Hello, and welcome
to Jesus for Asia Now.
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I'm Natalie Wood
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and I have a special
guest with me here today
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to talk about the work
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that she and her
family are doing in Thailand,
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and I know you are going
to really enjoy these stories.
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And before I welcome my
guest and introduce her to you,
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I want to share with you
one of her favorite texts
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and that is in Romans 8:38-39.
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"For I am persuaded,
that neither death, nor life,
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nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present,
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nor things to come,
nor height, nor depth,
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nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us
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from the love of God
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which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord."
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So I want to introduce you
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to our special
guest today, Lisa Sharon.
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Welcome to the show, Lisa.
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Thank you. So
glad you could be here.
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It's been a long time coming.
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We've been wanting to have
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a show like
this for a long time.
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We did one about
your family's work,
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but you weren't here.
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No.
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And neither was
anyone else from your family
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so all we had was video,
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and now we'll get
the stories in person.
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So we first met when
you still lived in Idaho.
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Yeah.
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And we lived in
California at the time
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and we were in
Idaho visiting family.
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And then you moved
with your family to Montana.
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Right.
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Can you share a
little of the story
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of the beginning there of
your family in Montana and...?
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Well, when we moved from Idaho,
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I had asked my boys,
"What they wanted in home?"
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They were upper
teenagers by then
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and so I wanted to,
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you know, I wanted
to let them decide.
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It had to be a
place with a lot of snow,
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and they wanted to be
way out where it wasn't like
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right in the
middle of a lot of people.
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It had to have no electricity,
no water and no phone.
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I put my foot down when
they came to the phone part,
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so we found this
place that was way out
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and it had, you know, 6
to 12 feet of snow every year
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and we had to use
snowmobiles to go in and out.
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And, you know, at the
time it was a really crazy idea
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but that's what
prepared us for mission service.
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And so it turned out to
be a really big blessing.
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It was a long ways out there.
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I remember coming
to visit you in winter
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and then it snowed a
little bit before we got there
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but then it
snowed a foot overnight
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and so we were able to drive out
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but after that
it was snowmobiles
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for you all the
rest of the winter.
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Yeah.
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So you were home schooling
your boys there, right?
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Yeah. I was.
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So it wasn't
like you lived way out
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and you were trying to
take them into school everyday?
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No.
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And especially that first year,
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we didn't have any work up there
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and so we didn't
have to go anywhere.
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So it was probably
the best year of our lives
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as far as getting
to spend time as family
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and really big, drawing
closer together and stuff.
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And it was right after that
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when Ben left on a
vision trip for Asia,
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and basically that
was his last year at home.
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So it was a really,
really special time.
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So he went over with
us on the vision trip
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and he was there for
just maybe a few days.
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It seems like maybe a
week but it wasn't very long.
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And he said, I think
I need to call my mom.
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Yeah, he called
me and he told me,
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"Mom, I just can't come home
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that there's
such a need over here,
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I didn't realize that
there was such a need in Asia
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and so I can't go home."
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So I didn't see him
again for two years.
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But, you know, if
you're going to lose your kids,
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that's a great way to wisdom...
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To God's work. To God's work.
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To caring about other
people and serving them.
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That's right.
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So he came home two years later?
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Two years later, he
came for a one month visit.
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And one morning, we
were all sitting at,
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we just had worship
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and we were sitting around
in the living room just talking
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and he turns to his brother.
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I think he
turned to Jason first,
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I'm not sure but
he said, "Hey, Jason,
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why don't you come
over to Asia with me?
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I need some help."
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And Jason said,
"Yeah, sure I'll do that."
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And then he was like, wow.
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You know, and then he
turned to Andrew and he said,
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"Andrew, how about you?"
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And Andrew said, "Yeah, I
think I might like to do that."
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I'm like, "Oh, no, three of
my boys are going to be gone."
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So they left, the three of them
left on my birthday of all days
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and that was in
March of 2009, I believe.
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And so it was just the
three of us left at home,
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we didn't know what
to do with ourselves.
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You had Travis,
the youngest of them.
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Yeah, I still
had Travis at home.
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So we decided to
become more involved
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with Jesus for
Asia at that point
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because I was
already talking to them.
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And so then we
decided to help out
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a little bit more
with the ministry.
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And Jon decided
that it was a good idea
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for me to just go over there
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and kind of
check it out for myself
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so I know what I
was talking about
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and then I could
write about the projects
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while I was over there.
