Yesterday I had a long 16 hour day. I drove up to the mountains and back close to 500 kilometers. I met with my staff to prepare for a team and some project we are working on. Then we went up to the village where they originally came from. It is a medium sized Lahu village in the Mae Ai district. I have visited this village numerous times in the past six years and seen some of the children grow up and leave the place as well as people getting older.
I was invited into the house of Napi and lapue. In the past we had outreach teams staying at their house and last year I helped finance their Daughterty’s nurse training. I always saw them as very kind, hard working, beautiful people. This couple seemed to have a love for each other I seldom saw in the hilltribe community. As I drove into the village with my truck I wondered how they were doing. A friend told me that they miss me and would like to have me for a dinner. It is hard to make an appointment in a village so I just made the trip to surprise them. Of course they were not there.I was informed that they are planting the rice in the mountains, but will come home this evening.
We invited ourselves into their house, Enoch bought some food and Mida started cooking.
I was sitting on the steps to the house when Napi and lapue came walking to the house shouldering their tools. Their bare feet were dirty from the soil and they looked very tired from the hard work. After they had a shower we ate together and they told me about the work they had done. They seemed happy with their lives. Things were going well for them. The rice was planted, They have three new cows, many chickens and ducks. Their daughter works in Chiang Mai and their son is helping with the animals.
I took glances at them and envied their simple live style. At the same time I wondered if I could live the way they do. Napi and Lapue aged a lot since I met them the first time. People don’t get as old here. I got sad and felt so out of place for a moment. Napi smiled and said that she missed me. I returned the smile and said that I missed them too. I know one day I will meat them without the restrictions of language and culture. When people from every tongue and every tribe will gather in the presence of Jesus our King. Napi and Lapue will be among them from the Lahu tribe. I am from the Swiss tribe. This will be the day of laughter, joy and feasting.
the adventure I find myself in / das Abenteuer in dem ich mich finde
Category: Living in Thailand (Page 9 of 10)
Heute ist ein trauriger Tag. Wir sind tausende von Kilometern von der Schweiz weg. Lilian W. 37, eine Freundin von uns wurde Heute zu Grabe gelegt. Wir können nur aus der Ferne Abschied nehmen.
Nach jahrelangem Kampf mit Krebs hatte lilian W. nicht ihre Hoffnung, ihren Humor und ihren Glauben an Jesus verloren. Es ist traurig zu Wissen das wir im Sommer wenn wir in die Schweiz gehen sie nicht treffen werden. Ich werde Lilian mit herzlichem Lachen und mutigem Glauben in Erinnerung halten.
This morning I went to Immigration to get my re-entry permit. Next week I will be off to Laos on a trip with a friend.
To do the re-entry permit (without i cannot get back into Thailand) I had to fill in a form, attach a photo, copy my passport and sign every page. a single re-entry permit costs 1,000 baht a multiple entry 3,900 baht. All in all it took me about an hour.
While I was waiting I saw a sign that the penalty for overstaying the country increased to 500 baht a day. Coming to think off how much money we spend on Immigration. In Juli we go to Switzerland. Re-entry permits for the whole family will be 5000 baht.
This morning I went with Thomas to see the new office. After so many months of wishing to have a bigger place, we finally found something in the city. Like most places it needs paint. It’s quite filthy for Swiss standards :-). We also asked the owner to take all the old furniture out. I like to have space.
It has two levels. Upstairs are two small rooms. Thomas will use the bigger room for recording and all his equipment. The smaller room (2x3meter) we will use as a "quite room". Where we can spend time with God and also sleep (in case we work late). I will have my office downstairs, where we will have a coffee corner. So finally people can actually visit us in our office. Till now our office for two people is a room 3×4 meter. This is such an improvement and I really look forward to it.
With the rent we also get a fast Internet connection. That’s a real bonus. The owner will also put a phone line in and some earth wire for our computers. There is a lot to do. Official moving date is the 17th. We are going to paint at least two rooms at the end of the week.
Yesterday I visited the Wednesday market in Fang. It is the day when many hill tribe people come from the mountains to do their shopping. Over the years I have seen many different food items on markets. Here are some that might make you hungry or take your appetite. The Thais shopping there told me "aroy, aroy" (very delicious) I could hardly hold myself back from buying myself some lunch.
Special food items
Some kind of bug
Red ants larvae
Buffalo brains
Last night our family had a cheese fondue. We got the fondue "Gagglo and Röscho" (meaning the high tech utility in the picture) from the Hungerbühler’s who visited us from Switzerland and brought us parcels from Switzerland. (merci viu mal Res und Madlaina).
To eat cheese fondue brings back some homesicknes to see friends and share an evening doing "swiss stuff" speaking in Schwyzerdütsch. The family evening was great and everybody liked the Appenzeller fondue from the Migros. It is a foretaste to our planed visit to Switzerland this year.
Last week I got my new passport from the embassy in Bangkok. Nearly two month my only identification was a Passport copy and my Thai drivers lisence. Since the security change in most countries my old passport was sent to Switzerland and the new one was made in Berne. After receiving it I had to go to the Immigration in Chiang Mai to enter my Visa in the new Passport. Here is what I had to do.
Fill an application form, make a copy of all the pages in the old Passport and a copy of the first page in the new one. I was surprised I didn’t have to pay a fee.
I came back from the Vineyard Asia Summit last Saturday evening and went of to the mountains with an Australian Team working on projects and spending time in Hui Kau Laam. While I was in Bangok I had do take antibiotics to treat an infection in my lungs. I still feel sick and also my foot is not well healed yet. Inspite of that I had a lot of good talks in Bangkok. It was also good for our small team to see that they are part of a bigger body. We had also a great time with the australian team. We build two toilets in Hui Kau Laam and fixed our community house. For this we went off into the jungle to cut bamboo. The children love the extra attention and the things they learn from the team.
There would be alot more to tell. Have also a quick look on our questasia blog.
Today I’m off to Bangkok for the Vineyard Asia Summit. There will be churchplanters, missionaries and workers in the field comming together for worship, teaching and fellowship. I’m taking my team along. I’m looking foreward to go, even I am still a bit weak on my foot.
Nein dies ist nicht unser neuer Big Screen TV. Der Grösste LED TV in Süd-Ost Asian steht in Bangkok. Leider fehlt das bequeme Sofa und die Fernbedienung.
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