Chiang Mai Times: What a week

So i thought last Sunday was a pretty tough day after visiting the hospitals after church, but little did i know that was just the beginning of a multiple hospital visit week. The good news (kinda) is that Dar has been doing better this week, so that's something to really praise God for. Obviously it's still a long way to go before there's any sign of an all clear, but it would be great to keep on praying for the family, that they keep on trusting God through it all.

So, what happened in the rest of the week? Well the REALLY short version -
- Sunday night, Lydia (the daughter of the parents at Cana House) came down with a really bad fever peaking at 40.2
- Monday night, i go over to Cana House to help teach the kids (i teach the kids english and music on mon and wed nights), but there's an incident where one of the girls accidentally pokes the other one in the eye with a pretty sharp knife. i'm not sure what the full story is, but obviously there's a couple trips to the hospital. Lydia is still sick.
- Tues, i had to go down to Baan Tawaai to help with the disabled workshop, so i couldn't help the guys out at Cana House with their restaurant (while they were running everyone around to various hospitals). i felt a bit bad, but in some ways i think it was a blessing in disguise because...
- Wed morning, i get a call bright and early from Oum who's managed to get really bad stomach pains (maybe from something she ate?) so i had to help take her to hospital. i was meant to go to school, but then my teacher also called to say she was in hospital too and wasn't going to be able to make it back for class. By Wednesday night, Lydia's temperature has gone, Oum is still under the weather, and then Ratree (mother at Cana House) starts to get sick
- Thursday i had to go to Immigration to get my Student Visa (that's a praise point by the way), and then go over to the restaurant to help cos the other lady who usually helps wasn't going to be able to make it that day cos her 14month old granddaughter just got readmitted to hospital (can't seem to keep food down)

so that was kind of the 'hospital' week. Surprisingly enough, praise God, i somehow haven't managed to get sick in all of that yet and i'm praying that i won't. If you're wondering how everyone is, they generally seem to be fine now despite some on going 'effects'

But things got much better by Friday night. A group of us from our Cell Group went camping at Opkan National Park. Not only was it great fun, but a really good time of bonding, eating and spending time praying and reading God's word. i also made damper for them to try. On Sat morning, we all got up early to do our quiet times, and then we got together and 3 of us got to share (after losing - or should i say 'winning' a thai equivalent game of rocks, paper, scissors). Course i ended up in the last 3. They were going to 'let me off' from sharing, but i really wanted to share with them stuff i had been challenged by from Romans. But as i started sharing, i realised how restricted i was in sharing cos of lack of language. Every 3 words, i had to stop and and ask - how do i say....'gospel', creation, through faith we're saved etc etc etc. i always knew that i really can't say much in thai still, but that really hit me as to how much more i still have to learn in order to be able to effectively communicate, especially things of the Bible.

So things to pray for:
- for all the 'sickness' that's going around right now, that people will get better, and that i won't get sick
- thank God that my Visa has come through (i can now officially stay here for 1 more year - total of 15 months unless i get an extension)
- continued language learning, and that i'll be able to learn quickly!
- this tuesday, i'm catching up with my friend from CBN (tv network), pray it will go well and for possible opportunities to be helping there.

Here are some pics from our Opkan Camping trip as well as a few other random shots: