A Piece of Heaven

Matt Woods
06/29/08

The entire team was a little slow to wake up this morning after spending our first night under mosquito nets on the floor of the pastor's house in Tee Wah Tah. The morning seemed to be a little rough for the team. Besides for it taking a long time for all of us to wake up, it just seems like emotions are beginning to take their toll on us, but the day got better as it went on. After we had breakfast we made our way to the church. Once we were there, we were able to visit and talk to students during Sunday school classes. At the younger Sunday school classes we were even able to do "Father Abraham" including all of the motions with the kids, and it brought smiles to all of their faces, which was really fantastic. Then we went to the worship service and we were able worship God in four different languages (Thai, Karen, English, and Spanish), which was really cool because it just brought to life Galatians 3:28. God's kingdom truly does know no boundaries.
Once we left the church we had a quick lunch and packed our bags because we had to get ready for a 3-day excursion to Kler Day, which is another Karen village deep in the mountains of Thailand. The trip out to the village was one to be remembered. We managed to pack 11 people and all of their packs in one truck; five were in the cab of the truck, and then rest of us were standing in the back of the truck with all of the gear, which would definitely not fly in the States. On the way out it took all we had to hold on the cage of the bed while avoiding tree branches, although occasionally we weren't fast enough and some of us received some war wounds. However, the scenery we were able to see while standing in the back of the bed of the truck was so beautiful, it literally was priceless; the deep blue skies, with green mountains touching the clouds and some of the most gorgeous waterfalls and streams that you have ever seen. Seeing these landscapes that words can only begin to describe you cannot help praising the One who created them. After our two hour drive on the mountain "roads" we arrived safely in Kler Day just in time for their youth service.
After catching the end of the youth service we were greeted by the rest of the congregation, one-by-one they all shook our hands. Then we were led to our humble abode where we would be staying for the rest of our visit to Kler Day. We stayed in the pastor's house, which was so beautiful, the architecture and woodwork was practically flawless it was hard to believe that this house was built in the middle of the mountains with very little use of modern tools, and because it was all wood, it smelled of rich mahogany. We were truly blessed to be able to stay in such a nice house when we were suppose to be roughing it in a Karen village. We were able to take about a 2 hour rest before we were invited to dinner at the neighbor's house.
We were then led up to the boarding school after dinner to play with kids that were enrolled there. Abigail and I decided to just go straight up the hill instead of taking the path that went around so we got to the school a little early and the kids were still in their evening session learning a few new songs. Then they dismissed the kids and all at once a stampede of 90 kids made there way for one door, pouring outside to hang out with us. For the next hour or so we spent time with the kids spinning them around, playing tag, musical chairs, and duck-duck-goose with them, not to mention carrying them around on our shoulders teaching them new chants and songs. During this time there were smiles on all of our faces and it was exactly what the team needed to lift our spirits. There was one boy there who really stole my heart, his smile was so bright that it would have been able to lift even the heaviest heart to the heavens, and at the end of the night he gave me the biggest hug, and smiling ear- to-ear in Karen, he told me how happy he was that we were with him and then he walked us out. The end of the night was the hardest part because we had to say good bye to all of them, but it was also the only time in my life where I have had 90 plus kids line up to give me a hug good night, which was priceless. I would not have traded that moment for the world. All of the kids were just so vibrant and full of love that we all had this look on our faces that at that time we were experiencing a piece of Heaven together.