Seoul Incheon International

We've made the first leg of our journey safely! We are in Seoul Incheon airport, and it's 4:15 a.m. Manassas time and 6:15 p.m. Seoul time. What a long flight up across Canada and Alaska then across the International Dateline and down across Russia and China on our way to South Korea. Beautiful airport with a full shopping mall down through the middle of it. We are feeling pretty good, but anxious to get to Chiang Mai. We just met up with Clark's wife's uncle who happened to be in the Seoul airport the same few hours we were. Small world! Anyway, thanks for your prayers as we continue our journey. By 12:30 a.m. Monday morning, Chiang Mai time, we will be arriving at CNX and going through Customs. Tell you more later ...

We're at Dulles - Ready to Go!

We made it through security and are waiting at the gate. Our plane just arrived and they're loading it up (hopefully with our suitcases too). It's snowing like crazy but it's about 90 degrees in Chiang Mai. Continue praying for us and we'll update you again soon.

A Great Church! http://antiochchurchofchrist.com/

We haven't told you much about ourselves, and that's really okay, but we'd like to tell you about the GREAT church family we are part of. It's called Antioch Church of Christ, and the congregation meets in Manassas, Virginia. We're not perfect by any means, but we love God and we love each other! As we were reading through the book of Acts awhile back, we came across this wonderful church in Acts 13 in a city of Asia Minor called Antioch (Hmmm). It was from that church that the first missionaries were sent out into the world. Here's how Dr. Luke writes about it:
In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.
We are feeling a little like Barnabas and Saul because our congregation has gotten behind us to the point that our trips are paid for AND we are taking extra funds to help with the Barefoot Doctors School! Even better, we are covered by the prayers of the members and friends of our congregation, from start to finish. What a wonderful feeling it is to have the support and love of our brothers and sisters in Christ! Our heartfelt thanks go to each of you who contributed anything toward this trip and the Barefoot Doctor School. While we're at it, we also thank you blog-readers, whom we may never meet, for stopping to pray for us every day or whenever you can. Please keep your prayers going at least through the end of March! Thank you, and God bless you!

Tomorrow! Tomorrow!

In less than 24 hours, we'll be taking to the skies up over America and then the Pacific Ocean! Tomorrow! Tomorrow! We are getting so excited we can hardly stand it! We are both packing and packing, trying to figure out just how much we can fit in our suitcases and still stay under the 50 pounds limit per bag. We have mostly our own things to fit in there, but we are also carrying supplies for the school and suturing kits for our Barefoot Doctors. We have been sending messages back and forth like crazy with all the teachers coming over the next few weeks, because it will be two days before we can communicate with them again. Most of them will bring things for the school in their luggage, too. We've had a few medicines donated that we can take with us, but most of these will have to be purchased in Thailand. That is, when we get the funds to do so. World Medical Mission and Kingsway Charities have both agreed to provide us some medicines and medical supplies, but they'll have to be shipped and that takes almost two months to get to Chiang Mai. You've heard of the "slow boat to China," haven't you? I had a really neat conversation with Mark last night. He's a third-year resident at IU, and we were talking about how much God is s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g all of us who have made a commitment to go. We don't really know what to expect, but we believe God is in the middle of this adventure. What better place to be than that? Keep praying! Thanks!

On a Wing and a Prayer

I just received this email Thursday morning from Beverley Kalnin in Chiang Mai.

Thank you so much for your prayers. We have good news! The Barefoot doctor students all received their passports and Thai visas two days ago. This is not easy to do as both the Thai and Myanmar governments are suspicious of any travellers from Myanmar, esp. a large group and Christian leaders at that! Praise the Lord, through all of our prayers, God softened the hearts of the officials and opened the doors for the students to come here. Today, 20 of them arrived in Chiangmai safe and sound! The other 7 (that includes translators Abraham and Timothy too) will fly here on Sunday. Classes begin on Monday so they are arriving just in time. All of this is only through the power of God!

Now, we ask you to pray hard for God to bless the school. We are short of funds for the actual running of the school in Chiangmai. The entire Barefoot Doctor School is being done on faith this time. This is also the first time we are bringing in students from Arakhan State near the Bangladesh border as well as Shan State, Kachin State and Yangon. They are from six different major people groups in Myanmar. We are excited about that!

Whatever you can donate for the training of these dedicated Barefoot students will be well invested and bring a great return as they go out healing the desperately ill in Myanmar both physically and spiritually.

May God bless you abundantly! Beverley Kalnin

Thanks again for your prayers. The 2010 school launches in just four days!

To find out more about Frontier Labourers for Christ and even how to donate to this mission, please go to: www.frontierlabourersforchrist.org

What's Up Already?

