Hanson's Blog

It’s been along time since I have wrote on the Blog, so I have a lot of stuff to talk about. Let’s start with our first team of the year, Lifegate Team.  The Lifegate team came in February and  we did a Life Book Camp at a school called Hope.  We did the usual stuff with them.  I really liked that team because they all were very different, in a good way.  After that team came we went to the Imagine Thailand retreat.  In that time I had a weird thing going on in my nose.  I had an infection or something like that, so it wasn’t as enjoyable as could’ve been.  It was still good because I got to meet all the people that work for Imagine Thailand.  After we got back from the retreat, I had to do school and words from my Dad didn’t really help “You just have to, Crank it out”.  A week later a new team came called the Ibex team.  This team is  from the same church as The Lifegate Team.  They were staying for 5 weeks.    We did 2 long and hot Life Book camps at Nya Li Ah Tar and Hway Klar.  The team stayed out at the first school, and we took the second one to the waterfall.  On the 4th week they split into 2 groups 4 in each, and went to a school for a week to teach Leadership Training and English.  While the Ibex team was at the schools, we had another team come called the Vanguard team.  I woke up at 5:00 am to go pick them up from the bus station.  We already knew one person on the team.  We did a Lifebook camp  with them at Good Morning school.   At the end of the Life book camp the kids started a  water fight and the foreigners were defenceless.  We just ran and got soaked by them with their mini water guns, which we had given to them as their camp gift.  The Ibex team came back to Mae Sot, and we had a Birthday Party that night for one of the members on the Ibex team.  Great food, cooked by my mom, and my dad got fireworks which we lit off in the rice field.  The Birthday guy really enjoyed his birthday party.  In the early part of April, our intern came.   Her name is Stacey and she helps me with my school.  After both the teams left we had the water festival, called Song Kran.  We went around town throwing water at people.  Lots would say that they like the foreigners water because it was warm.    We were able to take our neighbor kids and Daymu and her friends through Mae Sot.  It was a lot of fun!!  We got soaked and gooed up for the rest of the year.  On the last day, of SongKran, we went walking through Mae Sot rather than in the vehicle.  I have had a great year so far! I’m not sure if I’m ready to give it all away forever. I’ll miss it here for sure!

Cami

Team season has begun!  In February we had the pleasure of having a team from Omaha, Nebraska and Dave’s parents and aunt visiting us. The team  was in Mae Sot for 1 week.  They  were a great group to have in Mae Sot.  As soon as they arrived we knew it was going to be an awesome week.  They were an outgoing bunch and were willing to make the most of their experience as  they pushed themselves out of their comfort zones. During the week, they were involved in our home church, leading in worship and sharing the Word with the other missionaries in the Mae Sot area.  Starting on Sunday we began  training to get them ready for the rest of the week.  We had orientation and training for the LifeCamps plus talked about  the projects we would be doing at the school.  Monday, with an early start, we headed out to Hope School.  Our family was a bit rusty, having not done a life camp in about 7-8 months but it was a great day and  everyone was pretty tired after that first day of the life camp. The second day (Tuesday), was a longer day.  Not only did we continue the life camp, but in the afternoon, after we ate lunch that they prepared for us, we stayed and worked on the projects.  The projects included building a hand washing station, a bathing station, hooking up an electrical pump to the water system and also building a fence along the school. There was lots of manual labour that had to be done – lots of digging and shovelling.  After the first day of working on the projects we had most of the projects well under way. The team was great, no complaining and they worked really hard at whatever job they were put to.  Most of us were sweating lots, got blisters, and sore muscles.  After the day everyone was tired and very dirty. It felt really good.  In the evening  we came back to the house for a meeting. We sang some worship songs and heard our friend talk about his experience in Mae Sot. He is an Australian guy living in a community, being a good neighbour.  Day number 3 was similar to Day 2. We started the day off with the life camp, then after an AMAZING lunch, again prepared for us, we worked again. As the days went on, they just got better and better. The kids got more comfortable with us and we got to know them so much better. As the third day came to a closing, some of the projects were almost finished, the fence had 3 sections left to wire, the hand washing station was finished, the bathing station was almost finished, and the pump was hooked up. Thursday came around too quickly and it was time to have our “Closing Ceremonies” with Hope School. We sang their favourite songs, reviewed the memory verse and lessons from the 3 days, and we gave them their pictures, colouring books and small gift. When we did our receiving line, I found it amazing at how some of the kids actually wanted to give us a hug. At other schools I found it somewhat rare to find a kid that actually wanted to give you a hug. But here most would give you a big hug. It was awesome to see the love between the team and the kids. We had to stick around a little while after the life camp, because they wanted to quickly do some finishing touches on some of the projects. While some were working the others played with the kids for the last time. We had a dance time, where one of the team members showed off his awesome dance skills and did some bopping. That was awesome. We left with smiles on our faces knowing that we had made some new friends that we would cherish and remember forever. It’s true.  After the team left, Dave and his dad went back to Hope School.  Dave’s dad said that some of the children came running up to him, ready to sing some songs and were so happy to see them.  Teams touch lives.

