Month 6 of the Race is over no…yup…here we are. We’ve officially reached the halfway mark and I can hardly believe it!!!
Let me just take a moment to reach for my sweet little espresso mug filled with FREE coffee, from the side of a mountain, in the middle of the jungle, surrounded by strawberry fields and coffee farms galore…yes, that was my reality for at least one day this month on a camping/hiking/waterfall exploring day I will relive in my heart again and again:)
Cheers to the 6 beautiful months already under our belt, cheers to 5 more glorious months on the Race, and cheers to the rest of the journey thereafter, called life 🙂 God is good, every step of the way, in every country, on every day, and I’m feeling especially blessed to live this life (*insert praise hands emoticon here*).
I’ve heard many people say that the Race was one of the hardest things they’ve ever done, but I can’t say that I feel that way at all. For me, it was much harder living in the day-to-day mundane of life in the years leading up to the Race, waiting and wondering when the Lord was going to make good on the dreams and hopes He’d placed in my heart for missions, than it has been actually living the thing out. There is a time and a place for the ‘day-to-day’, and the Race has its challenges, for sure, but more than anything, this season of life has been the manifestation of hope realized and a dream come true, and I’m so incredibly grateful for all of you who have loved and prayed for and supported me all along the way!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
To say this month has been good would be a massive understatement. Sure, the work we’ve been doing this month has been physically exhausting, but so so many things about this month have been so emotionally, spiritually, and mentally fulfilling that they make up for any physical weariness we are now feeling at the end of it all.
To start off, 2 of our all-girls teams joined forces and have been staying in Chiang Mai, the largest city in northern Thailand. Here’s a rooftop view of the sunrise from the hostel we’ve been staying in, called Zion Hostel, which is owned by AIM – what a view!
As soon as we arrived at Zion, we had a time of orientation with some of the staff here, who have all previously done the Race and are now serving full-time in Thailand. Their presence and their words really helped to reorient me by reminding me that our presence on the Race is a small part of something so much bigger. Their words were different, but what I heard them saying was, “We see you, we love you, we’ve walked in your shoes; be at rest, you’re welcome here, you belong, come and stay awhile and let’s do this month of Kingdom-bringing together.” I’ve been able to grab coffee with a couple of the girls here on staff, which has been a huge gift, and we’ve had the blessing of a couple of evenings with all the girls coming together for an evening of fun and ‘girl talk’, as well as a community worship night. Can I just say that, having chosen to take 11 months of my life to say, “Here I am! I’ve come to help you in any way possible and I’m willing to pour myself out to further the Kingdom and to show you the Love of Christ” is absolutely my pleasure, but it also gives a HUGE boost to us – ‘the help’ – when there are people on the other end to hold up ‘the help’ – and this month, I feel so well “held up”. Thank you, Adventures in Missions, for your support. Thank you, Zion Hostel, for being amazing and for hosting us so incredibly well. Thank you, Lord, for this Race!
One of the many sweet gifts from this month has been the other groups/people that have also been staying at Zion Hostel, totally separate from our group, but with the same heart and vision in mind. When we arrived here, a group from YWAM also came to stay. YWAM stands for ‘Youth with a Mission’, which is an organization that was started in the 1960s and has been going strong ever since, to spread the light and love of Christ throughout the earth. You can read more about the org at their website: https://www.ywam.org. Chiang Mai was the first stop for this particular YWAM group, and it was really sweet getting to hear their hearts and their stories, to join them in praying over the region and the strongholds here, and to join forces in helping to write God’s Story on the earth in Thailand.
These sweet girls even took me out for dinner one evening – totally unexpected and such a kind gift!
They’ve since moved on, and I can for sure feel the void, but I’m so excited for them to press into everything the Lord has in store for them – they’re gonna change the world! 😉
Another group staying at the hostel this month is from an organization called ELIC (English Language Institute/China), which was founded in the 80s and sends individuals all throughout Asia, Northern Africa and the Middle East to teach English. We’ve just barely brushed shoulders with them, but I’ve already learned so much from them and am staying in touch to live vicariously through their adventures and what the Lord has to reveal to them too! You can read more about ELIC here: https://www.elic.org.
Next, meet Joan…
…she’s a really sweet chica that has connections to AIM and is praying into serving in Thailand alongside the Chiang Mai group. We met her during our first all-girl’s night at the hostel and she immediately became ‘one of us’. We adopted her, and she spent nearly every day with our group for the rest of our time at Zion. I’m sure gonna miss that girl!
Finally, this is Marie and her beautiful family 🙂
Marie is family to a friend from back home, and my friend just happened to mention that Marie and her family were also in Chiang Mai, serving the Lord. So, naturally, I wanted to meet up! God arranged for a time for us to meet and Marie’s family warmly opened their hearts and their home to me for a nice dinner and a time of sharing God’s faithfulness and about the many complicated and deep needs of the people of Thailand. It’s always so refreshing and one of my favorite things on the Race when I get to actually spend time inside of someone’s home. It’s even more heartwarming when there are cute little kiddos involved…I sure do miss my nephews 🙂
Thailand has also been home to some of my FAVORITE adventures on the Race thus far…Thai food (an adventure in itself), salsa dancing, fish pedicures, elephants, hedgehogs, jungles and waterfalls…hard to beat it all! Come with me and I’ll take you on a quick little photo journey 😉
Salsa Dancing
There’s a quaint little plaza nearby our hostel that offers free swing dancing on Saturday evenings and free salsa on Sunday evenings. I only went once (with intentions of course for more), but the evening was a blast and reminded me so much of home!
