Our Time with Aunt Catherine

 We spent a couple days with Catherine and her brother, Will, at the beginning of the week.  Catherine has served the Lord in Bangkok for eight years now, teaching music at the international Christian school.  She has been a faithful servant to the Lord and friend to us and so many others.  She is leaving this week to return to America for a few months and then go on to study the cello some more in Hungary.  We are really, really going to miss this beautiful woman.  We are so thankful for the time we had with her this week, it was a wonderful blessing to us, and I hope it was a joy to her as well.  We traveled to Kanchanaburi, Thailand which borders Burma on the west side of Thailand.  There is a lot of natural beauty in this part of the country (where isn't there in Thailand?!) and there is also a lot of WWII history here.  The Japanese built a railway here during WWII in which 120,000 laborers died building it.  POWs,  mainly Aussies and British died as well as many Asian laborers.  They built the railroad in 20 months!  A wonderful book to read on the topic is To End All Wars by Ernest Gordon.

 Above is Adele sitting on an elephant.  Below is Adele and Paul getting sprayed by the elephant.  Paul and Adele joined Catherine and Will on an elephant trek along the Kwae River.  It was a special time for Daddy and his girl...this girl was the bravest of all the other kids.  =)  Not sure what the Lord will do with her but I think she's going to lead people.  She doesn't like to be a follower, that is for sure.

 Above, PJ and Calvin riding on the train from Kanchanaburi to NaamTok station, beautiful scenery,  and part of the Death Railway, as it was known by POWs because of the loss of life to build it.

 Above, Paul holding the camera out the door of the train as we went over the Wang Po viaduct.  Google it, it was pretty incredible....and scary!!!! Once we go to the Hell Fire Pass Museum we read that the POW's tried to sabotage the bridges they were forced to make.  PJ's comment was, "That's encouraging."

 Above is a picture of Hell Fire Pass, what the POWs called it because as they worked at night, cutting away the rock, in lantern light with their emaciated bodies, it resembled hell.  I can not imagine the torture and hell the men went through.  I believe the Japanese had lifted the track sometime after the war but you can hike a good bit of what used to be the railway.

 Above are the kids sitting in front of a peace flower over looking the beautiful mountains of Burma.

Above is a little bit further down the line, overlooking the valley.  Across the valley was where the main POW camp was located for this particular area.  They would get supplies delivered there and then the POWs would have to carry the supplies to other camps in the area.  Not an easy feat.  You can also see, sort of, that we are on the side of a mountain ourselves...and so the men had to work in extreme conditions, climbing up the side of a mountain.  Catherine is reading Ernest Gordon's book and she reminded me that he said that in the hot season, it was hot, but in the rainy season they had to battle the rains...and the rain washing away all the work they had done. They suffered no matter what season it was.   I just can't imagine.  But, knowing his story, I know God was in this place.  I long for more Thai people to know the redemption that took place in the face of so much turmoil and pain and suffering.    They only know the story from a Hollywood perspective of The Bridge on the River Kwai, few know the story of Ernest Gordon and what peace God brought between him and those who enslaved him.
We had a wonderful trip, we are thankful for it...and we are sad to say goodbye to our dear friend.  Hopefully, we'll see her again in Thailand!!!