Hello, and welcome
to Jesus for Asia Now.
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I'm Natalie Wood, and I have
a special guest with me today.
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But first, I
want to share with you
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one of her favorite texts.
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That is Isaiah 50:7,
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"For the Lord God will help me,
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therefore shall I
not be confounded:
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therefore have I set
my face like a flint,
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and I know that I
shall not be ashamed.
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Isaiah 50:7.
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I want to introduce you
to our special guest today,
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and that is Lisa Sharon.
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Welcome, Lisa. Thank you.
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Now this is part two.
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We've already
done one show talking
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about how you got
into the mission field
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and what's
happened in the first years
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that you were there.
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And we want to take it, kind of,
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we'll start a little bit before
we finished the last time,
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but we want to
go on in the story,
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because the
Lord has done so much
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in your lives in
the last couple years
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that we want to be amplified
and we want to be shared.
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And we finished the
last show talking about
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how a huge mango tree came down
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on one of the
buildings on the mango hall
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which is what it
was named afterward.
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It was the school
building and the boys' dorm,
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but no one was inside,
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and God had protected everybody.
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And we want to start there
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because what happened after that
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is kind of traumatic,
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and I know at the
time, it must have been,
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kind of, frightening actually.
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A little bit, it was.
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So was it soon after this?
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I don't really
remember how many months,
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it was several
months afterwards.
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It was towards the
end of the school year.
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When my husband and
I were getting ready
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to go to town for the night,
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because we
always went into town,
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write our
emails, did our shopping,
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and then came back so
that we could be ready
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for the next school week.
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While we were just
walking off the path
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when we saw a
large group of soldiers
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and important looking people
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standing up by mango hall.
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And we were little surprised,
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but we went up
there and they informed us
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that the laws in
Thailand had changed,
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and that we were no
longer allowed to have a school
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in on the forest property.
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And so they said that
we would have to move.
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And they were very nice.
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I mean, once they realized that
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we weren't there to
cause any problems or anything,
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they were just
really, really sweet.
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We really
appreciated them a lot.
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But the following week,
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we were on our way up
the river in the boat,
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and we saw a
large boat of soldiers
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this time with big guns.
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It's a little bit intimidating,
but they told us to pull over,
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and so we pulled over
and got out on the sandbar,
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and they made us
stand there and they said,
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"You have one week
to move the school."
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They had already sent
all of our students home,
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and so it was just, I believe,
the nine of us that were there.
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Four of them are children,
so there's five adults.
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We had mango hall which
was a very large building,
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we had our
kitchen, we had our house,
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we had the girls' dorm,
we had a whole hydro system,
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and a solar
system, and two outhouses.
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And they said,
"You have one week
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to clear the jungle,
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get all of your buildings,
all of your things and move."
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So there could be like no
trace that you had been there?
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No trace that we'd been there.
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Except that the
jungle was cut, of course.
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Yeah. Wow.
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And so, we went home
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and we started
trying the impossible.
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We figured it
out, we had two days
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to move each building
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because, two, four, six, yeah,
'cause that was the Sunday,
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and we had to be done by Friday
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because we
wouldn't work on Sabbath.
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Right. And so we started.
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It was the
beginning of hot season,
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so it was very, very hot.
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We were up on the
side of a mountain,
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and then we had a narrow pathway
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that went down to the river
where we had our little boat.
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And our boat is like...
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Well, you can see pictures of it
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that it's not very
big, it's more like a canoe,
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you know, with a motor on it.
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Anyway, so we had
to carry everything
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down that pathway
all the way to the river,
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put in the boat,
and then take the boat
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about a kilometer up
the river to where...
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They've given us permission
to put all of our stuff
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on the shore of the river
right next to the village.
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And so we started, we tried.
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I mean, we were
working our hardest,
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but it was an
impossible situation.
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It was just, you know, it was...
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First of all, it
was heartbreaking
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to have to lose
our school this way,
00:05:07.67\00:05:10.04
but the amount of work,
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I mean, that's a
lot of buildings.
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It's a lot of materials.
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And to not only
dismantle the buildings
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but then to transport
them, it was a lot of work.
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But we were busy
tearing apart mango hall.
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And one
afternoon, and we looked up,
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and there coming down
the path was 18 young people.
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Some of them are our students.
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Somehow, the word
had gotten back to them
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what was happening with us.
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And they said, "You know what?
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Whether we get
in trouble or not,
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we have to go help."
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And so people that
we didn't even know,
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kids that we never
even met were there.
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And they've been
hiking for six hours
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to get to the school.
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And they just
got right in there,
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and they started
carrying loads down to the river
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and taking it up.
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Some people had
to hike up the river,
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it wasn't too
deep, except in places,
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there were places
where it was a rear head,
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but they then
tied the logs together,
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all our posts
where the houses in them,
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hauled them up
the river with a rope.
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That's hard work,
'cause it's a very swift river.
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It's swift and
it's heavy, heavy wood,
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that's why they
had to do it that way
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instead of in the boat.
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Yeah, they were
too heavy for the boat,
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we couldn't do it that way.
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Anyway, they got
it all moved out.
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On Friday morning,
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we were just
taking the very last load
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of stuff down to the boat
when the soldiers came again.
