Lately (by Zach)

This past week has been a good one. Last Sunday night our students spent the night in a village. It went really well for them. It wasn’t too primitive (they had electricity), but it was a good first experience in a village.

The next morning I picked them up and we all went fishing—but not like any fishing that I’ve done before. On the way back from the village we stopped at a small river (maybe 2 feet deep at the most). The way the people in the village fish is basically this: weight down a large tarp in the river, keeping one edge of the tarp out of the water. Then we essentially walked on our hands and knees towards the tarp in the water, herding the fish towards the tarp. Once we got to the tarp we lift it up, sorting out the rocks and keeping the fish. We did this over and over until we had walked upstream probably a ½ mile or so. By the end, we had caught a lot of fish. Then we stopped, built a fire, and roasted the fish over the fire. As I stopped to look around, I was in awe of the scene around me… In the middle of nowhere in Thailand, being guided by a man who we didn’t share a single word of language with, beautiful hills surrounding me, perfect stillness. It was really a moment to treasure. I was thinking about how it contrasted with the busy-ness of life back home. It made me realize again what a privilege it is for us to get to lead these teams and go on these trips.

The rest of the week was spent finishing up some concrete work, and then spending some time playing with the kids here. We only have one more week here in Chiang Rai before we head south to Chiang Mai for the final month of our time in Thailand.

I feel so privileged to work here with Pastor Luka. I think this is the 7th team that YWAM Seattle has sent here, and it feels so great to partner with a ministry that is doing so many amazing things. Because the nature of our trip is short-term, it’s nice to know that we’re partnering with a ministry that is working toward the long-term good of so many people. Luka’s vision for his people is broad and far-reaching, and yet incredibly focused. He realizes that for people in Akha villages to be successful, they need to grow in so many different ways. They need to hear, know, and live out the Gospel, but they also need very practical things—nutrition programs, better health-care, ways to generate income, better education. And he’s doing things that are effecting change in all of those areas. It’s been great to come back here over the past few years and see all the progress that is being made.

Zara has been a bit of a challenge the past few days—not sleeping so well and being a bit cranky during the day. Nothing too bad, but harder than she’s been so far on the trip. The kids are all really sweet with her, but i think sometimes she gets a bit overwhelmed with all the people grabbing her and wanting to hold her and touch her. If you could keep her and us in your prayers we’d appreciate it. You can also be praying for our team to keep its focus as we change locations (Feb 5th). As we approach the 2nd half of the trip, it’s quite easy to start thinking about home and lose sight of what we’re here to do.