A letter from Annette George in Thailand
August 2010
Dear Friends,
Congratulating and saying farewell to a student who had studied flute, English, and music therapy with me.
I flew to the United States at the end of March for a short term of speaking to the churches and renewing relationships with friends and relatives. A trip to Indiana allowed me to join family members in burying the ashes of my parents, and I was able to visit a couple of my supporting churches there. The rest of the time centered in Ocala, Fla., where I felt happy to establish a new “home-base” with the congregation at Fort King Presbyterian Church. All of the churches and church groups that I visited were so welcoming and gracious to me; I was truly blessed by my short visit to the States.
According to my friends in Thailand, I missed an unusually broiling “Thai summer” season (April and May). Tempers were hot, too, as the news programs informed you. The political problems had been simmering for some years, so I wondered if there would still be protests or violence in Chiang Mai when I returned. My housekeeper had experienced some of the violence in May when she innocently went on her motorcycle to the market to buy school uniforms for her children. She was able to get away just as two angry groups converged on each other at a bridge near First Christian Church and the governor’s home. She escaped with no injuries but did lose her purse in the episode — so had to go to considerable trouble replacing all of her documents. As her ethnic background is tribal and her mother is Burmese, she has to have documents proving her Thai citizenship on her person at all times. The stoplight where the fight between the two groups occurred remained charred for one month before there was a replacement. Now all seems back to normal except for newspaper headlines reminding us that jailed protesters are facing trials. It seems my university students were not involved in the political processes or turmoil on the streets. It certainly was not their topic of conversation once school started on June 8.
I arrived in Thailand on June 4, so had a lot of catching up to do as I scrambled to start my classes and learn who would be my students this year. So far it is an unusual year in that I have only three students for private lessons, so most of my teaching this semester is in lecture courses, which take different preparation from the one-to-one tutoring. I am also involved in rehearsing for several concerts with different groups of musicians. Most of those concerts will take place in September; every weekend is scheduled already with concerts to attend or concerts in which to perform. Our College of Music has reorganized, and I also found myself on several new committees. Our new dean is a young man who studied clarinet with me at Payap in the early '90s. It is gratifying to see our graduates maturing and becoming leaders in the field.
Cell group
A few upper-class students asked me, in the early days of the semester, whether we would be having cell group meetings this year. I wasn’t sure. Last year the attendance had dropped off so precipitously that I was left with wasted food every Wednesday night. I thought that perhaps it was time to look for new avenues of ministry or to eliminate the dinner at my home that had been an important part of the cell group in the past. The students selected a new evening for our meetings and assured me that the food was a “very important” part of the proceedings. So without much warning or time for getting the word out, we started the cell group meetings — and had a house full of 17 students on the very first night. Most of the students were freshmen, and it seems they were grateful for the opportunity to meet together as Christians for worship and fellowship. They have continued to arrive in large numbers every Monday night.
Thank you for your prayers and your interest in my work as I represent you and the church in Thailand.
Truly,
Annette George
The 2010 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 126