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And they just kind of like
looked with their mouths open.
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They were like,
"How did you do this?"
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Even they didn't
think it was possible,
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but God did the
impossible and it was all moved.
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Wow.
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What followed was probably
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the most miserable
month of our lives.
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And I believed that
that was God's plan.
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I mean, that
sounds kind of strange.
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But there was this boat grandpa,
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that's what we call him,
00:07:03.39\00:07:04.85
we don't use names over
there, usually we give titles.
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So the boat grandpa had asked...
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He was a grandpa,
and he had a boat?
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Yeah, he was a grandpa.
Yeah, and he had a boat.
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And he would take
you places if you...
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And so hence why he is
called the boat grandpa.
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Right.
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He had a piece of
property down there
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that he really
wanted to give us.
00:07:20.67\00:07:22.14
And so we were camping
on that piece of property,
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trying to get
permission to move there,
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but the village leader said,
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"No, I don't want you there
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because it's too far
away from the village that
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that piece of
property belonged to."
00:07:31.88\00:07:33.65
He wanted us to live right
in the middle of his village,
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not way out like that.
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And so we were
camping down there.
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And I was really disappointed
because I was thinking,
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you know, if I have to
leave our perfect place
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for the school, at
least this is second best,
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you know, still by the river,
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you can still go up and
down the river in the boat,
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it doesn't hurt my back.
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But that place was closed down.
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And I was like
almost fuming about it.
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I was like, "Why
is this happening,
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you know, why do I
have to lose everything?"
00:08:02.54\00:08:05.45
But then, all of us
got hives, I mean, like,
00:08:05.45\00:08:11.52
"Oh, my poor kids,"
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their faces were just
covered in welts and splotches,
00:08:12.95\00:08:16.69
and they could hardly breathe.
00:08:16.69\00:08:19.23
And by this time,
my husband had left,
00:08:19.23\00:08:21.56
and our
volunteers had left to go...
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They had other
things that they had to do.
00:08:26.20\00:08:28.24
My husband had gone down to
help Travis for a few weeks.
00:08:28.24\00:08:31.27
And then, Jason was
looking for property,
00:08:31.27\00:08:33.98
he had found a
place up on the mountain.
00:08:33.98\00:08:36.28
So he was up at the mountain
00:08:36.28\00:08:37.61
trying to put together
something for us to live in.
00:08:37.61\00:08:40.82
And so I had all the girls
down by the river by myself,
00:08:40.82\00:08:43.82
and I had no transportation.
00:08:43.82\00:08:46.45
There was no way
to get out of there.
00:08:46.45\00:08:47.92
No communication,
00:08:47.92\00:08:48.99
there's no phones
or anything down there,
00:08:48.99\00:08:50.93
and no transportation.
00:08:50.93\00:08:53.96
Two of the girls
not only had hives,
00:08:53.96\00:08:56.00
but then they got malaria.
00:08:56.00\00:08:57.47
Oh boy.
00:08:57.47\00:08:58.77
And we didn't have
any water on that place.
00:08:58.77\00:09:01.40
We had to walk about
half a mile to get water.
00:09:01.40\00:09:05.87
Well, that was one thing,
it's so hot during that time,
00:09:05.87\00:09:09.88
it's like 120 down there.
00:09:09.88\00:09:12.68
And so we go down
to the river everyday
00:09:12.68\00:09:15.28
and try to cool
off in the river,
00:09:15.28\00:09:16.82
but then it started
raining just a few times
00:09:16.82\00:09:20.66
but that turns the
river dark brown and angry.
00:09:20.66\00:09:24.23
Getting huge, yeah.
00:09:24.23\00:09:25.26
And I can't have
the girls at the river
00:09:25.26\00:09:27.36
when it's dark brown and angry.
00:09:27.36\00:09:28.36
Especially not
the little ones, yeah.
00:09:28.36\00:09:30.20
And so we
couldn't cool off anymore.
00:09:30.20\00:09:33.97
And then, to top
things off, we were living in,
00:09:33.97\00:09:36.57
we had taken a tarp and
we'd made a tent out of it.
00:09:36.57\00:09:39.61
And always and all these bees,
00:09:39.61\00:09:41.54
I mean, there were
hundreds of bees in my tent,
00:09:41.54\00:09:44.41
and I was so miserable.
00:09:44.41\00:09:47.08
When Jason finally
came back to get us,
00:09:47.08\00:09:49.78
I'm just like,
00:09:49.78\00:09:50.89
"Get me out of here.
00:09:50.89\00:09:52.05
I don't want anything to do
with this place ever again."
00:09:52.05\00:09:55.09
And I think that's
what God needed to do for me
00:09:55.09\00:09:57.93
to make me willing to move.
00:09:57.93\00:10:00.63
So we moved seven
kilometers up the mountain,
00:10:00.63\00:10:04.13
up on top
00:10:04.13\00:10:05.30
where it was much
cooler all of a sudden.
00:10:05.30\00:10:07.47
And I hadn't realized
how nice that would be.
00:10:07.47\00:10:12.04
It was cooler, and we
were close to a village.