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So we went for a three
month mission trip too.
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But same thing
that happened to Ben,
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you know, when you see the need,
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you meet the people
and you get to know them...
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I mean, they're
not just statistics,
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they're not just people
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that live on the other
side of the world then,
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they're real
people and you just can't,
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you just can't go off and leave
them once you see the need.
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You know, whether you
can stand on a mountaintop
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and see 50 villages that
have never heard of Jesus,
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I don't know how a
person could leave after that.
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So we decided to stay
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and my husband had
to go back to America
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and he had to just,
you know, wrap things up
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we hadn't planned
on moving over there.
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And so he left, Travis and
I to move to our new location.
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We had found a training school
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that had been built
by donors from America
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but nothing was, it was empty.
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Nothing was being done there.
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And so actually Jason joined us
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and three of us moved
down near Sangkhla Buri
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and we were only
there a couple of months,
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my husband was still in America.
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When I was handed my first baby,
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Hannah was 14 months old
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and she'd been
abandoned by her mother,
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and her father was a soldier
and couldn't take care of her.
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And so it was like, I
had to email my husband,
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"Surprise! You're dad again."
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So you now have
four boys and a girl.
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Yeah.
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It's a girl.
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Yeah, it was a
girl. Congratulations.
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We were really
excited to get a girl.
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But it wasn't like
something that I had planned on.
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You know, when
you're handed a child,
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you look at the
child and you say,
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"Twenty years,
wow, that's commitment."
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But, you know, if
that's what it takes
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that's what we're going to
do, so that's what we are doing,
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it's our 20 years
of commitment at least.
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And it wasn't very long before
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more children came in to
where I ended up with six girls
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because God has
a sense of humor.
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Four boys and then six girls.
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But we'd always wanted girl
so it worked out really good.
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So couple months later,
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I was given another little girl,
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she was eight years old,
we've named her Mary Beth.
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She likes to
have an American name.
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And couple months after that,
00:08:02.78\00:08:07.22
my, Jason, my son had saved
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the life of another little girl,
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she was seven at the time
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and she needed
special care for a while
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and so we took
her in, that's Esther.
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She's 14 now.
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And then like a year
later, we got Destiny Grace.
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Oh, I always
forget my older ones,
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my older ones were
Sanda and Nam Phoon.
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Sanda is now married
and has her own family,
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so she's not living at home now.
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And then Nam Phoon
just finished academy
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and so she's been away
from home for about five years
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and that's why I forget.
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Yeah.
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But yeah, they came
around the same time.
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Wow! So suddenly
you had six girls.
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Suddenly I had six girls,
ranging from 6 days old to 16.
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Well, that's quite a spread.
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Yeah.
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Thankfully you had
already experienced
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most of the teenage years...
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Yeah.
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Once before from
a boy perspective.
00:09:06.24\00:09:08.31
I really thought I
was pretty well prepared.
00:09:08.31\00:09:10.25
I thought I was
a pretty good mom,
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I found out I
didn't know anything.
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Every child is different though.
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Every child is different,
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and girls are far
different than boys.
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Yeah.
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And the learning needs,
and the emotional needs,
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and some of the
traumatic experiences
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that a lot of young
people have had over there.
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Yeah, they bring across
a very sunny disposition
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when you meet them.
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But deep down inside they're
very damaged little girls,
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so it takes a lot
of work, a lot of love.
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A lot of love.
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But they smile and
they love back to you.
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They do.
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Yeah, I like being
there and meeting the girls.
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Finally, it was
many years actually...
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Before I got to meet them,
but I enjoyed it very much.
00:09:50.85\00:09:53.62
They are so sweet.
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They are.
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The love is paying off.
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Yeah.
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Okay, so you
were in Sangkhla Buri
00:09:58.99\00:10:00.80
during all of this time?
00:10:00.80\00:10:02.13
Yeah.
00:10:02.13\00:10:03.20
And then what happened next?
00:10:03.20\00:10:05.27
'Cause you aren't there
anymore and I know you've been,
00:10:05.27\00:10:07.57
so we're going to keep
on going with the story.
00:10:07.57\00:10:09.34
Yeah.
00:10:09.34\00:10:10.37
Well, that there
was a lot of problems
00:10:10.37\00:10:13.11
that developed there,
00:10:13.11\00:10:14.21
one of them a major one
00:10:14.21\00:10:16.04
and that the mission
was really concerned about
00:10:16.04\00:10:17.91
was the child traffickers.
