Bringing in the New Year

Here we are already into 2012 with only 4 more weeks of classes left for the school year at Payap. I can hardly believe it. We were very fortunate to have been able to bring in the New Year with my sister, Kathy, and her husband, Wes, visiting us here in Thailand. It was such a blessing to have them come and experience Thailand with us for two and one half weeks! They ended their time here in Bangkok enjoying their last few days in Thailand on their own. It was great catching up with them on Facebook to see where their adventures were taking them. It was so great to have that connection from home here. The day they left, I came home from work to find Kalya very melancholy and quite empty and sad. She said how she already missed Kathy and Wes and how great it was to have them here to connect again with the familiar, with people that KNOW us. What a blessing! Kalya and I spent Christmas in Bangkok before meeting up with Wes and Kathy to spend time on the island of Koh Chang and then back home to show them our stomping grounds here in Chiang Mai. It was a great experience and we are so thankful to have been able to share it with two people that we love very, very much.



And now, to finish the year out strong at school and New Life Center before coming to see family in Washington State and Spokane near the end of March. 2011 has been a year of learning, depending, appreciating and realizing how much we have in God, family and friends. Being away has shown me that the grass isn't always greener on the other side. A colleague of mine in the Spokane Symphony really comforted me earlier this year when I shared that with him. He said, "Yeah, but how would you know if you never tried?" And isn't that true that we seemingly miss out on a lot because we have never tried or taken steps outside of the box to see where the journey might lead. Sometimes it leads us to brand new chapters in our lives and other times it leads us right back to where we started, but with a whole new appreciation for what we already had. As I read the last sentence that I just wrote I am overwhelmed with how much I miss my family and my grandchildren. I am grateful, though, for each and every day here in Chiang Mai because I will always be able to encourage my kids, my grandchildren, even my students to follow their dreams. I thank God for making it possible for us to live in another culture and that Kalya has had the chance to once again be a part of her culture. Our lives are much richer for that. The people that we have met here and become fast friends with have enriched our lives in so many ways.

Next week I will be giving my recital. This has been very good for me. Getting back to practicing again and preparing for this has been something that I have realized that I really miss. I will be accompanied by some very good musicians. We have a world class pianist on the faculty at Payap from Japan. Her name is Atsuko Seta. I am playing a marimba solo with her accompanying. It's more like a duet and I am very excited to perform this piece with her. I am playing a multiple percussion piece to open up the concert and then doing a solo vibraphone arrangement of Chick Corea's Crystal Silence. It's a beautiful piece that I have always loved and it has been great to explore the harmonies and put together an arrangement. The second half of the concert will comprise music that I have written over the years and joining me are some very good musicians from Chiang Mai on drums, bass, guitar and keyboards. The keyboard player is a Christian and plays often with the bass player and drummer who are Buddhist. His nickname is Pui and he is such a kind person. You can definitely see the light of Christ in his eyes. I know that his life will have a huge impact on Gift and Jib (the drummer and bass player). And, oh my gosh, he is a very talented keyboard player. I am very fortunate to be surrounded by such a great group of musicians to share my music with here in Thailand. The final piece of the concert will be Ella's Eyes performed live with the video of Ella synchronized to the music. We worked on it with the click track a few days ago and it worked out really, really well. I am so excited to share the miracle of Ella here in Thailand and openly declare the love, grace, mercy and healing touch of God through Jesus Christ.

Our son, Matt, and his girlfriend, Ali, will be coming to visit us in the middle of March just before we come to the USA to see family. Kalya and I are so excited to have them come and see this part of the world with us. The last, and only, time Matt came to Thailand was when he was only 15 years old. Having him come now to a city that Kalya and I love and know so much more about will be a thrill for us. Bring on the scooters!!

The time has gone so fast. I have been doing a lot of thinking about our time here over that past few days. What does it all mean? ... What did we accomplish? ... Was our witness honoring to God? ... Did we really trust God through some of the trials early on? ... How have we changed? ... How will we view life differently? ... How will we live life differently? ... Have we made any impact? ... Did we fail? ... Did we take on each day to see how we could make a difference? The answers are all mixed and, quite frankly, I don't have many answers right now. But I have the questions and, if nothing immediate comes of these questions, I feel a change coming as I ponder them. I pray that God will give us the grace to sort through the questions and really take a look at our lives and look at life more and more through the eyes of eternity and not through the eyes of expediency. I really want to make a difference for eternity and yet I often find myself making choices for what is expedient in the moment. When I look at the life of Christ, He was always listening and hearing and following the voice of the Father. I want to do that and not think so much about it being where I am to accomplish it but looking to accomplish it where ever I am. I'm here in Thailand right now. How am I accomplishing listening, hearing and following the Father's voice here right now? Living life in the moment, listening, hearing and following the voice of God and His mission of encountering people, loving them and showing them a window into the miracle of salvation and a life devoted to Jesus. Pray for us as we pursue that dream here in Thailand and we look forward to seeing all of you in America in March.

