Women's Retreat and Flooding

Suan Bua Resort

Me, Donella and Bobbi

This has definitely been a week full of adventure.  Last weekend, I went to a woment's retreat sponsored by the local international church.  The retreat was open to all women in Chiang Mai.  Many of my coworkers were in attendance.  During the weekend, there was a lot of focus on worship, which I love.  We had one talk that focused on studying the word and hearing from God.  The talk that spoke to me the most was done by a woman who runs Full Sail Ministries.  She has such an amazing testimony and she was so interesting to listen to.  I also related on some level to what she was talking about.  A recurring thought on my heart has been whether or not to pray for healing for things that I have lived with my whole life.  All physical.  I notice that when I seek healing, I start struggling to be content with the way I am.  So that's where I found myself once again this weekend.  I was able to seek prayer from a prayer warrior who is also my coworker.  While I don't know the answer to what's on my heart, at least I had peace about it.


This weekend, I also was able to hang out quite a bit with another coworker Donella and her daughter Bobbi.  They are here in Chiang Mai as a family and doing a ministry with a children's home around Doi Saket.  I've discovered that we have a lot in common.


This week has become eventful due to flooding.  We were sent home by lunch time today due to a threat of flooding in the school.  The river has been very high and a dam broke farther up making things even worse.  And to top it off, we had really heavy rains recently.  When it rains here, it rarely sprinkles, it dumps.  I had a scary ride home from choir on Monday where my coworker/friend Yara and I were on a motorbike with her driving.  It was not raining when we started, only lightening.  I found the lightening frightening enough because there was a lot.  But then we drove into a rain storm and when we hit the highway, it was windy.  I prayed a bit on that ride home.  We both made it home safely although quite soaked despite wearing rain ponchos.

But today, the river has flooded the banks.  Some streets have water quite high.  Our street is fine at the moment but we are close to those that are flooding.  I have maintained contact with a coworker who lives nearby because she has been sandbagging her house and talking about the water that is coming down the street.  We went to look at the water near her house.  We didn't have to go far. 

Our school is closed tomorrow as well and we are on standby for Friday.  I may have an extra long weekend as I am scheduled to go to Bangkok for Sunday and Monday for a Professional Development workshop.