From Courty

After the team left, we spent some time with Dave’s parents.  We had an IT retreat planned so  Dave’s parents/aunt went to Phuket for 3 days of R&R in Phuket.  They seemed to really enjoy that.  After the retreat, we were able to join up with Dave’s parents/aunt and show them the Children’s Center in Takupa and visit with our IT staff.  We went to the Tsunami Memorial site where we heard a story from a friend we had met.  He took us to meet his family, showed us where his restaurant had once been and shared his story.  Hearing the local’s stories really impacted all of us.  It was nice to have Dave’s family with us.  We saw them interact with the people here, do things that they’d never do in Canada and share a part of our lives.  It has been good.  Looking forward to the next teams…

A New Year, a New Beginning.  Happy New year to everyone!

As the new year begins our thoughts are starting to include preparing to come home in July. Sending things home with anyone we may know whom will be here over the next 6 months, registering the kids in school, what we will do, where we will live…and so on.  However, there is a mountain to climb before we can set our sights on that; the time we call, “team season”.  I find this time to be both challenging and rewarding.  It is actually one of my biggest fears in coming to Thailand.  It is to be the leader of the teams, and the life camps…to be the “man”, the guy out front…alone.  Actually, not alone.  God has been faithful, to the level that I look to Him and depend on Him.   He meets my faith every time.  This truth has been proven over and over again.   Is there fear? Yes!  Is there doubt? At times, Yes!  But God responds to faith.  I believe He LOVES responding to our faith in Him.  He will do what He says in His Word, if only I will believe it.

We had a donation, for a water system, from Saskatoon Christian School.  We just completed the water system at Maw Ta Lu school, home to 110 students, in a rural area with no electricity.  The water source is a small river about 250 meters from the school.  It is actually more than just a water filtration system.  It includes a hand dug 15ft ground well, a gas powered pump, water storage tanks, 3 washing and bathing stations and underground plumbing to different locations at the school including the kitchen, bathrooms, and each bathing station.  I was adding up the hours invested into this system and it would be about 2 weeks, full time work, for our three staff.  The school receives not only clean drinking water, but also the safety of being able to bath in the safety of the school property.  During the rainy season, the small river becomes a raging muddy river that is dangerous to bath and wash in. Thankyou to SCS  teachers and students for working to provide Maw Ta Lu with this wonderful gift!

It’s funny how we seem to learn best through pain and frustration. After we bought the pump for the Maw Ta Lu system we had some problems getting it to pump water. Picture this — there are about 15 burmese guys gathered around watching and helping to dig the groundwell because the water is pouring into the well.  We need to pump it out so we can dig deeper. The pump is there and I am supposed to be the “guy who knows how to operate it”, so they’re all looking at me to figure it out.  We have the intake line in the well and the outlet line ready to expel the water.  I start the pump, we wait and wait…and nothing.  Li Mei, our Thai staff member, who is knowledgeable on all things (it seems) is up at the school and I am dreading making the call for her to come down and help.  Pretty soon everyone is trying to help and it is a real gong show, so I call Li Mei.  I can still see her walking down the trail as us men look on.  It was humbling, to the very core of my being.  She got it going and we were able to finish digging the well.  It’s always a good thing when our pride gets a good kick in the butt!  The pump, however, was not working properly and we spent 2 very frustrating days trying to figure it out.  Finally, after investigating and trying different things we figured it out.  The inlet line was sucking air at the connection to the pump which did not allow the water to be sucked up the inlet line. There was great joy when we got it working.  Isn’t it the same way in life?   In general, we always want the easy way.  We do not want the pain and frustration that leads us to real growth and maturity.  It’s hard to submit to the Lord’s discipline but it IS for our own good.  Believe me, I prayed over that pump that God would just Heal it and make it work.   In the end, I learned a lesson that I will never forget.  Not only was it about the pump but that submitting to God is at times painful and frustrating and produces REAL growth in me.

