{FECA Vision Choir} Addendum to trip report 14

The first team at the hospital was able to share Christ with a lady at the hospital and she accepted Jesus as her savior. Praise the Lord. Also, the website for Light for Kids is www.lightforkids.org. This orphanage tries to be as self sufficient as possible. They grow their own rice in the fields behind the orphanage that they are able to provide about 30% of their Healy rice consumption every harvest. They raise their own chickens and ducks and fish (they just ate up their last pig), which provides eggs and protein for their diet. The children attend regular school.

Here is a picture of Vision teaching the children to sing "Power Shuffle"

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{FECA Vision Choir} Trip report 14

Friday July 31
We started a half hour later than normal and ate a luxurious breakfast of scrambled eggs, Mei's special homemade sausage patties made from ground pork, and hash brown potatoes. Then we did our group devotions from Psalm 139. Ching returned last night from Bangkok so she met us at about 10:30 and we left shortly after that for the Chiangmai Hospital. We ate a quick lunch at the hospital food court and headed to the children's ward. We divided into two groups since they did not want such a large group going in at once. The first group visited three wards. Each ward had four to five children ranging from babies to early teens. Most of these were cancer patients. We sang softly, and asked if we could pray for the sick kids (as most had their mother with them, some had fathers). We did some crafts with the older children who could handle a scissor, making snowflakes. The second group waited downstairs and prayed a while and talked to some passerby. After over an hour, we switched groups. The second group visited wards which had heart patients and stomach problems (most are recovering from surgery). One Buddhist mother whose husband is Christian carefully read the tract we left with her when we left.

We then left for Light for Kids orphanage which we visited 3 years ago. They have about 50% more kids than three years ago, totaling 48 children. Some have graduated and some left but we found many we met before, just a lot more grown. They have built a new girls' dorm over the chapel/dining room so the kids are a lot less crowded. They still live day to day trusting God to provide their needs as they have no long term committed supporters. The girls performed a traditional Thai dance for us in their new donated Thai silk dresses. We then played with the kids until dinner time. Dinner was excellent, cooked by their staff, and we were pleased to see plenty of chicken for the kids to eat. After dinner, they led in an exciting, energetic Spirit-led worship. We then taught them three VBS songs, and did a short program for them, with Jason and Eric giving strong testimonies to encourage the children to trust in Jesus. We also did the heart skit before Sue gave a short message. Nine of the children were ready to accept the Lord and only needed someone to ask them so we had the joy of seeing these kids pray the sinners' prayer. All the kids lined up by the road to wave goodbye as we drove off to return home.



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{FECA Vision Choir} Trip report 13

Thursday, July 30
Today began with a simple breakfast, then after, we discussed group devotions from 1 John 1, spending a lot of time studying the link between joy and fellowship. Our group was then divided into two teams. Team one, consisting of Sue, Katie, Jayme, Sam, Kat, Josh, Jason, Eric, and Gentle, was led by two ladies from OMF, Ohn and Tomiko. Team One went to Doi Lo to minister to various homes in the area, specifically those with adults infected with AIDs. A total of seven families were visited and prayed for today by team one. The second team consisted of Rachel, Allison, Hannah, Terry, Michael, Marshall, and Mei. Team Two was led by a third OMF coworker named Oon and one of the van drivers, Boy, who ended up doing all the interpretation and a lot of the praying. Team Two visited six families in the Chiang Mai area, the last being Oon's mother, who has not been able to walk for the last five years after awaking one morning and suddenly finding she could no longer stand very much. Both teams left the OMF home at about 10 AM and returned home around 5 PM.

