October 14, 2015
Last minute ticket changes- China air cancelled our
flights. Pam has been working hard and
was able to change to Emirates and Bangkok Air.
She was even able to book a hotel room in Bangkok for a (very) short
overnight!
October 15, 2015
6AM: Left Westover to
Raleigh- thanks to Steve Miller for driving us! We arrived with extra time so
had a nice breakfast at the airport.
10:30 AM Jet Blue flight to JFK airport in New York
City. 4:30 PM Emirates flight to Dubai, Arab Emirates. A380 Airbus- a nice large plane less than ¼ full. We had a very good dinner with Middle Eastern
and Indian overtones. Everyone had a full row to stretch out in and had a
reasonable night’s sleep! 6,846 mile
flight. 12 hours 50 minutes.
October 16, 2015
After being woken for 3 AM breakfast, Sonja gave us all
handwritten notes with Psalm 121: 7.8.
“The Lord will preserve your going out and coming in from
this time forth and forevermore”- a perfect verse to meditate on.
1:05 PM ( 5:05 EST) We
arrived at Dubai to a beautiful new airport with many people from all
countries. Some got “Starbucks” with US
dollars. Team impressions: interesting airport, awesome architecture, very
expensive stores, Winston smoke shop in airport, smoggy city.
3:20 PM- Emirates flight to Bangkok, Thailand . 3046 miles. 6 hours 35 minutes. Arrived 12:55 AM in
Bangkok.
October 17, 2015
Dwella Hotel picked us up at the airport. 4- 5 hours
sleep and then in hotel lobby at 6 AM .
8:50 AM Bangkok Air flight to Yangon Myanmar. 372 miles , 1 hour 20 minutes. Flight left
late so we arrived 30 minutes late. There is a 30 minute time difference on Yangon
from Bangkok. ( Who knew?) We arrived at Yangon Mingaladon Airport with 20 minutes
until the check in counter closed for our next flight. Immigration and
collecting our baggage took 15 minutes. Jemimah , our trip guide from CNEC,
Singapore, spoke with people and, miraculously , we went to the front of the
long customs line without any luggage checked! Praise God! We just made it to
the adjoining domestic flight building in time to check in. The old domestic flight building was very
beautiful with teak carved pillars and balconies .
12:30 Yangon Air to
Lashio, Myanmar- a small city in the central Eastern part of the country. A 50 person full plane for a 2 hour flight. Lashio is a very small airport with lots of “taxis”-
a half sided open wagon with a roof pulled by a truck engine or motor cycle
depending on the size. Our team was picked
up in a van from the Grace Haven children’s home. Luggage was taken in the open
sided taxi. The team was taken to a nice
open sided restaurant where we ate spicy soup, noodles with vegetables, and
chicken. It was tasty. ( Little did we
know that we would eat this for every meal from then on with rice instead of
noodles!)
3:30 We went straight to Yu Nai children’s home. It
has been built in the last year partially from Westover funding. This home is in a village comprised of
several people groups displaced from the areas with unrest. A newly married couple live there. The wife had been taking in children before
they married. Both have graduated from seminary. The husband and his brother
had built a large 3 roomed house from concrete with a corrugated roof. It has one central room, a boy’s and girl’s
side, and a room for the couple who have been married 6 months. There is an
outside covered dining area, a wash area, and a garden. There are currently 20
children staying there. An additional 50
children from the village come in the evenings for school. The Westover team did
some Bible/craft activities and brought the requested harmonicas and some
rhythm instruments.
When it became dark, we returned to Grace Haven for an
outside dinner of “Hot Pot” - fondue like pots of hot broth with assorted unique
meat parts. Assorted greens are then added to cook in the broth. We also met
some pastors from the seminary who were working with the Muslim people group in
Myanmar.
