Missive 3 - 2017

The age of miracles is still with us.  As I write Rob Dunk is in Bangkok and on his way back to Australia.  A couple of weeks ago he was so seriously ill that it was possible he may never leave hospital.  A hospital bug was partly responsible for that so the doctors were keen for him to get out, and suggested he spend a couple of weeks to consolidating his recovery.  His family (inc 2 doctors) decided to get him on a plane, so here he is for a 4 day stop-over.

On Monday I had the opportunity to go down to Bangkok with Pawinee, Glom, Kerry, 6 teachers and Cheewar, our girl with lupus who lost her toes, and who for a year used to dress Rob’s face daily.  We left in a mini-van at 6am and after a tortuously slow journey of 7.5 hours we arrived at the hotel where Rob was staying.  He looked in remarkably good condition considering what he has been through.  The side of his face is still paralysed but apart from a few words he could speak quite clearly.  In fact, he spoke to us non-stop for an hour, testifying to God’s grace, sharing about the days of excruciating pain, and telling us of how he praised and thanked God.  He told us of progress so far and exhorted us to pray for his complete healing.

After he spoke I led us to the Lord’s Table, and spoke of the healing that can be found at the Cross – “by his stripes we are healed”.  It was a precious time and Rob loved it.  We used an embossed silver communion cup and plate that Pawinee had bought in Israel a number of years ago, and it was the first time it had been used.  It was rather special to use a cup that was bought not far from where Jesus had the Last Supper with his disciples.  We then anointed Rob with oil – also from Israel.

We were there just 2 hours and then we hopped back in the van for a 6.5 hour journey home.  Pawinee and Kerry stayed overnight to spend some more time with him on Tuesday and then travelled back in the afternoon.  Rob’s flight to Australia is on Wednesday when he goes to Canberra where a daughter lives.  Her name is Roxanne Kelly and she was named in the Australia Day Honours list for her work in the administration of the Defence Department.

So, back to Ban Meata where on Tuesday I finally made the transition from the building site to the office.  On Friday I took Malcolm and Kay to Khon Kaen where they caught a plane to Bangkok and from there to Perth.  I stayed overnight at KK so I could catch up with Why for the last time.  We had a wonderful time together for a few hours in which we spoke of her uni results (much improved) and her future goals and aspirations.  She graduates in July and will then come back to Phetchabun to teach at the school here while studying for her education degree.  We went to Sizzler in a big shopping centre for lunch, and my pork spare ribs were to die for.  We talked over matters of faith throughout lunch and it was such a privilege to share Why’s faith journey – a remarkable young lady and we love her very much.  Rich and Rebecca and the kids are so proud of her and see the fruits of sponsoring her through her school years and through university, and praying for her throughout.

While on that topic there are 2 other girls who are developing into beautiful young women and becoming gifted worship leaders.  Giv and Booay are sponsored by Andrew and Nichole and the girls.  Several other friends and family who are reading this also sponsor kids here and as I see them take part in worship or other activities it brings tears to my eyes – I just wish you could see them and meet them face to face.

There is a joke going around about a Thai clock.  Instead of numbers there is alternately “Think about Food” and “Eat Food”!  I don’t want to be too Thai but I must share with you a couple of wonderful meals over the last week or so.  Every year I report on a visit to Mum Whun’s grandma’s place for a meal, and I went again last week.  Her grandma is now 89 (bat sip gau), a tiny bird of a lady with failing eyesight and hearing.  Her first question when I arrive is “Where’s Colleen?” and I assure her that Colleen talks about her all the time and will come next time.  She then tells me all of her ailments which fortunately Whun translates for me although the hand signals give me a fair idea of where the problem lies.  I make comforting noises and say “mai sabai” which means “not well”.  The meal came out and everybody, including Whun’s Mum and Dad, a couple of aunties, and Giv and Jam, 2 girls from Whun’s house at Ban Meata, sits on a platform which is like a low table.  Because Colleen wasn’t there I got to sit on the only stool, which is good because after sitting cross legged for a while it takes time to get my legs straight and working again.  There were a couple of bowls of soup with generous quantities of pork pieces and other vegetable dishes along with a basket of sticky rice.  In this village setting you eat by rolling a wad of sticky rice then putting your fingers in one of the bowls, pick up what you want and put it in your mouth.  It is communal eating at its most basic.  And it was stunningly delicious, or “aroi” as they say here. 

