We were up at 6 AM, too excited about going into Sah Lah camp to "sleep in". There was a thick layer of morning fog lazily drifting along over the rice paddies across the river. It was so peaceful to sit out on the deck and listen to the early morning sounds. We were the only guests up at this early hour and it was so peaceful. Phu stopped by while we were eating with a huge bunch of red bananas. He said they called them "Golden Bananas" and they were so pretty. They were so sweet, we each ate one. About 9:30 Ah Htoo and Hta Na arrived to take us to the Ambassadors office to get permission to enter camp. He asked me the usual questions about why we were going in. I breathed a sigh of relief when he stamped our papers and returned them to me. Ah Htoo dropped us at our hotel and went to pick up Mu Gaw. We packed 1 large duffel and 2 smaller ones full of donated clothing and zip blessing bags.

When they returned for us we loaded everything in the back of the truck and Mu Gaw asked if we could celebrate Joshua's second birthday a few days early since I was going to be in camp today. I thought that was a great idea and asked Ah Htoo to stop at a market so we could buy a few things. Mary and I had a great time buying, cookies, sprite, ma ma (Top Ramen), milo, canned milk, seasoned oil, tooth paste, tooth brushes, soap, laundry detergent. Mu Gaw was like a kid in a candy store and said to me "Mother Betty, may I buy a face razor?" A mother can never resist her son's requests! We saw cards of balloons hanging on a pole, so we bought about 2 dozen to decorate their little bamboo hut for Joshua's party. We finally got all our purchases loaded in the back of the truck and were ready to head out. I had told Mary how much fun I'd had over the years riding in the back of the trucks, so we told Ah Htoo we wanted to ride back with Mu Gaw. It was great fun with the wind blowing in our hair and the sun beating warmly down on us Mary said she hadn't ridden in the back of a truck since she was a little girl.

After about an hour we arrived at the security gate with the Thai guards checking all the people trying to enter the camp. The soldiers came out to our truck to look at what we had and to check our papers. Ah Htoo told them I was Mu Gaw's mother and was going in to spend the day with the family. They were very friendly. One of them was a Thai/Karen and he spotted my laminated posters on the dash board. They were pictures of past trips that I had brought for the Karen to see. Some of them hadn't seen some of their friends and relatives for years and were delighted to see I had pictures of them. He asked to see the posters and they all crowded around looking at them. When they saw the picture of me giving a devotional time to some soldiers at a mountain outpost, they asked if I helped the soldiers. I told them I helped the soldier's families as much as I could and that seemed to satisfy them. They then asked if they could have their pictures taken with Mary and I and we readily agreed. One of them asked me to wait and he hopped on a small motor bike and rode up the hill to their outpost. He soon returned with a piece of paper and on it there was a stamp with Thai words on it. He told Ah Htoo that was their address and would I please send them a copy of the pictures. The pictures turned out great and I sent them in right away. It would be nice if they remembered me on my next trip and expedited my entry into the camp.

We chugged along the rutted dirt path running past the bamboo houses crammed together on both sides of the narrow road. When we approached the hospital, I knew we were almost there. When we climbed down from the back of the truck, Leh Pah Pah and Joshua were standing beside the road waiting for us. It was great to see Mu Gaw interact with his family. He is such a good husband and daddy.

Joshua is a big healthy 2 year old, much bigger than most of the other Karen 2 year olds. I have been sponsoring him since his birth and the extra food he has been getting has definitely made a difference.

Lah Pah Pah gave me a warm hug and smiled shyly at Mary as I introduced them. She is such a pretty girl and very loving. We followed her up the short path to their home. People were already waiting there for us, standing around outside the house.

I saw the old Phu I met last year. He is now 86 years old, but greeted me warmly in English and smiled through beetle stained teeth at Mary as they shook hands. Everyone pitched in and carried the boxes and bags of food into the house, along with our duffel bags.

