The Mays’ Weblog

Hello everybody

On Sunday I got baptised in the Mekong River because I felt that it was the right time to do it and I remembered that Jesus got baptised in a muddy river too!

I wanted to get baptised to show everyone that I love God and that I am a sinner but Jesus took my sins away and cleaned me. I want to follow Jesus and love him forever.

The water was very nice and refreshing even though it was very muddy!

See you soon
Love Jacob

We spent most of the day with the church on the banks of the Mekong river overlooking Laos. Since we visited last time the church has grown significantly and the bamboo hut was nearly full, including lots of children. I shared with them about the oranges from yesterday and Russell and his friend Andy spoke in very impressive Thai. We went down to the river for the baptisms, a fantastic setting.

Jacob will say more about these in a separate blog entry for reason’s that will become obvious.

We were given lunch afterwards and chatted and hung about a bit until we drove home later. We feel so encouraged and privileged to be be able to share in these experiences. I hope that the pictures convey something more than my words can. Click here.

Much love, Andrew.

We had a wonderful time today visiting the large orphanage run by a pastor called Joseph. It is on the Thai side of the mountains that form the border with Burma. It was a real God appointment.

We were nor expected so called first. Joseph was going to Chiang Rai, as was his son, so they met us near the airport. We chatted awhile and then followed his son back to the orphanage. We would never have found it otherwise I think! We stopped at a large market on the way and bought meat, fruit and veg. It was great fun. The back of the son’s pickup was full up with food.

As a further treat we bought oranges for all the children. We used some of the money that the TAG children raised for these orphans.

When we arrived we got the usual lovely reception from the children and they sang to us. We had with us a friend of Russell’s, Andy, who we had picked up from Chiang Rai airport. He is a fluent Thai speaker and plays guitar well so we borrowed a guitar and sang ‘I could sing of your love for ever’ to them. We did very well under the circumstances. Russell said a few good words, and even more that I did not understand…he was great.

We handed out oranges to all which
was a thing of some mystery as I will explain. We had weighed the oranges at 8 oranges per Kg and bought 23.5 Kilos which comes to 188 total. There were 4 bags each with about 5Kg in.
We were concerned when we got there as they said there were 184 children there at that time and we were concerned that we had cut it a bit fine and may not have enough. Esther and I prayed hard as we got them out of the back of the pickup. Esther had read in her morning reading about the feeding of the 5000 so we were all fired up! When we handed them out we started in a all 4 corners of the room and, when put together at the end, had 2 full bags left, probably enough for them all to have another later! Explain that then……Thankyou Lord!

We gave them additional money from Arun CC with instructions to buy food with it. They were very grateful of course. Joseph’s wife said that they had really been desperate for a couple of weeks and really had nothing but rice to give the children that evening. The food that we brought really was the only edible thing in the kitchen. I was pleased to note that the fridge was cool and working which will help the meat stay fresher longer.

We had the guard of honour with the children lining the streets again on the way out and had a great time and felt God’s hand on us at every point.

We are now at Chiang Khong in Nomads guest house on the Maekong river, Tomorrow we are going to a baptism in a Lao village church, with the baptism in the river. What a privilege to be witnesses to what God is doing here! More pictures here.

Much love and thankyou all for enabling these children to know that they are loved.
Andrew & Esther XX

Just got back to from an exhilerating plunge in a reservoir about an hour north of here. We went with friends, Jeff and Birgitta and som Joshua, in Jacob’s class. We were taken by boat to a floating hamlet of rafts with restuarant and rooms where you can stay the night if you like. Perhaps a future trip…. The children had a great time in and out of the water all day - beautiful!
The place had a small fish pen at the back and when we ordered lunch they had to catch the fish first! Once it had been cudgelled into submission which gracefully happened behind a pile of baskets it cooked up nicely and was delicious when it arrived of course.

On the way home we took a short cut and found ourselves in to middle of a Thai festival of some sort on a road that was too narrow to turn on. We needed to reverse back through the crowds and down the road about a mile before we could turn around!

