From Thighland to Thailand

Thailand 3.3b

February 20, 2010-Sunday night-3^rd day

Blog sites:  www.fcbcfresno.org and www.fcbcmissions.wordpress.com and www.markchinmd.wordpress.com

We lost Saturday crossing the time zones so we arrive here in Bangkok on Sunday so I’m finishing Sunday’s entry.  How time flies.  Literally.  Our weary sweaty bodies arrived into Bangkok at 10 am and the end of our journey is in sight.  The 15 plus hour flight was highlighted with an eating and sleeping and movie cycle that repeated three times.  Bread crumbs were given to the Economy class by the Premium Economy travelers as a token of their sympathy.  During the 3-hour layover we caught up with Ming, who has been visiting his mother in Bangkok, at the airport but missed Bob and Cindy as they went ahead to Chiang Rai on a different connection from Myanmar.  The Wus spent the last few days visiting the four orphanages that were the beneficiaries of the November concert proceedings to determine how the funds were to be distributed.

Our luggage check out was a fiasco.  35 tags, 31 pieces of luggage and bins.  We were short 3-4 bins that were located somewhere between Bangkok and Chiang Rai.  We hope.   Several understandably cranky and now impatient individuals had their own suggestions to figure out which ones were missing and prayed we would get them later.  It took us awhile to unload the already stacked luggage in a chronological order of 31 and match the claim tags so that they can track the missing bins.   The teams efforts and effectiveness depends upon those bins of supplies, drugs, and equipment.  We could be crippled with critical lost and missing items.  We determine that we have an extra tag.  Go figure.

We hear a soft Sawadee! in the distance get louder.  Luka, our Thai/Akha liaison greeted us in the luggage claim area and broke the tension that had been mounting with his warm greeting and smile.  His reunion with me was met with anticipation.  Did my physical training and dieting in preparation for this moment pay off?  As he shook my hand and looked me over I sucked in my gut and he said to me,  “You look the same.  Did you dye your hair?”   I took is as a complement; at least I didn’t look pregnant.  The same identifiably and unique nasally Luka laugh followed.  Doug Owyang does a great imitation.

Our reception party included our old friends Gi and Bla who work for the Thai Akha ministry and Luka’s three children. My how have they grown up; I reflected how young they were four years ago.   Libby, a nurse practitioner from Seattle who will be joining the team was introduced.  She has been volunteering on the compound for about a year.   The crew greeted us with two trucks and a school bus.   Our relatively larger American frames fit into this made for Thai-sized children school bus.  It reminded me of the Guatemalan medical trip years ago as we cramped in a small school bus with our knees to our chest and road for six hours on a bumpy road.  Just get us to the swimming pool!  We packed the trucks and as we caravanned back to the hotel Richard assumed his traditional spread eagle “human cargo net” position as Lester so aptly describes it riding on the back of the truck protecting the cargo from flying off and out of the truck.  I think Richard lives for this Evel Knievel moment.  Nanette, if you can see him now, you’d be proud…and scared.  The ride was familiar and welcomed.  It gave us a sense of enthusiasm and purpose.   Watching the people and the poverty and meager means of sustenance was humbling.

We arrived at our old stomping grounds at the Golden Triangle Inn at 4 pm about 36 hours after we left Fresno.   The team is bushed and can barely keep our eyes open.  Bob and Cindy greeted us sipping Mai Tais and eating bon bons exclaiming, “This is the life!”   Alright, delete that last vision, I was delusional.  The Inn is basically unchanged.  Tropical surroundings and familiar faces and décor are recognizable.  Still, no swimming pool.  Darn!  Electric outlets are a premium with one outlet in the bedroom and one in the bathroom hidden behind a mirror.

