Bamboo Church

cats enjoying a snack in the middle of the service

the doctor preaching

The family that took me to the Sweet December celebration last night, also invited me to go to a small church in a village nearby. They said it is in a house compound, and is made of bamboo, but they had only heard of it and had never been there. A couple who are here from England that I’ve gotten to know were also going with us. So, I met at their house and we were picked up by the Burmese Doctor and off we went. I had heard of this village, as some of my students are from there, but hadn’t been there. At one point the road was dirt before switching back to pavement. I don’t think it was more than 10-15 kilometers away, but was probably too hilly for me to bike there. As we were entering the town a man (probably the preacher) met us on his motorcycle and we followed him to where the church was. The building was a raised bamboo platform about head high, with waist high bamboo walls, and a metal roof. As we climbed the stairs there were a few boys from my school who greeted me. Everyone was sitting on mats on the bamboo floor. The spots against the wall were taken by the 30 or so people, so we sat in the middle. The church usually starts at 9:30, but because the doctor who was preaching had to do rounds at the hospital in the morning, they waited until we arrived to start. There were several special songs at the beginning, before the message that the doctor gave in Karen. During the service there were two cats that came in and sat near us, and then someone gave them some snacks that a little boy was eating. It was entertaining. After he preached the sermon, he took a few minutes and translated it into English for us so we would know what he had talked about. They then took offering and had a few more specials before they called the doctor from England up. He gave a little mini message, and the Burmese doctor translated it for the people. Then, their preacher got up and told us a story that the Burmese doctor translated for us.

people across from us

The story talked about an old prophesy that was made by someone that told the Burmese/Karen people that someday their younger white brother would come and tell them the story of salvation. This week several people from the area are in Myanmar celebrating the 200^th anniversary of the arrival of the first missionary. It never ceases to amaze me how God is working in the lives of these people and I can’t wait to learn more about their culture and history as I continue to get to know them and work with them.

the doctor from England sharing with the people

After the service, we were taken into the house next to the church and ate lunch. The house was also made out of bamboo, with a bamboo floor. I think it was the house of one of my sixth grade girls, but I’m not sure. We were taken to a low table as the “guests of honor” where we sat on the floor to eat. The others gathered nearby and ate on the floor. At our table was a man who had moved to New York as a refugee with some of his siblings and was coming back to visit. It was interesting to hear his story and to talk with him. They said that one of the soups was made of woodchuck. I’m not sure that it is exactly the same as our woodchucks, but it was really good, so I won’t worry about what it was. However, if I did know exactly what it was I would probably add a new animal onto my “animals I’ve eaten” list.

our table, sorry it's not a very good picture

After we finished eating and talking with people, we went to the doctors house and had a cup of Burmese tea before coming home. They had prepared a Burmese noodle dish for us, but we were too full to eat it, so they promised to invite us over for noodles another time.

the others eating on the floor

the house we ate in next to the church