The Mays’ Weblog

Ahhhhh,

School has finally some to an end for the year and we are all sighing a big sigh and wondering what to do with all the time that we have available. There is a fair amount of mooching about the house and lolling about. We will get in the swing of it eventually.

The girls dressed up yesterday for the graduation do (Mollie had a new dress and had her hair done) and we all scrubbed up and went to the Empress hotel for the do that I will not describe again but is a great way to end the year, even though by British standards it is a bit of a drawn-out hoo-har.

Just a quickie. We thoroughly enjoyed the choir concert this year with the quality getting better and better. Luke and Mollie both sang in the middle school choir and Jacob in high school and chanson group. I only have photos of Jacob (thanks to Paul Bradley). See here.

We had a really inspiring day today her in Hong Kong and I am still processing much of the material that was presented. There is so much that challenged the way that we do things at school that I do not know where to begin. I went to an optional workshop session today by the British Professor Stephen Heppell, who got European innovative teacher of the year in 2006. he had such a lot to say that I do not know what to do with it or how to pass it on. I think that the session was videod to have asked for a copy if possible.
Everybody here has an i-phone or apple mac. I have never seen so many apple laptops in one place. The vice president for apple education gave a talk this afternoon. He was excellent, and threw in three clues that led to us concluding that he was a Christian. I just looked him up and his testimony is worth reading. See http://members.cox.net/transparentleader/Contributors/John_Couch/john_couch.html if you are interested. It is short and heartwarming.
Andrew

Here I am in Hong Kong, in the room I am sharing  with Lael on the 24th floor of the Park Lane Hotel overlooking the bay from Hong Kong Island, looking NorthWest. It is raining in a rather British way and I can understand why the British chose the place and stayed for a while, although thwir circumstances of getting it are rather shameful to say the least.

We are here with a small group from the small to attend the Apple Education Leadership Summit to devise a vision and goals for the use of ICT at GIS in the months and years to come. That is the plan anyway.
My first impression is of a people obsessed with shopping, which I am not, so feel rather like a fish out of water. The prices are high (compared to Thailand) and it would be a really expensive place to bring the children…I cannot bear the thought of it as I would have to say no to everything! I have managed to get a few luxuries, at a price, but cannot really get marmite as it is about 6GBP…worse than Chiang Mai…my hopes are dashed (sorry Isaac). This is the cheapest hotel of the ones on offer and is xxxGBP/per night. Lunch each day costs about 10GBP and a twix bar is about 70pence. water is 60p/bottle. I am trying to spend nothing if possible but have had to buy a beer or two to be sociable…I had a half as it was about 4.50GBP per pint. The others here seem to be obsessed with shopping. I went out with Lael to a pub this evening and then came back here alone as they were going on to a computer/camera shop and then a market to browse. The market is called.

I was looking on the internet a moment ago to see where the walled city was where jackie Pullinger served as I would love to see the location. I have found that it was pulled down in 1998 just before the handover to the Chinese and is now the site of the Kowloon Walled City Park. For a brief history see http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?p=4122551
Well, that enough for now…back soon

Andrew

Esther’s classes in the English camp for engineering students at Chiang Mai University went well. She was able to share the gospel with them as their level of English is good, along with the discussion areas which included ‘The secret of success’, ‘the death penalty’, ‘hopes for the future’, and ‘beliefs’.  Some of the students had seen the passion movie and were very impressed with Jesus, and extremely open to talking about who he was.  We must pray that these seeds will germinate into something wonderful in their lives. Thai young people are becoming disenchanted with the Buddhist doctrines and culture as they see the monks falling into the same carnal traps that afflict the rest of society. It is becoming more difficult for the temples to recruit young people.

We are enjoying the second week of our break as we gear up for the final push before graduation on the 29th May, the earliest finish yet. Please pray for the students, particularly those who are leaving for university overseas. We want them to finish well, with a solid foundation to launch them into fruitfulness and Godly faithfulness and perseverance as they glorify you around the world, inspiring others to join them in the worship of the one who can pull them from the deepest pit, lift them to the greatest heights, and to whom all praise is due.

