Dateline: Bangkla Baptist Clinic in the Province of Chachoengsao

Housekeeping items first:

• There was no Day 2 update because we were in the air crossing the International Date Line.
• We are exactly 12 hours ahead of the U.S. Central Time Zone. Just change am to pm, and you will know what time it is here.
• We traveled for 34 hours and 28 minutes from driveway in Missouri to the driveway in Thailand. Our longest flight was 10 hours from Seattle to Tokyo. It was followed by a “short” flight of 6 hours from Tokyo to Bangkok.
• When you see references to “Doug” or “Cheryl,” remember that they are a couple who came to Thailand 19 years ago after Doug finished medical school in the U.S. They have served as Baptist missionaries in this community of 25,000 as directors of the Bangkla Baptist Medical Clinic. Doug has a Thai doctor…

Dateline: In the Air from Denver to Seattle

You may be wondering why an update so soon after the start of the trip. Two reasons: one is that we are currently in our 7th hour, and it feels like we have been traveling for an entire day. The other is an impression of “trust” inherent in a mission trip like this. I will try to explain.

We got up this morning between 1:00 and 2:00 am to leave our families behind and travel 12 time zones. We trust that our people and personal affairs will be taken care of during our absence.

We are going to serve in medical clinics in the western part of Thailand. None of us among our group of 14 know the villages involved. Or know the language. Or the schedule we will keep. Accommodations?...don’t know. Food?...to be determined. Even the plane tickets were arranged by…

Day Four

The team continues to be blessed by the Haitian people and their love for Jesus Christ!

Today we visited a school about fifteen minutes away from the mission. The village we visited was a very small cluster of thatch homes with a few of the traditional concrete homes scattered throughout. The church and school was perched on the hillside as if overlooking the village, which to me was a reminder of how God watches over us all.

After the team rallied and gathered all of the supplies for the VBS, we split into teams of two or three to a classroom. We conducted a short hygiene clinic on washing hands and brushing teeth. After that, Tony Nichols, a youth pastor from Kansas did a great job of telling the parable of the sower. During the story we made tissue paper flowers and gave them a small cup of…

Day Two

Once again the roosters have no watch on, so sleep for some on the roof was sketchy at best. However, the stars were beautiful and the fellowship was good. The team stated the day off going to church here at HCM. Isaac Reed spoke to the congregation about seeking God for completion instead of worldly things. Julia Bentley sang “Amazing Grace, My Chains Are Gone” very beautifully, and the team was very proud of them both.

After lunch we went on a tour of the houses up in the hills that HCM is having built for the staff who either live here at the mission or in tents. When we arrived back at the campus we toured the hospital and clinic. Before we could get through the clinic, a lady was brought in who had been burned very badly on her face, neck, shoulder and hands. Thank God…

Hello all!

The team has arrived safely after a very exciting day of traveling to Tulsa. The roads were a little challenging but the Lord kept us all safe! Once we arrived in Tulsa, we all checked checked into our rooms and took a cold snowy walk to Denny’s! The laughter and fellowship was great as we all nervously anticipated the next day’s travel.

The check-in was smooth, and the agents at the counter even overlooked some of the weight overages on our checked bags. God is good! The take off from Tulsa was beautiful overlooking the snow-covered country. Arrival in Miami was uneventful and pleasant.

The team landed safely in Port-Au-Prince. As we were ushered into immigrations and customs, one of the men from HCM was waiting for our team before we could get to our baggage. God is good! The HCM staff and our team had all of…

Check out Audrey Ritter’s Mission Arlington 2010 mission report.

Check out Jan Smiley’s Haiti 2010 mission report.

As the Forest Park 2010 Thailand Mission Team serves on their mission trip, we would like to ask the church to be “on mission” too by daily praying for the team. Each day throughout their trip I will post details about what the team is doing that day. I will also share specific ways you can pray for them. We would love for you to pray these requests a day ahead, if possible!

Feel free to add prayers and encouragements in the comments section below each post.

Thursday, November 18 Prayer:
The longest day! Pray for safe travel home to Joplin. We leave from Bangkok, fly to Tokyo, and then Chicago to Arkansas. Because of the time difference, this day lasts 36 hours for us. Pray that we can share news from our trip in a way that brings glory to the Lord and that draws others to Him.