Bulletin Update

Last weekend I went to Mae Sot, a city on the Thai side of the Burmese border. There are some church families that live there, so I got to visit them again. (I met them briefly on my way back from Mae La refugee camp back in November). I spent Friday afternoon and night with Lawan's family- Lawan is a graduate of Legacy and is now a teacher here at the school. She is from a Karen village right outside of Mae Sot. We visited some of her neighbors (they all wanted me to come visit them) and she showed me where she went to elementary school. Everyone in her village is so friendly and nice- someone even made me papaya salad! (which happens to be one of my favorite Thai foods) Saturday I spent at a church member's house- it was a lot of fun. Htoo Hpa, the woman who house I stayed in, fixed us really good food and taught me how to count to ten in Karen. Her whole family can speak English really well, and staying with them and talking to them was just a really enjoyable experience. I think in the future her kids will probably come to Legacy- right now they are still a little bit too young- they have to finish school first. Their whole family is just really giving and it's so inspiring to be around people who are genuinely selfless like they are. They are such good examples of how to live- even though they may not have much, they will give you everything they do have and will help you in any way they can. On Sunday we had to leave, but before we took off Ryan and I had to checkout the thriving Burmese market. It was amazing- there were tons of people under a hundred huge umbrellas selling vegetables, clothes, flowers, and any kind of animal or animal part you could ever want to buy. There was so much noise, so many smells, so many interesting things to see- it makes me sad that America doesn't have markets, because they are so much fun! We walked around for a bit and then had to catch our bus home- we arrived in the evening and had just enough time to prepare for the next day's classes before heading to bed.