The Olivers In Thailand

At the time of writing last years Christmas letter we were anticipating our visit to Thailand at Easter. We didn’t realise that we would be writing this year’s Christmas letter based here in Chiang Mai!

After returning from our Easter visit we began to seriously consider whether this would be the right step for our family to take. The further we got into investigating the feasibility of spending a year in Thailand, the more our conviction grew that this was how God was leading us even though the practicalities were not straightforward.

The rest is history. After a whirlwind of preparation during the Summer, we flew out to Chiang Mai on 25th August. The children are now attending Grace International School. The school is based on the American system and is the second largest school of its kind that caters for children of missionaries.
We hesitate to call ourselves missionaries in the traditional sense but we do have a “mission” which is to help a large orphanage in the North of Thailand develop a sustainable source of income. More details and photos of our life, work and experiences here in Thailand can be seen on our blog.

We also spend time at a small local orphanage for 16 children. We visit as a family each Thursday evening when we have a time of “family worship” and prayer with the children and staff. Jenny has produced a Christmas musical with them. There are several performances of “Hosanna Rock!” including at Grace school, our church here and at Airport Plaza (the main shopping mall in Chiang Mai). It is a privilege to be able to help these Thai children present the message of the birth of Christ.

Adrian and Jenny are both working on PocketWeather and also doing a little contract work for our old company, Eurotherm. Together with the rent from our house in the UK we are earning a living.

The children have acclimatised incredibly well. They have all made good friends and enjoy living in a neighbourhood were they have freedom to cycle around and meet up with friends after school. It is wonderful for them to experience a multi-cultural school, something that Adrian greatly values from his upbringing in an International school. The school also has a HUGE swimming pool.

Thomas (12 1/2) is in Grade 7. He has enjoyed competing in the school swim team. Swim training was 1 ½ hrs 4 nights a week with a coach who has trained Olympians. In England Thomas got a Merit in his Grade 4 clarinet and also got Grade 2 piano. Here in Chiang Mai he is privileged to have an hour weekly individual clarinet lesson with the Professor of music at the Payap University. He has been able to work on his tone in a way that wasn’t possible in group lessons.

David (11) is in Grade 5. He celebrated his birthday soon after we arrived in Thailand by inviting a bunch of friends to a paintball tournament. This would not be allowed in UK but despite tears and large bruises, the boys all wanted to play again. David has also had a haircut under not too much duress and still looks very handsome and cute (OK, we admit it – we’re biased).

Jessica (nearly 9) is in Grade 4. She went up a grade because there wasn’t space in G3. She is coping well with the work. We encouraged her to take to opportunity to get involved in a sport and she has enthusiastically joined the girls’ soccer team.

We are looking forward to having Jenny’s Mum, Jillian, join us for 5 weeks over Christmas. We will meet up with our friends the Mays and the Wongs for the Christmas week.

Our friends and family near and far will be in our thoughts as we celebrate this Christmas.

Our love and prayers for a peaceful and happy Christmas and New Year.

Jenny, Adrian, Thomas, David & Jessica
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