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As I am sitting here writing this blog in the cool of the morning, I am enjoying a breakfast filled with rice, green beans and pork, and sipping a cup of fresh Lanna Coffee. We are surrounded by beautiful hilltops that would take your breath away.
My team and I just finished putting up 3 of 5 cement rings that will compose a well. Being in Ma Ho Jo has completely blown my concept of what a very steep hill is. Everywhere we walk we are either walking uphill or downhill. This is just one of the many different ways the hill tribe people live differently than we do. There are many steps that go into making a well. It involves sand, rock, cement mix and water that is then mixed and poured into 5 rings that are surrounding the barb rods that have been constructed with wire twine.
Yesterday our team worked on scaffolding, gardening and brick-making. The result was lots of sweating. While we worked, ITDP staff members and villagers worked with us, teaching us along the way. Most of the time we were all laughing with one another; the people of Ma Ho Jo were mostly laughing at us because we don’t know what we are doing.
I found myself getting frustrated because I slept in late yesterday and forgot my work gloves this morning. I was reminded that even though we don’t know what we are doing, God is still good and He knows what He’s doing. I witnessed the loving and patient nature that the hill tribe people all have, something that I need and want more of.
Yesterday I was on the scaffolding team. We drove on the windy and very bumpy dirt roads to collect bamboo. Our team walked into the forest along a hillside. Eric Hanson, Ro (an ITDP staff member), and a villager were at the bottom cutting down the bamboo and throwing it up to myself and Darlene Hanson. Then we would carry the bamboo up the hill and load it into the truck. We did this 12 times, and it was incredibly hard but so much fun at the same time.
The villager who was with us was in flip flops. He would cut and carry a very heavy piece of bamboo from the bottom of the hill and through the forest. The people here are very resilient and strong, and our team is learning a lot from them. In my Bible reading this morning I read Psalm 4:7-8 and it perfectly sums up how the people of Ma Ho Jo live. You can see and feel the joy in their hearts, the peace when they rest and the security they share that comes from the Lord.