00:10:17.91\00:10:19.65
You know, we were
kind of rescuing kids
00:10:19.65\00:10:21.65
that would have been
probably taken by them.
00:10:21.65\00:10:25.15
And they didn't like that
00:10:25.15\00:10:26.89
and so it was kind of
a dangerous area for us.
00:10:26.89\00:10:30.49
The other problem
was that our neighbors
00:10:30.49\00:10:32.46
had put in
loudspeakers right behind us,
00:10:32.46\00:10:34.83
and in Asia it's a
very polite thing to do
00:10:34.83\00:10:38.33
to share your music
with your neighbors.
00:10:38.33\00:10:41.77
But... At very high volume?
00:10:41.77\00:10:43.14
At very high volume.
00:10:43.14\00:10:45.17
But unfortunately
00:10:45.17\00:10:46.51
we didn't approve of
their choice of music.
00:10:46.51\00:10:49.71
It wasn't peaceful and
pleasant for country living?
00:10:49.71\00:10:51.35
No.
00:10:51.35\00:10:52.58
We were trying to, you
know, run a school there
00:10:52.58\00:10:55.15
and having this
loud and rocked music
00:10:55.15\00:10:57.99
blasting at us continuously was,
00:10:57.99\00:11:00.52
it just wasn't a good idea.
00:11:00.52\00:11:01.99
So because of those two things,
00:11:01.99\00:11:04.19
we decided to
look for a new location
00:11:04.19\00:11:06.43
and we went a
couple of other places
00:11:06.43\00:11:08.86
and kind of checked them out
00:11:08.86\00:11:09.93
but nothing was
really where God wanted us.
00:11:09.93\00:11:13.10
And so we finally, we were
talking about it as a family
00:11:13.10\00:11:17.21
and we decided that we
needed to move someplace
00:11:17.21\00:11:19.64
that was dark, where
there's no Christians,
00:11:19.64\00:11:22.31
where there's no
other missionaries,
00:11:22.31\00:11:24.01
where there's no churches
00:11:24.01\00:11:25.75
so that because, you know,
there's thousands of villages
00:11:25.75\00:11:28.35
that need help
00:11:28.35\00:11:29.38
and we didn't
want to be someplace
00:11:29.38\00:11:30.79
where there's other
people already working.
00:11:30.79\00:11:33.42
So the only problem
was that I have a bad back
00:11:33.42\00:11:36.73
and so we
couldn't be on bad roads.
00:11:36.73\00:11:40.96
So Jason looked at Google Earth,
00:11:40.96\00:11:43.50
that's just a great way
to find your new location.
00:11:43.50\00:11:46.87
It's a handy tool. Yeah.
00:11:46.87\00:11:48.40
He found a river that we
can navigate with a boat.
00:11:48.40\00:11:52.04
And so it's kind of a long story
00:11:52.04\00:11:55.44
but they went to the
nearest town to that area
00:11:55.44\00:12:00.65
and they just
kind of talk to them
00:12:00.65\00:12:02.25
and asked if it
would be possible
00:12:02.25\00:12:04.49
for us to find property
there to start a school.
00:12:04.49\00:12:08.22
And we got nothing
but yes, it was amazing,
00:12:08.22\00:12:10.76
we didn't expect that.
00:12:10.76\00:12:12.59
But, I mean, the
emperor said yes,
00:12:12.59\00:12:14.60
the headman of
the village said yes
00:12:14.60\00:12:16.03
everybody was like,
00:12:16.03\00:12:17.27
Just go choose what you want,
you can do whatever you want,
00:12:17.27\00:12:19.97
and just let us know
where you decided to settle."
00:12:19.97\00:12:23.54
So we did and we
were very careful,
00:12:23.54\00:12:26.54
we got permission
from every headman
00:12:26.54\00:12:28.38
of every village around,
and the emperor and the...
00:12:28.38\00:12:30.85
I mean, we were very careful,
00:12:30.85\00:12:32.41
made sure that
it was really true
00:12:32.41\00:12:34.18
that we could
have whatever we wanted
00:12:34.18\00:12:35.55
and how much land we wanted.
00:12:35.55\00:12:37.32
So we went down the river
and we found the perfect spot.
00:12:37.32\00:12:40.92
It had streams
coming down the mountains
00:12:40.92\00:12:43.46
and it was in the jungle,
there were no loudspeakers.
