Saturday, February 16
Today, the Crafts/Teaching Crew in Chiang Rai has completed most of their mission trip projects under Ruth’s direction, so the much of the day is spent in “down time” for them to reflect on what’s happened so far during our ABCRM Thailand Mission Experiences trip. The Construction Crew in the Sansuk village has also decided to go back to Chiang Rai on Friday evening since the cold evenings and lack of warm water for showers has started to take its toll. Those of us working on the Sansuk projects especially enjoy our first hot showers since leaving Chiang Rai on Tuesday. Our mission team members spend the day sharing together their thoughts and the opportunity to talk with Chuck and Ruth about their Chiang Rai ministry activities.
Chuck, Bruce, and Kerry decide to return to the Sansuk village on Saturday afternoon to help with the completion of the kitchen’s new concrete floor, and to do more bunk-bed painting. They are delighted to see that the new kitchen floor has indeed been completed, and work is underway by the Akha workers to install the bamboo lattice that will fill in the cafeteria wall openings. The new tables for the cafeteria will be moved into the eating area after our mission team leaves Chiang Rai on Monday evening.
We are also able to have fun with the Sansuk Akha kids on their Saturday day-off without school, with Bruce showing his badminton prowess playing against an Akha teen. Also during the afternoon, Bruce (who is a highly-skilled pediatric doctor who specializes in curing childhood cancers in Colorado Springs) checks out a few of the Akha students using the medical kit he has brought along on the trip. He found that the kids in the Sansuk village are generally in excellent health.
After dinner, Chuck, Bruce, and Kerry are blessed by sitting with many of the Akha students gather around an open fire as they enthusiastically sing songs in Akha that are mostly of a Christian theme. They are led in singing by Chuck’s ministry Akha song-leader Yohn, who plays the guitar very well. The students clap loudly as Chuck, Bruce, and Kerry sing “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” in English. What a great way to end the ABCRM Thailand mission team construction projects in the Sansuk village!
Sunday, February 17
It’s difficult for all of us here on this ABCRM Thailand Missions Experiences trip to think about this being our last day to worship in this beautiful country! Ruth drives the mission team members in Chiang Rai to the Sansuk village in Chuck’s truck to join Chuck, Bruce, and Kerry already there. The Sansuk schoolgirls again dress in their beautiful traditional Akha outfits to greet the mission team members who arrive about 8:30 a.m. The worship service starts at 9:00 a.m. in the Sansuk meeting building instead of the nearby Sansuk American Baptist church due to its smaller size.
During the morning worship, Yohn leads the singing of worship songs by the Sansuk students and adults, and our mission team again sings “Amazing Grace” as we did the previous Sunday in the Sukasem Akha village church. Ruth’s Akha Crafts Store assistant Iew teaches the students our team a fun song involving hand gestures and a little dancing. Karen Van joins Chuck and Ruth and several of the Akha kids to try to follow along with the song at the front of the service. Everyone loves it!
As a thank-you gift to Sansuk village “headman” Tuliwat and his wife who cooked all of our meals during the Construction Crew’s stay at Sansuk, mission team-leader Kerry presented them with ABCRM 2008 Missions Experiences t-shirts. Kerry also presented Chuck’s Akha ministry support team members Yohn and Amay with the ABCRM t-shirts in thanks for their involvement with our mission team projects. Chuck then thanked the ABCRM Thailand Mission Experiences team for their participation in this mission trip, and for all the great work we did in Chiang Rai and Sansuk in helping the Akha people who are served by Chuck and Ruth’s ABC-IM ministry. We all joined hands at the close of the service in Christian love with our Sansuk Akha friends, followed by Karen Van and Barbara giving the kids a few small “thank you” items. What a great experience it has been for our team to come here to the Sansuk village! 
On the way back from Sansuk after having lunch there, Ruth drove our mission team in Chuck’s truck to Mae Sai, the northernmost city in Thailand where you can cross over to Myanmar (Burma). We also visited the nearby “Golden Triangle” area where the borders of Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand meet at the formation of the Mekong River. We took a short river speedboat trip across to an island owned by Laos (no visa required) so we can say we’ve set foot in that country. What a splendid way to end our last Sunday in Thailand! 
Only one more full day left in Thailand for our ABCRM Thailand Missions Experiences team on Monday. Our mission team will be seeing a few more sights before leaving for Colorado from Chiang Rai on Monday evening. Our mission trip here has gone been all too quickly!
