Most accept the invitation but don't realise the consequences

A fellow missionary's prayer letter came in this morning and they were recounting what happened at their recent evangelistic children's camp:-

"When Ha Shan asked the children if they like to invite Jesus into their hearts, most of them lift up their hands as according to our Pastor, in a Thai culture, they are thought to flow with the environment. So, Ha Shan told them that this means that they cannot worship other gods and all hands down except Joe"

This situation is very common in Asian contexts where you don't want to offend the speaker by not accepting his invitation.

So take reports of mass conversions at an evangelistic event with a grain of salt until the follow up has been done and the dust settles to see who remains.

Travel Warning to Thailand Upgraded

This morning I received an email from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade which administers the travel advice given to Australian travellers, that the travel advice to Thailand had been upgraded to "reconsider your need to travel". This was due to the violent protests which continue in Bangkok. There is only one level higher which is "Advise against all travel".

The last time the travel advisory was upgraded to "reconsider your need to travel" was when the Short-term team from Christchurch was due to arrive in Thailand in Dec 2008.

At this stage we will still be returning to Thailand. We only have a couple of days in Bangkok soon after we arrive to renew work permits and visas. After that we shouldn't have any problems in Lampang 500km north of Bangkok.

Please pray for a peaceful solution soon and that Thais will seek true peace in Jesus.

Preparations to return

Yesterday, Lisa's parents were able to take the children for an outing so we could get stuck into preparations for our return to Thailand. Most of the morning was spent organising our commissioning service. After lunch I went to the Medicare office to submit claims (30 minute wait). Then it was to the private health insurance office (20 minute wait) to submit claims and organise to suspend our policy for when we leave. That reminds me that I'll have to start contacting banks and other agencies to advise of change of addresses etc. Rushed home to take son to a doctor's appointment (40 min wait - shouldn't have bothered rushing) to get the flu vaccine for him and for myself. Feeling a little relieved as now most of the vaccinations have been done (only one more to go for our daughter). Things can get complicated if you or your kids get sick and you're waiting for them to get better while running out of time to get them done.

Oh yes, must get back to packing when we have a moment and organise our things downstairs. It doesn't look like it's going to be neat and tidy and organised like we'd hoped. Fast running out of time.

state of things downstairs

Embassy closed for Songkran Holiday

I needed to get a visa for my daughter so while Lisa and our sons were at Fairfield City Farm I took her to the Thai embassy in the city. As Lisa had the car, I had to walk to the train station with my daughter in the pram (30min). It was a 10 min wait for the train and then 40mins into the city. Another 15minute walk to the embassy from the train station. To my frustration there was a notice at the bottom of the Thai Embassy building with the days the Thai Embassy is closed for 2010. Highlighted in green was today. The Thai Embassy was closed for the Thai Songkran Festival. Out of all the days I could have picked to make the journey to the Thai embassy it had to be today. It was a long journey home, especially when a commuter bumped our daughter's pram while she was alseep. So she was woken only after sleeping for 20 minutes and of course she was grumpy and tired. The whole morning was wasted with nothing to show for it and I will need to make the journey again. I expect visa problems like this in Thailand but not in Australia.

Family Time Fun & Tears

A very big bump

At the moment we are trying to make the most of our remaining weeks in Australia by spending time with our families. Today we went to Centrepoint Tower in the city with my brother's family. Our boys were having great fun chasing their cousins at the top of Centrepoint. I thought about going to stop them in consideration of the other patrons but I resisted the urge. Not soon after I heard our son's screaming. I thought that he was being his melodramatic self (top of the lungs screaming at a slight injury) but when I saw the massive bump over his left temple, I knew that he wasn't putting it on this time. He had tripped and hit his head on the edge of a wooden bench. Ouuch! It looked very bad, but with some ice the bump eventually went down and he's o.k (the chocolate freddo, chocolate ice-cream and chocolate cuppa chup was a great distraction while trying to keep the ice on his very sore bump).

