resting, debriefing, and exploring for 5 days. Some highlights include:-
Prayer walking through the Red Shirts camp
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Eating delicious fruit and spicy entrees
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Learning more about God’s love
We have been staying at YWAM Bangkok for 5 days now, but it’s seemed like only a few hours. Our entire squad came to re-group before starting another month and to transition leadership from our original World Race squad leaders to the ones that have been raised up from within our team. It has been like a reunion seeing everyone again. I’m learning so much about loving brothers and sisters. I can’t believe that in only 4 months, I’ve come to appreciate and love these guys so much. When Tara, our former squad leader got up to speak at our last breakfast with her on the race, I was really emotional. I know how much she loves me and each girl on this squad. I see God’s supernatural love at work in Tara. I didn’t believe that she could love each of us genuinely and uniquely when this all started and I was skeptical about her when she kept saying how much she loved us. Today, I completely know she does and I love her back. It’s amazing the way God’s love is so much bigger than my love. In addition to saying goodbye, we’ve been out and about in town a little bit.
A lot of friends are asking me about the political situation here. The news is reporting this as the worst political situation and most hostile in the past 5 years or so. There have been some bombings and some deaths around town and the country as the “Red Shirts” have been protesting the current government rule. We saw the Red Shirts camp from the rooftop of a building on Sunday where they have taken over a train station and the road crossing below it. They have a few more outposts around the city that are shutting down transport and other events. Yesterday we went out as a group to prayer walk around town and to some of the most famous temples and statues in Bangkok, like the reclining Buddha. Coming back a torrential rainfall came during and
after the interesting boat ride
with lighting strikes flashing and thunder echoing down the river. We walked about 10 minutes in the pouring rain and caught a shortcut through the Red Shirts blockade of tires and long sticks. About 40 Americans sloshed right through their entire camp. They seemed to be amused by it and didn’t stop us and one even motioned for me to come eat some of his lunch he was enjoying out of the rain. Technically, we were still on our prayer walk. Although, unfortunately I don’t think I was praying anymore due to all the excitement.
We have discovered some new fruits here that are wowing my taste buds. The three best are
Rambutan, Mangosteen, and Lychee. The fresh lychee is my personal favorite. The best part about it is you can get about 20 of them for 70 cents (USD). We are also blessed with the greatest little Pad Thai (noodles) place right next door to where we are staying. The cost for any entrée on the menu is 78 cents (USD). Every time I’ve been in there at least one of the men on our squad will go up to the counter and ask for a second plate of Pad Thai. It’s delicious. If you would like to experience a similar culinary delight, go to any Pei Wei location and order Pad Thai there. It’s very similar. (I hope that’s not an insult to the entire Thai culture.)
Today, our plan is to head north east toward the Si Saket area where we will be living with one of the only Christian families in the area. We were taking a translator with us, but as they often do, plans changed. Please pray for us to be able to communicate enough to put in a good word for Jesus while we work and live in this area of Thailand.
If you would like to get a laugh and a sense of a real World Race living challenge, check out the Rat Hunting video on this blog. It’s amazing how much work went into the hunt and the video. It’s worth your time. http://jillianhensley.theworldrace.org/
Blessings to you this week!