Emmanuel church (our home church) always starts January with a week of prayer so we decided to do the same.  To bring in the new year I decided on a computer fast, nightly devotions and prayer as a family.   The kids were not overly thrilled with the idea of giving up the computers for a week but they agreed.  The kids all took a turn leading the devotional and prayer times.  It was exciting as a parent to see this.  I was telling a friend of mine about this and he mentioned that  he thought the man should not be called the ‘priest of the home’ but the ‘head warrior’, trying to keep the family engaged in the spiritual fight.  What ever you call it, it is a full time job that is never done.

Dave

Christmas in Thailand

~ December 2011 ~

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the Hanson house, not a creature was stirring not even a cockroach;  The paper decorations were hung around the house with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there….

This is our second Christmas here in Thailand.  Last year we had family and friends join us on a lovely Island for the week of Christmas and then spent the rest of the season in Mae Sot.  It was a very memorable time as we introduced them to our lives here- what a great experience for them and us.  We all had a great time.  This year is our first Christmas without being with family.  We have kept on with our traditions — decorating the tree, making decorations, listening to Christmas music, chocolate fondue, toasts, stocking stuffers, gifts, and we even found eggnog for our eggnog toasts.  Every year, since we’ve been married (20 years), Dave has kept with his tradition of giving Lorelie a small little book on Christmas Eve.    Last year he got his sister to purchase and bring one and he presented it to her on 2010 christmas eve.  This year no one was coming and so we expected that this year it would not happen.  Tears welled up in Lorelie’s eyes as she opened this little gift wrapped book on Christmas Eve 2011 – the tradition lives.  How meaningful for this to happen ~ how you ask??  God cares for us.  This little tradition that was started 20 years ago, God cared to lead Dave to the store where he could purchase it.  Dave was at one of the malls, in Bangkok, when he felt led to this big bookstore.  He went in and even though he thought it pointless asked if there were any Christmas books.  The employee led him to the small Christmas section in which he found one little christmas book tucked in with the other big ones.  Amazing!!  It was one of a kind and he knew it was for him.  The tradition lives on and we see through this God’s faithfulness to us.

Last night we had our staff over for a Christmas Party.  We had delicious food(and plenty of it), games, christmas caroling, devotional and presents, of course.  We have a ‘Karen’ intern who helps us with installing and maintaining the water systems.  It put smiles on our faces as we watched him open his gifts.  He was so excited when he opened them — he would have a HUGE smile on his face, throw his hands in the air with excitement and then after he took them out to show he’d put the gift back in the wrapping paper as if he hadn’t opened it up.  That made our Christmas — blessing the ones we love with special gifts and seeing the looks on their faces as they opened them up.  It’s truly a BLESS-ED Christmas!

Christmas isn’t a big deal here in Thailand – schools do take a week-long break, but most people don’t take a break from work.  It’s just another regular day.  Some of the schools we visit regularly have Christmas celebrations which we’ve been invited to attend.  We went to our first celebration at Ray Kaw Thoo school yesterday.  This is a school Imagine Thailand has been involved in for over 2 years.  We were able to see Esther Mu, who attends this school and is famous in West Kelowna because she is on the Emmanuel Church billboard.  She was about 2 when the picture was taken and is in kindergarten and is doing very well.

