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.
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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