Reflections from Laura

The night before we left on this trip I looked at the weather in Bangkok as I had every other night and it hadn't changed much from thunderstorms and clouds and showers. Not only would it be extra uncomfortable to be wearing a rain poncho in 94 degree heat and humidity but once we got there we found out that many people would probably not show up for their appointments if it was raining. True to his promises, God provided us with what we need and in this case it was no rain for pretty much the whole week. It didn't start to pour until we had finished our day on Saturday and we were preparing to fly home. This gave 1000 people a chance to see what the church was like inside and realize that it was not a scary place at all but one filled with love and smiles and people showing a servant's heart. I had heard that one woman was thankful to have an opportunity to see inside of the church because she was afraid that if she went she would be put on a wooden cross because that is all she had seen and knew about being a Christian. We literally were starting at Ground Zero with people who have sometimes not even heard of our God. As one of the team members put it, the biggest Ministry that we can give is showing how we, as Christians, came halfway around the world just to be present to help with this eyeglass Clinic. The language barrier was frequent but the smiles and the hand motions and the hugs communicated just as effectively.

One of the stations I worked was to hand out glasses. I tried to learn some new Thai words and my favorite one was 'dudi' which means "looks good" and when it is said with a thumbs up there were many smiles when they tried on their glasses. There were very few people who asked for a different style, most took what they were given whether it was small oval granny glasses for men or Aviator style glasses for women, depending on the prescription . The gratitude and smiles when they could see and read again said it all.

What a privilege it was to show the love of Jesus to the Thai people.

The rarest jewel on earth is a servants heart

Reed Felton
9-23-2017

 For the last 3 days of the clinic I was working with a lovely women, 62  years young, widowed for 20 years, and she lived on the church property.  On day 2 we handed out bags together after the people had been fitted for their glasses.  This was the last station in our process.  On the last 2 days we shared greeting duties as we brought groups of 10 people at a time into the church and got them started in our process. 

The first 2 days we became an effective team even though her english vocabulary was limited to “okay!” and she was constantly encouraging the people to say “Thank you” to us.  

The first day we worked together we discovered she was color blind and had to explain that people could choose a bag of any color they wanted,  she thought they were all the same.  On days 3 and 4 she was in her element greeting the people with a warm smile, the source of which was a very warm heart.  She even started coaching  me in her stretching routine. We were communicating but without many words.  Lots of smiles and gestures.

When preparing to leave on Friday she approached me with a gift.  It was a bag of small flowers grown on the church property similar to orchids, that can be dried and made into a fragrant tea.  Along with that she gave me 2 seed pods so I could grow them back in Wisconsin.  I won’t be able to bring this gift back but the gesture will never be forgotten.

I was sad to leave my new friend.  We all know that its not what you say that is so important but how what you say makes someone feel.  Her kind and gentle spirit touched me deeply.  Oh, and we were able to hand out some eye glasses too!

…and the the greatest of these is love

…and the the greatest of these is love

Wendy Li

Serving on this mission trip has been an incredible experience. It is hard to know where to begin. I can start by summing it up with the word "love."

For the first two days of the clinic, I worked at the same station, station 2. At this station, each clinic guest put their forehead up to the machine and their chin on a chin rest. I learned to tell each individual "nah pahk cheet" and "kung wah." Place your forehead and chin here. I felt so blessed to be able to greet every person who came through. 

Many guests demonstrated gratitude by thanking us through words, bows, hugs, and hand shakes. I felt God at work and love pass between us. I was blessed by each face, so beautiful and unique, no matter how worn, wrinkled, toothless, or elegant.

I worked with a woman named Nu, who taught me to speak a few words and also a lovely young woman named Nok. Duck was the optometrist who taught me to use the machine that read prescriptions. I was terrible at it, but he demonstrated great patience. Grace was in abundance. 

Everyone helped each other. We helped the guests. They helped each other. The Kuibiri church members and the JIL members all worked together with us. Loving relationships developed all around. God gave us the strength to work for hours in the heat and humidity. Smiles abounded all around.

