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McGilvary College of Divinity
does a work camp every year where students
go into a small village somewhere and help in constructing a church, repairing
a hall, doing something to help a local church.
This year we traveled up to a small Karen village
The Karen are a people group in Thailand who speak their own language
across the border also into Myanmar there are many Karen people too.
After a very nice lunch provided by the people of the church
we were ready to look round the village itself
we walked out of the seat concrete slope from the church
and along the small streets which
connected
all way down the village
it actually has concrete paths and although the village is relatively poor
they do have mains electricity and they do have you have time
many things we would take for granted like fridges,
satellite TV, and so on, but actually are still quite poor
and they have their own animals, pigs, chicken
and other animals which provide them with a lot of their food
many of the younger men and fathers of families, are away working in the South and in
the cities so that's
how people are supported
in the village
The church has been doing
many different things over the forty year it's been in this village
the Karens are majority Christian now but
forty, fifty, years ago that wasn't the case
The village became Christian after one man
said to the pastor who had come there:
Will I be able to have children if
I become a Christian?
The answer, he said, was trust in God and that's what happened.
This project here is one to provide clean drinking water for the village
previously people that many kidney problems
This provides a very cheap source of water and they filter the water and the people can
buy it for seven baht, which is
about fourteen pence or twenty cents
for 20 bottles so it's very, very cheap.
These t-shirts, these shirts we have show a picture of McGilvary who was
the founder of our college. Here is the Pastor of the church speaking
to the students, welcoming them on the first evening,
and then the church choir performed for us all
The next morning we began the work we'd come to do. do
First of all leveling the ground
next to the church hall.
We call it a hall, but it doesn't actually have any walls because
the weather being so warm, that's not necessary
so the idea of the concrete area around the side
concrete more along the front
and actually dig holes for a new toilet block as well.
Work initially was quite simple but
as the day went on we got more and more tired and the work became more and more
arduous.
Shoveling sand, filling buckets, passing them along in human chains
and then mixing concrete
pouring on the water, adding the cement
and bring everything together
along to be poured
and build the actual concrete flooring.
Unusually, they actually used bamboo fo the reinforcement not steel
I wondered what they were doing when they started chopping away
at pieces of bamboo
they made it into long strips which eventually they nailed together in a lattice
and that was actually used as the reinforcement and the concrete
poured on the top.
I was only there for the first two days and I didn't see
the whole project completed.
But we know that people with very grateful for our presence
and they made us feel
very welcome in their church and
I think it was great to be part of a whole team
doing so much together.
The village is fairly remote, 39km along a windy mountain road to get there, when you leave the main road which is about one hour from Chiang Mai. But it was worth the journey, just to see the people being blessed and to worship together and to worship with them. We know that God has given us so much and we can give back, for all that he has done and for all that he is. We were able to enjoy the peace of the mountain and to gather each morning for times of devotion. It was hard work
it was physical work, it was tiring work, and by the end of each day, everyone was ready to get some food, have a worship time, and then go to sleep. But at the same time, it was a time of bonding together,
a time of really being
God's people and a time to spend
in his presence
in the beauty
of his world
We thank God for all he has done for us. Amen!