00:12:43.46\00:12:48.36
That was very important to us.
00:12:48.36\00:12:49.90
And so we got permission,
00:12:49.90\00:12:52.20
then we started
building our school there.
00:12:52.20\00:12:54.24
And we had to
chop out the jungle,
00:12:54.24\00:12:56.71
it was a lot of work,
00:12:56.71\00:12:57.74
there were these huge
bines all over the place.
00:12:57.74\00:13:00.04
And we cleared and that took us
a year to get the school ready,
00:13:00.04\00:13:05.25
and build the buildings
00:13:05.25\00:13:06.45
and get the
jungle cleared enough
00:13:06.45\00:13:10.22
to where we could
have students there.
00:13:10.22\00:13:13.02
And then the
students started coming.
00:13:13.02\00:13:14.79
We started out
with hot season school
00:13:14.79\00:13:17.09
which is like
summer vacation for them.
00:13:17.09\00:13:19.79
But everybody
wants to learn English
00:13:19.79\00:13:21.60
and so we just thought,
00:13:21.60\00:13:23.20
well, you know, if
we invite the students
00:13:23.20\00:13:25.27
to come during summer break,
00:13:25.27\00:13:27.04
then we can get to know
who the good students are
00:13:27.04\00:13:31.17
and who the bad
students are, you know.
00:13:31.17\00:13:32.81
Who are really
interested in spiritual things
00:13:32.81\00:13:36.11
and then we can
handpick our students.
00:13:36.11\00:13:38.41
And so that's
kind of what we did,
00:13:38.41\00:13:39.75
we didn't handpick
them all of that way
00:13:39.75\00:13:41.65
but a lot of them we did.
00:13:41.65\00:13:43.12
And so we started
out our school year with,
00:13:43.12\00:13:45.75
I think it was
around 20 students,
00:13:45.75\00:13:47.49
I don't remember now.
00:13:47.49\00:13:49.02
But that was our ideal maximum.
00:13:49.02\00:13:53.03
We didn't want more than that
00:13:53.03\00:13:54.20
because we wanted really one
on one time with the students
00:13:54.20\00:13:56.53
so that they could learn.
00:13:56.53\00:13:58.53
Okay, so what kind of
school, what were you teaching?
00:13:58.53\00:14:01.04
You said English,
they want to learn English?
00:14:01.04\00:14:02.90
Yeah, all of the students
wanted to learn English.
00:14:02.90\00:14:05.64
They wanted to learn medical,
00:14:05.64\00:14:06.98
and they wanted to
learn about the Bible.
00:14:06.98\00:14:09.11
So it's kind of like an
English Bible training school.
00:14:09.11\00:14:12.31
So that's what we've done.
00:14:12.31\00:14:13.75
We had a work study program.
00:14:13.75\00:14:15.18
We wanted to
follow Ellen White counsel
00:14:15.18\00:14:17.95
for the medicine
school basically.
00:14:17.95\00:14:20.89
And so we had
half study, half work.
00:14:20.89\00:14:24.13
Well, a lot of these students
didn't know how to work.
00:14:24.13\00:14:27.23
I mean, here we are.
00:14:27.23\00:14:28.66
Where were they from?
00:14:28.66\00:14:29.90
Well, a lot of them
were from refugee camps
00:14:29.90\00:14:32.10
and a lot of
them were from Burma.
00:14:32.10\00:14:35.07
And the ones from
Burma knew how to work.
00:14:35.07\00:14:37.01
But the ones from
the refugee camps,
00:14:37.01\00:14:38.64
they had never learned.
00:14:38.64\00:14:39.77
There's no place in the
refugee camp for them to work?
00:14:39.77\00:14:42.04
No, there's no
place for them to work.
00:14:42.04\00:14:43.11
It's just full of
house after house,
00:14:43.11\00:14:45.01
hut after hut after hut.
00:14:45.01\00:14:46.25
Yeah, bamboo house.
00:14:46.25\00:14:47.38
We call house, you know,
you say house in our culture...
00:14:47.38\00:14:50.19
And it means
something different,
00:14:50.19\00:14:51.85
vastly different
from the reality for them.
00:14:51.85\00:14:52.95
Vastly different.
00:14:52.95\00:14:54.46
Yeah. So hut after hut.
00:14:54.46\00:14:55.89
Yeah.