Team One drove 40 minutes out of Chiang Mai to Doi Lo, a rural area filled with many many logan orchards, rice paddies, and various other greenery. Our first stop was at the home of an elderly lady whom the team sang and prayed for with Sue closing. At this home, team one picked up another local volunteer, Rojina. Rojina has been living with HIV herself for 20 years and has spent the time since she has come to the Lord helping others with HIV learn healthy behaviors. She joined us in visiting the other homes after this point. The second stop was at the home of a mother who has been living for seven years with HIV and has recently been diagnosed with stage two cervical cancer on top of the HIV virus. Sue and Ohn spoke with th e woman in Thai. The woman shared that she has already received Christ into her heart after Sue asked and she cried during our singing and prayer. Ohn then closed the time of prayer in Thai, as she would continue to do the rest of the day. The third home we visited, belonged to a family with an aging grandfather, dying of old age. Grandpa was not HIV, but dying, already unable to stand. We walked into the home and prayed for peace and comfort for grandpa, as well as healing and blessing for the daughter infected with HIV/AID who was out at work. We then took a break for lunch at a local beef noodle soup shop on the side of a quiet street. The beef noodle soup was delicious, a few boys even spent their own money to buy second bowls! After lunch, team one headed to the fourth home. This next man was evicted from his house after he contracted HIV due to his inability to work after the infection. The AIDs Care office learned of his case and set him up to live in a teacher's rest home in an abandoned school. The man and his wife now live at the abandoned school, which is being converted into an after school program center. We sang a couple songs and prayed for him and his wife. The next stop was the home of a mother and her two children, a daughter living with her and a son living and studying in Japan. We sang a handful of songs and asked what we could pray for. The sister asked for prayer for her brother's welfare and safety, as well as blessings in his studies. The mother asked for prayer for her daughter in her senior year of high school and for continued health for herself. We surmised that the mother was the one infected, but still retained joy and a good relationship with her daughter. We returned to the van and after a short ride arrived at the home of another mother and her young daughter. The mother was at work, leaving her daughter to play and stay with the neighbors. We delivered rice to her as we did in each house and sang a few songs. The girl shared that she dreams about building a new home for her mother and herself as they the small home they were currently situated in was only a renovated kitchen. While they have the land to build, they are unable to do so due to a lack in monetary supply. Team One lifted up the dreams of this little girl in prayer and Ohn closed the time once again. The last home we visited was nestled in the midst of a logan orchard. The lady who lived here was a grandma who made a living selling the logan she grows. She specifically asked prayer for her injured knee and we lifted up her requests to God. After praying, we asked if we could buy some logan from her. She replied that unfortunately the logan were already technically sold, but while we stayed in the orchard we could eat as many logan as we liked, they were fantastic! She was very thankful for the visit and the prayer and we were thankful for the opportunity and definitely the logan! After this, we headed back home to the OMF house to meet up with the rest of the team.

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{FECA Vision Choir} Trip report 12

Wednesday, July 29
We had bought pears at the roadside stand on Monday when we were in the cool mountains. Turns out the pears were hard and sour. Mei, who never wastes edible food, cooked the pears with sugar and cinnamon, transforming them into a delicious topping for the French Toast which we all enjoyed this morning for breakfast. After group devotions, we started our debriefing at 9 AM. We focused on what God is teaching me, what I can rejoice about (since our theme is rejoice always), and what I can bring back home to LA. After each individual shared, the rest of the group affirmed them and also shared what they thought could improve their ministry. We then had two others pray for this person. All sixteen of us completed the process by 5 PM, including taking a lunch break and several water and potty breaks. Florence had called and said she wanted to cook Shan rice plus a full dinner for us. She came at 5:45 with a Shan lady who helped her cook, bring a huge pot of Shan mountain rice, a delicious mushroom dish made with mushroom she had bought at the roadside stop (where we bought the pears and bamboo shoot), a Shan salad made with carrots, cabbage and peanuts plus Shan spices, a tray of baby chicken drumsticks, and a Shan soup. Meanwhile, since we thought Florence was only bringing one dish, Mei had cooked a big pot of northern vinegar and soy sauce spare ribs (over ten pounds of ribs), a tray of vegetables, and Sue had made a Thai mango salad, so basically, we had enough food for two normal dinners. We ate up everything except the soup, some of the two salads and a little bit of rice! This was the first meal everyone had enough to eat since we came to Thailand (since the servings are so small here and heavy on starch with very little meat). We were all so happy after the meal. Florence then shared the amazing story of her conversion in 1992 and of being called in 1997, which includes a miracle healing of her migraine. She prayed with us for several individuals among the team with various physical infirmities. Though we did not experience instant healing, we believe God will heal. Sue asked for prayer for Marshall's brother Bob, so we all prayed too for Bob. We also prayed for Florence's ministry among the Shan, that whole villages would come to Christ and that many of the Shan will return to Myanmar to bring the Gospel back to their own people. Florence encouraged us to prepare a testimony to share when we returned to LA and taught us the four I's, Inform, Involve, Invest and Intercede for missions.

