to the Agape girls. 

The girls dragged IQ into a Thai dance they prepared to share with us. Then they brought heart stickers to put on all our shirts as a sign of care. The staff led us outside to launch rice paper lanterns into the dark night sky. 


Our team felt like we had really captured the spirit of loving one another on this unique Valentine's Day! 

I ended the day with a call to Lance and enjoyed a chance to hear how things are going at home. We celebrated Valentine's with a dinner out before I left on this amazing adventure. I felt badly for not being home while Lance recovers from a gum graft surgery and Andrew is not feeling well. I passed along my best treatment ideas and explained where to find them. I asked our team to pray for them both this morning. I'd love it if you would pray for them on the home front! 

I hope you had a wonderful Valentine's day! 

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My Story - Turning Health Challenges Around

 
I was twenty-two years old and felt like 90. 

Every day I would get out of bed not knowing if I could make it to my 4th year classes. 
Some days I would shower and by the time I finished I felt dizzy, sleepy, and my muscles felt like lead. Sometimes I would be so weak that I had to crawl on all fours back to my bedroom to lay down again. I would get 12-14 hours of restless sleep that would leave me feeling like a truck hit me. I ached all over and my head felt like it would burst with the pounding pain. I was really sick - for months... and then years.    

My adult life was just beginning and I'd been handed a life sentence of chronic illness.   

I got married that fall to Lance Wright, my very supportive and understanding husband. He and I talked about taking a year off - no schedule - to allow my body to recover. I was on a downward spiral and had no answers about how to turn it around. My world shrunk - fast.  

But as my outward world shrunk, I was determined to grow my inner world through reading, prayer, and writing. I knew the diagnosis I'd been given wasn't the end of my story. I trusted that I'd find the steps needed to heal.   

One day as I was asking God to heal me, I got a picture in my mind of a drooping flower bound tightly by weeds. A flash of understanding came with it. I felt as if God was saying, "Healing will be a slow process. Trust me and I will lead you to part of the weed to loosen its hold and remove its influence." This became the perfect symbol for my wellness journey - bit by bit finding healing steps and feeling life and strength return.  

Part of my wellness picture was uncovering trauma that had taught my mind and body that I wasn't safe. So the safety of my relationship with Lance was the starting point for the hard work of healing. When I would get discouraged about how little I could accomplish each day, Lance would remind me that my full-time job in this season was to heal. After a digging deep process, digestive cleansing, and dietary changes over eight years, I started to gain ground. 

I am 52 this year and feel better than I did in my twenties. Lance and I have raised three young men together and I spent 17 years as a homeschool Mom. I have become passionate about helping people discern steps to get unstuck to move toward health. It feels redemptive to use the years of research and experimenting to shorten the road for others looking for a path forward. Enjoy perusing my blog or follow @pegwright | Linktree for a way to connect. I'd love to pull up a chair at our table and share with you the small steps that are opening doors of possibility for life-giving change.  Let's Thrive - together! 

For a full version of my exploration and self-discovery, read my book 'Opening to Grace' found on Amazon or fromWestbow Press.



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