-Bryan

Winter is here!

Winter has arrived in Chiang Mai. Lows around 60º and highs in the mid-80's. Brrrrr! Not really, but truthfully I DO have to put a coat on when traveling on the scooter in the mornings and evenings. I actually bought a fleece pull over. I have to admit, Chiang Mai, and Northern Thailand in general, is incredibly beautiful and enjoyable to live this time of year.

I am sorry that I haven't been keeping up on the blog more diligently. Things have gotten pretty busy here with school and life. I now get to take a deep sigh and enjoy our winter break for the holidays. I can hardly believe that mid-term exams are over and we are headed into the home stretch of the school year. Finals will be starting the last week of February into the first week of March. Next week Kalya and I leave for Bangkok to spend Christmas in the big city and then on the 27th of December we will meet my sister and her husband in Bangkok and spend a few nights on Koh Chang (an island in the northeast Gulf of Thailand). Then, they will come up to Chiang Mai and be with us until mid January. We are very excited to share this part of the world with Kathy (my sister) and Wes (her husband).

I have been preparing daily for a recital that I will be giving on February 1 at Payap. I want to get in as much practice as I can before our relatives arrive. It has been so great to get into a regular practice routine. I really look forward to it each day. I am very excited for this concert. Joining me will be one of my colleagues at the University, Atsuko Seta, an amazing concert pianist from Japan. She will be accompanying me on a marimba solo. I will also be joined in the second half of the concert with a rhythm section of local Thai professional musicians performing five my own compositions, the last piece being a live performance of Ella's Eyes with the video showing as we play. These musicians are extremely talented and are so willing to go the extra mile to play my music. I am hoping that there will be some way that I can give them some sort of payment to show them that I don't take for granted their time that they are giving to me. They are becoming good friends

I think I am really beginning to find my rhythm here as I am beginning to develop great relationships with my students and colleagues at the University. After going through a very serious bout of depression for most of our time since we arrived, it has been by God's grace and to His glory that I have begun to break out of the depression and really beginning to enjoy the moment being here. Living in the moment has always been a concept that I have thought about a lot here, but now it is becoming more of a lifestyle as I begin to put the concept into practice. I love my students and not only my students but the other students that don't even take classes with me but enjoy coming to me for help and spend time together. Where, at first, I felt very much alone with regards to the faculty at Payap, I am now getting involved in their lives more. I have been especially reaching out to the Jazz faculty by going to hear them play at their evening gigs at some of the clubs in the city. It has been a blessing just being there to encourage them and show some genuine interest in what they are doing. They are so talented! I can see a genuine spark in their eyes when I come to listen. And, believe me, it's not because I'm all that (hardly) but it's more that a fellow musician and colleague is truly interested in just hearing them play and talk to them about the gig. Relationships are forming and I want to take joy in it while it lasts.

Kalya is really beginning to reach the girls at New Life Center. Last week when I dropped her off one of the girls came rushing out and gave Kalya the biggest, longest bear hug. The girls really look up to her and love being with her. She is so good with them. It is exciting to see her connect with the girls. Mondays have become a day that we look forward to. Kalya spends time with the girls until noon and then we are always invited to join them for lunch before we leave. It's great to share a meal there and have that time with both Kalya and me together.

I must say we have been so blessed that Chuck and Janice Sahagian live here in Chiang Mai. We have spent some great times together and it has been so encouraging to have friends that go back over twenty years. We have shared arroy mak meals together, sanuk mak adventures and lots of laughs. A couple of weeks ago we went to Chiang Dao for a weekend get away and it was a real treat. Chiang Dao is about an hour and a half north of Chiang Mai where the mountain ranges begin getting bigger and amazingly beautiful. Kalya and Janice drove the car up and Chuck and I took our scooters on just an incredible ride up to The Nest where we stayed. Please enjoy the following pictures from a very beautiful part of Northern Thailand. Oh...and Merry Christmas. Thank you Jesus for coming, dying and rising again to conquer sin and death for us!

Happy, Happy Birthday Ella Louise Dordal!!

