New Jersey

We arrived in New Jersey this afternoon. We have been looking forward to spending several days with all of our children together here in New Jersey. It is close enough to New York City that Jennifer and Darren can travel back to their jobs and school by bus from here.

Bethanie was supposed to arrive this evening from Haiti. Her flight got messed up by tropical storm Noel. We thought she wasn't going to be able to make it until Thursday. Now we just got word that she is on the flight today and will be arriving in New York this evening. She is speaking at the Christian Aid Ministries open house in PA on Friday and Saturday. I guess if you live close to the CAM warehouse near Ephrata, PA and want to see her you can go listen to her speak. We were disappointed when we thought she wasn't going to arrive as scheduled today, but then we don't control the weather. Now that we know she is on the way, we are ecstatic.

It has been about 18 months since we have all been together in one place at the same time. We are glad that everyone could make it for this time together. Hans arrived last evening already, so he was the first one to get here.

Ohio Mission Conference

We are on our way to Ohio for a mission conference at the East Union Mennonite Church. We left Minneapolis yesterday and drove to Hammond, IN. I was totally exhausted when we stopped for the night around 8:30 PM. Jet lag still seems to be getting me in the evening. Hopefully, I will have the energy to preach well this evening. I guess as the speaker, I have the option of a short service.

The mission conference is this evening and tomorrow. I have one message this evening and then three messages tomorrow.

We are planning to have supper with Matt and Olivia Wenger this evening. Olivia is Edith's niece. It will be good to see them again.

Minneapolis

We arrived back in Minneapolis this morning. Our flights were all pretty much on schedule. Elaine is the only one who wants to see another airplane or airport anytime soon.

We arrived at the motel here in Minneapolis about 35 hours after we left the house in Chiang Mai. It is wonderful to be able to stretch out on a bed. Now if we can just stay awake until it gets dark this evening.

The IGo board meeting starts tomorrow at noon. We will be here in Minneapolis until noon on Friday. Then we will head for Ohio for the mission conference at the East Union Church. The meetings there are on Saturday and Sunday.

Back in Taiwan

We left Chiang Mai this afternoon and flew on China Airlines to Taiwan. We are waiting for our flight to Los Angeles. We will be all be glad when that 13 hour flight is over.

Our time in Thailand was good. I enjoyed teaching at the Institute for Global Opportunities. It was good to see what is happening there. The students are excited about the Lord and missions.

We have an IGo board meeting in Minneapolis on Thursday and Friday of this week. I hope that I am pretty much over jet lag by noon on Thursday.

Memory

Memory is a strange thing. Why do you remember what you remember? What strange trick of the brain is it when you remember things from almost 50 years ago, and then can't find your car keys?

This morning suddenly an ice cream advertisement diddy that I heard on the radio as a child popped into my brain. "Hello, Breyers calling, we have wonderful ice cream for you. We have chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry too. A wonderful (blank) of flavours for you". I can sing this as well as the day I heard it over 40 years ago (except for one word). Then as I started thinking back to those days in Ephrata before 1966, I can still remember our phone number. RE3-9098. What kind of useless information is that?

Once Dallas was trying to remember something. He was banging on his head and trying to recall it, but could not. He told me, "Dad your brain is like a room full of drawers. You put something in one of the drawers and leave it there. Later you come in and are looking for it, but you can't remember which drawer you put it in. You open one drawer after another, but you can't find it. You know you put it in there somewhere, but you don't know which drawer. Finally you give up and walk out of the room. Later you come into the room and your brain slides out a drawer and says, "here is what you were looking for earlier". Some people fall and bang their heads real hard and everything from all the drawers gets mixed up and they can't find anything for a while."

But, why does your brain slide out drawers with things you aren't even looking for? I wasn't looking for the Breyers ice cream song anytime recently. Yet, this morning, there it was.

Now if I can just remember which side of the road to drive on in Minneapolis tomorrow!

We are getting packed up and ready to go to the airport. We should be in Minneapolis by 9:00 AM on Wednesday. If God brings us to your mind, pray for us as we travel.

Dancing Shrimp

This evening Kris Schrock took us out to eat dancing shrimp. We went to a cute little bamboo structure built out over the lake. We sat on cushions on the floor around a low table. There was little English on the menu so Kris ordered for us in Thai.

The dancing shrimp came in a small brown bowl. Kris shook the bowl and then opened the lid. Shrimp started jumping out onto the table and a few made it to the floor. The trick was to get them on your spoon and into your mouth before they jumped away. A few would be jumping even in our mouths after we had spooned them in.

Whenever a shrimp would jump Kris would give a little squeal. If it jumped in the direction of Dallas he would shout and then Kris would squeal. It was great entertainment for us and the Thai people dining in the same area.

We also had fish, fried rice with chicken, steamed rice and a hot soup. It was all very good. Generally I prefer my food dead, but it was a great experience. If you ever get a chance to eat dancing shrimp don't pass it up.

This is a view out over the lake from the bamboo structure in which we were seated.


This is Kris ordering the food from the waitress.


This is the bowl of dancing shrimp. These little guys are still alive and ready to jump.


This is the table spread with food. Dallas is looking for a dancing shrimp that just made a leap to the floor.

Latest Happenings

I am almost finished teaching my class now. Tomorrow we have the exam and then on Friday I will do a few wrap up things. It is hard to believe that the term is almost over already. I have enjoyed my time with the students here. I am impressed with their commitment and dedication to God.

