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.