$20.

I took Maw Taw to the bank yesterday because he needed to cash some checks he received. Shortly after we got back, Maw Taw came and held out a twenty dollar bill to me. I asked what it was for, and Thomas translated that it was for the oil to go to the bank. I then explained that the bank that was a mile away costs less than $1 to drive to, and he really didn't need to pay me. There was more Karen between them, and then Thomas insisted that I must take it, because it is Karen culture. He said, "Sometimes we do not have and we must only say 'ta blut doh ma' (thank you), but if we have we give."
And now I sit with a twenty dollar bill that has given me a personal example of Luke 21:1-4. I am also reminded of 2 Corinthians 8:2, which reminded me of the Karen when I came across it earlier this summer. It reads, "Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity."

thoroughly exhausted.

Rachel finished up her last day with the Karen, and I'm sure I've exhausted her! We started this morning with two hours of teaching English to the little boys, and then spent four hours with teenagers and adults--playing Uno, Memory, and Scrabble to practice English. We then went out to play for a few hours and then took a man to the pharmacy who needed a ride and translator. We made it home late tonight.
Sadly, I don't have pictures from today. It's so hard to steadily take pictures while were busy all day! Even so, I hope Rachel had a great time and thanks for keeping up with her trip!

a long day.

Here's the update on the past couple days, for those of you following Rachel's trip! We played for awhile in the afternoon yesterday, but didn't get very many pictures because we were busy organizing games. We also went swimming with the kids last night and couldn't get many pictures, but they loved it.
Today was very long and busy. We taught English to three little boys this morning for nearly two hours, then taught an adult English class for the following two hours. We then went outside to play for four hours. We painted with the kids, played Go Fish, and then soccer. And after a break for dinner, we went back to learn Karen tonight. Stephen and I had our first lesson tonight with Kaw Hser, and Rachel came along to learn the three Karen alphabets.

This is the one picture from playing games yesterday afternoon.

The craziness of painting today.

Rachel and April

not what we expected...

Today didn't go quite as we had planned, which is a pretty common thing really. We had announced last week that today we would take family pictures outside from 4pm to 7pm...but no one showed up. We played with the kids for awhile before heading home. I then got a call around 7:45 from Thomas, "Kelli, you are supposed to take family picture?" Oh, the miscommunications! We'll have to try again next Sunday. Here are at least some pictures from playing with the kids!

I was working really hard to make her smile.

These next photos with Rachel and I both in them are the kids' attempts to take some pictures...

rachel douglas here to visit!

A friend of my family, Rachel Douglas, has come into town this weekend to help out with the Karen. It's a great opportunity to enter into a completely different culture and still be stateside!

We started the day with the boring work--we sorted donations for the Karen in a storage unit. Here we are showing off our work and muscles!

We went to play with the kids in the afternoon.

The picture above and below are of Paw Lay Eh, one of Rachel's favorite little girls.

We also had another game night with the older kids after a cookout.

I think I might have worn her out today--we were busy from 9am to 10pm! We'll make it a little more relaxed the next few days.

the helmicks come to visit!

My sister and brother-in-law, Keri and Steven Helmick, came to visit us and meet the community during July 4th weekend. I've included some pictures--sadly, I don't have any of Keri with the kids because she took most of the pictures.

We brought out painting, but within a few minutes it became an experimental mixing game.

Here Steven is playing takraw with the teenagers. It is similar to hackysack with a hard plastic ball; I had brought one back from Thailand two years ago. They love it and are very good. Steven was the best white person that played...

Here we are all playing takraw at the park before watching fireworks. We took a big group of teenagers to go see the town fireworks and it was quite an adventure! It was great to see their faces, though, as most (if not all) had never seen fireworks like that before.

some highlights.

The Karen were given some land to plant a garden. Stephen and I were very impressed when we went to see it! It is absolutely huge and doing quite well. You can see the bamboo they used for supports on different plants.

Stephen and I with Steven Babin, an elder in the community and father of eight sons!

Maw Taw and Nay Ree A (father and son) riding a bike.

They really love tree climbing. They always leave their shoes at the bottom of tree.

Please notice Blut Doe Hae's intensity in the back--he's really proud of those muscles. (And he should be for a buff ten year old!)

Pok Wah finishing off Stephen's drink.

Kaw Hser, the oldest of Steven Babin's eight boys, is only 19 but holds a lot of responsibility for the community. He is one of the few drivers and translators, so everyone depends on him. Stephen and I pulled him away for a day and took him to paint pottery and eat at Cracker Barrel! It was quite the experience. Here we are showing off our work.

Stephen and I's plates...mine says "I believe that we can change the world" in Karen and Stephen's has his name in Karen.

We had so much fun making handprints one afternoon.

We also made puppets. I was trying to encourage them to be creative, so I used grass for my puppet's shirt. Since they didn't understand my explanation of creativity, they all made grass shirts...

Stephen and I with some of the kids.