We experienced the heart of that quote at Nupo. There, the lovely, beautiful Nupo people, lived out Christ before our very eyes. Materially, they have little. Spiritually, they are rich!
Our mission was to be of encouragement to them. In truth, it was we who were encouraged! Their sparking eyes accompanied by smiles, are quickly captivating. They are a living sermon, a powerful message of the living, loving reality of Christ within. Such love. Such servanthood. Such joy in the Lord.
The journey from Chiang Mai to Nupo is about 11 hours. However, our overnight almost halfway stop in Mae Sot, a town of powerful contrasts, was an amazing and unexpected place of relaxation. Leaving the world of poverty of the orphanage and a village near 'the camp', we drove to the world of which we are accustomed, a very nice motel. It is every bit, if not more beautiful, than an average one in the states. Clean with beautifully tiled bathroom and floors, refrigerator, TV, EXTRA firm mattresses, a Thai/English Gideon Bible, extremely kind and attentive 'bellhops; and a balcony overlooking an old Thailand street, in sharp contrast to the building we were occupying. Actually, the delicious breakfast buffet was served in a separate lanai with manicured flower beds, as lovely as one would experience in Hawaii.
As the Lord would have it, we turned out to be a group of 6... a precious 17 year old Norwegian missionary's daughter, Kielen joined us. She rounded out our team perfectly.
The ride was long, however, we had rented a pick-up truck from yet another Norwegian missionary family.
Guess we weren't heaped up like the taxi in front of us!
Initial impressions......beautiful scenery,
stick fences, rutted dirt roads, street dogs, Brahma cows, even a water buffalo here and there, bouganvilla everywhere, bare feet, sarongs and western clothing, shiny black hair, shy children, comfortable temperature, one and two story thatched-roofed homes (animals on first floor), and the bamboo church/community center encircled with a 6-8" deep trench for water drainage. Hank liked their methods...
Near the gate entry was a small group of smiling, welcoming believers.
Our heaped up truck bed was unloaded in no time with personal belongings carried to the bamboo platform/altar/bedroom.
Next to the centered, 3 bamboo steps, and in front of the platform to the left was our dining table. With evening approaching, hurriedly we blew up our air mattresses, made the beds and hooked up the mosquito netting.
Dinner was soon served from the outdoor kitchen. Want to know what an 'outdoor kitchen' looks like? An area, next to the church, set aside for the fire, huge pots of water, a slice of tree trunk for veggie chopping and cutting and food assembly.
The meals were just delicious, always with rice as the basis. There were a few new tastes, one was morning glory greens. Fish was whole and fried as were the chicken legs. (Anders and Lori tell us that the people rarely can afford meat.) Thermoses of hot water gave us choice of tea or coffee. Invitations for others to join us, were turned down.
Before falling asleep the first night as we six were in prayer together in the pitch darkness, an alarmingly huge and sudden great sound of crashing stopped us in our tracks!!!! We stopped to consider the possibilities.....what, where?? It was as though the Lord was reminding us, 'Sudden destruction, I'm coming soon... we know not when... be ready!" We took a walk in the morning and found that the main, upper portion of a large, dead tree had broken off and landed on the little rutted road across from the church building.
With the lower temperatures at this time of the year, we were so blessed to have sufficient bedding. Actually, it wasn't nearly as cold as what had been predicted. At dawn, I woke up to the crackling of the outdoor kitchen fire and its warm flickering light coming through the rectangular-shaped, silhouetted, bamboo 'window' openings. It is a memory the Lord has indelibly tucked into my heart. If only photography could have captured that moment. We were on comfy beds, just awakening and the 8 squatting kitchen 'staff, were already deep into the breakfast preparations. Remember, no running water, no electric stove, no refrigerator, no tiled floor, no chairs, no tables, etc... unto the Lord and to serve others.
As Hank and I were lying there on the bamboo mats looking up, we were impressed with the engineering of the sturdy and attractive bamboo approximately 20' X 50' structure. We noted the bracing, supports, wall construction, etc. Because discipleship training is held here, bamboo-constructed 'desks' were in sufficient number to accommodate 25-30 students. It is a work of art. Just a foot away from us, on the other side of the wall, was the tiny bedroom in which Pastor and family of 5 slept.
A small square building behind the church houses the 'squatty potty'. Inside the bathroom, also of bamboo with rickety door and wire hinge were three large buckets of water with dipper that provided 'the flush'. No paper in toilet please, which is to help avoid a plumbing challenge. Showers are also with bucket. Yep, I'm sure your conclusions are correct... brrrrr.
Breakfast of buns filled with pork, chorro-like treats (without the cinnamon and sugar), rice/noodle soup. Then the busy day begins. Anders, Lori taught the students from 9-noon....Hank shared a testimony. Laurie Lane, Kielen and I joined the pastor's wife in another location with about 30 the children while their parents are in the fields. We taught, sang and played games with 2 interpreters.
The pastor's wife interpreted from English to one Burmese dialect and a second interpreter from that to the dialect of the children. The second interpreter is probably 17-18 years old, beautiful, intelligent, believing young maidens with a great sense of humor! Boy, did we need humor! Keilen was great with games... and we sure needed that, as you can imagine. These little ones knew no English. But when we taught the Christmas story and then Jesus Loves Me, it seems they could have been American children because they caught on so fast... and we could detect no accent. They heard our sounds and repeated them perfectly. Also, their favorite game was London Bridges Falling Down.
The children are to bring their rice for their lunch. I guess that is all they have. Then, to boost their nutritional intake, pastor's wife has a soup made up to ladle over the rice. If the child brings no rice, no soup is given either. The purpose is to teach them, that is their responsibility. As you can imagine, it touched our hearts to experience this dire poverty.
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