I am writing this from Chiang Mai, Thailand! After about 72 hours of travel from Birmingham, Alabama we arrived at Zion’s Gate. Zion’s Gate is a coffee shop and hostel as well as a ministry to women in the sex industry. It will also be our home for the next couple weeks.
I left Birmingham at 5pm on December 31 and arrived in San Francisco around 10:30pm. Several members of our team slept in SFO and the rest joined us the next morning at 9am. After a couple of hour delay our flight to Wuhan, China departed at 3pm on January 1. Sometime during the night we crossed the International Date Line which jumped us to January 2, and around 8pm we landed in Wuhan after a 13 hour flight. A very quick layover we boarded another plane for our quick 3 or 4 hour flight to Bangkok. In Bangkok we purchased snacks then boarded a bus at 3am on January 3 to drive to Chiang Mai. The bus was a very comfortable tourist bus with reclining seats. 9 hours and three bathroom stops later (thank God this driver stops every three hours) we arrived at our final destination just before noon.
Lunch was followed by a crash course in Thai culture and practice. I’m a little worried I will offend someone by mistake; however, we have been assured that this is a touristy area and the locals are used to visitors messing up. Then we got the house rules and had free time until dinner. Dinner was followed by free time, showers, and crashing before 8pm.
Follow this link to an archive of all my newsletters, Rebecca Stephens WRF Newsletters.
Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement.
