Itsara

In my last post, I went over most of what we plan to do from now until we actually get on the plane. I admit, it was all very boring, detailly stuff. In fact, except for the visas, it’s probably a lot like any other major move (I’ve never actually done a major move like this, so I’m just guessing). This post is about what we think life will be like when we first get there.

Phase II (from The Day We Move until The Day We Have An Orphanage)

This phase will be almost entirely about settling and learning. First, we have to find a place to live. If we haven’t already done this, we’ll stay at the Mountain View Guest House until we find one. This guest house is where we stayed during our summer trip. A lot of missionaries stay here on short term trips we discovered (and, if the Wilson kids are to be believed, there’s 37 fish in their coy pond - trust me, that’s important).

We also have to learn the language. I think all three of us have tried to learn at least a little Thai, and of course Cindy grew up with it so she can even understand a little when other people speak it. But when we get there, the real learning starts. Chiang Mai is a pretty touristy place, so you can get around without speaking any Thai, but we want to be as much a part of the culture as possible. So we plan on taking classes while we’re there (a lot of places offer classes to foreigners, some in exchange for teaching them English).

Learning the language won’t be easy. It’s not like learning Spanish. When I learned Spanish, I recognized all of their letters and many of their words had the same roots and conjugations. There were lots of little hints for the English learner, like “comprendo” comes from the same root as “comprehend” and (amazingly) means the same thing.

But Thai doesn’t use the same character set. It has its own alphabet with 44 consonants and 18 vowels (at least - we’ve had some confusion on this) and, from my narrow-minded point of view, they all look the same. It’s also tonal. For those of you unfamiliar with tonal languages, let me give you a quick linguistics lesson. You probably know about “tone of voice,” which can express things that words cannot. For example, when English speakers ask a question, their tone rises at the end of the sentence (e.g. “Can I help you?”). In English, if that questioning tone is not there, a listener can usually still tell that it’s a question. In Thai, and other tonal languages, each word has a specific tone associated with it. So if I say “kao” (that’s an anglicized spelling) with a rising tone (like the English questioning tone), it means “white,” but if I say it with a different tone it could mean “rice” or “news” or even “a fishy smell.”

So you kinda have to sing the language, which actually makes it sound kinda cool. I’ve even heard that singers have a slightly easier time with learning it (I know Tracey got pretty good at it). It’ll be difficult, but if you’ve been reading this then you know that I believe we are capable of getting good at anything with practice.

Finally, and this will determine the length of Phase II, we have to learn what needs to be done to start and run an orphanage. A large part of this, we figure, will be done working with Im Jai House. Making connections will also be a large part of it. One of the major blessings we have are the numerous government connections that Cindy’s dad has. In Thailand, getting things done is definitely a matter of who you know, and her family knows a lot of people.

And of course, we have to actually build the building. Currently, we have a sort of swamp to work with (if anyone from the Thailand team has a picture of it, I’d love to put it up here - we can’t find our’s right now). Cindy’s cousin is an architect with his own connections for that sort of thing, and we have our own connections out here who have already offered to help as well.

When I think about it, I am amazed at all the little things that are already in place for us to do this. And it’s like they were always there. Almost as if God was saying, “I’m so glad you’ve decided to do this. Here, let me show everything I’ve had prepared for the last few years. You see, I’ve been waiting for you to say yes.”

So have we been wasting our time these years in not going? Certainly not. God works all things for the good of those that love Him, and He has certainly blessed us in our decisions. We chose our path, and even though God had an even better path waiting for us, He blessed us still in the one we had chosen. So long as His children earnestly and honestly seek His kingdom first, I believe God will bless them in all that they do. In fact, He says as much.

I don’t think our situation is like Jonah’s. I don’t think God said “Go” and then we ran away. I think our case was more like God said, “Here are your options. This is the one I would recommend, but any of these are good.” However, His calling was clear to us this time. I really do think that if we had stayed this time, we would have a whale-like experience.

In the next post, I’ll talk about what we think the future will be like once the orphanage is there. Though I think you’ll see that we know about as much as you do. As always, ask any questions you might have. It’s the only way we’ll know what you want to know.