I am almost embarrassed at all the “essential” electronic and high tech gear that I have lugged on this trip.  Laptop computer, portable DVD drive, Canon DSLR camera with 60 gb of memory cards, strobe light, photo printer, noise-cancelling ear phones, iPhone, spare cell phone, camcorder, diagnostic light handle, two headlights, and two flashlights, no wonder my two carry ons weigh sixty pounds.  (At least I left my beeper behind.)  This techy has an insatiable appetite for electrical energy for his power consuming gear.  I LOVE THE POWER!!! At every opportunity and pit stop along the way I was an electrical outlet magnet.  Oh, you would be too lucky if my batteries died and I couldn’t journal.  I still might have to ration my rechargeable batteries.  Okay! Okay!  I AM A TECHNO JUNKY!  I admit it!  I broke the mirror struggling to get at the outlet hidden behind it and now I am subject to seven years bad luck!  I’ll have to go to that Tiger Woods retreat for rehab when I get back.  God, please have someone mug me so that I can detox and withdraw in a controlled setting! Nah, I’ll get some Prozac from our pharmacy to deal with the anxiety.

Jen and I must have a deluxe room since we have two lights with about 60 watts total.  There is an electric water heater in the shower but we don’t expect a steamy bath.  We’ll just try not to get electrocuted.  Here’s an upgrade.  The hotel offers limited wi-fi that keeps us from having to go downtown everyday but it doesn’t reach our rooms.  We have to go to the lobby where the hot spot is and fight off the mosquitoes and roaming lizards and geckos.  Bill, is this really a three star hotel?  The rick-shaw Ben and Gerry were posing in during a photo shoot is still broken but the overgrown grass almost covers it now.   Oh, I forgot; this is not a vacation but I didn’t think it was a camping trip either.  We have bottled water to brush our teeth and to hydrate.  Okay I believe it now; DON’T DRINK THE TAP WATER!

It’s really humid and we are not only sweaty and smelly but now sticky.  Gum cannot hide the halitosis since it’s going on four hours.    The only excitement is that I realize that I can grow a beard!  I haven’t shaved my legs for days either.  Some of us run downtown to get baht, the local currency, and SIMM chips for our cell phones and scout out the area for revisiting.  Ahhh! Swensen’s ice creamery is still there.  It seems relatively dead with many of the businesses closed and few people roam the streets.   If were not at risk of being hit by one of the many scooters it much be dead.  Our meeting with Luka determined our tentative itinerary for the next two weeks.  We will work at a school tomorrow and then head into Burma and try to reach China at the border.  There’s one small detail that was casually shrugged off.  There is a teeny tiny local war at the border town Mong La so going there “might” not be safe.  Luka assures us it’s just a misunderstanding.  We don’t want any civilian casualties do we? Rest assured our safety is our number one priority were told…

We gathered for a team dinner and had some nice authentic Thai dishes Chinese style (shared dishes).  It really seems that we have been eating non-stop.  Definitely not Atkin’s friendly but I’m not dieting this trip.  Not even Carb Blockers.  We look forward to the local village meals that are prepared for us when we visit them.  They are proud cooks but we definitely have to be careful especially with uncooked pork and the potential for tapeworms (though they may augment my dieting later).  Irma was absent from dinner.  The excitement either got to her or she needed quiet time.  Like I said, it wasn’t like we needed to eat again.  Smart thinking Irma, catch up on some zzzzs.  I was working on the computer at the table and at the end of our meal Bill affectionately rubbed by neck and trapeziums he stated, “I promised you a massage.”  I rudely turned to him and said, “But not by you!”  Bill, what were you drinking?

