BANGKOK

We're sitting in a beautiful airport lounge in Hong Kong for a 15 hour layover with our Thailand missions team - on our way home.  This is the longest layover I've ever experienced.  Our team took advantage of it by taking the train into Kowloon to visit the night market for a couple of hours this evening.  What an amazing place - loved it.  Thought I'd get thru the entire trip without buying anything at all and then, bam!  Hong Kong.  We opted to spend the night in the deluxe airport lounge instead of traveling all the way into the city with all our luggage for hotel rooms.  The lounge has showers and dinner / breakfast.  Very nice - and quiet.

After doing ministry in Pattaya, Thailand (see Monday's blog), our men's team left the ladies team and travelled to Bangkok.  Our daytime ministry there consisted of partnering with ARK Ministries (YWAM - www.arkintl.org) and at night we continued with the MST Project (www.mstproject.com).

These have been long days.  Starting early in the morning, and not back to our rooms until 1:30 or past - tiring, but so good.

This past week, our men's team has been involved in:

- Ministry in two different Slum Communities of Bangkok - our guys did teaching, played games with the kids, helped clipped their nails, did crafts with them, brought gifts, and just loved on the kids.
- Ministry in schools, where we did some of those same things.  One of the largest schools let us be part of their Kids' Week, so we got to be in a mile-long parade with 200 children, walking the streets of Bangkok in bright colored costumes (the kids, not us).  The guys carried school flags and we even got a group picture taken with the mayor of Bangkok.  

One of the things that moved us so deeply was the comments we received from the ARK group about their appreciation of a group of men who would come all the way to Thailand to love children.  Thailand is a nation desperately in need of appropriate male figures and most of the people who do that kind of work are women, so our team made a huge impression on both the ministry leaders and the children themselves.   

Here are props to my friend, Chris Lenty at the MST Project, as well as his small, but amazing team of passionate warriors - Scott & Michael - who are going to win a city for Jesus.  And to our brand new friend, Amy Brock-Devine and her team at ARK for their vision and love for children at risk in Bangkok.  Blessings on you guys.

And be blessed.