Week in Pictures: Day One through Three

Hello Everyone!

Sorry this update has been so slow in coming. We've gone through all of our pictures...almost 2,000 all together...and here are some of the best!

(The posts are published in order from Day One through Day Ten so you don't have to read backwards)

October 16th through 18th, Days One, Two, and the first part of Three were travel days. We arrived in Chiang Mai in the afternoon on Sunday, October 18th.


Our team ready to leave Atlanta
Deb, Brian, Scott, Kristen, Kirk, Terry, Alicia, Linda, & Robbie

Robbie, Kirk, Kristen, Linda, Scott, & Alicia waiting to board our first flight from Chicago to LA


Scott, Alicia, & Terry riding the bus to get to our last flight from Taipei to Chiang Mai


Kirk, Scott, Robbie, & Terry on the flight from Taipei to Chiang Mai


We've arrived in Chiang Mai!
Kristen, Scott, Linda, Terry, Alicia

We were warmly greeted by Stephen & Mary, their family & many soon-to-be friends!

After getting all of our luggage & checking in at our hotel, Stephen took us up a mountain to a look-out over Chiang Mai & a Buddhist temple.


The hotel we stayed in our first night in Chiang Mai

Our hotel

Overlooking Chiang Mai from the mountain

The Mission Team at the look-out

Brian, Terry, Kirk, Deb, Robbie, Linda, Mary, Saengduan, Scott, Alicia, Kristen, Stephen, Raweechai, & Raymond

After stopping at the look-out, we went to a Buddhist temple.

When we got back to the hotel, we all had dinner together. Scott's birthday was October 17th, while we were flying, so Stephen & Mary surprised him with a cheesecake!

Day Four

Monday, October 19th

We started the day off going to a bank to exchange our money.

We then split into three groups. One group went to purchase a guitar for worship services. Another group went to a pharmacy to purchase all of the medication and medical supplies we would need.

The last group went to a grocery store to buy food for our stay in the village.

After meeting back at the Galare House, we loaded up trucks and a ten-passenger van for our 2.5 hour drive to Nong Kio, where we would be staying the next four days. Before leaving Chiang Mai, Kirk & Kristen went with a Thai doctor to tour the hospital. While we were waiting for them, the rest of us ate at a restaurant and stopped at an internet cafe to update the blog.

The drive to Nong Kio was smoother than some of us had anticipated. We were extremely grateful for the ten-passenger van when, about an hour into the drive, it started pouring rain & rained for the majority of the rest of the ride. We saw some amazing scenery along the way! The pictures don't come close to how beautiful Thailand actually is.

Once we got to Nong Kio, we unpacked and settled in. We stayed at the house of the preacher, Yasa.

Brian & Deb stayed next door with a couple, Mai & Bundi.

We walked around the village just as the sun was setting.

We were soon followed by MANY kids!

It was such a surreal night...knowing we were finally here & about to do God's work.

Day Five

Tuesday, October 20th

We set up our first clinic at the church in Nong Kio. There were already people waiting for us when we got to the church at 8:30 to set up! There were many people who had traveled one or two days to receive the health care we provided.

Our group getting ready to start our first clinic

Scott, Robbie, Kristen, Alicia, Linda, Kirk, Deb, Terry, & Brian

Lisu women waiting to be seen

Brian gave out glasses to those who needed them

Deb, Linda, Robbie, & Scott ran the pharmacy

We passed out coloring books, crayons, & candy to the children

We ran the clinic a full day & saw many people. We passed out a lot of antibiotics & vitamins and gave several steroid shots.

After clinic was over, we walked down to the market with Mary and were joined by many kids, once again!

Brian even got to go for a joy ride on the scooter!

After we got back to the house and had dinner, we all went to church. Terry, Kirk, Kristen, & Alicia walked in first and all sat down together. After everyone else came in, they pointed out to them that the women sit on one side and the men on the other...oops!

Every night, three of us gave our testimonies. Terry was first to give his testimony, followed by Linda, then Kirk. What we said went through two translators. First, one who translated from English to Thai, then from Thai to Lahu. It was kind of a lengthy process! After the three testimonies, Brian gave a short sermon each night.

As Brian was preaching, he read some Scripture, and we turned around to see about 15-20 people wearing glasses he had given them!

This first church service was so amazing! The Thai people worshiped with their whole hearts without holding anything back. It was so neat to worship with them and to realize that we will be spending eternity with these beautiful people!