From Thighland to Thailand

February 20, 2017

Hello prayer warriors, we need your help.  After a 16 hour flight from the US we traveled another 4 hours from Hong Kong and arrived at Chiang Mai airport around 7 pm last night.   Right now, we are dead in the water, spinning our wheels, at a stalemate, at a standstill, or whatever term that you may want to use to describe our current situation with the customs agency.  We have at least 31 bins and luggage aside from personal carry-on luggage that were held up in customs and they had us open each one.  This was highly unusual and contrary to what we have been used to.  Although we are on a mission of mercy, certain changes have been made in the current government (which is under martial law) that will not allow medical devices and equipment, including dental and optometric lenses and glasses, and medications into the country.  Whatever reason it is Bill, Luka, and Ming tried to get us through customs and their efforts were futile.  We had managers and their bosses and their bosses get involved.  I have been told that a general from Myanmar who “invited” us is talking to the Thai government general to try to get this resolved.  All day today, Bill and Luka were at the airport trying to negotiate the bins passing and only a few bins containing non-medical items were released.  Fortunately we got mosquito netting, sleeping bags, and air mattresses through as well as a few lanterns.  We are praying that the government will eventually let these bins through.  Please pray that we will be able to reunite with the necessary equipment so that we may continue with our current plans.  We have already lost a day and though it is President’s day in the states, this day off was unplanned.  Perhaps the theme of this mission is that God is in control and it maybe  OUR plan is not GOD’s plan at this moment.  So we need to enlist as many prayer warriors as we can because right now  we would like to know what God plans for us.  Please pray for Bill since he is carrying the weight of responsibility for a successful mission.  Success is hard to measure but any impact, however small, will still be considered an improvement.

In the event we do not get our supplies back we are starting to develop Plan B.  God has blessed each of us with gifts and talents that are often untapped.  It may be that this trip will be quite different than the previous trips and the emphasis of this trip may shift to a non-medical one.  The pharmacists and Dr. Patton were able to purchase many of the medications that were confiscated so that we may be still able to diagnose and treat some disorders.  However, the surgeons, dentists, and optometrists are dependent upon equipment and tools to perform at their best so it will be interesting what duties will be assigned.  Hopefully by morning we will know if they will release the bins but right now we are making plans as if they won’t be available.  There are other activities that we can do instead of health care but the team and as long as we have willing and able bodies we are going forward no matter what.  On the bright side, my dad is alive and well with his new pacemaker, Bill will not be going to prison, we get an extra day to shower, no one has been stricken ill, we got to see a little bit of Chiang Mai while having an extra day to recover from jet lag. Now, we are ready to work.

God is good.

Mark