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{FECA Vision Choir} Trip report 11

One additional comment about the refugee camp we visited yesterday: we were very surprised by how nice the refugee village is, nothing like we had pictured of squalid miserable crowded tents, but instead we saw neat bamboo houses typical of a farming village.

Tuesday July 28
We ate a congee and soy sauce egg plus left over bamboo shoot cooked in soy sauce breakfast and met up with Miriam Kumdee at 8 AM. She came over to brief us about the juvenile girl's prison we were going to visit later this morning. It is a minimum security prison and we were cautioned to not bruise the fruit, so we planned a light program with a lot of interaction with the inmates. We arrived at the prison at about 9:30 and waited a few minutes as the girls finished their ethics class. There were 21 girls there with most of them in their late teens but one girl said she is only twelve. Most of them are there for drug use, and we were told not to take photos of them. We sang a couple of songs and played some ice breaker games, forgetting within a few minutes that these girls were in prison and interacted with them like some old friends, as we laughed together. We taught them a few VBS songs, then divided them up to four groups and taught them conversational English. Then Katie and Katherine shared their personal testimonies, we sang some more, performed the "distracted by the world" skit we learned last year in Cebu since it was especially relevant to these inmates, and gave the gifts of toiletries we brought which were donated at FECG and FEC Arcadia. We then went to the food court at the mall for lunch and bought some more groceries. We next visited Pastor Gampon Kumdee, who hosted Vision three years ago at his new temporary church since he had sold the building we stayed in and sang a couple of songs to several German young people who had been volunteering at his church for the past year and learning Kairos, the abbreviated Perspectives class his church is giving. We then went to see their wonderful new building, about 80% complete (photo shows Vision praying at the new church's fellowship hall; Gampon is in blue, Miriam is looking out the window and our van driver, Boy, is on the right).

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{FECA Vision Choir} Trip report 10

Monday, July 27
We got up early and ate our usual breakfast of toast with butter and Nutella (sometimes peanut butter). The meals have not been memorable; the best meals are the ones we cook ourselves (like last night's chicken and winter melon soup or the congee we eat with tea eggs). Otherwise, the food is usually cooked with lots of MSG, very heavy in carbo (rice or rice noodle) with little meat, an egg or a morsel of chicken, so polishing off a plate loaded with 40 drumsticks last night was a real treat (and about the price of a catered meal) but we usually don't have the time to cook ourselves. At 7, we met with Ching and an OMF missionary from Singapore, Florence, who works among the Shan people and frequently ministers to the Burmese refugees, and Rachel, on a six week short term mission here from Singapore. But by the time we loaded everyone and the gift blankets (remember the duties we had to pay at customs?) we brought from Jenny's sewing ministry, it was 7:20. We left with our driver Boy (who we remembered from our trip here in 2012) and a new driver, Chan, because Kosin's van is older and we were concerned about being able to climb all the mountains. Boy and Kosin have been a great support to us as they are both believers who attended most of our meetings, hung out with us, ate with us and occasionally joined in the prayer ministry. Chan is a new believer who was baptized only last year. We stopped after about two hours for a break. The rest of the drive is up and down curvy hilly roads, climbing up and down a couple of mountain ranges, even passing through low lying clouds on the road. We arrived at the refugee child care center about 11:15, and they were already eating lunch, so we drove a couple minutes more to the Shan refugee camp and met the headman of the camp, an ex-Burmese soldier who deserted from their army. He speaks English very well. We also met the Shan pastor, his son and the youth pastor there. We sang the Aaronic blessing to them, and three other ladies from the village as the rest of the villagers were out at work. We visited the village gift shop and bought some native handiwork as souvenirs and headed back to the child care center where we saw ninety some cute children between three and seven years old. We sang a few songs, taught them a couple of VBS songs, and Sue shared briefly. Most of the children raised their hands but we were not sure if they understood and the pastor told us the kids respond to any invitation all the time. But praise God, one of the five teachers did accept the Lord and Sue spent several minutes talking and praying for her. We then handed out the blankets we brought. Florence then phoned ahead to a local restaurant to order lunch and we drove a few minutes to the church, this church is the latest church built by Singaporean believers and includes both a medical clinic, pharmacy, dental clinic, and dorm rooms for short timers to stay. We prayed for the pastoral team of this church. They want to reach many more Shan villages in the area and asked us to pray that when the medical teams come, these villages will welcome them. We then drove to the Shan temple, located just on the border to Myanmar. From this side, we could see the bamboo fence marking the border just on the other side of a ravine. We sang "Majesty and Glory", knowing that praise to God drives back spiritual darkness. We then prayer walked around the Shan temple, claiming the ground for the Lord. We drove a few minutes back and ate a nice lunch at the local restaurant. We left about 3 PM, stopped at a beautiful view point where we bought some local pears (kind of hard and sour), fresh bamboo shoot (large, about 18 inches long and six inches wide at the base, like a newborn baby, but when cooked very delicious although a little bitter). Further down the road, we bought some orange persimmons (wonderfully sweet and tasty). We returned back by 6:30, met to debrief the day's activities, ate a box lunch dinner which Boy ordered and delivered to us, then did our group devotions from Luke 10:18-24 and called it a day, rejoicing in God's grace to us today.

