Thailand, finally

My attempt to summarize a wonderful 3 weeks:

The first week, we spent at Cha'am beach, 2 hours southwest of Bangkok. Beautiful. Serene. Relaxing. We learned that we're not exactly beach people. I mean, neither of us desire tans and the water is not that fun to "swim" in. We played soccer on the beach a few times, but that was it. It was a little rocky where we were, so not even a sand castle...I know, sorta lame. But we loved looking at it! We also rented bikes to ride into town since our hotel was about a 20 minute walk into town. A great perk of Thailand: free wifi just about anywhere. Coffee shops lined the street advertising such a luxury. Sweet! A few pics from our week there:

Daddy and J checking out the pool.

Bikes! Josiah wishes he could have ridden on the back, but he rode on the front of me in a carrier instead.

Dinner overlooking the beach. Fancy high chair, huh?

 

In front of our hotel.

The next week was spent in the northern part of Thailand in Chiang Mai, where we would also have our conference. LOVED the town..almost more than the beach. Don't hate me for that comment. But coming from a lack of western anything, this town was chock-full of stuff! Restaurants, English-speakers, grocery stores, etc. Just plain lovely. Most days, we just took off walking to see what we found and were never disappointed. We did eat Thai food a few times, but we just wanted to ingest as much American food as possible. One day we took a trip to see the elephants, the Karen long-neck tribe, take a bamboo raft ride, and ride on an oxen cart. It was a fun, full day! Pics:

mango smoothie! so glad they aren't skimpy on their proportions.

Woman from the Karen tribe. She loved J's hair!

Getting a snack from the crowd.

On the raft!

Elephant ride!

Oxen cart...a little boring, but at least we did it.

The last week, we attended our annual conference with our whole organization. 500 people who serve all over Asia, gathered together to worship and learn. It was wonderful. We don't have a fellowship nearby that speaks English, so to be able to understand the services and sessions was extra special. And, of course, nothing like worshipping freely again. Wow, we didn't realize how much we missed corporate worship.

At the end of last semester, I was really struggling to find purpose. Why was I here? I wasn't interacting with many students. Josiah and I were running out of things to do. Poor Michael heard an earful of complaints every day. I was jealous of all that he was doing.

On the first night of conference, the MC spoke straight to my heart. We all have it hard. All of His servants do, in one capacity or another. We weren't called to a life of ease and comfort. Our challenges are mostly in the comfort zone...different culture, language, food, etc. But who cares about all that if we get to impact lives eternally? We were very specifically called here. We will have to clearly be called elsewhere. And we haven't been. So why not focus on the positives? The blessings. The opportunities.

Needless to say, we've come back refreshed. I have a new perspective. Father-willing, I'll be able to keep it for the rest of the semester. A big focus is for me to get more involved. First, I'll have an office hour on campus. All the other teachers do, but I'll add my own. It's just at time when students can come in and chat freely. They see it as practicing their English. We see it as divine opportunities. And wow, does He work during those times!

The theme of our conference was broken & restored. Glad to be on the latter end. Praise Him.