00:10:12.04\00:10:16.54
So we moved up there,
00:10:16.54\00:10:18.28
and we had to start
building all over again.
00:10:18.28\00:10:21.85
Our original thought was,
00:10:21.85\00:10:23.49
"Well, we'll just
rebuild the school up here
00:10:23.49\00:10:25.19
and we'll have a school."
00:10:25.19\00:10:26.22
But we got the
classroom almost done
00:10:26.22\00:10:29.56
when we found out that
00:10:29.56\00:10:30.89
the government
wouldn't allow that.
00:10:30.89\00:10:33.43
So we could no
longer have a school.
00:10:33.43\00:10:35.30
Okay.
00:10:35.30\00:10:36.90
And so then, you know,
it's like we found ourselves
00:10:36.90\00:10:41.80
swinging in hammocks going so...
00:10:41.80\00:10:44.94
Just hanging out.
00:10:44.94\00:10:46.11
"What are we supposed to do?"
00:10:46.11\00:10:47.64
I mean, "What's
our purpose now?"
00:10:47.64\00:10:50.01
And you know, rainy
season had started by then.
00:10:50.01\00:10:53.95
And you know, I
was teaching the girls
00:10:53.95\00:10:56.02
and taking care of them
00:10:56.02\00:10:57.05
but I felt like I
wasn't doing anything.
00:10:57.05\00:11:00.19
So I prayed, and
prayed, and prayed about that.
00:11:00.19\00:11:04.19
It was just so devastating.
00:11:04.19\00:11:06.70
It was the hardest thing
00:11:06.70\00:11:07.96
I think I've
ever had to go through
00:11:07.96\00:11:09.23
to lose our students,
and lose our perfect school
00:11:09.23\00:11:11.80
and everything was setup,
00:11:11.80\00:11:13.64
so it's comfortable down there.
00:11:13.64\00:11:15.57
And to be in a village
00:11:15.57\00:11:17.77
where we didn't
speak the same language
00:11:17.77\00:11:19.37
as the villagers,
they speak Pwo Karen
00:11:19.37\00:11:21.51
and we speak Sgaw,
00:11:21.51\00:11:24.01
and the people
were afraid of us,
00:11:24.01\00:11:26.65
so we could see them looking
at us through the bushes,
00:11:26.65\00:11:28.95
but they weren't
like, being really friendly
00:11:28.95\00:11:31.02
or coming to see us or anything.
00:11:31.02\00:11:32.92
And with Asia, it's
all about relationship.
00:11:32.92\00:11:37.13
And so you have to take
time to develop relationships
00:11:37.13\00:11:43.00
before they will trust
you and after come to you
00:11:43.00\00:11:45.97
and make and be friends.
00:11:45.97\00:11:48.84
Yeah, it's different than
it is here in America but...
00:11:48.84\00:11:52.11
Yeah.
00:11:52.11\00:11:54.18
So we didn't know
what our purpose was,
00:11:54.18\00:11:55.98
and we just prayed,
and prayed, and prayed.
00:11:55.98\00:11:59.61
And every time I would
pray about it, asking God,
00:11:59.61\00:12:02.35
"I want something," you know,
00:12:02.35\00:12:04.29
teaching school is so rewarding.
00:12:04.29\00:12:06.62
You know, when you
have students coming to you
00:12:06.62\00:12:08.76
and they are telling you
how much they appreciate you.
00:12:08.76\00:12:12.23
And, you know,
learning about God,
00:12:12.23\00:12:15.03
and seeing the
changes in their lives,
00:12:15.03\00:12:16.77
it's so rewarding.
00:12:16.77\00:12:17.83
But just taking care of orphans,
00:12:17.83\00:12:20.07
that's a little
different, you know,
00:12:20.07\00:12:21.94
you kind of start feeling
like, "Am I doing any good?
00:12:21.94\00:12:25.84
Are they ever get, you know,
00:12:25.84\00:12:27.44
get their lives
straighten around?"
00:12:27.44\00:12:29.58
But every time I would
pray about it, God would say,
00:12:29.58\00:12:32.68
"Your kids are
your number one job."
00:12:32.68\00:12:35.52
Even if it was
just the four of them
00:12:35.52\00:12:37.35
at home right then,
00:12:37.35\00:12:39.22
they are so important to God
00:12:39.22\00:12:41.59
that He would take me
halfway around the world
00:12:41.59\00:12:45.26
just to take care of them.
00:12:45.26\00:12:46.33
To become their mother.
00:12:46.33\00:12:47.50
Just to be their mom.
00:12:47.50\00:12:50.40
And, you know,
that takes surrender,
00:12:50.40\00:12:53.00
because it's easy to be
out in front of everybody,
00:12:53.00\00:12:55.60
and be doing
something really active
00:12:55.60\00:12:59.01
and what everybody
else thinks is important.
00:12:59.01\00:13:01.98
And what people can
see a lot, you know.
00:13:01.98\00:13:03.81
Yeah, what people
can see and measure.
00:13:03.81\00:13:05.85
But just being the
mom is like, you know,
00:13:05.85\00:13:10.72
it's the most
important job I could do,
00:13:10.72\00:13:13.52
but it's also one
of the harder things
00:13:13.52\00:13:16.59
because there's
really no reward in it.
