The Blogging Universe - February Trip to Thailand

So I have joined the blogging world, lest I feel left out of the universe of MTW Thailand team's blogging efforts! I've decided to begin with our trip to Thailand in February as a start.

Andrew and I planned our trip to Thailand around PCPC's trip to Nong Khai in northeast Thailand. PCPC has been involved with Thai & Lao refugees in East Dallas since the 80's, and to this day we have a Lao Presbyterian Fellowship within our church. In Nong Khai, PCPC has helped fund the building of a new church for the Lao/Thai Christian community of believers they have worked with for years. We attended the dedication of this building in February - a grand ceremony, service and dinner celebration with entertainers - the whole nine yards! Our church's Director of Missions & Outreach, Curt Dobbs, spoke, as well as Paul Taylor, the MTW Director of Missions in Asia. We also had the opportunity to visit a group of doctors staying in Vientiane, Laos (right over the Mekong River and Thai/Lao border) and doing 40 surgeries on children with facial deformities. Every year, this group (LEAP) independently raises money to travel to 4-5 locations worldwide to do these surgeries. We felt blessed to have the opportunity to see them in action in a Russian-built hospital in Vientiane. We also visited the Providence School, a Christian (!) school with grades 1-4.

We spent time in Bangkok as well, seeing old co-worker friends of Andrew's, visiting with college friends Brandi & Frank Dixon (serving in Beijing, China) and visiting Jack, Kim, Gracyn, & Aidan Cunningham and Halley Davis, part of the MTW team in Bang Na we are preparing to join in September. Yes, they have baby elephants on downtown streets of Bangkok! I was able to see Thailand with my very own eyes for the first time, experience the LONG flight (about 24-hour travel from Dallas to Bangkok) and have REAL, authentic sticky rice with mango! My favorite Thai dessert.

Praise God for the safe trip there and back and for the fruitful time spent with the Cunninghams, the Dixons, the LEAP team, and the Nong Khai Gennesaret Church!

Pictures include: Eating lunch in Bkk w/ former co-workers and Dallas friend Kim (working at same company Andrew worked for previously); Performances in Nong Khai for church dedication; downtown Bangkok gridlock; the sanctuary of Gennesaret Church; 2 shots at Providence School in Vientiane, Laos; Board Members of Gennesaret Church, standing in front of the new building, including PCPC's Curt & Sue Dobbs; Our Klong (water canals) Tour of Bangkok with Halley and Brandi & Frank. That huge fruit is a jackfruit!