November 10, 2010 marks a day that would changed my and my families' life forever. I was at work getting ready for the annual Veterans' Day Con at Salk, my 8th grade band's first performance of the year, when I got an urgent message from Kalya that Christa had gone in for an emergency C-section and that the prognosis was very grave, and, that Christa had had a baby girl, something that we had been hoping for. That was the moment, for me, where my world literally stopped and we quickly began to pull together as a family and nothing else was more important. That was when we felt so small and helpless and God loomed very large as we would quickly lean on the only person, God, through Jesus Christ, who would prove to be ever present and grant enormous grace, love, compassion and, ultimately, miraculous healing over the course of the next 70 days. 

 

 

Today, November 10, 2011 marks Ella's 1st birthday and we are so humbled and grateful to know that she is here with us healthy, beautiful and a testament to God's presence and miraculous work. A student of mine, last Spring gave me one of those plastic wrist bands that has engraved on it, "Believe in Miracles" that I wear to this day. When I look at it everyday I am reminded of the miraculous power of God and His wondrous gift of Miracle Baby Ella. One thing, and there are many, that God taught us through Ella is that we always have time for each other. Our culture comes up with many excuses and "good" reasons to be too busy to be there for the ones we love. I know now that life is too short to not be there when those you love need you. I am amazed that, during Ella's stay in NICU, Kalya and I were able to get to the Hospital to visit Ella every day through one of Spokane's more severe winters. And now, one year later, it is so difficult for Kalya and I to be half way around the world in Thailand and not be there in person with Ella on her 1st birthday. But, our hearts are there and we want to take this moment to wish Ella and her family the happiest of days as we take time to think of her and remember, with very grateful hearts, the gift of God who is Ella. 

 

I wrote a song called "Ella's Eyes" last year. The melody came to my mind within days of Ella's birth and I couldn't help but sing it in my heart whenever I thought of her. I later recorded it and set it to a video using pictures and clips that Erik and Christa took in the days that turned into months in the hospital following her birth to her homecoming in January, 2011. "Ella's Eyes" is dedicated to Miracle Baby Ella and a God who is very present and loving, who granted Ella and our family a healing miracle that we will never, ever forget!

 

Thank you Jesus, and Happy, Happy Birthday Ella Louise Dordal!

Grandpa and Yaya

Click the link below and listen to "Ella's Eyes" and then look at the pictures above and marvel at God's miraculous, healing touch.

An Evening of Blessing

Tonight was, to date, the most glorious, moving nights here in Thailand. Kalya and I were invited to share our testimonies of how we came to Christ at a cell group of Christian students from the school of music hosted by one of my colleagues from the school of music at Payap. It was so exciting to see Thai Christian college students worshipping and praying together.

The best part of the night after I shared my testimony was listening to Kalya share hers, so heart felt and emotional and completely in Thai. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard or seen. What an opportunity for her and for these students to hear her story. I will never forget it and I wanted to share it with you on the Blog. God is so good and He came and died and rose for the entire world. Seeing these students and their faith in a country where they are truly the religious minority is so beautiful to witness.

Thank you Jesus for Your gift tonight.

~ Bryan and Kalya

What if.....

So, Bryan said it's my turn to write something, so...here I am. What to write? Well...what's been on my mind lately is...what if...what if at this time of my life, I'm still living here in Thailand all this time? What if I had never moved to America? What would my life look like? What would I be doing right now for a living? Would I be married? And to whom? Children? But most importantly, would I have God in my life?

As I observe life here, and remembering how life was for me in my younger days, I think my life would have been no life at all. Life is very hard for the poor especially the kids and the elderly here, and poor is what it was for my family when I was young. I could say more like poverty level as we lived in a slum area of Bangkok. One of these days I really have to write all this down in detail somewhere. Anyway, I was going to school, my mom saw to that, thanks mom. But I don't know how far, because state school only goes to 8th grade, after that it costs to go, and no money for that. So...today if I still lived in Bangkok, I would most likely be...a street vendor worker, a lottery ticket seller, a street sweeper or worse I might have been in prostitution in my younger days and now still doing something in that area, who knows? I don't know as far as marriage or children, but I probably would go to temple daily, giving lots of offerings hoping for a better life in the next.


As I see it, God had His hand on my life even before I got to the USA...well, even before I was born. I thank God for His guiding on my life, keeping me whole with all that happened to me as a child, the sacrifice my mom made so that I could come to America, even though I didn't really want to. Giving me a stepfather that cared for me even though we couldn't communicate very well. Leading me to university near Spokane so that I could meet Bryan, my husband. Giving us Christa, Matt, and Andi, and later all the grand babies. Sometimes it overwhelms me to think, what if... then I praise God for all He has done. And I pray for Thailand...

It has been mixed feelings, as most of you who follow and support us know (by the way, thank you so much for that). The feeling of missing our family and friends, of not quite knowing what we are doing here when things are not going the way we think they should go, and also the adjustments we have to make as we go. Sometimes I see Bryan trying so hard to do "Thai" and not quite getting it, I feel bad for him. Or the slow motion of things that should not take that long to do or start...we think, why?