After dinner some of us retired.  Others showered.  Some set up their rooms.  The rest of us were ready to party hearty!  Yeah, Bob, Cindy, Lynelle, Gail, Jen and I headed to the local midnight bazaar.  It’s the local night market and the downtown area certainly lit up the streets.  It’s dead during daylight but people come out of the woodwork at night.  Chiang Rai is a destination city.  It’s a happening place. The streets are now packed and scooters are zooming down the streets making it difficult to cross.  We get to play Frogger again.  This city comes to life at night.  Fresh food is prepared along the streets, kiosks, and food court.  There is like a beauty contest with girls (or boys, I’m not sure) and a band playing loud music.  It’s like a flea market where a lot of locals have their businesses. Selling watches, clothes, knick-knacks, trinkets, hand-made, machine-made, souvenirs, t-shirts, bras, Zorries, hats, and food give them an opportunity to earn money.  Poor beg for handouts while a disabled blind entertainer strummed the guitar and banged drums with his feet.  A one-armed lady begged for money with her stump hoping for scraps of food or money.   Foreigners and locals alike were bargain hunting.  We ran into a couple that was also from Fresno who used to work with Kim Chang.  What a small world!  And there it was.  What I came to Thailand for…an authentic, not-yet-released-in-the-US Avatar DVD with Thai subtitles for 150 baht ($5 USD).  I bought one as a souvenir to use as a coaster since I like the artwork.  That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.  I looked for but couldn’t find the artist from whom I bought two chalk drawings two years ago that are hanging in my office.  They are a drawing of photos of a young and older Afghanistan girl famously known as “The Afghan Girl” from National Geographic.  We have all seen that picture.  I clutched my DVD close to me so not to loose it and we head back to the hotel.  Too tired for a Thai massage tonight.  We’ll go to Swensen’s tomorrow.

It’s quiet now.  People are sleeping.   It’s only 10 pm.  We quietly open our doors so not to wake up our neighbors. I dove onto my bed expecting a prolonged bouncing rebound and almost hurt myself.  These stiff mattresses aren’t exactly your Sealy posteurpedic.  The pillows are equally stiff.  I’ll probably have a concussion when I wake up as well as a stiff neck and aching back.  Bill, again you promised all the comforts of home.  Well I would like to see your home then.  You must sleep on the floor.  At least the lukewarm shower was actually invigorating yet overdue.  My eyes are closed before my head hits the pillow and I look forward to an 8-hour much needed restful sleep.

What’s this?  It’s only 1 am when I wake up from my “nap” and I can’t go to sleep.  Pitiful.  This is frustrating especially with no TV (did I forget to mention that basic necessity?)  or Direct TV.  I am, for some uncontrollable reason compelled to reach over to my laptop and finish the Sunday’s entry.  This is really pissing me off.  I need my beauty sleep.  If for no other reason, I do this for the sake of my lovely wife, Lena who is a stickler for details and will grill me when I get home so this is easier to remember as I go along and should suffice.  So if you enjoy reading this, thank Lena.  If you don’t, blame Lena because I’m under pressure.

Oh, no its 4 am and Jennifer just woke up even after a half of an Ambien.  She’s a lightweight.  I quietly pause my typing.  Without me even saying anything and not knowing that I was awake she seems half asleep and SHE pulls out her computer and begins her blogging!   She begins to listen to Pachabels Canon in D, my favorite.  It’s a good choice of music as it is very soothing and calming.  Even I like to operate to it.  I asked her what are you doing and she is surprised that I am awake. As Jennifer puts it, “It’s an expectation, they’re waiting for my words.”  Finally we have something in common.  Like father, like daughter.  The life of a blogger is overworked, underpaid, under appreciated.  I don’t really worry about who or how many even read my journal; it aint gonna make the New York times best sellers list.  She turned to me knowing and feeling my pain and empathetically said in a crackly voice, “Don’t worry dad, I’ll read your blog.”  That’s good enough for me.  And thank you Lena, Mom, Daphne and a handful of others…I hope that what I say is either worth reading or at least entertaining or at least helps you fall asleep at night.

It’s 0600.  Time to unpack for today’s mission.  No more fun and games.

Have a great week, because we are.  Talk to you soon.

Medical Team International…signing off.

Thailand 3.2 and 3.3 (day 2 and 3)

Saturday-Sunday (February 19-20, 2010)

Blog sites:  www.fcbcfresno.org and www.fcbcmissions.wordpress.com and  www.markchinmd.wordpress.com

Good Morning America!