Close to home there is a new road being built which is currently a mud track. It had rained and we got grounded on a mud hill. It was the kind of mud that sticks and then resists removal so we were in a right mess. It was dark and we had only taken posession of the car today from friends who left to go to Bangladesh with the leprosy mission. Lots of Thai people stopped to push but it was jammed fair and square. Eventually a cement lorry turned up and a group of teachers happened to be driving past at the same time. Thanks to the cement man and Walt DeMoss we managed to drag the thing out and limp home caked in mud.

A fine end to a lovely day out! Wish you were here……

Andrew

Today was tinged with sadness as we had to say goodbye to the Jackson family. Barry, Linda, Peter and Leonie have lived opposite us for the last year and have become good friends who will be sorely missed here. Barry was a fellow science teacher here at Grace and I was sorry to see his desk cleared today when I went in to do some sorting out. Esther will miss Linda badly I know and we hope to be able to visit them in New Zealand in the future.
I do have a sense that, after their time here with all its challenges and excitements, they will be a real blessing back home and are ready to see God leading them into new things.
We will miss you all.
With love,
Andrew & Esther
PS that bike you left is a mechanical disaster. Thanks a bundle!!

Its me again.
I am still warm from the Graduation ceremony held at the Phucome Hotel
up the canal road here in Chiangmai. I must say that I went from a
sense of duty and returned with feeling privileged to have gone.
We from the UK are not used to the Rite of Passage that is the
Commencement Ceremony and I do not know what it is like at regular
American Schools but this was an inspirational time of celebration and
sending-forth. It gave me a fresh affirmation of why Christian
Education is so important and why God called us here. We honoured the
students who, at the age of 18, are going out into all parts of the
World to study and, more importantly, to demonstrate the servant heart
of Jesus in giving what they have and the hope they carry. All 33 young
adults have a different set of abilities, dreams and destinies but all
went with the commission to serve God in all they do.
One of the highlights for me was the address given by a thai young
lady, Myrrh, the Valedictorian (highest achieving student). She
compared the values of the World with the values of the Kingdom and
exhorted her fellow students not to be tempted into accumulating but
always seek to give of themselves. She spoke with exceptional maturity
and strength of purpose and from her it had a passion of conviction
that challenged all present. It is she that initiated the ministry the
students perform in visiting the local AIDS orphanage every Saturday
and the English clubs run for Thai students where the good news is
shared. She is a leader of extraordinary humility whose actions speak
louder than her words.
I was so encouraged and proud to be part of a school that not only has
the highest ideals but puts them into practice and seeks to do so in
increasing measure. I am excited by what she and the other thirty-two
students will achieve after the nurturing, teaching, encouraging and
challenge that a school like Grace has given to them. I am delighted
and honoured to have played even a small part in that process and look
forward next year to continue the same.
Andrew.

Hi again, Andrew here.

After nearly a year of living in the land of massage we eventually managed to get some pampering at one of the most expensive locations in Chiang Mai, and all free of charge, which always makes life taste that little bit sweeter doesn’t it?

By a series of contacts, the details of which I have enquired about but don’t truly comprehend, we ended up having our children looked after by our lovely friends and neighbours, the Jacksons of Wellington (NZ) and went off to the Spa today at 4.00 in the afternoon (the escape was a luxury in itself). We had been given to believe that we were needed as models, yes that is correct I said Models, for a brochure that the Spa were producing. They wanted some extras in the background in the ‘baby massage’ section and we were they. On arriving we were told that they had finished the baby filming (oh yes; movie and stills….) but would love us to be photographed anyway. I was given a robe and then was required to relax in a fantastically comfortable chair while my feet were washed (for about 20 mins - they must have thought they were dirty) in scented water and then massaged for a further 30 mins with oil. I noticed that Esther was watching closely and can only hope that she absorbed some of the technique. I really feel that it could be an enhancement to our marriage if she were to offer this service to me after I get home from work……)

Following that we both had an oil massage. I got the back and legs done while Esther got the feet and face. Esther’s only complaint was that in having both ends done at the same time she could not decide on which part to focus her faculties of enjoyment.
We were then asked graciously if we would not mind ever so much going in the sauna for some further shots. We had to make smiling small talk for about half an hour while they did their thing (no small achievement when you have been married 14 years…)

After two and a half hours we were released accompanied by their profuse appreciation for our trouble and we were told that we could go back again at no expense for the full works but without the bother of the cameras. A right result we thought! But only correct; after all, I think they rushed my left arm a bit….

