I was asked whether I was excited to be going back to Thailand by 4 different people last week at church. My guess is that they expected the responsive to be a positive “Yes, we’re pumped”. Maybe If we were going for our very first term, or if we were going for a holiday in Phuket. But no. None of us are really that excited about going back. Not because we don’t like Thailand. No there are some great things about Thailand and generally we like living in Thailand. We are looking forward to seeing our Thai and expat friends again.
But no, we are not excited about going to Thailand because it means uprooting our lives again, packing more boxes and unpacking them. Cancelling the internet and home phone, informing various government agencies, insurance companies, the electoral office and countless other places that we are leaving. What to pack, what to throw away and where to put it all. The children had settled into their Australian school and made good friends. My oldest son was invited to his first AFL game to watch the Sydney Swans by one of his friends from school who was a member (so as a guest he could get in for free!). Today wasting time I didn’t have wondering whether I should cancel our onward flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and change to a later flight because we only have a 1 hour and 20 minute window to clear immigration and get our bags and make it to our flight. That seemed like enough time, but for the last 2 weeks the flight from Sydney to Bangkok has been on average 40min to 1 hour late every day.
There will be a time when we are really excited to be back in Thailand (not going). It’s not today. But it will probably be in 3 or 4 months time when we’ve moved to our 10th house in just over 10 years and mostly unpacked and have some semblance of normality in our life again.
No we are not excited to be going but. But we are resolved to go back because we know that is where God wants us at this point in our lives. Because obeying God is more important that a life escaping hardship.
So probably a better question might be, “how are feeling about going back to Thailand?” rather than “are you excited to be going back”.
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