Nu was most special to me. Again and again we embraced and told each other we loved each other. We do not speak each other's language, but that does not matter. We share a bond as Christian sisters. She is in a small Lutheran church in central Thailand. I am in a large air conditioned church in Brookfield. She is rich in spirit! We have connected online and our friendship will continue.

There is so much to tell...

Realizing our limitations

Realizing our limitations

9-21-2017

Richard Li

Day 3 of the Eye Glass clinic was much like Days 1 and 2, just a little hotter today. 

Interesting how the local people are used to the heat. I remember when I was growing up that the mother of a friend loved the hot days. It was what she was used to when she was growing up.

Today my position had more direct interaction with the people. I was at the end of our process where the canvas bag and tracts were handed out right after they received their glasses. The people were so appreciative, and  hugs were not unusual. It surprised me because I thought Thailand was a non-touching type culture, as exemplified by people bowing at each other (wai) versus shaking hands like we do in the USA.

Kids (early teens?) at the church have been helping out for the past few days. Today, they took a more active role in helping people try on their new glasses. At one point, it was like Gregory was there to supervise the kids working the station.  The kids were fully engaged and was fun to see.

Unfortunately we had to turn people away which created some drama. Each District was given a set number of slots to distribute to their citizens. The clinic was by invitation only and not advertised as open to anyone. Word of mouth spread through the community, and people showed up seeking the free glasses. We only had enough supplies to distribute 1,000 eyeglasses, and we could not accommodate the walk-ins. We ended up filling cancellation slots with the walk-ins, and placing 30 people on a wait list for Friday morning’s final session. There were fewer slots on the final day to accommodate people who needed to reschedule. It was sad to turn away people in need but we did not have the supplies for the additional people. We knew that we were only going to be able to serve a small fraction of the need. It is one thing to see the limits on paper, it is harder when it happens in front of you.

 There is still a chance that Reed might be able to play the harmonica for the crowd. So, keep the prayers coming.

For us to serve

9-19-2017

… for us to serve

The Team left Prachuap and went to Kuriburi Church to help serve in the eye glass clinic.  We had the opening ceremony which included the District officials, mayor, Lutheran Hour Ministries team, BLC team and the Journey into Light team.  Most importantly, 6 eye care professionals were there as well, along with members of the church. 

The morning session at the clinic served 150 people providing them with the appropriate glasses and a case, a tote bag co-branded with the Kuriburi church and BLC, included some tracts and treats.  We served an equal number of people in the afternoon and by week’s end will have handed out 1000 pair of glasses.  The whole operation went very smoothly with 4 stations that included initial intake,  evaluation, prescription determination then choosing of the glasses.

All the people were very gracious and thankful for the eyeglasses.  The smiles on their faces spoke volumes about the significance of the teams work.

After dinner, we were able to have our team devotion on the pier and marvel in His creation.  While in Thailand the Thai people display a servant’s heart and take great joy in doing acts of service.  This helps us relate His command for us to serve.  Matthew 20:28 says” just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  We all feel privileged to be serving the people of Thailand.

Gregory Holley

   

The local district manager joined us for the opening ceremony

  

An initial eval is taken for a starting reference for the prescription 

     

   

Finally, they get to try their new glasses 

      

Wednesday, Day 2 of the Clinic

The 2nd day of the Eyeglass Clinic was much like the first day. I decided to mainly take videos so you could see the process. We are normally inside, and the few times I ventured outside to the main tent was during the clinic when registration is fairly slow (most people arrive at the beginning). Today I went to observe registration prior to when the clinic opened. It was chaotic. I will try to observe earlier so I can take some better pictures.


It did rain hard today, Fortunately it happened while we were cleaning up. By the time we were done, it had cleared up, and cooled down considerably. This evening we invited the teams (Journey Into Light, Optical team, Pastor and his wife) to a thank you dinner. It cost about 6,000 Baht to feed the 24 of us a nice dinner. For those of you keeping score at home, that is about $180 USD, or about $7.50/person.