Today, the Crafts/Teaching Crew in Chiang Rai has completed most of their mission trip projects under Ruth’s direction, so the much of the day is spent in “down time” for them to reflect on what’s happened so far during our ABCRM Thailand Mission Experiences trip. The Construction Crew in the Sansuk village has also decided to go back to Chiang Rai on Friday evening since the cold evenings and lack of warm water for showers has started to take its toll. Those of us working on the Sansuk projects especially enjoy our first hot showers since leaving Chiang Rai on Tuesday. Our mission team members spend the day sharing together their thoughts and the opportunity to talk with Chuck and Ruth about their Chiang Rai ministry activities.
Chuck, Bruce, and Kerry decide to return to the Sansuk village on Saturday afternoon to help with the completion of the kitchen’s new concrete floor, and to do more bunk-bed painting. They are delighted to see that the new kitchen floor has indeed been completed, and work is underway by the Akha workers to install the bamboo lattice that will fill in the cafeteria wall openings. The new tables for the cafeteria will be moved into the eating area after our mission team leaves Chiang Rai on Monday evening. 
We are also able to have fun with the Sansuk Akha kids on their Saturday day-off without school, with Bruce showing his badminton prowess playing against an Akha teen. Also during the afternoon, Bruce (who is a highly-skilled pediatric doctor who specializes in curing childhood cancers in Colorado Springs) checks out a few of the Akha students using the medical kit he has brought along on the trip. He found that the kids in the Sansuk village are generally in excellent health. 
After dinner, Chuck, Bruce, and Kerry are blessed by sitting with many of the Akha students gather around an open fire as they enthusiastically sing songs in Akha that are mostly of a Christian theme. They are led in singing by Chuck’s ministry Akha song-leader Yohn, who plays the guitar very well. The students clap loudly as Chuck, Bruce, and Kerry sing “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” in English. What a great way to end the ABCRM Thailand mission team construction projects in the Sansuk village!
Sunday, February 17
It’s difficult for all of us here on this ABCRM Thailand Missions Experiences trip to think about this being our last day to worship in this beautiful country! Ruth drives the mission team members in Chiang Rai to the Sansuk village in Chuck’s truck to join Chuck, Bruce, and Kerry already there. The Sansuk schoolgirls again dress in their beautiful traditional Akha outfits to greet the mission team members who arrive about 8:30 a.m. The worship service starts at 9:00 a.m. in the Sansuk meeting building instead of the nearby Sansuk American Baptist church due to its smaller size.
During the morning worship, Yohn leads the singing of worship songs by the Sansuk students and adults, and our mission team again sings “Amazing Grace” as we did the previous Sunday in the Sukasem Akha village church. Ruth’s Akha Crafts Store assistant Iew teaches the students our team a fun song involving hand gestures and a little dancing. Karen Van joins Chuck and Ruth and several of the Akha kids to try to follow along with the song at the front of the service. Everyone loves it! 
As a thank-you gift to Sansuk village “headman” Tuliwat and his wife who cooked all of our meals during the Construction Crew’s stay at Sansuk, mission team-leader Kerry presented them with ABCRM 2008 Missions Experiences t-shirts. Kerry also presented Chuck’s Akha ministry support team members Yohn and Amay with the ABCRM t-shirts in thanks for their involvement with our mission team projects. Chuck then thanked the ABCRM Thailand Mission Experiences team for their participation in this mission trip, and for all the great work we did in Chiang Rai and Sansuk in helping the Akha people who are served by Chuck and Ruth’s ABC-IM ministry. We all joined hands at the close of the service in Christian love with our Sansuk Akha friends, followed by Karen Van and Barbara giving the kids a few small “thank you” items. What a great experience it has been for our team to come here to the Sansuk village!
On the way back from Sansuk after having lunch there, Ruth drove our mission team in Chuck’s truck to Mae Sai, the northernmost city in Thailand where you can cross over to Myanmar (Burma). We also visited the nearby “Golden Triangle” area where the borders of Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand meet at the formation of the Mekong River. We took a short river speedboat trip across to an island owned by Laos (no visa required) so we can say we’ve set foot in that country. What a splendid way to end our last Sunday in Thailand!
Only one more full day left in Thailand for our ABCRM Thailand Missions Experiences team on Monday. Our mission team will be seeing a few more sights before leaving for Colorado from Chiang Rai on Monday evening. Our mission trip here has gone been all too quickly!
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