Farewell to Chiang Mai

In a few hours we'll be packing up the truck and leaving for Pattaya, down on the Gulf of Thailand, for the Pioneers conference. I'm expecting this to be a week of information overload, as I learn lots more about how Pioneers operates, meet team members who are based everywhere from Africa to the South Pacific, and hear about the work they've been doing. I'm glad my classmate Sarah will be there, so I can discuss all my thoughts with her!

The past week has been very enjoyable but a little bit sad, as there have been many good-byes.

Last Saturday night we had an "Australia Party" for our students, which was great fun. We had organised activities to teach them about Australia, Rhonda did a PowerPoint presentation on the Gold Coast (where they're from), and I did one on the Blue Mountains, we taught them to make Anzac biscuits, and had a bonfire with marshmallows to toast. All of this was with Men At Work, Gangajang and Paul Kelly playing in the background.

The week followed basically the same routine as last week - English classes and Bible Storytelling group, with shopping and sight-seeing trips in between. Thursday was our last English class for this program and also a farewell for Rhonda, Talia and me. Rhonda and Talia were leaving on Friday, so we squeezed in one last trip to the Night Bazaar after class. I now have no fewer than 10 pairs of fisherman's pants to bring home with me!! You'll be glad to know they're not all for me...

I'm at the stage now where I'm quite looking forward to coming home and catching up with everybody - even though I love Chiang Mai and I'd be quite happy to stay here for a good while longer, if this is where I felt God wanted me to be. I'm hoping this coming week at the conference will be restful and informative and help give me more clarity about the future. I'll be meeting the team leader from Tashbaan and his family for the first time. It also promises to be a good time of worship and fellowship with lots of other believers.

Please pray for Ben, Jua, and May - they've all been coming to the Bible Storytelling group and showing interest in Christianity, but it's hard to know whether that interest is purely on an intellectual level. When we had our Bible-based English lesson on Tuesday we did the parable of the prodigal son, and Nuy said she didn't understand why the younger son behaved that way in the first place (i.e. taking his father's money and leaving), which was a good opening for explaining that this illustrates how a lot of people behave towards God, taking the good things He provides but not wanting a relationship with Him. But I wasn't quite bold enough to tell them that the prodigal son represents them. I can only pray that the Holy Spirit will convict them of that.