The Mays’ Weblog

Hi again,

This is our late 6 month blog report. We have now been in Thailand for 7 months and 5 days and we thought that we should alert you all to the fact that we are still alive and at large in Chiangmai.
We came out here with mixed feelings about the unknown and, although there is still much to discover about life here, we realise that God has really blessed us way beyond our expectations.
It has been really encouraging to have emails from so may of you and skype has been fantastic in enabling us to have internet phone calls with many of you. Get it at http://www.skype.com/download/ if you are not a convert yet.
We are envious of the cold and snow that you are getting at the moment as it is the usual hot 30 deg C plus type thing everyday here. We have got somewhat acclimatised to it. I think that it is because I expect to feel sweaty all the time that it is no longer an issue; sorry, I can sense that it is too much detail for some of you.

So what else do we miss, apart from friends and family? Walks around swanbourne lake, proper chocolate, set honey, haribos, bazuka varucca cream, proper corn flakes, Christine ‘Nanny’ May’s roast lamb dinner, Loraine ‘Nana’ Craig’s Friday breakfast, comfortable sofas, having tools to hand (at John’s or Adrian’s). We still miss being at Arun every Sunday. Nowhere we have been so far really feels like home in the same way. This, and missing our friends, is the biggest sacrifice and the hardest part in being here.

And the things that are a real blessing here? The hosey squirty things next to all the toilets, constant warmth, quiet roads, short walk to school, short walk to the sports/gym, a great school with lovely children, freedom for the children to play around the neighbourhood, friendships with neighbours and colleagues.

It has of course been our main task to serve at the school, me in science and Esther in Kindergarten, but we have had other opportunities while out here.
It was great to travel to the rural churches with friends in October and we would love to do that again, either to the same churches or new ones. We have visited some orphanages (at Christmas) and are becoming more regularly involved with another orphanage in Chiangmai. We are visiting there tomorrow in fact. Some children from the school have initiated and organised trips to the House of Love orphanage every Saturday afternoon where they lead singing, craft, games and get a mauling in the playfighting that seems to be so popular with the children there. I will not bother wearing a nice white T shirt when I go tomorrow; big mistake last time. We would love to be able to teach them some newer children’s songs but lack the talents necessary to do this directly. Where is Jenny Oliver when you need her!

All the children did well at the Chiangmai International Schools Elementary Track and Field Meet last Saturday. They all took part in a range of events but Luke arguably had the best of it, winning all events that he entered with Gold in the 800m, 200m, 100m, high jump and long jump (longest on record in age group). Isaac got Gold, Silver and Bronze in 3 track events. We were very proud of all our children.

We are in the early days of introducing cricket to the heathen (American) world around us and try to play as regularly as possible on the school field. We are friends with a Thai/Indian/Canadian family close by and they join us in these exhibition matches although the crowds are yet to build to significant numbers. I think that if the wives were to provide teas and sandwiches things might be different……..

One of the highlights of our week is time spent with a Norwegian family 3 doors away. We get together at about 5.00pm one afternoon each week and spend time worshiping together. They have a heart for children’s worship and it is great to see the children becoming more involved in meeting with God. It is a significant time and we value their friendship. Sometimes other families have joined us.

So, all in all we are having a great time out here. Esther is still looking for opportunities to do more orphanage work next year if that is God’s plan. The real problem here is the language. We cannot speak Thai and so are limited in usefulness in many areas. We have just started having a weekly session with one if the Thai teachers from school who comes to our house every Tuesday evening for a lesson. That is going really well and our heads are spinning with Thai phrases and vocabulary. I woke up this morning from a dream instructing someone to go down the road 2 kilometers and then turn left at the traffic lights, repeatedly….

Mollie had a lovely birthday party earlier this week and we have other birthdays coming up for Jacob on the 20th and Isaac on the 26th March.

We are really looking forward to the Olivers coming at the end of this month for a couple of weeks. We are travelling down to Phuket together to join with Jacob and the Scouts (Boy Scouts of America, Troop 731) for a week in a house rebuilding project for the Tsunami victims. It will be great to get stuck into a project with Adrian again! Adrian and I are also running the Astronomy badge for the scouts while down there. I had better find out something about it….

Well much love from us all. We do miss you and look forward to seeing you again. It is just great that wherever we are in the world we call upon the same sovereign God who has plans for us beyond our imagination. We have found him so faithful in our step of faith in coming out here. We do not know what steps he has arranged for us after our time here but can be assured that they will mean blessing for others and for us. We have nothing to lose and everything to be expectant for in trusting God with more of our lives.

With love,

Andrew & Esther XXXX

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 5th, 2005 at 17:10 and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.