00:13:16.59\00:13:18.66
At least, it doesn't
feel like it at the time.
00:13:18.66\00:13:22.03
There's little things.
00:13:22.03\00:13:23.23
Yeah, little things.
00:13:23.23\00:13:24.83
But it's not like a huge...
00:13:24.83\00:13:26.67
Yeah.
00:13:26.67\00:13:27.70
You know, rewarding
things day after day after day,
00:13:27.70\00:13:31.01
you see the light
in their eyes and...
00:13:31.01\00:13:33.34
Yeah, yeah.
00:13:33.34\00:13:35.61
So it was probably
a very difficult year.
00:13:35.61\00:13:40.18
But you know, I've
learned through the years
00:13:40.18\00:13:42.92
that if we surrender
to God, He gives us joy,
00:13:42.92\00:13:47.86
and that reward
is so much greater
00:13:47.86\00:13:50.03
than it would have been.
00:13:50.03\00:13:51.79
And so I
thought, "Well, you know,
00:13:51.79\00:13:55.03
if I'm going to just spend
my time only with my girls,
00:13:55.03\00:13:58.17
then I'm going
to do a good job."
00:13:58.17\00:14:01.37
And so I really
worked it doing a good job,
00:14:01.37\00:14:03.37
and during that year
that I thought was wasted,
00:14:03.37\00:14:07.34
both of my teenage
girls were baptized.
00:14:07.34\00:14:11.45
And my daughter-in-law
was also baptized,
00:14:11.45\00:14:13.82
I mean, she wasn't baptized
00:14:13.82\00:14:14.88
but she came in by
profession of faith.
00:14:14.88\00:14:17.79
And so she wasn't my
daughter-in-law at that time
00:14:17.79\00:14:20.26
but she is now.
00:14:20.26\00:14:22.69
Anyway, so that was
when I look back on it,
00:14:22.69\00:14:25.79
now I can see that
we needed that time.
00:14:25.79\00:14:27.76
We needed that time
to rest and recuperate,
00:14:27.76\00:14:31.23
and we needed that
time with our kids.
00:14:31.23\00:14:33.57
To connect with them all.
00:14:33.57\00:14:34.64
To really connect with them.
00:14:34.64\00:14:35.94
Yeah.
00:14:35.94\00:14:36.97
What happened next,
the next part of the story,
00:14:36.97\00:14:39.64
once I was surrendered,
then God could use us.
00:14:39.64\00:14:44.28
Well, it wasn't
too long after that,
00:14:44.28\00:14:46.75
and one of our
neighbors came over
00:14:46.75\00:14:50.32
and she was talking to my girls.
00:14:50.32\00:14:53.15
And she said, her dad had
been sick for like a month.
00:14:53.15\00:14:55.82
And I thought,
00:14:55.82\00:14:58.06
"Well," I mean, I don't
know what's wrong with him
00:14:58.06\00:15:00.70
but I could at least go check.
00:15:00.70\00:15:02.16
I mean, I can at
least pray for him.
00:15:02.16\00:15:04.20
And so I got
out my medical book,
00:15:04.20\00:15:08.67
my natural
remedies encyclopedia,
00:15:08.67\00:15:11.21
and I had to eat
lunch before I could go.
00:15:11.21\00:15:13.14
And so I was sitting there
at lunch looking at my book,
00:15:13.14\00:15:15.74
and I just opened
up to acute bronchitis.
00:15:15.74\00:15:18.35
And so I was
reading through that.
00:15:18.35\00:15:19.88
And then we got in
the truck and we went.
00:15:19.88\00:15:23.12
And when we got down there,
that man had acute bronchitis.
00:15:23.12\00:15:26.99
And I just...
00:15:26.99\00:15:28.16
I have no confidence.
00:15:28.16\00:15:29.92
I'm just thinking,
00:15:29.92\00:15:31.09
"What if he
doesn't want my help?
00:15:31.09\00:15:33.09
I mean, what if...
00:15:33.09\00:15:34.73
I should just take
him to the hospital
00:15:34.73\00:15:36.30
'cause he's really sick."
00:15:36.30\00:15:38.10
And the head woman turned to me,
00:15:38.10\00:15:39.30
she had gone on this trip too.
00:15:39.30\00:15:41.00
She said, "If
you can do something,
00:15:41.00\00:15:42.64
you need to do it.
00:15:42.64\00:15:43.67
We don't know anything,
00:15:43.67\00:15:44.84
and he's too sick to
take him to the hospital
00:15:44.84\00:15:47.48
'cause the roads are terrible
00:15:47.48\00:15:49.01
and it's a long
way to the hospital."
00:15:49.01\00:15:51.48
I had from years and years ago
00:15:51.48\00:15:54.15
somebody given me some
things for that type of problem,
00:15:54.15\00:15:58.39
so I started giving it to him.
00:15:58.39\00:16:00.22
And I was just so amazed
00:16:00.22\00:16:03.06
at how God had shown me
00:16:03.06\00:16:04.66
exactly what the
information I needed.
00:16:04.66\00:16:07.03
He had given me
the right medicine
00:16:07.03\00:16:09.40
years before,
00:16:09.40\00:16:11.10
and I had exactly what I
needed for that situation.
