Foursquare Thailand Convention 2011

Its funny when I first heard about convention, I thought it was retreat that we were doing with Mae Sot church.  Then when it got closer, I heard that there would be churches from all over Thailand, not just Mae Sot.  This was actually more exciting to me because many of these places, I might not be able to visit.  Our Chiang Mai church-Seng Sawang was the hosting church although the convention itself was held at Wang Tarn Resort.

Wang Tarn  Dining Area

Wang Tarn Resort is a little resort like place about 20 minutes or so out of the city of Chiang Mai.  We stayed in little rooms that had a bathroom and beds.  I actually ended up in 2 rooms since the first one was apparently not supposed to be mine.  The second room reminded me of the 3 bears because each of the 3 beds was higher than the one next to it.  I chose the highest one so I wouldn't feel like I was sleeping on the floor.  I originally was sharing the room with my pastor's 9 yr old daughter and her friend but they moved to another room and I got the room to myself.  Probably good since I was killing large ants the first night.

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The day we arrived, I came up with my pastor's wife, Sariton, another church member who's name I never got and Angie Hilderbrand of the Bangkok Foursquare church..  It was nice being able to chat with Angie on the way up.  When I arrived and got settled, I started wandering around and met Zina and Doc who have a church way down in southern Thailand.  Later I met other young families; a few including a young family who are missionaries to the Ahka people in Chiang Rai, a young family who are missionaries in Bangkok and the pastor who connected me with my current church family-Pastor John.  Some people from Coastlands may remember him since he was there a few years back.  It was good to make the connection and let him know who it was that had emailed him a few months back.  I thanked him for getting me connected to Pastor Alan.
Our first evening after rocking worship from our Seng Sawang gang, Pastor Mike from Hawaii spoke.  It was quite entertaining to watch him interact with the interpreter from Mae Sot-a young pastor.  Pastor Mike is quite energetic and encourages his interpreter to be the same.  He spoke of being stuck in a wine press either by choice or by circumstances.  He prayed for those of us who felt stirred.
The second day, Pastor Mike spoke again and this time it was more on the church environment.  What sort of things should be in a church ie: generosity, tenacity etc.  Actually that covered more than one talk.  Again after some seriously rockin' worship.  I knew our worship team was energetic but I think they pulled out all the stops this weekend.  It was awesome!  Reminded me of VBS -those of you who know what that is.  Remember when we jump up and down and try to sing at the same time?  Seriously fun but tiring?  I actually didn't do that this weekend as my foot is still in recovery mode and I wanted to be able to walk afterwards.  But other people jumped and it was fun to watch.
Anywho back to everything else.  I forgot to mention that Pastor Mike also spoke on Honor, Unity and Loving the Harvest.  All related to the church.  I think its really easy to honor those we respect and look up to and sometimes we forget that honor doesn't just go up it goes all around.  I'm not going to go off on every little detail cuz that would be a book. 555 for those who are wondering when I'm going to get around to my next book.  It will happen soon enough.
Our weekend ended with worship from the Mae Sot group and closing with Pastor Mike, Pastor John and communion with Pastor Winai.  I'm imagining it was a nice break for the other team as they were admittedly tired last night after everything was done.  I thoroughly enjoyed all the talks even though there were times when there wasn't translation.  I think a year ago, I wouldn't have been able to sit through a talk I didn't understand without being frustrated.  But now being in a place where I don't speak the language, it happens a lot and its life. 
I was excited though that I was able to pick out more words from the worship set and sing them in thai.  Now worship for me consists of "English English English Thai English English English Thai etc"  Good thing no one can hear me. :)  I'm realizing that I'm very focused on worship lately.  Maybe because I've always loved it and can't wait til I can do it all in Thai.

My new friends Ket and Martha

Pastor Mike and Pastor Deer

One of the main things I prayed for this weekend, was to get more connections.  I knew people would be at the convention from various parts of Thailand.  Our church here in Chiang Mai is not large and I can't communicate with most of the congregation at the moment.  So this weekend God answered my prayer.  I met people from other churches and made connections.  I also started making more of a connection with my own church.  One young woman has been on my heart now and even though she is rather shy, I think she's getting more comfortable around me.   I look forward to building on that when we return to church.  I also had conversation with other members of my church and I think things will start to feel different now between us.  Not that anything was bad or uncomfortable before but other than my pastor, I'm the only farang at my church.  I'm seriously motivated to learn Thai quickly so I can interact more.
I'm going to end here as I need to finish packing for my next trip.  I leave for a mini vacation to Hua Hin in southern Thailand tomorrow.  Its only planned as far as the flight and hotel but other than that, I'm completely winging it and can't wait.  By the way, Lily will be in Thailand in only a couple of weeks.  I found her a ride and we're working out details as we speak.  Praying its not royally expensive.  But for those who thought Lily needed a book, I think her life in Thailand will be a book of its own.