Yours greasily, Andrew

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Adrian

Hi again - Andrew here this time. It is a very wet Sunday evening. The rain has arrived after months of sunshine and it is a very big relief. It has been raining solid for about 3 days now - not too heavy but enough to drop the temperature from 38 down to 26 - lovely I can tell
you!
This has been a easy week with Monday and Thursday off school - great! I have no idea why really….probably some Thai or American holiday…who cares, the result is the same. Monday we went to ObKhan National park just 20 mins down the road and swam in the gorge there. It has been so dry that the river is about 1m lower as it goes through the rocks and bits that were previously unswimmable due to strong currents (yes mum we are very sensible really!!) we were able to explore.
In the evening jacob went to Scouts as usual and jumped up 2 levels in one evening from Tenderfoot (American scouts name) to First Class Scout (there are about 4 levels above it though which have names like Eagle and stuff…).
We are having a bit more time after school to go down to the Fitness suite (impressed?) now that the swimming season has begun as jacob and Mollie are both in the squad and training 3 times a week. We chuck the others in the pool with the dingy (rubber boat - how is it spelt?) and
sneak off like caring parents (not far Mum - just up the steps and round the corner….).

Thursday morning we slithered down to the snake farm and saw some great snakes and other reptiles like dinosaur things ( the name escapes me at the moment). Nice looking brutes that photographed well. One rather alarming feature of the place was that most of the snake cages had doors with the sort of padlocks you would expect to find in a Christmas cracker. What is more most of them were not even locked and could have been opened in seconds by any small child. We are talking large pythons, cobras, vipers etc. The show was good at the end and jacob and Luke had their photo taken with a python around their necks (it was perfectly safe mother..really…)

Esther made her debut teaching the 7th grade (12-13yrs) on Friday! My AP Physics class have exams on Monday and I wanted time with them to do a bit of last minute training so she stepped in - I was proud! She taught them all about aseptic wound treatment with a demonstration
involving ketchup and a student’s leg. She taught it to 2 separate classes. I am planning her further involvement. She has confided that she enjoyed it. (Just on the quiet, with the other two science teachers leaving after this term and no definite replacements lined up she may
be getting more work than she wants - don’t mention a thing to her mind!)

4 weeks to go until the end of this school year and the graduation ball - who shall I ask to go with me? What a dilemma! What shall I wear? Oh the trials of youth…

Esther has gone to bed. I have worn her out with my boring conversation. We have 1 lesson in Thai every week here at home and have to practice speaking to each other. The only problem is that with our limited vocabulary (’how many children have you got’, ‘what is your name’, ‘do you like boiled egg?’, ‘what do you buy at the market?’ etc) and the fact that we know the answers anyway, the conversation does not really drip with fascination for either of us. When we try to stray from the learned material we either have to fill in with French words or if desperate, English. French always sounds like a gesture in the right direction so is used where possible.

And with that, and the fact that Esther is calling me from above,

Sawat dee Kraap, bon nuit, and cheers from me for now.
Andrew.XX

As I sit here listening to “What a Faithful God”(Robin Critchley) great song by the way if you don’t know it ,I find that these words have been so true over the last few weeks.

We have had an amazing time with our wonderful friends the Oliver family, who came to visit us for nearly 3 weeks (but it went so fast ). If you want a blow by blow account of every thing we did see The Oliver’s Blog (click HERE) and you will find they haven’t left any details out. I will be brief, however as they have already woven together the whole picture for you, not only in words but fantastic photos and video footage, Adrian is a star!

It was a strange privilege to visit Khao Lak and stand in the place where so many people died. We went to the worst hit village in Thailand, 3000 Thai casualties and 7000 Burmese, many not yet found and and probably never will be, refuges from their own country in turmoil, some still in the temple fridge. But God know all their names and as we stood their with some Thai friends and asked for God’s healing and power to sweep across the devastated land before us, there was a sense of hope and change as many experience the love of God for the first time as Christian agencies and churches in great quantity reach out to help and locals’ hearts are softened to hear the good news.