00:16:11.10\00:16:15.27
And that's kind
of where it started.
00:16:15.27\00:16:18.01
But it got to be so intense
that I was going to the village
00:16:18.01\00:16:21.68
like every day.
00:16:21.68\00:16:23.61
I get to spend
all day in the village
00:16:23.61\00:16:25.25
going from house
to house to house
00:16:25.25\00:16:26.72
treating all these
people that needed help.
00:16:26.72\00:16:29.35
I mean, there's a lot of them,
00:16:29.35\00:16:30.85
like they'd have sores or
rashes, or things like that.
00:16:30.85\00:16:36.26
And I say, "Well, how
long has this been like this?"
00:16:36.26\00:16:39.09
They say, "Three years."
00:16:39.09\00:16:42.36
And I was...
00:16:42.36\00:16:44.70
I mean, it just makes you sick.
00:16:44.70\00:16:46.33
Yeah.
00:16:46.33\00:16:47.40
And I said,
00:16:47.40\00:16:48.47
"Well, why don't
you go to the hospital?"
00:16:48.47\00:16:49.84
And they said,
"We've been to the hospital,
00:16:49.84\00:16:51.47
they can't help us."
00:16:51.47\00:16:53.01
Oh, my...
00:16:53.01\00:16:54.48
And one of the things
that happened was that
00:16:54.48\00:16:58.01
when I'd first started,
00:16:58.01\00:17:01.55
I'd gone 'cause I, you know,
00:17:01.55\00:17:03.12
we've just moved up
there the year before,
00:17:03.12\00:17:05.39
and I hadn't ever
needed my medical supplies,
00:17:05.39\00:17:07.76
but I thought, you know, I
should probably unpack them
00:17:07.76\00:17:09.86
and get them out just in case.
00:17:09.86\00:17:12.06
So I unpacked everything
00:17:12.06\00:17:13.80
and I notice that
every single one of my drugs,
00:17:13.80\00:17:17.40
any normal traditional
type medicine was ruined.
00:17:17.40\00:17:22.64
The only thing I
have left was natural.
00:17:22.64\00:17:25.41
So I felt like God
was just telling me
00:17:25.41\00:17:27.44
that I should
use natural remedies.
00:17:27.44\00:17:30.21
And then I found out that
it's actually illegal for me
00:17:30.21\00:17:33.35
to use drugs
00:17:33.35\00:17:34.72
because if the hospital
can't give it to them, I can't.
00:17:34.72\00:17:37.42
Okay.
00:17:37.42\00:17:38.62
And so that was,
00:17:38.62\00:17:40.36
that was another confirmation
00:17:40.36\00:17:41.89
that what I was doing
was what God want me to do.
00:17:41.89\00:17:43.39
Wow.
00:17:43.39\00:17:44.46
But I was so
busy that, once again,
00:17:44.46\00:17:49.00
I had a dilemma on my hands.
00:17:49.00\00:17:51.33
It's like, "Am I in
the village all the time
00:17:51.33\00:17:53.77
and ignoring my girls?
00:17:53.77\00:17:55.84
Or do I spend
that time with my girls
00:17:55.84\00:17:58.57
and let the patients
come to me for the most part?"
00:17:58.57\00:18:02.31
And I realized that God
was asking me to stay home
00:18:02.31\00:18:05.81
with my girls.
00:18:05.81\00:18:07.65
And so what we decided to do is,
00:18:07.65\00:18:13.05
my older girls would go
into the village with Becky,
00:18:13.05\00:18:17.43
she's working with me.
00:18:17.43\00:18:19.13
And they would find the
people that needed help,
00:18:19.13\00:18:25.30
and if they were
too sick to come to me,
00:18:25.30\00:18:29.74
then I would go to them.
00:18:29.74\00:18:31.67
But if they weren't,
then they could come to me.
00:18:31.67\00:18:35.08
And so most of the time,
and then I have my girls,
00:18:35.08\00:18:37.55
I've been teaching them
how to mix up the medicines,
00:18:37.55\00:18:40.92
natural medicines,
00:18:40.92\00:18:42.32
and you know, if
we do a poultice,
00:18:42.32\00:18:44.39
I've taught them how to do them.
00:18:44.39\00:18:45.72
And so that if
there's treatments
00:18:45.72\00:18:46.92
that have to
happen every single day
00:18:46.92\00:18:48.99
that they can go into
the village themselves
00:18:48.99\00:18:50.26
and do it.
00:18:50.26\00:18:51.33
Okay.
00:18:51.33\00:18:52.46
In that way my two little
ones always have mommy around.
00:18:52.46\00:18:55.53
Wow.
00:18:55.53\00:18:56.83
So now the villagers
can come on the porch,
00:18:56.83\00:18:59.83
and they come and join
you for worships, and...
00:18:59.83\00:19:02.80
Another thing that
we decided to do is,
00:19:02.80\00:19:06.51
I got this idea
when my son got married,
00:19:06.51\00:19:09.61
he and his wife's
sister is an artist.
00:19:09.61\00:19:13.55
And I thought,
"Oh, wouldn't it be fun
00:19:13.55\00:19:15.22
to turn my whole house
into a witness for God."
