On the evening of Nov 9th Kathleen and I left Las Vegas for Thailand with nine students. The first and last rule of mission trips is always "expect the unexpected."

When we arrived in Los Angeles, our bags did not arrive with us, and we had an international connection to catch in a few hours.

This alone began to bring out all kinds of thoughts in the team. Like --- "I knew I should not have come on this trip"-"What are we going to do now. My make up is in that bag!"-"I can't believe this is happening, I will never fly Southwest again!" (That was mine)-"Well, we will just trust God to get it here on the next plane," (Miss Kathleen). It did arrive on the next flight, and we were on our way to Thailand, bags and all.

After 14 hrs of flying we landed in Taipei, Taiwan, then on to Chiang Mai , Thailand . We arrived just before noon Thai time, and it took us a couple of days to adjust to the time difference 16 hrs ahead of Kanab. The next day we departed for Faith Village about 100 miles north of Chiang Mai. The village is on 120 acres near a small town and is home to 70 kids, mostly orphans. The oldest is 26 and the youngest is only 3.

For the next 8 days the students worked with the kids from Faith Village . Some went into the jungle to cut down 20 foot high bamboo, some mixed concrete and built with blocks, and some worked on the new church building.

The girls worked on the library sorting and rearranging books. All spent time with the children playing games and just loving on them. One night some of the ALA students shared how they got to ALA and how their lives changed. After that, Paula, who runs the orphanage, got up and shared some things about the orphans, and one thing she said kind of summed it all up. She explained that the orphans just wished that they had some parents to be mad at. Talk about being thankful, and yet these children who have nothing, by our standards, are so happy and smiling all the time, well behaved polite and courteous.

All of us were touched, and we believe seeds were planted into each ALA student. We also saw some awesome country on the way to the Golden Triangle, then took a boat to Laos and along the Burma shore. We rode elephants, went to a snake farm as well as the night market in Chiang Mai. We laughed, we cried, and our patience was tested daily; but through it all, God blessed. No one got really sick and there were no accidents. Everyone returned safe and sound and with a much bigger worldview. What an awesome trip, and we are preparing for another one in Feb. 07.

Thanks for all your prayers and support on behalf of Mercy Ministries and Kathleen and myself.

God Bless!!

Larry Beck

Director of Ministry and Mercy Ministries