Through October and the beginning of November we were in villages attending Akha new-rice festivals, celebrating the harvest and remembering in thanks all of our blessings. So, when the American thanksgiving rolled around Lori and I smiled at each other and said Happy Thanksgiving and then enjoyed our staple city lunch of khao mun gai (Thai style chicken, soup and rice).


Tomorrow, however, we are going to do the "real thing" with a big American-style Thanksgiving (just a few days late) with our American friends here in Chiang Rai. Like last year, this means lots of work for the ladies as they prepare the turkey and mashed potatoes and casseroles and pies. Unlike last year, however, this year Lori has a can of pumpkin pie filling, so she won't have to mince a pumpkin by hand again.

The thanksgiving season reminds us of two things: first, how thankful we are to live in Thailand and work with the Akha mountain people and second, how thankful we are for all of you, our friends and family and partners in our ministry.

We hope you all have had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Pastors, leaders missionaries and delegates from countries all over Asia and the Pacific gathered to Bangkok for the Eastern Council of Foursquare Churches conference last week. Nearly 700 men and women came to fellowship and join in a community of faith.Pastor Jack was there.
Our supervisors were there.
Our supervisor's supervisors were there.
National church leaders from around the world were there.
This was a big deal - and I started the conference off wearing nothing but a sheet tied around my waist.

I didn't plan it that way.

We took an early flight from Chiang Rai with Pastor Timothy and his wife and arrived to find out that the conference didn't begin until 7:00 that evening. After a nice lunch and a little exploring of the area around the hotel we decided to take an afternoon nap to get ready for the conference that night.

Around 4:00 I found myself waking up halfway through a telephone conversation... I can answer the phone while sleeping and sound awake and coherent. Do any of you have this skill? I learned it in college and it has gotten me in so much trouble. I've had entire conversations while sleeping where I have committed to things I don't remember when I actually wake up... anyway, I slowly realized that I had just committed to do something to help the Bangkok team for the opening ceremony of the ECFC conference.
A few minutes later I was in a room full of the young leaders from Bangkok dressing up in very ornate traditional Thai dress - and discovered that I was going to be dressed as a traditional Thai slave who carried royalty on a litter. Apparently they couldn't get many volunteers for that role. So, while everyone else was dressing up in ornate costumes and jewelery and while the dignitaries from around Asia were dressing for dinner and the evening conference, I was having a sheet tied around my waist and a turban tied around my head. Finally with a slap on the back and an admonition of "Don't drop her" I was off to attend my first Foursquare conference.

Lori, of course, got a kick out of the whole thing, merrily snapping pictures of the scene. All joking aside, the Thai staff in Bangkok were incredible. They worked long hours, entertaining and helping everyone around the conference and Bangkok with great care. It was an honor to help them in even the smallest of ways.

The conference (and the subsequent meeting of missionaries from throughout Asia) was an incredible blessing and a rousing success. We met amazing men and women, heard insightful teaching (in English!) and received ministry where we are hurting. We will continue to share more about the entire experience through this next week and will hopefully have some links to Pastor Jack's talks from the conference.

We had hoped to share updates last week but did not have internet access while at the hotel (which was as much blessing as inconvenience), but are now back in Chiang Rai. We will be sharing at the Akha Bible Institute tomorrow and will spend the rest of this week in the city to celebrate Thanksgiving with our friends here.

Pastor Jack Hayford, President of the ICFG and more commonly known as "Pastor Jack" will be coming to Bangkok this Tuesday to share at the Eastern Council of Foursquare Churches (ECFC) conference. This conference will host pastors, leaders and missionaries from all over East Asia. We are very excited to have a chance to meet and hear from these church leaders and learn more about the ministries throughout Asia, and this will be Lori's first time hearing Pastor Jack share (he has shared at Faith a number of times in the past). After the conference, the missionaries who attend will treated by FMI to a time of fellowship and teaching for two additional nights.We have been busy these last few months. Lori's parents were here last month and we were traveling to Rice Festivals and around the North with them. This past week a team of sponsors has been in from Colorado and we have spent some time with them, including a long day yesterday helping and learning from Dr. Wesley as he diagnosed, treated and cared for 200 Akha villagers. We will try to get some pictures of that trip up in the next week or so for you to see.

While in Bangkok we should have internet access and are hoping to share with you some of our experiences, lessons and maybe even some media from the conference - so stay tuned!