The coup and its aftermath

Well we have never been quite so behind on our blog posts so we will fill in some gaps later, but for now I wanted to post a bit about current events.

(CDM Civil Disobedience Movement in Myanmar in response to the coup, freeburmarangers.org)

If you've seen what's been happening on the news (in Burma) it's not good...Many people dying at the hands of an oppressive military regime that has overturned a democratic election. Protesters in the city as well as civilians have been killed and now air strikes over villages in ethnic states as well. We know too many people who are fleeing or in hiding. When we talk to our friends they tell us of bombs dropping near prayer meetings or schools, their friends being taken in the night, jailed and tortured for being involved in the protest movement. School children that I teach and their families are hiding in the jungle as planes circle their villages- refugees fleeing across the border to safety, being sent back. It's heartbreaking to hear and to see our friends going through all of this and feeling helpless. One report we got which came from a village we have visited frequently is of a two year old boy sitting on his father's lap at home as a bomb dropped on their house, killing the 27 year old father and wounding his son. It is a miracle the little boy is still alive.

Our organization is doing what we can to help. The COVID situation has made travel very difficult as well as sending supplies and medical aid. Up until recently, there were very few cases in the whole country of Thailand, but within the last month or so we finally got our third wave. This time it has been exponentially worse than any other time. We have gone on semi-lockdown twice since January and vaccinations won't start here until June. A 14 day quarantine is still required to enter the country from outside (even for vaccinated travelers at this point). As you can imagine, any cross-border work is pretty difficult these days. Border guard forces in Myanmar are even shooting at supply boats on the river border. We have medical patients needing to come to Thailand for medical care that cannot travel here because of the internal conflict (in Myanmar) and danger in traveling, and its extremely difficult to even get medicine to people who need it. We have had more challenges in our work here than I've ever seen in my 8+ years with this organization.

There is hope though. We have lots of friends and contacts who want to help and brave staff who are willing to risk their lives to help those in need. It can be scary for me at times, but I am learning to trust more every day and really believe that God has a plan for our lives.

Adam was recently gone for 6 weeks and I stayed home with the girls. It was the longest time we have ever been apart. I expected it to be more challenging than it was and I am so grateful for all the prayers that I know helped get us both through. Trying to balance work, kids, house tasks, and other things as a single parent was definitely challenging, but I learned a lot! There were a lot of twists and turns the first two weeks and then I seemed to get in a good routine. I had lots of help and encouragement on the way! One woman who is volunteering here with her family led our community in a 6 week exercise, nutrition, and spiritual program. Good thing too because every night I was so exhausted, I'm pretty sure I would have eaten all my feelings for the whole time he was gone. Instead I cut out bread, sugar, alcohol, and other things, then worked out 5-7 days a week. My morning routine with Quinn (sometimes starting at 5:30am) was a great time for me to get back into reading my devotional. My neighbors also started a food co-op so I only had to cook one week day per week and then I had meals provided the other nights. It was so great!

(Me and my girl squad)

In the meantime Adam was on his own adventure, which left me worried at times but also grateful that one of us could do something so practical to help. I can't go into details about his trip here, but hope to share more about it somehow in person one day.

(After so many weeks apart we are finally back together again.)

I will try to back-track and add in more updates from the last 5 months, but for now we just want to thank everyone for all their prayers and encouragement. Please continue to pray for the nation of Burma (Myanmar) and the ongoing conflict and fight for democracy.