We found out a week before we left our ministry in Thailand that our team leader, Steven, was leaving our team to become a squad leader. Ultimately that meant team changes. "Here we go," I thought. Just when I was comfortable and happy with my team, it changes. That's tradition on the Race. You can never be too comfortable for too long.
We left Ubonratchathani and made our way to Phuket for a two day mini debrief, a 24 hour bus ride away in a VERY cramped space with 10 other people and our luggage (plus one Thai man who I'm sure wished he had purchased a VIP ticket instead) and the smell of a squatty in the air. We finally made it to Phuket, and later that night we found out our new teams.
Change is always difficult. Every month we pack up, say our "goodbyes" to the people we have just gotten to know and love, and we travel to somewhere new just to do it all over again. It's not easy, and often times it requires true strength to hold back tears and screams. It's worth it, though. So worth it. Saying "goodbye" to the team we've grown to live life with day in and day out for the last 3 months was not easy, but God has given us a fantastic new team with whom we get to live life and serve and love!
Phuket was nothing short of amazing. Google Phuket and you'll see that it is quite possibly one of the most gorgeous places on earth. And no doubt you'll fall in love. We did. In the two days that we were there, I was able to fulfill two Bucket List items (visiting Phuket and setting off floating sky lanterns). We spent the day at the beach with our newly established teams and talked about our hopes for the next few months together. It was good.
Leaving Phuket, and Thailand in general, was quite an adventure (and not necessarily an exciting one). We almost missed our bus because our transportation TO the bus station was an hour late picking us up from the hotel. We made it to that station with literally 10 minutes to spare and 19 people to rush through and load luggage. God's grace was upon us.
Here's our greatest upset: as we were unpacking the van, the van driver basically helped us throw our belongings on the ground, hopped back into the driver's seat and drove away without us first being able to check to make sure we grabbed everything out. Unfortunately for us, he drove away too quickly. As I watched him turn onto the main road to pick up his next set of passengers, I asked Jeremy where our camera was. He looked at me, wide-eyed, and as we both turned back and stared at the disappearing van, we realized that our Nikon D90 was still in the van that was speedily driving away. Normally I have the camera with me at all times, but that morning Jeremy had grabbed it as we were loading the van, and he kept it with him. Since he's not used to having it, he completely forgot to grab it when he departed again, and I naturally just assumed he had it with him–until it was too late.
We tried frantically to call the van driver, the van company, and the hotel to have the driver come back to that station. We were never able to get ahold of him, and two days later, we know that the likelihood of us getting our camera back is very slim. Losing a camera isn't that big of a deal other than the fact that I am an aspiring photographer, and without a camera I can do nothing, let alone document our adventures as we circumnavigate the globe. We saved for a long time in order to buy it, but also knew the risk when traveling around the world. Oh well; you win some and lose some, right?
Once we parted ways with the squad, got into our van and started traveling towards the Thailand/Malaysian border where we were told we overstayed our visas (by one day) and would have to pay a fine in order to cross, something we weren't expecting. It took them 2 hours to process 7 of us. 500 Baht (around $17) later–per person–we were on our way. Because of the unexpected delay, our van driver drove, on average, of 100 MPH in order to get us to our ministry location the same night. It was supposed to take him 3.5 hours from the border to get to George Town, Penang, Malaysia. It took him 2 hours tops. No joke. We were legit scared for our lives. We can't remember how many times we tapped the car(s) in front of us on the interstate. By God's grace, though, we made it!
This month we're staying on an island in Malaysia called Penang. It's a very touristic place with some absolutely phenomenal beaches. Is this really our lives?? We're partnering with YWAM again and we're living with another team! We're in a dorm room-like setting, complete with a kitchen, showers, western toilets, and beds! And Jeremy and I have our own room this month, which is an incredible blessing for us.
YWAM has set up four ministries for us this month: working at a homeless shelter, evangelizing at a hospital and raising money for cancer patients, serving at a Christian coffee shop, and interceding for PenHOP (Penang House of Prayer). We are ecstatic to see what Daddy does this month as we serve Him on this beautiful island!
There are so many crazy things going on right now, and God is doing awesome things in both of our lives. We're trusting Him with the rest of our support ($3,100 still to get), as well as the situation with our camera. It definitely wouldn't hurt to have another one, especially for the last 8 months of the Race.
We'll be updating with pictures from India, Nepal, and Thailand really soon. Our internet is great this month, so we'll actually be able to do it.
Loves!