Despite news reports of clashes of the anti-government protesters (red shirts) with the military, and advice to avoid Bangkok we had the smoothest time ever with very little traffic (political unrest can be useful) and exited Bangkok in record time. We were feeling rather smug as seasoned veterans of a coup several years ago, when we happened on a roadblock just 45 mins from home in Chiang Mai. We assume that it was due to a traffic accident (there is much drink driving during the Songkran holiday period) and followed the diversion some 40km out of our way before arriving at a roadblock with a large crowd of Red-shirt protester! I must note that this was in Lampun, where nothing happens at all, and I can only assume that they missed the bus to Bangkok or had bought the shirts cheap and wanted to try them out. We explained our destination and they waved us through without a problem. We arrived home over an hour later than expected, but safe.
It is hard to really get any sense of what is really happening here in the political world. The country likes to view itself as a democracy but there seem to be violent protests, mud -slinging, false accusations, army intervention or a full-blown coup of people don’t like what is going on…not quite there yet! By most accounts the current Prime Minister Abhisit (Oxford educated) may have the best idea yet.

Please pray for the authorities here as, with the King old and with failing health, things could easily disintegrate into a mad power struggle. It seems that Thaksin, the ousted prime minister, is at the root of the trouble even now. He has considerable wealth and is antagonistic to Christians in the country, as well as having communist leanings. His power and influence is considerable, although some countries have taken the step of denying him entry.

Given the political turmoil here on top of the economic troubles, please pray for the opportunities this presents. Our school plans to give out 10,000 tracts to Thais and foreigners over the Songkran festival this week. Last Friday the students went out to the night-market from 6pm to midnight, went home and slept for 5 hours and then it was back to the market from 5am till 6pm that day too. They have great enthusiasm for doing this and they have some great conversations. We have one very committed teacher who has taken them out each weekend and trained them in street evangelism. All of our children have been involved, but especially Luke who says Saturday night at the market is his favourite night of the week.

Luke and Mollie are helping out with games and crafts this week at a Thai church camp.

We drove 8 hours more, sweeping east of Bangkok and down the coast past Pattaya and beyond, onto a short ferry across to the Island, and then 20 mins drive that the other end. The resort was simple, clean, typically Thai, and on the beach..hooray!

We had arranged to spend our time there with our friends Jeff and Brigitte and their son Josh. We also had the pleasure of getting to know their Swiss-German friends Jürg and Anita and their two children. They have been in India for the last 13 years and are now also working with the Shan tribal group here in Thailand.

We left the resort on Easter Saturday heading for Bangkok as we wanted to attend the Easter morning service at ECB church (where the Wongs went). We were checked into a Youth Hostel (still young at heart…) in Sukhumvit Soi38 and bought some food from the stalls just down the street, before an early night. We all shared one room with bunk beds and it was snug and comfortable. We arrived at ECB at 8.30 and had a lovely complimentary breakfast with Samosas, fresh coffee, cinnamon rolls, pork satay and fruit. Knowing where to scrounge free food is so important. The meeting was great as always, and it was a pleasure to catch up with some folks we had not seen for some time, including WECs very own Georgina from FEBC, the Christian radio broadcast into Thailand and surrounding countries..an inspiring and fruitful ministry that reaches millions who cannot be contacted any other way.

Dear friends and family,
After a lovely few days at the beach I feel refreshed, at least for the next 24 hours, and am putting finger to key to try to help me recall our last week. As a teacher I am often being asked about this student or that  and then, after some serious contemplation, it is pronounced that little Bobby has a specific memory disorder that only allows him to remember three things every hour and so try not to give him more than this. We are then expected to do what I can only call educational alchemy with the aforementioned child without compromising standards in any way. I have done enough of these types of analysis questionnaires to come to the conclusion that I myself have a rather eclectic mix of some of these disorders, particularly in the areas of playing nicely with others and in my short term memory. I cannot remember what day it is, what I did yesterday and how old I am (although the latter is becoming more long-term memory than I would like).  That said, I have just looked at some photos we just took and it has triggered some remembrances so here they are.
Having not seen the beach since we were back in Rustington last summer we booked into a cheap resort on the Island of Koh Chang, on the south East bit of Thailand on the way down to Cambodia. It is about 1000km by road so we took the opportunity of stopping for two nights with some WEC friends who live in the back of beyond on a small village called Kong Welai (which means ‘beautiful bend’ as it is in the only interruption on an otherwise very straight road) about half way to Bangkok. I have mentioned them before as Malcolm, the very tall red-headed man and his wife Kerstin and daughter, Amy. They are church planting in the village there and have a small church with a dozen believers of so.

