May 1, 2005
Flying feels so different at 1500 hrs in the afternoon. The day started off with a heavy note as I had to drag myself out of bed early in the morning. I realise now that ushering on the day you’re going to fly off is perhaps quite a stupid thing to do. But no matter. Forced Louis and Jianhong to stay in the front of the chapel to welcome the congregation ‘les my really foul mood rub off on the congregation. Then she came, and passed me a note that really encouraged me. I must admit I didn’t expect it at all, but it was still divine timing and it made me feel a lot better.
After so many overnight flights with ATEC, flying in the afternoon was highly unusual and I was literally filled with light. Ha ha. Tried to write a journal in the plane but fatigue and a barrage of too many thoughts made it hard to concentrate again. Worries of what would lie ahead in the mission trip, of how she felt about me, about what I had left behind in Singapore, about what I had to do when I got back. So oppresive I forced myself to sleep. To my perplexion the tv started showing Mr. Bean and some Jap variety show which I then felt very compelled to watch. Sleep on the plane was therefore a very tiring affair, ironically. Touchdown. Listened to Isaac and Brian complain about the crummy plane flight, which in all honesty I did not really agree, I guess because I have sat on worse flights before, where the plane felt like it was about to fall apart.
Bumped into a Canadian girl called Arianna or Marianna at the customs and found out that she was with WYWAM (another Christian missions body) and she was posted to thailand to teach English in an orphanage for about 2 years. By the way I neglect to mention that she was 19 years old, and it was really paiseh to even say that I was on a mission trip. I realised then that really, this mission trip wasn’t really a mission trip at all, but more of an exposure trip – a glimpse of the real thing. I thank God for people such as her with such a heart for missions, though I know that it may never be my cup of tea.
Chiangmai greeted us with Pisut (our interpreter and also a Thai missionary) and a big red tuktuk (Thailand’s signatory taxi) which all of us proceeded to squeeze in. It was a half-hour ride to the Methodist Missions Centre, where we settled in for the night. I had a ball of a time trying to order dessert with Isaac. The picture was on the outside of the stall so no matter how we pointed the poor lady just could not get what we wanted. However we decided to press on and miracles of miracles we actually ended up with a nice tasting dessert. Cool (literally!).
Devotions that night was very late, at around 2330 after a nice cool shower and new clothes. It was impromptu but God prompted me to lead with the song You Are My All in All, and I had no idea why. She cried while we were praying and that really broke my heart. Because I knew why, yet I didn’t know what I could do to make her feel better, and I didn’t want to come across in the wrong way either. Suffice to say that I was crying in my heart as well, and I decided I really needed to unload all my emotional / mental baggage to the Lord. And that I did, at 0030 at night. All the thoughts and worries I had, wrote them down, and as I prayed about them, I began to cancel them all, one by one. I finished my quiet time feeling refreshed and with my mind suddenly strangely quiet, but I didn’t sleep till about 0330, after a long debate with her about whether we should address them as roosters and hens rather than chickens because the word “chicken” refers to the chicken meat and not the living animal. Of course, I won hands down, but that’s a whole different story altogether. *LOL* I had a wonderful sleep that night.