00:14:55.89\00:14:56.99
Miles and miles, I
mean, you drive pass
00:14:56.99\00:14:58.76
some of these
places on the road,
00:14:58.76\00:15:00.50
and you just miles and miles
00:15:00.50\00:15:01.86
of hut after hut
after hut, all the...
00:15:01.86\00:15:04.27
It's like all of the roofs just,
00:15:04.27\00:15:06.40
they're like stacked on
top of each other almost.
00:15:06.40\00:15:08.50
Yeah, I can't imagine
living that close together,
00:15:08.50\00:15:11.11
it's just so, it's so hard.
00:15:11.11\00:15:13.91
Anyway, they didn't
know how to built houses,
00:15:13.91\00:15:16.24
they didn't know how to make
the leaf panels for the roofs,
00:15:16.24\00:15:18.51
they didn't know
how to do anything.
00:15:18.51\00:15:20.62
And so when they came,
we had the work and study.
00:15:20.62\00:15:24.29
And half of the students left
00:15:24.29\00:15:28.69
because of the work
program which was fine.
00:15:28.69\00:15:31.23
So they didn't
want to learn to work.
00:15:31.23\00:15:32.66
Yeah, they didn't
want to learn to work.
00:15:32.66\00:15:33.93
And so we ended up
with only nine students,
00:15:33.93\00:15:36.43
but they were so excited.
00:15:36.43\00:15:39.10
They told us, they
came for the English.
00:15:39.10\00:15:42.47
They stayed
because of the Bible.
00:15:42.47\00:15:45.04
They started out
with we had like a,
00:15:45.04\00:15:46.94
Jason was teaching Bible,
and he taught a one hour class.
00:15:46.94\00:15:50.31
Well, pretty soon it
became an hour and half,
00:15:50.31\00:15:51.98
and then it was two hours,
00:15:51.98\00:15:53.01
and then it was
three hours everyday
00:15:53.01\00:15:54.38
and they just, they
couldn't get enough.
00:15:54.38\00:15:55.88
They weren't
just getting enough.
00:15:55.88\00:15:57.09
Yeah, plus, morning
and evening worships.
00:15:57.09\00:15:59.09
It was like they
just couldn't get enough.
00:15:59.09\00:16:01.62
Wow.
00:16:01.62\00:16:02.66
And so it was beautiful.
00:16:02.66\00:16:05.16
It was so exciting to see
00:16:05.16\00:16:07.93
because they were just so hungry
00:16:07.93\00:16:09.73
and so thirsty
to know the truth.
00:16:09.73\00:16:12.20
You know, and they ask
us difficult questions.
00:16:12.20\00:16:14.34
You know, where
like, in one Sabbath,
00:16:14.34\00:16:15.87
they asked us, "What
happens to you when you die?"
00:16:15.87\00:16:19.74
And we kind of talked about it.
00:16:19.74\00:16:21.21
We're like, you know, I'm afraid
00:16:21.21\00:16:23.38
that this is gonna offend them
00:16:23.38\00:16:25.01
but let's just do a Bible study.
00:16:25.01\00:16:27.52
So instead of
preparing a Bible study,
00:16:27.52\00:16:29.75
we just got out our
"Strong's Concordance"
00:16:29.75\00:16:31.95
and looked up every
verse in the Bible about it.
00:16:31.95\00:16:35.06
And when we finished
reading all those verses
00:16:35.06\00:16:39.33
and then just summarizing,
00:16:39.33\00:16:41.76
the students,
their reaction was,
00:16:41.76\00:16:43.47
"Oh, so that's how it is."
00:16:43.47\00:16:46.80
It was like... Okay.
00:16:46.80\00:16:48.57
That's what the Bible
says, that's way it is.
00:16:48.57\00:16:50.41
It was... They...
00:16:50.41\00:16:51.91
It's so beautiful to see it.
00:16:51.91\00:16:54.21
I wish you could experience it
00:16:54.21\00:16:55.78
'cause it's
just, it was so neat.
00:16:55.78\00:16:57.78
Wow!
00:16:57.78\00:16:59.35
But...
00:16:59.35\00:17:00.55
So how did you
build the buildings there,
00:17:00.55\00:17:02.95
the house and the
buildings on the property?
00:17:02.95\00:17:07.09
Well, it's a little different
than what we would build here.