Got up early this morning. There's a lot on my mind, with just two days to go before we leave for Thailand. I told a friend on Facebook who asked about my To Do List, "I'm actually using five lists right now, and every time I check off an item I add two more at the bottom!" It's no wonder I'm not sleeping that well.
God reminded me this morning, however, that He is still in charge. He's in control. He was already up when my mind roused me from sleep this morning. I can worry and fret all I want and not change a thing, but He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine! (Eph. 3:20)
What's up already? God is. He never sleeps. I checked my email first thing this morning, since the folks in Thailand were working while I was sleeping. Beverley Kalnin forwarded me an email from America that said a church here was donating $7,000 to resupply the Barefoot Doctors already on the field in Burma with the medicines they need. Wow! They've also arranged for some portable dentistry chairs to be given to FLC. This is what I needed to hear. This is what I need to count on, that God is working on the hearts of His people even when I can't see it. He is gathering funds and equipment and medicines and medical supplies from sources I can't imagine. As Phil Johnson said in a song back in the 70's,
He didn't bring us this far to leave us
He didn't teach us to swim to let us drown
He didn't build His home in us to move away
He didn't lift us up to let us down!

I keep telling people how God is bringing everything together for this year's Barefoot Doctors School. It's true! Jon

BFD Students Taking to the Skies!

We just got word this morning from FLC that the 25 new students in the Barefoot Doctors program are set to fly to Thailand! 20 of them will leave Burma on January 28th (tomorrow), and the other 5 will fly down to Chiang Mai on Sunday the 31st. All of them will arrive in time for the first day of classes. Considering the difficulty of travel in that part of the world (including getting their passports and visas), this is an amazing thing, a God-thing! We also got approved by Kingdom Charities in Bristol, Virginia today to receive some medicines for free. We don't know just how many medicines this will be, but the order is being placed this week based on availability of the drugs we need to get. Jon's brother, Jim, is also visiting the warehouse at FAME in Indianapolis today to see what medical equipment and supplies they can donate to our Barefoot Doctors. Jim's students at IU/PU who are coming to teach in Thailand will help transport some of these supplies when they come in February. When we leave this Saturday (YIKES!) we will also be loaded down with as many supplies as we can fit in our suitcases. Keep praying that gifts like these from FAME and Kingsway, as well as cash for buying medicines in Thailand, will keep coming in over the next few weeks. God bless you all for your help!

Medicines on Their Way?

Each year Frontier Labourers for Christ, the mission sponsoring the Barefoot Doctors School, has to secure about $60,000 worth of medicines for the Barefoot Doctors to use. These medicines are not only for the 25 new students to use when they return to Burma, but we also resupply the other 71 Barefoot Doctors out in the field. We also outfit each of the new students with a typical medical bag of instruments and tools of the trade: a stethoscope, flashlight, blood pressure cuff, suturing kits, bandages, and a variety of other things. Each of them ends up with a large duffel bag to take home with them so they can be supplied for the next year. This year our donations for these things have been down, so we have been seeking new sources of medicine and medical equipment including other mission agencies who specialize in this. Several churches and organizations have already made small donations, but we are hopeful that two other organizations will furnish the bulk of medicines we need by the first week in March. When these medicines arrive at the training center, we spend a day or two dividing them out so that each Barefoot Doctor is adequately supplied. Please be praying for God to supply these resources soon, because this is a very big part of our medical mission work. Without the proper tools and supplies, we simply can't get the job done. Thanks for praying about this. (By the way, we thank Robert Bowling for several pictures on this blog.)

What Did You Expect?

After the brutal winter we've had so far, you might expect to find most of us LONGING for scenes like this on a picturesque beach in southern Thailand. (The thought HAS crossed our minds.) You might even expect to find some of us LOUNGING on a beach like this in southern Thailand! While the thought has a certain appeal to it, we all have a much better idea in mind! Come February 1st, we would rather be in northern Thailand helping with the Barefoot Doctors School! We would rather be several hundred miles from the beaches so we can help our Burmese brothers and sisters in Christ prepare to serve Jesus in more effective and more dramatic ways than they ever have before. While hundreds are enjoying the vacation of a lifetime, we will be equipping men and women from Burma to go home at the end of March to bring hundreds of people to Christ during their lifetime. What could be better than that? All of us who are going to teach at the school are quite willing to do whatever it takes to get to Chiang Mai for the portion of the training we have been assigned. We are grateful to our families and our friends and our churches who have given their money and encouragement so we can make this trip. We are also grateful to God for a small opportunity to help Him have a large impact in a country like Myanmar. Forget the beach. Let's go to Chiang Mai (still a very beautiful place) to share both our skills and our hearts with brothers and sisters in Christ we haven't met yet! God has an amazing thing in store for all of us, teachers and students alike! Stay tuned ...