We finally took off about 2 am Saturday and flew all day crossing time zones so that we are now 15 hours ahead of you.  There was some dissention amongst the team already at the airport with complaints of flight delay and preferential treatment of the Premium Economy prima donnas and the Economy (2^nd, no 3^rd, no 4^th) class citizens.  “Economy” by the way is a misnomer especially when you’re paying over $1000-1500 for a seat.  That, my friends could have gotten you a whole vial of BOTOX!  Priorities folks, but when get back to mainland show me your mission badge for an MTI discount, especially you Bill since you’re frowning quite a bit more these days.  Pastor Jack you might want to come and see me too.

It took over an hour just to check us all in at the Thai Air counter.  Bruce is the Caucasian version of Ming and he got us through checking all of our paraphernalia and contraband and us through as humanitarian missionaries.  Psst! It’s really a clandestine attempt to bring orphans back from…wait.  Didn’t a group of Baptists already try that in Haiti?  Eight of the ten were released; the leaders are still detained.  Okay, Bill, clarification please.  Put it in writing that we are not going to bring orphans home, because you will be elected to stay on our behalf.  (Personally, Jen and I don’t know what they talk about in the Economy class).  Before our flight we all gathered at the Daily Grill with our $25 food vouchers for our last American meal.  They stuck me with the bill so everyone was happy.  (Hey, I got stuck with THE BILL on the first Thai trip too!)  That symbolically was our Last Supper as 13 of us broke bread together which coincidentally happened on a very Good Friday and over the next three days we are literally rising into the heavens and returning to earth on Sunday in our human form.  Now I swear, when we were descending we opened the window shades and a blinding white light shined through with clouds coming into view.  What a heavenly sight (beats seeing a fiery inferno!). Wow, now that was an experience!  A revelation!  Surreal.  Joseph, interpret THAT one.  Coincidence? God is in Control.  Whew!

Side bar: on the subject of orphans, the Wu family had visited a Burmese orphanage earlier in the 2009 and Bob, who is of Burmese descent and Cindy have been actively working in Myanmar clinics throughout the year.  So their children, Jonathan and Jocelyn (AKA the Jon Jon and Jocie show), treated us with a fabulous concert at our church in November benefiting an orphanage in Myanmar.  They shared their God-given talents playing the violin, piano, and clarinet accompanied by piano with a Fresno State music professor and by Cindy Wu herself.  I can honestly say that it brought music to my ears and tears to my eyes.  In a single night they raised over $10,000 for the orphanage! It’s not too late to give! 🙂  God said make a joyful noise and they certainly brought down the house.  Standing ovations.  Incidentally, Jon Jon and Jocie have played as 1^st clarinet and 1^st piano in the Junior Philharmonic in Seattle, Washington.  You know, they are the stars and get featured and play solo or accompanied with the rest of the symphony kind of like what Mozart and Beethoven did I think.  Jocie, maybe did violin as well. You were both truly amazing.   I wish I had the talent that you guys have in one finger, but I don’t, so I’ll stick with “Chopsticks.”  I tried playing violin one time and was shaking so hard the teacher said, “Don’t fret.”  We thank you Jocie and Jon Jon for your dedication and for sharing your gifts and for the congregation and friends for their monetary gifts.  Kudos to the Wus!

Back to our mission; we’re like Star trek: To boldly go where no one has gone before. Okay, I have been known to be cynical, pessimistic, and paranoid for our safety in the past and I am working on that.  It’s my protective nature, not my faith.  I get to vent through this email or ejournal or blog or whatever this is called and also for what purpose that still needs defining.  We are going to be more adventurous on this trip and get out of our comfort zones.  Home is our comfort zone for most of us and so we ventured overseas.  Then Thailand became our comfort zone and then we ventured into communist Laos.  We are now venturing into China and Myanmar.  Okay, I am not going to say anything negative at this point of the two countries (one communist and one junta influenced so-to-speak; more on this after or if we get out of Myanmar since some emails may be monitored or this commuter confiscated, so shhh!) because I LOVE THESE COUNTRIES.  They are three of the best in the whole wide world up there with the good ole U S of A and I wouldn’t mind living there!  You should try and visit and support their economy.  Buy Burmese jade!  Go China!  Go Myanmar!  I’m even rooting for you in the Olympics (even though were missing them BILL).  Doesn’t Myanmar have a downhill event or is that just their direction?