00:19:15.22\00:19:22.16
And so we asked
her to come back,
00:19:22.16\00:19:23.86
and she came back last
March, and she painted my walls.
00:19:23.86\00:19:28.90
And we put Bible verses in Thai
above the whole living room.
00:19:28.90\00:19:33.84
She painted like
a tree and a pot,
00:19:33.84\00:19:36.67
and there's a hanging plant
and a cat with a butterfly,
00:19:36.67\00:19:39.34
and then across the middle of it
00:19:39.34\00:19:41.38
is Psalms 103:8 in Thai,
00:19:41.38\00:19:46.18
and then
underneath it in English.
00:19:46.18\00:19:48.45
And then above the piano
we have another Bible verse,
00:19:48.45\00:19:50.72
and then in the kitchen
00:19:50.72\00:19:52.45
we're gonna put a
Bible verse there,
00:19:52.45\00:19:53.69
but she just drew...
00:19:53.69\00:19:55.26
she painted a
window with a jungle scene
00:19:55.26\00:19:57.63
and things outside of it.
00:19:57.63\00:19:59.63
So when people
come into my house,
00:19:59.63\00:20:02.80
you know, they're
sitting on the porch
00:20:02.80\00:20:04.30
because they're too shy
to come into the living room,
00:20:04.30\00:20:07.17
but they see this whole
wall with Psalms 103:8 on it.
00:20:07.17\00:20:12.14
And it's...
00:20:12.14\00:20:14.44
It is a huge witness to them.
00:20:14.44\00:20:17.18
Wow.
00:20:17.18\00:20:18.35
Because, yeah,
it's one of those...
00:20:18.35\00:20:21.18
And you see them
just glancing at it,
00:20:21.18\00:20:23.02
and they look at it,
and they think about it,
00:20:23.02\00:20:25.12
and it will say a whole
lot that you just see...
00:20:25.12\00:20:27.89
So do you have any
special stories of people
00:20:31.99\00:20:35.03
that you've been able to help
00:20:35.03\00:20:36.77
that God has healed
through the natural remedies?
00:20:36.77\00:20:41.00
It's amazing.
00:20:41.00\00:20:42.30
I was shocked when I found out
00:20:42.30\00:20:45.07
how powerful those
natural remedies are.
00:20:45.07\00:20:48.34
There's been a lot
of them, a lot of them.
00:20:48.34\00:20:50.95
But one that was
really exciting to me
00:20:50.95\00:20:53.38
was this man, he had gotten...
00:20:53.38\00:20:54.95
He was in his rice field,
00:20:54.95\00:20:56.02
and they cut the
bushes in the rice field.
00:20:56.02\00:20:58.42
And when he cut a bush,
it like, fell off the stump
00:20:58.42\00:21:03.12
and it jammed him into the leg.
00:21:03.12\00:21:06.49
And when he came to me,
his whole leg was just huge,
00:21:06.49\00:21:09.90
and it was so
infected, it looked...
00:21:09.90\00:21:14.60
So he didn't come
to you right away?
00:21:14.60\00:21:16.20
No, he didn't
come to me right away,
00:21:16.20\00:21:17.71
he'd already
been to the hospital,
00:21:17.71\00:21:19.61
and they said that they had
already gotten everything out.
00:21:19.61\00:21:22.81
But it was so infected
00:21:22.81\00:21:24.78
that I was afraid he
was gonna lose his leg.
00:21:24.78\00:21:26.82
Oh, wow.
00:21:26.82\00:21:27.88
And I'm thinking,
"Who am I to do this?"
00:21:27.88\00:21:30.79
You know, but I
thought, "You know what?
00:21:30.79\00:21:32.79
I can do charcoal
flaxseed poultices,
00:21:32.79\00:21:35.06
and we'll do that twice a day."
00:21:35.06\00:21:36.09
And so I got him
starting on that,
00:21:36.09\00:21:37.43
plus garlic and
things that would help
00:21:37.43\00:21:39.86
with the infection.
00:21:39.86\00:21:41.90
And twice a day we
had to go to the village
00:21:41.90\00:21:44.27
and do these poultices on him,
00:21:44.27\00:21:45.90
and you know, I got rid
of, you know, took weeks.
00:21:45.90\00:21:49.24
But after about
two and a half weeks,
00:21:49.24\00:21:52.54
we've gotten the leg
down to where there was
00:21:52.54\00:21:54.88
just a little bit
of infection left.
00:21:54.88\00:21:57.38
But I could not get rid of
the rest of that infection.
00:21:57.38\00:22:01.35
I worked on it,
and worked on it,
00:22:01.35\00:22:02.88
and worked on
it, and finally he...
00:22:02.88\00:22:04.65
I told him, I said, "You know,
you need to go to the hospital
00:22:04.65\00:22:07.62
and have this opened up
00:22:07.62\00:22:09.49
so they can get
rid of this infection
00:22:09.49\00:22:12.16
because we've done
everything and we can't do it."
00:22:12.16\00:22:14.76
Seems like there's still
00:22:14.76\00:22:15.86
something in
there, or something...
00:22:15.86\00:22:17.10
Yes, something,
it was just wrong.