00:17:07.09\00:17:12.59
We go out into the jungle,
00:17:12.59\00:17:14.73
and we find a nice
looking bamboo clump,
00:17:14.73\00:17:17.03
and we start
chopping with our machetes,
00:17:17.03\00:17:19.47
cut down the bamboos,
strip off all the leaves,
00:17:19.47\00:17:22.40
and haul it on
back to the house site.
00:17:22.40\00:17:26.21
When you get
enough of that then you...
00:17:26.21\00:17:28.41
Well, you also have to find logs
00:17:28.41\00:17:30.81
that are down in the jungle.
00:17:30.81\00:17:31.91
It has to be
either teak or iron wood.
00:17:31.91\00:17:34.15
If it's...
00:17:34.15\00:17:35.22
And they have to fallen away.
00:17:35.22\00:17:36.18
Yeah, they have to
have already fallen down,
00:17:36.18\00:17:38.09
you can't cut anything
'cause that would be illegal.
00:17:38.09\00:17:41.26
But then you haul those back,
those are really heavy wood.
00:17:41.26\00:17:45.29
Especially if they're big.
00:17:45.29\00:17:46.53
Yeah. Yes.
00:17:46.53\00:17:48.33
And then you have to make them
00:17:48.33\00:17:49.46
into smaller posts or something.
00:17:49.46\00:17:51.27
No, you don't cut those
things because they are just,
00:17:51.27\00:17:54.04
they are the way
they are sorted all.
00:17:54.04\00:17:55.10
They're not cut at all.
00:17:55.10\00:17:56.40
Yeah. Anyway so...
00:17:56.40\00:17:57.84
Okay, your house posts are
whatever size the tree was.
00:17:57.84\00:18:00.58
You start out with just
four posts in the ground,
00:18:00.58\00:18:03.08
or six, or eight, or however
big you want the building,
00:18:03.08\00:18:05.48
and then you just
start trying bamboo on with,
00:18:05.48\00:18:08.55
then we use bamboo to make
ties to tie it all together.
00:18:08.55\00:18:12.32
And sometimes we
use wire and nails
00:18:12.32\00:18:15.09
but usually is bamboo ties.
00:18:15.09\00:18:18.09
'Cause you're in the
middle of the jungle...
00:18:18.09\00:18:19.43
It's not like
you're just gonna run down
00:18:19.43\00:18:21.16
to the hardware
store and buy nails.
00:18:21.16\00:18:22.63
No, we don't do that.
00:18:22.63\00:18:23.77
We get everything we
needed from the jungle.
00:18:23.77\00:18:25.93
It's a lot cheaper.
00:18:25.93\00:18:26.97
But it's also not as,
it doesn't last very long.
00:18:26.97\00:18:31.41
Like, if you build a house,
00:18:31.41\00:18:33.21
if you cut the bamboo
at the exact right time
00:18:33.21\00:18:36.75
so there's no bugs in it,
00:18:36.75\00:18:38.48
then it'll last a long time.
00:18:38.48\00:18:39.88
But if there is any bugs in it,
then they chew your bamboo up
00:18:39.88\00:18:43.82
while it's in the
house, and then it gets,
00:18:43.82\00:18:45.99
it's like sawdust
all over the place.
00:18:45.99\00:18:48.92
And it's really unnerving
00:18:48.92\00:18:50.06
when you sit or lay next to
the wall, and you hear that.
00:18:50.06\00:18:53.80
Yeah, you can
hear the bugs chewing.
00:18:53.80\00:18:58.07
But it's a lot of work
00:18:58.07\00:18:59.60
but you can put up a
house in maybe a week or two.
00:18:59.60\00:19:04.31
What about bathrooms?
00:19:04.31\00:19:05.51
What did you do for bathrooms?
00:19:05.51\00:19:07.74
Well, we dug out houses which...
00:19:07.74\00:19:11.25
It's not, you know, there's
not a lot of rock in the dirt
00:19:11.25\00:19:14.42
so you can dig a pretty
good outhouse pretty fast.
00:19:14.42\00:19:18.05
And then we just
used, for that we use tin
00:19:18.05\00:19:20.49
'cause I didn't
want to use bamboo
00:19:20.49\00:19:21.96
'cause you can see through it.
00:19:21.96\00:19:23.83
So we used tin and it just made
a little square outhouse with.
00:19:23.83\00:19:29.06
Yeah, there's yeah...
00:19:29.06\00:19:31.40
That's a really fancy one.
00:19:31.40\00:19:33.70
They have squat toilets.
