TOP STORY:
"TRIAL BY FIRE"

THAILAND: My body whirled around involuntarily; my legs carried me swiftly to the sound of the voice crying, "FIRE!" before I had time to think.  I ran past ministry leader Kris, who was on the phone to Dr. Al Purvis, founder of Victory Bible College in Thailand, and joined the others who had gathered in front of a fast-spreading wall of flames.  The students immediately rallied together: some grabbed buckets of water while others frantically beat sections of the fire with blankets, but the fire was already out of control. We came up with a battle plan, and regrouped to create a dirt path perimeter to prevent the fire from spreading any further. The dry cornhusks, dry weather and fairly strong winds, however, were kindling to this beast before us.

This was turning out to be quite the VBCI adventure.  Each year staff and students of Victory Bible College in Thailand go on a major mission trip into the jungles of Northern Thailand. The purpose of this year's trip was 2-fold: cut down Teak trees for future ministry use, and focus on team building.

We left home base on Tuesday and headed 800 km north to a city called Chang Rai, stopping halfway at a sketchy wooden shelter by the highway. Early the next morning we continued to a small village where we found our lot full of Teak waiting to be cut.

We set up camp at a spot covered in 6-foot high dry cornhusk piles, close to the water. We figured the husks would make a nice cushion to sleep on, but as we were clearing a spot for our tent, we found millions of ants and some big rats. Dr. Al instructed us to burn them out, so a couple of guys lit a small fire. Dr. Al then went into town to buy food and supplies, and left some of us in charge of the fire and camp set up.

Three of us kept diligent watch over the fire at first. Ten minutes went by and one guy was pulled away to help cut down bamboo tent posts, and I engaged in a conversation with a leader about moving our campsite. Not long after, I heard the word that made my blood run cold: "FIRE!"

An hour and a half into the firefighting, our plan to cut off the fire's route by making a dirt path was working. Real firefighters showed up with extinguishers and water to put out the rest of it. By this time the entire village had shown up to watch the show, some with concerns about their own land catching ablaze. We students pulled it together as a team and became effective in helping fight the fire. "What a way to test our team dynamics!" I thought as we were setting up our camp in our new location that evening. As we sat by the (tiny) fire in a cool breeze under the stars, we rehashed the day's events, and humbly took responsibility for what happened. Dr. Al gave us some wisdom on leadership and obedience was very encouraging and insightful.

In the end the fire burned roughly 300 feet of our property, which actually turned out to be a good thing for us since the brush and vines that were burned had been blocking access to our trees. We even lit up the rest of the property because of how much labor it saved us.

The next day we spent the morning at the school playing games with students, performed a drama and testified about God's love.

The rest of our trip was hard work as we cut and hauled hundreds of 600-pound logs to be brought back to Sriracha. Initially this task felt overwhelming and seemed impossible in the time given to us, but we pulled together as a team and determined to get it done. At 6 am each morning we'd down an instant coffee over a fire and head up the hill to lug Teak. Progress was slow until each student found their niche: some hacked branches, others cut brush away, several girls looked after the cooking. As time went by you'd notice the ones who were working hard to get the job done and the others who were not pulling their weight. Regardless, our team got more efficient and determined each day; by Thursday morning all the logs were cut, moved, and sorted for pick up. We finished earlier than we'd expected.

Though we're just students, we worked together to support the ministry's vision.  We banded together like never before, and built strong relationships.  We rose to the challenge, our character was developed, and best of all, we learned a valuable lesson about fire: never leave it unattended.

Josh Baker