Monday evening Kris had some Thai friends over and they cooked some Chinese food. It was great. It was interesting to meet some of her friends here too.

Tuesday morning in chapel, Eugene Morse was here as the speaker. He is an 86 year old man. He has spent most of his life since he was 4 months old in Asia. When he was four months old his parents came to Tibet as missionaries. That was in 1921. They later began to work with the Lisu people in Southern China. After 1949 they moved to Burma and then in the late 1960's to Northern Thailand. They have worked with the Lisu people most of that time. It was interesting to hear him speak of God's faithfulness in his life over all those years of missionary work in Asia.

Today Edith went with Pastor Kiat and Darlene Stoner and Norma Martin to some places nearby Chiang Mai. They visited some shops and an umbrella factory. It sounds like they had an interesting day. Dallas and I went down the street to a barber shop and with many hand motions indicated what kind of haircuts we wanted. We were pleased with the results, considering the possibilities for disaster.



This was at an umbrella factory. The lady is preparing wood for the framework of the umbrellas.


This is a view of a resort near Chiang Mai. Pastor Kiat wanted the ladies to see the lovely flower gardens.


This is Eugene Morse. He has lived in Asia since he was 4 months old in 1921. He has many stories of God's faithfulness as his family has worked among the Lisu people.


Here is Kris with some of her Thai friends and the table spread with Chinese food that they had prepared.

Another Saturday

Yesterday we went to Maesa Elephant Camp and made a few other stops as well. We went up the mountain by Chiang Mai. We took a short walking tour of a temple near the top of the mountain. There are 300 steps leading up to the temple, so it is a bit of a climb. It reminds us that we are in a country with a completely different religion and set of beliefs.

We then went to the Elephant Camp and took elephant rides. After the rides we had lunch and watched the elephants perform things they have been trained to do. They play soccer, throw darts, paint pictures, etc. Afterward Elaine and Dallas each got a hug from an elephant. They fed the elephants sugarcane and bananas too.

We went to an orchid nursery. I think the best orchids will be coming in a few months when the tourist season hits it peak in the winter months. We did see a lot of nice flowers.

On our way home we went to Central Airport Plaza and has supper at a real Pizza Hut. The children were delighted to have pepperoni pizza.

Here is a tribal girl that was dressed in her tribal outfit and was willing to have her picture taken with tourists for a small fee. She was incredibly cute.
Here are people worshiping the Buddha at the temple near the top of the mountain.
This is part of the elephant ride. Darlene Stoner and Norma Martin are on the elephant that is heading down hill in the background.
Here is Elaine getting her elephant hug.
Here is Dallas getting his elephant hug.
Here is an older couple that Elaine took a picture of in the orchid nursery.

Everything is still ok

We have been doing well here in Thailand. I completed another week of classes. Now there is one week left. Our time here is going by very quickly.

Today Edith went with Darlene Stoner and Norma Martin to tour a National Forest and Park North of Chiang Mai. I was helping the children with their school work here at IGo. During their breaks we were playing ping pong. We have been playing ping pong some since we are here.

A few days ago I had played a few games with Dallas. I was beating him with scores of around 21 - 10. After about the third game, he got angry and and was quite frustrated that he was losing every game.

Today he asked me to play with him at his break from school. I questioned him about his ability to handle losing. "Will everything be all right even if I win?" He assured me that it would be.

Partway through the first game he was a little ahead of me. "Will everything be all right even if I win?" He asked me. I assured him it would be fine.

Well, much to my surprise in our fourth game he beat me 21 - 12. He was very impressed. When we went back up to the library to start his school work, he said, "I'm starting to like ping pong now".

The Weekend

It is Sunday morning here in Chiang Mai. Yesterday we were able to do some things that we have been wanting to do, but needed to wait until there was a day without school. Kris Schrock helped us to get to a dressmaker who will be making some dresses for Elaine and Edith.

In the evening we went to a street market and had a good time there. Just as we were getting ready to walk down to the main road and get public transportation it started to rain. We all got wet even though we had umbrellas. We waited about an hour and then set out again. It turned out to be a lovely evening. Darlene Stoner and Norma Martin arrived here on Friday. They went with us to the market as well. Darlene does the bookkeeping for IGo, so it is good for her to see what is happening here and experience Thailand.

Today we have a staff retreat with the staff from IGo and GTO. I will be sharing three messages with the staff. This morning the service will be at IGo then the afternoon and evening sessions at GTO.

I feel pretty good about my classes this past week. I am looking forward to some of the things I want to share with the students this coming week.

Here is Elaine being measured by the dressmaker.

This is our first attempt to go to the market.

Here are the ladies purchasing something at the market.

Teaching

I am finished with three of fifteen classes now at IGo. So far I think it is going fine. I hope the students think so as well. I am realizing again that I am not really a professional teacher. I am a storyteller who happens to be standing in front of a classroom of students. Hopefully, my stories are related to a central theme that happens to be the theme of the class for the day. I don't have as much technical knowledge as I do basic life experience. So, I get up and share out of my life experiences.

We are enjoying our time here with the staff and students of IGo. There are some great people on staff and some really good students. Most of the students are wanting to spend a large portion of their lives in missions. It motivates me to be able to have some involvement in their lives at this stage, before they begin serving on the field.

Today I attended a vision meeting and heard some ideas of ministry possibilities for the future. It is exciting to think of what God could do through the ministry here.

Here is a picture of the dining hall

Here is a picture of the classroom.