All of this was done under the verandah of grandma’s house in the jungle and is just a beautiful setting - quintessentially Thailand!  Whun and her girls had brought a little portable gas stove (available at Ray’s Outdoors!) so they could make pancakes for dessert.  Grandma is suspicious of such new-fangled things (although she has electricity any cooking at her place is done on an open fire) so she moved herself to another platform and watched from a safe distance.  Although she uses a long stick to walk she doesn’t suffer my difficulty in sitting for long periods on a hard surface.  The pancakes were cooked without any major explosions and there were enough to leave for her lunch (“kin khow”) the next day.  Incongruously the whole meal was eaten in front of a TV with a Thai game show followed by a Thai soapie, which although much loved, is truly awful, with much pouting, whining and slapping each other.  I left after that meal so grateful for my Thai family and a sense of how their love and hospitality has blessed me so much.

So, onto another meal.  Our Whun became a devotee of a roast dinner when she was with us in Adelaide and when we came in August last year she reminded us of this and asked if we would bring a packet of gravy next time.  One of the first questions she asked when I arrived was, “Did you bring the gravy?”  To my shame, I had forgotten! (Memo to self: Don’t forget next time!!).  Anyway, she informed me last weekend that she would cook me roast potatoes and gravy, and mashed potato.  So, Sunday afternoon she borrowed some Gravoxfrom Trish, another “ferengue” (foreigner) volunteer and set about preparing the meal.  The result was absolutely wonderful – she really is a great cook.

We had to have the meal on the verandah of Mum Whun’shouse because Whun’s “ban” (house) was being used by the Ban Meata manager, so she had to transport it all about 100 metres to where we (Whun, Mum Whun and Cheewar and I) sat on a mat (no stool this time!).  She had a container of pork steaks, ceramic dishes of golden brown roast potatoes, mashed potato, sliced carrot, green beans, and the “piece de resistance”, a bowl of gravy with onion in it (because that is what Colleen does).  And it was all hot!  It was heaven!

Well, Life now consists of sitting in front of my computer writing up a 3-year plan for HOMF.  My sugar levels unfortunately have responded accordingly so I’ve had to up the insulin a bit.  Only a few days to go and a few things to do apart from the admin work.  It’s Moi’s (our new sponsored child) birthday in a week or so, so I want to take her out for a treat.  And I also want to take Whun, Aun and Captain out for a meal before I go.  Pawinee gave me the keys to Rob’s beautiful Nissan Teana while I’m here so we can ride in style.

My preaching commitments also end on Sunday and I’ll take my last teaching session on worship on Pawinee’s front verandah on Sunday night.  Despite the preparation this has entailed I have really enjoyed it and God has blessed it in many ways, and thereby has blessed me as well.

So, that’s it for another year.  I’m looking forward to getting back and seeing you all at some stage.  Thank you for your prayers – I have felt very supported and there have been times when I needed it.

God bless
Ron

PS Rob and Jean arrived safely in Canberra this morning (Thursday).  Thank you for your prayers for them.

Gables and outside walls finished

Malc's last job at Ban Meata

Dinner at Grandma's

Trevor's ears getting a workout

Missive 2 – 2017

Again, a couple of bits of news before the more mundane adventures of the last couple of weeks. Rob’s condition has worsened and although there was the intention of him coming out of hospital and staying with his doctor son in Leicester (I think I said in error last time that he was in London).  He is unable to be moved and has no mobility.   The left side of his face has dropped, his eye has rolled up, and apparently only one lung is working so there is some concern about pneumonia.  It has been very distressing to see him like this.  We have spoken with Jean on the phone a couple of times and have been assured that Rob’s spirit is buoyant and that he continues to praise God.

