Home and Away

In mid-late March, Doris and I headed out to Bangkok for two weeks. She needed to get a visa for India and it takes at least 1 week to get so we left Umphang on March 19th. While in BKK, we stayed with a friend of mine who is doing ministry out there. We were not terribly busy.. we only had to go to the office to apply for the visa, so we were able to help out a bit with the ministry. It was a very busy 2 weeks! We went from a very laid back atmosphere to non-stop all day long! They work with at risk children in the migrant communities. They are at risk for being abducted and placed in the sex trafficking industry or entering a drug/alcoholic lifestyle. From there I flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to visit friends. I was in their wedding 4 years prior and have not seen them since. It was so nice to catch up with them and there two new additions ( 2 boys)! As an extra treat, friends from the states were there visiting at the same time. We had lots of good laughs and food. We were busy helping them out with various projects pertaining to their ministry. After 1 week in KL, I flew to the states! I was always planning on coming home around his time. I needed to renew my health insurance and as an added bonus, I planned to attend graduation at Summit International School of Ministry (formerly Mount Zion). I did not tell anyone that I was coming home.... so everyone had a nice surprise. It was so much fun showing up at various places and seeing the looks on people faces! I would knock on doors unexpectedly or show up at gatherings, it was great! I hid out for the first 2 weeks so that word would not spread that I was home. I really wanted to surprise the graduates at Summit and it worked! It took a while to come up with a good plan, but we finally did. Just before arriving at the school, I got into the trunk of the car (yes, I did and yes, it was a bit scary!) and rode for maybe 2 minutes to the school. When we got there a friend from my class that was also attending gathered a few people and told them she had something for them. She popped the trunk and there I was! It was so much fun... the sheer shock on their faces! I had been in regular communication with them and told hem that I could not attend. I did that one more time for another group of people. I was so glad that I had the opportunity to attend graduation. My time in NYC overall was wonderful! I missed the food so much!!! I spent time with friends and family, walked A LOT, which was good. I do not walk here at all really and I miss it. I did not make many plans so I had a lot of downtime which was nice. Before I went home, I wasn't really missing NY, but after being there I felt so refreshed. I enjoyed my stay so much I didn't want to come back. You know, we take for granted the little things in life. I was able to shower in a bathtub, my feet were always clean, I had a variety of food to eat, there weren't bugs everywhere and life is altogether much more comfortable in the states. Now understand that I am comparing this to Thai country living, not Thai city living. If I lived in BKK, I could live just as comfortably as in NY. I was in NY from April 7 through May 8. When I left I headed back to KL for a few more days. While there I was able to attend a Ravi Zacharias conference. That was well worth my while! It was hard to stay up during the night meetings though. I suffered such bad jet lag, but I didn't even have a minute to rest! The day I landed the meetings started and they lasted up till the very day that I left! It was a very long trip back home. My flight to KL had 2 layovers and one of them was 3 hours. When I left KL I went to BKK, spent the night (I wasn't even there for 12 hours) then off to catch another flight to Mae Sot early the next morning. Then upon landing in Mae Sot was the lovely 4 hour drive on the curvy road to Umphang! Thank God my landlord was in Mae Sot that day and heading back. She picked me up from the airport and took me home with her, God bless her! Otherwise I might have ended up on the blue truck with all of my luggage.... nuff said. So 4 planes, 2 layovers, 2 stopovers and a 4 hour car drive later, I was finally home! Needless to say, I was exhausted. However, adjusting to life back here hasn't been easy but I will save that for another post.