The Vernon Journal

Every once in a while, I encounter a surreal moment where I think to myself, “Wow, my life is really weird!” Today was one of those moments. I had prepared a lunch of spicy fried noodles with egg and peanuts for Abi’s lunch. (As I write, I’m realizing that this lunch, in itself, would probably be classified by most of  our readers as unusual, especially for a 3 year old, but this is normal for us.) Anyone who knows anything about Asian food, knows that noodles simply must be eaten with chopsticks. Of course, the Akha use chopsticks for every meal, but even the Thais, who use forks and spoons most of the time (bet you didn’t know this!), ALWAYS use chopsticks when eating noodles. It’s just the way it should be!

Well, to get back to the story, Abi has been showing a lot of interest in chopsticks lately. At mealtime she always steals one of our chopsticks to play with and ends up trying, unsuccessfully, to stab at her food. So today, as I served up her noodles, I remembered a blog post I read recently about children’s chopsticks. So, I threw together a pair of “training chopsticks” and she went to town. I swear she ate more at that meal than she has EVER eaten (at least when feeding herself!)

As I was sitting there watching her eat with as much parental pride as is legally allowed, I realized that the heightened degree of sentimentality with which I was viewing this milestone was not really normal (at least not for the majority of Americans). Most of our American friends will not have pictures of their children using chopsticks for the first time at the age of three. Nor will they forever cherish the first set of “baby-chopsticks” given to their children by their Akha Grandpa.

So, I guess I just thought I’d share one of the little differences about raising a child overseas. What are the milestones and memories that you have cherished from your child’s life?

We’ve had a bit of a blogging dry spell recently (and by that I mean “I’ve had a bit of a blogging dry spell.” Thank goodness my husband has the motivation to post every once in a while!). Any how, I’m trying to get back into the blogging groove, so I just thought I’d share this cute picture of Paul & Abi sharpening the machete in front of our village home (hut). Not only is it a super cute picture, but I think it’s a good representation of our life in the village. People are always asking us what we do in the village, and well, sometimes it’s just this: doing life, village style.

Over the past seven months we have had a number of ultrasounds, including an attempt to have a 4-d video ultrasound at the private hospital in Chiang Rai (the technician was not available) in order to determine whether we are having a boy or a girl, and until last night she just wouldn’t cooperate with our attempts. But now we are pleased to announce that we are having a baby girl!!! Lori is due on October 16th and we are very excited for the newest arrival to the Vernon family.

Pregnant in Paradise

This has been such a pleasant pregnancy that we haven’t done too many updates as Lori has progressed. We keep looking for something to write about, but with a pregnancy the only “newsworthy” items are usually negative news like morning sickness or complications. Thankfully, this pregnancy has gone very smoothly, with the exception of a brief food poisoning stint, Lori and the baby have been wonderfully healthy.

Abigail has been doing very well with whole the process and she is always talking about how she’s going to be a big sister and all of the things she is going to do with “her baby”. It’s really nice that she’s old enough to absorb some of the changes that will happen in her life once her baby sister arrives. She has a good friend who just had a baby sister as well and has been able to observe a big sister and how to treat newborn babies.

We’re excited about this new chapter for our family, and we are grateful for all of you around the world who play such important roles in our lives and ministry.

p.s. for those of you who are asking the inevitable next question, Lori and I are still discussing what we are going to name her. we do have a name that we are leaning towards, but I don’t think Lori wants me to share it with everyone yet.
I’m Zealous, Admittedly, But Enigmas Leavemystery.

p.p.s. yes, i did intend to remove the space between the last two words of the last sentence.

A documentary created by a Media Light team in 2010 that gives a little bit of a glimpse into our lives with the Akha in Southeast Asia.

Before we get into all of this we have to first say a heartfelt “thank you” to all of you. Friends, family, strangers, leaders… you have all been so supportive of us and your prayers for Maesalong have been felt. I know that most of you follow us on facebook, but for those of you who don’t, we want to share some of the “lowlights” in our status updates over the last few weeks:

So that should catch most of you up to the vaguery of our 140-character updates. Now for the background story, it’s fairly convoluted so please bear with me as I try to unpack it for you…

For a number of months, we have heard rumblings in our village that an Akha pastor who lives in Bangkok has had a problem with our pastor and with the way the church in Maesalong is being run. We’ll call the Bangkok pastor “Phillip” and our pastor “Joe”. Six years ago, Phillip was on staff with Akha Outreach and was very involved with the Maesalong church. However, five years ago he and his family left for Bangkok and joined another organization which paid for Phillip to receive his masters degree. Currently, Phillip is neither a part of our church nor a member of our nationally recognized church denomination (Akha Outreach Services). He has had no contact whatsoever with the leadership within our organization, and refuses to answer calls or attempts at communication.