Barefoot Doctors Manual

The curriculum of our Barefoot Doctors School is built around a book that has saved many lives. It's called Where There is No Doctor, and it was first written by David Werner back in the 1970s. Since then it has undergone several revisions, but it is essentially the same book Werner wrote over 30 years ago. It's a field manual for people out in remote areas so they can deal with illnesses and injuries even when no doctor is around. Where There is No Doctor is a fascinating book filled with pencil sketches depicting various illnesses so they can be accurately diagnosed and treated. It also shows how to set bones, stitch up lacerations, and take care of many other injuries. Our instructors will be teaching many of the same topics during our five weeks of medical training, and each of our students will be given their own copy of the book in Burmese (an edition that only recently came out.) If you are interested in seeing what this book is like, go to the Hesperian Foundation website where they make a pdf version available for free. You can go straight to the page where the book can be downloaded at: http://www.hesperian.org/publications_download_wtnd.php. After they are properly trained, our Barefoot Doctors are able to give First Aid and so much more!

Instructors for 2010

We are amazed at the team of Instructors and Teachers God is bringing together for this year's Barefoot Doctors School! When Jon and his brother, Jim, accepted the responsibility for planning the school this year, they didn't know where all the teachers would come from. Several that have helped in the past were not available this year, and so we started following every lead we could. Jim's work with the Indiana University/Purdue University medical center was one of the keys to getting our teachers this year, but we also have teachers coming from California, England, China, and India. Only six of them have taught in the Barefoot Doctors School before. They will come at their own expense, simply because they care about God's work and want to see people helped physically and spiritually. Please keep these Instructors in your prayers every day:
BIBLE TEACHERS
Jon M. Ulm – Manassas, Virginia
Simon Percy - England
Clark Melillo – Manassas, Virginia
David Tucker - England

MEDICAL INSTRUCTORS
Rick Astone, Physical Therapy - California
Dr. Bjorn Nilson, Pediatrics
Dr. Mark Royer, Otolaryngology - Indiana
Dr. Jonathan McCrea, Radiology - Indiana
Dr. John Paul, General Practice - India
Dr. Cindy Goldameir, General Practice - India
Dr. Naga Pannala, Internal Medicine - Indiana
Dr. Bob Liu, Preventative Medicine - China
Dr. Susan McDowell, Orthopedics - Indiana
Dr. Trevor Smith, Dermatology - Thailand
Dr. Elise O'Connell, Internal Medicine - Indiana
Dr. Vegas Coleman, Psychology - Indiana
Dr. Lauren Hansen-Welches, Otolaryngology - Indiana

Thank you, God, for these dedicated teachers!

25 Students On Their Way Soon!

Just this weekend Jon was able to webcam with our missionary friend, Beverley, in Thailand. We talked about the upcoming Barefoot Doctors School and the 25 students coming from Myanmar/Burma to study Bible and learn how to take care of people's medical needs in their own country. Some of the students will be coming from northern Burma, and some of them will come from southern and western Burma. We are excited that 3 or 4 new tribes will be represented this time, which means the Lord's work will soon be expanding into new villages we could not have reached before! Since some of the students come from such remote areas, they are leaving their homes now in order to fly to Chiang Mai on January 28th. They have packed their things and said goodbye to their families. They will be gone from their homes for over two months! The doctors who will be teaching our classes this year are also getting ready to leave home. Most will stay for a week or two, but a couple of them will stay for five weeks. We are so grateful for their help. Clark and I leave on January 30th. Please pray for all of us, students and teachers and FLC staff, as we make final preparations for the 2010 classes.

Three Weeks in the Air!

In just 21 days we will be up over the Pacific Ocean on our way to Seoul, Korea! After a 14-hour flight from Dulles to Seoul and a brief layover in Korea, we will then take a five-hour flight to Chiang Mai, Thailand and arrive just after midnight almost two days after we started (we cross the international dateline on the way). After a few hours rest, we will then go to the training center to get things ready for Orientation Week. We had a meeting this past Thursday to finalize who will be teaching what that first week of Bible instruction and orientation. We are getting very excited about meeting our students and making new friends. We are looking forward to their testimonies about what God is doing in their lives, and even better than that will be our times of prayer with them. A lot needs to be done before we leave, so please pray we can get everything ready. A note from FLC this week asked us to pray for the rest of the funds to come in for the Barefoot Doctors School. Some of the students have already left their villages to walk to Putao where they will catch a plane to Chiang Mai. It will take some of them two to three weeks to walk there! Imagine that! And we complain about rush hour adding an hour to our commute! Thanks for your prayers!

Our Trip to Thailand

We will be leaving for Thailand in a little over three weeks! It's hard to believe the time is coming so rapidly! We are busy getting ready for the Bible classes we will teach and the Orientation Week we will enjoy with our new students. We are still amazed that so many doctors and teachers are willing to come at their own expense just to help people they have never met! Some of them are second and third-year residents at IU/PU, and the others are doctors and preachers with very busy schedules. We are grateful to them for coming, and we pray for God's blessings upon them. This school would not be possible without their sacrifices. We also appreciate Jon's brother, Jim, for working tirelessly to map out the medical curriculum and to secure the instructors needed. Most of all, we thank God for the opportunity to partner with His servants at FLC in Chiang Mai, and we look forward to meeting our new friends from Burma/Myanmar. We leave the USA on January 30th and will return on February 14th. Please pray for us as we finalize our preparations.