But I had to ask why Myanmar?  Didn’t any of you see the last Rambo documentary (should have been required viewing) where Christian missionaries went into Myanmar and were captured by the local paramilitary warlord?  Truth: actual footage in the beginning was used in the making of Rambo.  The missionaries’ church had to hire mercenaries (did we budget for this?) and with Rambo’s help they “negotiated” their way back to civilization.  Rambo quote: “Live for nothing or die for something.”  How about Live For Jesus.  Rambo needs repenting.  I guess that goes for us too.

Dare: FCBC MTI is going into Myanmar.  I am concerned because we initially got one way tickets and Bill says not to take too much money with us or anything valuable we don’t want to loose.  What about our lives?  Some of us consider that valuable.  Are we gonna get mugged?  Something you’re not telling us fearless leader who will be elected to stay?  Pastor Jack also asked the team to get “things in order” before we go and we were recommended to get “extraction” insurance.  Hmmm… We have to take doxycycline for almost two months around this mission trip so we don’t get malaria that’s endemic in Myanmar.  Bill says I never get bit!  That’s because he eats and smells like garlic.

It is comforting to know, however, that at least two of our group have State department ties and though I won’t identify the two men who are not of color and who are taller, both who have been shot at and are used to being under fire.  One guy has two purple hearts, not counting the time he shot himself in the foot, but we all do that from time to time.  The other dodged bullets in war-torn Fresno and almost got blown up on a bus on a mission in Israel.  The only CIA we know in Thailand is Christians In Alliance, Inc.  But, there is hope.  Not the great white hope but we do have our very own Rambo amongst us.  A little known fact that I discovered is that Andy is known as “Rambo” at Children’s’ Hospital.  Uh-huh, that’s a fact.   I’ve been told, “Ask Andy to do anything and he will do it.”  No questions asked?  Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.  He was recently seen at County Hall registering his weapons-his hands.  Yes they are deadly.  So is his mouth; he knows tongue fu.  He is also a black belt in karate and expert in the Filipino arts of escrima and kali.  I know he is a softy when it comes to Diane, but don’t let that boyish face and smile kid you…if looks could kill!  I roomed with him one year and while some people talk in his sleep, he ki-aiis in his sleep and sounds like Bruce Lee yelling hi-yah!.  I requested to sleep by myself because I didn’t want to die in my sleep.  I told you I’m paranoid.  Me, I’m no Rambo, just rambunctious.  Bill, I hope you know what you are doing.  Remember, women and children first.  Rest assured, Bill says that if it hazardous to our health we won’t go into Myanmar.  I think it’s just a smokescreen to test our faith.  Notify the cavalry and have them stand by just in case we aren’t seen for a few days.  But just in case, I brought Viagra and Cialis (courtesy of Dr. Jack, not Pastor, he’s already too stiff, loosen up man) for bargaining chips with the opposition in case of hold ups, need for safe passage, bartering, or bri…, no persuasion.  We just need a volunteer to show its affects.  Maybe we should get some betelnut as well.  It’ the drug of choice for missionary plastic surgeons I’m told.