00:22:17.10\00:22:20.17
We figured there had
to be something in it.
00:22:20.17\00:22:22.30
And he told me, "No."
00:22:22.30\00:22:24.17
He was the most stubborn man.
00:22:24.17\00:22:25.81
He's like, "No, if
it needs to be cut open,
00:22:25.81\00:22:28.48
you do it."
00:22:28.48\00:22:29.51
Oh, boy.
00:22:29.51\00:22:30.58
He's like, "I'm not
going to the hospital."
00:22:30.58\00:22:32.95
And I'm like, "Well,
I'm not cutting it open."
00:22:32.95\00:22:36.02
And so we went another week,
00:22:36.02\00:22:38.69
and he still
wouldn't go to the hospital,
00:22:38.69\00:22:40.36
and it still
needed to be cut open.
00:22:40.36\00:22:42.22
And so finally I talked
to my son about it, I'm like,
00:22:42.22\00:22:45.79
"If you'll do the cutting,
00:22:45.79\00:22:47.30
you know, I'll
tell you what to do.
00:22:47.30\00:22:50.13
We have Lidocaine, I
think we can do this."
00:22:50.13\00:22:52.57
And so we had him come
over, and we were so careful,
00:22:52.57\00:22:55.50
we cut just a tiny little bit
00:22:55.50\00:22:57.91
and try to look and
try to squeeze it out
00:22:57.91\00:23:01.08
'cause there was
still a hole in his leg
00:23:01.08\00:23:02.78
where the stick
had gone in originally.
00:23:02.78\00:23:05.81
And we had to cut a little more,
00:23:05.81\00:23:07.92
and a little
more, and a little more,
00:23:07.92\00:23:09.52
and finally we got
out a piece of bark,
00:23:09.52\00:23:11.99
and I was so excited,
it's like, "Yay, we got it."
00:23:11.99\00:23:14.76
You know, we got
this piece of bark out.
00:23:14.76\00:23:16.56
So I put people paste on it.
00:23:16.56\00:23:18.26
I didn't know how to
do suturing at that point.
00:23:18.26\00:23:20.30
And so, we put people
paste on it and it healed up.
00:23:20.30\00:23:24.43
And I was
thinking, "Wow, we're done."
00:23:24.43\00:23:27.00
Well, so I didn't go do
any more treatments on him.
00:23:27.00\00:23:30.67
But several day
later, he came again,
00:23:30.67\00:23:33.81
and he's like, "You know what?
00:23:33.81\00:23:35.08
Another hole
opened up in my leg."
00:23:35.08\00:23:38.68
I'm like, "Oh, no."
00:23:38.68\00:23:41.08
So I had him sit
down on the hammock,
00:23:41.08\00:23:42.78
and I'm looking at it,
00:23:42.78\00:23:44.22
and it wasn't in the same spot,
it was right next to the...
00:23:44.22\00:23:47.06
Where it had been opened before.
00:23:47.06\00:23:49.29
And so I was starting
to clean it and stuff,
00:23:49.29\00:23:52.09
feeling so discouraged
like, "I've tried everything,
00:23:52.09\00:23:56.13
I just failed."
When I was cleaning it,
00:23:56.13\00:23:59.30
I saw that there
was something there.
00:23:59.30\00:24:02.80
So Jason was coming down to
the house at that same time,
00:24:02.80\00:24:05.24
and so I said, "Jason, look!
00:24:05.24\00:24:07.01
I think there's
something in here."
00:24:07.01\00:24:08.74
And he just ran right over,
and he grabbed his tweezers
00:24:08.74\00:24:11.55
and he starts pulling on it.
00:24:11.55\00:24:12.98
And I'm thinking,
"What if it's a tendon?"
00:24:12.98\00:24:14.78
But he started pulling,
and pulling, and puling,
00:24:14.78\00:24:17.39
and pulling,
and he got a sliver,
00:24:17.39\00:24:20.02
that long and about
that wide out of that hole.
00:24:20.02\00:24:25.46
And that man was so excited,
for the first time in a month
00:24:25.46\00:24:29.40
he could walk without pain.
00:24:29.40\00:24:32.30
And the next day, he
insisted on taking that sliver
00:24:32.30\00:24:35.27
and he's showing it to
everybody in the village,
00:24:35.27\00:24:36.84
"Look what they did."
00:24:36.84\00:24:39.84
Within the next couple of weeks,
00:24:39.84\00:24:41.74
I had four more
little surgeries.
00:24:41.74\00:24:46.51
Word got out.
00:24:46.51\00:24:48.62
The word gets out really fast.
00:24:48.62\00:24:50.25
And as soon as they know
that you care about them enough
00:24:50.25\00:24:53.25
to persist and figuring
out what the problem is,
00:24:53.25\00:24:57.76
people come to me from
all over the place now,
00:24:57.76\00:25:00.83
villages that I don't,
00:25:00.83\00:25:02.00
I've never even been to
we have people coming from.
00:25:02.00\00:25:05.70
And almost all of them
00:25:05.70\00:25:06.84
have already
been to the hospital
00:25:06.84\00:25:09.04
and weren't able to get
the help that they needed.
