the adventure I find myself in / das Abenteuer in dem ich mich finde

Category: Uncategorized (Page 2 of 5)

World toilet day

Wtoday
Mat told me that last Monday was the world toilet day. I know that sounds a little strange. But since I build and helped with building toilets in several villages I thought I post it here. In the villages we work many people don’t have toilets. On the webpage of the world toilet organization I found the following:

"International statistics (WHO and UNICEF 2000; WHO and UNICEF 2004) indicates that over 2.6 billion people in the world today are without any form of "improved sanitation".

I know for most people in the West (at least I know in Switzerland) don’t think about sewage and toilets. It is already developed and regulated. In the mountains if there are toilets there are often shared with a many people. Somehow like a public toilet. In the way villages develop it seems toilets is the last thing people think about. I mean there is the forest or the field that needs fertilizer. When it comes to the urban settings there are no fields or forests and sewage becomes a huge problem. So a world toilet day is not the worst thing to have. Let us remember, not everybody can sit down with the newspaper or have a time out.

On the break?

Yesterday I went to the Shell Proserv station to get the engine oil changed on my truck and to get it washed as well. I asked if they could change the breaks at the back since they were breaking only at 46%. I had to test them in January and didn’t have the time to change them. They affirmed that they could do it. (The garage changed my front breaks end of last year). So I left the truck there and was told it would take them 2 hours. When I came back one of the workers was still hammering on the wheel. It took them another hour to finish the job. The truck is still dirty. It hasn’t been washed since January and I spent a lot of time off-road. The last two days we drove through the Hui Kau Laam jungle. Since it hasn’t rained for a long time and they keep burning the undergrowth you can imagine how dirty my truck is by now. With time short I went home without the truck being pampered. hopefully I find time next week.

Forrest_fire
Forrest fires throughout the North of Thailand

Time is precious

Time is precious. We all have the same amount. Of course we don’t live the same amount of years. But as we are going through the days and weeks we actually can’t complain we don’t have time. 24 hours are 24 hours. The question is with the priorities we set and how we use our time.
I have had a lot of things going. I just came back from Hui Kau Laam village on Thursday evening with a team. Tomorrow I will leave again with a team for another three days. People are coming and going. I need to prepare, get my office up to date, I should write my newsletter, write Thank-You letters to our supporters, bring my truck to change the back brakes, meet with my friends etc. etc.
In all this I don’t want to forget the most important thing in my life. My wife and my children. To balance the things in my live is not always easy and sometimes it haunts me to know I can’t make it right for everybody and fulfill the expectations laid on me as a husband, father, missionary, friend…
I know there are always other times where I have more time to waste (I would like that) But for now there is a lot of work and things that need to be done.

Driving back from the mountains

Yesterday I spent the day in Fang. With the lahu church we planted. Enoch and Mida organized for the people from Hui Kau Laam and Ken Tun to come for worship. We had a great morning of sharing, worship and a meal together. It was ten o’clock when I made my way back to Chiang Mai. It is our holiday this week and I didn’t want to spend the night.
When I was leaving I realized that my tank was pretty low. So I thought I would stop at a petrol station on the way down. There are stations in Chai Prakan, Chiang Dao and Mae Taeng. But as I drove on the gauge was pointing on empty and all the petrol stations were closed. It was then that I remembered a law that was passed to have all petrol stations closed at 10 pm. (I think the law was to cut down on fuel consumption) As I was driving I pictured myself sleeping in the truck for the night and waiting till five in the morning at a petrol station. But as one of those "crazy" Christians I asked God to get me home or to the next open petrol station. So I drove over a hundred km. on a empty tank all the way back home. "Thank you God you truly are my provider!"
Now for people who don’t believe in miracles they sure would have an explanation for this. For me it was another confirmation what a great God I have.
This morning I went to tank my truck 69.51 liters. My tank holds 70 liters. So after all that driving there was still some left. This way I started the week with a nice feeling and also with a nice cup of  coffee.

