Partners Retreat Begins

We packed up after breakfast and checked out of the cheap and cheerful Mountain View guest house. It was a bit tatty there, but the way it was set out you wouldn’t guess it was in the middle of town.

We piled into the car and headed for the Partners office where Jackie, Hazel and Jay stayed behind and the others went shopping, and then on to the Horizon resort where we’re staying for the next few nights for the retreat, before coming back to the office for lunch. Hazel read her Bible, Jackie played keyboard and Jay typed the words of the songs onto PowerPoint for later on. We all admire Jackie’s gifted keyboard playing. She likes to have music in front of her but she soon starts to ignore it and is off into rich and wonderful harmonic improvisation. Hazel and Jay just sat in the room and worshipped with her for most of the morning.

The others returned at lunchtime and we picnicked in the foyer. Among the exotic delicacies from Tesco Lotus were yoghurt flavoured with baby coconut and nori flavoured crisps. After lunch we squeezed into the car again along with all the instruments and everything else that hadn’t already gone to the Horizon. The keyboard sat across the laps of Ben, Hazel and Jackie, and Susanna dozed in the back surrounded by guitars.

We found the meeting hall at Horizon. The grounds there are a botanical garden (www.tweecholbotanicgarden.com), and the retreat place is across the other side of this. We set up and had a practice while trying to communicate with a Thai sound engineer what we wanted from the PA system. In the end we managed to convince him everything was fine so he went away and we could adjust it ourselves. Some people at the back told us we were making a good noise so we went back to Sarah’s room for a prayer time.

The room had twin beds, so three of us sat on each bed facing the others. We prayed for each other and for the meeting, but we were all suddenly struck by how wonderful God is and we started singing to him in the languages he has given us. This went on for a while and we finished with the chorus from The Splendour of the King. That rather set us up for the evening.

We had a rather nice buffet dinner with the rest of the Partners people and then went back to the hall where two other Thai men had fiddled with the PA system so it fed back horribly. Sarah found one of her Partners friends who managed to sort it so it didn’t shriek with feedback so often, but the sound was still bad for the whole meeting.

The worship time was led by Ben, who was a bit nervous but did very well. Some of the Partners people were joining in enthusiastically but others looked very tired. Sarah said things will be better tomorrow morning when people have had a good night’s sleep. Most have come a long way to be here, and have left difficult and stressful situations behind.

The band played together well and there were few jarring moments which is amazing considering we’ve only played together as a group on this trip. Our thanks to all who have been praying for us, which is wonderful and a great answer to prayer.

Brian the preacher gave a very short introduction to the series of talks he was going to do, and then we had a craft activity which involved making sculptures out of vegetables. The sculptures were to be set on a base which was a slice cut out of a banana stem (which is edible but not very nutritious – apparently it goes well with dog curry). The sculptures were intended to represent the person carving them. Jay really didn’t want to join it because he was so tired, but he found a curved purple aubergine-like thing which suggested a saxophone. With a stem of broccoli and a couple of French beans it became a saxophonist.

More impressionistic than realistic, but it seemed to work. We hope to publish photos of everyone else’s in the next instalment. Veg sculpture at a missionary retreat? Yes, Partners people like to have fun together.

After the meeting we stayed on and Sarah’s friend got the PA sounding much better (and made a note of all the settings so he could put it right if anyone fiddled with it again). We managed to get a bus ride back to Reception, and then Sarah went off to find Partners friends while the rest of us had some hot chocolate in Jackie and Hazel’s room. We didn’t stay long because Jackie was very tired, and so were the rest of us.

Now the frogs and crickets are singing out in the garden and it’s time for bed. What will tomorrow bring? Sarah is leading worship in the morning and it's a Talent Show in the evening. Did we celebrate Red Nose Day? What did the others' veg sculptures look like? All these and more questions may or may not be answered in the next post...