End of the First Quarter

Hard to believe our first quarter ended last week. Its amazing that we have been in school that long.  I finally don't have to worry about grades but rather learning support plans and updating the one IEP that I've written so far this year.  Its much more low key than what I'm used to.  I do get lazy on grading however because I don't have piles of stuff like I used to.  This week there will be parent conferences.  I actually will be attending conferences that are essentially faciliated by the classroom teacher.  The only ones I will do on my own are with the 6th grade parents since their classes are running conferences a bit differently than everyone else. I actually don't understand it so I'm glad to do those on my own.  I currently have 5 6th graders on my caseload.  They have the most energy of any of my students but they are a nice bunch.
I'm looking forward to our week vacation that comes up after this week.  I rather like our set up.  We had a work day last week to finish up grades/reports and a day for only conferences this friday.  My last conference is quite a bit earlier than others so it may be hard to stay on task the last few hours before vacation.
And what am I doing for my first vacation?  Well I'm staying in Thailand.  But not in Chiang Mai.  I start the weekend by attending a foursquare retreat about 20-30 minutes away from here.  I've been told that people from Mae Sot, Bangkok and other churches in the country will be in attendance.  My pastors wife also mentioned Americans because she knew I'd appreciate that.  After I return, I will have about 1 1/2 days before I fly down to Bangkok and then take a bus, train or some other transportation for 3 hrs to Hua Hin in southern Thailand.  I actually have no agenda down there except to get a massage, go to the beach and hang out.  I'm hoping they still have warm weather as the weather here has cooled significantly.  Many people are happy about that but I could use a little more warmth as I pulled out my long sleeves, pants and my light jacket today.  Its also still raining which from what I hear is not terribly common.  I guess the rainy season is supposed to be ending but it almost seems to be beginning.
I'm still hoping and praying to get Lily here someday soon.  No one has been able to bring her yet.  My principal today asked me if I wanted a kitten.  They have 3 week old kittens.  If Lily comes, she may have company provided my housemate goes for it.  I love the idea of a kitten but with the plan that Lily would eventually be here too.  Who knows?

Life in General

I think its safe to say that things are becoming somewhat routine.  Most everywhere is devoid of water from the flood.  The people who's houses were hit the worst, are still doing cleanup and from what I hear, the smell from stuff the flood washes in, is nasty.  I feel incredibly grateful that getting our street blocked by a river of water was the worst that it got.

Waiting for the sky train

Last Sunday, I flew to Bangkok and navigated their skytrain/airport train system.  I'm so glad that I'm not afraid to ask for help when I'm lost although it usually takes getting lost before I do it.  I was glad that the guesthouse that I stayed in had a tv and I used the internet cafe in the mall next door to check email.  I was tired from my adventures in traveling. 
In the morning, I had breakfast at the guesthouse which consisted of food I'm used to seeing at breakfast like fruit andThai food that I normally don't eat for breakfast.  It was good and the company I shared it with was nice also.  I met another woman who was staying there, from Kuala Lumpur who during the course of our conversation, it turned out that she was friends with my coworker in Chiang Mai.  Go figure! 
The guesthouse-Bangkok Christian Guesthouse is a 3 or 4 story guesthouse that my school likes to use when teachers com to Bangkok.  They get a good deal on the price which is already good since its a guesthouse and not a regular large hotel.  Since I didn't want to miss much work while in Bangkok, I only spent one night there, and kept my backpack with my belongings with me during my workshop.
The workshop was meant to do two things.  One was to get professional development and the other was to continue adding hours that I need to successfully clear my credential next summer.  It was also a very sweet deal that my school paid for everything except my dinner on Sunday night.

Bangkok from the sky train station

The workshop itself was put on by two teachers from the University of  Northampton in the UK.  They were teaching us about an assessment tracking system using P scales.  While I think I understand the reasons behind it, I was a little disappointed that it didn't seem terribly relevant for my students.  The scales help to define different levels of students with special needs so if they transfer between schools, its easier to see where they are at.  But their focus seemed to be primarily for lower functioning students.  Most of my students do not have a diagnosed disability or an IEP.  They come to me for extra help.  But our hope is that my students will eventually learn strategies that help them succeed without the extra instruction. 
I've learned during my time at my school so far that some cultures do not readily accept learning difficulties in their children.  They want their children to be successful and having anything less makes them feel embarressed or like they failed as parents.  Its disheartening when we have parents who don't want to accept the help that we offer or become difficult because their child isn't catching up fast enough. 

On the happy side, I am exciting about our first school vacation.  It will arrive in 3 weeks.  Between now and then, I need to write approx. 9 learning support plans and finish testing one student.  But when that is over, I will be first off to a Foursquare retreat that will include our church, possibly the church from Mae Sot and possibly others??  I was doing my best to mentally interpret the announcement during church last weekend.  I only was able to get part of it.  Should be fun.  The day after we return, I head down to Hua Hin in southern Thailand for a mini vacation of my own.  The theme of that vacation is relaxation.