wfn.org | Mission Trip to Vietnam

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3527 notes).

Note 3527 by UMNS on April 1, 1997 at 16:03 Eastern (2777 characters).

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT:  Linda Bloom                      173(10-21-33-71B){3527}
          New York (212) 870-3803                    April 1, 1997

Veteran leads mission
trip to Vietnam

                 by United Methodist News Service

     When 19-year-old Howard Strickler arrived in Vietnam in 1970,
assigned to helicopter maintenance for the U.S. Army's 101st
Airborne Division, it was the beginning of a life-changing
experience.
     Twenty-seven years later, Strickler -- now a medical doctor
specializing in alcoholism and drug dependency treatment in
Birmingham, Ala. -- will return to Vietnam for the first time,
leading a United Methodist Volunteer-in-Mission (VIM) team.
     Organized through Riverchase United Methodist Church in
Birmingham, where Strickler is a member, the May 2-12 trip
reflects the church's mission philosophy "to meet the needs in
areas that go unmet," according to the Rev. John Mount, pastor.
     The group will visit several orphanages near Hue and the
village of Phong Dien and then decide which site to assist with
painting and light construction work. "We're going to be taking
children's supplies to all of them," Mount said.
     Strickler spent 10 and a half months serving at Camp Evan in
Vietnam before returning home on emergency leave because his
sister had contracted Hodgkin's Disease. He then was discharged,
six weeks early.
     "I knew I would like to visit Vietnam again," he told United
Methodist News Service. "My experiences in Vietnam are something I
think about every day."
     Strickler said he had been a poor student during the year of
college he attended before Vietnam. After serving in the war, he
excelled in his studies, propelling himself into the top 10
percent of his class and continuing on to medical school. The G.I.
bill helped pay his expenses.
     The grandson of Presbyterian missionaries -- one of his
grandfathers, also a physician, founded a Christian hospital in
India -- Strickler is looking forward to his first mission
experience.
     "I've always had an interest in these VIM missions but never
really felt I had the time to take from my busy practice," he
explained.
     Five people currently are signed up for the Vietnam mission
trip. "We'd like to take more people so that we can accomplish
more," Mount said.
     Arranged by Vietnam Tours, a small agency run by a Vietnam
veteran, the trip includes stops in Saigon, Hue, Phong Dien and Da
Nang. The cost per person is $2,545.
     More information is available by calling Mount's church
office at (205) 987-4030.
                             #  #  # 

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