Mission Thailand

On Thursday arvo, I drove down to bangkok, with a couple of the staff, to pick up 2 boys, a 2 month old and the other boy is about 2. We were told he was 14 months old, but found from his paperwork he is actually a 2 year old. I dont know how to pronounce their names yet, so I wont try typing them yet. Also Thai's seem to have multiple nicknames they go by, so I may find they give him a new nickname thats easier to pronounce. The older boy was very inquisitive. We stayed at Rob & Jeans apartment in Bangkok, and it was not very child proof. The older boy was running around trying to touch and grab everying he could. There were too many breakable things in there, so we got out of there as quick as we could, and straight back to the car with him to come back to Phrae. On the way back, we stopped at a petrol station, and got out to stretch the legs, and the boy saw some roosters and started chasing them. Dont know what he'd do if he actually caught one. So back in the car with him.

From what we understand, the two new boys come from the Bangkok slums. Their mother is supposedly a drug addict and their young father couldn’t cope with the two children.  The grandmother couldn’t look after them/didn’t want them either.  The 2 year old is very rough and it’s obvious he hasn’t been shown much love and discipline but with God’s help they will now be loved, accepted and have a new start to life.

Now the drive to Bangkok from here he very straight forward, until you actually get to bangkok, thats where the fun starts. We got to bangkok just after 8 pm, and didnt get to the apartment until just before midnight. We were lost for about 3.5 hours. The roads are crazy, there are overpasses over overpasses, winding this way and that. Its a twisted mish mash of concrete for miles. We stopped to ask about 6 people for directions, all would be helpful, but when someone says something basic like turn right 100m down the road. You need to ask, which 'right', in bangkok there may be 3 'rights', and once you start turning, the road splits to another few roads, Aaarrggh! As I was driving, I will just blame my Thai navigator, and she will blame the directions she was given. But we got there in the end.
Then in the morning we had get out of bangkok, and yes we managed to find the long scenic way out again, but, not as long as the night before.

You might remember Jeab from an early blog entry. She is a lady who is HIV+, blind and crippled, and lives on her own. Lisa had promised that we would go back to visit as a family. Finally, we visited her together. The boys were amazed at her tiny, rickety “house”, which is really a few bits of termite eaten wood slapped together, with a tin roof.

One of her daughters had previously lived in a house next door with her grandparent. The grandparent has since died and now no-one lives next door. It’s amazing to think that Jeab waits for people to come visit and help and yet manages to live from day to day pretty much on her own.  Her daughter still visits most nights to make her dinner.

Lisa told her that we’ve been praying for her and explained that God is her creator and wants a relationship with her and that he can give her the hope of eternal life after this physical life ends. At this stage Jeab was not ready to enquire further about God but we continue to pray for her healing physically and spiritually.

After 7 weeks away, we were glad to have John and Sharon back from their time away, so we could hand the managment back to them. It was a well deserved holiday for them.

Ezra is doing great. We're all still loving his smiles & laughter.  He looks like he's getting ready to crawl soon.

We went along to another Thai church last Sunday with Nart & Ying (two workers here).  They enjoyed it and so did we. It was good to be part of a larger group worshiping God together.

It was "Children's Day" here a couple of weekends back. The whole group of us went to the local sports stadium for a fair. We went separately as Ezra was having a sleep when the others left.  We had so many people looking at us there - two westerners with 3 asian children and a very large pram which is an uncommon sight here in Phrae.

Yesterday we drove to Burma once again to do our final border crossing to fulfil our visa requirements.

Less than two months until we return back to Aus.  It'll be hard to leave everyone here, especially Ezra as we've spent so much time with him lately.

So why would we celebrate the birth of a baby born about 2000 years ago? Why is Jesus so special?
First a little analogy: Imagine a man who had a terrible disease which would cause his death, and there was a cure, but this man was poor and could not afford the medicine. He tried as hard as he could, but still could not find a way to get the money to buy the medicine. Then someone unknown to him, comes along and gives him the medicine as a free gift. Whats more is that generous person sold his house to buy the medicine for that man. He excitedly and graciously accepts the gift and is cured.