October 18, 2015 Sunday
Church at Grave Haven children’s home began at 6 AM with
about 150 people- mostly children, house parents and students from the Bible
School. Pieter gave a message. During
prayer time, all prayed aloud simultaneously. Ann, Jan, and Nancy led a program with the 1st-
5th graders with story, singing, object lessons and making of gospel
bracelets. This ministry is 25 years old
started by a Chinese business man who initially took care of 2 orphans. His
vision is to reach unreached people groups by educating children and teaching
them the gospel. These children can then bring the gospel back to their people
groups. After church, Rev Cha took us to see a new children’s home being built
in an area of town where the Ang people live . He introduced us to the 21 year
old single seminary graduate who will run it. It will have 20 children and a night
school for the neighborhood of mostly unreached Ang people.
We then checked out of the Golden Hill hotel in Lashio and
took a van and car on a 8 hour mountainous drive to Mandalay. Traffic has
increased dramatically over the last year and the road was full of motorcycles,
trucks, and vans navigating the narrow curved mountainous road. One area had 41 switchbacks in a row.
Highlights: 1. driver stopping to get Betel nuts and ginger flowers for a safe
trip 2. horn honking constantly 3. teak trees, rubber trees, dragon fruit
groves, and rice paddies 4. traditional houses
woven of Batan- a palm like tree woven like a basket 5. Numerous golden
temples, pagodas and monuments in every small village 6. monks
walking around collecting their daily food from people.
After an 8 hour trip and lunch at a roadside restaurant, we
arrived in Mandalay. We had a delicious dinner of vegetable tempura, soup,
rice, meat at a children’s home there.
Unfortunately, we arrived too late to meet the children.
October 19, Monday sunny, 90’s
6AM left hotel , flew
Yangon Air to Myitkyina, capital city of Kachin state. Met by president of seminary we would be
working with. He took the team to Madira
Hotel to stay for the week. He then took some of the team for materials for the
woodworking and medical supplies for the clinic. Wood that had been purchased
was very green and not yet cured. Pieter
went to hardware store and bought a power skill saw, electric drill, and numerous
hand tools. A table saw and many items
were not available.
Since Ann was having difficulty walking after the long drive
yesterday, the seminary president borrowed a wheelchair from another hotel for
her to use. Throughout the afternoon,
the team caused quite a stir- many people stared and took pictures and phone
videos. The team ate a many course lunch
at a nice restaurant. Dinner at Max, an
open- sided restaurant serving fried
rice, noodles, soup, ice cream with exotic fresh fruits. Team devotions led by Sonja. Pieter and Janet
then brainstormed as to adapting skill saw into a table saw.
October 20, 2015
Tuesday sunny, high 80’s
Team bought Ann a walker at the pharmacy for her to be able
to walk.
Woodworking:
Pieter , several students, and a few older men from the village began
work on adapting a desk and skill saw into
a table saw. They were able to complete a prototype desk and begin cutting additional
pieces. All really enjoyed their work.
Medical : Janet, Susan, Melinda , Sonja, Pam set up a
clinic at the seminary in the morning with the help of several
translators. About 30 people came.
Afternoon: went to Waing Mew village for a clinic. One mother came with a young child with
multiple symptoms. She stated these started after she started work in an opium
factory and had to take him with her.
Many people have difficulty accessing the city medical system form this
village. There is a village clinic and
midwife there.
Melinda began training Jemimah and 4 interpreters and students to take blood
pressure, blood glucose and temperatures.
English conversation classes: from 9-3.
About 75 students who were
divided into 3 skill groups. All groups were together at first and then we
divided up. Talked about families, people, dialogs using songs and games
throughout.
Team left at 4 to visit a children’s home. 100 plus children
plus a preschool for village children. Home had its own cows, fruit trees, and
gardens. Team gave out balloons, candy, and sang songs. Jemimah taught a hand
clap game. Dinner, team devotions, bed…
October 21, Wednesday sunny, hot
7AM – wonderful many course breakfast at hotel with hot
vegies, meats, rice, eggs, fruit, and numerous sweet rolls all made of
rice!
7:45- prayed stopped at pharmacy for more meds.
English team continued expanding conversation and vocabulary-
body parts, dialogs. Nancy gave her
testimony
Woodworking -
finished 6 desks.
