Yes, I know I am just now writing about month 6 of the Race, while currently sitting in month 9. I am just now getting caught up and feeling like writing again. But have no fear, I have still been taking loads of pictures that I am excited to tell you all about!
Before leaving Cambodia, I asked God to show me when He was with me. This wasn’t something that I had ever asked God to do, so I had no idea exactly how He would deliver. I had no idea if He would actually deliver. But this is God that we are talking about. He ALWAYS delivers! It might not be in the exact way that we think, but He is always delivering things to those He loves (which is everyone, hint hint).
This is how the month started… walking the border from Cambodia to Thailand. We were all just a little tired from all the festivities from Christmas and New Years.
We had a short amount of time in Bangkok before we headed off to ministry. This meant hanging out with these two (plus Morgan). They played video games while Morgan and I had time to eat waffles and just talk.
Then we grabbed at tuk-tuk and headed off to do some exploring. At one point we were in a HUGE mall and I told Matt how badly I wanted an Auntie Anne’s pretzel. Matt proceeded to point and say, “Well, there is one right there!” I was shocked and so excited I teared up right there in the mall. I also want to note that Morgan and I somehow lost Matt (the loudest on our squad) and Hunter (the tallest on our squad) in this same mall. We looked for them for about 2 hours before eventually finding them.
For teams YOJ and Freedom Writers, ministry was located in Chiang Mai. We were staying at the Adventures in Mission base, which happens to be located next door to a restaurant that had biscuits and gravy. This made two southern girls VERY happy!
On the way to our first day of ministry, if you can’t tell there are 13 people in the back of this truck.
At the Adventures in Missions base, there were two teams from my squad, a Gap Year squad, and another mission team in the area for a conference. This just means a whole lot of shoes!
Ministry this month was easily a way that God showed me He saw me. Before team changes, I confided in an Alumni Squad Leader that I didn’t want to be on an all-girls team because I wouldn’t have the same opportunities to use my skills in construction. Well, that was flat out wrong! The two all-girl teams, Yoj and Freedom Writers, joined forces to help build a “safe school” for children that had been involved in human trafficking. At one point, we were working so fast that we needed more ladders (that they didn’t have), so we improvised.
Part of the process that we were helping complete, was priming and painting what would become the library, administration areas, nurses station, and lunchroom. Summer learned that the primer was a little difficult to remove from hands!
This was the adventure day that Meg and I were SO SO excited for!
ELEPHANTS!!
We got to help the trainers feed, bathe, and do wellness checks on the elephants.
And while we bathed them, we also got to swim and play with them.
The trainers and elephants might have had some fun with us too!
But then it was back to ministry. With Freedom YOJies, you end up with random selfies on your phone when it is left unattended.
Lots of painting happened this month. I mean A LOT!
There was a little cafe that was right down the street from our hostel that served American food. Brie and I would go for the waffles and pancakes.
We still aren’t exactly sure why there was this cage outside the mall…
MegO had a birthday while we were in Thailand, so of course, we had to celebrate!
And what better place to celebrate than at Hard Rock!
Many game nights were had between all the girls. We also watched a lot of The Bachelor.
We finished painting earlier than our ministry hosts were expecting, so we got to do my absolute favorite thing in the world! POUR CONCRETE!! I got to teach the girls how to do it and they became pros!
I honestly have no idea what Tay and I were doing, but it resulted in a funny picture.
Taking a break from mixing and pouring concrete. We were able to come up with a really rockstar system between the 13 of us.
And here is the crew, minus two.
The original “FREEDOM YOJIES”!
YOJ took family pictures and of course, we had to throw in coordinating outfits (because the coordinating/matching outfit thing actually happens more than it should on our team).
They turned out pretty great thanks to our wonderful photographer, Caroline.
Yeah, they are pretty awesome people!
Kayla had been wanting to get a fish pedicure while we were in Chiang Mai, so one night we did! It wasn’t what I was expecting at all…
And then, the month came to an end. We packed up and made our way to Myanmar!
As always, I invite you to make my journey, your journey. Here are three simple ways:
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Also, if you are feeling called to support the World Race in a financial way, a couple of my squadmates are still in need of help. Click on their names below if you would like to know more about them!