Every 3 months we have to leave the country to renew our visas.  In December, we went to Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. It is a beautiful city, more modern than I was expecting. Actually it is very modern (more modern then BKK).  It has sub-divisions like we would see in North America (concrete homes), sidewalks, cleaner streets, imported foreigner food,    less trucks on the road, and more of a North American feeling.  However, in saying that, we missed Thailand – the friendly, smiling faces especially.  We stayed an extra couple of days for a Christmas holiday doing some touristy things.  One of our favorite nights was sitting together, in a gazebo, in the park at the base of the Petronas Twin Towers.  It was a beautiful setting ~ night sky, the towers lit up, the fountain was spraying water as we sat, talked and laughed together.  As a parent it is one of those times that will be remembered and cherished. God has been so good and faithful.

Of course, being here, we miss our families and friends very much especially at this time of year.  We have been truly blessed with your friendship and support while we have been here in Thailand.  It is a Hanson Christmas year so Dave’s family is in West Kelowna, at his sister’s place, celebrating this year (we were able to skype in and do our traditional eggnog toasts).   We will be attending, via a Skype call, with other family and friends over the next few days. Our church family and many friends are also in our thoughts during this season…actually you always are.  We miss you alot and pray that you have a great time with your families and friends.  Most of all we give thanks to God for his love and faithfulness, our hearts desire is to be faithful to His call and to keep our eyes on things of eternal value.

Love

Dave, Lorelie, Courtney, Meghan and Cami Hanson

Christmas in Thailand
~ December 2011 ~

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the Hanson house, not a creature was stirring not even a cockroach; The paper decorations were hung around the house with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there….

This is our second Christmas here in Thailand. Last year we had family and friends join us on a lovely Island for the week of Christmas and then spent the rest of the season in Mae Sot. It was a very memorable time as we introduced them to our lives here- what a great experience for them and us. We all had a great time. This year is our first Christmas without being with family. We have kept on with our traditions — decorating the tree, making decorations, listening to Christmas music, chocolate fondue, toasts, stocking stuffers, gifts, and we even found eggnog for our eggnog toasts. Every year, since we’ve been married (20 years), Dave has kept with his tradition of giving Lorelie a small little book on Christmas Eve. Last year he got his sister to purchase and bring one and he presented it to her on 2010 christmas eve. This year no one was coming and so we expected that this year it would not happen. Tears welled up in Lorelie’s eyes as she opened this little gift wrapped book on Christmas Eve 2011 – the tradition lives. How meaningful for this to happen ~ how you ask?? God cares for us. This little tradition that was started 20 years ago, God cared to lead Dave to the store where he could purchase it. Dave was at one of the malls, in Bangkok, when he felt led to this big bookstore. He went in and even though he thought it pointless asked if there were any Christmas books. The employee led him to the small Christmas section in which he found one little christmas book tucked in with the other big ones. Amazing!! It was one of a kind and he knew it was for him. The tradition lives on and we see through this God’s faithfulness to us.

Last night we had our staff over for a Christmas Party. We had delicious food(and plenty of it), games, christmas caroling, devotional and presents, of course. We have a ‘Karen’ intern who helps us with installing and maintaining the water systems. It put smiles on our faces as we watched him open his gifts. He was so excited when he opened them — he would have a HUGE smile on his face, throw his hands in the air with excitement and then after he took them out to show he’d put the gift back in the wrapping paper as if he hadn’t opened it up. That made our Christmas — blessing the ones we love with special gifts and seeing the looks on their faces as they opened them up. It’s truly a BLESS-ED Christmas!

Christmas isn’t a big deal here in Thailand – schools do take a week-long break, but most people don’t take a break from work. It’s just another regular day. Some of the schools we visit regularly have Christmas celebrations which we’ve been invited to attend. We went to our first celebration at Ray Kaw Thoo school yesterday. This is a school Imagine Thailand has been involved in for over 2 years. We were able to see Esther Mu, who attends this school and is famous in West Kelowna because she is on the Emmanuel Church billboard. She was about 2 when the picture was taken and is in kindergarten and is doing very well.

