Home From Travels

We have been home for almost a week and are just starting to get adjusted to the Midwestern time zone. Edie and I enjoyed a couple of down days in S. Thailand. We were so thankful for that time to relax before we came home and jumped into our work again. We rode a bus almost 4 hours south of Bangkok to a hotel that we knew little about. It turned out to be just what we wanted. Nice but quiet and off the beaten path, yet still only a 5 minute walk to the beach. It had rained hard there the night before we arrived and there was water everywhere. They got just the outer ring of the hurricane that hit the Philippines which was hundreds of miles away. The storm surge there was high enough to carry weeds, etc., over the road that runs along the beach and almost all the way up to our hotel, probably 1/4 mile from the beach. I cannot imagine how bad it was in the Philippines.  

We rode a scooter around the area on the second day and had a great time. It was really beautiful and restful for us, just what we wanted. We had good times with the Lord and with each other without the pressure of being prepared for the next day. On the third day around noon we headed back to Bangkok to ready ourselves for the long trip home. In the hotel that evening Edie was trying to get the lamp on her side of the bed to work and got shocked, and tipped the lamp over and it fell on her foot. Her big toe took the blow and she was hobbled all the way home. We laughed as I pushed her around Minneapolis airport in a wheelchair once again because of the pain of all the walking we had to do. We reflected on how these "minor" afflictions are nothing compared to the privilege of serving Christ in the way He has called us. 

Al