Waking up at a Compassion Project

After our evening with the Karen people at the idp camp in Burma, we returned to Thailand and the church where we had previously dropped off all out stuff. This would be where we slept. The church was really a compound with several buildings and houses and our family got our own house apart from everyone else (really nice for avoiding those who snore). 

I was pleasantly surprised to see such a nice set up....mats, blankets, pillows. We had our own sleeping bags, pillow cases and mosquito nets so we were set. (the mosquito nets were probably not necessary, but we used them anyway). We even had our very own squatty potty! Actually, there was a "western" toilet, too, but it had ants crawling all over it. 

We woke up very early, thanks to the resident rooster who would not stop announcing the new day. The girls were outside walking around and then mentioned they had seen a Compassion sign. Folks....I had been trying to figure out how in the world we could get to a Compassion church project while we were in Thailand. I had tried to arrange our meeting with Orm at a Compassion project in Chiang Mai, but it didn't work out. 

God is good....He provided in a way I could not have imagined. We slept at a Compassion church project! Right on the border of Thailand and Burma. This is one of two that Dave has encountered in his work with FBR. I think it's so neat that Compassion and FBR overlap and minister to the same people!

Consistent with what I saw in Peru, Compassion takes the back seat to the local church. This was the only indication I saw that this was a Compassion project. Of course, once I knew, I started seeing evidence...but Compassion does not plaster their name all over the buildings. It's all about the local church and letting the local church take the lead.



Here is the actual building where the church service is held.

And this building appeared to be where a lot of the Compassion related stuff takes place.

They had display boards that had what appeared to have been an art contest. 

And another had what appeared to have been a writing contest.  

This building was locked up, but I'm guessing there are project offices in here. The blue sign has the Compassion project number on it.

This is Dave with Night Flower - the wife of Pastor Edmund who is pastor of this church. We did not meet him, as he was away from the village. But Night Flower is just as much a partner in the ministry of Compassion as her husband is. Dave told us some wonderful stories of how she is a powerful force of evangelism and faith in this community.

In addition to the church, the project building, the offices and the houses, there was this building which appeared to be new. In it were some classrooms for a Bible school (and likely the Compassion children use these classrooms as well). 

My heart was so, so happy to have made this connection. The only thing that would have made it better is if it had been full of children. If I ever go back, I want to take my violin and spend the whole day (Sunday) at the Compassion project, then spend another day or two in the Karen idp camp just across the border.

Here's the water supply....I'm sure on Sundays the kids are lined up getting water to drink.

It appears that this church is used to hosting groups - they have the accommodations for large groups and this was where we ate our meals.

We had to leave the group and head back to Chiang Mai so we could catch our flight to Phuket. The rest of the group was headed farther south to another church that was also a Compassion project. I wish we could have gone on and spent the day with them, but as it was, we had a 10 hour drive back to Chiang Mai....back through the jungle and over the mountains. And Kevin's back was still hurting so he spent quite a bit of that drive in the back of the truck bed.