Be It Ever So Humble...

Well, this post is a little late in coming but as you can imagine, being out of the country for two weeks causes a little backlog at the office. Add to that, Melody had surgery to remove her tonsils, adenoids, and to put tubes in her ears the Thursday after we got back. We made it back safely and without much incident. We had a 4-5 hours layover in Seoul, and then made it back around 8:00AM local time.

It took us 12 hours to get from our hotel to Bangkok, around 20 hours of flight time, not counting the down time in Seoul, added up to about 30+ hours on my rear-end. I was SO ready to be home. It has taken me two weeks to begin to feel somewhat acclimated back to this time-zone.

This being my first overseas mission trip, everything was new and I had nothing really with which to compare it. Having had a couple weeks to rest, process and debrief with some friends, I come away from this trip with some conclusions on the trip (and it is MY perspective, be it right or wrong):

1.) There is incredible need for the Gospel; most people there are mostly superstitious and afraid of displeasing any spirits. This work is WAY bigger than any of us. This is God's work.

2.) The people are incredibly gracious, but our message was logged mostly with one more religion that is equal to all others.

3.) The people respond best to locals as opposed to foreigners.

4.) Because of #3, I (personally) would have liked to do more encouraging and equipping the believers that are there as they will be far more effective in reaching local Isaan.

5.) We are incredibly blessed in America and take so much for granted (i.e. hot water, real plumbing, clean bacteria free food (in most places anyway), and so much more.

So, did I get alot out of the trip? Would I go back again? Yes, but much different than I expected. Probably, but would want a more evenly divided use of time to include more discipleship of existing believers.

In closing, please continue to pray for the Isaan people, pray for the church there, and pray for Pastor Rojena. Thank you again for your prayer and financial support. This will conclude my postings on this blog. God bless you.