Painting, Sweating and Shopping July 1-2

The farm is home to the widow and the young lady who does not speak, as well as Tutu's parents and another young couple who are expecting a baby in a few weeks.  The man knows how to farm and do anything that needs to be done on the land and in the house.   We had not been able to finish any of the rooms we had started painting the last time.  We felt like it was going to very difficult to keep the girls motivated for a day to try to finish the work.  The Goshen team was supposed to leave on Monday for Cambodia and there were no tickets available.  We felt that was God's provision for finishing the job at the farm.  The whole Goshen team plus all of the girls went to the farm for the day.  Every major room, all with high ceilings and windows to trim paint, are now a lovely soft yellow with white trim.  It took five hours to complete and it is a transformation of this space.  Once again, we experienced a "home-cooked" lunch done in the tiny kitchen as well as over the fire outside.  You just enjoy the tastes and you don't look at where it was cooked!!  Another highlight of the day for some of us was watching Tutu's mother work on the loom.  Pictures will be better than descriptions, but this simple, yet complicated tool, provides beautiful fabric.  Many of the team have bought carrying bags of this fabric inexpensively.  Now we really appreciate what goes into this work. She was making placemats on the loom today.  The hour ride home was the quietest this group has been in three weeks.  Everyone slept on the way back to the guesthouse.  

We took one hour to clean off the paint - of course, the kids had it more places on purpose than the paint was designed for.  We loaded the vans again and went to the orphanage for devotions.  I have a little trio of girls that have become "mine".  This is true with each of our team.  There are always the more aggressive children who latch onto the guests for the time that they are here.  There are few that give hugs and greetings and then back off and choose to watch it all happen.  One of "my" little girls had a dangling tooth for the last two days.  On Tuesday night I asked her to open her mouth and she giggled and smiled widely.  The tooth was GONE!  I had help locating the little girl that Steve and Dee McCollum support so I could give her a hug and get her picture.

When we left the orphanage we went to the market for dinner and to give the Goshen team their one shopping opportunity.  We had 90 minutes to cover two larger open building areas, plus vendors lining both sides of the streets.  A few of the group rushed for McD's and the rest of us ate in the Asian food court. 

 Cathy and I have been sharing a king sized bed divided by a long rolled pillow down the center of the bed.  Tutu insisted on giving us her bed while the guesthouse was full.   On Wednesday morning we packed up our things to move back into the guesthouse because the Goshen teams leaves for Cambodia today.  They only have 3 days there, hardly enough!  Our team made pancakes for the Goshen team.  When they left for their last visit with their orphan home, we completed our quiz questions.  It was awesome seeing this whole group of girls spread around the living area with their Bibles writing questions from the book of John.  We gathered at Tutu's where she and her sister prepared lunch for us.  We said our goodbyes to the Goshen team.  What a blessing they were to all of us!  We prepared for our English teaching at the Christian School.  It is at the end of the day today.  Tonight we will visit the Student Center where the college girls live.  We will eat dinner with them and have Bible study time with them.  Tomorrow Tutu is taking us somewhere on top of a mountain so we can look down over Chiangmai.  We will also go to the new, smaller orphanage in the early evening to paint the kids' hands and get hand prints for a project the Goshen church wants to do but didn't have time to start while they were here.  We sense that everyone is winding down.  Everyone loves the time with the kids.  I sense that the teaching time at the school is less exciting for most of the girls.  Everyone is ready to come home...but doesn't want the experience to end...but wants to see their family...but doesn't want to leave the kids.  Pray for us to finish strong!  As each of the two groups has left, there has been a drop in energy and focus.  Again, the feeling like a body losing some fingers or toes.  Our purpose is strong, but our bodies are tired and our minds and spirits are on overload.  Please pray that everything goes smoothly on the return flight.  Jen is an effective, quiet leader.  She is a teacher, so she knows how to lead, but she is tired too, and she is serving as our leader for these last three days.  Please pray for her strength and wisdom too.  Please forgive the grammar inconsistencies, the spelling mistakes and the parts that plain don't make sense.  I'm used to having time to proofread and use spellcheck - no time here for that.

Love to all that are reading and praying.  We love you and we're anxious to be with all of you to share every part of this trip.  So hang onto your hats and get ready for some picture-watching and some story-telling.