From Koh Chang Trip April 2009

They want to reach out to the surrounding villages also, and so on the Saturday we went to a village with them in a truck loaded with equipment and asked the ‘Poo Yai’ (which means ‘man big’) if we could show a film there in the village that evening. Getting the required blessing we set up a large screen between two electricity poles and set up the projector and sound equipment.
When darkness fell, folk started sitting in the seats we had laid out. You need to understand that this was a break from the usual routine of watching chickens run around, picking toenails, watching some dreadful TV drama (they are all the same) or retiring to bed early after binging on cheap whisky. I do not know what they expected but they got 4 testimonies from Thais who found that Jesus was the answer to their fears of demons, suicidal depression, alcoholism and devastating paralysis after a car crash. All of these are very real and very common issues in this culture. Malcolm and his small team, including one Thai Christian, were able to chat with folk afterwards and it lays the ground for return door to door visits this coming week. One lady in the village had seen the TV advert for the ‘Power for Living’ book which these testimonies were from, and had phoned for a copy but never received it. She was delighted to find that there was a pile of them on the table. It is truly wonderful that, in a place wher there is no concept of a sovereign God, and no idea who Jesus is, God is working by his Spirit to prepare hearts to receive him. It was inspiring to be a small part of this while we passed through.
Please pray for this small team as they repeat this in other surrounding villages and return to chat with the folk who live there and build not only relationships but also work with God to build his Church.
We left this wonderful family the following morning having deposited supplied of cheese and butter with them, as they are unavailable where they live. These things are valuable currency. I return we were allowed to try some their marmite on our toast which was heavenly as we have run out until someone brings some to us….anybody?

We are excited to be able to help our friends Jill and Simon and their Thai churches over Christmas. They have 6 churches in villages surrounding Chiangmai where there are many new Christians, and new people being saved every week. God is at work and there has been revival in several villages here in recent months.
We will be going with them on the 23rd, 24th, and 25th of December and taking gifts of blankets and food. We will be joining with them in carol singing as they share the gospel with their neighbours and also some nativity shows and crafts. This Thai church is very outward-looking and faithful and is praying for God to provide all they need for the outreach as they are all on a very low income. We are expecting at least 150 children to come and do crafts and join in the celebration.
Thank you for being part of this with us. As you know there has been some trouble in Thailand in recent weeks but God has opened the door and we are going to do all we can to make the most of every opportunity while they exist. Praise God for he is doing so many things here.
The weather is cold at night and some villages are experiencing temperatures of zero degrees, many in a bamboo hut. We have no heating here and find 11 degrees in the morning rather nippy!
Please pray for the villages of Thailand this Christmas that they will receive Gods love and be provided for in food and clothes.

Street Evangelism. Since September a new ministry has sprung up at school led by the new maths teacher, Tom. Every Saturday night students take a songtaew (truck/bus) to the night bazaar area to do street evangelism.

This started as a small party with Luke and three friends going with Tom, and now more than 50 students are involved every week. This has sparked the students’ enthusiasm for reaching out to the foreigners who are there looking for a bargain. Many are on more than a physical journey, searching for new meaning in their lives. The students give out hundreds of tracts every week, start conversations, and pray for people. Many tourists are open to hearing what the students have to say and willing to have the students pray for them right there in the street!
I have been there most weeks as Tom needs more and more adults to be available as so many students are keen to be involved.It is extremely encouraging.

Most students were nervous or unsure how to approach people at first but are now so excited to share and are becoming more confident every week. It is an amazing time; praise God that the doors are open wide!

I had two brushes with nature this weekend. The first was a frog that was sleeping in a towell that I picked up in the bathroom. Fortunately it jumped out before I got the towel onto my face…yuk. The second was when I was just going into the outside door of the school on Saturday afternoon. I felt a thump on my head and then a long green thing about 3ft long landed at my feet. Once it had got its bearings the snake, which must have been sleeping over the door, slithered off into the bushes.

I have never had a snake land on my head before but it was not as bad as it sounds. It was just as surprised as I was! Anyhow - I live to tell the tale… they do say the brighter the colour the more unpleasant they are, and that over 90% of the snakes here are venomous!

Bye, Andrew

Esther was able to join with our Doctor friend Jill and Operation Blessing who provide medical help to remote and usually very poor villages all over Thailand. Last weekend they visited 2 villages way up in the mountains, only accessible with 4 wheel drive.
Over the weekend there were over 300 people treated, given Christian literature and prayer.