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{FECA Vision Choir} Trip report 9

Sunday, July 26
We pretty much followed Saturday's morning schedule, group devotions on Psalm 5 after breakfast and we planned out the program since we are given 40 minutes instead of our usual 15-20 minutes this morning. Jayme and Samantha felt a calling from the Lord to share their testimonies and we decided to do the "Distracted from God" skit we learned last year, which depicts how many things in the world keep us from a genuine relationship with Jesus. We arrived at the Heaven's Gate church about ten minutes before the scheduled start of service and found the church had a short keyboard but quite playable. The pastor here is Hmong and his wife and some of his children along with others led about 15 minutes of worship to a congregation of about 50 people. Then the eldest son of the pastor and his wife-to-be (they were getting married at four this afternoon) came forwarded to ask forgiveness because the pastor's father had married his grandson in the Hmong manner, and this couple wanted to be married in the church, so the church leaders prayed for this couple and blessed their forthcoming nuptials. After the offering, we presented our program of songs, skit and testimonies. It is interesting that both Jayme and Sam's testimonies centered on God's power. Thang spoke after we sang and we all ate lunch at church cooked by their members (much like FECG). After lunch, Ching led the thirteen Vision singers off to watch the elephant show and ride the elephants (each person paid their own entrance fee), while Thang drove the old folks to buy groceries which we cooked for dinner tonight (soy sauce chicken drumsticks and winter melon soup).

Ching and everyone else returned by 5 PM all excited because we not only saw, hugged, and rode elephants, we got to touch and pet three large uncaged Bengal tigers. After we came back, we washed some clothes, ate dinner and debriefed our day. Since we are about half way on our mission trip, we also went around and shared our personal highlights so far. Interacting with the orphans was mentioned by several members as their highlight. It has been a busy first week, but satisfying and deeply joyful. We turned in early because we have an early call tomorrow, leaving at 7 AM to the refugee camp at Thai-Burmese border.

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{FECA Vision Choir} Some photos

Here are four photos of 1. worship at Projects for Asia, 2. Remember Nhu second boys' orphanage, 3. Agape Home, and 4. praying for Avis after she shared with Vision.

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{FECA Vision Choir} Trip report 9

Saturday, July 25
We woke up a few minutes later since we are not in much of a rush today; it is kind of a half day's work for us with the afternoon to rest and sight see a bit after a heavy week of ministry. We had a luxurious breakfast of home cooked mushroom omelet, cooked partially with the eggs we bought from the Partner's ministry farm last Monday. Then we had our group devotions, studying Romans 5:6-11. We then headed out to Agape Home, a ministry we also visited 3 years ago. This is a home for children with AIDS/HIV, usually contracted from their sick parents. There are currently about 100 kids there, the youngest being one month old. It was started almost 20 years ago by Avis Rideout, a Canadian volunteer, when she first met Nikki, a three year old with full blown AIDS, not given a chance to live. She asked God to allow her to take Nikki home, impossible under Thai government rules, and that if God answered her request, she would open a home for unloved, uncared or abandoned babies. Miraculously, God granted her request, so Nikki's Place Agape Home was started, caring for unwanted, untouched children. Avis discovered the miracle of human touching and holding these babies, so many of these children, like Nikki, actually survived and grew to young adulthood. You can find out a lot more at their website, www.nikkisplace.org. We sang to maybe 70 children, Allison shared her testimony and we did the heart skit, somehow appropriate at a place called Agape Home. Katie again taught the children some VBS songs, and Sue encouraged the children. After we sang a closing song, we prayed for in small groups of about 5 children per Vision member. Meiring, Marshall and Ching prayed for a blind girl of about twelve who lost her eyesight due to AIDS when she was about two. Tears dripped from her face as we prayed; Hannah and Rachel joined us as well as Kosin, one of our van drivers. She said she felt better, but did not receive sight. Avis also brought another girl who is losing her sight but can still see colors and shapes. Hannah, Rachel and Avis prayed for her and she could read the time on Avis' watch after prayer. After all the children left to eat their lunch, we went to view a short video and learned the history of this place. Avis gave a passionate talk about caring for sick unwanted children and the power of agape love. Avis would make an excellent missions or social concerns speaker for FECA!