And meet Jane, my French salsa dancing partner for much of the evening. The room was short on guys and she was super sweet and a great lead, so it worked out well! 🙂
Sticky Falls
These crazy waterfalls are made of limestone, which allows you to climb up without slipping at all, even while water is crashing down on you – you’ve gotta experience it to believe it! I actually loved this adventure so much, I went twice! It only cost $5 for transport each time – totally worth it to me!
Time withe the Elephants at Patara Elephant Sanctuary
This was probably the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my life, not exaggerating. The trainers were amazing and taught us about how to tell if an elephant is happy and healthy or not. We got to feed them, hug them, bathe them and ride them in the water – it was better than I even anticipated!
Look at that little baby!!! ^^^ She was actually extremely rambunctious, had absolutely no concept of her weight, size, or even the fact that she’s an elephant, and she was quick to try and jump on everyone she could while we were in the water with her. You could even see the whites of her crazy-eyes!
Sweet elephant kisses! 🙂
Meet Sunflower – she’s a sweetheart 🙂 ^^^
Camping and hiking and MORE waterfall adventuring
The view of Chiang Mai from the tallest pagoda in the city
This campsite in the Doi Inthanon National Park was gorgeous!
Our adorable little breakfast spot at a coffee shop just outside our campsite. It felt like a fall morning in Missouri, y’all. Made me miss the country life 🙂
“Grandma” was happy to take a picture with us – she’s a feisty one!
We took a songthaew (a common mode of transport in Thailand, like riding in a covered truck bed with benches and open at the end) for 2 hours on our way to/from camping. We were tired when we started and exhausted when we finished, but it was all totally worth it, as you can see below…
Our wonderful tour guide (above) and the beautiful view on our drive back home (below)
Pad Thai GALORE (this plate only cost a little over $1! That was in the boonies, not the city, but STILL! That’s a STEAL!)
One evening when I was walking down the street with my “one-on-one” date, we randomly came across a hedgehog and guinea pig cafe – what a pleasant surprise! 🙂
Fun fact: I was a guinea pig ‘farmer’ in my former years – it’s true!
We also had some really sweet time at debrief with the whole squad at the end of this month, with Jeremy our squad mentor, and of course with a great little ‘Vathos girls’ reunion, where we went out for breakfast together, talked about the last month, shared our hearts, and encouraged one another with how we’ve seen each other grow since training camp. Even though we’ve all dispersed to different teams, I still love these ladies so much!
Debrief this month was a time of seeking the Lord, allowing Him space and freedom to lead, pressing into His Presence and claiming the promises that are rightfully ours through Christ, and an evening of ‘the pressure’s off’ evangelism where we simply went out with the aim of hearing the Lord’s voice and obeying – no added pressure, no performance, no guilt or shame, just partnership.
Laney even bet me a caramel machiatto that I wouldn’t wear my hair in a crazy side-ponytail to session one morning…
…easiest free coffee I ever made! 😉
So what did we actually DO this month that was ‘ministry’ related, you may ask? Well, a LOT actually. We partnered with an organization called COIC, which stands for Christian Outreach International College, Chiang Mai. You can read more about this org here: https://www.thehavenproject.net.
In short, we were able to help this organization with one of its building projects, which will serve as an education center for children who are coming out of a lifestyle of tr@fficking. I learned that children who are rescued from this lifestyle are at risk for never receiving an education, because there are no schools safe enough to protect them from the individuals trying to keep them in bondage. This month, we provided COIC with manual labor needed to help build a school that will be safe enough for these students receive an education. We painted, we spackled, we painted some more, we dug ditches, mixed concrete and poured it all out. We sweated and sang and smiled and slept hard afterward and it was glorious 🙂
…I even got to use my cheerleading experience from my good ole high school days – honestly never thought that would come in handy, but it sure works great when you’re short another ladder! 😉
And another fun tidbit, I also got some practice in doing other people’s hair haha – what a month! 😉
Speaking of hair, I decided to do something a little spontaneous a few days ago…
And she kept chopping and chopping…and, even though I originally showed her a picture of a medium-length layered cut…eventually her chopping resulted in something that resembled more of a mullet…so my sweet friend (and lifesaver!) got my attention and asked the hairdresser to take “a little more” off the back lol…and “a little more” later, and HERE IS IT!!! (Hi Grandma! Her face in this picture is not in reaction to my ‘new do’ by the way, it’s just the best pic I have right now of my haircut, and you get to see her cute face to boot! 🙂
Without a doubt, Thailand was one of the most re-orienting months on the Race for me so far; a month full of breakthrough, uprooting and reestablishing, healing and restoration, new connections, small blessings and massive gifts. I love getting to live this exciting life with the Lord and am beyond grateful He chose me to join Him on this journey. Thanks so much for joining us too! 🙂
