Identical twins…with different personalities

This morning, we only had a short motorcycle ride on a narrow path to the tiny village of Ngai Zam (pronounced Ny-zawm), where Heaven’s Family has made $100 loans to 17 of the 21 families there. All of them have purchased piglets which they intend to sell for a profit after a year of fattening them up.

As we made our way to the chief’s house to meet with the village elders, I asked about a large tree I had heard about, upon which their ancestors used to hang the heads of their slain enemies. So they took me to it, and I shot the photo below of the village children standing by the tree trunk so you could have some perspective of how large it is. I told the elders how glad I was that their ancestors received the gospel, which didn’t arrive in Ngai Zam until 1937.

The children of Ngai Zam standing beside the tree where heads once hung, and a view of the village from a distance (Ngai Zam is just above the small brown clearing on the far left on the middle mountain, on the upper left edge of the photo).

After visiting Ngai Zam, we started our rest-of-the-day motorcycle ride out of Chin State and back to the town of Kalaymyo. There we assist 15 orphanages, and I’ve got lots of meetings with orphanage directors over the next two days to take care of business with them. Then I’ll be flying to Yangon, where Heaven’s Family is helping 23 more orphanages, for meetings with orphanage directors and other ministry partners. So I’m going to make this my last blog, as my next few days will be full of not-as-exciting activities. Below I’ve added a few more photos that I thought would interest you. Thanks for joining me on this journey!

Every blessing,

David

At left: If you wonder how such poor people build wooden plank houses, here is the answer. They saw their own boards from logs with immense two-man saws. At right: A typical house in Cong Kua.

At left: Believe it or not, there are not just five family members riding this motor scooter. There is a sixth person, a hidden child being held by mom, and you can just see the top of his red hat. At right: Team member Bruce Harris standing in front of the Tiphei Hotel. Thankfully, we didn’t have to stay there.

At left: A juxtaposition that reminds us of all our lives. At right: I took this photo in Satawm, where Heaven’s Family funding made possible running water to every village home. When I showed this photo to folks in other villages, they didn’t know what it was. When we explained that it was a shower, under which you could stand naked and wash yourself, they laughed, having never heard of such a way to bathe. They are accustomed to bathing while clothed, as bathing normally takes place just outside one’s house beside a large water vessel.