July Project Complete

It's now Saturday afternoon, July 26, 4.p.m., and our project is done. We are packed/crammed into our suitcases and awaiting our taxi-vans in 30 minutes, to jet off to Bangkok for about 18 hours, then back to America!

All delivery projects in the NW region and in the city went well yesterday. Jody and I survived 1,687 curves each way, going to Maehongdon!
During July, we saw many sizes of bells, as here with Gary, at Wats/temples. People ring them to bring good luck.

One one of our many sangtao (two-bench) trips to or from work or a market, Jody and Rob decided it would be "cooler" to hang on outside, standing on the back, like a fireman.















If you have not heard, I was bitten by a stone lion, while watching a small parade. See the pain on my face?
To see LOTS more photos of our family and Wycliffe Associates team members at work and play, go to Grace Intern. school's web site at http://www.gisthailand.org/. Then click on the third photo down, with the caption, "Why would 19 people from 11 states come to Chiang Mai."
Enjoy. We have to go load our luggage for the airport now. Penny

Computer Donations Begin

July 23:

The past two weekends have included fun tours and events, like the guys zip-lining 70 meters high, through the forest trees.

It's Wed., and preparations are steaming as eight complete units, monitors, etc. are prepared for a 7 a.m. departure tomorrow, northwest to Pai and Maehongdon, near the Myanmar border. The team plus taxi-van driver plan to do it in one olympic 14-16 hour day, into and out from the hills. Pray for safety and alert driving home.

At the same time, other volunteers will deliver computers all around the city, to ministries, schools, churches, offices which need them.

Penny took a city/Wat (temple) tour, and we all visited other OLD sites on the weekend.

Final Week

It is July 21, and we are into our final week in Thailand. Though our team has demolished many of the projects on our lists, we are still quite busy testing, cleaning, and preparing to donate dozens of computers around the city this week.

Please pray for the teams who deliver all across the city, and pray for the team of four, including Jody and Penny, who will travel to two NW villages, on a 6-hour serpentine route.

You see here one of the numerous new labs at Grace International School.

HUGE Elephants, Huge Day

Sat. July 5, our Wycliffe Associates host scheduled a full day of tours and activities, to include five team members, who leave the following weekend.
We began with a scenic hour drive into the mountains, then a 45 min. trek through fields and hills—on ELEPHANTS.

After our safari, we watched paciderm youngsters kick soccer balls, eat handfuls of bananas, twirl hula-hoops on their trunks and PAINT pictures of other elephants—truly! Didn’t get a t-shirt, but got great photos.
Then four people got into double-ox carts, which drag raced down a bumpity country road—or maybe that was simply Jody’s driving.

Next we enjoyed a peaceful 30-minute bamboo raft ride down the Upper Ping River. Jody and Rob both got to “pole,” while one guide occasionally teased, “crocodile!”

A nice tropical buffet of rice, chicken, veggies and fruit was provided, before we began the hour-long trip home, interrupted by visits to factories producing: silk, Celadon pottery, elephant dung paper (no kidding), and painted paper umbrellas of every size.

We arrived back at the guest house tired, hot, and with many photos, memories, and a few shopping sacks!

We are all well and fine, but the heat and humidity take a toll each day, and slow down our western pace.

The team is ahead of schedule on projects. Visit the school web site for work photos at www.GISThailand.org.

Penny

Chiang Mai, Work Week One

Sawatdee (Hello, good Morning/Afternoon/Evening, Goodbye) from Chiang Mai, 14 hours ahead of West Coast time.

We are up at 6 a.m., eat at 7, leave at 7:30, and work 8-4. Then home maybe an hour, walk to dinner somewhere about 6 p.m., then home to bed. Besides a full work day, the heat takes its toll, normally about 88-94 degrees and about 80 percent humid. Heavy daily rains begin in august, so it's only occational now.

LOTS of projects are done and it's a wonderful trip! Our supervisor says we are such busy beavers we are AHEAD of schedule!

So on July 4th, we had BBQ burgers for “American” lunch, then some swam in the HUGE pool and relaxed in the afternoon.

Grace International School of 500 students occupies a converted health & sport club, which the community uses daily, from 3 to 8 p.m.

We are all feeling a bit tired and slow as the days go on, and we still work at a “western” pace.

All week, Jody and Rob have been drilling and pulling computer cables through walls and attics.

Gary has been working with one of the Thai computer guys on programs they are using.

I, Penny, have done numerous “non-techie” things, like: un-boxing and installing 23 new monitors, making and placing labels on them and their accompanying 23 new computer towers, in one room (others later).

Unpacking, labeling, and re-boxing about 50 new UPS power supplies at 15 lbs each. And yes, I included two Ibuprophen with my vitamins a few mornings!

I’m also the official coffee cup washer and project photographer, for their web site.

Weather is less humid than anticipated; people are twice as friendly as expected; and the country is clean, with food better than imagined.

We enjoyed a walk through the acres and acres of “Night Market” on Tuesday. I got lost and nearly circumnavigated the globe finding my way home. Must have trekked 7 miles.

