Made It In – Lance & Ruth

Arrived in Chiang Mai!

We’re here! By now I’m sure you’ve assumed that. A few days after our arrival Thailand started closing its borders to the neighboring countries and now we’ve heard they’re closed to everyone except diplomats and their families, those with work visas and Thai nationals. We’ve also heard they’ve instituted a curfew starting at 10 pm among other things. We are so glad to have made it here before everything shut down!

As life has stopped everywhere else, it has also stopped here causing complications (obviously) with moving into our house. We are still at the missionary guest house, but as they are not letting anyone else come other than those who are already here, we don’t have to worry about them not having enough space since we’ve exceeded our original reservations. Mainly, the only stores open here are for groceries and cleaning supplies. If the store sells other things those areas are roped off or the displays are encased in plastic wrap. However, we have seen people sneaking under the the taped-off areas or lying on the floor in them (?) so maybe if you sneak it out they’ll let you check out with it? Not sure what’s going on there, but it was interesting to see that in some ways Thailand is much like our last country. To enter a store you have to wear a mask, have your temperature taken, they give you a spray of hand sanitizer and then they stick a yellow sticker on your sleeve to prove you’ve gone through the process once you’re in. There are random things open – we were able to buy a car, and random things closed – we weren’t able to open an internet or bank account. So, we move forward with each task as far as we’re able and then wait or try to find another option.

Airport transportation.

Red truck interior.

Jet lag.

Speaking of buying a car…we bought a car! Can I tell you how excited I am to have a trunk for my groceries instead of trying to balance all of them on the scooter in front of me?!! I so had trunk-envy in our last country. (Yes, it’s a thing. I had it.) That is the best benefit by far. However it’s also nice that the rain won’t change our plans to go somewhere now or make us miserable if we’re out, and we won’t run out of electricity because there’s no gauge and have to push it the rest of the way home either. So excited.

Not being able to open a bank account was unfortunate, but our school allowed us to pay our tuition in cash since we had no other option. Our classes have been suspended as well until April 20th. We’re supposed to check back with the bank in April to see if the government has made another announcement about opening new accounts. Until then, we are extremely grateful that this country is so tourist oriented and we can often use our visa card here. In our last country that was definitely never an option; you could only use a card from one of their national banks.

Temperature being taken before entering the store. The display behind the store worker is a tribute to the King. These are found all over Thailand.

Anyway, tons of random details but these are the things filling our brains and days right now. Being able to stay at the missionary guest house has been beyond a blessing. There are 3 other families here with boys who are our boys’ ages providing community for our kids while we readjust to Asian culture. Beyond that, there are two young families and 3 singles all stranded here from their countries of service. Some came planning to stay until their country was stable again and some were stranded while they were here for other reasons. With the church services and fellowships being canceled, the directors have been organizing a mid-week fellowship and a church service on Sunday. Lance and I have been doing the music, him playing and me singing, and it has been a great way to be encouraged in prayer and worship through everyone’s various circumstances. (Unbelievably, our situation is one of the least unsettled, I’m not sure I’ve ever been able to claim that on this blog before!) We’re revitalized by having this outlet to serve, and the managers here are so excited we’re filling this role. They have been praying for a way to have a worship evening on the grounds and now that we’ll be living in the city we’ve offered to do it weekly once the social ban is lifted and we’ve settled into our routine. God has given us a way to start ministering to missionaries before we’ve even started our Thai lessons – so awesome.

Let me know if I didn’t cover something you’re wondering about. There’s so much going on and changing daily I just covered what’s floating around in my brain at the moment.

Thank you for your continued prayers. We’re praying for you as well.
– Ruth, for the Baker family.

P.S. You know what else is a blessing?! That I’m sitting here typing while hearing crickets and (loud) lizards chirping outside (and inside) our room. Nature and wildlife were not a thing in our last country. We are soaking it up. (Told you…whatever’s floating around in my brain at the moment.)

Nature