We left to eat at an all you can eat Thai buffet restaurant costing 79 baht (~$2.40) per person, but actually less since our two van drivers ate free. We then visited Doi Khom Temple and saw many idols, some serious worshippers, many tourists, many businesses selling flowers, incense, lottery ticket numbers. Psalm 115:4-8 and Isaiah 44:9-20 come to mind. We then took a tour of the Royal Park, a garden below the temple built to honor the current King of Thailand. Many flowers, especially orchids, are found here. We returned home, hot and sweaty (today is the hottest day so far) and ordered some simple box lunches for dinner.


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{FECA Vision Choir} Trip Report 7

Apparently, more than 15 girls accepted the Lord last night. There were 17! PTL!

Friday, July 24
Our schedule today is like yesterdays', quick breakfast and group devotions from the last few verses in Zephaniah. Then we returned to Projects for Asia, breaking into two groups, one to teach music and one to teach arts and crafts. Each team taught two 45 minute classes to different aged classes. After this, we joined them in chapel service. They led about 30 minutes of heartfelt worship with a lot of interaction among the worshippers; many of us could sense the presence of the Lord here. Vision then sang a few acapella songs and Michael gave a spirit-led testimony and encouraged the young children how much God loves us even if we feel inadequate or disappointed with ourselves. We sang "In His Time" and did the heart skit, sang our Thai song and Sue gave a short message addressed to the younger children. But the Spirit took the message and called 14 children to receive the Lord for the first time, including two older children. Praise and thank you, God. We ate box lunches and 12 of our group left to visit an umbrella factory. The rest of us when to a discount warehouse store called Makro to buy food for the next several days' breakfasts. Before we left, we found out that there are 6 children who still need full or partial sponsorship. Living costs are $60 a month and schooling $40 a month, so full sponsorship is $100 a month. There are 5 girls, ages 9, 13, 14, 14, 17 and a 17 year old boy. More information how to support or sponsor a child can be found on projectsforasia.com or by replying to this email and we will get you in contact with Lenora.

After the umbrella factory group returned, we debriefed our experiences last night and this morning, thanking God for the precious lives who have become God's children. Indeed, Vision is so fortunate to be used by God to harvest what so many other short term teams, teachers, and the house parents have done to cultivate and plant the seeds of new life in these youngsters, so when we give the invitation, they are ready to respond. After practicing a few songs to correct some mistakes, we then went to the fourth Remember Nhu orphanage, their newest one with 20 boys, mostly younger kids. After dinner, we played frisbee, badminton, etc. and gave a short program. Terry shared his testimony and when Sue gave her bridge message, 11 boys raised their hands to receive the Lord. After the meeting, when Sue prayed for several of the boys who accepted the Lord, two other boys came up to her and said I want to accept the Lord too, but I didn't want pray with everyone else, so 13 of the 20 boys became believers tonight! Praise God! Mike and Elsie gave each of us a purple Remember Nhu, Thailand T-shirt and we returned home. Tonight marks one week since we left LA and we also thank God this has been the healthiest trip for Vision ever, with only one person sick with fever (and only for less than 24 hours). Thanks to the excellent accommodation here at the OMF Mekong Guest House and your prayers.

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{FECA Vision Choir} Trip report 6

One correction to report 5. Carl also ended up adopting Nhu to rescue her before starting an orphanage.

