Back to Thailand

Greetings! Sorry for the delayed posting. We had a great time in Battambang, but internet service was prehistoric! Just couldn't get a posting off!

In Battambang, we saw and played with our dear, "charter member" kids. What a great time. We also continued our immunization program. It was a short trip this year. Returning to Phnom Penh on Wednesday afternoon and leaving for Thailand on Thursday morning.

This time the whole team was here. It has been very scheduled; orphanage visits, a little sightseeing, shopping, and maybe some rest?

Arriving late Thursday, nothing but a visit with the orphans and dinner was accomplished. But, today, we were taken to three schools to give a concert and share our work. It was about a 1 1/2 hour drive out of Chiang Mai into the mountains on a curvy road. We presented our story to about 2500 students!

Also during that visit we met a man with an orphanage in the town; he invited us to visit. Of course we said "yes". This orphanage, however, was unique in a very special way -- all the orphans have HIV. They were beautiful, smiling kids, just like "ours", but they will all die within the next several years. It was wonderful to see them having a "normal" life, but deeply saddening to reckon with their future. Tough.

Tomorrow we are going to be allowed into a prison through one of our contacts to present a concert (well, actually for Dave to present a concert). Then, the afternoon will be a well deserved rest! In the evening we plan a dinner at a traditional Thai restaurant for the team to experience.

We are entering the home stretch; on the way home in four days! It has been a wonderful, productive, and blessed trip. We are always happy to be heading home to our missed spouses and families, but sad to leave our old and new friends.

Come and see for yourself sometime!

Thanks, again for your support, prayers, and encouragements!

Other Blog Links

Note in the right hand side-bar are links to Rachel, Bonnie, and Heiden's blogs. They are team members on this trip also blogging. Check them out to get a balance on my biases!

Another One for the Books . . .

Saturday in Phnom Penh brings sunshine and warm temperatures! Surprise, surprise! What an awesome day it has been so far; and it is only 3 PM!

Two days ago the team took our orphans to a waterpark for fun. (I did not attend, as I was at the dedication ceremony for the Korean mission.) The park was empty except for our orphans and an Asian dad and his two kids. Two and a half million people in Phnom Penh and these are the only folks there. Anyway, this father struck up a conversation with team members and it turns out he is a dentist from Australia (Chinese-Malaysian heritage) who is travelling with a team of dentists on a mission!

We have no dentist this trip, but do have an able hygeinist. Our dental offerings were limited this trip. Well . . . he and his team has run out of work to do and asked if they could help us? Well, duh. Today he and a dental colleague, his two kids, and three others from their mission travelled to the orphanage with us.

The dentists looked at mouths and made a "to-do" list while we immunized the kids. Eleven orphans could use some further care and I have arranged for them to work with our local Cambodian dentist next week to care for the kids needs while we are in Battambang!

That is only half the story ... the pastor leading this trip is an Aussie who pastors a mission-minded church. He has travelled SE Asia and is seeking sites to partner with and to serve. In his parish he "many doctors, dentists, lawyers, teachers" interested in short-term mission trips. After seeing the orphanage and talking to our Exec Dir and two board members on the trip, he was really enthusiastic about what is being accomplished. So enthusiastic, in fact, that he is talking to Dave (Exec Dir) about how to start Asia's Hope Australia. Maybe ... only the Lord knows. WE KNOW that this waterpark meeting was a divine appointment!

Phew ...

It is off to Battambang Sunday to see our "original" orphans -- kids who have a special place in our hearts! Thanks for coming with us. God Bless You.

More later . . .

Thursday

Hello, from Phnom Penh! It has been a (busy) while since I have posted; sorry. The team arrived Tuesday afternoon! Five Canadians and 6 from the US. They showered, had a cold drink, and we went to the orphanage to get crawled upon by up to 50 kids! As usual, it was a fine time. The team fell asleep in the van on the return to the guest house, and we all called it a short day!

Wednesday, we had strategy/planning meetings with two of our partners and plan to meet again to work out future work together. The team kept a low profile and continue jet-lag recovery operations.