Videos to be posted in the next post:
Reed had a really bad allergy attack (unknown cause) on Monday, which is why I do not have any videos of him entertaining the crowd. Pray he improves enough to play on Thursday or Friday.

Photos from others:

Tuesday ~ First day of the Clinic

Tuesday was the first day of the Clinic. 

The schedule is:
7:00 breakfast when it opens
7:30 Van to Church/Clinic
8:00 Setup
9:00 Opening Ceremony
9:30 Session 1 of the Clinic
Noon Lunch
1:00 Session 2 of the Clinic
4:00 Clean-up, and return to hotel

I arrived at the breakfast buffet area around 6:45 and notice a huge group of people milling around. Turns out there will be a mad rush for breakfast as soon as it opens at 7:00. Having to wait in lines makes us have to eat a little faster.

All is well, and we make it to the clinic in time. Weather forecast: 93 degrees, sunny, chance of afternoon thunderstorms (humid).

There was a typical Opening Ceremony, but since we couldn't understand most of it, I will skip the description. Setup of the clinic is as follows:

Registration: Open air outside tent that can seat 100 people. People register and given a number (1-150). 150 is the number of people that are scheduled to be served during that 3 hour session. They are seated in rows, and move up as groups of 10 are called into the Clinic. Apparently  movement helps the waiting, even if it is only little movements.

Station 1 - Automated Refactor:  Inside the Church (not air-conditioned) there is a sitting area for 10 people. The machine quickly determines the persons prescription, and prints out the report. There is one seat at this station. Wendy was trained to perform the Refractor Exam so the Optometrist team members could take a break.

Station 2 - Fitting: The prescription is verified and fine tuned by looking through the actual lens for that power. Round lenses of the appropriate power are placed into a special frame. The patient tries on the new glasses, and the prescription is adjusted. The Examiner writes the lens power for the eye glasses on the report from Station 1. There are three seats at this station. Even with three seats, Station 1 can create a long que for Station 2. Many times during the session people are held outside until the que for Station 2 can be reduced.

Station 3 - Distribution: Greg, nicknamed Mr. P for Personality, worked the morning session with 2 of the Optometrist Team members to distribute glasses. He had enough Thai vocabulary to help patients select a frame and see if the new glasses were working for them. Sometimes there were short lines as patients took a long time determining if the glasses were working for them.

At the end of Station 3, the patient receives the glasses, along with a tote that contains tracts and mints.

Station 5 - Group Photos (10-20 patients) are taken.

The Optometrist team is quite efficient. They were able to serve 150 people in a little more than 2 hours. Note: Notice in the pictures that a lot of people wear black in mourning of the death of their King. He was well liked, and reigned for 70 years. The 1-year period of mourning ends in October, and which time he will be cremated and the prince will ascend to the Kingship.

Session 2 began in the heat of the day. The temperature was 90 degrees and the forecast was 94. We survived the morning session with minimal issues, and now for the real test. There was shorter ceremony at the beginning of the 2nd session (Each of the 6 Districts were assigned a session). The tent blocked the direct heat from the sun, but you could still feel the heat radiating off the roof of the tent. Inside the church it was a little warmer, but you could not feel the radiating heat off the roof. A few large floor fans helped to keep the room bearable. We did decide to use the van to provide an air conditioned place to give team members a break from the heat.

Monday - Learning

A beautiful Sunrise started the day

Today we met the local church and began preparing the clinic that starts tomorrow. We also met 4 of the 6 members of the optometrist group. Setup included stuffing nice shopping bags with tracts and mints, as well as preparing the eyeglass cases. Reed and Tek were able to practice playing together.

The church is about 20 miles north of the hotel. I originally thought it was south of the hotel. It takes about 30 minutes to get there, and is in a very rural area. A few years ago, the church met under a tent. Today, it has a cement building with an open air sheet metal roof. They are in the process of building an addition for children's ministries. If it were not so far, it would be a great building mission trip for the Teens.

