Connections & Hospitality in Thailand, PVT, part 3

In September 1978 I arrived as a new student at Berry College in Rome Georgia. A new dean of students also came to campus that year, Tom Carver. Our paths have aligned in many ways through the years. Our most recent and longest relationship involves piano, I am his teacher. When Dean Carver retired in 2004, he began taking piano lessons.  As my kids started looking at colleges, I would ask Tom about them and he ALWAYS knew someone at that school.  What does this have to do with World Race, Parent Vision Trip and Thailand? When he found out I was going to Thailand he told me I needed to meet his friend, Rob, that teaches at the seminary there.  What a surprise, Tom Carver, has a friend in Chiang Mai Thailand!

As we began to plan our trip, I got Rob's email address and we began to correspond.  I had questions, and he had answers. I asked if he had a suggestion for a place to stay prior to PVT, and he did. We booked it for two nights, and so did 6 other race families! A week or so before we left, I emailed Rob that I would love to meet him and suggested that maybe he could meet us for lunch on our first day. Of course, I was really looking for someone who would help me navigate this new city and culture! Rob emailed me back and said that he and his wife have a spaghetti dinner every Thursday night in their home and that we (and other race parents) were invited! We haven't even left the states, and we have been invited to have dinner in a home in Chiang Mai. I was so excited.

Please note that one of my favorite things is to connect other people, especially if they are new to our community. Randy and I love to guide people to meet other people that can help them find a job, a house, a car, a church, or a friend.  So before I finish the Rob story, here are two other connections we had going to Asia.  There are two Berry grads serving with Campus Outreach at Chiang Mai University. They have been there since February, and I know one of them, Kim. Our dear friends, Jonathan and Sarah Pascual, met in Chiang Mai years ago. Sarah texted me that they had good friends that have a coffee shop/house church in Chiang Mai and we should meet them. We are flying to Thailand to do missions alongside Alyssa and her P squad, and I have people to meet, including families I that I don't know! 

I am excited to make these connections, but wondering how we will navigate and join up with all these people? I am apprehensive about being in a new culture, not knowing the language, not knowing how I will adjust to the time change, or the food. I had to trust that God had all this planned before the foundations of the earth. He knew Alyssa was going on the World Race, and that we would be with her in Thailand. He placed people in our path to make our transition into the unknown a lot more comfortable. God is so good.

Back to Rob! Our first day in Thailand, I called him and he was actually on his way to our guesthouse to see us.  Soon he drove up on his motorscooter (everyone has a scooter or motorbike). Rob is 77 years old and has lived in Chiang Mai since he graduated from college in 1960.  He had some years in the states working on degrees, but he has lived in Asia off and on for 54 years!  He teaches Greek in the Thai language at the seminary (that makes my head hurt).  It was great to swap Tom stories that morning at our guesthouse by the river.  He wrote down his address in both English and Thai for us to give to the Songthaew driver that evening.  There were 7 World Race parents that got to enjoy spaghetti dinner in a home on our first night in Chiang Mai.   

Hospitality abounds at the Collins home every Thursday night!

Rob and his wife, Esther, have hosted Thursday night spaghetti dinners for 20 years. It's always a different group of people.  Folks from the seminary, various mission organizations, students from the states, mission teams, etc... They open their home and show hospitality and the love of Jesus in such a wonderful way. It was definitely a highlight for me to be in their home.  In fact, the following week, I emailed him and asked if we could come again and bring Alyssa.  We went and met other fascinating people that are serving in Thailand in various ways. What a blessing!

Randy and I enjoyed our time with PVT, and being with Alyssa everyday was wonderful. We did ministry with her, learned about ministries in Chiang Mai, went to the markets, coffee shops, an art museum, saw elephants, petted tigers, prayed and worshiped with her.  It was glorious, but honestly our favorite day was the last day we shared with Alyssa.  We took a Tuk Tuk to the big mall, Maya, and had lunch at the food court.  Afterwards we walked several blocks to The Light Cafe where we were to meet Ann and Sinn (the Pascual's friends). We invited Kim Allerton, our Berry friend, to join us. Alyssa and Kim were friends in college. What a wonderful afternoon drinking coffee, making new friends and visiting with Kim. It turns out that Sinn used to work with Campus Outreach.  His wife Ann, knows Esther (Rob's wife). Kim's Campus Outreach friend, Brooke (also Berry grad), also knows Esther - from Cross Fit.  Yep, they have Cross Fit in Chiang Mai! Since it was Thursday, so off we went to Rob's for spaghetti dinner.

Sinn, Ann, Poom, the Nobles and Kim...connecting with new friend

"Make sure you don't take things for granted and go slack in working for the common goo;share what you have with others. God takes particular pleasure in acts of worship - a different kind of "sacrifice" that take place in kitchen and workplace and on the streets." Hebrews 13:16 (The Message)

Cultural dinner in Chiang Mai

Elephant kisses!