After a day to recover from the trip and get the team familiarized with our surroundings, we had a busier day on Thursday. In the morning, we visited the headquarters of the Free Burma Rangers (please watch the movie if you haven’t done so yet). There we were given a thorough and very entertaining introduction to the history and work of FBR by Sky Barkley, a former Marine. Although the original purpose of FBR was to help people affected by the conflict in Burma, they have also been called in to help people in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East as well. It was inspiring to see the willingness of these people to put themselves in harm’s way to help people in the name of Jesus.
From there, we went to visit with Jim and Breanna Randall, who are also committed to helping people in Burma. They were missionaries in Rohingya state (in the western part of the country) before the conflict forced them to leave. In Chiang Mai, they have opened a store that helps sell crafts made by Burmese refugees. All the profits go back to the people who made them. The Randalls are also involved in supporting people in Burma through social media. We got to meet Coral, a Burman who worked as a tour guide in Yangon before she was forced to leave because of her stance against the government. We don’t hear much about the war in Burma back in the US, but meeting people like Coral puts a human face on what’s going on over there.
Later, we visited Connie’s Home, where foster kids are housed in preparation of adoption and juvenile detention residents are provided with jobs and education. We played and sang with about 16-20 kids between 7 months and 10 years old.
In the evening, we moved from Chiang Mai out to the FBR Ranch, which is the Thailand home of the Eubanks family and a place for missionaries to stay. It’s outside the city aways and surrounded by trees with a big pond in front of the main house. We’ll stay here until we leave for Mae Sot on Monday.