00:25:09.04\00:25:11.14
Wow.
00:25:11.14\00:25:12.24
So it's like opened
up this huge ministry.
00:25:12.24\00:25:15.71
I'm teaching the girls as
I go talking to them about,
00:25:15.71\00:25:19.45
you know, what I'm
looking for, and what I'm doing,
00:25:19.45\00:25:21.52
and what the
medicine is gonna do, and...
00:25:21.52\00:25:24.45
What herb or what poultice
00:25:24.45\00:25:26.69
that you're
making will do what...
00:25:26.69\00:25:28.02
Yeah.
00:25:28.02\00:25:29.12
A friend of mine
had given me last year
00:25:29.12\00:25:30.86
some books about
natural remedies,
00:25:30.86\00:25:34.20
and different things to
do for different things,
00:25:34.20\00:25:37.03
conditions and stuff.
00:25:37.03\00:25:38.60
And we've been
using those books,
00:25:38.60\00:25:40.10
and it's just
amazing how God has answered.
00:25:40.10\00:25:43.81
I mean, the people
are actually getting well.
00:25:43.81\00:25:45.91
What about the dental
needs of these people?
00:25:45.91\00:25:48.74
Well, that's
another exciting thing.
00:25:48.74\00:25:51.65
We had some
friends that came over
00:25:51.65\00:25:53.42
and did a one
week dental training
00:25:53.42\00:25:55.95
for the missionaries.
00:25:55.95\00:25:57.49
And I wasn't able to go
because I was with my girls.
00:25:57.49\00:26:01.12
But my son, and
his wife, and Becky,
00:26:01.12\00:26:04.83
all went to this training.
00:26:04.83\00:26:07.03
And so now Becky and Shushana
can do dental cleanings,
00:26:07.03\00:26:12.57
and Jason pulls teeth.
00:26:12.57\00:26:14.44
Wow.
00:26:14.44\00:26:16.10
And he's had
quite a few patients
00:26:16.10\00:26:17.57
that he's had to
pull teeth on and then,
00:26:17.57\00:26:19.74
that's a big, huge
blessing for them because,
00:26:19.74\00:26:22.71
you know,
they're in a lot of pain.
00:26:22.71\00:26:24.15
Their mouths are terrible.
00:26:24.15\00:26:27.92
Yeah, they chew
betel nut in that area?
00:26:27.92\00:26:30.32
They chew betel
nuts, and they just...
00:26:30.32\00:26:31.95
Oh, their teeth are awful.
00:26:31.95\00:26:33.02
So their mouths are red
and their teeth are black.
00:26:33.02\00:26:35.12
Yes.
00:26:35.12\00:26:37.63
And it's so sad. It is.
00:26:37.63\00:26:39.83
Yeah. It is.
00:26:39.83\00:26:41.33
I don't mind blood
00:26:41.33\00:26:42.50
but I'm so glad
Jason is the dentist.
00:26:42.50\00:26:47.54
Wow.
00:26:47.54\00:26:48.77
Well, it's been so
awesome to hear the stories,
00:26:48.77\00:26:52.24
and to think about and talk
about what God's been doing.
00:26:52.24\00:26:55.74
Just wondering if
you have one more thought
00:26:55.74\00:26:57.55
you'd like to share or...
00:26:57.55\00:26:59.65
Well, I hope that
somewhere out there
00:26:59.65\00:27:01.92
that there's
people who will realize
00:27:01.92\00:27:05.35
that there is a
lot of work to be done.
00:27:05.35\00:27:07.92
There's a lot of need out there.
00:27:07.92\00:27:09.76
We don't have enough
resources for all the villages
00:27:09.76\00:27:12.56
that need us.
00:27:12.56\00:27:14.40
And it's really
easy to get worn out
00:27:14.40\00:27:17.47
trying to meet all the needs.
00:27:17.47\00:27:19.37
And I know that
God said in the Bible
00:27:19.37\00:27:21.24
that we are supposed to
go and teach all nations.
00:27:21.24\00:27:24.47
We're also
supposed to be like Jesus.
00:27:24.47\00:27:27.34
We're supposed to feed
the hungry and heal the sick.
00:27:27.34\00:27:30.35
That's what He
wants us to be doing.
00:27:30.35\00:27:32.85
And I'm hoping that so
many will feel the burden to go.
00:27:32.85\00:27:36.02
Wow.
00:27:36.02\00:27:39.02
If God is impressing you
to be a part of this ministry
00:27:39.02\00:27:41.72
financially or otherwise,
00:27:41.72\00:27:43.63
please contact us
here at Jesus for Asia,
00:27:43.63\00:27:46.46
PO Box 1221,
Collegedale, Tennessee 37315.
00:27:46.46\00:27:52.23
Call us at (423) 413-7321,
00:27:52.23\00:27:56.84
or visit our
website at Jesus4asia.org.
00:27:56.84\00:28:00.51
There is a lot
of need out there,
00:28:00.51\00:28:02.81
and I ask you to pray
and be a part of God's work.
00:28:02.81\00:28:07.88
May God bless you
until we see you again
00:28:07.88\00:28:09.95
on Jesus for Asia Now.
00:28:09.95\00:28:11.65