The BLC Thailand Mission budget includes paying for the cost of the glasses, and the travel/room/board of the Optometrist team. Apparently the company pays the staff to attend. It is a way for the company to give back to the community. They have done many of these clinics, and know how to handle people quickly. On average, the 6 of them can serve one person a minute. More about the process tomorrow after I have seen it in action.

The local church has done an amazing job at organizing the clinic. People will be coming from 6 Districts, with the farthest being about 30 miles away. The patient schedule for all 4 days of the clinic was already posted when we arrived. It had the time slot, person's name, and National ID number. The local church handled all the logistics of site prep, outreach, and patient signup. All we, and the Optometrist team, have to do is show up.
Richard Li

Sunday, September 17. Checked out of the hotel at 9:15, and went to church at Journey Into Light. Dennis led Sunday School at 9:30, and Worship was at 10:30. Afterwards, the Church treated us to lunch before the 5 hour ride down to Prachuap Khiri Khan (PKK). On the way down, we stopped at a scenic overlook of the town of Hua Hin, about 1.5 hours away from PKK.

Dennis took us through his presentation of the Gospel to the people in Thailand. It takes him weeks to get through it with people who have had no exposure to the Bible. One takeaway is that the Bible repeatedly says that Jesus died on the cross to forgive us our sins. That's it. That similar phrase is repeated over and over. We tend to get lost trying to explain the entire package (salvation, eternal life, etc.) to a non-believer, and miss the first step - Christ died to forgive your sins.

It did downpour on Saturday and Sunday in Bangkok, but God blessed us by having the rain when we were inside (Saturday during breakfast, and Sunday during Sunday School), and not when we were walking outside. We shall see how the weather is in PKK, which is 150 miles south of Bangkok, and at the Eyeglass Clinic site, which is 15 miles south of PKK.

Saturday - Orientation

Saturday was our orientation to Lutheran Hour Ministries, Journey Into Light. LHM is the sponsoring organization. JIL is the name of the local program. So, people would know them as Journey Into Light's English Lessons. Kind of like the Lutheran Synod vs. Brookfield Lutheran Church.

Group photo taken in the training/orientation room. 

Seated (left to right)  Steve, Yahm, Reed, Laura, Joann

Standing (left to right) Lek, Oom, Nok, Boom, Dennis, Tak, Waan

The names of the local staff are their nick names for us westerners (shortened version of their real names).

Dom: Bookstore Staff, newest member
Lek: Follow-up, 14 years
Yham: Follow-up, 12 years
Nok: Accounting, 20+ years
Tak: Studio technician and musician, 7 years
Waan: Studio technician, 4 years
Boom: Director, 16 years
Dennis: Boom's husband. He is technically a Volunteer for LHM. He is a missionary from Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS).

Dennis gave us an nice "Why are you here" talk. In short - there is no "pre evangelism" it is all evangelizing. I can’t be as eloquent as him, but here goes…

What good is a short-term missionary when we don’t even know the language. There is no way we will lead someone to Christ, nor even hope to present the Gospel. Thailand is a Buddhist country, with 1.6% being Christian. We stand out. People can tell we are foreigners. We will be going to a part of the country where we may be the first foreigners that they have ever seen. Our mere presence can invoke inquiry – Why are we here? Why are we helping them? Why did we come so far to help them?

Dennis mentioned that when he first came, he saw a large banner on a building that says “God Loves You”. He thought that was a stupid waste of money. Many people can’t read, and most can’t read English. Then he herd the testimony of a woman who said her first exposure to Christianity was the sign. She wondered what it said, investigated it, and so her journey began.

Our particular mission is to reach out to 1,000 people and give them eyeglasses, some for the very first time. Many will be able to see again, well enough to resume their careers. Life changing for the individual. The decision was made to hold the clinic at the only church in the region. It will be hot, and not air conditioned. There may be more comfortable locations available nearby, but by holding it at the church, people will now know where the church is.

The clinic is just the first step in reaching out to the 1,000 individuals served, the 1,000-2,000 family members who come with their person, and the thousands who see the improved life of the people helped.