Mu Gaw, Mary and I started blowing up balloons and fastening them around on the bamboo poles holding up the woven walls of the little "living room" area of their home. Dozens of neighborhood kids came out to peek shyly at us as we worked decorating the house. I had to stop and take videos of everything, I knew it would be fun to see later. I video'd some of the kids, then played it back as they watched on the view screen. They howled with laughter as they saw themselves on the screen. Leh Pah Pah fixed us each a bowl of the Ma Ma and a cup of Milo. Neither one of us were hungry, but new she would be disappointed if we didn't eat something. I was so glad we had brought food in with us, she would have been embarrassed if she had nothing to offer us.

After eating and taking more pictures, everyone that could fit crowded into the house to watch us open the gifts in the bags. I cut open the vacuum sealed bags of clothes and everyone ooowed and ahhed over them. Mu Gaw started making stacks of the clothes around him. It was so neat to see him keep everything all organized. By the time we had finished, there was a huge mound of clothes around him and I got a great picture of him laughing over all the "goodies!" When all the clothes were opened, we distributed the zip blessing bags. Mutha made sure that every child got at least one thing out of the bags. It was so fun to see their reactions over the things the children in Hawaii had packed in the zip lock bags. Lah Pah Pah asked Mu Gaw to ask me if she could have one of my duffel bags, so I gave her one of the small ones with wheels. I thought she might find that handy for storing some of their clothes.

Mu Gaw said "Mother Betty, I have 4 students that need sponsors, can you take their pictures and find someone to help them?" Before I left Hawaii, I had made up over 100 index cards. On one side I had written with magic marker a letter of the alphabet (A through Z) on the other I had spaces for their names, ages, year in school, parents names, or the name of adult they lived with, and their goals or hobbies. When I took a picture of them I had them hold the card with the letter side showing. When I got back to Hawaii, it was a simple matter to match the picture to the card with all the child's information on it. I also have cards numbered 1-70 for when we used all the alphabet cards. It was fun to find out information about each child as we chatted and I filled in the pertinent information on the card. I told Mu Gaw that I would pre-sponsor all 4 of them at the $100.00 a year level, because it is so hard to get money in to this camp. I knew that as soon as I could start putting on presentations back home, I could probably find sponsors for each of them.

About 3 PM Ah Htoo came to the house and told us it was time to head out of camp. We gathered up all our cameras, back packs and bags, hugged Mu Gaw and Lah Pah Pah and climbed down the steps to the rugged ground below. All the homes are built up on high stilts so there are usually pretty steep steps made of bamboo poles to get in and out.

Mu Gaw asked me if we could buy him some flexible pipe and faucet so he could hook up water to his house. Ah Htoo said he'd take me to buy what was needed tomorrow. Mu Gaw gave me a long hug and said "I love you. You are a real mother to me." With tears in my eyes, I hugged him back and waved good bye to everyone standing along side the rode to see us off. We sat in the back of the truck once again and waved through the dust cloud until they were out of sight.

The soldiers guarding the camp entrance came out to talk with us again. They asked Ah Htoo if my "son" was staying in camp and they told him he was! They waved and smiled good bye as we drove off in another dust cloud. Ah Htoo took a little detour along the way to show us a Karen village that he had served as lay pastor in last year.

We had to take an ox cart path through a rice paddy to get to the village. Mary was really intrigued with the vast expanse of rice paddy that quit right at the edge of the trees.

We didn't stop to visit any of the people and I wish we had, but Ah Htoo probably thought we were ready to get back to guest house and a nice shower. He was right about the shower part of it! The water is never really hot, but tepid is better than icy cold out of the creeks and rivers. After we showered and changed our clothes, we had an early dinner and were heading out to try to find an internet cafe so we could send e-mail home. We saw 2 guests sitting at 2 computers in the guest house office. We talked to the gal at the desk and she told us they were available for all the guests to use from 7 AM to 10 PM for 40 baht an hour (less than a dollar). I checked my messages and found I had 33 waiting for me. I wrote a long message to family back home. We were in bed before 10 PM, exhausted from a great day. Gil phoned just as I was dropping off to sleep inquiring about our day and to invite us to his home for dinner the next night.

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