One village had a small church that 3 families had built, and they were able to worship together before the clinic time. It is wonderful to go to places that have had little or no exposure to the gospel before.See http://obthailand.org for more photos and stories

We were mch too busy  in England to write anything detailed, and it would bore you to death anyway, so here is a quick overview. See photos here.
We spent time with Christopher and Marion in Northolt, the Mays in South Harrow, Nana and friends in Rustington and then spent 3 weeks away:

1. Kingdom Faith camp with Powerpack
2. Visiting Alistair and Margaret in Winchester
3. Neil and Cathy in the New Forest
4. Ilfracombe with Matt, Katie and family
5. Keswick, Cumbria, with Christopher and Marion
6. Lincoln with Powerpack at Grapevine

Dear Friends and Family This has been a special day as Luke was baptised this afternoon a few hours ago, in the pool here at Grace.

There were over twenty others baptised with him, mostly Thais from our church here, House of Praise. I had the pleasure of baptising Luke, now aged, 13, along with our pastor, Jonathan, and one of the elders, Ron. (The latter two were already baptised, in case of confusion…) Although there was no time for testimonies from all baptisees, we have gleaned something of their story and would love to share it with you.

You may remember from the last newsletter that God has really been working through Ron and his Thai wife Mon and led many to Jesus. Mon was at the Electric Company office to pay a bill the other day when it started pouring down with rain. She noticed a young girl of 16 there with a baby and felt prompted to offer her a lift home. Her mother was there also, and they had a motorbike, so they drove the girl and baby, following her mother home in the teeming downpour (this is in fact the dry season and the rain was completely unexpected). They were invited in and, after chatting with the mother and girl, led them to the Lord there and then. The mother then opened a cupboard door in the kitchen and showed a note that the girl had written that morning; a written letter to the God they did not know to bring some happiness and kindness into their rather grim lives, difficult for many reasons, not least that the baby was the girl’s…a teenage mum. It was such a wonderful thing to see them both being baptised this afternoon! See below:

Last monday a young Thai man arrived at the church property in mental anguish. His girlfriend was a Christian but had been killed in a traffic accident the day before. He was in such a state of despair that he wanted to end his own life but felt prevented from doing so throughout the long night. In the morning he decided to take a walk up the road and saw the sign for our church. He felt the compulsion to enter and ask “How can I find Jesus?” He chatted and prayed with the staff there and gave his life to the Lord. Since then he has shared the gospel with his extended family and they have all become Christians in the last week, the last one, a brother, giving his life to the Lord during after-church coffee today!

The group ranged from the young to the old. It is such a wonderful thing to witness the amazing miracle of salvation and to see people plucked from the gates of hell into the kingdom of our God. I hope that this encourages you as it does us. The field are ripe for the harvest and in our Father’s house there are many rooms. With much love to you all, Andrew and Esther, Jacob, Luke, Mollie and Isaac.

With much love, A&E, JLMI

Happy new year everyone, or, as we say here, Sawatdee beemai.

We just got back in the wee small hours this morning from a one-day trip up North to the children’s home at HuayMaw in the mountains. Jenny and Adrian organised the trip to bless the children there with some Christmas things, paid for by ArunCC, to celebrate Jesus’ birthday.
We did some craft, making decorated stars and sewing doves.

You will notice from the photos that the burly lads are just as keen to involve themselves in this as anybody else! They always have such a great time with the crafts and often want to make another one afterwards with some modifications that they have thought of them selves and want to experiment with, usually with great success. The children there also seem to posess endless patience with quite fiddly tasks and really squeeze everything they can from the activity. It was well-worth the effort and I hope that you enjoy the photos.
Afterwards they ate and then our children did a drama to the song “Light your world” and Andrew told the story of the Three Trees, with Niti translating. Please pray that these children are able to have dreams about what God can do through them.

Afterwards we were able to give out some late Christmas gifts….

In brief, we have had a lovely Christmas, with the Wongs staying with us for 6 days, which was a real treat. We had a lot of fun (see photos here) and it was good to have some real quality time with them before their return to England for the next phase of their adventure.

We are back to school on Monday but have a wild evening ahead with all our children having at least one friend sleeping over, some in the tent in the garden.

With much love, A&E, JLMI

Dear friends,

I should not really be sitting here at all, but should be jogging, biking or something to try to hold back the lard of Christmas snacking. We have our friends the Wongs with us here in Chiang Mai and, with the Olivers, keep finding excuses to have yet another cake, piece of Christmas chocolate, cheese, fudge etc.
Here are some snaps from the last few days, including a Christmas party at Ban San Fan Children’s home, and Christmas Lunch at The Duke’s.