Andy and Adrian got their hands dirty (what a surprise ) in the house rebuilding that was going on all around, slowly but surely. Khao Lak does not have the press coverage or abundant funds that have been poured into Phuket, where you have to look hard now to find any sign of the past disaster, the party spirit is back in full swing there.

Home briefly, just enough time to turn around the washing and visit the elephant camp, again (its a hard life) and then off to Doi Inthanon for 2 days of waterfall walking and the blessing of cool air. In fact the coolest and highest spot in Thailand, and at the top very similar to Littlehampton on a dull Autumn day, with an appreciated chill in the air. Have not felt that for a while! Waterfalls were beautiful and so was the scenery. Little hill children ran about scruffy and bare foot trying to make a bit of money selling wild flowers. They can get up and down those waterfalls like a mountain goat, no worries!

Back home again for only one night, trying to turn the washing around again, then off up north to the border, also this time with our good and inspirational friends the Norwegians from next door.

Cannot go into details about where, just in case some unstable minded person gets to read this somehow. But there is an orphanage in the jungle where children who have nothing shine out God’s love more than us who have everything and with such joy in their hearts. God’s presence was in that place, just ask Jenny. We were struggling with the tears that kept threatening to flow, especially when we opened our eyes and saw their beautiful, intense faces lifted up to heaven as they sang with all their hearts. They are living in dangerous circumstances. Pray for their safety and if you want to sponsor one of them we can arrange it. It’s about $20 a month, only 7 out of about 40 have sponsors at the moment.

In the afternoon we visited another orphanage, this time at the top of a mountain with180 children who eat nothing but rice, 3 meals a day. We bought 21kg of meat in a market on the way and filled up the car with watermelons. They had not had meat for 3 months but we couldn’t take any more as there is no fridge to keep it in.

We did some singing and dancing with them, Jenny was fantastic. God provided for us so well in every thing we did. The aircon in our car was broken, besides the fact that getting 11 people into a BMW saloon is rather on the uncomfortable side and without aircon like a death trap. However we were able to borrow a rather nice Hilux sportrider people carrier for a few weeks, and don’t worry all you Smiths, Jupps and Dunscombs, we can borrow it again when you come, plus another one the same but an upgraded model belonging to our neighbours, the wonderful Norwegians again who will be at home for the summer.

I’m not going to say any more…look at the photos and see for yourselves.

Loads of love to everyone, we love all our friends at home so much.

Andrew and Esther May J,L,M,Ixxxxxxxxxx

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

Good Morning.
I am sitting writing this on Jez’s laptop overlooking the dawn haze of Bangkok from the 19th floor of the Wong’s apartment block. Lovely view with a cool outside temperature of 20C.

We have had a glorious few weeks off, starting with a 3 night stay on the island of Koh Samet in the bay of Bangkok. It was a 2 hour drive and a speedboat ride from here and the beach we were on was nearly deserted. We ate breakfast in the restaurant on the beach - food was lovely, supplemented by the occasional doughnut from wandering vendors.

We took a speedboat trip out to one of the smaller islands and snorkelled from the boat, travelling around the coast until we reached a beach where they provided lunch - chicken fried rice of course. Although the coral was not the best it was a great experience and it was lovely to be down there among the fish, sea urchins and squirting cucumbers.

After arriving back in Bangkok we spent a few days doing local stuff. On Christmas Eve we went to church at the Evangelical Church of Bangkok where we all processed out carrying candles. It was very Christmassy compared to the rest of Thailand. On Christmas day we went out to dinner in the Radisson hotel and were able to eat Turkey, Chestnut stuffing etc. There were so many food to choose from I had limited myself to a side plate so that I could enjoy them all without popping. We even had a strangely oriental Santa pay a visit and bless the children with gifts.