Thursday July 23
A few of the girls prayed for Jayme's healing before we left for the orphanage last night. This morning, Jayme is smiling and her fever is gone! Thank you, Lord. We ate breakfast and started our group devotions at 7:30 from John 16:19-24 because we are not sure how much time we have later in the day. We left at 8:20 to go to the Projects for Asia orphanage. This is a wonderful holistic orphanage and home schooling ministry for hill tribes children (www.projectsforadia.com) started by a lady named Lenora and her husband nine years ago (they did similar ministry before that in the Philippines and have work inIndia). Because the children come from the hill tribes, they learn English (in the morning) and Thai in the afternoon. The children, a total of 71 kids, range from preschool to high school, including 6 graduates, 5 who are now in taking college level correspondence classes and serving at the orphanage to teach the younger children. One graduate is going to Bible school in Bangkok on scholarship. This ministry focuses to making disciples for Christ starting when they are children, so they bring their kids on missions trips back to the hill tribes, where the children are able to share the Gospel in their mother tongue to their own people. They are currently renting the buildings for their school and dorm but may lose their lease anytime. Then we remembered that the first location (where we went Tuesday night) is for sale or lease since Remember Nhu wants to consolidate their orphanages at the location we went to last night (an eighty acre site with three buildings/orphanages on it. Perhaps God brought us to help make the connections for these two ministries. At 9 AM, the preschool and first/second graders came for their English lesson. We divided them up into a dozen or so groups and taught them in groups of 3-4 kids. At 10, the 4-5th graders came in and again we taught them in small groups so they received a lot of personal tutoring. At 11, the high schoolers (12 years and up) came and we spent one on one time with them, while testing them on their school work. We then ate box lunches Ching had ordered for us, prayed for Lenora that a mole on her leg would prove to be benign as she is going to see the doctor this afternoon. We then returned home to process what we saw last night and this morning as well as do some laundry. We prayed for these two orphanage ministries during our debriefing time. We see there is a great need in Thailand for Christian teachers (only about half the teachers at Projects for Asia are Christians and Prince Royal College only had 20% Christian teachers, for example).

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{FECA Vision Choir} Trip Report # 5

Wednesday, July 22
Since we will be spending the next three days (four total including yesterday afternoon) with Remember Nhu, it is worth sharing about these orphanages. It was started only nine years ago when an insurance salesman named Carl from Ohio visited Thailand and learned from a missionary from Cambodia about the plight of a young lady, Nhu (who was then about 18) who had been sold to a Japanese man as a sex slave. Carl was so shocked that this could be happening that as he pondered what to do while sitting in a Starbucks shop, he heard the words "remember Nhu" so he started an orphanage (www.remembernhu.org) to prevent at risk young girls from being sold into the slave market (verses other organizations that do intervention to rescue them out after they are already sold). Remember Nhu now also rescues young boys who are at risk of being sold into a rapidly morally degrading slave market who cater to the homosexuals. In only nine years, Remember Nhu has orphanages in 9 countries with a total of about 900 children in their orphanages. There are now 11 orphanages in Thailand alone; two for girls and two for boys in Chiang Mai. Nhu is now a young lady who shares her story and helps raise funds for this orphanage. Indeed God can redeem even in the most desperate situation (as He will surely do for the Rohingya people if we continue to pray).

We left early and arrived at Dara Academy and found out we were to minister in a large auditorium which seats about a thousand people. The room was empty and microphones had to be quickly set up since we could not be heard in a place that large with noisy fans and A/C blowing without electronic aid. Praise God everything was set up just as close to a thousand nicely uniformed students got seated. We sang several songs, Hannah shared her testimony, we did the heart skit again, and sang our Thai song "Churn tahn tung lai" (Come take the water of life) just before Sue came to share the bridge message as she had done yesterday. This time, following the advice of Ching, Sue asked the kids to close their eyes and bow their heads before she gave the invitation (so that the kids would feel freer to respond without fear of harassment by their peers). Praise God, we counted at least 40 students who raised their hands to accept the Lord for the first time! We were given small gifts by the school (like at Prince Royal yesterday) and refreshment and were given a tour and short history of the founding of the school in the late nineteenth century, we then drove to the OMF office and were briefed by Monica on the AIDS/HIV ministry they did which we will be going to next week Thursday. We returned home to debrief last night and this morning's activities, ate lunch, did our group devotions and spent quite some time in silent meditation and prayer, before getting some rest and leaving at 3:30 to Remember Hnu orphanage #2, this time a boys' home with about 20 orphans. We had to leave Jayme home as she was running a slight fever this afternoon and we thought the rest would quicken her recovery.

