Our last stop is in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mail. As with everywhere we’ve visited, it’s lovely. Lush, green. Plenty of rain here in Southeast Asia! In fact, a week before we arrived Chiang Mai was hit by a typhoon that submerged sections of villages outside the city center. By the time we arrived the clean up is well underway. Most of the modern city center wasn’t submerged but there is plenty of mud and debris being swept away and potholes filled. Life doesn’t – and can’t – stop for very long in the wake of a disaster. There are mouths to feed.
As before, our crew is ushered from the airport (about a 2 hour flight from Phuket) to waiting buses that will take us first for some brief sightseeing at a large Buddhist temple nearby and then to our hotel.
We arrive at the temple complex close to sunset. The oldest part of the complex is the taller building in the back right. Construction started on it in the 14th century and it has experienced periods of expansion and destruction ever since. The other buildings are much newer. It’s bustling with tourists. There is the chanting of a Buddhist monk from one of the buildings, which draws a crowd of photographers and – apparently – adherents to listen and watch. There are many beautiful things here, but nothing as beautiful as the majestic sunset our God paints on the sky behind and over it all, reasserting his reality and power over the spires of false belief.
We check in briefly at the hotel and then are on the road again, this time to a dinner theater to enjoy a Thai meal and watch traditional northern Thai dancing. Dancing is a major aspect of traditional Thai culture and careful attention is paid to everything including facial expressions and the precise positioning of the fingers of each hand.
Food is served family style in small bowls that are constantly refilled by attendants. In the center at the top is what tastes like shredded green chili – a little spicy but delicious. Below that are various steamed and fresh vegetables. The bowl at roughly the one o’clock position, barely visible, has pork belly in a delicious sauce. Moving clockwise there are steamed vegetables in broth. I’m not sure what the dish was at the five o’clock position but it tasted peanutty and sweet and was a little crisp and sticky. The seven o’clock bowl was I believe fried pork skin – crunchy and deliciously salty. At ten o’clock you have pieces of fried chicken, and the last dish is a kind of chili sauce. Additionally there are fried bananas that are very greasy but also very delicious, and of course plenty of white rice.
The dancing was fascinating and included many costume changes and style variations.
Sunday was our last day of program. Final presentations and time to recognize the people who work in Chiang Mai. We learned about a non-profit organization training and connecting local artisans to customers world-wide called Thai Village. This group not only helps provide wages for the artisans but also helps support Lutheran churches in the area. Their work has been well received and they are expanding the scope and scale of their work, which in turn supports the expansion of Christian outreach in the villages around Chiang Mai.
Finally there was recognition for all the people from the TCLC who made this massive event possible. There was so much gratitude for what was learned, the connections made, and the hope reinvigorated. The Thai population is only about 1% Christian, yet the Holy Spirit is at work here, just as He is throughout creation!
Monday will begin my journey homeward and I look forward to seeing Gena again and resting and preparing for my next set of journeys! Please pray for the people of Thailand and the TCLC. Pray the Holy Spirit will continue to raise up new generations of pastors and leaders, and that the seeds planted will bear fruit in hearts turned to Christ!
The Nelson Family Indonesia 