Every 3 months we have to leave the country to renew our visas. In December, we went to Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. It is a beautiful city, more modern than I was expecting. Actually it is very modern (more modern then BKK). It has sub-divisions like we would see in North America (concrete homes), sidewalks, cleaner streets, imported foreigner food, less trucks on the road, and more of a North American feeling. However, in saying that, we missed Thailand – the friendly, smiling faces especially. We stayed an extra couple of days for a Christmas holiday doing some touristy things. One of our favorite nights was sitting together, in a gazebo, in the park at the base of the Petronas Twin Towers. It was a beautiful setting ~ night sky, the towers lit up, the fountain was spraying water as we sat, talked and laughed together. As a parent it is one of those times that will be remembered and cherished. God has been so good and faithful.

Of course, being here, we miss our families and friends very much especially at this time of year. We have been truly blessed with your friendship and support while we have been here in Thailand. It is a Hanson Christmas year so Dave’s family is in West Kelowna, at his sister’s place, celebrating this year (we were able to skype in and do our traditional eggnog toasts). We will be attending, via a Skype call, with other family and friends over the next few days. Our church family and many friends are also in our thoughts during this season…actually you always are. We miss you alot and pray that you have a great time with your families and friends. Most of all we give thanks to God for his love and faithfulness, our hearts desire is to be faithful to His call and to keep our eyes on things of eternal value.

Love

Dave, Lorelie, Courtney, Meghan and Cami Hanson

~ Cami Thoughts ~

We went to a Thai Hill-Tribe Village and we did a home stay visit.  They are the Lisu Hill-Tribe people.  We stayed at a ladies house and her name was Susanan.  She was very kind and she made really good meals.  I wish we could’ve stayed there longer because I was looking forward to helping her with some things, but I didn’t.  After that we went to Mae Hong Son and we had a good time there.  We went to a Long Neck Village.  All the women put gold rings around their necks because all the guys think it’s beautiful.  After that we came back here and here I am.  Lately we have been installing new water systems at schools and interesting stuff like that.  I’m learning the Karen language and I think I’m getting pretty good at the language.  My teacher is one of our staff and her name is Day Mu.  She is very good at teaching me.  I am learning quickly.   Nao Mai is doing good she still has her hearing aid and is starting to say words.  She’s said my name once which is pretty cool.Her mom is pretty excited about Nao Mai speaking.

~ Courtney’s Thoughts ~

My Dad is teaching me how to ride the scooter.  During our trip, up North, my Dad rented a couple of scooters and I got to try it out.  I loved driving the bike around Mae Hong Son.  Being able to finally drive around a town and get the feel of it was great!  In Mae Sot, I just drove around the parking lot of an office building.  It was good when you’re just learning but I needed to do more – it was getting boring.  When I drove around Mae Hong Son, I actually had to look into my mirrors because there were other people around (walking and scootering wherever they wanted to go).  I actually had to stop at a stoplight because there was a stoplight here.  Taking the scooters out was a good time that my Dad and I could spend time together.  We don’t really get to spend time together here in Thailand very often.  It’s nice being able to do something both of us enjoy and can do that together.  Also, though all of my friends, in Canada, are driving cars with their parents in the car – I got to drive a motorbike (scooter) by myself…. suckers!  Driving around Mae Hong Son represented a new stage in my life where I got to be more independent.  Freedom has finally come to ME!!!

~ Meghan’s Thoughts ~

Personally I felt really bad when we went to the long neck village.  The reason why I felt bad was because people go to that village only to see how they wear rings around there necks.   It was good to see how other people live.  It was cool to see how the long neck people made scarfs.  It looked really difficult but the scarfs looked really nice.  We didn’t stay very long as we were feeling sad walking through the village.  We stopped at their school and saw some of the children there.   They have about 50 in their school.

One lady said that she got her first rings which weighed 5 pounds, when she was about 5 years old.  Those things are heavy I got to try a replica of one on.  I can’t imagine having to wear that at the age of 5 and then get more added later on in life.  The total weight can be 10+ pounds.  Very uncomfortable.

~ Lorelie’s Thoughts ~

Wow, I can’t believe that it’s already mid-November.  My family and friends are experiencing cold weather and snow while here we are going into the cooler season of +16, at nights, and mid-20′s to 30ish in the day.  Can’t believe that it’s winter.  Decorations have begun in parts of Mae Sot — we saw some Christmas lights strung on some trees last night while driving around.  We have adjusted back to life here in Mae Sot.  We are learning lots again, making changes in our life structures and growing in character and spiritually.  We are trying to live by faith and trust — it’s really hard!!  Plus we are trying to take the opportunities that are presented to us and go with it.   In November, we took a trip to the Northern part of Thailand with the Dove family.  I wanted to share a little of what impacted me on this trip.