He spoke with Pawinee some days ago, and wished to pass on a hug to all the kids and staff here and to bless each one.  So, on Sunday after worship Pawinee shared his situation with everybody and then Malcolm and Kay stood at one door and Kerry (long term volunteer) and I stood at the other to hug each person and bless them as they left.  That was hugely emotional.  Please continue to pray for Rob.

The other piece of news is also momentous.  Malcolm has announced that this will be his last building trip.  13 years of visits starting in 2005 with the “South Aussie Building Team”.  I am currently the only South Aussie still on it, and the Queenslanders are starting to get restless about the name!  In that time, he has started, designed and had a major contribution to 4 huge school buildings, a huge dining hall at Ban Meata Children’s Village, as well as the office, a new dormitory building, the second storey on another dormitory building, and the two storey Ron’s Place where we live when we are here.  As well as this there have been countless electrical jobs, plumbing and sewage systems, building repairs and so on.  Then at Khon Kaen he designed, and started from scratch, a complete new Children’s Village of 4 major buildings including the dining hall and a 2-storey dormitory building.  It has been an unprecedented and amazing contribution, and it has been a privilege to work with him on those projects.

The other amazing thing is that he is 75 and still clambering around on top of buildings, and with his legendary strength, lifting steel trusses into position.  He would be reluctant to admit it but it’s beginning to take its toll.  We work from 8am to 5pm and it’s usually hard and difficult work.  Lunch times these days he usually heads off to get his feet up, rest his back and grab 40 winks.  The fall he had a few weeks ago didn’t stop him but there have been some persistent sore spots.

For the last 3 weeks I have left my dusty and dirty chasing out job and he and I have been laying blocks.  That really means he is up on the scaffold laying them while I cut them to size, hand them up, make mortar, shift scaffolding and generally keep him happy!  Between us we have handled hundreds of blocks which has taken a bit of a toll on my hands – I’ve completely lost all my fingerprints.  In fact, Richard Wray, who has also spent some days on blocks, says that he can’t open his i-phone using the thumb print identification!

Richard and his team have now left so it’s just Malcolm and I building the gables and trying to devise ways to get lengths of steel up in the rafters to stand on to be able to reach high enough.  And this means carrying the blocks up ladders to get to him so my fitness levels are rising and my weight is falling!

On other fronts I’m also keeping busy.  I’ve been preaching each Sunday bar one and will probably do so for the next 3 weeks before going home.  The Sunday night teaching sessions on worship have also gone really well.  I’ve ranged over a number of different ways that we worship (thanks to Rebecca for feeding me some really good ideas) and the kids have been riveted.  I challenged them last week about being “free” enough to bring their Bibles with them (many girls do, most blokes don’t) and I was thrilled this week to see these 16 to 20 year old young men appearing out of the dark as they walked up Pawinee’s driveway, all carrying their Bibles!  One of the pleasures is that a couple of the lads with motorbikes offer me a ride back afterwards on the back of their motor-bike – rather nice on a warm evening to have the wind through your hair (not that there’s that much – hair that is!)

A couple of weekends ago all the building team went up to Khao Kho in the mountains near Ban Meata and had lunch at a lovely “organic restaurant” which besides Thai food specialises in an Italian menu.  Many of us took the opportunity to have a steak which was just perfect.  We then went to a coffee house called Pino Latte which is built on a ridge and has stunning views over the valley which lies between 2 mountain ranges.  This area, in which Ban Meata is situated, is called the vegetable bowl of Thailand because of its fertility and the huge quantities of vegetables grown here.  To finish the day we called into a Hmong (hill tribe) market and bought some of the distinctive Hmong craft work – including my next model of the shoulder bag I carry everywhere in Australia.