00:19:33.70\00:19:35.04
It's not like the nice
things like we have here,
00:19:35.04\00:19:37.81
but it works...
00:19:37.81\00:19:39.17
It's not flushing,
you use the dipper and...
00:19:39.17\00:19:41.28
Yeah, you use a
dipper and a water tank
00:19:41.28\00:19:43.21
to flush the toilet.
00:19:43.21\00:19:45.25
You have the big school building
00:19:45.25\00:19:47.12
where the boys are living,
00:19:47.12\00:19:48.45
you have the girls'
dorm, you have a house,
00:19:48.45\00:19:51.79
and you're living
there for how long?
00:19:51.79\00:19:54.32
We were down
there for two years.
00:19:54.32\00:19:56.69
Okay.
00:19:56.69\00:19:57.76
And then something happened
to this school building?
00:19:57.76\00:20:00.56
Yeah.
00:20:00.56\00:20:02.73
It was a Friday.
00:20:02.73\00:20:04.40
And we only allowed
one home weekend per month.
00:20:04.40\00:20:08.74
And it was not a home weekend,
00:20:08.74\00:20:11.11
it was a weekend
00:20:11.11\00:20:12.14
where everybody was
supposed to be there.
00:20:12.14\00:20:14.68
But that morning, one
soon after another came to us
00:20:14.68\00:20:18.75
with really good reasons
why they needed to go places.
00:20:18.75\00:20:22.02
You know, one was gonna
go get some yellow beans
00:20:22.02\00:20:23.79
for the school
00:20:23.79\00:20:24.85
'cause we were out of,
we were really low on food.
00:20:24.85\00:20:28.76
We said, "Okay, that's fine."
00:20:28.76\00:20:29.89
One of them needed to go
get seeds for the gardens.
00:20:29.89\00:20:32.46
I mean, they were
really good reasons.
00:20:32.46\00:20:35.13
Every single one of them,
we just said, "You know what?
00:20:35.13\00:20:37.60
This is a real need.
00:20:37.60\00:20:38.80
They're not just trying
to get away or anything."
00:20:38.80\00:20:41.24
And so one by
one, the students left
00:20:41.24\00:20:43.77
until there was
only four students left.
00:20:43.77\00:20:46.57
And since it was Friday,
00:20:46.57\00:20:48.94
we were in the kitchen building
making bread for Sabbath.
00:20:48.94\00:20:52.91
We always did a
special meal for a Sabbath.
00:20:52.91\00:20:56.42
And it was like a baking
class, we had every Friday.
00:20:56.42\00:20:59.79
And so normally on
a Friday afternoon,
00:20:59.79\00:21:03.36
the students would have
been in the big building
00:21:03.36\00:21:05.89
in the classrooms cleaning
and getting ready for Sabbath.
00:21:05.89\00:21:09.56
But that day,
there was nobody there.
00:21:09.56\00:21:12.60
And the wind came up,
00:21:12.60\00:21:15.47
you could see
the rain was coming.
00:21:15.47\00:21:17.77
And all of a sudden, we
heard this big snap, snap, snap,
00:21:17.77\00:21:20.68
and then we ran to
the front of the kitchen
00:21:20.68\00:21:23.35
to look out to see
what was coming down.
00:21:23.35\00:21:25.35
And there came a
90 foot mango tree
00:21:25.35\00:21:30.15
right at center
over our new building
00:21:30.15\00:21:33.42
and smashed it
completely to the ground.
00:21:33.42\00:21:37.03
With the branches and everything
00:21:37.03\00:21:39.03
the entire building came down.
00:21:39.03\00:21:42.16
There was nothing left.
00:21:42.16\00:21:43.73
Wow.
00:21:43.73\00:21:44.80
And we just sat there
with our mouths open going,
00:21:44.80\00:21:47.54
"God is good."
00:21:47.54\00:21:50.27
If those students
hadn't gone home that day,
00:21:50.27\00:21:53.41
people would have been killed.
00:21:53.41\00:21:56.88
But nobody was injured.
00:21:56.88\00:21:58.88
We went right out
and started cleaning up,
00:21:58.88\00:22:01.05
and within two weeks, we
had a brand new classroom.
00:22:01.05\00:22:04.32
Wow.
00:22:04.32\00:22:05.35
The students for just so...
00:22:05.35\00:22:08.06
They worked hard
but they got it up.