Then, there are times that I know I am where God wants me to be. In obedience, I am first of all here to support my husband in his calling, to connect back with my roots before I'm too old, and I am here to represent Him (God) as I live among the people He puts in front of me daily (living "life"), this include my girls I work with at New Life Center as well.

So, those are some of my thoughts these days. Now we try to take it a day at a time, thinking only how we can be the best to the person in front of us right now..... Please pray, we do need it daily.

Thank you for your time........... God Bless, Kalya

Easier Said Than Done...

There is a reason that people do what Kalya and I are doing when they are young. I think it took being here to really start to fully realize that. What are some of the things about being young that seem to make it so different? The obvious is ...  BEING YOUNG! But with that said there is something about being naive and, in a sense, foolish when you are young that makes embarking on a journey half way around the world somehow exciting. When you are young you have this feeling of invincibility that allows you to roll with the punches and not get too rattled. Your whole life is ahead of you and you are ready to conquer the world. As we set out to make the move to Thailand I thought, even in middle age, I had all of those qualities. We sold most everything large; all of our cars, half of our furniture, in fact, except for some pieces of furniture, everything else that we owned was stored in a small bedroom in the basement of our house that, yes, we did keep. I really felt ready to conquer the world with my favorite team-mate in the world, Kalya. As we were making preparations to come to Thailand and selling many things I kept thinking, "No worries, everything will fall perfectly into place when we get there."

Things really aren't so much the same, after all, when you are older. In fact, as I think back now about the day we left I can't get out of my mind our grandson, Gage, lying with Kalya on the couch crying harder than I have ever heard him cry and Kalya and I totally losing it with so many, many doubts flooding our minds, "What are we doing", "Why would we ever want to leave." It was no different when we went over to Christa's and Erik's to say goodbye to the other grand children. The same emotions with the boys and huge emotions as we watched Ella asleep in her crib not able to hold her just one last time before we left. Except for Ella's long fight to live and God's miracle to save her, I have never felt so numb and empty inside. When you're older there is so much that you are hanging on to and it is so hard to let go. In fact, in many ways you can't and you don't let go. Embarking on this journey at this stage of our life is different in that we don't have this carefree sense of an entire life ahead of us. On the contrary, it is this knowledge of a full life already behind us. It's a feeling of what if we don't stay? Will that mean that we somehow failed? Will that mean that all of the amazing things that led up to this moment of being here were completely misread? I don't know the answer to these questions but I think about them a lot.

As human beings we tend to think a lot about the past and the future. In fact we think about it so much that I think we forget about right now, this moment, the present. Why do we do that? What is it that is so hard about living in the moment? Being the best, most Christ-like person that you can be right now. That is the lesson I think I am really beginning to learn, live in the moment and shine the love of Christ in the present. The past is past and the future is in God's hands, but this present moment offers choices. The Apostle Paul said it very well in 1 Corinthians 13:

"Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails..."

Think about that. All of those qualities of love can only be done in the now, in the present. That's what I want to be doing whether we are here in Thailand or home again in Spokane. Regardless of where we are there is a world of people in need that we need to be present with and showing love in the moment. We miss our family so much. I never realized how much of an effect the separation from our family would have on me until I got here and have been apart from them now for nearly 4 months. But there are people here in Thailand that we come in contact with each and every day and Kalya and I both agree that we need to show Christ here and now and not get paralyzed by living in the past or worrying about the future. We need to be set free to live in the moment and bring honor and glory to Christ in this place, right now.

Having said all of that, there is one future moment we can't help but think about. November 10 is soon approaching and I know that we will feel an emptiness and sadness not being home to share in Ella's first birthday. The closer we get to that day the more choked up I feel knowing that she will be in Spokane and we will be here in Thailand. Her miracle story of life and healing is such a huge part of all of our lives and I know that we will sorely miss not celebrating her birthday in person.

Please pray for us and thanks for keeping up with us through the blog.

~Bryan and Kalya

The Floods Have Arrived!

Please be praying for Chiang Mai and northern Thailand. For that matter pray for all of Thailand. The flooding has been very severe this year and has begun, as of yesterday, in Chiang Mai. So far our neighborhood has been spared but we are surrounded by klongs and they are rapidly rising and have begun to spill over into the roads. My campus at Payap was closed today and will probably be closed tomorrow as well. That will be two days of finals that the students will have to make up. More importantly, however, are many families that will be displaced by the flooding and the cleanup that will ensue. Many places are waist deep with water.

Thank you for your prayers. We will keep you posted. ~ Bryan and Kalya