Dear praying friends,

We have had a good week here in Musakee, Northern Thailand. The camp had a rousing farewell, they sang a song that Siami wrote that welcomed us, and encourged us to return to Musakee. The children in the camp are all sponsored like “World Vision, or Compassion International.” They come from homes that can not afford to send them to school, or their villages don’t have schools. Siami has founded several “homes” in the region. This home has about 50 children. They live here but attend local schools.

On Thursday we attended a celebration honoring a former king of Thailand. It was like a “Memoria Day Parade” from my youth. The people were dressed in their traditional outfits, there was a marching band, and several groups or clubs which had a picture of the king who was being honored.

As a former member of a marching band, I was intrigued by the sound of this one. The main instrument sounded like a bagpipe, but was instead several mouth organs. One interesting thing I found was that the rythym of the drum corp and the rythym of the “organs” were distinctly different. Maybe they don’t practice together.

We also visited the future site of a cultural center – museum for the Karen. One of Siami’s visions is to create a renewed interest in the culture of the Karen. We viewed some future artifacts for the museum, monkey skulls, baskets for fishing, and trumpets made from ox horns. While we were praying over the future site, the heavens opened and dumped rain on us. We took refuge in the grove of bamboo until our driver fetched the truck. The rainy season is supposed to be coming to a close here, the rice is ready to harvest and the corn is in tassle, but it rained again last night. Please pray for these poor farmers that they would be able to harvest a healthy crop soon!

Friday we hiked to the top of the highest mountain in the region, and the 3rd highest in the nation. Fortunately for us it was a relatively easy hike. The forested trail wound up the ridge line to a summit maybe 1,000 feet above the parking lot. There were many mushrooms, and flowers along the route, including orchids and a red flower that rose from the root of fern. It’s amazing to discover the creativity of our creator God! The purpose of the hike was to pray at the top of the mountain. The Buddhist and Christians have had a dispute over the use of this mountain, and we are praying for peace between these two groups.

Saturday we attended a wedding in a nearby village. It lasted over two hours, and was very beautiful. There was a tenor saxophonist, and guitar combo who played for close to an hour before it got started. I understood that they had toured the U.S. the previous spring. The opening of the wedding started with a “flower girl” procession which included a young man dancing and twirling machetes, a marching band of ox horns, and several flower girls casting their petals in rythym. Unlike Thursdays group, they were quite united in their rythym. It was awe inspiring.

Sunday we attended a church that was installing a new pastor. There were several churches represented from the region. The service included at least 6 special music numbers from visiting choirs. After the new pastor was prayed in, there was a feast for all attendees. We sat on mats on the floor of a banquet room with dishes of chicken, pork and a rice-pinto bean combination in serving bowls. All around the perimeter were banana leaf wraps of rice to serve as a base for the meat dishes. It was quite a feast.

We are now spread all over the region as Carol and her team are in Rangoon, Brian is in Bangkok getting a visa for Brazil, Carson, Kathy and Stephanie returned to Chiang Mai to work with the Home of Joy, and I am remaining in Musakee until Thursday. Pray that our light would be sufficient to penatrate the darkness wherever we are!

Today, Monday, the children of this base are supposed to be back in school, but because of heavy rain, several remained here this morning. I was asked to teach them some songs and English. We had a good time learning “Jeremiah 33:3, and Romans 16:19.” I’ve always been able to memorize scripture when it was set to music!

Saturday we take a train to Bangkok where we will meet up with the Rangoon team on Sunday to begin our marathon journey back home. We leave Bangkok Sunday evening, layover in Seoul, Korea for 10 hours, then fly across the pacific arriving on Tuesday afternoon I think! Just in time to file my vote for the nations presidential contest. May the man who will serve God’s purposes win!

We’ve not had internet here for three days now due to a lightning strike. I hope to get this out one way or another. Blessings to you! The next post may be from Bangkok, Seoul, or Salem!

Thank you again for your prayers, friendship and support!
Fred