Cousins

Our daughter with her comforters (thumb and blanket)

Red Shirt Protests Continue

It seems that almost everyday the headlines of the Bangkok Post feature the continuing protests from the "Red Shirts". Emergency rule has been declared in Bangkok banning public political gatherings of 5 people or more after the parliament buildings were stormed by red shirt protesters.

It seems the political situation in Thailand is escalating again and not much progress has been made in the last 5 years.

We hope that the political crisis won't escalate to the point where the airports are closed like they were at the end of 2008 preventing our planned return next month.

Unexpected Missionary Trials

One of the rooms at the Lighthouse were our team mates live

In Lampang recently, there was a big storm with lots of rain and we heard from our teammates that their neigbhour's pipe burst onto their roof and the ceiling collapsed flooding their bedroom. So Nick had to climb up onto the slippery roof while it was still raining and try to fix the problem while Trish mopped up the deluge of water in their bedroom. The water went through the floorboards and into the office and kidsclub area below damaging printers and network cables.

Also, we had friend who we went through Bible College with working in Indonesia who had to be medically evacuated because the wife was really sick with dengue fever from a mosquito. Soon after the husband suffered from dengue and one of their 3 sons as well. They will recuperate in Singapore for at least a month. It takes many months to recover from dengue. It is a very debilitating illness. They write: "The tiredness we are feeling is extraordinary. The 30m walk from the car was like a marathon. A 5 min conversation ends with the desire to crash out asleep"

Missionary life is full of unexpected surprises and trials. Without God we might despair under the circumstances. But what a difference he makes, that we go through these trials to serve him and for His glory.

Resolving conflict in Thailand

I saw an interesting forum discussion in the Bangkok Post today ("foreigners have got no rights" - Forum section) about a foreigner living in Thailand who had a problem with a neighbour's noisy dog (sound familiar). Basically some dogs were barking through the night and these foreigners couldn't sleep and neither could their baby. One day when the neighbours weren't home and as the dogs were keeping them awake, the husband sprayed some water on the dogs.

The next morning they found a letter basically with the message that if the if did that again, "you, your wife, your son will not be happy here anymore. Gentle warning". They went to police with a Thai friend, but their neighbours had been there before them to report the incident. The police said that the letter didn't mean anything and that they should understand Thai culture more.

Conflict resolution for foreigners in Thailand is a tricky business as we have experienced ourselves. Thais normally avoid direct confrontation at all costs and use third parties to resolve the conflict. This can be frustrating for foreigners who are used to more direct and immediate action. With our own dog problem we tried our best to resolve the issue through our landlord and other neighbours (though the outcome wasn't really satisfactory for us)

What we've been taught to accept is that another culture's way of doing things is not "wrong" just "different". The more we understand the culture the less "strange" some of the ways become (most of the time anyway).

The rest of the forum discussion is interesting to say the least suggesting possible solutions. I've taken a note of the link to a free dog whistle sound file which you can play through speakers out of your window into the direction of the offending dog to silence it.

How Thailand has change our son's writing

I was helping my son with spelling out this note he was writing and I noticed how he would start writing most of his letters from the bottom of the letter rather than the top. For example, with letter "Y" he would start from the bottom and write up. The same with the letter "a". I though this was really strange as most people write from the top down. Then I realised that this has resulted from our son's schooling in Thailand. When writing the Thai alphabet most of the time you have to start from the bottom of the letter and write upward. Hmmmm. What to do about it.

Blessings of Home Assignment

Date Night

Grilled swordfish

Lamb

One of the blessing of this home assignment has been the opportunity to have regular date nights. Before we came back, Sophie who had visited us with the Christchurch short-term team in Dec 08, offered to babysit with another member of the team, Jo while we were on home assignment. It was such an encouragement to received such an offer (especially as we'd been having a hard time when her email had come in). She then organised a roster of other people from the evening service at Christchurch so that we could have a date night once a week.

O.k we don't dine like this every date night, but we were given a gift from a friend to go have dinner by the waterfront so able to have this lovely moment last night.

Thanks so much to our babysitters, Sophie, Jo, Becky, Chloe, Dani, Craig & Heidi, Emma who the kids have loved.

If you want to help your missionaries with kids on home assignment, this is a great way of doing it.