The clinic also helps JIL and the local church to build a relationship with the community. The next time JIL wants to hold another event, the local authorities will be much more receptive and open – we help JIL and the local church to open doors.

After the orientation to LHM, we were given a quick overview of the plans for the clinic, and the optometrist group. The clinic will be held about 240 miles south of Bangkok in Prachuap Khiri Kahn (PKK). The optometrist group is coming from a 100 to 200 miles north-west of Bangkok (they have much further to travel). This will be the 2nd clinic that JIL has held with them. They are a group of young people who volunteer their time to provide this type of service to needy communities. They are happy to provide their time, and only ask that we cover the costs of their travel and eye glasses. I believe the cost of each pair of eyeglasses is about $8 USD. In order to serve that many people in such a short time and inexpensive way, the glasses are pre-made with a variety of prescriptions. After an eye exam, the individual then picks the pair of eye glasses most beneficial to them.

Sunday will be our day for worship (morning) and travel down to PKK (5+ hours) by car. On Monday, we will meet with the local church and optometrist team for more orientation, planning, and setup. The clinic will be held on Tuesday-Thursday (morning and afternoon), and Friday morning. There are 6 districts (kind of like a country) near the church. Leaders for each district were given a certain number of slots to offer. There is much more need (demand) than we can serve. Each person is given a day/time slot, so they will not have to wait long in the heat. We are anticipating highs of 90 degrees and 70+% humidity. 150 people each morning/afternoon, 3 hours for each shift, means we are serving almost 1 person per minute.


Richard Li

Arrivals and Greetings

The first full day for the team has been a full one. The images of the travel tell the story of the fellowship of the team and their dedication to the work that they set out to do. Despite one lost luggage item, the team is excited to be starting the work they have planned for in this trip.

Thoughts about this mission trip have been marinating for several months. Trained optometrist will volunteer their time to help mostly elderly people with no access to eye care. They will get suitable eyeglasses that will significantly improve their vision and their lives. BLC is supporting this effort both financially, spiritually, and physically with the presence and participation of seven of our members.
Luther was famous for asking…"what does this mean" so let’s SEE how we might answer that question. For the 1000 people that will have new eye glasses and improved vision it means different things. They will be able to read again, hold a job again, see the faces of their grandchildren clearly, drive with more confidence and safety, and resume hobbies or other activities that they may have had to give up. Is this life in service? Is this life in mission? Yes.

~Reed Felton


The group photo shows the group with a banner that LHM (Lutheran Hour Ministries) made for the trip. You can see some of the people wearing wrist leis given to us by our hosts. Also attached is a close-up of the wrist lei. They are very fragrant, which is beneficial after 29 hours of travel without a shower.




This photo shows Boom (LHM host) with her back to us, and Dennis (Boom's husband) facing us. Boom is part of LCMS (Lutheran Church Missouri Synod) outreach, which is separate from LHM. So, technically he is a volunteer for LHM.


FYI: JIL (Journey Into Light) is the local outreach program name that LHM created. So, people know them here by JIL, and not LHM.


Some fun Photos from the travel day:

Welcome to Seoul

Staying Connected

Seoul Welcome

Travel Day

Our team left early Thursday morning from Brookfield Lutheran.  They headed to O'Hare in Chicago via the church van and enjoyed the excitement and fellowship of which they have come to know as a team in the months of preparation for the this trip.  The first flight to Korea left in the early afternoon from Chicago Thursday.  Roughly 2:45 AM Milwaukee time, they safely landed in Korea where they would change planes and head to Bangkok. 

Steve making friends in the airport in Korea

Shortly before 1:00 AM Friday the team arrived in Bangkok Thailand.  

With warm welcomes, the 2017 Thailand Mission trip officially begins!  

Team Arrives in Thailand

Please remember the team in your prayers as they begin training to serve Him in the days to come!  Pray for fellowship with new friends made in Thailand, the work that they will be doing and the safety of the team as they continue to travel.  

Declare his glory among the nations, 

his marvelous deeds among all peoples

Psalm 96:3