On Boxing day we set off again in a minibus for Sangkhlaburi on the Burmese border North West of Bangkok. The 5 hour drive took us to an outdoor centre/resort where we stayed for 4 nights. We did a variety of things including being shown round a cave system by a girl novice nun (very little in the way of safety considerations), visiting the 3 pagodas pass to Burma, a jungle trek followed by river rafting down the riverand horse riding and outdoor BBQ at the farm of the centre owner’s son.
The centre overlooked a large river junction of 3 rivers boosted by a dam downstream. We took a great boat trip in a longtail fishing boat which took us past the submerged temple complex of the old village before the dam was built. The river was crossed by the longest wooden bridge in Thailand which led to a very poor Mong refugee village. It was fascinating to walk around the village to see whatlife was like there. We came across a group of chilren cooking a couple of small crabs that they had caught (see photo). We found a photoprinting service in a shop the following day and so were able to give them a couple of prints of the photo we took when we visited again which was great.

On the way back to Bangkok we stopped at the Hellfire pass memorial to the POWs and locals who had died building the Thailand-Burma railway 60 years ago. It was fascinating, humbling and challenging to get even a small insight into the conditions they worked under. We were able to walk along some of the cleared path that the track ran in to see the workings. The thought of working in that heat under such conditions was very sobering to say the least. Well worth a visit if you are passing!

Back now in Bangkok and we are preparing to fly back up the Chiangmai in a few hours, sadly. We have had a great time with our friends here but the work needs to begin again…..
It was so good to be with close friends at Christmas ,Steve and Cora and Joel also joined us for new year.We do still miss you wonderful friends and family at home very much and hope you all had a lovely Christmas too as we have all been thinking about you .

With much love,

Andrew & Esther.

PS We were in Sangkhlaburi when we heard of the Tsunami disaster via a phone call from Adrian in the UK. Thankyou so much for everyone who has been praying for us .

Spoke to Jez Wong at 12:00 GMT on Sunday 26th December 2004 - he reports that they (Mays and Wongs families) are all safe - they were some miles inland at the time.

They were concerned for Claire Jones who was on the West Coast of Thailand - we have since heard that she is safe.

We are still awaiting news of Steve and Kora, but we believe they were in Bangkok during this time

Adrian

Hi friends,
If you have looked on the gallery you will see that we were able to visit two orphanages and take the children Christmas presents.

There are many orphanges here, filled with children from a range of backgrounds. Many of them have parents still alive but they have been abandoned, their parents may be mentally ill, on drugs or in prison and cannot look after them. Some of them have been intercepted from the trade in children, often from Northern Thailand and Burma down to the south of the country and abroad. Many of the orphanages in the North of Thailand are exclusively these type of orphans and we have friends here who are involved with one of them and are planning a visit in the new year.

Official sources estimate 300,000 children a year are brought across the Burmese border into Thailand as part of the child trade. Some of them in the orphanges have in fact been purchased back off the traders.

The first orphanage is run by a Christian Thai couple and has 32 children. We had a lovely welcome and chatted with the children while they served us drinks. They sang half a dozen songs to us which was fantastic. It was lovely to give them presents that we had chosen for them. Many of them unwrapped their presents very carefully so that they could keep the paper and they used it to form a bag to put their things in afterwards.

The second one we visited was a state orphanage wich Esther has some contacts with. There were 180 children and we took some sweets for the younger ones as they were having a Christmas party that afternoon, which we joined in with. The youngest children were wheeled about in a trolley (see photo).

It was a lovely time for all of us and we wanted to take half of them home with us! Thankyou to everybody who has given us money for Christmas as it enabled us to buy presents for 70 children. It was such a blessing to see their faces and share in their excitement.

We are going to spend Christmas with the Wongs so will be out of touch for a few weeks.
Happy Christmas and much love from Andrew & ESther.

Happy Christmas everybody!

Here ,would you believe it ,the weather has plummetted right down especially at night. This morning when we got up it was a mere 12degC and, considering there is no heating in the house and some of the windows have no glass, just mosquito mesh, it is pretty chilly. I never thought I would be this cold here. It warms up quite a bit in the day to about 25c so we are still wearing t shirts which is lucky ‘cos its all we’ve got!!

