A traditional Akha Wedding Ceremony.

One of the students at the Akha Youth Development Center (Amporn Saepah) recently quit her studies and got married this last February. Her wedding was traditional Akha style, and over a period of three days she sat through various traditions and ceremonies. One of them being where everyone hurls pig poop at her (the bride) and she is unable to clean up before going to bed that night. The wedding took place in her future husbands village at his home. After she marries she will move in with her husbands family and be expected to take care of this family (cooking, farming, cleaning...etc). One of the specialties was the raw pork, which I kindly avoided. 

Ae and Joe's Wedding

Our dear friends Ae and Joe finally tied the knot last week and were were thankful to be able to be part of the preparations and there for the special day. Here are some photos from the wedding. Ae and Joe begged Rusty, Libby, and I to dress up in Akha attire so Luka's mother happily dressed Libby and I up in her clothing. We refused to wear the headdress because we didn't want the farangs (a.k.a. whities) to be the center of attention on their special day.

Stirring up my faith.

Last month I had the opportunity to go to a seminar here in Chiang Rai hosted by a Christian agriculture foundation that invited Luka and his staff to attend. The conference was about "Following Jesus," and was led by an American man who was formally a pastor in America as well as a missionary in Burma. There were about 20 people in attendance who were Thai, Filipino, American, Lahu (another hill tribe people group), and Akha. The seminar focused on teaching us seven basic characteristics of who Jesus is, scripture memorization, how to share our testimonies, and how to replicate this seminar to others around us. Honestly, when I was preparing to tgo I was feeling rather cynical about it, and was surprised at how much I got out of it and was challenged. It was such a refreshing and rich reminder of the reasons as to why I have chosen to serve Jesus, and the life that comes from reading the bible. Normally the word "evangelism" makes me cringe with all the ideas I associate with it. My first thoughts take me to someone forcing Jesus into a conversation that feels unnatural, or the man I remember in Seattle who would hand out tracks on a street corner in Capital Hill wearing headphones listening to a game and a shirt saying, "Turn or Burn"...all of which make my stomach turn. 

After this conference I was reminded of how simple the gospel is...and reminded that it is not our goal to lead someone to Jesus, but to instead bring them closer on the spectrum to knowing Him. The speaker shared that the average person needs to hear the gospel or about Jesus on average 8 times before they are ready to follow Him. Though it could be 4 times, or 44. But our role is to share Jesus with them in our daily lives...to love Jesus with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength and from that same love we are to love our neighbors. Simpler said than done...but there was something about the simplicity that drew me closer to Jesus this week.

The distance factor...

I'm writing this morning feeling grateful for the visitors we have had lately. The hardest part of living here in Thailand is missing close friends and family.  I am so thankful for the friendships we have here with Libby, Luka and Ghan, Ae and Joe, Gi and Blah, and my Thai teacher Jan and her husband Barry. We really have so much to be thankful for. 

Recently we had two visitors Molly and Eric who were here for one week sharing their gift of photography with the foundation here and insight on working with non-profits. It was really refreshing to have them here, to learn more about them and their personal dreams for the future and we were sad to see them leave. Then last week we had Chad and Becky Dale (from Seattle) here for the week and had so much fun connecting with them. Two people who are incredibly gifted in the world or business and marketing who are also searching for a way to use their gifts in ways that feel more meaningful on a day to day basis. 

One thing that we have to get used to living here is connecting with people as they come through and then realizing that if those relationships are going to be maintained, they will need to be done so through long-distance communication. And something about that sucks. And something else about it helps me to realize that it was a gift to have them here at all-- to be able to meet and interact with people that inspire me and cause my perspective of the world shift. 

All this to say, I have much to be grateful for and many relationships that I still hold very dear--even from afar.