Tiger_trough_water

Trip to Prao

Yesterday I made a quick trip into the Prao valley. A two hours ride to bring food to the Prao boarding home. I got a phone call the evening before and was told they run out of food and have no money to buy any either. So I got a hundred kilos of rice and visited. The problem is that the public school used to give the children three meals a day and supported them with some other things. That stopped a months ago. We pledged to support the home with 600 kilos of rice a month till the next school term April 2007. There are a lot of needs for that place with 55 children.

Comment tracking

I found this cool feature to track the comments I write on other blogs. It is getting harder and more time consuming to see if other people commented on comments I made on any blog. CoComments is a great application to solve a time consuming problem. To sign up is easy and and free. I put a link on my toolbar in Safari (my browser). When I write a comment I click the link and it makes the connection on CoComments. I have also a feed on the toolbar in the browser that shows me how many new comments I have. Check it out for yourself.

Jungle trecking

The people group I work with (the Lahu tribe) seem to have the worst shoes for trekking. Some old flip flops will do. Sometimes I wonder why they don’t slip all the time. I usually wear closed shoes. Not this time. I was trekking in the deep mountain jungle, checking on a water project. There was not even a path. So most of the time we walked through the water stream. I wore TEVAS I bought a view months ago. Great sandals for the outdoors. The protection is not very good though. Some of the dangers in this area are certain bugs and worms. Then there are the leeches (I once had one between my toes even with wearing boots) and of course snakes. Snakes are a problem in high grass (sometimes up to the shoulders) We still have rainy season and so everything is growing fast and it can get very wet in the forest. It is hard to get anywhere without a bush knife.
The three days I have been gone from home were quite productive. I visited several villages and pastors in the Mae Ai/Tathon area, I pulled a truck out of a ditch (Thanks for the winch) brought food to the boarding home in Prao. Working with my team on some songs and the budget for next year.

Today I take it slowly. Lillian is at a worship workshop. My time to take care of the kids. I wonder where they are?

Reading, thinking

I’m reading "The relentless tenderness of Jesus" by Brennan Manning. This book really stretches my mind and challenges me on my journey as a disciple of Jesus. I was reading last night in bed and this sentence in the book stuck to my mind.

"I can think of no other time in history when the name of Jesus has been so frequently mentioned and the content if His life and teaching so thoroughly ignored."

There are so many voices out there. I red so many books and heard so many sermons. I realize though that to know Jesus can only come from the relationship with Him through the Holy Spirit, who teaches and guides me on my journey. Going to His teachings, the bible, I am revolutionized in my thinking.

Yesterday I was drinking a coffee with a friend. We talked about how we feel about the work we do here and the disappointment and sadness that comes when things don’t turn out the way we envisioned them. The fact that we are a sorry bunch trying to serve a great King in a foreign country. It comes down to the realization that we are weak and that only through God’s grace anything worthwhile can be accomplished. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

Militärputsch in Thailand

Gestern 12.00 Uhr ist das Militär mit Panzern in Bangkok eingerückt. Das Regierungsgebäude und Fernsehhstationen sind übernommen worden. Ein Militärputsch ist im Gange. Das Militärgesetz (martial law)wurde ausgerufen und die Konstitution des Landes wurde suspendiert.

Was dies für uns heisst wissen wir nicht. Es scheint alles ruhig zu verlaufen. Wir sind auch 900km. nördlich der Hauptstadt Bangkok. Vielleicht werden wir ja hier gar nichts von dem Ganzen merken. Ausser das wir keine Thai Serien mehr schauen können.
Schon seit einiger Zeit ist es politisch unstabil.Vorerst wird nun das Militär angeleitet von General Sonthi an der Macht sein. Der letzte Militärputsch fand 1992 statt.

Es ist nun 4 Uhr Morgens und Es gibt keine News aus dem Fernsehen. Alle Übertragungen wurden eingestellt. Zum Glück gibt es noch das Web. Auf CNN könnt ihr euch noch weitere Infomationen holen.

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