Expedition08 – Phil and Alison
September 2, 2008
Alison’s Adventures
Expedition 08 was a life changing experience for me. When I first heard about Expedition, I was excited and wanted to go, but I didn’t really give it a lot of thought. As the trip got closer, I started to get more excited and I felt like it was the right thing to do. While there, I got closer and closer to God which was really cool, and I knew that I needed that time, especially after the year I had at West Monroe High School. During the trip I was convinced that I was supposed to be there, and I was glad that God gave me the opportunity to go on the trip. The trip was a great time of learning to be a servant. Another benefit was that God gave me some really good friends that could help me deal with many things that had happened over the last year in the States. Now I feel that I am growing closer to God, which I am absolutely loving, and have set a goal to read the Bible all the way through starting August 1, 2008. One exciting thing during the week was that I celebrated my 15th birthday on Wednesday night of the trip. It was a really special time for me. That day had been my second day at the farm. I got back from the farm and the whole group took me out to dinner at a Thai restaurant. After that, we all went bowling.
Phil’s Perspective
I want to thank everyone for their prayer and financial support. I couldn’t have done it without you. This week has really changed my life. Our theme this week was, “It is not about me, it is about God.” I thought this was like a no-brainer, but this turned out to be harder to live out then I thought. Our day off was supposed to start Wednesday morning, but a lot of the team wanted to finish our work on the clinic completely before we took time off. I though to myself, “But I want the day off.” Then I realized what I was doing and I was like, “Phil, get with it. It isn’t about you. about all week?” I quickly dropped that thought. The next day when we did start our day off, we got to see two patients that we were working around, go home. I also learned about becoming a leader for Christ. This was the focus of our devotional book all week. I guess those things weren’t quite the no-brainer I thought they were. Well, we started our trip in Bangkok, Thailand on the18th of July. After meeting the team, we took the overnight train from Bangkok to Ubon, Thailand. Then we rode in pick-up trucks to the border of Thailand and our host country. We crossed the border with no hassles and met up with our contact in the country. After lunch we split into two groups. My group went straight to the farm. The farm was an experience. We lived in tin shacks, about 18 inches off the ground, with thatch roofs and wooden planks for floors. There was no electricity or running water. The “toilet” was an outhouse with no door and a smelly hole in the ground. No joke. We bathed in a nearby stream with onlookers. The second and third day we worked in the fields. We hoed the weeds, spread limestone powder to neutralize the soil, and planted coffee. It rained every day, which kept it semi-cool. On Monday we said goodbye to the farm and headed back to town. The next two days, we worked at a clinic where we cleaned and painted. The clinic looked like it had not been cleaned since the day it was built. That night we went bowling and celebrated Alison’s birthday. On Thursday our team split into four groups. These groups went to four locations and “dropped” literature, which is totally illegal in the country. Each person had five bags and the groups decided how to drop them. This was my favorite day. I was pretty good at dropping. When we were done we all met up at the bus station and headed back to Ubon, Thailand. The next evening we got back on the overnight train to Bangkok, and followed that up with
