I am writing this blog as I look out the window at the melting snow. It was an amazing winter for us to be in Texas. We haven't seen snow here for years and it was truly enjoyable. We got a little over 12 inches, which was a record for Fort Worth for snowfall in a single day. When we lived in Colorado, two or three feet of snow was normal, but depending on where you are located the definition of "normal" changes.
And so it is with living in another country. What is normal here would be not only shocking somewhere else, but maybe even critically life threatening. When the cool season in Thailand hits the temperatures can drop to the high 60's and low 70's. Thai people wear heavy coats, even parkas in these temperatures. There have been a few instances of Thai people dying from exposure if rain mixes with 70 degree temperatures. Our Hmong brethren suffered in these conditions during the last cool season in the refugee camp. We struggled to get blankets and warm clothing to them in time for their "winter." Yes, perspective is everything. When Thai people are wearing coats, our team is in short sleeves and thankful for the cool.
Right now it is exactly 2 weeks till we leave to go back to Thailand and one of the things that I really dread is the heat. Another thing that I am not looking forward to is packing up 2 apartments and our large office and getting ready to move. I don't like packing.
However, I am very much looking forward to living in Chiang Mai. Every person who has ever been on our team like Chiang Mai much better than Bangkok. Compared to Bangkok, Chiang Mai is a small town. If you can call a city of 3 million small. But compared to the 13 million people who live in Bangkok, it has a small town feel. Like I said...it all goes back to perspective.
Neither Tom nor I were able to see any of our family members this trip home. Sometimes we just can't work things out for a myriad of reasons. We are hoping to return to the United States this summer. We have a wedding to attend and we hope to see our daughter and her family if they get to come home for their first furlough in more than 5 years. Hopefully we will be able to purchase a dependable vehicle and maybe then we will be able to see our extended family. Until then, we are thankful for email, facebook and other means of communication that modern missionaries are privileged to have. The problems of today's missionaries compared to the problems that the missionaries of yesteryear faced...it's all a matter of perspective.
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