Well here's the news for you and me. Each of us has a terrible disease which causes our death (physical and spiritual), we  all die. Our sin has given us this disease. In fact the bible tells us we earn death, like a worker who earns wages gets money, our sinful actions earn death (Rom 6:23).
We cannot do good works to pay for the cure, we are too poor. But rather God paid a great price for the cure, and offers it to us as a free gift.
The bible calls Jesus "Immanuel", which means "God with us" (Matt 1:23). Jesus came to earth to satisfy Gods righteous judgement, and pay the penalty for our sins. So Jesus was born to die for our sins, so we could have eternal life through him.
God calls us to repent (turn away from our sinful life to God), and put our faith in Jesus who died on the cross for our sins, so that we might have eternal life with him. Jesus is our cure.

Thats why he's special, and why we celebrate Jesus!

Well we have had a busy couple weeks, managing staff, organising christmas activities, looking after baby Ezra, and running on broken sleep. I am trying to get this blog entry written before baby awakes.

On christmas day we went to a park for a picnic, with about 70 poor children from local villages, we played some games with them, gave them lunch, had a clown show, gave them a present and most importantly shared with them why we celebrate Jesus.

On the 26th, our christmas celebrations continued with the staff and children of Mercy, with church in the morning, and we learned about the greatest gift (Rom 6:23), eternal life through Jesus. Then the children opened some of their presents. We then had a water fight, with water balloons, buckets etc. Then after lunch we had about 10 ultra lites fly overhead and drop some lollies/treats for the kids. Then in the evening we had a party here, which was lots of fun for everyone.
Today, we have Lisa and a few others going to a school to give a christmas party to a couple local schools, so I have baby sitting duties (I think it would have been easier going to the school).

A new baby boy, named Ezra, has been given to Mercy at Phrae to care for, and arrived yesterday. He is only 4 months old, and very cute. Due to a shortage in night staff, he is sleeping in our room. So last night every little sound he made, we were on alert and woke up, but Im sure we will get used to it. He is actually a really good sleeper, which Im very glad about. Isaac and Jed think he's great, and enjoy trying to make him smile.

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It is our wedding anniversery today, and as a special treat I spent an hour last night removing head lice from Lisa's head and today us and all the children here are being treated for head lice. These are the joys of communal living. Lisa said she saw someone with a bottle of lice shampoo a couple weeks ago, but I guess that person was treated themselves but none of the children.

I was in the chemist the other day (looking to buy a head lice comb for Lisa), and a stranger walks up to me and asks if I want to be and English teacher, at her school. She must be pretty desperate to ask me. If you’ve read my earlier blog entries on my prior English teeching, we had lots of fun, but I cant spell for peanits. I took the name of her school, but gracefully told her I wasn't really interested.

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I hated doing tests at school, but found this one on the net, and thought you might enjoy taking this one.

Click Here to take this test.

Let me know how you go.

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Beep...beep...beep... The sound of a heart monitor somewhere in the distance comes into focus as you slowly return to consciousness. Your sides hurt tremendously and you can’t feel your legs. As you wonder where you are, you hear muffled voices that sound like doctors. Beep...beep...beep...  The heart monitor continues beeping, letting the doctors know that you’re alive... at least for the moment. You vaguely recall what happened—you were driving around a curve when out of nowhere came the flash of headlights headed directly toward you. You remember screaming, and the piercing crunch of metal, and then... nothing. You can’t remember a thing since then.

Now you’re wondering if you’ll ever make it out. The heart monitor suddenly speeds up—Beep! Beep! Beep! You hear the doctors rushing around barking orders. You feel frightened and wonder what’s happening. You try to open your eyes to look around, but it’s no use. You’re paralyzed there in your hospital bed and can’t do anything about it. You start to think that this may be it! You start to panic. You begin to wonder what’s next: Is there a heaven? Is there a hell? Have you done enough good to get to heaven? Your life flashes before your eyes. What about all those lies you’ve told? If there’s a God, will He just forget about them? And what about those items you’ve stolen? They weren’t big things, but it still makes you a thief, right? What if God even knows your thought life? What about all those times you’ve looked with lust, and used His name as a curse word? Will God hold you accountable? Your heart is beating faster. Beep-beep-beep. Where will you end up? What can you say before God? Your lungs begin to hurt. It’s getting hard to breathe. You know this is it. Beep-beep-beeeeeeeeep....... One last beat. Little did you know you were One Heartbeat Away from passing into eternity...

Every second, two people die. What if this is YOUR second?

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