Blog 7 feb

Had an awesome day!

Great progress on the school and toilets, Fen and Gabi went to neighbouring Mohojo village to run another medical clinic and we ended the day by cooking a kiwi dinner for the Itdp staff - kebabs, corn fritters and potato salad with toasted marshmellows to finish.  But the highlight was being able to share with the village pastor, Anuwat and his father! Beetnee (the father) was the 1st Christian in the village and Anuwat (his 2nd child) has become the pastor for Krey Mo Kee. They have been praying for growth for their fellowship as there are currently 8 Christian families amongst a total of 80. Sadly, Beetnee's youngest son  is 8 yrs and has a skin cancer and they asked for prayer for him. Please pray for Tee La Woot. It was so humbling to hear Beetnee's faith-he was told that his son will die but he has refused to believe them and has faith  in Gods promise in Matt 7:7 "Ask and it will given, seek and you will receive, knock and the door will opened" .  Be encouraged that the  Christians here have been really moved by us being here and we by them! God has such an awesome way of working out his plans!

The childrens programme has been awesome, lots of kids hang around our central camp and the team!

Please pray that the children will have an understanding of Gods Word! 

Blog 6 feb #2

The children's programme started off with a bang today! Around 20 children showed up to play games and listen to the story of creation. They started off shy but at the end we had many new friends to play with.  Please pray for these children, that the messages we talk about will get through and that we can build great relationships with them. 

A few of us played takraw today. A game like volleyball but using your feet and head. Fun but quite tricky.  The ball is like kicking a cane basket. Sam, Issac and Brendon were quite competitive. Karens have great 

Blog 6 feb

Weve made it to Krey Mo Kee. Covered 273kms, some on the back of the truck. The trip took 8 hours. By the end of that six of us were evenly caked with red dust (great argument for guys to avoid wearing foundation, Isaac!)

First impressions of the village include......

"Wasn't as bad as i thought, the toilet is super nice"

"We had to get changed in front of our host family! (room had no walls)

"AWESOME" (from one who was caked in mud)

"Best sleep in Thailand"

"Laughing is a great way to break down communication barriers"

"2 big houses, better than the average kiwi bach"

"Interesting, because I accidentally told my host family I have 3 kids " (from one of the single girls)

"Village people are friendly and welcoming"

"Awesome to be here, find a church building on the hill and meet the village pastor!"

Happy Waitangi Day, what a beautiful day to start work on the pre-school building! Itdp have been here for 3weeks and made a great start on the floor and structure as well setting up our camp - shared dining and hangout space, long drops and shower. Were feeling very blessed!

Fen is off to start a medical clinic with a translator at the church, were about to start work on the school roof and toilets. Day 1 in Krey Mo Kee.. :)

Well that was this morning, and we've just stopped for lunch and finally found cell phone reception!

We laboured alongside our Karen brothers and sisters, made great progress on the building. There was a great turnout from the community to help. 

The pit for the toilet is almost dug to 1.5m deep, the remaining building  floor was prepped with backfill and re-bar, 2 pits of concrete mixed and poured (no concrete mixers here !), lots of dirt dug and moved, rocks collected for concrete and Sam tirelessly planed dozens of lengths of timber, ready for the roof structure.

Fens medical clinic was well attended and looks like it will be a popular feature of the next few days, plenty of minor medical ailments to help with.

First kids programme this afternoon...we'll certainly sleep well tonight!

Thanks for your prayer and support, it really is a Kiwi community  connecting with Karen! God is good! ;)

Day 2 of  MABC's Thailand Intrepid Journey! 

The day started off with a rush to the airport due to an un-named team member leaving her wallet at the hotel.  God was faithful and answered our roadside prayers - wallet was found & we got to check-in with time to spare. 

After a short flight to Chiang Mai, we were greeted by Kevin Honare & ITDP staff who presented us with threaded frozen jasmine garlands.  We were given an induction for our trip before catching up with the Jolls for a lunch of  Thai noodle soup & sweet Thai tea.

No rest for the wicked! In the afternoon we were driven then walked up (too many steps) to look at a  Buddist temple featuring an elaborate gold-plated pagoda.

Dinner was at Chris Joll's recommendation at a local Muslim restuarant. We were treated to an amazing feast ( complete with chilli eating & fish eyeball tasting) all for the price of NZ$5  per person.

