Sent: Sunday, August 14, 2005 10:11 PM

Dear Friends and Family,

As I sit typing this email, there is just over 6 inches of water inside my house. Outside the driveway, the water is up to my thighs. All of this flooding happened within a matter of hours yesterday afternoon and evening as the Ping River in Chiang Mai swelled to its highest flood level in over 40 years.

(Standing in front of my house this morning)

As a “veteran” of Chiang Mai life and living, I thought for sure I knew just what to do in a flood. When I first heard about this flood yesterday, I wasn’t too stressed by it. But this time it’s all different. There’s so much water—everywhere—and the latest reports are that these water levels may stay this way for 2-3 days.

Life suddenly feels very chaotic. (Actually, life has felt very chaotic here for the last 8 months now, come to think of it!) People keep calling, asking how I’m doing, and while mostly I’m okay, I keep thinking “I wish I could cry, so that my stomach will stop hurting.”

I have plenty of help—neighbors and friends and colleagues who have pitched in to help me move furniture, sandbag, and just provide moral support. But still, things feel very out of control when you have 6 inches of water moving through your house, river current and all!

(The street in front of my house. My gate is the first one on the right.)

Remember the awesome new car that God provided just two months ago? Although it was moved to higher ground TWICE in the past 24 hours, this morning there was about an inch of water inside the car, all over the floorboard, the water up to the doorsill. Yes, the water appears to still be rising, because at 2 a.m. this morning, that car was on completely dry ground.

Please pray that I will rely on His love in the midst of this chaos. I know I will need to make plans to leave my house today, as the toilet and shower are not functional. It’s really hard to leave when I’m not sure if the water will keep rising and if my “stuff” will be safe. I keep reminding myself that IT’S ALL “STUFF” and it can all be replaced.

(Inside my kitchen. What looks like a bag of trash by the back door is actually a sandbag that is almost completely covered with water. Although we sandbagged both sides of the door, it didn’t seem to help much.)

Asking for your prayers,

Pam