From the Middle East to Bangkok Quarantine
- adwallis5
- Dec 4, 2020
- 3 min read
Adam
The Middle East
As Aimee mentioned in our last post I was fortunate enough to go to Kurdistan/Syria with FBR. The purpose of the mission was to provide help, hope and love to those suffering under the oppression of the Free Syrian Army, Turkey and the Syrian Regime under Assad. Secondary goals were to meet with and support friends on the ground spiritually, emotionally or in whatever small fiscal way God made possible. We also reported on the current situation and gave local leaders the opportunity to record messages that we could share with the world.
This mission was an excellent opportunity to get more field experience and leadership with FBR while allowing me to learn the different logistical and operational systems used by our teams in the Middle East. It was an amazing experience and I hope to go back and help in the future. Below are two videos that paint a great picture of what the mission was like. The first focuses on the operational and reporting side of the mission while the second focuses on the GLC (Good Life Club) kids programs we performed.
Syria Mission Synopsis
GLC Video
Lane and Carry are musicians that have been helping FBR on and off for a few years now. They went on a trip to Burma last year and planned to come on a Middle East trip after. They brought massive portable battery powered speakers into Syria and performed Jesus dance parties throughout our AO (Area of Operation) sometimes with very little notice. God's presence could be felt so strongly during each event and many people experienced Him in a real way. So thankful to call them friends now. They are the personification of fun.
Back Home...but First...Quarantine
Upon returning to California and having a much needed reunification with the girls, Aimee continued working tirelessly to get us back to Thailand. It seemed pretty hopeless until one day she noticed that Thailand was offering a 2 month tourist visa (though our long-term visa was still not allowed entry). She jumped on it and within no time at all had secured us everything we needed to enter the country, including approval (we plan to change to a new visa in country in a couple months). After all the waiting and praying it was a bit of a whirlwind how everything came together so quickly. All that remained was a 2 week quarantine in an approved hotel in Bangkok. Which is where we now sit...
It is currently day 5 of 14 for us and we're doing well. We are a family with a strong Christmas game and the thought of missing half the holiday in a hotel room was a little depressing. So, we brought Christmas to room # 8803 of the Vertical Suite. We spent the first few days unpacking, decorating and burning Sugared Birch, Frosted Berry Pine and Holiday Balsam scented candles. Upon assembling the moosletoe, mistletoe but with three moose turds incorporated (an Alaskan tradition), our Christmas Castle became something magical. We spend our days doing yoga, arts and crafts, playing hard with eden, napping, exercising and dance parties. We are enjoying time as a family in our own place and seeing what God has for us in the moment. I have begun realizing how much the moment has for us when we acknowledge it.
We plan to finish quarantine strong and get back to our home in Chiang Mai as soon as possible. Once there we'll settle back into life and work in whatever capacity God has for us.
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