FBC Missions

Greetings to everyone back home!

Sorry we haven’t been able to write about what we’ve been seeing until now. It takes a lot of energy just to take it all in!

We made it safely here. Our flights were long, but uneventful. We had some freezing rain as we were leaving Eugene, so the plane had to be de-iced, but from then on things went smoothly. We did have a long layover in the new Bangkok airport but survived. And all of our luggage made it too! When we arrived in Chiang Mai, Jim and Gayle and Pastor Daniel were there to meet us along with Kitypong, a Karen man. We arrived at our lodging, the Galare Guest House and relaxed. The guest house is right on the Mae Ping river and is only a short distance away from the Beulah church.

Once settled, we went over to the church and saw Stacy, Mark, and Elena hard at work. Stacy painted the name of the church in Thai and English letters. Mark made a cross out of teakwood to go in the front of the church, and Elena was hard at work on a mural inside.

At the end of the day, we ate a nice dinner at our guest house and got a good night sleep.

The next day we met with some other visitors from Cherry Hills Community Church in Denver, Colorado and learned about the proposed dining hall construction on the Frontier Labourers’ for Christ’s (FLC) land just outside of Chiang Mai. This building would help operations both for the Barefoot Doctors’ training and when they conduct pastor and leadership training throughout the year. Cherry Hills has been involved with this ministry for many years.

In the afternoon, we went out to the land and saw the property. FLC has about forty acres. So far, they have one house and one building with training rooms and dormitories. The land also has scores of mango trees that provide a picturesque setting. The overall strategic goal for this land is to provide a regional training center where leaders from surrounding countries can come both for medical and spiritual training. That, of course, is the short version, but rest assured, the ministry here is alive and growing with many plans for the future.

Yesterday, we traveled about two hours out of Chiang Mai to a village called Bayasai. This village is one of many model Christian villages that Daniel has started. This village is very diverse with about five different people groups living there. It is completely self-sustaining with clean water and coffee replacing opium for a cash crop. Out of 196 people living in the village 160 are believers and attend the small church there. We got to eat lunch in the pastor’s house and meet some of the church members. By all accounts, this village is a success; however, it has a Bible shortage. There are only 10 Bibles in the whole village. The cost is prohibitive to print enough to meet demand and it is difficult to accommodate several specific people groups’ languages. There is much more I could say about this experience, but I am still processing it. The people were friendly, the food was delicious, and the off road driving was memorable.

Today we attended church. There were many visitors including us and all of the Barefoot Doctors in training. We from Oregon managed a rendition of “Great is Thy Faithfulness” and Dad preached from Acts 8. Afterwards we had a fellowship lunch with more delicious Thai food. Now we are spending the afternoon running errands, relaxing, etc. This evening we will be going to the Thai cultural center with some of the visiting doctors, Daniel, Beverly, and others. Tomorrow we fly down to Bangkok and meet the rest of the Thailand team who are currently headed our way!

Some prayer requests:

Pray for safety as the rest of the Thailand team makes their way to Bangkok!

Pray for safety as we fly from Chiang Mai down to Bangkok!

Pray for the Frontier Labourers’ for Christ ministry

Pray for my health as I am fighting off a cold and ear ache and hope not to infect anyone else!

Pray for the country of Thailand and the government. Tomorrow the country is celebrating sixty years’ of the King’s reign.