Our tentative itinerary is a follows so you know where we’ll be so you can send help, goody baskets, care packages, postcards, or ransom (I understand that they take cash, Paypal, check, or credit cards with an I.D.).  We arrive in Chiang Rai Sunday evening, midnite Saturday PST.  Monday we will set up clinic at the Saskurwatsura (spelling) schoo.  We’ve been there, done that.  That’s where American Baptist missionaries first made contact in Thailand in the 1950’s and said, “I’ll be back” (Arnold Schwartzenegger stole and popularized that line).  When we returned to the school in 2006, one of the administrators said, “I knew you would be back.”  They were faithful because the missionaries said so.  In the school we will set up a dental clinic to extract and restore teeth, have a medical clinic and pharmacy to treat mainly school-aged children ailments, provide eye examinations and grind lenses and make glasses on the spot and give the gift of sight.  It’s Dr. Tajiri’s invention that allows optometrists that work in the field to create instant prescription glasses.  Before the optometrists used to eyeball the prescriptions and give out old donated glasses.  The patients would choose, not the best prescription for them, but which designer glasses looked best and made a spectacle of themselves.  Hindsight is 20/20.

Then the next day, Tuesday, we will cross the border driving into Myanmar/China and stay there til Sunday.   We wil first head to Kengtong and then to Mong La, China, and work our way back down to Mong Hpayak.  Then next week we will be working in Chiang Rai and throughout the villages.

Just an afterthought, we all should have been implanted with a microchip like Kona in case we get lost.  Good thing Lester brought along his satellite phone since we might have a black out period of incommunicado throughout Myanmar especially if they confiscate our electronic gear.  I’ll feel naked.  Not a pretty site I might add.   For satellite phone access see Lester’s email for that phone number and how you can call or text us through www.iridium.com.

Okay, a quick plug for SALT Magazine.  It’s a Christian based magazine with free subscriptions.  Go to www.saltfresnomagazine.org and you’ll see a familiar face and an article about FCBC and the Thailand trips in 2006 and 2008.  You can read it right now by clicking the digital edition right.  They took excerpts from the 2006 emails chronicling our mission trip.  It will come out on hard copy in March 2010 and we will have a launch party at our church March 25^th so that the public can meet the mission team and discuss our past trips. Another related article should also be in Fresno Magazine, www.fresnomagazine.org ,  in March 2010 where they talk to some of the Fresno docs who have been on mission trips.  They interviewed them including myself and I talked about FCBC’s Thailand mission trips as well. Good PR for FCBC.  I’m hoping to have a follow up photo shoot with a 3-paged fold out/pin up using my head on Bill Ho’s physique.  It will display me pumping iron and flexing my/his sinew dripping with sweat discussing how the body is the temple that can be renovated with plastic surgery.  Just a thought.  A portion of the proceeds will go toward mission trips if Bill agrees to the photo shoot.

Okay, enough for today.  Lester is accusing me of having diarrhea of the keyboard.  It’s either this or watch Rambo again on my computer, and then I won’t get off the plane.  It’s still up in the air.

Thanks for listening and please pray for our travel mercy and safe landing.

In Christ, Medical International Team, Fresno.

Thailand 3.1 (1st day of 3rd Thailand trip)

From Thighland to Thailand: a plastic surgeon’s perspective on overseas missions.

Dear faithful followers of Team Fresno or MTI (Medical Team International) as we are now officially known,

This year you have two Internet choices to follow the mission team and two different perspectives so it will be interesting to compare notes. I direct your attention to http://www.fcbcmissions.wordpress.com for Jennifer’s blog or go to http://www.fcbcfresno.org and search for the blog site link for a young invigorating accurate view from the mission newbie Jennifer chin. You will find a more expanded version of the journey of the mission team through the mountains of Thailand, Myanmar-formally known as Burma, and China through the eyes and fingers of yours truly, Mark Chin through my ejournal or emails. Incidentally Jen’s a great blogger having blogged for a year in Paris. I will be corresponding through my own blog and email to my loyal readership (Lena, mom, and dad) and give a more verbose account with personal perspectives and epiphanies that are experienced throughout the trip. I anticipate that for some it may be too long to read and I will try to not ramble with run-ons but once I start typing there is really not much else to do here especially during the bus trip and lay over’s.