Cavelle Dove had mentioned the opportunity to stay at a homestay in an ethnic village (the Lisu people – a hilltribe group).  We thought this would be a good idea for all of us.   It wasn’t truly what I had expected but still good all the same.  Living here for one year  the experience wasn’t much different than what we’ve seen or encountered.  I was expecting to actually live and participate in their activities — work in the field, prepare meals and of course, sleep like they do (that we did).  We did eat a traditional supper meal but didn’t help in the preparation of that.  It was good and my kids found it tasty too.  We slept on a bamboo mat on the wooden floor and it was cooler here because we were in the mountains.  We had Peter’s nephew with us (he arrived about a month ago).  I asked him what he thought of this experience — he thought that it was interesting, something different; however, it wasn’t as primitive as he had thought and…. we had internet.  There’s something wrong with that picture.  However, in our day and age, I think that most places have internet/cell phones etc….  It was a great experience all the same.

In Mae Hung Son, we visited the ‘Long-Neck Village’ which is what really impacted me.  I knew before going that it was a touristy spot.  This is how they make their money to survive — they get tourists to come to see their product, their village, etc…  Cavelle had mentioned to me that some long-neck’s are in the refugee camps hoping to be resettled.  They are encouraged to take their rings off if they want to resettle.  If they don’t the Thai Government  refuses them because they want them to stay to bring tourists and money — I’m saddened by this.  When we got into the boat to head down the river to get to the village, I remembered the novel that Cami was reading for her book study.  She was reading about the life of a missionary — Jim Elliott.  Do you remember that story?  I was picturing myself being a missionary going to a tribe that hadn’t seen white folks before.  How it would be to go on a boat having no idea where you are heading and then come to this village.  You get out of the boat and head up the path, when you come to the first hut.  There she is, a woman dressed in her traditional clothing and with brass rings wound up her neck (approximately 20 of them weighing 10+ pounds).  She smiles and asks me to sit beside her.  I hesitate and look around.  What should I do?  She says — “photo, take picture”.  Is that what she thinks – that I would just like to have a photo with her?  I sit and decide to talk with her as she can speak some English.  I want to learn about her; visit with her.  I am not a tourist!  I live in this country and want to be treated as that.  They look at me as a foreigner, a tourist, who has money and will pay them for a photo and buy their items.  It was very sad – they are very poor, they are hungry and they are looked at as a strange people group.  I love all these people (long-necks, burmese, karen, thai) and want to show them that; but the language barrier hinders me from doing that.  I can only sit, smile, give the long-neck village a small donation, buy their product and go away thinking…. I am a tourist to them.  I’ve done what was expected of me — I come, I look and I keep them here for tourists to look at.  What do I do with that?

I’ve given you a glimpse into what I experience here personally.  Last night I was out with Cami and struggled again with the language barrier.  I so wish to speak with the people that I bump into.  The Thai people were talking amongst themselves, then they look at Cami and I and speak to us.  I can only say “nit noi Thai” (little) and they smile.  They want to talk to me too.  Through the conversation they ask where I’m from — I say “Mae Sot”.  One guy laughs catching that I answered the question with the here and now.  And then I say that I’m from Canada.  Through a little English understanding and Thai understanding we make it known that we work with an NGO (non-government organization) and we live here in Mae Sot.  They figure out where our office is through my English/Thai conversation.  It’s always an interesting/frustrating time when you’re out and can’t speak the language.   During this week Dave and Lay Sheh are in Bangkok helping in the flood relief.  This is the first time that Dave has been away while we have lived in Thailand.  It’s strange not having him here.  Again, I’m dealing with things that I need to overcome – to have faith that we will be protected and trust that God has us in His hands.  Putting our faith and trust in God is quite the challenge and we are trying to live this daily.  Dave spoke at our International Home Church last week and talked about living eternally.  Do we do that?  Do we take the opportunities that are presented to us and embrace them as this might be the only chance we have.  I challenge you to do that.  Walk with us and embrace those moments.  Don’t be afraid of what people think or say.  Follow the spirit and do what He has intended for you to do.  Trust and have Faith that you can do it.