The day finished at the Chiang Mai Market where  Jennifer & Emily indulged in a luxurious Thai-style foot spa, which involved hundreds of hungry little fish & lots of giggling! 

Touch down in Sydney Airport

A blurry start to Sunday 3rd Feb at 5.30am!
Thank you to family & friends & supporters who saw us off at the airport, as well as the faithful team who were waving us away as we walked towards our gate! (Did you see Brendon & Isaac do the haka at the top of the stairs?)

After our 3 hour flight - we're in transit in Sydney airport. 1st leg of our journey complete & Isaac has now touched down on foreign land! We had a view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge whilst flying in too!

There's a card game of Monopoly going on at the moment. Onward flight leaves about 1330 Australia time - approximately 4 hours on transit here. Enough to get an accent!

A few days before we fly out!

Just 4 days until we fly out to Thailand (Sunday 3rd Feb) for the next phase of MAB’s journey with the Hill-tribes communities. As we now know, our earlier plan to assist with an improved water supply, tank and tap stands is not happening, but have the opportunity to begin building a school building in the same village. We understand that the Thai king is using the only suitable nearby source for an irrigation scheme and ITDP (and we) are praying that they will be able to connect into this scheme to provide a better source of water for Krey Mo Kee at a later date. As we read in Proverbs 16:9, with much prayer we’ve “made our plans” according to the need God provided, but in the end “the Lord determines our steps”.

 

Please pray with us as we make our final preparations. Praise for God’s faithfulness – funds, opportunities to connect with the MAB community and our friends/colleagues. Pray that God would continue to build His kingdom through our offerings. Pray for energy, good health, wisdom and safety – for the team, ITDP, our hosts and families back in NZ. Pray that our eyes would be open to God’s prompting and guiding.

 

Please join the team for a final informal catch-up and opportunity for prayer on Thursday 31st January in the blue room at MAB. Come and go anytime between 7:00 and 9:00pm.

 

Finally, there is still opportunity to donate to team members personal expenses if God has prompted you to – and to support Zara Brown in her 9 month stay, teaching English and working with university students in Bangkok.

Thank you for partnering with Krey Mo Kee

We had another training day on Saturday 19th Jan 2013 at MABC. We started with a fantastic pancake breakfast - the Harknesses have a very good family-secret recipe! 

Pancake Breakfast  - note the connected Fundraising Pipes in the background!

 The team members met with Kevin Honare & Mark Stokes from Bright Hope, and David Allen came and joined us for part of it. We were reminded again that this is the start of a partnership with Krey Mo Kee. That our visit is about breaking down barriers & building bridges into their lives, of partnering with them in both physically and spiritually. That it is not just the 10 people on the trip who are "going on a mission trip" - it is also about Mt Albert Baptist Church and everyone who's part of MABC joining together in a partnership with this village. 

Partnership means to

1. understand more about the people & their lives & what their needs are
2. support them with some of their needs physically such as the water, sanitation & school building projects
3. pray for openness to the gospel
4. uphold the Christians already in the village that they will be emboldened and encouraged through our caring for them

We did a few team exercises - some photos below. The aim of this particular exercise was for us to stand on the ledge as shown & for the 5 people on the right to swap position with those on the left in a mirror image position - without touching the grass behind or the concrete in front. Confusing???

 

 We succeeded with 1 fall which meant we had to start again. 

What did we learn? 

• The importance of communication
• The need to have a plan/strategy
• The need to work together as a team - supporting each other; utilising our different strengths ( & physique- eg: much easier for a tall person to go over a crouching person!); when we fall- the issue is  not WHO's fallen but that the TEAM has fallen & what will we do next time that's better.
• There WILL be obstacles along the way but we can work through it
• There can be different rules in a different culture & we need to go along & be okay with it

There's also a slight change in what we will be doing - it's like a slight shift in time frame. The initial timeline was for water pipes & sanitation to go in, followed by a school, then eventually micro-enterprises. However, we will now be building the sanitation system and starting on the school building. This is because the Thai King has started an irrigation project in the area, and we will not be able to access the water source until that project is completed.We will still provide a children's programme whilst there & provide some primary health care either at this village or a neighbouring one.

Praise Items:
God has been faithful in enabling funds to be raised!
Preparations for the trip have been going well.

Prayer Items:
Health & safety for team members leading up to the trip & whilst away
That final preparations will be completed smoothly
Pray for the villagers at Krey Mo Kee that hearts will be open