Medical- clinic in village until 1, teaching lecture
at seminary about basic health
Visited a children’s home, dinner was unexpectedly served
there with soup, rice, bubble tea.
Debrief, devotions
October 22, 2015 Thursday
7 AM large varied breakfast
7:45 left for seminary and clinic at Waing Mew village.
Medical: saw over
90 people. Mostly older people with some bringing babies. Predominantly joint
aches, cardiovascular, high blood sugar. Most people were open to receiving
prayer as well. Team had to stop when
they ran out of meds. Most notable was a
4 year old boy who was unable to stand or walk without support. He had developed typically until he had a
fever at 9 months. Team asked him to
return tomorrow and decided to try to arrange some type to walker for him.
PM: Susan gave a talk on womens’ health with power point and
translator
Woodworking -
students are able to work independently now.
Completed 12 desks and began a prototype bunk bed.
English conversation- students are beginning to talk
some now. Incorporating some children’s
ideas for students to use during their weekly trips to village churches. All groups made gospel bracelets and
pinwheels. Played blind volleyball with
black plastic tarp and beach ball. Jan
gave her testimony.
Went to dinner at a popular outdoor restaurant “Kiss Me” near
a large Buddhist shrine with huge reclining Buddha. Unusual ice cream flavors-
sesame, corn, dragonfruit.
October 23, 2015 Friday
sunny and warm
Restocked meds and wood working supplies
English conversation:
Ann gave her testimony. Demonstrate 3 Biblical object lessons to use
with youth and children. After
teaching, students demonstrated and applied “thanaka” , a type of white make up
made by grinding a tree bark with water. It is considered very beautiful. Lots of photos were taken of Jan, Ann, and
Nancy with thanaka on.
Medical: an
additional 40 people were seen. The mother returned with her son who could not
walk. Team and seminary students had adapted a walker by decreasing height and adding
lower side bars using PVC piping and zip ties. He immediately smiled and tried
to walk! He requires some assistance due to weak leg, hip, and trunk muscles.
Nancy instructed mother with home exercise program with pictures and
demonstrations. One student plans to go
back to follow up with exercises. In the afternoon, Sonja gave a power point seminar
on drug abuse at the seminary to students and local people.
The medical team saw around 175 patients during the
week.
Woodworking: Pieter
was very excited with progress made with projects and training of
students. 12 desks and 1 bunk bed were
completed. Bunk bed and desk plans were left for future use. Students used
scrap wood to make a shoe rack for the female students. (like most women, they each have multiple
sandals !)
We enjoyed a wonderful good bye ceremony in the chapel with
the students and staff. They sang a beautiful
song and presented us with longhi’s – traditional dress, and purses. Team left medical equipment, pens, and
children’s items.
Dinner at Café 101- a more western style restaurant (indoors)
We enjoyed Asian or fried chicken/fish. Team
devotions and debrief.
October 24, 2015
Saturday- free morning , travel day
First we went to a Jade and Amber trading market. There were
lots of uncut stones and some jewlry for sale. Many people took photos of us!
Then we went to stores downtown to buy traditional
handcrafts and clothing.
3PM : flew KZB air to Yangon- a 3 hour flight with one stop
in Mandalay.
We were met by a pastor and taken to Panorama Hotel for the
night. A 45 minute drive from airport
with crowded dark streets with lots of gold gates, temples, towers along the
route. City a mixture of very old and
new skyscrapers. Went to Sky Bistro on the 20th floor for nice view
of the city. Walked past families who appeared to be living on the street and
sending their young children to beg- the first we had seen in Myanmar.
October 25, Sunday, October
26, Monday
After breakfast and a team church service ( Jemimah spoke on
being righteous in an unrighteous culture) , we walk to the Scott Market- a
large souvenir market for 1 1/2 hours of shopping. We were able to purchase jade,
lacquer items, wood, paintings.
12:30 began journey home with flight to Bangkok . We
reversed our original flights but all planes were more crowded that
before. 35+ hours later we were back in
Raleigh. How glad we were to see Steve
Miller!! Thank you Steve! Thank you God for a safe and meaningful trip!