A word about the Dutch team that have been here for 2 or 3 weeks and left last Friday.  They have been coming for several years and have raised enormous amounts of Euro for our building projects.  This year there were just three – AdelbertHesseling, my age, but suffers from chronic asthma and has a pacemaker which is not keeping pace too well (he is struggling after walking over from the visitors’ centre to our building site).  Annette, early fifties and fit and healthy.  And Corrie, 83 years old and also fit and healthy (on enquiring about a piece of her jewellery, she said she got it recently on a dive trip to Oman!).  The 3 of them are dogged workers and they usually spend their time painting – and woe betide the admin here if they run out of paint and they have to sit and waste time!  What a blessing they are to us.

Till next time.

God bless

Ron

Son-in-law Aun "sharping" a wall (rendering)

Malcolm doing block work on the gables

Reading to Captain

View from Khao Kho

Epistle 1 – 2017

The adventures of the journey to Ban Meata paled into insignificance when we were met with the latest news on Rob Dunk’s condition.  When we arrived Pawinee said that Jean wanted to ring us at 7.30pm that evening to update the situation.  I think I shared with most of you that Rob and Jean had gone to England and then to Edinburgh where one of their sons lives.  Their other son, a doctor in London, Sharon, their daughter in Thailand, and their other daughter from Canberra, had all gathered with their families to share Christmas together.  After Christmas Rob had a bad bleed from the cancer in his ear – a daily occurrence, but he was hospitalised.

The report from Jean indicated that the cancer had progressed to the bones of his face, and untreated would give him between 6 and 12 months.  Rob, as the man of faith that we know him to be, was, and still is, waiting for a miracle of healing so that with full strength he can continue his work in Thailand.  Untreated though, he is not allowed to fly out of Edinburgh, so he will undergo radiation therapy to shrink the tumour and stop the bleeding.  Hopefully he will then be able to fly back to Australia, stopping off in Bangkok, for what will be, barring the miracle we are all praying for, palliative care.  Rob, again the man of faith, is OK with that and says that he is ready to go when God calls him home.

On Saturday night we again set up a phone link, this time to talk to Rob.  We spoke a little to him (thankfully lucid after a regime of morphine) but he was quite emotional and struggled a bit.  It was good to hear his voice though and we were able to tell him about the prayer support from all those at Ban Meata.  It is sad to think, that without the miracle, he will be unable to return to Ban Meata.  Pawinee gave me the keys to his car to use while I am here, so I am enjoying that little luxury which he may not do again.  His thoughts though are that none of this compares with the glory of taking his place in heaven!  But then ……. What about the miracle!

After all that, back to my travelling adventures. Uneventful, except that I had to get my skates on in Singapore to catch my flight to Bangkok.  The skates were entirely ineffective in Suvarnabhumi Airport though and I missed my connecting flight to Khon Kaen by a fair bit (memo to self for next time – one hour is not enough!).  I then had to try and transfer to the next flight but unfortunately it was full – except for a seat in first class which could be mine for an additional 2200baht (about $90) when the economy seat was only 1800baht!  It’s an ill wind that blows no good  however and I was able to go into the Thai Airways lounge to wait the 2 hours and enjoy unlimited Coke Zero and eats.  And on the plane I had a napkin with my meal which compared pretty well with sandwich you get in economy.  It’s only a 45 minute flight so they barely had time to serve it before they whisked it away again.

I was picked up by Phet, the KK manager and what a delight it was to see Why who came with her despite the late hour.  She was so pleased to see me she held my hand all the way back to Ban Meata.  Malcolm and Kay were already in KK staying in a hotel with friends they had invited from Broome.  The next day we hired a minibus and travelled to PhetchabunBan Meata.  Why decided to come with us to spend a week here before her return to university.  