Phillip legitimately cares for Maesalong and loves the Lord. The people of Maesalong adore him. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way in his study of leadership he has learned about earthly power and domination rather than the Authentic Authority of God. We heard, indirectly, that he was coming up to our village to have a three-day Bible study, but quickly realized that his sole intent was to remove Joe from his position as pastor of Maesalong.

Joe is a young pastor. As such, he’s made a number of mistakes. These mistakes have reflected his youth, his inexperience, and his insecurity. In discussions with our organizational board, however, none of his transgressions are cause for removal. We have worked with him, watching him grow and learn as the church grows and learns with him.

However, pastor Phillip was apparently dissatisfied with the decisions of our leadership. When Joe was unable to answer a string of courtroom-like rapid-fire “answer yes or no” questions to his satisfaction, Phillip dramatically declared that he was leaving, that he would never set foot in Maesalong again, and that no one in our village would ever see his face again.

It was here that he had won. There is not an adult in that room, who had not had a husband or father threaten them in that way. Most of them have had fathers abandon their families, or husbands leave them – including Pastor Joe. As the tears poured and the emotion flowed “Please, don’t reject us!”, Pastor Joe’s heart broke for his flock. Two hours later, Pastor Joe, with his face covered in tears and his body racked with sobs, resigned from his pastorate for the transgression of not meeting the standards of performance placed upon him as pastor.

That evening, the Bangkok pastor dissolved the church board of directors and appointed a new board. He said that he would be willing to allow our organization to appoint a new pastor, but it has later been made clear that if Phillip does not like the new pastor he will remove him as well and appoint his own.

In five years in Maesalong, we have had five pastors. The first left for money and opportunity, that was Pastor Phillip. The second was asked to leave because the established leadership did not feel that he respected them. The third left because although he pleased the 5-6 influential leaders, he had no interest in connecting with the members of the church and would only appear in the village on Sunday morning to preach and eat lunch with the leadership. The fourth, Pastor Joe, was cornered into resignation (although the core leadership played its role here again). The fifth pastor is yet to be determined.

Maesalong has a lot of problems, but every church, every person has problems. But recently in Maesalong some of the real core issues have become evident. When Pastor Joe resigned, there was true brokenness. All, but a very select few, were brokenhearted and in tears. One woman expressed the heart of the women in the group as she said, choking back her sobs “Pastor Joe, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I can’t express what I feel. I just really want to thank you… for taking the time… the time to teach us women how to read and write the Akha language… and now that you are leaving I don’t know what we’re going to do…”. But it’s easier to allow someone you love to sacrifice themselves for you than it is to be rejected by someone you love.

The Akha in Maesalong have been victims their entire lives. They are used to being threatened and unaccustomed to being loved. They cannot imagine going through the pain of being rejected again, so anyone who threatens to reject them holds power. A pastor who loves them and desires for them to get healed is constantly under the threat of being forcibly removed from the community, because he refuses to use rejection as a weapon.

In short, Maesalong has become a pastor-killing church. Each story has been unique, but at the core when things go wrong, the pastor receives the blame. However, the root issues of rejection are finally becoming apparent. “I will reject you before you reject me.” Or “I will reject you because you rejected me”. Performance. Power. The kingdom of darkness instead of the Authentic Authority of God.

We don’t know what’s next. We don’t know if the village will become part of this other organization based in Bangkok, thus legally and culturally forcing us to leave. We don’t know if the village will realize how they are being manipulated and respond in wisdom.

We do have hope. Our hope is for unity between the Bangkok pastor and our organization. Our hope is for unity within our own church. Our hope is that we will be able to continue to minister the love of God holistically to the Akha of Maesalong. Our hope is that all that the enemy has intended for evil, the Lord will use for good (Gen. 50:20).

Thank you for your prayers. Feel free to email us, facebook us or comment here on our blog with questions or comments that you feel led to share, and please keep praying for Maesalong.