Village Trips

Recently we have been visiting villages in the Northern parts of Thailand to interview young girls that could possibly come to Breanna's House of Joy. It has been quite eye-opening to discover more and more how 2/3 of the world truly lives.
Most of the people in these villages have one little bamboo hut, probably 3 meters by 3 meters with one bed (for the whole family) and a fire pit in the middle for cooking. Over half of the women in these villages have been married twice because their husband has either died or left them for another woman.

Today I realized that most of these people just sit around all day and do nothing. At first I thought, "how lazy," but then I realized they actually have nothing to do. Their village is so remote they have nowhere to go and after you have planted your crops you really just sit and wait. Some of the villages we have gone to are so far in the mountains you have to drive about 45 minutes before you reach civilization. Most of the children live in the closest city at their school and come home on the weekends. Or, they just don't go to school at all. Many of these people are sick with heart problems or other diseases. From what we have been told, the average life expectancy isn't past 65 years old.
We interviewed three sisters at a village yesterday whose mother had been killed by their father. The father was sentenced to life in prison and they will never see him again. They now live with their grandparents who look as if they might only have 5 years left in their lives. Still another young girl's mother contracted HIV (working as a prostitute) after her husband left her for another woman, she also lives with her grandmother and has no hope. It makes us wonder what will happen to the next generation?!
Village trips can be overwhelming and exhausting, but knowing that we have the opportunity to change a life for God's glory is exciting and keeps us at peace.

After driving for 45 minutes through the actual jungle bump after bump after bump with no cars or people around and Luke saying, "I don't know if this is the right way or not, I just go and trust!" we were ready to be home and enjoy a good nights sleep!

Thank you everyone for your prayers and encouragement. We love you all and thank God for you in our prayers!