Another Soldier Scare

Wednesday morning, one of the soldiers on the hill came to ask us to evacuate the school. A high official was coming at noon to make sure that the kids had really gone home. We were really surprised since we had been told that this was all taken care of and that we had nothing to worry about anymore. We found out that the person who was supposed to do the paperwork had not sent it to the proper authorities, and now that man was coming to shut us down. The soldier did not want us to get in trouble, so he was asking that when the man came, all the kids be elsewhere.Even from up at the porch, I could hear the commotion from the kids. Some were happy to not have school that day, but most were scared. We finally decided to use the day productively and send the kids up into the jungle to cut bamboo for the new school buildings. So, taking rice and their machetes, they marched off into the jungle, leaving us to wait.Travis had to run to town on an errand, and came flying back to tell us that the soldiers with a general were congregating at the school just down the road. Pretty soon, we saw loads of soldiers, and fancy pickups going up the hill on the other side of the road from us, heading to where our soldier guards were.  After waiting in suspense for quite a while a soldier snuck down the hill to tell us that the general was planning to go and shut down the Gloomytaw school first, and then come back for us.Gloomytaw school is where Jason used to work, and so we were very concerned for them. Roy and Travis decided to take the video cameras and go down there to see what was going on. Lena and Gayle and I stayed here to help the patients, and to pray. We were praying that the general  would decide not to come and bother us, or the other schools.Roy and Travis got to Gloomytaw and found Gloria, their principal, pouring a cement foundation for their new chapel. They talked for quite a while. She told them that she had been told that the soldiers are coming to close down their school on Tuesday. She really wanted Roy and Travis to come back on Tuesday and take video. She was told that the general wants all these kids to be sent back to Burma. (those who went back to Burma were given a sack of rice for coming, and then many of them were tortured and used as porters once they got there. )After visiting for a long time, and no soldiers showing up, Roy and Travis headed back to our school. On the way here, they saw two black helicopters take off and head out of the valley.  Our soldier informants told us that something unexpected took the general elsewhere! We were also told that the person who needed to send in that paperwork has done it! So, once again, God answered our prayers for the school. And  in the process, we have a lot more bamboo for building!A note on that bamboo…..we had a business man from Bangkok who was planning to fund all of our buildings, but someone who was close to the situation here told him that our school would be closed down and that we did not need his help. Because of this misinformation, the businessman decided to fund another project.  We cannot leave the kids in the situation they are in, so we decided to go out into the jungle and get bamboo and teak leaves to build our buildings with. This is much cheaper, although it does not last as long. We realize that we only have a limited amount of time to get the buildings finished before another rainy season.Postscript: The soldiers did come on Tuesday to the Gloomytaw school, and they forced all the kids back into Burma. We got video of the whole thing, but there was nothing else that we could do.  Please pray for those children, they are in grave danger. One of the soldiers told Roy that they are coming to LKY on the 7th.