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)