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{FECA Vision Choir} Trip report 4

Tuesday, July 21
Because of early morning traffic, we had to leave at 7 AM from home to get to Prince Royal College to sing at their 8 AM chapel service for part of their eleventh and twelfth grade classes. About half the group woke up early enough to eat a light breakfast. We arrived at this prestigious Christian school (but only maybe 20% of the students and teachers are Christians) with enough time to warm up in a very nice auditorium that seats about 609 and an in-tune medium size grand piano. When the students filed in, the whole downstairs was filled and about a third of the balcony so there were well over 400 students there. Because our time was quite limited, we only got to sing three songs sandwiched around Rachel's testimony and the "heart skit". Sue Utadache, as usual did all the translating but this time she also gave a brief message using Kat and Rachel to illustrate "the bridge between God and man". Unfortunately, we really did not have time to give an invitation but we did sing "Yes, Lord, Yes" as a closing song to challenge the students. After the students left, we were treated to sandwiches and coffee or tea or hot chocolate (so we all ate that for breakfast) and had time to talk to the Chaplain and some of the teachers. We were gratified to find out they have five paid staff whose job is to evangelize among the students and another fifty or so students who follow up and disciple new believers. They even have an Alpha group study for the students that meets on Friday noon (they used to meet on the weekends but many of the non-Christian parents would not permit their children to come back to school on weekends so they moved it to Friday's). We found out that they had 300 conversions last year among the students and four staff became believers. Praise the Lord!

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{FECA Vision Choir} Report 3

Monday, July 20
Marshall and Mei woke up around 3 AM, feeling the effect of jet lag while all the young folks slept well (Sue has been here over a week and also slept well last night). Since she woke early, Mei cooked congee (rice porridge) using the left over soup and rice and chicken from Saturday and tea eggs, so we all enjoyed the breakfast. After group devotions on abiding on the vine (John 15), we then spent the day visiting Partners Relief and Development ministry (not to be confused with Partner's International ministry). Khup Ngaihte, Ching and Thang's son has been working for this ministry for the last two years since he returned to Thailand 2-1/2 years ago after getting his Master's in Intercultural Studies from Fuller (Khup had been an intern at FECG while he was studying, working with the elderly homes).

We basically attended the Partners' staff meeting and were awe struck by the terrible situation among Myanmar refugees where they have focused their work. We then sang four songs acapella to bless their staff of about 30, consisting of foreign nationals who (like Khup) have to raise their own support and the paid national staff of Thai, Karin and other minority tribes. After we sang, we prayed together in small groups for their work and what we are going to be doing the next two weeks. Khup then gave us a more detailed briefing of their organization and work. We were amazed to hear about one minority group in Myanmar, the Rohingya, who are an unwanted persecuted people living in horrendous conditions with basically no hope (but there is always hope in our miraculous God). You can read about their plight in the Partners website, http://www.partnersworld.org/save-the-rohingya. This is something that perhaps our church's social concern ministry can consider supporting. After eating lunch which we ordered (at 40 baht per person, about $1.30), we then drove out to the Partners ministry farm in a pouring rain (much needed in Bangkok as in California). Several prayed for the rain to stop and it certainly did halfway into the drive. Located on the outskirts of town, this farm is farmed by a Karin Burmese Christian assisted by another couple. The farm grows various food and fruit plants, rice, as well as chickens, ducks, fish, pigs, cows and who knows what else. What is very interesting is how they reuse everything. For example, the chicken house is built on top of the fish pond, because the fish feed on chicken poop. They mix chopped up banana leaves with various products, let them compost for three days and use it to feed the pigs. They then use the pig poop and mix it with ground soybeans to compost and create methane, which they collect in a plastic covered tent, pipe it to a storage tank to cook their food. They run this farm to teach Burmese refugee who escape to Thailand to learn how to farm and provide for their families - this is development, the next step after relief (which they do for the Rohingya). We prayed for this farmer and also for the rain to resume, and as we left, it started to sprinkle (but we don't know if the rain continued or not on the farm).

We returned home about 3:30 to process what we heard and saw at Partners, and practiced some skits for the schools we are visiting the next two mornings. Marshall and Mei stayed home while the rest of the team went to teach English to refugee teens and young adults at a place Partners calls their seed farm. There were about 30 people there, ranging in age from 14 to thirty or so. We had fun playing games and really did not teach English except by trying to converse with them. Putting forty some people in a smallish room was quite stuffy and warm so we went up on the rooftop to play the games, at least until it started to rain. Rachel led them in the "do you love your neighbor" game and we left about 8 PM returning home about 8:30 since tomorrow is an early start for us.