On Saturday we went and got a Christmas tree. Tescos are full of Christmas cheer now and the plaza has a massive tree that goes up the middle, 3 floors high, with a robotic santa (western) that climbs up and down! I was standing at the supermarket checkout on Tuesday and they were blaring out Silent Night, “Christ the Saviour is born”. It was very bizzarre to think that hardly anyone there had a clue what they were listening to (as it was in English of course) but then Andy pointed out when I got home that no one has a clue in Somerfield, Rustington either and they at least can understand the words .

Last week we took the children to see the musical Godspell. Andy said he remembered singing the songs in music lessons at primary school in the 70s. Did you see it first time around? It was excellent. The other Christian school in Chiangmai put it on and I thought it was just as good as any westend job .It was in this huge but lovely theatre right up in the roof of a mall. We hadnt realised it was there. It’s all up windy (or is that windey? - no draughts anyway) red carpeted stairways; very cosy . It was so nice to be able to take the children to see a show at Christmas!

There has been another big festival here, Loy Kratong, which went on for 2 weeks .Every one goes down to the river, sea , any kind of water but preferably moving water ,and they float (Loy) boats made of flowers (Kratongs) down the river. They believe they are floating their sins away with them. It is also thanking the water spirits for the rainy season .There are fireworks going off every evening for about a month running up to the main weekend and then on those nights massive amount of fireworks and also some giant hot air balloon things, about 6 ft tall, that they send up into the air. We had a meal by the river that night but it was so noisy we could hardly talk! There could have been a war starting and we would not have noticed.

There are only 4 more days of school till the Christmas holidays which is good as the children are still doing a ton of homework most nights, especially Mollie. They are all doing well at school though and we keep praying for the homework situation to change .

We are going to the Wongs over most of the holiday in Bangkok and then to the beach somewhere with them. They have organised it and we are really looking forward to seeing them.

Have a really lovely Christmas. We have our Christmas CDs playing and when we hear O Holy Night, cannot help but remember the great Christmas Specials of the last few years and miss you all hugely.

Lots and lots of love from us all,
Esther & Andrew, J,L,M,I xxxxxxxxx

Hello again all.

We have just returned footsore (and as fancyfree as parenting will allow) from a worship and dancing marathon. It started at 4.00 this afternooon and finished at 9.00 this evening.
Believe for Chiang Mai was an all-church event sited at the Thapae gate, one of the busiest pedestrian parts of Chiang Mai. It was Worship, dancing, testimony and Gospel message all rolled into one.
Esther and the children were dancing and flag-waving in front of the large stage with some orphans from a local orphanage. They had worked out many of the dances in advance and were dancing for a large proportion of the time. The singing was great; very loud, very exuberant and uninhibited. One of the great things from our point of view was the fact that we knew many of the songs in English, even though they were all sung in Thai. We just sang along as best we could, even if we were singing a completely different verse from everybody else, or even making up some new words to fill in for the ones we had forgotten!
It was a really encouraging time, a bit of heaven on Earth, with about a thousand people singing together and many others just passing by and stopping to enjoy the party atmosphere.
One of the highlights was that we had taught the orphans the actions to History Maker. The actions were courtesy of Jamie Scott from the TAG weekend this year. When that song was played (the band were very good by the way) the worship temperature went up a few degrees. After it finished the dance area (about twice the size of the green carpet area at Arun) was flooded with youth and others, jumping, moshing and having a great time in what looked like a very un-Thai manner. It reminded us of home.

This morning we went to a Thai church because there was going to be an English-speaking visitor giving the talk. The worship and talk were challenging and inspiring. A number of people were healed of deafness after the meeting along with others from other ailments. What a day!

I have a feeling that there will be quite a few people lying awake in their beds tonight, either thankfully worshiping a God who bled for their healing, or, wondering if the message they heard this evening is actually true and has the power to break the chains of the religions they follow.

The Angels were dancing tonight and God will have done more than smiled, I am sure.

With much love as ever,

Andrew & Esther
Sunday 7th Nov 2004

* P.S. Luke and Isaac missed part of it as I had to take them to the RAM 1 hospital on the other side of the town in the middle of the time as Luke’s leg was hurting. He needed 7 stitches in his leg on Wednesday after having an infected insect-bite-wound excavated by the doctor. Unfortunately we could not understand the instructions adequately and he had only been taking half the recommended dose of antibiotic. It went septic and so he had to have it cleaned and redressed (see photos!). He is fine now.