One of our partnerships is with a Korean mission, led by a Korean orthopedist who practiced in Canton, OH for 15 years before returning to Seoul. He and his church have built a building I have referred to before. Today they had a dedication ceremony -- a two hour service - in Korean. I was the only Caucasian in the room. Also, the only one who didn't understand the service. My friend had prepared a speech and delivered it in Korean; then he looked at me and said, "now in English" and re-read his speech in English, for the ONLY PERSON IN THE ROOM who did not understand it the first time! I was moved.

We will likely be able to help them with teaching and staffing their clinic on future trips.

The remainder of the week we have two outreach programs, with different partners. Sunday, we head to Battambang, the site of our first orphanage. It will be great to see those kids, who have a special place in our hearts as our "first" kids.

Please continue to pray for our health and safety! All is well. Also please pray for those we have left behind at home! Thank you for your ongoing support!

No Such Thing As Intelligent Design?

THAILAND, SATURDAY FEBRUARY 4TH

Hello, All:

Since I last wrote, we have had a couple of busy days. I hope you all saw the pictures on the Blog.

Friday, we had a two hour meeting with a woman who has an incredible testimony, rising up from a poor Buddhist family to become a leading evangelical in her country. She is a regional representive of the Evangelical Foundation for Thailand – one of the few government approved foundations, who license other religious agencies. We will be registering Asia’s Hope with this group. But ... more to the point ..

She has a foundation that runs a Christian school and is looking for a partner to team with in it’s operation. Well, that is one thing that Asia’s Hope does. Much discussion needs to take place and questions need answered, but it is very optimistic that we may be well on the way to establishing a Christian School in Chiang Mai, Thailand. There is much more to the story than is humane to tell here, but it is a testimony to the work of God in our little sphere of work here.

For supper last night, we took the orphanage staff out to "The Pig Pen" restaurant to say Thank you. They loved it. One sits at a picnic table like setting with LP gas cookers every few feet. For 69 Bhat ($1.75 USD) you get an all-you-can-eat buffet. They bring pieces of oncooked delicacies on trays to your table and you cook and eat, cook and eat, cook and eat. More trays appear as you empty the ones you have. They ate crab, pork, eel, squid, pig liver, cabbage – those were the ones that I could identify, but there were more. Dave and I discreetly carried in pizza.

Today, Saturday, we went to the orphanage to find the nurse we had asked to help us administering immunizations to our kids. She had brought with her a relative – a young Thai woman who is a pediatric nurse in Bangkok. They were doing a great job -- I just stood there looking useless. I couldn’t believe our good fortune; people and services we need are there when they are needed.

How about this … Accompanying the Thai ped nurse was her significant other – a definitely gringo-looking man. Turns out this guy is from Dayton, Ohio! He lives in Bangkok and Chicago – though prefers the former. He is a free-lance professional filmmaker, writer, and producer. He has done work for CNN, BBC, and National Geographic; names I recognized among several that he mentioned. Well … he is impressed with the work we are doing and wants to shoot some footage here and in Cambodia and put together a "professional piece" that we can use for information and fund-raising. Who said there is no such thing as "Intelligent Design"?

It is truly remarkable how God is bringing people and resources to bear upon the efforts of a small group of people reaching out to the disadvantaged in SE Asia. And, you are a part of that effort!

Speaking of being a part of the effort, I wish to put in a shameless plug here. I know that you encourage and pray for me, and travel with me vicariously each trip. I am always aware and confident of your presence and prayers. Thank you. I want to hold out the opportunity to support the mission financially as well. (I really hate doing this, but I love what God is doing and am committed to its future.) If you are so moved, please consider being a partner with us in this way.

If you wish to make a donation to a specific goal or project, let me know, or just send it in with a request to so apply the funds. If you would become a monthly donor that would support our general fund (salaries, mail, paper clips, etc.). I assure you that more of your dollars go to real people and projects than any other charity that I know.

Someone said to me, and it is true, that your money is only "one handshake away from its destination". You give your money through the agent of someone you personally know, and he/she personally delivers it to the person or project it is intended for. Not too many organizations can boast of that. (The address is: Asia’s Hope, PMB 185, 343 W Milltown Rd, Wooster, OH 44691.)

Well, time to get back to work. Thanks for your encouragements and suppport. Till the next time …

More . . .

A Picture is worth ....

Greetings from Chiang Mai! I am going to try to upload some photos from the Chiang Mai Orphanage. I am going to let them speak for themselves. This, friends, is what it is all about! Enjoy!