second epistle

G'day everyone.
Thanks for being patient - we have been away in Phrae for the weekend so firstly perhaps a little about that.

We knocked off work a little early on Friday afternoon and were on our way north by about 4pm. The 300km journey took us about 4 hours and we managed to negotiate the sometimes crazy Thai traffic quite well. The big 4 lane freeways are a breeze, but driving through the mountains extra care needs to be taken and a sharp eye kept out for buses that are a bit of a law unto themselves and you sometimes find them overtaking on corners and hills and coming towards you. You just need to keep over and give them room to do what they want to do! The views are sometimes spectacular but the driver doesn't get much of a chance to enjoy them.

On Saturday we visited the Phrae orphanage which is Sharon and John's pride and joy (surpassed by only one thing, but more of that in a while) and although finishing is slower than anticipated, one house is all but ready, the kitchen and dining area is nearing completion, and the medical rooms require only some finishing touches. The site looks a picture with a concrete play area surrounded by lawns in the centre of a semi-circle of houses.

Some of you have heard of the other big news at Phrae - the arrival of Esther, a beautiful little Thai baby, born to a mother with AIDS and unable to provide for her. Sharon and John just dote on her and she goes everywhere with them in her baby capsule. They speak to her only in English, while her Thai "mummies" as Sharon calls them (Pawn, Yu, Tik) speak to her in Thai. They want her to be bi-lingual, and grow into the Thai culture with a strong Christian faith.

It was Australia Day on Saturday so as tradition now demands the cricket set came out. Malc did the Gilchrist thing, Murray looked as formidable as Boycott with his long step to block everything thrown at him, Chris got a few to turn a long way and fancies himself a bit if Hogg disappears, and Gordon excelled with bat and ball until he retired with Tait-like shoulder soreness, and overheating. We concluded the afternoon with a BBQ and a few quiet Cokes and packed up the gear until next year. We are looking for an influx of new talent (ageing team and all that) so anyone hungering for the Thailand experience, block it into your 2009 planner now!

We worshipped together on Sunday morning and what a refreshing time it was. Danielle, from Brisbane City Church led the worship songs with Pawn on guitar - they harmonised so well and with the rest of us singing it was just beautiful. I was the speaker for the day and as usual my 15 minutes turned into twenty (surprise! surprise! I hear some of you say) but it was a very special time together.

So what's happening at Phetchabun? Firstly, a building report. We've had a big excavator in to dig 26 two metre deep holes into which we put cement pipe pillars. One of the exciting things about the excavator coming is seeing it come off the truck. The operator puts the bucket on the ground like a hand to lean on, then just drives it off the back of the truck, the cab of which lifts metres off the ground. He uses the bucket to lean on and lets the truck down gently and the job is done. Just reverse the process to get back on!

Since then we have put out stringlines and used a water hose to find the right levels for reinforcing rods in the centre of the pipes and in the floor of the hole. We've had several truckloads of concrete to pour into the bottom of the holes ready for the pipes. Today and tomorrow we put in the bottom half of the pipes and fill them with concrete. While some of this has been happening Gordon has been welding some of the 6 metre trusses to sit on top of the pillars, Murray and I have been cutting steel for this, Chris has been fixing up one of the utes and installing an aerator for the fish ponds at the farm, and Malc has been doing bits of all of this as well as giving the Thais jobs, ordering materials and equipment and redesigning the building. It started out as a 4 classroom block with a verandah all round - the walls are being pushed out to the edge of the verandah and there will now be 8 classrooms!

Healthwise we haven't fared wonderfully well. We suspect Chris picked up a flu bug on the plane and was crook for a couple of days - headaches, other aches, severe cough. Malc got it next and is still trying to shake it off, I then had it a little less severely and it looks like Gordon may be going down with it. Murray has escaped so far, but we have been most concerned that a number of the staff here have succumbed. We are feeling a bit guilty!! Please pray for the restoration of health and that the spread of the bug will be arrested.

Tonight Rob Dunk brought back 10 000 fish to go into one of the fish ponds on the farm. He drove them back from Bangkok with a 1000 litre tank on the back of a ute - pouring ice in every now and then, and aerating to keep them alive. We went over to meet him and transfer them. After a while some jammed the drain tap, so in the absence of the Thai bloke who did it last time I got down to bare essentials and hopped in. Fortunately the last dose of ice wasn't all that recent so we managed to unblock the tap and net out the last of them. Malc was in his element of course, reliving his fishfarming days, but quite content that the stress of those times is behind him!

Well as always there's more to tell, but it's all I've got time for at the moment.

God bless
Ron