Lost in Translation

Our neighbour invited us to their New Year's party. This was our first ever invitation by a Thai person to a party. To get invited into a Thai person home is a big deal so I was chuffed. Some very important people were at the party, but couldn't tell you who they were as I didn't understand the explaination in Thai. Our neighour's son-in-law who is a surgeon couldn't translate the Thai word into English. So even things are lost in translation. That's life right now. We only ever get part of the conversation. I still struggle with the Thai months of the year, even after nearly 2 year! Bit of a problem when I'm at the school trying to work out when the school holidays are.

Putting on Weight

Here is our little girl growing up fast. She is already 5.5 kg. She is generally sleeping and eating well and a great delight. The boys love her too.

It has been a tiring couple of months and we are looking forward to a more settled and restful 2009.

We hope you have had a joyful Christmas and that the New Year will be bring much encouragement and joy from God.

Bye, Bye, Puppy

We gave away this puppy last month to our neighours who had asked for one. They already had a mean dog which is kept in its cage most of the time as it has a history of biting people. We were reluctant to give the puppy to our neighbour because of their dog but we did have a puppy left over and didn't really have a good excuse not to give it to them. Yesterday morning, I was surprised to see both the puppy and their other dog together in their driveway (until now they had been kept apart as the other dog had bitten the puppy's ear a couple of weeks ago). The neighour assured me that they would play a bit rough but they were o.k. together. After the neighour left I kept an eye on the dogs. I became concerned when the bigger dog started biting the puppy and it was running away and yelping in pain. It seemed much more than rough play. I rang our neighour but he didn't answer his phone. The puppy hid under a set of stairs and the other dog didn't seem to able to get to him there. I had to go to a team meeting so had to leave the dogs. The neighour rang me back while I was in the team meeting and I told him what was happening with the dogs. I said that the puppy might be o.k if it stayed under the stairs.

When I returned home later that morning, I looked over at the neighour's driveway and saw the puppy lying dead, mauled to death by the other dog. It was an apalling sight.

Last week, our househelp was badly bitten in the thigh by another neighour's pitbull which had escaped from their house. She was trying to protect our dog, Lisa and Aidan who were out on the street. She is still recovering and hasn't been able to return to work.

These incidents have been some of the most upsetting and unnerving since being in Thailand. We asked the owners of the pit bull (which has bitten at least 4 people in the past) to put a muzzle on the dog but they have not so far. It is just beyond belief. How many people need to bitten or how badly does someone need to be hurt before they do the right thing. They don't want to put a muzzle on the dog because they feel pity for the dog!

Theon English Camp

English Camp at Theon with the St Ives Team, 100km South of Lampang.

Cooking Thai Country Style

Experience the Thai way of travel

I have just returned from dropping the St Ives team in Chiang Mai where they will have a couple of days of R & R before return back to Australia. The team were fantastic and worked really hard over the 2 weeks they were with us. We are sad to see them go and will miss them.

Aussie Night

On Saturday night we hosted an Aussie Evening at the Lighthouse run by the short-term team from one of our supporting churches.

It was a great night with lots of fun. The team sang aussie songs (above), gave a testimony, taught bush dancing (below) and lots more.

It is a busy program for the team this week, starting tonight with a program at Yonok University, English camps, Christmas presentations and other outreach activities.

Short-term team on the way

The short-term team from one of our home churches is on their way. At the moment they should be two thirds of their way to Lampang from Bangkok in a private van. It has been a very stressful week as the team were trying to decided whether to come or cancel the trip due to the protesters closing two the two main airports in Bangkok and bombs going off at protest locations. In the midst of the political crisis they made the brave decision to come, even though there was strong pressure not to.

While they were in the air flying to U-Tapao airport (the converted military airbase 190km south of Bangkok), the Constituational Court dissolved the coalition government and forced the prime minister to resign. The protesters then claimed victory and stop all the protests at the airports.

So it seems that the situation has died down a bit, though it is probably not the end of things. The good news is that the airports are now open and it looks like the team will have a much easier time getting out of Thailand when their short-term mission is over in 2 weeks.

Please pray that God will honor and bless this teams decision to come when many people would have taken the safe option of just staying home. Please pray that what they do will further the outreach here in Lampang and bring people to know Jesus this Christmas.

Lockdown of Thailand

PAD Protestors inside the International Airport in Bangkok

The People Alliance for Democracy (PAD), a party opposed to the current government in Thailand have taken over the two airports in Bangkok, forcing the cancellation of all flights into and out of Thailand. Over 100,000 traveler's are stranded. Some airlines are using the military airport at Utapao, 100km South of Bangkok to fly the stranded tourist out, but it is a slow process as the airport can only accommodate 400 people at a time and has only 100 car parking spots.

We thought that this would be over after a couple of days but it has now dragged on for more than 4 days. A state of emergency has been declared. The prime minister has fired the top police officer for not clearing the protestors as ordered.

Normally the political situation does not affect us here in Lampang. But we have a short-term team from Australia due to arrive in less than 3 days. Unless something happens today, it looks like their trip will be delayed. Hopefully, not to the point where the trip will be canceled as we have planned for many months for this trip. We pray that this situation is settled soon.

Welcome & Goodbyes

As many of you know already, we welcomed into the world our 3rd child, a long awaited girl. In the end she came so quickly that the obstetrician didn't make it to the birth on time (same with our first child). It was all over in about 45mins from the first painful contraction till she was born (though there had been painless contractions throughout the week). The boys are enjoying their little sister.
Today we farewelled, Jenny who helped us during the last 3 months through the later stages of Lisa's pregnancy and a few days after the birth. She made a significant contribution by enabling us to do more ministry, decreasing our stress and helping get through a busy and difficult time. It wasn't all easy though. She was so sick on Monday that she had to send a night in hospital needing IV fluids! Thanks for all your help Jenny!

Two Romantic Festivals

Man praying over his 'Kratong' before floating it down the river

Woman preparing to launch her floating lantern

Two of the biggest festivals in Thailand, Loy Kratong and Yi Peng are currently being performed in Chiang Mai. In the Loy Kratong festival people place the 'kratongs' (lotus shaped vessels usually made of banana leaves and flowers) in the river to float away ill fortune as well as to express apologies to the river Goddess.

In Yi Peng, people launch Lanna-style floating lanterns into the sky. Belief has it that when these huge lanterns are set adrift and float away, so do the troubles in the community.

Lisa and I had a chance to go by the river last night and experience first hand these two festivals. There were fireworks going off all around us (some dangerously close) and anyone and everyone.

These were very beautiful ceremonies yet our hearts long for the Thai to put their faith Jesus rather than in these ceremonies to deal with the problems in their lives.

dashed hopes

The boys saying goodbye to mummy off to the hospital to have the baby - so we thought.

After visiting the Ob last night, we were pleasantly surprised when she examined Lisa and she was alreay 3-4 cm dialated. She said possibly tonight or tomorrow. As we started home we were excited at the prospect that the time had come and as the contractions (though not painful) were becoming more frequent. They were coming within a few minute of each other as we got close to home so we decided not to take any chances, skipped dinner and went straight to get the bags and go to the hospital.

Unfortunately, at the hospital the contractions didn't become painful and stronger as we had expected. We arrived at the hospital around 8pm and at 11pm we were asking the nursing whether we could go home as the contractions had not progressed. The nurse said that we better stay - she didn't want us to have the baby in the car (since our second child came very quickly). She examined Lisa and she was 5 cm dilated. By 3am we had enough and we asked to go home.

Today, still no painful contractions. Our hopes have been dashed and the wait continues. Hopefully tonight? Please by tomorrow...