A Week to Remember

We just went through a whirlwind of a week. Roy and I left home with Destiny last Tuesday and headed to Bangkok. We spent the night at the mission guesthouse, and the next morning we left with the mission committee on a long trip to see a school in need of a director. Why were we doing this? Well, you remember my posts about visa problems and loud music problems? They have not gone away yet, and we cannot raise our kids in this environment, nor do we want to get kicked out of the country at any second just because the foundation cannot give us work permits. So, we have been talking to the Thailand Adventist Mission for many months now, and they offered Roy the position of Director of a school.We were very anxious to see this new school, and to meet the teachers and students. We were not sure if this was God's will for us, but we were open to any place the Lord might call us. So, we went and we looked and we talked....we liked it a lot! After talking to the boys about it, we have decided to accept the position.  We all are really excited and the kids can't wait to go! Yes, we will take them all with us. We are waiting until a house can be built for us, since they did not have a house suitable for 13 people! And for those of you who are curious...we are still volunteers, depending on your generosity to enable us to do God's work. But, the mission will provide our visas and work permits, and we will no longer have to make those evil visa runs all the time.The school is a 6 grade primary school right now. We are planning to expand it to be a 12 grade academy, patterned after the directions God gave us in the book Education. We will be doing a work/study program for the children. The property that it is on is too small, so the mission is looking to buy more property and move the whole school as soon as possible. Right now there are about  130 students attending. It is a boarding school, but the girls dorm just burned down, so we will also have to rebuild the dorm along with building our house.After seeing the school, we headed on up to Chiang Mai to attend a Supporting Ministry Retreat. We had never been to one before, but it was amazing! You have to understand...we live in a bamboo hut, and we live really simply in our bamboo hut. But, this Retreat was held in a huge, fancy hotel! The first thing that struck me was that there was no place to leave your shoes upon entering. I could hardly bring myself to walk into such a nice place with my flipflops on. I felt like a naughty school girl! In fact, I think that I started a revolution, because the first chance I got I just took off my shoes and ran around barefoot. Before long, I noticed a lot of other people had joined me.At the meetings we were surrounded by missionaries from all over the division. The Sulads sang for every meeting, and they were so good! I had read about their work, but I never dreamed that I would get to meet them. Each missionary got to share who they are and what they are doing and I could not help but feel inspired. Those people are amazing. I feel like such a little missionary in comparison.  It was also nice to see that we are not the only missionaries on the face of the planet like we sometimes feel we are. Although...don't get me wrong...there were not that many people there when you think of the territory that this division covers! Jon Wood presented statistics showing how many people groups there are in each of our countries that are not reached yet, and it was shocking! We have barely touched the tip of the iceberg. We need to have a thousand more missionaries at least!I can not tell you how good it was to attend that retreat! I could go on and on about it, but you probably would not understand my delirious excitement at having a real bathtub of our own in our room, and carpet on the floor, and air conditioning, and a crib for Destiny....you know, all that stuff that rich people take for granted? It was like heaven on earth! Then, to top it all off, I got to go and visit our good friends the Rawlings who are missionaries up in that area. It was so fun to spend time with real English speaking friends from America!  I felt rejuvenated and almost ready to tackle that move....almost... Moving 13 people on motor bikes does not sound like a good plan to me at all! Our friends offered to help with their truck, but it is a small truck, and we have a lot of stuff! This should prove to be quite interesting...I will keep you posted!