Hi there all,
Go and get a coffee or a sneaky glass of el vino cos I fear that this will be a slightly longer read than normal. On account of our extreme lifestyle we have neglected rather to keep full account of our movements…That and the fact that we never seem to be able to get on the computer as there always seems to be at least one child who we have apparently promised can play games or write emails.

Several things have been particularly significant lately, chronologically first being our trip to Chiang Rai. This is a city about 4 hours North of us here, fairly near the Burmese and Laos borders. We went with another family who live close to us, Russell and Liz and their 3 children. Liz teaches music at the school and Russell has a role supporting new churches among the Lao people who live on the Thailand/Laos border along the Mekong river.
We travelled up on Saturday 9th October, visiting a lovely pie shop on the way (full of particularly fine tarts etc) and checked into a Christian guesthouse on the banks of the Mekong river (pictures in gallery) in a town called Changkong, used as a border crossing into Laos. Beautiful place, lovely breakfast. The boys all slept together in a wooden hut room on a mattress on the floor.
In the morning we drove a little way to the first church we were visiting. They had started their meeting so the 11 of us sneaked in the back to increase the number to about 25 in all. The church was a classic bamboo hut with a raised bamboo floor and straw thatch roof. It was strange to see electrical wiring leading to a guitar amp at one end. It was so unneccessary. We loved the meeting. It was a real privilege to be so welcomed. We were able to sing some of the songs as they were translations of songs we knew. We just sang them in English of course. We had practised singing one song in Thai which we performed to them. It was ‘Come, now is the time to Worship’. It went down well we think.
I had to speak briefly (translated by Russell which makes it twice as bad) and Russell gave a talk. He is fluent in Thai and lao.
As that meeting was finishing we were delayed by a guy who had just caught the boat from laos and arrived to see Russell for advice. He leads a small church in laos and one of his congregation had died. The trouble was that none of them had been to a Christian funeral so did not know what to do. Russell was able to advise and we chipped in the cash to buy the guy a coffin.
We left there and rushed to another church where Russell was due to speak. we made it - they waited for us - we did our song again and Russell spoke. Bigger group this time, in a proper concrete building.
We were so encouraged to be included in part of what God is doing there among the Lao people. It was great to be there to encourage Russell and wonderful to be worshipping in such a church. Their lives are so different from ours and it was a humbling experience for us all. We can only hope that we gave as much blessing as we received.
We were invited to eat at the pastor’s house which we duly did, squatting on the floor etc. The children enjoyed playing around the village and then we departed to Chiang Rai to a Hotel. We picked up Bonnie (Esther’s sister) from the airport and settled back into the Hotel for the night.
In the morning we went up to the Golden Triangle. As the photo suggests, dirty brown triangle would be more precise. There was not much to see there but we had an exciting boat ride on these conoe like things with car engines strapped to the back. We went to a Laos island for half an hour where I worried about our non-reentry visas and about being on communist soil without papers etc. I was pleased to get back to Thailand without the KGB finding me I must say.
Back to Chiang Rai for another night and then home again. It was good to get back to Chiang Mai - sort of familiar and friendly (it is amazing what 3 months can do to how you feel about a place!)

We spent last week with Jez, Kirsty, Josiah and Jessie which was wonderful. They have photo on their blog so see http://wong.blogdns.org.
We have included photos of our time in Chiang Rai on our blog gallery.
It was sad to say goodbye to them on Saturday night and to Bonnie on Sunday night. It was great to have a brief but very enjoyable time with Jamie and Tracy, Claire and Emma on Sunday. They met us at our church and we went from there to have lunch together and then back to the school to relax in the pool before they had to go. We shall miss them and wish they could have stayed a few days with us.

