Negatives and Positives

One day, after not sleeping well, I tried to go back to sleep during the morning but couldn’t.  I felt drowsy all day and very lethargic, not really wanting to do much at all. That night I just couldn’t keep my eyes open so crawled into bed at 6pm and was asleep by 6:30pm. Although I got up to go to the toilet during the night, I fell back to sleep quickly, finally waking at 5:30am, surprise and delighted I’d slept so long.  If only this was the norm!  But alas it didn’t last; the following night, I was back to waking for hours during the night again.  Just recently I woke up at 4:15am (the roosters hadn’t even started their morning chorus) and although I was feeling very lazy, pushed myself to go for a jog.  I was surprised later that morning I was able to go back to sleep for a few hours. I obviously needed it!  That night again I slept from 8:30pm to 6am. What a difference a good night sleep makes.  Since then I’ve had a few more good nights, sleeping from 8:30pm-5:30am. Sleeping through is always a delight and surprise to me and I feel so much better after a full night’s sleep.

Other mornings if I wake before 5am I wait for the first light of dawn to go jogging.  It’s still very humid but not so hot at that time of the day.  The dogs are getting used to me now too, so they mostly leave me alone.  There are few vehicles on the road, mostly farmers going to their rice paddies or ladies on bikes, electric two and three wheel scooters or motorbikes/scooters with side carts for goods.  Most of the ladies and a few older men, smile and nod at me as we pass each other, others call out a greeting as they pass and some even encourage me to keep up the good work.  This is typical behaviour of a small village; not that I’ve gotten to know any of them but it’s nice to feel welcome.

It was good I’d slept well the night before the housekeeper came, she had been asked not to clean the house on Mondays by Carolyn.  I spoke with both Carolyn and Liz (whoes house I’m staying in) and asked if Carolyn could speak to Yay Ja, asking her to come only on Fridays to clean the house and to do gardening on the Monday.  I needed some space; I’m just not used to people coming and going around where I live.  I also wanted to be free to do things that the Thai think are very improper such as put my feet up on the sofa.  Anyway Yay Ja said Liz was the boss, even though Carolyn had spoken to her the week before. I told her I’d spoken to Liz, her reply was ‘ok, that’s ok.” Which I took to mean, sorry I’ll only come on Friday but obviously it didn’t mean that to her as she kept cleaning.  I then messaged Liz who said she would speak to her later that day.  Liz later told me she suggested coming after I leave as I was only here for a little time longer, otherwise she can do the garden this week and next Friday clean the house or just collect the garbage. Let’s see what happens.  I suppose what upset me the most was that she blatantly disregarded what Carolyn had asked her and knowing I didn’t want her that day, came inside anyway.

That day, Carolyn had invited Temjai and me for lunch.  It was lovely to sit down together and share a meal followed by a Bible reading, discussion and prayer.  Temjai had cooked some Indian sweet, Gulab jamun, and I had cooked some pikelets which I wanted to try out before taking the older Saturday group cooking class.  It was past 3pm when Temjai and I left, stopping first at the nearby market and 7/11 store.  Then back to the house to catch up with a few chores of our own.

The following day I had my usual Tuesday class at the primary school. Dema spoke to the disruptive boy at the beginning of class who then sulked for most of the lesson, not showing any interest in joining in although I asked him if he wanted to when we started with the interactive activities.  During this part of the lesson I was struggling to spell animal names and the students questioned why I didn’t know English.  I explained I had a learning disability, a bit like the student in our class who couldn’t speak but who was able to participate in different things. I said my disability was that I’m not good at spelling words. They seemed to understand and I felt a bit of a break-through even with the boy who was sulking.  I think opening up to the class about my struggles helped him to finally join the activities.  Especially when he saw we were going to play Bingo.  I’m glad he did, my heart goes out to him as I know what it’s like to be ostracised because of my disability.  I finished off by giving them one of Tamjai’s Gulab jamun as a treat which they all enjoyed.

I have been wanting to see if I can retrieve my Thai grade 6 certificate which I completed in 1992.  A teacher at the primary school here, said unless I know the name of the school in Chiang Mai, where I sat my exam, it would be impossible to track it down, even so they may not have the records as it was before results were recorded on computers.  What a disappointment; it would have been a keep sake of bygone years.

While walking back to the house, I stopped at a little place which sells seedlings and on occasions has pineapples on a table out the front of the store.  This morning they were sorting pineapples into large baskets to sell.  I asked if I could buy just one as they usually sell by the kilo.  The girl asked the owner, who I could see, was having a massage on the floor of her house.  I apologised for interrupting saying I could come back another day.  She waved away my apology and asked the girl to give me some for free.  I insisted on paying but she refused.  Wow!  Thank you Jesus for your abundant provision.  I took two pineapples to Temjai who wanted to use them that coming Saturday, as we were teaching the children about taste and flavours.  The classes went well with the children squealing at the sour lime and delighted with the chocolate smarties and pineapple.  Most didn’t like the dark chocolate or the cheese and although the younger ones didn’t like the broccoli, the older children did.  It was a fun morning.

That afternoon I downloaded a couple of Thai language apps to try to improve my Thai.  There were two on learning with Thai characters, tones, consonants and vowels and another one for spoken Thai.  The spoken Thai uses Romanised letters similar to the phonetics I learnt when I first learnt Thai, which will be challenging as I can already read some Thai and I never did really get the gist of phonetics.  It also uses symbols for the 5 tones for example: ‘H’ high tone, ‘L’ low tone, ‘F’ falling tone and so on.

