Humbled and Blessed to be Back

Katrina and Jon playing games with kids

Jon and the Karen teachers baby

Karen boy

View of mountains in Burma from Forgotten House in Thailand

Forgotten School Kids

We were super stoked to see a familiar face at the airport as we arrived in Chiang Mai after 27 hours of traveling. Jon Justus greeted Katrina and I and with jokes and all. His health is back to normal and we thank God for all his work with us. We spent a few days in Chiang Mai(CM) in order to acclimate a little and meet with the Free Burma Rangers (FBR). Mike. O and I met Dave Eubank, the founder of FBR, in Phoenix a few months ago and it was part of our plans on this trip to meet with him at his headquarters in Chiang Mai (CM). FBR works heavily with displaced peoples inside Burmas conflict areas. Upon arrival we spoke with Dave and he actually invited Katrina, Jon and I to his home a little outside CM. The three of us took motorbikes out to his place, about 45 minutes away, and spent the whole day with him and his family. It was great to learn more about how they started and what they are doing. Dave reminds me a little of David from the Bible. He is a warrior and a strong man of God, yet very loving and kind. He is passionate about their cause and for the Lord. He and his family are very inspiring. They are a great resource for information and we look forward to working with them in whatever ways we can help one another.

After we left CM we took the 8 hour journey to Forgotten Land and Pastor Manat picked us up from the bus station in MaeSot and we had a quick meal together. It is always great to see Manat and Pastor Ninja Steven! The Forgotten House currently houses 5 girls and the pastors. The girls and other people from the community greeted us and helped us bring our bags into the house. The smell of teak wood immediately brought back memories! We quickly got settled in, setup our mosquito nets and crashed out! The following morning we met the new school teacher who teaches in the Karen language for the Karen students. She is a wonderful woman and seems to really enjoy her work with us. We helped in the school a little, took some video, and played with the kids. The school is a very important part of our work here and we plan to expand on this while here. We believe the children should be a major part of our focus.

We did a new assessment of all the families mosquito nets and determined it was necessary to provide many of the families with new nets. We passed out about 40 new nets and of course, the families were super grateful. We have 33 families living on Forgotten Land and seem to get a new family every month. The property we rent can easily house another 100 families, so we have room to provide for more if needed.

We had planned to run electricity to all the families, but it turns out the city we are “in” is awaiting a new transformer to be able to supply enough power to the slowly growing community. (Not Optimus Prime and Bumble Bee transformers!) This will not take place until sometime next year…so electricity project is on hold for awhile. We will be praying to see where the Lord wants us to use the money we had raised for this or if we should save it. The families are all very happy to simply have a safe place to live and be part of a community where their children can attend a school, so they are happy to wait for this project to play out.

Before we arrived, Pastor Ninja Steven had contracted Malaria, but is now fully recovered. As most of you know, Jon had Dengue Fever, but is well now. A few of the girls living at the Forgotten House are feeling sick now and Malaria is quite rampant in the area. In Thailand and Burma, there has been extreme flooding; causing people to lose homes, jobs, and lives. Please be praying for safety and health for all of the people and workers here and for safe travels as we return home in 6 days.

God is good! There are problems all around here and in this world. There is literally fighting and Karen people being hunted across the river from where we are situated. We here gun fire and bombs quite often at night. But we believe God is in control. We are blessed and humbled to be working here. It is amazing that the people we work with will greet you with a smile after the hardships and atrocities they have experienced. Pray for Burma. Even the normal Burmans are oppressed by their ruling military junta. Burmans are forced to join the army on a daily basis. Burmese soldiers come to peoples homes and say “Join the army or we will kill your children.” What choice do they have? Karen, the ethnic group we work primarily with, are hunted, forced into slavery, beaten, tortured, raped, and killed. They flee to Thailand and this is where we meet a few of them and help the best we can.

There are many good things happening here and smiles are being brought to faces that may have not smiled in many years. Thank you for reading. God keep and bless you!

Attempting to serve the Lord,
A.J. Jackson

For more info on FBR, please visit freeburmarangers.org