The Mays’ Weblog

Hi everybody,

We all started school this week and are really glad that it is now the weekend.
Each day is very long. Andrew arrives at work at 7.00 and lessons start at 7.55. Morning break is 10 mins and lunch is about 30 but sometimes less. School finishes at 3.05.

We are all pretty tired. The day is about an hour and a half longer than we are used to at school and they have had much more homework to complain about than they have ever had before. The children all seem to have settled in OK and are making friends. Please pray for Isaac. He is 6 but in a class of 7-8 yr olds because they start school a year later in America and the work was too easy for him in grade 1. He is very small compared to the rest of the class. We are praying that he will make some good friends.

I have found it to be a real challenge as the US system is so very different to the UK one. I still don’t fully understand its subtleties but I work with some great people which makes all the difference. The other new Science teacher is from NZ and so we have some things in common so its not just me asking all the dumb questions all the time. Everyone is very supportive.

Esther is working in Kindergarten (5 yrs old) from 8 to 11.30 each day. On Tuesday she is visiting an AIDS orphanage on the other side of town where thay are apparently desperate for nursing staff. Please pray that if it is the right thing for her to get involved in that she will know. It will mean learning quite a bit of Thai including medical words.

We went to a thai church last Sunday. When we arrived the whole meeting was marching round and round the hall reading the book of Joshua. I dont know how long
this had been going on for but we just joined in the crowd and this carried on for about another half an hour. We couldn’t understand a word of it of course but people were waving flags and I was struggling to hold back the tears as the holy spirit’s presence was so powerful. Then there was some wonderful worship. The words were put up in English and Thai although there must have been no more than twenty non-Thai speaking people there. We got head sets to wear for the talk as it was translated for us. The man who spoke fasts for about a third of the year. It was very moving being with Thai Christians. They were starting 10 days of prayer and fasting for Chiangmai. He was talking on the book of Jonah and saying that it does not matter how bad a place is i.e. Ninevah, God still loves those people and is able to turn a city around in a relatively few days.

It would take a miracle to turn Chiangmai around as the Buddhist culture is so deeply entrenched and the city so full of temples and statues. Ninevah was the same and it only took one man (and God). This is very encouraging. Please join the Thai Christians as they pray for Chiangmai. Nothing is impossible with God.

Tomorrow we are visiting another Thai church with some people that we have met who are leading worship there. We will miss you all as we always do on Sundays in particular.

Much love to you all,

Andrew & Esther

Hello everybody!

This is the end of our second week. We intended to update more regularly but it has been surprisingly busy here, not least because we have spent nearly every evening answering your emails - thankyou everybody.

We have decided to stay in this house that we started in. It is quite fine for us - 3 bedrooms. The only problem with it is that there is not much room for people coming to stay so I hope that you do not mind sleeping on a matress on the floor. Don’t worry - there are other alternatives. The other teachers’houses across the road have some spare rooms or if you really want luxury there are several beautiful resorts about 10 mins drive away where you can get a cabin for a family for about £10 a night - up the mountain, swimming pool etc etc.

We stayed at such a place for a night this week, paid for by the school as part of orientation week. The entire staff stayed up there and we had a good time playing silly games, chatting, eating, swimming, worshipping and praying and getting to know people in a relaxed environment.

No offense meant to our wonderful American friends if they read this but we are the only english people among 70 staff and everything was typically American i.e. the questions in the quiz (who is Ed Sullivan anyway?). To add a bit of light relief there are two Scottish girls who we get on very well with. Being swamped by Americans did wonders in healing the North/south divide!

In their defense I have to say that in our ‘morning devotions’ the Americans really know how to sing - beautiful!

(Kristen, Janna and Terri - I guess it must have been an equally strange time for you, especially at first, being swamped by English people. Thankyou for being so patient with us.)

Apart from that the week has had ups and downs. Andrew is suddenly very busy with school stuff and has been at work nearly all day every day (Esther says), getting ready for the start next week. The US school system is incredibly different from anything I have met before - please pray that I will through the first week OK. I don’t know whether my loose bowel is due to something I have eaten or stress. Nobody else is suffering.

Isaac’s teacher is not coming after all (delayed by six weeks) so if any of you are free……. perhaps Esther should take the class! They are desperate, obviously.

All the children have been very good and have settled well. They find the heat a bit much sometimes and it is the start of ‘winter’. It pours down for about half an hour every afternoon which is an absolute blessing.

We are trying a Thai church on Sunday. Apparently they have a carpeted area in the front for children or whoever to dance. Sound familiar? They do translation of the talk through headphones. We will let you know how it goes.

Well - today The Wongs will be flying a little nearer to us which is very nice. Hopefully we will get together with them soon.

We are missing you all loads - keep in touch,

Much love

Andrew & Esther

We have arrived at last in Chiangmai and are doing our best to settle into life here in the first 24hrs.

It has been a bit stressful as we have no phone or car and we do not even know if we are going to stay in this house.

We have been introduced to loads of people, all American, and two of them, Derek and Joan, are looking after us. They have driven us to the store (Tesco - the only familiar name!). We had Thai dinner there for £3 for the whole family including icecream! I (Andrew) was dragged round a few secondhand car dealerships today which was stressful. I didn’t know where to start. I don’t feel comfortable with them in the UK and this was 10 times worse! We are praying that someone we have met from the school will be able to come up with a car.

It is hot and sticky but not as bad as we thought (29 deg C in Mollie’s bedroom with a fan (no AC in that room). All the children have been a bit restless today as the swimming pool is not open until we go back to school. We aew going to try to use another pool in another neighborhood tomorrow but have to rely on liftes everywhere. There are no maps of the area that we live in so difficulties abound!

We thought that the Thai names would be strange but the Americans are more amusing. We have an Eric and Angela (in their 20s), a Chumley, a Walt and a Connie and will meet more I am sure. No Fanny’s yet thank goodness..

We are living at the base of a very green mountain with a giant golden Buddha half way up. It has rained both days with loads last night with roads awash. The children paddled and found tadpoles, a fish and a large crab walking along the road. Also a lizard in the bathroom and another in the bedroom.

The missionaries next door run an orphanage as do a number of other families that we have heard of. There are quite a few koreans church planting in the hill-tribes. There are 3 main English-speaking churches around Chiangmai but all the other side of the city from here. The missionaries who live on this side find it hard to get to a cell group because of the distance. We are thinking of starting one so please pray about this.

We have been playing Delirious CDs as it helps us feel close to you all. We currently have to use the school line to send emails as we do not have a phone line. They are planning to put one in next week. Since the school is not open yet for the new term we cannot use it whenever we want so are limited in the emails we can send for the time being.

With much love

Andrew & Esther

PS - Have hired a car and seen some nice houses so things looking up. Went swimming yesterday. Pool is fantastic!!! Will send photos. Feeling better as a result.

Andrew left a message on our answerphone saying that they have arrived safely in Bangkok and are at their hotel.

They have booked their flight up to Chiang Mai

Great news!

Adrian

Andrew, Esther and family safely left Heathrow airport on Thursday 29th July 2004 for Thailand.

No news of their arrival so far - at the current time they are probably just about to land…

Adrian

Hi there - Just testing to see how this thing works. Andrew

Hi Andrew - just testing

Adrian