An update on my date with Milkky.  Well you guessed it, she cancelled again!  She said she still wants to meet up before I leave but I’ve decided unless I’m going into the city I’m not going to bother.  What is the saying?  Once bitten, twice shy, and …. four times means I’m very reluctant to be involved!  But it worked out well as Temjai wanted to change our lunch date because she needed to go to another meeting on Saturday so we went out for lunch on the Friday instead.  It was a well-known Chinese noodle soup store, she ordered a very spicy Schezwan pepper soup and I ordered the not so spicy one but still had a taste of her soup.  Wow! It nearly blew my head off but very tasty with the tang of Schezwan pepper.  From here we visited BigC to do a bit of shopping but mostly to buy some durians to replenish my stock.  I’m eating nearly one segment a day while I can.

I’m still being bitten by a mysterious insect and itching for days!  It seems that one bite recovers then there are a few more!  I think sometimes it is the tiny little fire ant as it starts with a burning sensation and ends up being a itchy, blistered pustule and welt.  Although I’m slapping mosquitoes it doesn’t seem to be them that are causing the itchy bites.  Most of the time it seems to be in my bed that they get me so I’m thinking ants!  In last week’s blog I posted a photo of the Tussock Moth caterpillar.  It has stinging hairs causing a burning rash, itchy welts and blisters.  It is a very dangerous caterpillar which was near the seating area just where Temjai and I were having our lunch at Pi Nee’s store.  Other creepy crawlies that sting are roe beetles, centipedes, hornets and wasps.  There were two wasp nests where the children were playing at Baan Sawang which we sprayed and removed for the children’s safety.  The most dangerous insect here in Thailand is the mosquito, which carries dengue, Zika and in some places malaria.

Besides the stinging and biting insects that seem to love me, another thing that really frustrates me when I’m overseas is when I go online to do my surveys or to do some research using Australian websites, I am unable to access the site due to the VPN pointing to Thailand or wherever I am outside of Australia.  As previously mentioned I can change my VPN but this doesn’t always work, somehow my surveys will still lock me out or just say ‘something went wrong’ which means they have detected it’s not my usual URL.

I was delighted to see that TAGTHAi had responded to my comments about how inconvenient their card was.  They said they are hoping to make some changes including the ability to link it to the tourist’s own bank card for top ups instead of needing to go to a particular bank which are only in a few places. This will make it so much more Tourist friendly.  I do hope it is available next time I come.  I also pray that what remains on the TAGTHAi card, will be able to be returned to our personal accounts.

Carrying on from my thought from my last blog on Israel, I was intrigued to read something I’ve often thought about regarding the Lord’s statement on the Cross when He said, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46).  I’ve heard many people say this was an expression of despair as the Father turned His face away from His Son.  This really disturbed me as that is not my understanding of the Trinity, the Son says He and the Father are one, if you see Me you see the Father.  How can a triune God who says they are one be separated?  What made more sense to me was that He was quoting Psalm 22 to draw the attention of the disciples and all the Jewish people standing beneath the cross, to His fulfilment of prophecy spoken by King David.  Then recently I read an article by Traci Coston, which explained things much better than I could so here it is:

“Jesus was quoting Scripture. He was quoting Psalm 22, and every Jewish person standing there would have known it.  In Jewish teaching culture, rabbis often quoted the first line of a Psalm to point listeners to the entire passage. They didn’t have chapter numbers. The opening line was the reference. If you knew the Scriptures, you immediately knew where it came from. So when Jesus said those words, He wasn’t just expressing pain – He was directing them to Psalm 22.  And Psalm 22 describes crucifixion in stunning detail, written nearly 1,000 years before Jesus: “They pierced my hands and my feet” (Psalm 22:16), and “They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing” (Psalm 22:18). That is exactly what was happening at the cross. Anyone who knew the Psalms would have understood the connection. Jesus was identifying Himself as the righteous sufferer David wrote about. But here’s what many miss: Psalm 22 does not end in abandonment. It ends in victory “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord.” (Psalm 22:27). When Jesus quoted the first line, He wasn’t declaring defeat – He was announcing fulfilment. What sounded like anguish was actually a prophetic signal. It was Scripture unfolding in real time. He was accomplishing exactly what had been written.”

The Lord is forever the Rabbi; even in His most agonising state, He was teaching His disciples about Himself and the Good news of the Kingdom for ALL who believe.  He does this even in His very last breath, through drawing attention to the fulfilment of King David’s prophecy about Himself.  It is finished He proclaimed.  He had finished His work of redemption and was ushering in the New Kingdom.  Psalm 22: Verse 31: “They will proclaim His righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!”   Now that’s what I call good news!

Photos:   1. Changing Lady ginger – Globba winitii    2. Rice paddies    3. Temjai and me at Chinese noodle store    4. Baan Sawang Saturday classes     5. Rambutans

Prayer & Praise Points:

Please continue to pray for Israel and peace for the Middle East.

Praise the Lord for His Word, please pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to open the Word of God to us so that we can be conformed to His image, that others will be drawn to Him through our words and actions.

I continue to be grateful for the opportunity to practice speaking Thai with the locals.  Please pray that I will be able to continue learning from the apps I have downloaded as I’m still struggling to remember and read many of the Thai characters.

Please pray that the remainder of my time here in Thailand will be fruitful.

Please continue to pray for the Karen families not only here in Thailand but also left in Myanmar. Persecution continues as churches are not only bombed but landmines are placed within their grounds.

Pray for families who have applied for visas and permanent residency with their families abroad, especially Matt’s family in Mae Sot. Pray that they will be united with family soon.   Pray also that, while they wait, their situation in Thailand will improve and that they will be able to provide for their families.