Fun fact, Latinos don’t go camping unless we’ve been raised into it or have friends who love camping. My friends back home are way too fancy to camp. I think they would prefer to rent an RV before setting up a tent in the mountains or the beach (cough cough Jannete and Steph). Since bringing a tent on the race was mandatory I knew camping was going to be involved. Our team prayed and asked God where He wanted us to go next in Thailand. Sam felt the Lord saying Rayong and so we listened and headed to Rayong. Housing in Rayong was way out of our budget and we didn’t have any connections yet. Sounds like fun eh? Well, it was quite an experience. When we arrived to Rayong after the 13 hour bus ride from Chiang Mai all we wanted was a place to lay our backpacks, rest, refuel and plan. We found the nearest coffee shop and made it home for a couple hours. We didn’t have much time to find a place before the sunset so we had to get rolling. Part of our team stayed back taking care of our stuff while the rest of us went out on a treasure hunt. After walking and searching for a while we weren’t able to find housing but the Lord did lead us to some awesome tour guides who gave us information on a nearby beach campsite. When I heard camping I immediately went into defense mode haha. I kept telling the Lord, “God you must have a place for us in this city… please provide”. I was not giving up. I internally refused to camp but He quickly shifted my heart and said “Oh no Ronny your camping tonight..”. After that conversation with the Lord I came back to the team with a camping attitude (go ahead laugh at me) and so we headed to the campsite. The tour guides had warned us that the campsite had a lot of monkeys. I was already super excited about camping (sarcasm) so I couldn’t wait to see the monkeys. Little did I know. Right after we set up our tents the monkeys came down to say hi and welcome us. They stole Hunters banana, Lindsay and Sam’s Doritos and they tried getting into Hannah’s tent. Crazy! Monkeys are vicious creatures even near the shores of the ocean.
On the first night there I met Tee Duck who was also camping for the night. His story was incredible. We talked about his 500+ skydive jumps, his job as a police officer in Bangkok, food, travels, his family and the most popular topic: Religion. He grew up in a Buddhist family and although he didn’t give his life to Jesus right then and there a seed was planted. I made sure he knew the difference between religion and having a relationship with Jesus. My prayer is that the Lord will put other believers in Ducks path that will water that seed. Our conversation was so good but what blew my mind was that we did it all through Google Translate. Yup, it’s possible. Duck gave me his “LONG LIVE THE KING” bracelet that he was wearing. He said it is an amulet of the journey from the King of Thailand and he wanted me to wear it. If you catch me on the streets you’ll see me rocking this yellow bracelet. He was so happy that he took a picture of us with the bracelet and posted it on facebook. I know I made a lifetime friend that night. Thank you Jesus for this campsite and for Duck’s life (not the monkeys).
We extended our stay at the campsite for another night and asked the Lord where He wanted us to go next. We weren’t really sure why He brought us to Rayong but if Duck was the reason then it was totally worth it. This is what the gospel is about! Meeting people, getting to know their story and sharing the greater story: JESUS. I know it’s way easier to type it out than to actually live it and trust me I know. This entire mission trip is focused on serving and loving the people from all walks of life that are in front of us.
The next day was our Sabbath and I got to rest and spend time with the Lord. For sunset, I jumped into the ocean with Hannah and Lindsay. I already mentioned that I’m not a big camping guy well this may or may not surprise you but I’m also not a beach person. I knooooow. I just don’t like the waves crashing against my face forcing salty water into my mouth. But this ocean was different.. it was beautiful.. God shifted my heart AGAIN. He seriously did some work that week in Rayong.
What’s next? That was the question we wrestled with as we figured out where the Lord wanted us to go next. After praying Hunter felt Surat Thani, Hannah and I felt Krabi, Sam felt either one of those and Lindsay felt Phuket. Talk about being able to discern where the Lord truly wanted us to go with three different locations. This obviously brought tension into our team but it’s all good… We’re humans, right? Since we weren’t able to decide on the location we went ahead and got a bus to Bangkok in hopes that the Lord would align our hearts to His. We arrived to the bus station in Bangkok and everything was closed so we had to sleep there until they opened in the morning. As soon as the bus station opened the only bus that was leaving to either of the cities on our hearts was Phuket.
That was the Lord choosing for us. Great way of solving tension egh? The next couple of days in Phuket were spent on team bonding and learning from each other. We needed that if we plan on walking this journey together. Living in community isn’t easy but it sure is a blessing.
Are you letting the Lord pull you out of your comfort zone? He does some pretty cool things when we let Him in. JUST SAYING. Finally, my next fundraising deadline is next month and I need your support to get fully funded while I’m still on the field. You can pray and donate any amount by clicking on the DONATE button at the top of my blog: www.ronnysison.theworldrace.org. Thank you for taking the time to read this! Your support means the world to me so keep me in your prayers. Also, let me know how I can be praying for you by text, email, facebook, Instagram, ect…
