Trip to New Zealand

Michal Dobson – Thailand
I have just returned from a week of rest and relaxation in Christchurch, New Zealand. I recommend it as a wonderful experience.

Michal Dobson – Thailand

I have just returned from a week of rest and relaxation in Christchurch, New Zealand. I recommend it as a wonderful experience.

A week ago I celebrated Palm Sunday in the cathedral in Christchurch. This cathedral is what the town was built around years ago, and it remains the center. The seating capacity is for more than 1,000. The male choir and the organ music were a real treat for me, something that I miss in Thailand. The congregation was made up of regulars and tourists and all were made to feel welcome and important in the service. We were invited to join in the palm parade, without any practice, that was to occur halfway through the service. With this invitation came the comment that this event had probably not been without some confusion when it first took place.  Included in the service was a dramatic reading, with several voices of the congregation and the full congregation as the crowd response, reading Matthew 26.  It was very powerful. The service also included communion where all walked to the front. In this Episcopalian service there was a great deal of response from the congregation. The native Maori language was written and sometimes included in responses and prayers.  I could not always keep up but never mind, and I knew no one there but felt truly included. It was a most meaningful service. I hope yours was too.

While in New Zealand I visited with friends who had worked in Chiang Mai twenty years ago and retired fifteen years ago.  The husband was a gifted piano teacher and the wife an artist. The stained glass windows at the seminary were her design. The husband was diagnosed with a brain tumor in December and his treatment has left him unable to do much at all. Even so, they took me on a car tour of the surrounding area and a picnic lunch overlooking the crater of a volcano. It was very evident that these wonderful folks have put themselves in God’s hands.

While in Christchurch, I also met up with two young former teachers from Chiang Mai International School.  We visited for a few hours catching up on each other’s lives. They are both happy with their present teaching situations but are grateful for their two years working in Thailand. People seem to become family quickly when they work together here. Meeting up with folks who you once worked with here in Thailand is always fun.

Now that I am back in Chiang Mai I am readjusting to the heat. It is the hottest time of year and the Songkran festival is taking place.  For five days, (three officially) everyone throws water on each other all over town. Older folks and teens sit in the back of pick-up trucks using metal barrels to hold quantities of water or huge squirt guns to throw on whomever they pass by.  Small children will be standing at the side of the roads with buckets and dippers ready to splash the motorcycles and cars that pass by. These days some use garden hoses and just stand there with a steady stream shooting water on whatever and whoever goes by. This is all done in good humor and in the spirit of fun. Traditionally sprinkling water on someone’s head and hands is a blessing and a sign of respect. This formal service is also part of this holiday. People will go to the temple to bless the monks. Students at schools will pour water over teachers’ hands.

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday. I plan to go to First Thai Church situated across from the river. This is often where people fill up containers for the water throwing.  To accommodate this, First Church changed the time of their service to nine hoping to avoid all the holiday traffic. The service will not be very much like last week’s but I’m sure it will be meaningful too.

School resumes on Monday and I look forward to seeing my students again and hearing all about their travels and holidays. I am thankful for the time away and feel refreshed and ready for the next months ahead.

Again let me say thank you for your continued prayers and concern for mission. My best to you.

Michal Dobson
Michal Dobson is a missionary with the Church of Christ in Thailand, assigned to the Chiang Mai International School. She serves as an elementary teacher and also assists in the development of curriculum.