Mother's Day

Above Right: Mone and Mai Below: Nee, Nai, Newt, Mone

Mother's Day in August, you say? Yes, here in Thailand, Mother's Day is August 12th because the Queen's birthday is August 12th. Every year at Mother's Day the girls get very sad because they want to go home and see their mothers, but because Mother's Day usually falls on a school day and school is only closed one day, we usually don't let the girls go home. So, this year we decided to do something special. We took the girls out to a special restaurant about an hour away from that specializes in sea food. We didn't tell the girls ahead of time where we were going because we wanted to surprise them. And what a surprise it was! They kept asking where we were going and I kept telling them we were going to drop them off across the Mekong River in Laos and let them swim back. :-) We had a great time eating and fellowshipping. After dinner, Kia asked everyone to share about their mother. As each girl shared in turn, many of them were crying. Mone and Newt, sisters and both new this year refused to share. Mone was crying so hard she couldn't speak. When at last Mone calmed down, she started sharing about her parents' divorce when she was 1st grade. (Divorce rarely happens in Hmong society because the women have no where to go when they get divorced, most of them have no education and most are afraid of losing their children to their husband.) Mone's mother is now remarried and living in the same village and refuses to speak or acknowledge Mone or her sisters. What was so special about this is that it was the first time that Mone has ever opened up about her feelings. We prayed for her and I believe this is the beginning of healing in her life. Newt absolutely refused to share at all. She doesn't remember the divorce, but feels unloved and there are all sorts of inappropriate attention getting behaviors in her life. Please continue to pray for both girls, that they would know and understand the height, length, depth and width of God's love for them.