Anyway - I am getting backache now and have some bread to put in the oven so will stop now. Bye for now and much love from us both,

Andrew & Esther XXX

Hi again folks, Andrew here,

We have just put some more pictures on the gallery of our trip to San Kampaeng where we went last Saturday to check out the Hot springs there. You will not see Jacob in the photos as he was away on camp with ‘Boy Scouts of America Chiangmai 171 Troop’ He went somewhere up North into the hills - we have no idea really. the scoutmaster is some old bearded and whitehaired guy who got lost in the jungles of ‘nam way back and has pretty good survival skills. Fortunately he passed some of them on and they all arrived back smelly but safe. Jacob did all the cooking for his group for the weekend. They are going camping every month! Luke is going to cubs on monday nights as well. They are allowed to wear the union flag on their uniforms you will be pleased to hear! Photos to follow on that one.
So back to San Kampaeng….we arrived eventually….you may have heard that the Thais will say whatever will keep you happy; the sign posts on the way were a bit like that..2Km to go…20Km….3Km….etc. We paid the 50Baht (60p) to get in (all of us) a wandered about getting used to the sulphurous fumes. There were loads of little huts and shelters offering foot massage, back massage, hot spring water baths etc. We did not have our swimming stuff so had to resist (not difficult) but found the little stream you will see in the pictures. The water is about as hot as we could bear and took a few minutes to actually get our feet immersed. It was great! I could feel the skin peeling away along with any parasites and verroucas. We sat for about 15 minutes enjoying the beautiful (I have come of age and can use the word without feeling awkward - nearly) view. We eventually removed our lobster feet from the murky depths and I can tell you, my feet have never felt cleaner and softer!

We wandered back to the car past the straw huts, signs promising eggs and drink, and a child defecating on the grass. It is one of the strange inconsistencies of this wonderful land that it is taboo and unseemly to wander around without a shirt on but is OK for your child to strip naked and perform bodily functions in public places.

However, back to Chiangmai we went and into the pool for an afternoon swim. Its a hard life.

There are some pics of Luke’s birthdat party as well - we had a good time bowling with friends.

Missing you all loads - it was great to see the video of baptisms at Arun last Sunday - it made us miss you even more.
Love from us all,
Andrew & Esther XXX

Hi everyone.

Thankyou to every one who sends us emails. We love to hear from you. I know sometimes we are slow to reply - that is because Andy often has a lot of work in the evening and my typing is very slow - just two fingers at a time. I can only do one or two emails an evening so we will try and keep the blog up to date with news and keep emails short, but dont give up sending them will you .

We are still doing the rounds of churches. Yesterday we went to two …one in the morning, 9 till 10.30 then another in the afternoon, 4.30 till 6. The morning one we went to (and last week too) is the most charismatic one in Chiang Mai. They have an international meeting first then a Thai meeting afterwards which is aparently a bit of a hoe down (the pastor is a very lively Australian). Because the church runs two
orphanages, the Thai meeting is full of children. Next week we might stay in for a bit of it and see. This week there was a visiting speaker from England (Ross Paterson) who has been working in china for about 40 years. He was extremely challenging. We have met more people that work in neighbouring countries than work here and talk about being prepared to give up all seems much more widely accepted and talked about in a matter of fact sort of way. Everyone has given up something to be here but there is much joy and freedom around and everyone we have met seems genuinely fullfilled. It is very exciting tohear about everything that is happening. We can’t give any details but the work and progress in SE Asia is still escalating.

Thankyou for keep praying for us. Mollie is much happier at school and all the children are gradually making friends. Please keep praying for them. The school day is an hour and a half longer than at home and the amount of homework they get in one night is as much as they get in a week at home. It takes all evening and they are tired from school at the start. It is a rather draining system.

We are making some friends too. A norwegian family who go to the same church and live three doors away are very nice they come from a big church in norway. Their paster is a speaker at kingdom faith most
years (Adrian; yes, it IS the hurdygurdy man!) as they have strong connections with the Horsham church. They are working here for 2 years and then their church wants them to set up some childrens work /church in Bangkok. Interesting. Thought the Wongs might like to meet them.

Please pray also for Andy. He is having tooth ache he needs a root canal filling but hasn’t really got time to go to the dentist.

We will try and up-date more regularly so it isn’t such a marathon to read. Still missing you all masses and wish popping home every so often was possible.

Loads of love, Andy and Esther