What a welcome we always get at Phetchabun.  Everyone turns out and everyone needs a hug.  It is so good to see our friends and always a surprise to see the kids who were pre-schoolers when we first came and now young men and women.  The best reunion of all though was with our Whunand of course our little Captain.  He is such a good baby and I am so proud of Whun who is such a good Mum.  Captain has a huge family.  He must be the most cuddled, cossetted, coddled, and carried baby in Thailand, all of which he accepts in the best of humour and with the most delightful smiles for everyone.  Mum Whun, who now calls herself Grandma Whun, just can’t get enough of him.  

The building team is of course into action.  Malcolm and Kay’s friends from Broome gave us a couple of days before moving on to the rest of their holiday in Thailand.  Richard Wray brought the Brackenridge Baptist team – Steve (a tradie) and his wife Gail, and Ninan (a bloke of Indian background who has recently retired from Deputy Principal at a Brisbane College). Chris Stolte of course always commits his time to the team when we are here. Dave and Sherie Ang with their 2 children arrived a couple of days ago, and Dave will be on site for a few days.  Colleen and I met Sherie and Dave here a few years ago.  They were having trouble conceiving and Sherie was particularly upset about it.  Colleen spent some time talking with her and prayed with her, and a short time later she shared the happy news that she was pregnant.  Not sure if Colleen has a ministry in this area!!  They still say of their son, “Made in Thailand”!

The building team is working on the second storey of the Bill McMartin house.  It has to be said that Malcolm was bitterly disappointed with standard of work done on the building throughout the year.  Walls were not tied in, were poorly built, and sometimes in the wrong place. He spent several days putting some things in place to make the building safe.  It’s not entirely surprising though because the Thai workers are just young boys and they haven’t really had sufficient guidance.  We are on a roll now though and walls are being topped, concrete beams going around the building and overthe windows.  My job over the first 5 days was chasing in the electricity and water.  There are 8 rooms each with a bathroom, and a common room, and each with 6 power points, 2 light switches, water to the shower, basin and toilet.  This is done with an angle grinder which creates an amazing amount of dust.  I wear a hat, glasses, dust mask and ear muffs which makes it even hotter.  It’s a filthy job and I think worthy of a place on Tony Robinson’s show about history’s dirtiest jobs!!  Over the last couple of days I have worked with Malclaying blocks and although we both end up exhausted at the end of the day, at least there is no dust.

Continue to pray for safety for us.  The equipment often does not meet Aussie standards.  Malcolm had a plank of steel he was walking on break one of its welds, dumping him on the floor.  Shaken but not stirred he was able to get up there again.  No huge damage but at 75 years old you don’t bounce like you used to and he has been a bit stiff and sore.  I had my brush with safety slipping off a stool I was working on.  The distance down was minor, but the stool barked my shins, then it turned upside down and I fell on one of the upturned legs which punched me in the ribs.  I have a 50mm square tattoo on my ribs which is currently rainbow coloured.  It’s getting better – I can bend down now pretty well although it’s still painful to cough or sneeze.  That evening I discovered I had also sprained my ankle – it had paled into insignificance compared to the other things!

As has become common in recent years I have a fairly full preaching load over the coming weeks, but this time I have been given a theme.  “Setting Goals” is the topic and I have a few weeks to develop it.  Last Sunday I spoke on “Seek first the Kingdom of God …”, using a wheelbarrow to illustrate (you’ve got to use it the right way round to make it work properly).  God used it wonderfully and afterwards one of our long-time relief carers came forward to give her life to Jesus.

Pawinee also is starting a Sunday night session of worship, and teaching about worship, over at her house for the older kids.  She asked if I would do the teaching part so a bit more preparation was needed on Sunday afternoon.  It went well and she wants to continue this over the weeks I am here.  She is very much missing Rob who would have normally done this sort of thing, so I am somewhat humbled and want to support her where I can.

This is developing into a record length Missive, caused because I haven’t had the internet in my house and it is therefore late.

So, that’s it for now.

God bless

Ron

A happy Captain with his Grandpa

Where we are up to on the building

Malc laying blocks