Day 16: Chiang Mai, Thailand

This week we've again been helping Dan and Ange around the house. We've been finishing off the garden. It's looking good and we're very proud of it. We painted Ami's bedroom pink, and have just started on Chadaa's room. They think it is soo-ay - beautiful! We coooked them all spaghetti bolognaise on Friday night, and you wouldn't believe how hard it is to get all the ingredients here! But the kids enjoyed it so it was worth it. We've really loved being able to serve this amazing family. Even though these are small things we're doing for them, we know that they are servants of God, so by blessing them in whatever way we can, we are also serving God.

On Tuesday, we decided to go out on a prayer walk. We've been feeling pretty helpless, and ahough we couldn't even stop and talk to people, we felt we still needed to get out and do something. So we prayed. And kept our eyes open for the little things. We trust that God's Spirit is more powerful than our words anyway. Its funny how we see so much sin and suffering and Buddhism around, but at the same time we can also see God so clearly at work here. The people at Dan and Ange's church are amazingly passionate about bringing a nationwide change to Thailand (and Southeast Asia). Their vision is to see the whole country come to God, and bit by bit they are making it happen. We will definately be praying for God's will to be done here, and it would be awesome if you guys could be too.

On Thursday, Parachute Band came to Chiang Mai! They played in the back of a parking lot at a local mall. We even had a photo taken with Omega, and since he's from South Auckland too we're pretty much best friends now. It was a bit of home away from home, and a consolation for not being able to go to Parachute! Also, it was very cool when they sang How Great is Our God and all the Thai people knew the lyrics.

Yesterday we got the opportunity to go to an Akha hilltribe village. After a three hour drive into the mountains we were able to join them in their celebration of the firstfruits. They have this once a year, where they sacrifice the firstfruits of their harvests' (similar to what happened in the Old Testament). After the church service, these were auctioned off. The money they make all goes towards a Christmas feast they put on for the poorer people in their area. (This remineded us very much of the widow in Matthew 21:1-4) It was cool for us to see their culture and way of life, the way they do church and how their remote community functions. We got to share a (spicy!) meal with them and see them in their traditional Akha costumes.

It's been over two weeks now since we got to Thailand. And as you've heard, it's been... interesting, confusing, difficult, but also hugely insightful. God's been drawing things out of us and bringing to our attention the things in us he wants to work on. Even though we still don't fully understand why God has brought us here (we're still struggling with the language barrier and how we can serve the Thai community) , we feel like he has been preparing us for the things to come.