For future reference, it’s prooobably not a good idea to come into a closed country with a book called ‘The G*d Smuggler’ in your backpack when they have to scan everything as you come through the border haha oops! J …although I’m sure it would’ve provided a great opportunity to share the g*spel J
It’s funny to think about our much our perspectives have changed over the past 9 months. Perspectives on people, culture, environment’s we’ve lived in, ‘religion’, foods we’ve eaten, and travel days! The longest straight through busride we’ve had so far is 55 hours through Africa, so when we heard we would have a 48 hour busride through Vietnam, we weren’t phased. Travel days have come to be a pretty big blessing actually. They allow us time to just sit back and relax, get to know our fellow busriders, read a book, watch a movie, chat about what He’s teaching us or just about the random things that pop into our heads. We’ve gotten to know people from England, Beijing, Chicago, all over Vietnam and anywhere and everywhere else around the globe.
We’ve been in the city the past 3 months of Asia, so I have been CRAVING to get back out into nature!!! Man, He answered those prayers. The long treck north was one of the most beautiful scenes we’ve come across…although it’s hard to compare them because they’ve all be so beautiful in their own way. We passed miles upon miles of the most luscious, green valley’s to waves from the ocean crashing into the uninhabited beaches to the mountains towering over top.
After being away from home for so long, I’ve come to appreciate that my house growing up was surrounded by woods and I cannot wait to get back to that! I love the city life for a short time, but I feel such peace when I’m surrounded by His creation. After about 30 hours on the road, the bus pulled over for a 15 minute bathroom break that happened to be right at a beautiful beach and across the road stood some of the tallest mountains you could imagine. I couldn’t resist! I ansily waited to get off the bus and within minutes, I was running with all my might straight towards the water! I ran in, got my pants soaking wet and then continued on to run full speed down the sandy beach to get some energy out. I never felt so free.
The weather in northern Vietnam is completely different from the weather down south. In Ho Chi Minh, it was extremely hot and humid…after driving just a few hours north, I felt like it was fall in Michigan or Ireland J I may have been soaking wet the next few hours on the bus, but it was so worth it.
G*d just continues giving us little gifts that shows us how much He cares and I absolutely love it!