Reflecting upon the tragedies in Haiti, one can realize the need of struggling countries for help, not only at the time of calamities, but actually everyday. I am impressed with the outreach and the monies raised for assistance but people need to go and help if at all possible and not just write a check. Someone said, “It is far easier to give of money than of yourself.” Yet we are commanded to go and serve by God, the Almighty. So we go. And go. Like the Eveready bunny rabbit I think God just wants us to keep on going, and going, and going. Believe me, I wouldn’t mind staying in my comfort zone and continue keeping America beautiful…cha ching! But we all need to get out our pocketbooks or get off our blessed assurance and help our neighbors and to spread the Good News.

We have been asked, “Why Thailand? Why not closer to home?” Good question! Well although the Thai massage is second to none and everyone raves about a happy ending and we can get those “early release dvds”, it is a fact that 90% of Thais are Buddhists and have not even met a Christian. So unless someone goes to them they won’t be coming to us anytime soon. Spread the word. Can you hear me now? MTI is fortunate to be able to go on these mission trips.

We have dynamic leaders in our church such as Pastor Jack and Pastor Dennis and those on the mission and outreach committees. Bill Ho has been working on this project since 2008, just after we got back from Thailand 2.0. Bill has a vision and plans for the big picture and unlike him just tell me where and when to show up and I’ll show up most of the time. That’s why he was awarded that Disney Goofy Medal for running the race for God. Well, MTI has a marathon of a trip ahead of us and we will be traveling well over 26.2 hours, more like 35 hours door-to-door. In fact, our first leg of the journey will be 12 hours, and that’s just to LAX! We haven’t even left yet and it’s now, oh 11:00 pm. Yeah, already the plane to Bangkok has been delayed for mechanical failure and is arriving late. Well you can just keep that plane as long as you need for us to make it at least to Bangkok. Now we’ll miss the connecting flight and end up in Chiang Rai in the evening.

We had a nice send off at the church. About 20 of you nice folk saw us off. Thanks Lanny, Irene, Gerry, Lena Vicki, Ali, Mike, Patty, Bailey, Pastor Dennis, Michele,Vi, Ginny, Lynette, Nanette, Jean, Linda, Elizabeth, Colette, Diane, and Bailey. (I feel like I’m at the oscars forgetting someone. If I did, I didn’t see you sorry but thanks y’all for the send off. Auntie Sylvia and Naomi Tajiri hitched a ride to LA. We met up with Kane in LA and were greeted by Kelly and Lindsey Lowe and Stacy Chinn. Ming is already in Thailand and Bob and Cindy are in Myanmar and will catch up with the rest of the team. So where are we going I’d like to know and what are we going to do you’d like to know.

Stanley Kubrick had made 2001: a Space Odyssey and our postponed trip to China was to be our Grace Odyssey. 9/11 put an end to that trip. 2010: The Year We Make Contact is what we’re doing; we’re making contact with the Burmese, Chinese, and Thai people. Two weeks doesn’t seem to be enough time and we will have to cover a lot of territory and work our derrières off. As I tell my employees, “That is why they call it WORK!” Now Bill, how did you come up with these dates? Don’t you realize that we are missing the 2010 Winter Olympics.!?! Where’s your patriotism? It only comes once every 4 years. Okay, who won gold? Bill, I’m already a terrible father and now I’m missing my daughter Allison’s birthday again! First it was her 16th I missed during the 2008 Thailand mission and now it’s her 18th birthday. Readers, please call Ali on the 25th and wish her “Happy Birthday” AND send her some money to lessen the hurt and make me feel less guilty. Lester is missing Lindsey’s 19th on the 26th as well. Have you heard of milestones man? You better not schedule the next one on Ali’s wedding day cause I’m not going, I’m telling you that now. We’re missing Chinese New Year’s parade too. You can gung hay your fat choy! No time for celebration of birthdays either. Just because you stopped counting (Bill Ho just had another AARP birthday on the 15th, Jack Patton just had his yesterday, the 18th, Cindy Wu is on the 23rd, and Lynelle’s is on the 27th. There is already diuscussion about time and a half working on their birthday. Let me calculate 0 X 1 ½ is still 0. Oh, and you are so generous to offer them double time. We are going to miss those Oscar parties and miss the walk down the red carpet and study fashion trends. Who will win best picture? Avatar of course. Hey we’ll be a day ahead of you so we will know before you do. Hah! I know Bill it’s not the best picture but rather the BIG picture. Well when God says he comes first, he means it. Care to challenge that? I’m cool.