We are thoroughly enjoying a rest from school and are spending time with friends. The school is going from strength to strength, although there are some legal problems that have surfaced with regards to the moobahn, the housing area that the school is in. While relationships are generally excellent, it seems that a small number of the residents no longer welcome the school here and have found a legal loophole which may wrestle the school premises back into moobahn ownership. This may mean that the school relocates and new property is being looked for. Please pray for the relationship of the school with the residents as we look for ways to demonstrate the love of God to them.

We received an email this week from a family whose children we have taught and it is also addressed to you so here it is:

“Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, This Christmas we would like to send a special note of gratitude for the teachers and staff at Grace International School and those who support them.
“Our family moved from the USA to [closed country] to pioneer gospel work among an unreached people group in the summer of ’96 with three young children. As the work and our children grew, we sensed Chiang Mai was the best fit for both, and in summer of ’99 our kiddos joined those that formed up the new Grace International School of Chiang Mai. Since that time we are continually thankful to God for the committed teachers that have shown God’s love through GIS and into the community. The stability that the school community helped to provide allowed a base from which we travelled to back and forth to [closed country] to where now we are praising God for the many He has brought into His Kingdom through knowledge and love of His Son. Presently, this people group has reproducing small churches and the start of Bible translation in their language.
“Sometimes it may be hard to see how supporting a teacher of an international school can lead to Kingdom expansion, but this is just one of many examples where it has. The growth in God has occurred locally in Chiang Mai as well as to those in remote [closed country]. This June our oldest will graduate from GIS, well equipped both academically and spiritually and excited to pursue her dream of studying literature with the desire of one day teaching among international students. Thank you for your faithfulness to contribute as one among many in the body of Christ to the Praise and Glory of our Lord.”

There are so many great things that God is doing here that I want to encourage with some of them. Our church here recently coordinated an week-long outreach in Khon Kean, East Thailand, with local churches. When the week had finished there were over 800 people who had made new commitments to Christ. In addition there were a significant number of medically verified healings; the lame walked, the blind saw and the deaf heard for the first time. Local churches are discipling the new Christians and their families are coming along to find out what it is all about. God is on the move!

Closer to home we have had some wonderful testimonies from our own church here in Chiang Mai. Many of these have happened with residents from a village about 20km from here. One man, Joe, first tested positive for HIV 5 years ago and has 3 monthly tests to monitor the progression of the disease. After praying for him he was rather sceptical but then amazed when his subsequent test showed no HIV at all! Still doubting he went fearfully to his next 3 month test and found that he was still virus free. Praise God! A lady, YuanKun, had been suffering from cancer for several years and after prayer was certified cancer free by the hospital. To add to this she found, on her regular check-up two weeks later, that she was also free of HIV. Is anything too difficult for God? A third young man called Tondee has also been medically certified as HIV free after hospital tests. Several weeks ago, at out evening meeting, a man deaf and dumb from birth was prayed for and his hearing completely healed. We wait to see what God will do for him in the weeks and months ahead.

Back to school matters: Andrew will be visiting a large refugee camp from 1-3rd February with about 50 8th grade students. They will spend time with Karen children in a home attached to the Mae La camp at Mae Sot, the largest refugee camp in the world; about 5 hours drive south west of here. There are some 47,000 Burmese refugees there. We plan to play games, run sport and craft activities and worship with the children. Many have parents who have been killed or arrested by the Burmese regime.

We will miss the Wongs as they travel back to England. They have been a great encouragement to us here but I know that they have God’s hand on them as they move onto new things in the Arun area.

Have a great Christmas! We miss you and wish we were there….

With love, Andrew and Esther, Jacob, Luke, Mollie and Isaac.

Hi all,

I am sitting at a computer in a backpacker hostel in the Joo Chiat area of Singapore. It is the evening before we leave and Esther has just got Mollie and Isaac up to bed (10.20) while Jacob and Luke play one game of pool before they are sent up.

It has been great staying in a hostel, and I am not the oldest resident either, although there are no other children. One of the things that I personally have missed living in Thailand is the chance to spend time with non-Christians and it has been great to have a chance to do that this week. We have been here since Monday and have done the usual things.

Walking around Little India: We wanted to visit here to stock up on Indian food as we have really missed that in Chiang Mai. We found a place full of Indian people and thought that that would be a good place to start so ordered chicken biryani and several other dishes with nan bread. After a few minutes we were served 3 identical “dishes” on palm leaves, basically rice with other sloppy bits around the edge…no cutlery.

