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.