We had a wonderful time with
the Lahu pastors in Chiang Mai Thailand. It was great to see them again
after a few years away. It was good to hear of their efforts to preach the Word
well for their congregations. We studied John 17 and part of Ephesians 1
to help them see how to use their study skills to improve their theology. I
think they all profited from our time. They all begged us to come back again.
They bought me a formal Thai shirt but it was much too small for me. So, I
told them to take it back and try to get a much larger one. Then when we return,
they can give it to me.
We had no problems returning
to Bangkok and then the next day on to S. Asia. We have such a good
relationship with a family there that we have trained with over the past 12
years. It is always a bit challenging here because of the conditions. We
have not had internet most of the time and even our phones are sporadically
able to send texts or to get news. Everything is a little more complicated
here. I travelled on Saturday 4 ½ hours to visit with a group of pastors who
started our program but have not had any more workshops for over a year. The
leader there is a really quality man, very godly and intelligent. I think
we were able to encourage them and to begin to develop plans to start up the
training once again. Edie stayed back and trained ladies on both Friday and
Saturday for 4 hours each. It was a joy for her to reconnect with friends and
meet new ladies. She felt they profited from the study.
Our partner here invited a
number of pastor/leaders to come to our training this week, some from nearby
states and two are from Indonesia and will be in our training next week. They
do not speak the language here and their English is very limited so
communication is difficult. They sang in church on Sunday and although we could
not understand the words, their lives showed true worship. After they sang,
they left before I preached and I thought that was because they would not
understand any way. Later I found out that they went to another church to
preach there. A translator was there to help them but chickened out at the
last minute. So, they used their google translation app to preach. One
would speak in to his phone, get the translation and the other would say it in
English. We laughed together when they told the story.
We left late Sunday night to
travel 4 hours in another direction for our training where we are now. We
were really tired when we arrived and finally went to bed around 1 am. The
hotel is nice and new but…we found we had no toilet paper and asked for
some. They did not have any, but said they would get some in the
morning. The next morning, they came with a packet of napkins. We had to laugh;
such is life here. Our bathroom is clean and nice but the pedestal sink
was leaking on the floor. I looked and they had not installed piping so the
sink just drains to the floor against the wall and runs to a drain at the end
of the bathroom. I joked that you can wash your hands and feet at the
same time, what will they think of next.
The training is going well
here with the pastors really engaged. But none had done their homework so
I had to talk with them about that. It is going a bit slower than I had hoped
but we are making progress in studying the Psalms. Edie is taking the
ladies through Esther and it is going very well. She is so good at helping the
ladies think through the passage and make really good applications to their
lives.
We walked 15 minutes last
night on a crowded street to a restaurant we ate at last year and were proud we
actually found it and ordered all without help. We walked 5 minutes this
morning for breakfast. Little victories in our cultural adjustment. We now
have an internet modem so we can finally communicate. It is warm, almost 90 by
afternoon, but not oppressive. We look forward to a good day today.
Al