Thursday we enjoyed an event at the American Consulate compound, complete with tons of security, hot dogs, apple pie, and fireworks!

I forgot I’d bought a Thai chopping knife in the market and put it in my tote. They “almost” had a hernia, exclaiming “knife, knife!” seeing the security scanner. I retrieved it when we exited. I'm glad Gary didn't have to retrieve 'ME!"

Pray for our stamina, that we pace ourselves in the heat and don’t get hit by the HUNDREDS of scooters buzzing around.

Praise God for projects getting done for Grace International School, and visit their web site to see more photos: http://www.GISThailand.org/.

KupKunKa (thank you) Penny

Airport DASH!

Friday, June 27, trip begins with a dash! We were prepared to leave for the airport at 10:30 p.m., 2 ½ hrs early, for international security procedures. But when Jody called China Airlines at 5:40 p.m. to double-check the flight, he was told passengers should arrive FOUR hrs. ahead, which meant we had to leave within the hour to get in line!

The catch was, Dick B., our gracious driver, was on a dinner date with his wife, with his cell phone “off.” In addition, he had a new number, which no one had! So, after eight calls to friends and family, his daughter Sheryl finally offered to scoot us to the airport and we left on time—or rather—early and made it. Since it was already 9:30 p.m. and we’d each been doing final packing and errands all day, Jody used the time to catch a snooze in the baggage line, while we all yawned and looked on, enviously.


About midnight, Rob decided to have a final American burger…to keep his taste buds happy for a month. We took off at 1 a.m. as planned, were fed “dinner” at 2 a.m. our time, because it’s evening in China, and had breakfast at “WHO KNOWS” what time, because it’s morning SOMEWHERE!

For “excitement,” I (Penny) had my first ever fainting spell and blacked out in the aisle near the galley, because of heat, lack of sleep and high altitude. The hostesses let me lay there, with a pillow and blankets, for about 30 minutes, until I felt totally conscious again. (I was the ONLY one on the plane who got to lie flat out! ) Later, we saw a gorgeous sunrise over Japan,
and landed in Taipei about 5 a.m. their time—about 7 p.m. Sat. night back home.

We have a 4.5 hour layover in Taiwan, as I write this note with photos, Jody plays computer games, and Gary explores the airport with Rob. I’ve taken numerous pix of the great signs with Chinese characters—full words—Jody and Rob tell me.


I’m fascinated with this passenger transfer sign to cities and countries I’ve seen in the news all my life.

We shared a nice mocha a few minutes ago. (Just what I need…less sleep!) In about 2.5 more hours we board for a 7 hr. flight to Bangkok. We’ll spend the afternoon, evening, overnight, and morning there, then fly to Chiang Mai tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 p.m. At home it is 4 p.m. Saturday, but it’s already Sunday here—14 hours ahead!

Send encouragement to GPLent@gmail.com.

Anniversary and Roses

June 24, 2008 -- Yesterday was our 36th Anniversary and we celebrated at a nearby Thai restaurant, with rice noodles, chicken and shrimp smothered in delicious peanut sauce! The sauce was very reminiscent of Cameroon, but is apparently common in Thailand, also. On our morning walk, Gary took a moment to smell a neighbor’s roses.

In a day or two, our sons Jody and Rob will leave their house remodel job in Los Gatos, CA and drive home. For two months they've worked hard and learned new skills.


We’ll spend the rest of the week together, then go to the airport, late Friday night. Email questions and encouragement to GPLent@gmail.com. I’m ready. And as you can see, Gary is finishing packing.

We are excited about this new short-term mission, among a team of 19 people from all across America. The new culture will be interesting, and our whole family loves the food! So it will be profitable to support a mission need, encourage those who are there, meet and engage Thai people and try NOT to say something incorrectly. We’ll smile and bow frequently.

“Sa Wat Dee” is similar to “Aloha,” in that it means Hello, Hi, Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening, and Goodbye. How can we go wrong!?

May

"What next?" This was a question in the mind of Penny and I, Gary, but the answer is now in process. For the month of July, we are moving this blog to Chiang Mai, Thailand!

Grace International School serves 500 children and during summer break must replace and repair 150 computers. That area of the world is home to a large number of ministries, missionaries and their children, and thus the volunteer nature of the project through Wycliffe Associates.

We have been with WA now since last fall, and while our first assignment was in Cameroon for ten weeks, we find ourselves now getting ready for four weeks in Southeast Asia. And by 'we' I mean the whole family.

Our two sons, 19 and 21, are both good with computers, so as part of a WA team we will help the school to meet the initial computer replacement objectives. But also, they hope to take many of the older PCs and reload them with a Linux OS and OpenOffice, and place them in mission ministries around town.

While the Thai language is complex with some five tonal pitches, we are told that we should be able to get around in English. And, did someone mention food? Ah yes, we are told that the cuisine is amazing, so we are preparing by going to Thai restaurants, making every effort to see how spicy we can tolerate the food without losing our tongues.