Over the past month we have put in 2 water systems, that 2 schools in West Kelowna have raised money for. Mount Bouchrie has raised money for a school called New Blood. This school has 350 students starting at nursery students all the way up to an english program for students in post-10 education. The school along with all the other schools with no water system have to buy water bottles from outside. The water bottles can hold 20L of water, and they need to buy many for each day. Now New Blood School doesn’t need to buy water from outside and can use that money to pay the teachers salaries and invest in a new project. Thank you Mt. Bouchrie!!!

Pyo Khinn school received there water system at the same time as New Blood, but maybe a few days earlier. The donation for this water system came from George Pringle Elementry school in West Kelowna. But for this school not only did we install the water system, but we connected the school to the city pipeline. So this is actually the first time this school has had water. In the summer time the toilets never had water, so they were unusable, as apart of the project we connected their toilets to the city pipeline… So now the toilets will be usable all year round. Pyo Khinn school has 130 students. The students that are in this school are from Nursery up to grade 5. The school is quite small, and is in a really poor part of town. They are very happy to now have clean purified water on their property and are very thankful. Thank you George Pringle Elementry!

Courty!

This weekend, instead of just staying home Meghan and I went to an International Camp for High School students. It was in Chiang Mai about 5 hours north of Mae Sot. We travelled up to Chiang Mai on friday and spent the night then our family dropped us off on saturday at the resort for the camp.

My expectations were totally exceeded!!! I thought that there would be maybe like 50-60 teens attending the camp, but we arrive and there are teens everywhere, of all ages from 13-18. It was so intimidating. And all these kids had friends that they attended school with, they weren’t all homeschoolers like Meghan and I.I was hoping to come to this camp and create some friends that I would be able to relate to and get to know quite well, but that wasn’t God’s plan. The only other people that I got to know were the girls who had the same counsellor with us. And even them I didn’t really get to know very well. When I was in Chapel, I looked around during worship and saw so many teens. I was amazed, by the number and by how they all love God! It wasn’t just a camp that their parents forced them to go to, but a camp that they wanted to go to. I looked around and saw so many different looking teens, there were kids that looked like if they were in Canada they would be the kids who might be smoking and drinking, that were just loving on Jesus, It was COMPLETELY AMAZING!!!! It made me so happy to think that all these kids not only are going through similar things as me but are also loving Jesus like me!

We were invited by the mom of 2 girls that live in Mae Sot so we shared a room with them along with their friend who lives in Chiang Mai. We all got a bit closer over the weekend. All of us had some great laughs together, we realized new things about each other that we would never would’ve known if we didn’t go to this camp.

In the morning before breakfast was an optional morning worship session. You would go into the room where chapel was held and sang worship songs with the one of the leaders. It was a great time to just get your heart ready for the day. I loved going to the morning worship because afterwards I just felt so ready for the day, and what God had in store for me and my life. We had chapel 2 times a day, once in the morning then in the evening after supper. I loved the Chapel times, they had an amazing band who played amazing worship songs, and amazing leaders who came from Hume Lake in the USA. During the chapels the speaker talked about getting filled with God and if you wanted to be filled with God you can’t be filling yourself with the things of this world, or yourself, it has to be God alone. One of the mornings instead of having the speaker talking after worship we had a choice to choose 2 breakout sessions. I went to one about redemption and another called How to be Ninja, of course it wasn’t actually about how to be a ninja, it was about how we can tell our stories in a different more interesting way. This was a breakout session I am so glad that I went to, it game me ideas of a way I can tell my testimony with having to say “Hi My name is Courtney, I was born in a christian home….” He said of your story was a movie title what would it be, and I decided that mine would be “Courtney Hanson, Sacrifice for the Mission” The whole point was to come up with something interesting so if people saw your movie poster of your story they would want to go and see (or listen).