Remembering our manners we ate with our right hands until somebody spotted that we were going to starve at the rate we were going and brought some forks and spoons for us to use. Much faster!

Esplanade: We strolled along the Esplanade admiring the Durian shaped theatre and the skyline of Singapore at night. Very civilised.

Science Center: This was a great and had a really good range of activities.

We could have spent longer in there but were lured away by a chocolate binge in the shop. We discovered that the chocolate in Singapore is the same as in the UK and is modestly priced and I must admit that we have had a mild kind of frenzy whenever we see such things as mars bars, crunchies, twixes, maltesers. if you have not been deprives as we have been you will not understand the pleasure experiences in this find….wonderful!!

Snow City:

Close to the science centre was the very cold snow city where, after donning suitable protective clothing, we entered the sub-zero building to sledge down the snowy slope on inner tubes. Fast and fun, and we had the place pretty much to ourselves until a large school party arrived and queuing became nasty.

Buses and trains. We got travel cards and became very familiar with the buses and trains here. Our children learnt for the first time the art of waiting for a bus, with no reassurance that it would ever arrive, reading a timetable and understanding which bus to get. These are essential life-skills that have been denied them hitherto and so we did some catch-up and all passed with flying colours. Jacob is checking for freshness here…

The main reason for coming here was to meet up with the Jupps and Smiths who were here playing in the Festival of Praise conference at the Indoor stadium here. They were staying on Sentosa Island so we travelled over there for three days to spend wonderful times with them, and we really appreciate their friendship. It was well worth all the effort!

On Friday and Saturday evening we travelled to the stadium to enjoy the worship led by our D? boys and also by Don Moen, a nice surprise as our family really enjoys his worship CD.

We went to the Dolphin show and aquarium on Sentosa. The latter was excellent and very well organised and presented. We all loved the touch pools although Mollie got soaked by a ray flapping its fins.

Yesterday we spent the day at the zoo which met with all expectations.

It was great to have Orangutans roaming free in the zoo and the polar bear was spectacular, and enormous! Highly recommended.

It is late now and we get up at 4.00am tomorrow for the flight home. Over the 70s and 80s music playing on the stereo I can feel the thump on the floor of the nightclub below. This is a red-light area of Singapore and the small green door of the hostel is flanked by night clubs which are very busy from 9.00 onwards. Despite the interesting location we have enjoyed the warmth of your welcome here and would return gladly.

Well, that’s all from me. bed beckons..good night. Andrew.

For more photos see http://picasaweb.google.com/andrewmaybe/Singapore

Hi. Sorry I have been out of contact but I am back! We have all just had a very busy weekend with over 250 Thai children aged 8-12 who were invited to a sports camp for two days here at the school.

It was organised by our very own Matt Coe who has done a wonderful job mobilising helpers along with coach Ming who contacted all the Thai schools to make this happen. Christian sport ministry Athletes In Action led times of worship, gave testimonies and organised games to present the gospel. The verse of this week was “I can do everything through him who gives me strength”.

This is one of a number of camps that Matt has organised here and it has given a wonderful opportunity each time to share the facilities that we have been blessed here with and for us to reach out to the Thai community here.

Many students have helped out in these camps and have inspired and challenged by sharing their testimonies. We have been thrilled to be a small part of this ministry. Thanks Matt. See here for gallery photos.
Other news here is that our car overheated on the way up the mountain on the Samoeng Road last week and the long and the short of it is that the engine is a gonner and needs rebuilding, along with several other things that need attention. Due to the Olivers we still have a car for the summer however…many thanks!
We enjoyed a great lunch and time at the pool this afternoon with The Geske family, who run the YWAM DTS centre in Northern Thailand. They have …wait for it…9 children, who are a lovely bunch, mostly girls, aged between 1 and 14. Challenging thought huh? We are looking forward to visiting them at Maetaeng next thursday which, incidentally, is an anniversary of some significance to me but I hope will pass quietly with a glass of port in hand.
On a school matter, we have just lost our prospective 4th science teacher and so nobody to teach 7th grade science. If you fancy the job then give me a call..
Andrew

Hi, Andrew here. I am sorry that the photos have disappeared from the blog. This is due to the fact that I have had to move the gallery to another locationa and so all the links no longer work. I will try to gradually update the links. The new photo gallery is here as a google webalbum