July 11th, 2007

We are here. In Bangkok that is. We arrived at Midnight on Wednesday evening and then fly to Changmai in the morning. Flying was good. I met 3 people that I had significant conversations with.

I met a marine on the Wichita to Chicago flight named Gabriel. He is from Wichita but is oversees in Okanawa. He was back on leave. He is searching for who God is and why. I had the opportunity to ask him about his experience in the army. He was a “pseudo-team member” until our flight left so that he didn’t fall asleep waiting for the flight.

I met John on our next flight. This was the biggie. 13 hours on a plane is a long time. John and I hit it off well. He just graduated from a college in Chicago with a degree in marketing. He decided, after a short stint in marketing, that it wasn’t for him. He is now going to South Korea to work with kids and teenagers teaching them English. He doesn’t really know what he wants to do with what he is doing, but he is fairly excited. We got to talk about spiritual things very briefly.

We had a 6 hour flight from Tokyo to Bangkok. I got on this flight and immediately met Nick. Nick is a public health official in Chaingmi but is originally from Australia. He works with Thai people educating them on health standards and other type things. Immediately after introductions, Nick wanted to talk comparative theology. We got to talk about who God is and why and I had the opportunity to share with him what it meant to follow Christ. Nick is a self proclaimed agnostic.

I had the opportunity to be a lover of people and care about who they are and what they are doing. It is exciting to see God working in our lives and in our team.
Tomorrow we meet at 9:30 for a debriefing on today. I expect that there will be some tired students, but I also expect there to be an eagerness about going to Chaingmi that will set in tomorrow.

God, you are good. Your faithfulness endures through all generations. In the midst of the unknown, you are known. You reveal yourself and today you have done that to me. God bring me to who you are on this trip and allow me to see you clearly and be able to communicate that knowledge to others!