We were split into teams and had recreational games in the afternoon. That was the most fun I’ve had in a long time. There was so much energy, and enthusiasm. I was on the green team (team wild), and part of the wolf team. I participated in all of the games, and even was one of the last people standing in some of the games. Wolf team (Meghan and My team) had the most points out of all 8 teams, we got the camp shirts. It was awesome to be apart of the winning team but also contributed towards the win.

Camp Was AMAZING!!! God Is AMAZING!

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Hello there….

I wanted to send you an update on what’s happening here and in our lives.  As you probably have seen in the news Thailand is suffering from some very severe flooding, we are not being affected by it.  The flooding has been occurring for about a month as the flooding has moved from the northern part of the country down to the south.  Fortunately we have been out of the path of the flood waters and no damage was done here in Mae Sot.

We have been in Mae Sot for  2 weeks now and are getting back into the swing of things here. There have been a number of donations for water systems, so that has been keeping us busy.  We are in the midst of planning, and purchasing systems for about 6 schools at the moment. Ideally, the school has water and power and the system is pretty straight forward to install.  We are beginning to encounter schools that have either no power or water that is not as easily acessible. Both problems can be overcome but it takes more planning…and sometimes negotiating with a Thai landlord to allow a water pipeline to go across his property.  Today we installed a system at Mao Tao Clinic, which is a large clinic here in Mae Sot (funded by a many organizations).  This clinic gives the Burmese migrants free health care.  It really is more like a hospital.  I was looking at a chart on the wall while I was there that said,  2766 babies had been delivered there in 2010.  We were installing the system in the ward where new mothers are caring for their babies just after they are born.  I was the guy drilling the holes into concrete with a hammer drill.  Very noisy!  I felt bad, but these are tough people who have been through alot of hard times in there lives,  and it didn’t seem to bother them.  The Burmese and Karen really are wonderful people. Treated horribly by there own government, but also secluded from the outside world.  They seem kind of innocent in a way.  A few months back I was asking our interpreter Lay Sheh if he has ever heard of McDonalds…”No”, he says.  How about Harley Davidson?…”No”, to that to.  We got the water system installed, we always train people to maintain the systems after they are installed. A nurse who had been watching wanted to be trained so we showed her. She jumps right in, reading the directions, turning on valves, shutting other ones off.  No fear, just do it.  Most of these people are like that.

Courtney and I took our first Burmese lesson last night, it went ok.  Courtney is better than me at it, but I do want to learn enough to be able to speak at least a bit with the people we meet. It really opens doors to be able to speak the language even a little.

God has been speaking to me about miracles the last while. I do believe that we will see some while we are here.  Last night as a matter of fact there was a healing crusade about 200 yards from our house where a number of people were miraculously healed, 2 of our staff members were there.  I was so disappointed when I found out that I had missed it. I have had the opportunity to pray with a few people already, but I have also missed some opportunities because of fear as well.  Today just as we were leaving the clinic, Daymu ( our staff) says to me, “did you see that baby it has a hole in its face”. (cleft palet).  I froze, couldn’t look, and picked up the tools and left. I know I can’t do anything in that situation but God can.  Please pray for me that I would just walk into those situations and completely trust God. I am trying to hear Gods voice in those situations, to know what to do. One of the books I have been reading talks about walking by faith, stepping out in faith and obedience. Our faith will not grow unless it is used, same as our muscles will not grow unless we work out. We can talk about it, but nothing will happen unless we choose to do something.  When the Spirit says GO the flesh will always say NO!  There will be an inner battle. I am reading a book right now called “Costly Grace” here is a quote:

“Jesus wipes away any thoughts that we can live this life independent of God. We are called to do things that are impossible for mere humans and so we should expect to be pushed into positions that require faith.  If we are living a life that does not require faith, then we are not living the life of a disciple. If we are living a life that does not require faith, then we are living faithlessly”.

Ouch!, that is a strong position, It is easy to say oh we are in Thailand, we are living by faith…and that is good enough.  I know that God is calling me to step out in faith more and more and learn to trust him.  I can’t learn to trust if I don’t step out in faith…period.  It would be nice if we could substitute something else in place of stepping out of our comfort zone and relying completely on God.  I guess it wouldn’t be faith if we new all the answers.

Thank you for all of your prayers.

Blessings,

Dave