For some reason its been hard to get up for this trip. The enthusiasm has been lukewarm. An informal pole of the team reveals less excitement for this trip. Perhaps we have been there done that. Maybe now it feels routine, less anxious since things are well-planned. Maybe because we have confidence in our fearless leader, Bill Ho. But still we often leave loose ends that are waiting for us when we return. Our medical and dental practices slow down a week before the trip and is slow one week after so it’s like taking a one month hiatus. My desk is still a mess and piles of charts will be higher than when I left (I wish I was as organized as my significant other, Lena). For example, just yesterday I attended a memorial service for my former office manager, Vicki. God took her at 61 years young. Folks, we don’t have much time. I recall a week before my 2006 Thailand mission when a very dear loved one got into a horrendous car accident landing just inches from a telephone pole and resting against a tree. He could’ve died, twice that night in fact. Once from the accident and once after I found out he was okay I wanted to strangledhim he scared me so much. It’s hard to prepare to go. And God’s plan may sweep you up at any time. Can’t plan for that.

About a month ago my foot was acting up again. Tendinitis more specifically, enthesopathy, that’s my Achilles heel, literally and figuratively. Call me a gimp, a wimp, a limp. A I’m already a chimp (year of the monkey). It seems to act up just before we go on these trips. Maybe it’s a self-preservation mode, my body saying “Don’t go!” Definitely wimp material, definitely. Admittedly I’m not one of your fittest individuals on this trip. Bill, Gail, and Jen fit the mold. I want you to know that I did prepare for this trip by going on Atkin’s diet and dropping 15 or so pounds getting my BMI less than 25. My incentive is to carry my own weight and keep up with the rest of the pack on this arduous journey. The last trip I was carrying excess baggage and not the kind Bill complains about. So Luka greeted me in Thailand my hitting me on the shoulder, did an up and down gaze and said “You look bigger.” I didn’t know how to take that. Was it my IZ (Israel Kamakawiwoli) physique or my Bruce Lee abs. No, I later found out that “You look bigger” translated in Akha means “Are you pregnant?” I’m even taking kung fu again to work on my chi since it got a little big around the mid section. I don’t want to look like a have no respect for calories.

Well my excitement comes from getting to go with my daughter, Jennifer on this trip. I campaigned for her last trip but was vetoed by I won’t mention BH’s name. So more lobbying this year, feigning illness asking for someone to push me in a wheelchair got Jennifer elected for a general helper position. Now she was soooo excited she ran out and go nine vaccinations: seasonal flu, H1N1, polio, chicken pox, Measles/Mumps/Rubella, tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis, HPV, hepatitis A, AND THEY WERE ALL SHOTS! I hope that she doesn’t like needles. Also oral typhoid, no shot since she lost too much blood from the other vaccinations. Just don’t welcome her back with a hit on the deltoids cause she’ll still be sore. I am also excited for father-daughter bonding. I missed that while in med school and residency and work and welcome the opportunity to room with her. God works in mysterious ways. God is good.

Okay, enough for one day. We’re boarding soon. ETA is 23 hours from now, Saturday midnight. That’s when we get to our destination. I hope we get a nap. Lena and Vicki please disseminate this to interested parties. See Jen’s blog at http://www.fcbcmissions.wordpress.com Now on with the Bible Olympics.

Let the games begin…..

In Christ, Medical Team International, FCBC signing off. P.S. this blog will be posted on my blog in a few days.

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