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{FECA Vision Choir} Trip report 2

Eric arrived back home at about 5:15. We ate dinner followed by our first group devotions studying at Phil. 4:4-19 and everyone was pretty tired so we went off to shower and get ready for bed. Most of us were asleep by 9 PM.

Sunday, July 19
It is quite comfortable here in Chiang Mai with a high of about 82, lots of cloud cover and rain at night, and we do have A/C in our rooms, so almost everyone slept very well, 8 to 10 hours; therefor, as we met for breakfast at eight, everyone looked refreshed, praise God. Last night, we prayed especially for Samantha, who had a tickle in her throat and she says she is all well this morning. Praise the Lord! We met for breakfast at about eight and spent over an hour doing our group devotions from 1 Chron. 16:28-36. We left to attend the Inter-tribal church Sunday service. After worship singing, we sang five songs and Joshua shared his testimony about his journey of learning to say yes to God. Right after we sang, we left to teach a Sunday School class to about 20 preschool and young elementary children held at the back of the church, missing out on Thang Ngaihte's message which he preached in Thai (so we couldn't understand him anyway). Katie led the children in several activity songs which were the songs taught in FECG's VBS earlier this summer. Jayme taught a short Bible lesson how Jesus loved children and Hannah then led a craft activity to make the five color beads bracelet, explaining that the five colors, yellow, black, red, white and green respectively stand for God's love, sin separating us from God, Jesus dying to redeem us, forgiveness through Jesus, and receiving eternal life. We then gave each child a bookmark with the same color scheme which each child can share with their parents. We were treated to a delicious lunch cooked and served by the church members and then left to join the youth service at the First Thai Church of Chiang Mai.

At this service, we joined about forty young people, mostly in their teens and early twenties in worship. We sang for about 20 minutes and Katie shared her testimony. Then we listened to a message from Pastor Golf on how to follow Jesus' example to grow in wisdom, stature, and in favor with God and men (Luke 2:52), sharing in small groups as he taught in Thai and English. We hung out and fellowshipped with the youth and then attended the worship service at the Chiang Mai a Community Church which rents First Thai Church sanctuary at 4:30. This is an all English service attended by missionaries from all over the world who are ministering in Chiang Mai so we had a chance to just enjoy the service instead of ministering. After service, we went to the Big C mall and ate at the food court, returned back to debrief the day and thank God for a good day. We are all quite tired since we are still partially jet lagged so we went off before 9 PM to clean up and sleep.


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{FECA Vision Choir} Trip Report 1

Saturday, July 18
Check-in at LAX on Thursday night was amazingly efficient, taking only about 15 minutes for all of us to get our boarding passes. There were at least 30 family members, relatives and friends there to see us off. As she had done the last couple of years, Judy Hui prepared a gift sack of snacks and candy for each of us. Pastor Dan Harmon prayed for us and we had no problems getting through security so we had about two hours to enjoy the new LAX departure area. After a long 14-1/2 flight, we landed uneventfully at Guangzhou a little before 6 AM on Saturday, local time, and had about a two hour wait at the airport. Most of the young people slept on the airplane and are quite energetic at this early hour.

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{FECA Vision Choir} Vision leaving Thursday

Thank you all for praying for Vision, some of you for many years and some just signing up this year, it is your prayers that make all the difference between a mediocre trip and one where we see God do amazing things. We are leaving a few minutes before midnight this Thursday, stopping at Guangzhou to change planes before arriving at Chiang Mai Saturday mid-morning, Thailand time.

If you want to pray for us by name:
Sopranos: Jayme Chan, Katie Dy, Rachel Harmon, Allison Kuo
Altos: Katherine Hui, Samantha Kuo, Hannah Sy
Tenors: Terry Kuo, Jason Lui, Josh Yeh
Basses: Eric Lee, Gentle So, Michael Ting
Leading the team is Marshall and Meiring Huang and Sue Utadache who will be our primary translator and doing some speaking. Sue has come with Vision several times in the past when we had gone to Thailand. We are meeting up with OMF missionaries Ching and Thang Ngaihte so keep them in prayer too. Thank you.

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