00:22:08.06\00:22:10.69
And it was good for them
00:22:10.69\00:22:12.73
'cause they learned
how to build even better.
00:22:12.73\00:22:16.23
So the first time
you built that building,
00:22:16.23\00:22:17.70
do you have any
idea what it cost you
00:22:17.70\00:22:19.47
to build the building?
00:22:19.47\00:22:20.90
I believe it was around $400.
00:22:20.90\00:22:24.81
I think that's what
you told me at the time.
00:22:24.81\00:22:26.01
Yeah, I believe
it was around $400.
00:22:26.01\00:22:28.44
The second building
cost us a grand total of 10.
00:22:28.44\00:22:32.78
Wow.
00:22:32.78\00:22:34.78
Because you could
reuse the materials,
00:22:34.78\00:22:36.69
or you could get
everything from the jungle,
00:22:36.69\00:22:38.12
or what was, it depends.
00:22:38.12\00:22:39.15
We could reuse some of
it, but the difference was
00:22:39.15\00:22:41.02
is that we knew how
to make things by then.
00:22:41.02\00:22:44.56
So we knew how to
make our own leaf panels,
00:22:44.56\00:22:46.49
and we knew how
to do our own thing.
00:22:46.49\00:22:48.13
So all we had to
buy was some more nails.
00:22:48.13\00:22:50.90
Wow. Yeah.
00:22:50.90\00:22:52.27
Wow.
00:22:52.27\00:22:53.30
So God blessed even
though there was destruction,
00:22:53.30\00:22:55.84
and it seemed like loss
of property at the beginning,
00:22:55.84\00:22:57.97
there was no loss of life.
00:22:57.97\00:22:59.24
There was no loss of life.
00:22:59.24\00:23:00.48
And we made the second
building much better and bigger.
00:23:00.48\00:23:04.71
And cheaper. And cheaper.
00:23:04.71\00:23:06.35
And there were
no more mango trees
00:23:06.35\00:23:07.68
to fall on the building.
00:23:07.68\00:23:08.98
So after that we
call that mango hall
00:23:08.98\00:23:11.12
just to remind us
00:23:11.12\00:23:12.35
of how good God is to
take care of us so well.
00:23:12.35\00:23:16.39
Wow. Well, I think at this
time we have a little video.
00:23:16.39\00:23:20.06
Do you want to tell us about it?
00:23:20.06\00:23:21.90
This video, Jon took
when he came to visit us.
00:23:21.90\00:23:25.17
And as, you know,
no words or anything
00:23:25.17\00:23:27.67
but it just kind of
shows a little snapshot
00:23:27.67\00:23:29.60
of what our school was like.
00:23:29.60\00:23:31.37
Okay, we will
play that at this time.
00:23:31.37\00:23:32.94
Okay.
00:23:32.94\00:23:34.08
Well, that was
a beautiful place.
00:27:17.23\00:27:19.00
That video, I'm
sure, just barely captures
00:27:19.00\00:27:21.64
a little bit of
what it was like there.
00:27:21.64\00:27:23.54
Yeah, it just
shows a little bit.
00:27:23.54\00:27:27.11
Well, I know that not
long after that whole incident
00:27:27.11\00:27:30.71
with the mango tree,
00:27:30.71\00:27:32.28
you were forced to
leave this beautiful place.
00:27:32.28\00:27:35.18
And I know that
we don't have time
00:27:35.18\00:27:37.32
for that story in this show.
00:27:37.32\00:27:39.65
So I want you to
join us next week
00:27:39.65\00:27:42.32
for the rest of the
story of Lisa and her family,
00:27:42.32\00:27:45.53
and where God has
led them from there.
00:27:45.53\00:27:48.70
If you have been impressed
00:27:48.70\00:27:50.33
to give to
support this ministry,
00:27:50.33\00:27:53.27
you can send your
tax deductible love gift
00:27:53.27\00:27:55.54
to Jesus for Asia,
00:27:55.54\00:27:57.11
PO Box 1221,
Collegedale, Tennessee 37315.
00:27:57.11\00:28:02.08
Call us at 423-413-7321
00:28:02.08\00:28:06.28
or visit our
website at Jesus4asia.org.
00:28:06.28\00:28:09.75
May God richly bless you
00:28:09.75\00:28:11.12
until we see you again next week
00:28:11.12\00:28:12.99
on Jesus for Asia Now.
00:28:12.99\00:28:14.36