Global Karen Youth Conference

the Karen youth choir

Upon receiving numerous suggestions from NGO workers in Chiang Mai, we flew to Mae Sot rather than taking a bus (or, rather, the back of a pickup). Nok Air is definitely a budget airline, and not anywhere near as nice as Bangkok Air (which we took from Bangkok to Chiang Mai earlier last week). There were only 8 passengers, and instead of entering the plane from a gate area, they loaded us on a van, drove to the middle of the tarmac, told everyone to get on the plane, and away we went (maybe 5 total minutes between the doors of the airport and takeoff). The in-flight snack was some sort of pinkish-grey meat wrapped in a pretzel kind of bread, and none of the Thai passengers even touched it. Still, for the equivalent of less than $40 per ticket, it worked! We waited outside the airport for a ride from someone to take us about 60 kilometers south to where the Global Karen Baptist Youth Convergence was taking place. After about an hour of sweating through all our clothes, two young men came up, grabbed our bags and loaded us into a truck. They knew Josh's name, though, so we figured it was safe(ish).

Pastor Peacefully's house, where we were to stay

Our driver was one of the seminary students, and the fastest driver we've had in Thailand so far. I tried to focus my attention out the side of the truck, rather than watching ahead to see how closely we came to the mopeds and other cars as we raced up and down hills and around sharp corners father up into the hills. The area we wound up in, Phopra, is mainly agricultural, and we saw a lot of Karen workers walking home from the day's work. The place where the conference was is about a two minute drive from the Thai-Burma border. The buildings at the camp are made of wood, bamboo, cement, leaves, and many other interesting building materials. They range from rustic to…National Geographic photo worthy. Many are on stilts, so that during the hot season, the families can live underneath when it is too hot to be inside; and in the rainy season they are out of the way of water. Our driver took us up to one of them to meet Dr. Simon, the seminary headmaster. Dr. Simon, and everyone we met during the first few hours, was incredibly gracious and welcoming, cleared a space for us to set up our mats to sleep and invited us to eat dinner with them.

our sleeping area with fancy 'air conditioning' :)

Oh, dinner…a new experience all around. On low tables near the back of the house, several plates of rice were arranged, along with strong-smelling bowls of what looked like meats of some kind. We asked one of the men at the table with us to identify them before we ate: one bowl held wild boar, another had pieces of jungle cat, and yet another (the strongest smelling) held monkey. What do you do when presented with these options moments after arriving? You eat them, that's what. I ate some of the wild boar, but just couldn't do the cat. Still too much like pets!! Josh manned up and tried both the wild boar and jungle cat, but after a peek in the monkey stew pot in the cooking area, decided to hold off on that for this meal. When he stirred the contents of the pot (which contained ALL of the monkey--entrails, contents of entrails, meat, bones and all), two little skulls floated up to the top to stare at him. The smell was even stronger up close--almost choking. Maybe we'll give it a go another time. The rest of our meals have been a bit less adventurous--only whole frogs, and balls of some kind of mysterious protein were surprises. The rest has been quite tasty, actually!

dinner remnants

The conference itself is pretty amazing. There are about 700 students and adults registered, and it's lively from sun up until way past dark. The church services are very traditional, but with the occasional rock song or break dace thrown in. Keeps you on your toes and awake…even through today's 4+ hour morning service. Today started with a baptism service at 7am where about 20 youth were baptized in an outdoor pool. They were all shivering, but Josh and I were finally NOT drenched in sweat. Several meetings and services later, they are still going strong with a special concert by a well-known group from inside Burma. We snuck away for a few minutes to take a cold bucket shower/bath/rinse (the first in two days of sweating almost constantly…we really gave a good impression of American hygiene this afternoon, I am sure!). It's funny how our perceptions of cleanliness shift when we travel--after being SO gross for so long, standing in a shallow pool filled with the rinse water from 20 other people's baths to wash off felt absolutely heavenly. :)

Youth baptism the first morning we were there

Our entire time here has been wonderful. It's been fascinating to see some differences in culture between the Karen here (many are Thai Karen from villages on this side of the border) and those we know from Burma. Speaking of our Karen friends from home, we miss them terribly!! I was in tears today--it's overwhelming to experience all of this, and be living so close to so many Karen that aren't OUR families. The relationships we have made are incredibly special to us, and we are realizing more and more what a HUGE part of our hearts they have taken. While we've made some good friends here, we can't wait until tomorrow when we will travel to Mae La camp to hopefully reunite with some of our precious families. We are praying for favor with the guards and camp officials tomorrow, and safety as we travel. One missionary told us today about a friend who was held for ransom (bribe money) when trying to leave the camp. We've also been assured, though, that going in with Dr. Simon is our very best bet. We are trusting that God has a plan for us in all this, and that He will be our protection!

wonderful people everywhere