Sat, 20th
‘Dad, all we’re doing is shopping anyway…?’

We shifted into our new house yesterday. Yeah!! Within 5 days of arriving God has given us a place to live, explore, play and sleep; a school for the kids to further their education and find great friendships...

Andrew helped us for most of the day. We used the ARDA truck to cart our stuff. We packed up those carefully carried boxes and our own luggage and drove 10 mins to our new place. We'd arranged for some girls from ARDA's skill Center to help us clean the house. They came shortly after we arrived.

Nang opened the home and we packed our stuff inside the front door. We walked through the house and talked about bits and pieces. I realised that I'd taken the wrong contract. Nang was happy to come back in the evening.

We left our friends cleaning (great to have Christian community support) while we drove down to get some more stuff- washing machine, fridge, etc...Andrew and Karen have explored many places and narrowed them down to a few.

We picked up some electrical plugs and adaptors from one store easily enough. Then we drove into China town to get the bigger things. Andrew had one store in mind that gives the 'best price' up front. They don't want to haggle. Neither do we. We picked out, washing machine, fridge, microwave, fans, and oven with plate burners on top. The price was good.

We discovered that the boss was Lao Chinese and so we haggled a bit in our language, but she didn't budge much. It was 'fun' to see how Chinese was being used in Laos. The other night Cecilia was in a shop Lao less, trying to order food…then she said something to the girl in Chinese and she spoke with a Beijing accent!

I too discovered a Chinese Lao uncle in the stationary shop. He was reading a Chinese news paper in the corner. The counter staff were taking the money over to him and dropping it in a box next to him. I figured he was the retiring boss; the son must have been out of town somewhere!

I said hello in my best Chinese and his eyes lit up. We chit chatted for a while and said good bye. I thought maybe next time he'd invite me to speak at the next over seas Chinese Clan meeting or something!

Anyway, back to the shopping...we got the stuff and the shop guys promised to deliver it at 2pm. We left thanking God. We decided to grab a bite to eat before we went back. Shanae lost the plot completely and screamed and yelled all the way through lunch. Shanae seems to be struggling with the transition. We pray that settling down into our place would help her mood and tantrums.

Seth is always good with a clarifying the issues. 'Dad, we came to Laos to tell people about the J road, but we've not told anybody about this Road yet... all we've done is shop, go to school and find a house'. I said, 'that's a good point mate. But we're finding a house to invite people over for dinner and a play time. Then we can tell them about the J Road. We're going to school to learn and make friends. We can tell them how to find the road too!! 'Oh, ok, now I understand'.